Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20171228

President trumps approach to the volatile north korea crisis after a tweet on the golf course in florida. That would be a violation of the United Nations sanctions and its unclear whether mr. Trumps slap at china is based on u. S. Intelligence or unconfirmed media reports of secret Chinese Oil Sales to north korea. Were also following a tough new take on u. S. Policy towards russia in an opinion piece by the secretary of state rex hilla tillerson declaring that russia has a poor relationship with moscow. He says that he has no illusions about Vladimir Putins regime and its aggression. This is in stark contrast to President Trumps rosy comments about russia. An and 11th hour of roy moore has been dismissed by democrats as desperate. Moore attempted to delay certification of the results of the Alabama Senate election offering unsubstantiated claims of possible voter fraud. But tonight Democrat Doug Jones has officially been certified as the winner. Moore remains defiant and refuses to secede. We have Jake Sullivan, a former adviser to Hillary Clinton and joe biden and our correspondents and specialists are standing by. First, i want to go to cnns ryan nobles. Hes covering the president in florida. What more can you tell us about this tweet from President Trump about north korea and china . Reporter it seems that the tweet came out of nowhere and it was sent while he was at the golf course for a third day during this Christmas Holiday vacation. He wrote, caught redhanded. Very disappointed that china is allowing oil to go into north korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen. And the president has talked warmly about his relationship with china. In particular, xi jinping. He also says china needs to do more to rein in north korea, particularly with economic sanctions. Thats something that Rex Tillerson echoed at a New York Times editorial. Tillerson writing, a central component is persuading china to exert its decisive economic leverage on pyongyang. China has applied certain import bans and sanctions but it could and should do more. The big question is why today did the administration decide to take this tough stance on china . There are unconfirmed reports that satellite images picked up chinese ships and north korean ships transferring oil from the chinese ships to the north korean ships and there was a Treasury Department report in november that accused the chinese of doing the same thing. This would be an effort to get around u. N. Sanctions. As of today, there was nothing definitive from the administration. Weve reached out to ask specifically why the president chose to take on this topic today and weve not received an answer. At the very least, brianna, this shows as we head into the new year, this Administration Remains focused on north korea and the president followed up a little later today with another tweet. This, a video, showing president bill clinton talking about north korea from 23 years ago and then video of the president himself before he got into politics and in an interview with meet the press where he talked about how in terms of Foreign Policy preventing north korea from Getting Nuclear Weapons should be a priority of the United States. So the president showing that for a long time hes talked tough when it comes to north korea and as 2018 begins, when it comes to his Foreign Policy, that tough talk will continue. Brianna . Ryan nobels, thank you so much for that report. The president s new tweets come at a sensitive time with the south preparing to host the Winter Olympics and the north korea preparing for perhaps another provocative missile launch. I want to bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. What kind of impact could the president s words have on the region . Everyone will be watching to see how china reacts. Because remember, china, of course, is north koreas Major Trading if not their only significant trading partner at this point. The chinese will sign up for these things but what they dont want to do is make them so onerous that the north korean regime collapses. That would provoke a calamity on their border. Tens and thousands of refugees in north korea could be disastrous for china. China wants stability. Now, thats the watch word as we go into the new year on the Korean Peninsula because of the Olympic Games. Everyone wants to see no drama. Things stay nice and calm. So how china will react to the president s tweet is one marker to watch for and, as you say, brianna, the second marker, an additional marker, what north korea may do next there are signs it may be preparing for its next missile test. Its preliminary fare. No one is exactly sure what they are up to but some equipment is moving around, we are told. So if north korea were to engage in a provocation during the Olympic Games or close to the timing of the Olympic Games, it could significantly unsettle the region. Brianna . Certainly could. Barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you. Now to the Trump Administrations russia policy and this new oped by secretary of state Rex Tillerson which calls the u. S. Relationship with moscow poor. Tillerson specifically citing russias election meddling as a reason that there cannot be business as usual with the kremlin. And tonight, russia is dismissing tillersons views as confrontational. Lets bring in cnn Global Affairs correspondent elise labott. Elise, its a disconnect that were noticing between tillersons words and between the words of the president. Thats right, brianna. And the secretary and the rest of the cabinet and even the policies