Breakdown of humanitarian cease fire between the governor bashar assad and western bag rebel groups. Both sides blame the other for renewed violence. Look at that city. The United Nations called the city there a complete meltdown of humanity. Assad forces are backed up by russia and iran, of course, and the u. N. Alleged more have been shot by forces. There are bodies in the streets. They have holed up in the eastern side of the city, but tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped along with them. Nbcs bill mealy has the latest. Bill . Reporter good evening, chris. Its been said in the past in the middle of cease fire deals that before the ink is dry, the cease fire has collapsed. That appears to be the case in aleppo. Last night we understood there was a deal brokered by russia and turkey that would allow hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including rebels and their families, to get on buses and leave the city. Those buses were lined up at dawn this morning, but as the sun rose, the cease fire deal collapsed. There was shooting, then shelling. Many of the people who thought they would get out had to scatter and run for their lives. And today, well, the shooting and shelling is just increased. Ive just heard from a friend and colleague inside aleppo who said all day theres been very heavy shelling. That has continued tonight with explosives lighting up the night sky. Its a terrible betrayal of the people inside eastern aleppo. The u. N. Says there was about 50,000 of those in an area probably one square mile. Were still not sure how big it is and how many people are in there, but yesterday we saw some of them, bedraggled, leaving in terrible conditions, leaving the slaughter. We did think more would join them, but no, they are trapped. The rebels said they have begun to attack rebel forces. Thats within the last few hours. The government said they were attacking and people have been describing airstrikes, what they call cluster bomb attacks all day long. We know there have been casualties, including children, certainly civilians. We dont know how many. But look, the fall of aleppo is imminent. This cant go on for too long. President assad has been on television, on Russian Television today, talking about what happens next. Even if aleppo falls, this war, chris, isnt over. Isis controls a large part of eastern syria, including palmyra which it retook recently. Rebels controlled the province in the north and in the south near dara and the kurds control the border south of turkey. This war isnt over because its several wars. Its not just a war between the government and rebels. And, you know, assad will control the four major cities of syria, al erkaleppo, damascus a hahns. He says he wants it back in the days ahead. We can expect many more hours of fighting and an increasing death toll, sadly. Chris, back to you. Thank you, bill nealy in beirut. Senator corker, if you had to give advice on an intimate basis with the current president , barack obama, or the incoming president , donald trump, what would you tell them to do to try to stop this horror . Well, look, weve been giving advice for four or five years, chris, and, you know, this was said on the front end to be the chernobyl of conflicts, and its turned out to be that. This is a blight on us, its a blight on the west, its a blight on humankind. At this point, i mean, the story as it relates to western syria is mostly written. And whats going to happen there is going to be determined by russia, who stepped in to a vacuum that we left about nine months to a year ago, and iran. And certainly assad. So this is a disaster. Weve known that he was torturing his own people. Youve seen the Holocaust Museum exhibit of caesar who was documenting this, cutting peoples genitals off. This has been going on for a long time. Its almost as if, not you, but people are beginning to wake up to whats occurred, and as far as advice goes, i mean, again, russia is going to determine the outcome in the western part. So the real decision is on the eastern part where isis is, and are we, in fact, going to try to team up with the turks . Are we going to team up with the arabs who are in conjunction with the kirurds, or are we goi to try to do something in coordination with russia . The real whats left where we can be more instrumental is the isis component. We, unfortunately, led these rebels on, told them what we were going to do and we didnt do it. We cheered them on. We held their coats. And this is what is left. What would you have done . Well, it was exactly what was attempting to be done at the time when petraeus was in and secretary clinton, and that was to attempt to really give the moderate rebels when there actually was a moderate rebel group what they needed to push back. Chris, if you remember, when the chemical weapons were used, the Free Syrian Army was on the move. They had momentum. And when we decided not to take assad, it was going to be a 10hour operation from the mediterranean, but when we decided not to carry out that operation to push back, it depleted their momentum. It left them in many ways lifeless that we would not do what