Away in italy. And going nuclear, you heard me, nuclear. Donald trump tells msnbc, let it be an arms race. Then his Transition Team takes it up a step further with matt lauer. Other countries need to be put on notice that hes not going to sit back and allow them to undermine our safety, our sovereignty. Hes going to match other countries and take action. Two days before christmas, not the president yet, putting other countries on notice. Merry christmas. We begin with breaking news out of malta. A libyan passenger plane was forced to land there after two hijackers took control. It was carrying 111 passengers and 7 crew members. We have been watching the live feed. You can see it here, showing dozens of haaostages getting of the plane. Cal perry is monitoring the situation for us. This plane took off from the sort of south of libya, and it was on its way to tripoli when it was diverted by hijackers apparently having hand grenades. Youre seeing again the live pictures from malta where the plane ended up. Less than 50 people remain onboard. We have seen passengers trickle off and we understand from the government in malta that things are being negotiated out. The hijackers appear to be, and i say appear to be because this is unfolding right now, progadhafi loyalists. What you would refer to in libya as sort of the third column, the remnants of supporters of colonel gadhafi who have remained since his death in 2011. Lets make it clear. Air traffic air travel in libya is not safe like it is here in the u. S. There is not the same security apparatus. And we heard from the mayor of the town where this plane originated from saying that the Airport Security was just, quote, poor. You dont have the same kind of system that you have here with the tsa. You have had hijackings in the past. You had planes shot at on the ground in the past in places lick tripoli as recently as december. And what exactly did these hijackers want . Its not clear. They say theyre going to hang on to the crew. Theyre willing to let the passengers go. Its possible they want to travel on to another destination. Its possible they want to leave libya and stay in malta. That we dont know. Were waiting to see that hopefully all of the passengers get off safely. Thanks, cal. Were going to turn to president elect donald trump. This morning, he ramped up his rhoric on Nuclear Weapons in an offair conversation with our own mika brzezinski. Mika asked the president elect while we had the opportunity, what his position was on trying to clarify the tweet yesterday regarding the Nuclear Arsenal and the president elect told you what . Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass. And outlast them all. And outlast them all. There you have it. Kristen welker is live in palm beach, florida. Kristen, let it be an arms race. Thats a shocking moment. That is major. The Transition Team also doesnt seem to be trying to walk that back. What did sean spicer tell matt lauer today . Reporter well, right. Sean spicer digging in, essentially saying, look, the tweet was more complicated than it initially appears. The president elect talking about trying to upgrade the United States Nuclear Arsenal. At the same time, he didnt back away from what the president elect said in the tweet. Let me remind you of the original tweet and then lets hear from sean spicer. The original tweet is the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its Nuclear Capability. Until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. Heres sean spicer earlier today. Since he was elected in vember 8th, he has had one success after another with carrier, with boeing. This is very different. This is nuclear proliferation. I understand that, but other countries need to be put on notice that hes not going to sit back and allow them to undermine our safety, our sovereignty. Hes going to match other countries and take action. Reporter that posture is a real break from u. S. Foreign policy going back decades, when it comes to nuclear proliferation. And a major break from president obama, who has, of course, made it one of his key Foreign Policy goals to scale back the u. S. Of Nuclear Weapons. In fact, steph, hes convened four different Nuclear Security summits, trying to get the International Community to either draw down its Nuclear Arsenal or to try to secure it. So these are striking comments, but the question is how will they play out . And of course, they came on the heels of similar comments made by russias president Vladimir Putin. And it appears as though he was challenging him and really sending a strong warning, trying to send a strong warning, at least, to russia, that the United States will not be outmatched when it comes to this. As you just heard matt lauer say, negotiating over Nuclear Weapons, a far different prospect than negotiating a business deal. Well have to see how it plays out. Especially doing it over twitter. Donald trump also taking to twitter on another subject this morning. Its amazing. I believe hes going to play golf with tiger woods today, but before he hits the links, he taps in on Nuclear Weapons and puts out a tweet about charitable fundraising. Thats a big focus because those sons don jr. And eric got themselvesa anin a little pr is, kerfuffle. They did. His Sons Charitable foundations came under the microscope this week after erics foundation, which does a lot of