of this administration with the rhetoric of the president. Now, you remember, last week President Trumps National Security strategy laid out russia as a competitor, talked about russias aggressive actions to destabilize the world and against u. S. Interests. If you look at what some of the policies are, thats clearly how the u. S. Is treating them. Last week, President Trump for the first time approved the lethal sale of arms to ukraine. Thats something that both democrat and republican administrations have not done and something that all of his cabinet and lawmakers have asked him to do. So this is much more of a tougher policy, yet President Trump refuses to accept the conclusion of u. S. Intelligence agencies that u. S. Meddled in the elections. So i think his rhetoric really goes to the heart, brianna, of his presidency. If hes going to speak against putin, against meddling in the u. S. Election, i think for his supporters that would call into question whether he, in his mind, was elected legitimately. No one ever questioned that he was but yet hell never say the words. If you look at the policies of his administration and the comments by secretary tillerson and others, including his National Security adviser, they are pretty clear on what russia is and how the administration is going to treat it. Elise, many observers are looking at this oped and they are wondering about the timing of it and if tillerson is perhaps punctuating the end of his tenure with it. What are your sources telling you . Well, they say the exact opposite, brianna. Look, theres no doubt that secretary tillerson has faced a lot of criticism, a lot of questions about his management at the state department, even his own spokesperson has admitted that theres low morale. He also noted that he has in his mind what is a perception problem. This is part of an effort, imd told by aides to reframe the narrative and talk about what is being done. You saw a little bit in the last couple of weeks the secretary speaking a little more. We were at the Holiday Party with the secretary and he said im told im going to have to be more engaging so im going to be talking to you more and so i think this oped is to reframe the narrative that diplomacy is getting done and also i think to talk to his troops, to the rank and file of the state department that feel demoralized that their diplomacy is not appreciated. Whether it will be effective or not, i dont know. But i think reports that secretary tillerson would be out by the end of the year are, you know, proving not to be true, whether he lasts the full administration, im not, you know, pretty sure that he may not. But i think well see in the next weeks and months the secretary laying out his agenda and explain more about what hes doing, not just on the diplomatic front but in management of the state department. All right. Elise labott, thank you for that report. I want to get more on all of this with Jake Sullivan, a former state Department Official who is a top adviser to Hillary Clinton and to joe biden in the obama white house. Jake, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me. So obviously, you woke up and read this oped by Rex Tillerson in which he said we have no illusions about the regime were dealing with. The United States has a poor relationship with the resurgent russia that has undermined the sovereignty by meddling in our election and others. What is your reaction to that very strong assertion . Well, you know, first of all, i agree with it. Secondly, i was not surprised by it. As elise labott just said, this is consistent with where the National Security team had been, whether youre talking about the secretary of defense jim mattis or joe dunford or the National Security adviser. But what Vladimir Putin is telling himself tonight is, i dont need to worry about this too much because i still have the president , the guy who actually matters. Remember, one of the last times that donald trump spoke with Vladimir Putin, he put out this strange statement talking about how putin was flattering him and it just goes to show you that theres a huge disconnect between the professionals on Trumps National Security Team and trumps own view of russia. And until trump himself shows that he recognizes the russian threat for what it is, im not going to sit comfortably. Okay. But can Vladimir Putin comfortably say i have the president still when you look at american policies . When you look at the actual policies of the Trump Administration, do you think that its more closely to Donald Trumps rhetoric or secretary mattis or tillersons receipt f rhetoric. Its interesting. Elise mentioned the more aggressive approach than even the Obama Administration took on these issues. So on that, it is definitely out of step and out of character with a softer approach to russia than we had seen earlier in the administration. But on other key issues, on the implementations on sanctions against russia and actually trying to figure out how to deal with the threat of russian interference, not just in the past election but in the next one and the one after that, there you see much less from this administration and thats because they are taking their tone from the top from President Trump. Thats right. We have reporting that actually dealing with that for future elections has been hindered, as the president isnt really taking it as seriously as some other officials. I want to ask you about north korea, because the president did tweet this today and it appeared to be related to photos that we have seen of ships, including north korean ships, according to the Treasury Department. Caught