Transcripts For WPVI This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20150111

Scene in paris right now, marchers in the streets up to a million joined by political leaders from all over the world all gathering in solidarity against the worst attack by radical islam that paris has seen, unprecedented security in place, the french Prime Minister now says his nation is at war and abcs senior Foreign Correspondent terry moran is on the scene. Good morning, terry. Reporter good morning, george. It is an incredible moment here as this huge throng is just about to step off on this march of national unity, of solidarity and shared grief. Dozens of World Leaders are going to be joining them later this evening. Security, as you say, is very tight. The main feeling that you get in this crowd, though, is one of determination as if the whole nation is rising up after being knocked down by that terrorist rampage this weekend declaring as one, no, we will not live in fear. With paris still traumatized by terror, security is very tight. Thousands of troops and police, plainclothes officers in the crowd, roads and streets blocked off. Theres acute concern about copycat attacks and overnight in hamburg, germany, the offices of a newspaper that published some of Charlie Hebdos cartoons firebombed but in the bright winter sunshine this day really belongs to them, streaming into the street, young and old. In silence and raising their voices. All charlie, charlie. Reporter across paris you can see the shock and National Grief in the spontaneous memorials at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, in Prayer Services in services and everywhere, je suis charlie, i am charlie but for frances 5 million muslims, there is fear of a backlash. Mosques have been attacked. We spoke with this man, a leader of the mosque frequented by one of the kouachi brothers. I wont hide from you or fear our religious sites he says. The president has tried to calm things down but because our religion is physically manifested in how we dress, yes, there is a fear. To face down fear for colleagues and loved ones left behind, it is their moment too. Chloe verlhac the widow of the famous cartoonist tignous must raise their four children, the youngest 5 years old alone. She told us we have a duty, we owe it to them to stand up. I have lost the love of my life who is the father of my children but the country has lost an amazing cartoonist. He didnt belong to us. He belongs to the people. So much emotion in the aftermath of these attacks, but the investigation continues, and authorities now say that one of the main suspects, hayat boumeddiene, shes the girlfriend of the man who took hostages in that Kosher Grocery, she has left france before these attacks they believe made her way to turkey and turkish authorities are confirming they believe she made it into syria. George. Okay, terry, thanks very much. So many questions remain, and now we turn to one group claiming responsibility for the attacks, al qaeda in yemen. The terror group has been pummeled by u. S. Air strikes. The groups american born cleric Anwar Al Awlaki was killed by a drone in 2011 but his followers continue to plot and inspire terror. Abcs chief Global Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz has traveled to yemen several times. She brings us this report. Reporter in the middle of fridays dramatic siege on the two brothers who carried out that reign of terror in this week, one of them, cherif kouachi, boasted to a French Television station that the men had been directed by aqap, al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and that they had been financed by one of the groups top leaders, american born cleric Anwar Al Awlaki. Soon after the deadly siege ended, a top leader of the yemenbased aqap praised the attacks calling france a beacon of blasphemy. A separate statement claiming aqap directed the attack in revenge for the honor of the Prophet Muhammad who the french magazine had depicted in cartoons. U. S. Officials said at least one of the brothers had traveled to yemen for terrorist training in 2011. The fact that he was in yemen getting trained as a terrorist working with terrorists was grounds to arrest him. Reporter this weeks deadly attacks by the french terror cell carries on aqaps efforts to strike western targets with the Group Directly involved in previous attacks on the u. S. Including the attempted bombing of a u. S. Airliner bound for detroit on christmas 2009 by socalled underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who had been trained by al qaeda in yemen. I traveled to yemen just days after the attempted bombing visiting the school where abdulmutallab came to study arabic before being equipped with his explosives. This is the third floor room where abdulmutallab spent most of his time while he was at the institute here in yemen, just a bed, a desk, a closet. And even with the americanborn al awlaki killed by a u. S. Drone strike in 2011, the cleric continues to inspire attacks in the u. S. And europe. Aqap remains a lethal threat and a terrorist network that continues to threaten not just the region but the west. And Martha Raddatz joins us now. Martha, we just heard admiral kirby say that aqap remains a lethal threat despite what you pointed out as about 100 air strikes by the United States against aqap. What exactly are they capable of right now . Reporter well, theyve certainly been degraded over the years but still considered very capable, very dangerous. There are still Training Camps operating in yemen and clearly as we said, Anwar Al Awlaki is viewed as a martyr by some in the group, and they use him to inspire others to carry out attacks, but still the u. S. Very concerned about aqap and any kind of attack they could carry out, and they could do almost anything, george. Thanks, martha. We are joined now from paris by the u. S. Attorney general, eric holder. Mr. Attorney general thanks for joining us this morning. Weve heard about this concern, aqap still a lethal threat. Good morning. Good morning, and we also have this new video out this morning where coulibaly, one of the gunmen, appears to be pledging allegiance to isis. What more do we know about which group may have been behind this attack . Well, at this point we dont have any credible information that would allow us to make a determination as to which organization was responsible. I think its clear that both organizations pose a threat to the United States, as well as to its allies. Is there any evidence that any other sleeper cells have actually been activated . Again, i dont think that we have any information that would