work, including for kids with cancer, offered coffee with ivanka. They later said, look, were not going to offer that because there were questions about whether or not that created a conflict of interest. Lets look at Donald Trumps tweets about that. My wonderful son eric will no longer be allowed to raise money for children with cancer because of a possible conflict of interest with my presidency. Isnt it a ridiculous shame . He loves these kids, raised millions of dollars for them and now must stop. Wrong answer. It underscores just how complicated the trump familys business and charitable ties and entanglements are, and the president elect said hes going to talk about all of this during a press conference in january. Of course, that press conference was initially schedule to be held several weeks ago but was postponed until after the new year. Or maybe the ridiculous shame is offering up events, access to the president and the president s children in exchange for those donations. Its not necessarily that you cant raise money for children in need. Its how youre doing it. Thank you so much. Enjoy the good weather in florida. I want to dig into this deeper, talking about president elect donald trump answering the, quote, let it be an arms race, when hes asked about his tweet on nuclear capabilities. How will leaders around the world react to Something Like this . For more, im joined by steve clemons, editor at large at the atlantic. Steve, what message does that send to the rest of the world . I mean, people are filling their stockings with care. Singing some Christmas Carols and they see this tweet heard around the world. It adds already to a very big pile of doubts and concerns that other World Leaders have about the United States. I mean, right now, i just need to say one thick. I have admired donald trump on some of the things he has done, but we need to be honest and candid when he doesnt get it right. There is not genius behind this tweet. The notion, and every u. S. President has known that has come into thisophil office and the responsibilities that a president has, when you look at the nuk leer arsenal, it is something that is a necessary evil, that you have it, but you must be very careful with it. Actually, among the new millennial generation, theres a lack of appreciation, i think, for nukes, for institutions like nato. They dont have memories of the cold war. So donald trump is treating this terrain like every other race hes in. Theres somehow a winner in this. But in nuclear races, there are only losers on all sides. I think the rest of the world is just wondering what he knows and what he doesnt know. And look, i think hes trying to study up really fast to become president of the United States, but this is an area in which he shouldnt be stretching his legs yet. Earlier today, on today show, sean spicer was talking about donald trump not backing down. He wants the world to be on notice. You will not be undermining the United States and our position of power. But does it undermine president obama that the president elect is weighing in so heavily on so many issues, specifically Something Like this when hes not even in office yet . Of course, it undermines obama. As Kristen Welker just said, president obama has been worried, fought only about what the russians have and trying to keep arms negotiations, we have been worried about the proliferation of Nuclear Materials by nonstate actors and from trying to remove from the ecosystem the kind of Nuclear Materials, nuclear knowledge, Nuclear Substances that could be used by dirty bombs and nonstate actors and trying to make the russians, the chinese, the americans, and other players in the Nuclear Arena responsible stakeholders in the system. By trying to destabilize this arena which obama has helped support, it not only undermined obama, it undermines the United States and the world. It makes the rest of the world think were the rogue country that needs to be organized against and contained. Its something we need to get our heads around. The more we become the disrupter player in the world and not the de9 contributor to global stability. Other nations will organize trying to constrain our options. What you heard from spicer, what you heard from donald trump, is extreme unilateralism. In extreme unilateralism, america is very alone. Wow. Thats a lot to take in. All right, thanks. Thank you, stephanie. Didnt think we would be digesting all this this morning. Were going to turn to breaking news on the berlin truck attacker. The most wanted man in europe is now dead after an overnight shootout with police in milan, italy. Thats right, 650 miles away from berlin. I want to take you now to nbcs Claudio Lavanga in rome. How did they get this guy . Reporter well, it was the very early hours in the morning here when two policemen were on patrol in milan, and they saw this guy hanging around outside a train station there. A local train station, so somewhere not many people would mingle at that time, at 3 00 in the morning. They deemed this person suspicious enough to get out of the police car and ask the suspect for documents or i. D. The suspect put his hand in the rucksack and instead of pulling out i. D. , he pulled out a. 22caliber pistol and shot one of the policemen in the shoulder. The other policeman was swift enough to respond fire, and he shot the suspect dead. Only later, they