redhanded, very disappointed that china is allowing oil to go into north korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen. So we dont actually know its been reported outside of the u. S. That the other ships are chinese ships getting ready to give oil to north korean ships, which would be a violation of sanctions. But we dont necessarily know that. So do you think that this is the president , again, firing off something where its not even necessarily confirmed by u. S. Intelligence . Hes just responded to a report. Or do you think hes actually letting us know that this is actually happening . Honestly, its impossible to say. None of us can see inside the mind of donald trump, especially when hes tweeting. But there is an interesting coincidence in timing. There was a fox news report yesterday citing these south korean newspaper reports about this Illegal Transfer of oil. And its consistent with everything that trump said in his tweet. So the timing on that is funny and when you combine that with the fact that neither the state department nor the nsc has been able to identify the source of trumps information and his history of relying on fox news for this information, i think its a fair supposition that he probably picked up fox news or picked up his phone and read fox news and concluded he should tweet something about this. He did this earlier on in the year more. We saw him do this where he would basically it seemed like he was confirming news reports but really he was reacting to them. It seems like it had been some time before assuming he is just responding to fox and friends, it seems that it had been some time since he did that. Right . Hes on vacation now so maybe he has more time to watch tv. Im not sure. But what i can say is that these photos that are the source of this news account from the south korean newspaper were actually released by the Treasury Department in november. So its not it doesnt appear to me to be an instance of which where hes revealing highly classified information. It seems that he is working off of reports and leaping to conclusions and doing so in a way that i find quite interesting because hes taking a direct shot at the chinese. He has done this previously and it shows his irritation that hes not seeing, from his perspective, the level of coop operation from china in tightening the noose around north korea. Its not consistent with where the rest of the administration is, but now well have to see. What does it mean if these ships are actually from china . A lot of experts said that they wouldnt be surprised if they are. Yeah. What would it mean for the relationship and how china relates to sanctions . This would be a classic means of trying to evade ee sanctions regime, to go off shore with ships and instead of passing across the border, pass oil ship to ship and thereby find a way to slip through a tightening sanctions regime. I think it would be a significant issue that would have to be brought up at the highest levels of beijing if in fact the Chinese Government is looking the other way on this. Now, i think the chinese have probably gotten a weakup call from the president s tweet and they are going to look into whether or not this is something they intend to crack down on. But by and large, it has to be the case that the United States maintains vigilance and makes sure that china is following through on the kmicommitments i has made. A senior official is saying that the Trump Administration as a new tact when it comes to how they deal with the u. S. , south korea and japan, exercises that are supposed to be in reaction to the belligerence of north korea. But the plan is to be, quote, more quiet, more discrete as they speak publicly about these exercises. Were told that its meant to give a little leeway to try to avert north korea becoming a fullfledged Nuclear Power with a Nuclear Weapon that has miniaturized capability of reaching the u. S. What do you think about this decision to walk more softly, talk more softly about these exercises . Is it a good idea . Look, im a frequent critic of the Trump Administration but i have to give them credit where credit is due. The fact that theyve been able to get the level of sanctions against north korea and then when you combine that pressure with this diplomatic approach, trying to tone down the rhetoric, reduce the visibility of the exercises, that, to me, sounds like a very sensible approach. Squeeze them harder with economic pressure while at the same time not thrusting the exercises into their face and see if the condemnation of those steps can actually lead to a diplomatic breakthrough. That, i think, is good diplomacy. What is your calculus of the possible see that there is a way to avert north korea becoming a Nuclear Power capable of hitting the u. S. . Well, from a diplomatic standpoint, a lot of that hinges on whether senior officials in the United States have already decided that were just going to have to use the military option. Some of the rhetoric that weve heard preemptively, you mean . Preemptively. Its been quite alarming on this front. If theyve concluded theres only one way out here and its using force, then, no, they are not going to get to a diplomatic solution. But if they say we are going to use every diplomatic and economic tool at our disposal and rally to bring north korea to the table, the clock is ticking but there is still a possibility of stopping the further advance of north koreas Nuclear Weapons program. And just real quickly, why would kim jongun want to do that . Why would he want to stop . Well, first of all, i said theres a possibility because i think