we said. So, again, theres been a series of efforts a year and a half ago. We had the opportunity to create a nofly zone along the southern border of turkey and a nofly zone in the triangle of aleppo. It really doesnt do any good. Its a shame. Thats why i keep asking, what would you do now . Russia is in there. Russia is not going away. How do we move russia to bring down assad . Youre not gonna. Youre not gonna. Its not gonna happen. The thing that can happen is we can hope that we can bring the arabs to the table. Theyre concerned about iranian influence, and we can hope to negotiate over time an election process and hopefully a transition away from assad after years and years and years, but at this point, as i mentioned, chris, i mean, russia controls what is going to happen in that area. I agree. They took control about nine months ago. So thats the next president lets take a look at the next president. The next president is not hes not sullied by the lack of decisions that have been made, and now hes in a place where he can really focus, unfortunately, on the isis component only and not really, other than negotiations, whats happening in the west. Hes advocated a stronger role from Vladimir Putin in isis and syria. If putin wants to go after isis, i am all for it 100 , and i cant understand why anybody would be against it. Ive been looking at the different players, and ive been watching assad, and ive been pretty good at this over the years because deals are people. Ive been looking at assad and thinking maybe hes better than the people were supposed to be backing. Your reaction to that, senator . Well, look, russia has not been hitting isis. Russia is hitting the folks that we have begun to support, or have been supporting for years, and russia is mnethra is mixed m who are hitting our rebels, but their focus has not been on isis. The real decision is going to be, as i mentioned earlier, how are we Going Forward in the iraq area and others that they control . Are we going to try to do so with the to your recollectiurks . Are we going to try to do so with the arab inclusion that hes put together . Would you support the new government . I dont support nominees until theyre actually nominated. I understand, and i think what youre saying, look, it obviously is a nomination thats been controversial in the past, but ive never really sat down and talked to john bolton one on one, and until someone is is nominatno, maam nominated, i really dont like to weigh in. What about the idea of moving the post to jerusalem . Candidly, ive talked to the israelis about it, and i think there is a way to communicate the moving of the embassy to jerusalem. I think you know what we have, there is a consulate now that really only works on the palestinian side. But i think there is a way of doing it if you communicate that youre still hoping and working towards a twostate solution. So i know we campaign on it. I actually think it would be something at this point that would not be negative and could be very positive in moving things along. So my guess is theyre going to move in that direction. Thank you, senator corker. Coming up, it seems like donald trump and paul reiner are old pals. He says trump is like a fine wine, he gets better with time. Thats ahead. This is hardball, your place for politics. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. Th. Oh, bakedon alfredo . E. Gotta rinse that. Nope. No way. Nada. Really . Dish issues . Throw it all in. Cascade platinum powers through. Your toughest stuckon food. Nice. Cascade. House Speaker Paul Ryan did everything he could to avoid even appearing with his partys president ial nominee donald trump. It was just two months ago, in fact, that ryan had disinvited trump from a joint Campaign Appearance in ryans home state of wisconsin. But last night as trump continued on his thank you tour back in wisconsin, the hatchet was pretty much buried between the president elect and the house speaker, though maybe not with trumps supporters. Speaker paul ryan. Ive really come to no, ive come to appreciate him. Speaker paul ryan. Where is the speaker. Where is he . Honestly, he is like a fine wine. Every day goes by, i get to appreciate his genius more and more. Now, if he ever goes against me, im not going to say that, okay . We have some Amazing Things in store and were going to work on taxes, were going to work on obamacare, were going to work on things and hes going to lead the way, so thank you. Were going to work on the wall, paul. Say the old favorites, the old golden oldies, the wall. While trump appeared to put ryan on notice last night, their newly forged political friendship, will it produce good results . April ryan is washington correspondent and the author of at mamas knee. Jeremy peters is with the new york times. Lets talk about this thing because its really against the heart of whats going to get done next year or not. Lawrence a braid med and said, well, brian isnt going to approve any spending bills. Will paul ryan agree to some grand economic deal next year, or will nothing get done . No, he will. He has to. Lets be honest. Paul ryan at some point made a calculated