found out that this was anis amri, who i believed to have driven the truck into the Christmas Market, killing 12. He has been on the run in europe ever since. Well, the two policemen are fine. The man who was shot in the shoulder will have surgery soon, but hes expected to leave the hospital fine, and the policeman who shot amri dead is known to be a 29yearold policeman who is also a rookie and has only been nine months in the police force. Only in the police force for nine months now. Now, this is what we know. What we dont know is why was amri in that very small neighborhood in the outskirts of milan . Police found the train tickets of amri in his pocket, in the pocket of his jacket, and they seem to suggest he traveled from germany to france to the big italian steen and then milan. Instead of staying in the big italian cities where it would be more difficult to be singled out, he traveled to this small, local train station in the outskirts of milan at 3 00 in the morning. Why . Why did he go there . Atailian authorities are now looking into the possibilities that he may have plans to meet someone, maybe a safe house, a safe passage through italy. That wouldnt be surprising because the italian authorities knew about amri. He spent four years in prison after he arrived here in italy from tunisia. Wow. The long history, the colorful past this guy has had. Now, that suspect, who conducted the attack in berlin, is now dead. Thanks so much, claudio. Glad where hear its moving on. Now we have to move on because donald trump and his Transition Team, theyre painting a very different story when it comes to a possible nuclear arms race. So where exactly does the president elect stand . Were going to look on what he has said in the past, what we heard this morning. What it could look like in the future. How else do you think he gets around so fast . Take the reins this holiday and get the mercedesbenz youve always wanted during the winter event. Now lease the 2017 gla250 for 329 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Everything your family touches sticks with them. Make sure the germs they bring home dont stick around. Use clorox disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. Generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. Im in all the way. Is that understood . I dont know what shes up to, but its not good. Cant the world be my noodles and butter . Get your mind out of the gutter. Mornings are for coffee and contemplation. That was a really profound observation. You got a mean case of the detox blues. Dont start a war you know youre going to lose. Finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. On xfinity x1. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. Youre watching msnbc. Were talking president elect trump, who is taking on new and somewhat startling stances on a host of issues. In just the last 24 hours, he addressed Nuclear Weapons, military jets, and the ongoing israelipalestinian conflict, all of this coming in 140 characters or less. Via his favorite medium, twitter. With me now to break this down, two msnbc political analysts, rick tyler, former spokesman for ted cruzs president ial campaign, and governor howard dean, former governor of vermont and 2004 president ial candidate. Governor, i want to start with you. Donald trump saying to mika this morning, let it be an arms race. What do you make of that . You know, at this point, i think were just he just does this for musings. You cant take it seriously. First, if he were to increase the Nuclear Arsenal, he would need an enormous appropriation from a congress that doesnt want to spend more money. You cant take these terribly, terribly seriously. Im sure he believes all these things, at the moment he says them. But, you know, 48 hours later or 48 minutes later, he may walk it all back. You know, its alarming. It puts people into orbit. People get upset, especially when youre talking about Nuclear Weapons where. I think you cant take any of this seriously until you see what he proposed in a budget or in an inaugural address. Rick, we have been told a number of times from trump Transition Team members and supporters, dont take donald trump literally. Take him seriously. So help us walk through what he has said in the past by your estimation, back in march, donald trump said he didnt want any more nukes. Then he said, well, maybe countries like south korea and japan should get them. Then he adone point not that long ago said, well, if we have them, why dont we use them . So all of those, he said in the past, and then boom, let it be an arms race. How do you take all this . I mean, nukes arent something to joke about. No, thats right. I think theres a lot of political paosturing going. Were limited by a treaty that barack obama signed in 2010. That treaty doesnt expire until 200021. It doesnt strike me that hes willing to break a treaty. Remember, this isnt an agreement like we have with iran. This is a treaty. So that would take a long process. And by the way, he just got a briefing about Nuclear Weapons, so its kind of interesting that he would get a pentagon briefing on our Nuclear Capability and then come out and tweet about it. He must have known that that was going to be provocative because if you look at the tweet, it raises a lot of questions. Its cryptic. Were not clear, what is his vision for our Nuclear Capability . Does he plan on continuing to upgrade our Nuclear Capability. The russians have to continue to upgrade their nuclear capabilities. We dont know. He hasnt had a press conference so we dont know the answers. Putin had a pres conference, a fourhour one. And recently, people have been very concerned about Donald Trumps relationship with russia, specifically Vladimir Putin. But now that we have heard from putin, trump, putin, are you concerned that maybe they arent so cozy . Maybe things are a bit nasty, or is this just a public show . I think its a public show. Look, putins press conferences arent to be taken seriously either. This is like the old kremlin watching before the cold war ended where you sort of guess affwhat theyre really saying because theyre really saying whatever they want. And trying to hint at this and hint at that. In a way, theres some similarity between trump and the old soviet leaders, which is be unpredictable. Say things that have a little edge to them, and then move on. Look, heres what i think. I think rick is right. I think what happened here is he got the briefing. Our Nuclear Arsenal is old. It needs to be upgraded, not necessarily in terms of more throw power, but in terms of modernization, unless theres a substantial treaty. So he got this into his head and blew it out ten minutes later because he cant keep anything to himself for more than ten minutes. You know, were going to have to get used to this. This is an unusual way for the president to conduct himself, we have not seen this ever before, but we got it now so we have to get used to it. Rick, to governor deans point, Say Something with edge and move on. Do you believe thats what Vladimir Putin was doing when asked about the russian hacking. You know, he distances himself, but he said, no one knew donald trump would win except us. What do you think he meant by that . Well, look. Thats a little bit of the same kind of reaction that donald trump look, i think theyre sort of in a game with each other. I think they sort of speak each others language. I do think, however, putin is much more longterm strategic thinking. I think donald trump is a little more reactive and tactical. So he needs to be careful. But of course, if the russians want to get in an arms race with us, they will lose the race because we have got great cash flow and well keep it going. It will bankrupt them in short order. Governor dean, what do you think Donald Trumps goal is in urging obama to veto the u. N. Resolutions banning israeli settlements in terms of is he really urging . If he wanted to urge, he could pick up the phone and call president obama and say heres what my ultimate goal is, how about this . To do it over twitter, what is he trying to do . I have no idea. I mean, really, i could make something up here because im on television as a commentator. Getting inside the mind of donald trump would be a challenge none of us could take on. I think he doesnt know what hes doing, to be honest with you. What other conclusion can you come to. Look, and again, i agree with rick about putin has a longterm game plan. Now, putin just lies through his teeth, as my old teacher in college used to say, it lies in such a way that not even the opposite is so. And Vladimir Putin is exactly that. But trump is all over the map. We dont know what he wants. He doesnt know what he wants half the time. You know, governor dean, i dont know if i buy that. Because in terms of donald trump doesnt know what hes doing, how could we possibly say that. He certainly does know what hes doing. He shocked the world and won. He doesnt know what hes doing in terms of policy. He shocked the world and won because there are a whole lot of people that really wanted some change, and they were willing to take a risk on this guy. Now were going to find out if that was justified or not. Rick, final thought . Well, you know, donald trump would love to have a nearly fourhour press conference if he had the kind of control over the press that Vladimir Putin does. So thats not going to happen. Look, i give him a little more credit. I think he does know what hes doing. But hes doing it in a very different way. But he leaves us to kind of guess at where hes going and what his strategic he really needs to focus like he did in the campaign, what are the three thinks he wants to accomplish. Reinvigorate the economy, become a strength power again. Be clear about it so people can get behind it. Who knows if we can get a press conference. He doesnt have a fourhour press conference. He has one 24 7 on twitter. He doesnt have to answer questions. He can put all this information out there at will. He would also like to have an Rt Television as well. There was a time when we thought trump tv could be part of our future. You never know. It could still be the case. Governor dean, rick tyler, thank you so much. Merry christmas to you both. All right, the market, it could break 20,000 today. That milestone so close. Coming up, why no one predicted it would climb this high. Your Insurance Company wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says, you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. Liberty mutual insurance. Crsugar is everywherets sugar shield and crest complete has a sugar shield to protect teeth from sugar found in everyday foods. Crest complete. Shield your teeth from sugar. So sugar may visit, but its