your question correctly underscores the fact that kim jongun may have decided no amount of diplomacy is going to keep him from going all the way to proving a reentry vehicle and the rest. However, with mounting economic pressure, with the chinese taking a different strategy, at least we put ourselves in the position to finally test that proposition. Will kim jongun come to the table or not. There are no guarantees on this but i do not believe that the right answer at this point is to cast aside the diplomatic option and turn to war. We have much more to talk but with you, Jake Sullivan, including the iran deal. Well be discussing that when we come right back. Better, faster by daft punk is heard throughout. sound of typing sound of exhaling sound of drilling jimmy shouting james brand vo the Worlds Largest workforce works for themselves. We work for them. Quickbooks. Backing you. 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Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures and before starting xarelto® about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Youve got to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from dvt and pe blood clots. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know. And we are back now with former state Department Official Jake Sullivan talking about a remarkable opinion piece by secretary of state Rex Tillerson and whether hes on the same page as the president. So he talked about a number of different areas, including iran. He talks about the iran deal and writes, the flawed iran deal is no longer the focal point of our policy towards iran. We are now confronting the totality of iranian threats. Come midjanuary, the president has a series of deadlines when it comes to iran and imposing sanctioning. Hes facing that. Do you interpret, by what you read in this oped, that the iran deal could be totally ripped up . I dont interpret that from the op ed. I think what hes saying is, yes, we need to enforce the deal. From his perspective, it needs to be adjusted in some ways. Hes saying lets turn to the broader threat that iran faces and deal with that outside of the context of the nuclear deal. So i think tillersons oped is suggesting a strategy that involves keeping and enforcing the iran deal. Deemphasizing it so donald trump can say this is terrible . I think to zoom out a bit and say lets not focus every three months just on the iran deal. Lets get the president comfortable with the broader strategy towards iran and he can feel sufficiently robust and aggressive and maybe the iran deal isnt constantly on the chopping block. I think thats what tillerson is trying to accomplish. Whether he can succeed in that i think is another question. He talks about the reorganization of the state department and we see he hasnt staffed up with a lot of areas with the state department as youd expect to see in other administrations and then weve seen this exodus of career diplomats. Theres been a brain drain at the state department with members of Foreign Service. So how has this impacted, do you think, Foreign Policy over the course of the past year and what does this mean for the future . You know, ive spent a lot of months trying to give Rex Tillerson the benefit of the doubt. I have to say, im just baffled by the approach hes taken. Its not just that senior officials in the Foreign Service have left in large numbers. The equivalent of three and fourstar generals. Its also that applications to enter the Foreign Service have gone down because the signal has been sent force that diplomacy has been devalued in this administration. Meanwhile, Rex Tillerson has advocated for a 33 cut in the state departments budget. Just to put this in perspective, at the same time the administration is advocating for 58 billion extra for the pentagon, they are talking about cutting the stake. Thats more than the entire budget combined. So what is the net result of this . Its not something that were going to feel tomorrow or the next day. It is going to be felt in American Security and prosperity over the coming years and i think it will take a long time to fix because we arent doing the difficult spade work that people dont see every day. Describe what would some of that be. For example, dealing with trafficking and children and sex slaves. For example, working on womens political participation and enhancing the status and stature of women around the world in ways that make societies more peaceful and stable so they are less likely to produce threats against the United States in the long term. For example, putting money that we need into securing Nuclear Weapons around the world and all of the hard diplomatic work that is required to do that so the terrorists never get their hands on that material. For example, dealing with the challenges of Climate Change that have already coming home to roost. This is just part of what the state department does every day and when you are removing the senior echelons, your best and brighted experienced officers and deterring new talent from coming in and then cutting resources, the net result of all of that is a Foreign Policy in i with the military is elevated and diplomacy is devalued and that will come at a longterm cost to American Security and prosperity. Jake sullivan, we appreciate you being here. Thanks for having me. Up next, roy moore blames his loss on voter fraud instead of the sex abuse charges hes facing. 