indicate certainly with regard to the homeland that there is any ongoing threat or any threat that was activated by what we see so tragically here in france. With regard to sleeper cells here in france, that is an investigation thats ongoing and being conducted by our french allies. And the french have said that if they can determine who is behind this, they will retaliate. Will the United States join in that retaliation . Well certainly have to see exactly who was responsible, determine what kind of retaliation would be appropriate. We have certainly worked together quite well with our french allies in a whole variety of ways bringing people to justice who are responsible for these acts is certainly something that we would Work Together with our french counterparts and to the extent there is something more than that, we will certainly consider whatever it is that they would propose, but we stand in solidarity with the french. Mr. Attorney general, do you understand how these gunmen slipped through the cracks . They had been arrested, they had been on the radar of the french yet they fell off and were able to carry out this massacre. Well, you know, these are the kinds of things that we have to do an after action report and try to make determinations about how these events actually unfolded. It is something its something that we have done in the United States as well as we have had to deal with these kinds of incidents. We Exchange Information with each other. We had a good meeting today with a number of interior ministers from around europe. Theres a meeting going on now with World Leaders meeting with the president of france and i think one of the things that we have certainly gleaned from these interactions is there is a greater need for us to share information, to knock down these informationsharing barriers so that we can always stay on top of these threats. One nation cannot by itself hope to forestall the possibility of terrorism even within its own borders. The head of British Intelligence, Andrew Parker of mi5, has been sounding the alarm about this threat. He said al qaeda in syria has been planning mass casualty attacks and added this, my sharpest concern as director general of mi5 is the growing gap between the increasingly challenging threat and the decreasing availability of capabilities to address it. Does the u. S. Share that concern . Do we have what we need to defeat this threat . Well, i certainly share the concern that he expressed about the continued viability and the threat capability that al qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula, especially isil growing poses to the United States. I do think that we have adequate resources to detect these kinds of threats to disrupt plots. But it will really entail a whole of government approach. It means that we have to have our intelligence community, we have to have the Law Enforcement community. We have our state and local counterparts, and we have to have american citizens be vigilant. We have that program of see something and say something. It will take the entirety of the american nation to try to keep us safe. But i am confident that we do have that ability. You said youre not aware of any specific Credible Threats against the United States right now, but youve told Pierre Thomas earlier this year that the entire threat environment is as dangerous as youve seen since 9 11. Is that still the case . Yeah i would say that thats true although there is not a specific credible threat i can point to, i certainly think that the environment has changed over the years. We have decimated core al qaeda and i think we have decreased if not eliminated their ability to do the kinds of things they did on september the 11th. On the other hand, when one looks at what happened here in france with a relatively small number of people and we look at some incidents that have happened in other parts of the world and look at whats happened in the United States we have a very small number of people without huge amounts of planning, without huge amounts of resources inflicting very severe damage. That environment is the one that i was referring to and that environment is still one that gives me great concern, especially, especially those we identify as lone wolves. The french Prime Minister said yesterday that france is at war with radical islam. Is the u. S. At war with radical islam . Well, i certainly think that we are at war with those who would commit terrorist attacks and who would corrupt the islamic faith in the way that they do to try to justify their terrorist actions. So thats who we are at war with, and we are determined to take the fight to them to prevent them from engaging these kinds of activities. Our president has indicated that we will be calling on february the 18th a summit so that we deal with better ways in which we can counter violent extremism and get to the core and come up with ways we prevent people from adhering to, being attracted to this terrorist ideology. We certainly have to work i think in a dual way. We need to confront people who engage in these acts, hold them accountable but have to also somehow come up with a counternarrative that too many people especially young men find attractive. As i said, february 18th the white house will host a summit that i announced at the meeting here today in paris. Finally, sir, on another subject the New York Times reported yesterday that the prosecutors have recommended bringing charges against former cia director general David Petraeus for mishandling classified information. Thats drawn a sharp response from senators john mccain and lindsey graham. They say this leak is a shameful continuation of a pattern in which leaks by unnamed sources have marred this investigation in contravention to fundamental fairness. No american deserves such callous treatment, let alone one of americas finest military leaders. Your response . Well, i cant really comment on what is an ongoing matter, but i will say that i share those concerns expressed by two senators who i have a great deal of respect for. But i also want to assure them and the American People that any investigation that is ongoing will be done in a fair and an appropriate way. So you have not received a recommendation . As i said, i dont want to really comment on what is an Ongoing Investigation but i will say that frequently those things that we characterize as leaks, they are frequently inaccurate, and ill just leave it at that. Mr. Attorney general, thanks very much for your time this morning. Thank you. And we are joined now by the french ambassador to the United States gerard araud. Mr. Ambassador, thank