not sticking around my hygienist told me to try. A mouthwash. So i tried crest. It does so much more than give me fresh breath. Crest prohealth mouthwash proves allf these benefits to help you get better dental checkups. Go pro with. Crest prohealth mouthwash. Checkup . Nailed it. Welcome back. Time now for your morning primer. Everything you need to know to get your day started. We begin with the breaking developments following the death of the berlin Christmas Market attacker. Anis amri was killed in a shootout with Police Officers in milan early this morning. Italys interior minister said a cop noticed a, quote, man who walked suspiciously at around 3 00 a. M. When they encountered him. All 118 passengers appear to have been released from a libyan airplane that was hijacked hours ago during a domestic flight. The airplane was diverted to malta where the hijackers reportedly threatened to blow up the plane. The hijackers and the planes crew still appear to be onboard. A man surrendered to police late last night in connection with a road rage incident that ended in the tragic shooting death of a 3yearold boy in little rock, arkansas, over the weekend. That incident that had led the fbi to offer a 40,000 reward for information that led them to the shooter. Police say 3yearold gary holmes excuse me, 33yearold gary holmes turned himself into local police. A Fire Department of new york city is reporting 24 injuries following a fouralarm fire yesterday in a manhattan high rise building. Six injured are considered in serious condition. The fire is believed to have started in a thirdfloor apartment unit. And a Texas Police Officer has been placed on restricted duty pending an internal investigation after this arrest video went viral. It began with a mother called police to report an alleged assault on her son, but the officer arrested her and two family members instead. Its unclear why the video appears to include three gaps, but all three have been released from custody. This is a strange one. All right, well, we are Just Moments Away from the opening bell down at the New York Stock Exchange where once again, the Dow Jones Industrial average will try to reach 20,000 for the first time ever. Im joined now by cnbc contributor ron an sauna. It feels like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Not just why havent we hit 20,000 . But why exactly is it so important, do you think . I personally think its about the trend, not the number. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Indeed, the football has only been taken away a couple times. Just a few days ago, we were 13 points away from dow 20,000. For all intents and purposes, we have hit it, at least big round numbers as you well know, can provide a psychological resistance to traders. Particularly going into a long holiday weekend. You dont want to load the boat with anything can happen over a threeday period. The market is quiet. Were coming to the end of the year. Some people are taking profits. Its more of a psychological barrier than a meaningful one in market terms. When we talk about donald trump and not the santa rally but the trump rally, lets look at history. You did not see a big wall street presence backing donald trump. The narrative we heard throughout the campaigns were, listen, the upside may be limited with Hillary Clinton, but donald trump is so unpredictable, the downside is unlimited. What does the market do, it risk manages . How is it that when we look back, donald trump then wins and the market has done one thing, soar . How do umake sense of that . We had a brexit moment on election night. The dow was down as much as 900 points in the futures markets on election night. That was a 5 pullback. And then everybody stepped back and said, all right, so what does a Trump Presidency mean . It means lower taxes both for individuals and corporations. It means deregulation, particularly of the financial sector. It means maybe more infrastructure spending, maybe more defense spending. So all those groups that would have benefitted from an incoming President Trump rallied with reckless abandon now, and are discounting stronger growth, lower taxes, deregulation, maybe a little higher inflation, and so thats what the market seized on. If you get paid, as you very well know on wall street, to think quickly. Thats what traders did, once they figured out the upside as opposed to the downside of the Trump Presidency. Really, it was about probability. The probability seemed so low, they looked at polls. The market isnt emotional. It is about probability and statistics. Was it that the probability in their mind in large part due to the media, due to polling numbers, they didnt think donald would win. If they looked at heres what his policies could be, they would be psyched and would have supported him . There are downsides to his proposed policies as well, and the market hasnt begun to discount those. His comments yesterday about expanding the Nuclear Arsenal and talking about the possibility of an arms race is certainly disconcerting. The market is not paying attention to that. Launching a trade war with china, renegotiating nafta, getting involved in the middle east in ways that havent been anticipating could be potential negatives. The Federal Reserve having to raise Interest Rates if the economy does heat up because of fiscal stimulus. All of those are potential headwinds, but they havent played out yet. And the more likely scenario at least in the early days looks like what we talked about first. Tax cuts, deregulation, all having a beneficial effect, certainly on wall street. Well see what it does for main street. We have to point out that the market is not necessarily a reflection on the economy. At the end of the day, traders can sell out of their positions in a moment. You know, thats not necessarily tied to longterm policy making. Policy making, you can get stuck with. Before we go, ron, i need to show one thing. 