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Tonight, Democrat Doug Jones is officially the senateelect after the losing candidate roy moore managed to stir up new controversy. The republican made a lastditch attempt to delay certification of the vote based on unsubstantiated claims that democrats are calling desperate. Cnns Diane Gallagher is in the alabama capital tonight. Is there any sign that moore is ready to let go and maybe finally move on here . That kind of depends, brianna, what your definition of confession is here. He did issue a statement after the election was certified that said i have no regrets to god be the glory. But his options arent 100 out at this point. If he wants to pony up the cash, and were talking a lot of money here, hes got 48 hours from the time that the election was certified, down to the minute, to pay for a recount. Broke every record in the history of the state for a special election. Tonight, doug jones officially certified by the state of alabama to be its next u. S. Senator. This election has been conducted with the utmost integrity. Reporter a final hail mary from roy moore alleging potential voter fraud. This election was fraudulent and we need to ask the secretary of state to do his job and to investigate this. Reporter moore has refused to concede to jones after losing earlier this month by more than 20,000 votes. When the vote is this close, then its not over. Reporter but most republicans, including the president , have called for moore to concede. As far as roy moore, yeah. I would certainly say people are entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. Reporter roy moore asked for a pause insert if i indication. But minutes before the state certification, a Circuit Court judge denied moores complaint alleging that out of state residents had been allowed to vote and that fraud had taken place and one of those experts is richard charnin. Moores questioning the high voter turnout in Jefferson County calling it highly unusual. The alabama secretary of state says many voter fraud complaints have already been dismissed. More than 60 of those have already been fully adjudicated and dismissed but we have several that are still active and well continue to investigate those until they are fully adjudicated. Reporter Doug Jones Campaign released a statement saying, quote, this desperate claim will not suck cease. The election is over. Its time to move on. Moores complaint also brengs up allegations he had relations with teenage girls while in his 30s and several others accusing him of assault. Moore denied those accusations throughout his campaign. These allegations are completely false. I did not date underaged women. I did not molest anyone. Reporter but today he released an affidavit he signed of a polygraph test he says he took after the election over the allegations made against him. Moore states, the results of the examination reflected i did not know nor had i ever had sexual contact with these individuals. An important distinction that we need to point out, that affidavit was signed and written by roy moore. The polygraph administrator examiner did not sign any documents. One other interesting tid bit here, we know about the black turnout in alabama. We know democrats turned out. But the writein votes, turns out, were absolutely crucial. There were more cast than the margin of victory that doug jones had. It turned out a lot of people who said they didnt want to vote for roy moore so they were just going to write somebody in. That made a really big difference. It sure did. Diane gallagher in montgomery, alabama, thank you. I want to bring in our correspondents and analysts to talk about this. Ron brownstein, to you first. Despite this challenge from roy moore, you had the republican secretary of state who supported moore kind of even laughed at this challenge, this was ultimately certified and doug jones is going to the senate and hes going to be sworn in next week. How significant is this if we just look at the big picture here that you have a democrat taking over the seat . Well, you know, its significant in the narrow terms of the senate or the immediate terms of the senate going to a 5149 senate even if they can pursue reconciliation. But i think its even more significant in terms of confirming the patterns that weve been seeing in the special elections of 2017 and in the polling pointing toward 2018. In alabama, as in virginia earlier, as in new jersey, we saw big turnout among africanamericans and a Significant Movement toward democrats among collegeeducated, white suburban voters and that overcame still big margins for roy moore, like ed gillespie, blue collar, older and whites. The big difference is the trumptype voters did not turn out at any level like we saw among the democrats. The big significance in alabama is they could be heading toward a powerful wave in 2018 with the ca caveat that their inability to crack the constituencies could still leave them with a narrow majority to the senate and the house. Phil mattingly, put this into context for us. This may just be one senate seat but this means a lot. No question. The practical effect in the near term is you look at nominations, whether new cabinet secretaries and expect people to start cycling out. There are judicial nominations which republicans have pushed through in a major way over the course of the last 12 months. Now you have one fewer republican senator which these votes could be cast and passed through a simple majority. So betsy devos, who was confirmed 5050, if doug jones is now the senator, betsy devos is not confirmed so democrats have more power and leeway in the nominations. Its important to see what Mitch Mcconnell has said. They have taken their shots down field and were in the middle of bull season on repeal and replace, tax reform. They are