risk that trump was not going to win. Now trump wins and what ryan has said since then is hes spoken with people that we havent been. The key from that footage that you showed was, you have to understand, a lot of Trump Supporters are not necessarily republican supporters. Theyre Trump Supporters. And ryan needs them, but at the same time president elect needs ryan. Its an arranged marriage, but i think theyre going to try to make it work. The reason people voted for trump voted for him, at least the better people, who had aspirations for this country, who were patriotic, was hoping to get the country rolling again. Big Economic Opportunities for everybody. If they dont pass a deal for these big road building, bridge building, fixing stuff, hiring people, its all b. S. If he doesnt do that. Can ryan go along with that . Will he go along with that . Ryan is governance and thats what he is in place to do. You know, building bridges, the infrastructure, the nation needs infrastructure building. Weve got crumbling roads, crumbling bridges, crumbling buildings, but at the same time donald trump said this on the campaign trail. And to make him successful, these two frenemies have to meet for this to work. Paul ryan is the one to help find the ways and means to make it happen. Will there be a wall hes up against . Will he force trump in every case, pay for this, pay for this. In other words, raise taxes to pay for this . Its a very hard thing to do if youre going to stimulate the economy at the same time you raise taxes. Trump wants to cut corporate taxes, cut a lot of taxes. And spend money. Will they concoct some scheme like reagan did with the gas taxes . There will be a way to pay for this, yes. It will have to be done in a way thats going to be palatable to the Grover Norquists of the world. I just dont see it getting by. Trump bonds. Theyre going to go out on the road and sell trump bonds like war bonds. This is where some of the cabinet members will play a key role, chris. His commerce secretary and his transportation secretary are going to be deeply involved in working elaine chow. Who is the wife of . Mitch mcconnell. They all knew what they were doing. Youre thinking he got the spouse to get the spouse, do you think . Lets understand, she does have experience. He didnt just pull it out of a hat. I just saw her last night. Im saying, was he thinking of this marital connection . I dont think so. It wasnt the marital connection as much as it was her ability to help shepherd things through congress and her deep ties, her relationship on capitol hill. Thats a different story. His politics is business and he knows thats what you do. You find the Common Ground and that was a good Common Ground, and it makes sense. Shes a very popular figure in stelt, the city, by the way. Donald trumps son, donald jr. , was involved. Donald trump did tell an outdoors publication, whatever that is, the big joke at christmas this year was that the only job in government that i would want is with the department of interior. I understand these issues and its something im passionate about. I will be the very loud voice about these issues in my fathers ear. No one gets in more than us. Thats the kid talking. Anyway, a trump spokesperson waved off any concern about trumps kids being the republicans are going to get three senate seats. Last time they got to run with obama. Whats the big upset . I think pennsylvania. The opposite of synopsis. The president ial briefings going back a couple years since were hearing donald trump doesnt like them to get repetition every day. Bill clinton was a voracious reader. He read his intelligence briefings. George w. Bush had people come in and gave him the understanding of what was going on, and he also had an hour with them afterwards. And now president obama read as well as takes the briefings. So we understand donald trump does not like to read much, so we are expecting it will be catered to him. Senior sources on capitol hill, it seems like Rex Tillerson is going to be fine. Fine doesnt mean the process is going to be pleasant or not bumpy. But hes an impressive guy. Thank you, john braybender, april ryan. Thanks for being with us. 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Oh yeah one bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this bargain brand. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Rachel has the night off but well hear from her a little later in the hour. We do have breaking news for you tonight about the story thats been dominating the headlines. It began on friday night with a blockbuster report by the Washington Post. Secret cia assessment says russia was trying to help trump win the white house. The Washington Post reported last week that russia was not just out to disrupt the election but that the russians did it because they wanted donald trump to be president. Quote, intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the russian government who provided wikileaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National committee and others including Hillary Clintons campaign chairman. That reporting was followed up yesterday with an in depth