20,000 is an important number in terms of the dow. You were with us, you were onair when it hit 10,000. I want to share that moment. Take a look. We are now counting down the final few minutes of trading. As you can see, the dow is at 10,007. Up 84 points. The dow had been up almost 224 points not too long ago. In fact, in the final half hour of trading, the dow was up in the 10,027 range. Its backed off a bit, as you can see, holding at 10,000, and the seconds are ticking away. It is possible the dow as the closing bell rings on wall street. The fourth attempt for 10,000 appears to be successful. Ron, right now, youre like, how can you do this to me . The first time were on tv together, but for me, why was that so beautiful . Why did you go for the hair piece video . For me, its not the hair. You were dominating the gordon gekko blue shirt, white collar look. And let me tell you, that was a hot look. You might want to bring it back. 17 years later, that might get the dow to 20,000. 20 pounds ago. You might want to break the shirt back out. Ill look for it. Thank you so, so much. Have a good holiday. You, too. Were going to talk trumps when we come back. The sons falloge in their fathers footsteps, can don jr. And eric trump really handle taking over the reins at trump tower . Well find out. I we worked with pg eof to save energy because wenie. Wanted to help the school. They would put these signs on the door to let the teacher know you didnt cut off the light. The teachers, they would call us the energy patrol. So they would be like, here they come, turn off your lights those three young ladies were teaching the whole school about energy efficiency. We actually saved 50,000. And thats just one school, two semesters, three girls. Together, were building a better california. Welcome back. Youre watching msnbc. Im stephanie ruhle. Talking about a big question heading into the new year. Is what exactly president elect trump will do to separate himself completely from his businesses to avoid conflict of interest. So far he said his two sons will manage the businesses. But can they really run the trump empire independent of their dad . Joining me now, bill, special correspondent for vanity fair, who has been investigating whether the trumps trump can handle it all. First, i want to start, i feel like im always saying let me start with a donald trump tweet, but im going to, one that involved eric and his foundation this morning. Quote, my wonderful son eric will no long be allowed to raise money for children with cancer because of a possible conflict of interest with mise presidency. Isnt this a ridiculous shame . He loves these kids. Hes raised millions of dollars for them and now must stop. Wrong answer. This after erics foundation had sponsored coffee with ivanka or a hunting trip with eric or don jr. In exchange for donations and maybe a photo op with the president himself the day after the inauguration. So lets break this down really quickly. Its not that eric trump is not allowed to raise money for charity anymore. Thats not what the questions were about. The questions are about pay for play. Giving access to the white house. And its a lesson that you would have thought the trumps would have learned from the experience of the clintons and the clinton foundation, and the letting people stay in the lincoln bedroom for donating millio of dollars. During that period of time. Nobody liked that, and that was fully reviewed and fully vetted. Now we have the trump children acting like that never happened. And its okay to, as you say, raise money for access to the president of the United States or his children who are very close to the president of the United States. Its such an obvious nonstarter, they should have never done it. Now they have learned, been admonished, and donald trump is tweeting tongue in cheekily. Eric can still give money to st. Jude, and he has. He can give some of his own money to st. Jude. Good if you do run a Family Foundation, which many wealthy people do, you dont have to raise outside money. The reason you have a Family Foundation is because you have all that money. Talk to me about the profile you did on the trump brothers and what you learned. Well, what i learned, stephanie, is theyre really just chips off the old block. The first thing is it was sort of, especially with don jr. Is that a positive or a negative . Were learning its both a positive and a negative. They are smart, like the father. They are loyal to him. They are hard working. They are not completely screwed up, like the children of many wealthy people. And so they have worked hard for his organization. They have probably done some good things. But they have also made some boneheaded moves. Their own tweets. The pictures of them shooting elephants. Elephants, tigers. I mean, protected species, hard to reconcile that. Making references to little green frogs and altright nazi candidates and things like that. I mean, all of those things are very hard to reconcile. The thing i found most fascinating was don jr. s foray into charleston, south carolina. Where he and some partners bought this Company Called titan atlas, which was a manufacturing company. It never really got off the ground. They borrowed 3. 