now going to have to move to a more bipartisan way of trying to create legislation, whether thats infrastructure, whether its something more small. So the coalition is going to include more democrats. Everything is going to take 60 votes and there is just a lot less leeway for republicans to work with. If they are moving towards a more bipartisan direction, do you think doug jones may actually go along with republicans on some things or when you look at what a slim margin this was that lets say he won by and perhaps he his calculus is that he wont be reelected, is he just going to go with democrats . Youve heard doug jones talk about this. He said hes not going to be someone who sticks 100 with democrats or republicans. Its really important to talk about the landscape of alabama here. As you know, its a deeply red state. So hes got some personal decisions to make here. He could be up for a very tough reelection race. Is he going to go with the largely liberal party in the deep red state or even possibly further to the right, perhaps keeping himself in the senate a little longer . Its not clear what hes going to do quite yet and well be looking at that after he gets sworn in. All of this is happening with the cloud of russia investigation over it, despite the fact that President Trumps lawyers have clearly been telling him that this is going do wrap up soon. This could last into a significant portion of the next year. What is that going to do to the legislative agenda, which is pretty ambitious for republicans . The bigger thing hanging over them is probably going to be the Midterm Elections, whether its infrastructure or focused on things like ryan wants to do which is not going to get too Many Democrats on board. Certainly in the Midterm Election here and political d e dynamics that weve been covering, not a lot of goodwill or incentive to work together. Theres an Immigration Crisis that is going to come up next year but both parties seem to want the issue for the midterm. Russia will be an important factor if something does develop and that could have a big impact on capitol hill but the midterms might even preclude that and might not be an opportunity for a window for much to happen next year. You guys, stand by. We have much more to talk about, including the president golfing again today. Were going to talk about the larger issue of conflict of interest. Not just that truck that blocked the view of the president on the golf course. This issue of a conflict of interest stretching to the first daughter ivanka trump as well. Big australia is back. Our biggest sirloin. Our biggest bloom. Our biggest entrees ever. Outback steakhouse. Aussie rules. And now, get a free 10 bonus card with every 50 in gift cards. Tonight, we have an update on the case of the mysterious white truck. It was carefully positioned to block cnn from shooting video of President Trump on the golf course yesterday even though our camera was on public property. Well, weve done some digging and heres what we have learned. That white box truck was parked in a spot reserved for Sheriffs Department vehicles. A similar truck was seen parked at the Sheriffs Department parking lot. So was the palm beach Sheriffs Department behind this move . Well, a Department Spokesperson says the camerablocking truck maneuver was not authorized and there was no attempt to block our shot today. We actually got a pretty good shot, if we have that handy, maybe . Well have it. We got video today of President Trump on the golf course. Okay. Why block the shot . Heres today, i should say, as promised. Oh, man. This is silly a little unforced but really it is a very littera attempt by the media and something from the administration weve seen time and again that is very sensitive of how the president is portrayed when hes away from the white house and on his properties and at a golf course. Thats something he poked fun at and even ridiculed president obama for when he said he spent too much time on the golf course. Candidate trump saying, of course, he wouldnt have time to play golf when he was president. Our reporting shows and the videotape shows that is not the case. Were not sure that the administration had anything to do with this, we should say. But certainly the sentiment about wanting to hide that the president golfs so much is something that the Trump White House would be on board with. So today is the 112th day that trump as president has spent time at one of his golf properties. Its hard to tell sometimes is he golfing, is he not. Sometimes its hard to tell and it is kept from us. This is a conflict of interest . Yeah. What the president will tell you, though, is that the president they cant have a conflict of interest and hes said that multiple times. Theres an element of truth that the president is exempt from conflict of interest laws but there are larger societal questions, is the president using that spending so much time at these clubs that those clubs have raised their fees. There are new protocols in place to book reservations because people assume the president s going to be there on a given weekend. Those are important questions. Who are those people . How did they get in . Did any of them have business before the president himself and we dont know the answer to that. The white house has been very opaque on anything having to do with trump business. They claim theyre his ethics providers, but provide no documentation. He seems like a creature of habit, of comfort in a way. Maybe hes more comfortable at his golf properties, but that said, putting that aside, is it incumbent on him to not just go to his properties . I