5 million or 4 million from Deutsche Bank, the same private bankers at Deutsche Bank that financed his father, and then the business never wint anywhere. The loan was going to go into default. Donald during the middle of the campaign bought the loan from Deutsche Bank, foreclosed on donald jr. , and bought the facility where the loan was and the business where the loan was, basically saved his own son from defaulting on it in the middle of the campaign. So if don jr. Has shown that maybe he doesnt have the business acumen. Im not sure he has the business chops as an investor. He certainly, as people have told me, he knows how to lease up a building. He leased up 40 wall street. He leased up the trump tower after the Calvin Klein Corporation moved out. Hes got those kind of chops. But his investing record when he went on his own in charleston, south carolina, total disaster. When we say the trump sons, they cant handle the business. Maybe all they need to do is baby sit the business for the next four, eight years. If you look into what donald trump does, he leases his name, his brand. As a president of the United States, his brand is only going to increase in value. Dont don jr. And eric honestly only need to babysit it . They have some adult supervision as well. There are some executives inside the Trump Organization who are adults and who are not just there just to work for donald jr. And for eric. And i think its fair to say that donald jr. Is not going to just give up his influence on the business. Hes obviously not selling it. Its not going into a blind trust. We know all those things. Hes still going to be the single largest shareholder of the business. Hes still going to have great influence there, whether or not it shows up in emails or tweets. So theyre not going anywhere. Hes not going anywhere. Youre right, he just licensed his name, but he also owns and builds and reconstructs these golf courses like the one under the white stone bridge in the bronx where hes in a big fight with the city, now Something Else i documented in this piece. And hes his golf course in jupiter, florida, theres lawsuits involving that where they tried to get rid of certain members. You know, theyre up to their usual tricks, and nobody is following it anymore. Who knows . Maybe the next generation trumps can add a little finesse, youth, and charm to the brand. Maybe they can do a good job. Think optimistically. Lets give them a chance. He hasnt been inaugurated yet. Open your mind. Open your heart. Spiritual time of year. My friend bill of vanity fair, also wrote for politico. Hes great. Coming up, im going to talk with a Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs committee about Donald Trumps latest Nuclear Weapons comment. war drums beating fight heartburn fast. With tums chewy delights. The mouthwatering soft chew that goes to work in seconds to conquer heartburn fast. Tum tum tum tum. Chewy delights. Only from tums. Here you go. Picking up for kyle. You wouldnt put up with part of a pizza. Um. Something wrong . So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . You want the whole thing . Yes, yes live whole. Not part. Aleve. Welcome back. Youre watching msnbc. Im stephanie ruhle. We have to take you now to new reaction following Donald Trumps latest nuclear arms comments. He tells msnbcs morning joe, let it be an arms race. I want to bring in brad sherman, a Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs committee. Congressman, whats your reaction to that comment . Let it not be an arms race. You know, this kind of entertaining shoot from the hip stuff might make sense in a campaign, but not when youre dealing with the next president of the United States, and youre talking about Nuclear Weapons. We need to be predictable, perhaps in business, you can be unpredictable. You have got medium sized aggressive powers, iran comes to mind, that might find it in their interest to be unpredictable, but were thes guardian of order. And for us to be shooting from the hip or have our leader shooting from the hip on Nuclear Issues doesnt make a lot of sense. Does it leave you scratching your head as to what Donald Trumps relationship is or will be with russia . We know how icy it is between Vladimir Putin and president obama, but now this, and Vladimir Putin did say just today if someone accelerates and speeds up the arms race, its not us. So what do you believe is happening between putin and donald trump right here . Well, one possibility is that this isnt all nonsense or even a mistake, but rather is part of a choreographed effort to eliminate sanctions on russia and perhaps even acknowledge or tacitly acknowledge their occupation of crimea. Hold on, you think this is maybe Vladimir Putin and donald trump putting on a show for us . I dont know whether its thought out and choreographed, but i think that one could imagine that they simply resign the start treaty, tell us, look, we solved this Nuclear Problem or at