think its been a surprise to pretty much everybody involved that theyve just been sort of deliberate about it that been no effort to kind of put out materials saying this is why im doing this. Hes saying this is where im comfort bable. Thises where im going, weather wla its in virginia, palm beach, in washington, d. C. Or somewhere in new york. Im going to go where im going and theres nothing you can do to stop me. Thats his right and hes talked to his office and theyve delivered their legal guidance on what he can or cant do. The most interesting element here is you talk to democrats on capitol hill about this and theyre in the minority right now but if they flip into the majority, the idea of whos staying at the trump hotels, why, whos holding banquets there, all of those types of issues. The fact that the trump hotel in washington, d. C. Is a Government Agency property, those are the types of things youre going to see them attempt to dig into. It could be like a lincoln bedroom 2. 0. It might not matter now but if democrats in the near term expect that to become an issue. So juan, have you seen this wall street journal report . It reviews ivanka trumps outfits on twitter, facebook and instagram postings. These are of her official appearances. From march until the end of october. They looked and they found she was wearing items from her personal Clothing Brand in 46 of the 68 outfits that they reviewed. Has the family separated themselves at all from their brand this year . Not just the president , the family . Right. So first, you would hope, you would hope that ivanka trump likes wearing the clothes she markets in her name. So you have to give her the benefit of the doubt on that. Against the context, it kind of looks different because we have seen this willingness to mingle the kind of the official duties with promotion of the trump family brands to an extent that has surprised even the ethics experts who were worried about it at the beginning of the administration. Its difficult to disentangle the different elements of the personal judgments that voters are making about President Trump. How much this way versus questions about his temperment or volatility or the way he talks about constitutions. Theres institutions. Theres no question part of that braid. It goes to this personal assessment of him thats at the root of why his Approval Rating is so much lower than you might expect given the assessment of the economy at this point. And again, you cant separate any one of these, but all together, they have produced a great deal of doubt in 60 of the electorate about his personal characteristics, qualities, values, the way he comforts himself as president. Ron, zeke, phil, thank you so much to all of you. And just ahead, the ice endsy end to the year and the record breaking forecast on new years eve. Ked 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. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Even when nothing else is. Keep her receipts tidy, brand vo snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, 4,340 in tax savings. Quickbooks. Backing you. 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. Give a little bit give a little bit. Hello. Give a little bit. Of your love to me oh, haha. Theres so much that we need to share so send a smile and show that you care ill give a little bit of my love to you christmas marching band music drumsticks click tonight, millions of americans across much of the u. S. Are suffering through brutal, bitter cold and the deep freeze is expected to continue into the new year. Were see iing record breaking temperatures here. Yes and were likely going to pick up a few more every couple of days that we go into the weekend. So right now, it feels like it is minus 23 in fargo. It feels like it is zero in chicago. And it feels like it is minus 9 in boston. Weve got a widespread area of those cold temperatures and t going to get colder. You wake up tomorrow morning in boston, its going to feel like it is minus 19. Minus 8 for saturday morning and chicago very similar. Going from minus 7 friday to minus 1716 sunday. Notice its going to get even cold eer and the reason is we he another wave of cold air thats going to push back through as we go through the weekend. So youll no sooner get through with the first one when the second arrives. The difference with with the second, notice how far south it dips. This is where we talk about how widespread this is going to go. Atlanta, 51 for friday. 35 on monday and dallas may not hit the freezing mark on monday. Thats how widespread this is. But the corn Going Forward is what do we do about new york city . So many people are going to be there for the new years festivities and that night, many folks are standing out there for hours on end, the temperature is expected to drop into the Single Digits with a feels like temperature in the negative numbers. Which means this will be the coldest celebration in new york since the 190660s. So bundle up with layers upon layers. My goodness. Thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. When youre all bundled up on new years eve, you can watch Anderson Cooper and andy cohn ring in 2018 just from your coach hopefully as youre warm. Begins sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cnn. Im brianna keilar. Thanks for watching. Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Outfront next, President Trump slamming china, charging the country with selling oil to north korea and hinting the u. S. Could be closer to war with kim jongun. Plus, roy moore charges of voter fraud in alabama shot down in court. His opponents victory is is