least played it down, and now is the time to eliminate sanctions and make other concessions to russia. So i dont know wheer this is all a mistake from people not thinking or whether this is an effort to say, look at the nuclear. Thats whats important. Therefore, we will make concessions on nonnuclear items. Well just have to see how this develops. I think keep in mind, though, that much of what both leaders have said is consistent with current policy. Russia is modernizing their system, and were engaged in 108 billion program to modernize so if the talking is just live within the start treaty limits, modernize your forces, thats just a restatement of current policy. Its hard to know what a position is when it keeps changing, when its a shoot from the hip, and especially when its expressed in 140 some characters. Thats a new world were living in. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Merry christmas. Good to be with you. Im going to say, in 2017, i would like to get a quarter evening time we use the word unprecedented. It would be a huge year for me if that happened. Will they or wont they . Who is going to perform at president elects inauguration . , jack knocked over a candlestick onto the shag carpeting. And his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. Luckily jack recently had geico help him with renters insurance. Because all his belongings went up in flames. Jack got full replacement and now has new pants he ordered from banana republic. Visit geico. Com and see how affordable renters insurance can be. Welcome back. It is time now to discuss the tories youre going talking inauguration to avril lavigne, back on the scene accusing Mark Zuckerberg of bullying nicholl bac, nick nickelback. Welcome, ladies. Were going to start with the rockettes. New drama surrounding performers at trumps inauguration. According to Broadway World, one of the rockettes expressed her disappointment with the rockettes agreed to do. The union responded. A high ranking official in an email statement acquired by Broadway World said, it is not about politics. We have reached if these women are fulltime employees of the rocket rtes, thats what theyre supposed to do. First of all, yes, should the rockettes have to perform if they dont want to . But so much talk, no big alist performers want to perform. A, i dont think thats the case. This could very much be donald trump and his team leading us into this and guess what . Theyll have a star spangled spectacular. Hes got a long history in casinos. Im sure they know how to put on a show but in terms of what you think is going to be there. They have no choice but to perform. Thats their jobs. Msg has said they have to. They will be performing whether they want to or not but to your question, i have to say, i totally agree. I think donald trump will make the same case he did when Hillary Clinton had jon bon jovi and springsteen and won the election, going to say, im not going to kowtow to hollywood. Im going to do this for america and those are the people hes representing, so i think well see him make that case. He had a standout moment. When Hillary Clinton was on the stage, he was at a rally and said, i dont have jlo. I dont have jayz. I have you. I think we saw on the primary as well as that particular night, he was unable to get alist stars. He didnt need them and cant get dlist stars but i tell you what, its still funny. Most americans know they follow him on twitter. How powerful celebrities are, theyre not interested. I think its fun thny. He could show up with the best bluegrass band or from south carolina, jersey style type performance and that is america. Hes the celebrity president , right, hes the person who made his name on celebrity and yet he cant get anyone at this inauguration unless he comes through with some big time people besides the tabernacle choir. He knows how to put on a show. I wouldnt bet against him on this one. John bolton responded to a report that suggested he was not offered the position of secretary of state because of his mustache. Bolton tweeted, i appreciate the grooming advice from the totally unbiassed Mainstream Media but ill not be shaving m my mustache. I dont think you have to be liberal or conservative to pine on the mustache but do you think donald trump is choosing cabinet members based on who looks the part . It wouldnt surprise me. He rated women on numbers. Youre a 10 or 1. And this is the guy thus far running picking cabinet members as though this is americas next top cabinet job. So it wouldnt surprise me. Its unfortunate though because these are very serious positions, jobs that will impact the lives of Many Americans for the next 4 years, perhaps 8. And so its kind of, i think, a bit, you know, lets take this job seriously. This isnt about what people look like, its whether or not you are competent and qualified to do the job. Cant work at disney if you have that mustache. My dad has a mustache and beard, and i like it. I think he should keep it and a lot of reasons why bolton was not chosen for secretary of state and i have a hard time believing it was his facial hair. Thank you so much, ladies. Taking a break. Well be back with more. Youre watching cnbc. Owe iliin. No s ,nexpt. Ramp rplim rk nicm, to. R n o u plfoo 1 i nue. Ce thig ecw gnan ithasgh h une d aroure bueda m une d
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