you for joining us this morning. Our condolences for the loss of your french citizens. Were all feeling it here, as well. Several days out now as those marchers gather in paris, has french intelligence been able to determine with any greater specificity if there were any direct terror links between the gunmen and aqap or isis . Good morning. First, i want to say that we have been overwhelmed by the expression of grief, of solidarity of all the americans, you know, from the president of the United States who came to the French Embassy to the ordinary american. Its really the American People who are a compassionate people, indeed. What we at this stage, you know, what we know is that actually the two killers on one side, the two brothers on the other side the guy who attacked the grocery, the Kosher Grocery shop actually were linked in france and one of them said that they had organized their attack, they synchronized their attack, but at this stage of the investigation, its too early to go beyond that. And president hollande has said that the french have actually thwarted several possible attacks in the last several weeks and months. Are you now concerned that there are actually active sleeper cells being activated . Is this threat level continuing . You know, we have to consider the threat that we are facing. You have in europe thousands of young radicals, thousands of them, and, of course, we are a democracy, and you dont arrest somebody because of his ideas. We have in france hundreds of young people who came to syria or who came to yemen and who are getting their military training, so its a very, very specific threat because we dont know when these people are coming back and whether they are coming back, and we dont know whether these radical people are going suddenly to become terrorists. So, for the moment, i dont, you know its simply its very likely, unfortunately, that we are going to face other attempts of terrorist acts. The president of the French Republic has said, we are not over with it. And all of us, the europeans, but also the americans, when president obama came to the French Embassy, he told me, he said, we are all vulnerable. So what do you do . As you point out, these thousands of young men, some women potentially, as well, are woven into the fabric of your society. Your Prime Minister says you are at war with radical islam. How do you prevent this war from being a war against islam . I think, you know, we need a global strategy. On one side there is the military response in iraq and in yemen. We need information sharing. Actually the french and the americans, we are working quite well, but i guess we can improve it. We need working on Law Enforcement, and eventually we need to work with the muslim countries and the muslim people because theyre on the front line of this crisis, the front line because they are the first victims and they are also the breeding ground of the crisis. So i guess that the idea of having a summit in washington in february, which has been announced by the attorney general, is a very good idea, because, you know, in a sense france was not attacked as france. France was attacked as a western democracy, and it could have happened everywhere in europe and, unfortunately, i guess also in the u. S. If aqap in yemen was tied to this attack, if isis and syria was tied to this attack will france attack those groups in those countries . Well as you know we are already actually fighting with the americans in iraq against isil. The french are also fighting against al qaeda in the islamic maghreb, so we are doing our job with our western friends and our u. S. Friends, and as the Prime Minister said, if necessary, well strike back still more. Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for your time this morning. Thank you very much. And coming up, after that horror in paris, more on the threat here at home. Pierre thomas and the chair of the Senate Intelligence committee with the latest on americas high alert. Were back in just two minutes. Americas high alert. Were back in just two minutes. Daughter do you and mom still have money with that broker . Dad yeah, 20 something years now. Thinking about what you want to do with your money . Daughter looking at options. What do you guys pay in fees . Dad i dont know exactly. Daughter if youre not happy do they have to pay you back . Dad it doesnt really work that way. Daughter you sure . Vo are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management at charles schwab. Push your enterprise and you can move the world. But to get from the old way to the new youll need the right it infrastructure. From a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. Hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. And stay ready for everything that is still to come. And you are looking live you are looking live at that massive unity rally in paris. World leaders there, german chancellor angela merkel. British Prime Minister david cameron. Just saw the u. S. Attorney general there, as well. Security extremely tight and want to talk about the homeland threat. Officials already on edge after attacks in ottawa sydney and paris shows how just a few armed men can paralyze an entire city joined by Pierre Thomas and ray kelly, the Longest Serving Police commissioner. Mr. Commissioner, start out first as we look at those pictures of the rally in paris. How do Police Officials think about providing security for that kind of a massive event . Yeah, its very challenging because obviously when heads of state are coming to any city, you have months to plan. Now, this is just a few days that theyve given them time to plan. These heads of states are going to bring their own security details. We want to be able to at least sort of examine them to a certain extent. They have deployed police throughout the country in other locations, so the Resources Available for paris may be reduced, so theres a lot of challenges, a lot of moving parts. The french are very good at doing these sorts of major events, though. They were very good at ending those events on wednesday, as well. Pierre, let me turn to you right now. We heard the attorney general say no specific credible threat hes identified here right now but against the environment he repeated again this morning the worst threat environment hes seen since 9 11. George, its a witchs brew moment. Youve got al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula planning to attack wherever they can. Theyre the masters of creative bombmaking. You have al qaeda operatives in syria who were behind that plot to hit airplanes that we were concerned about over the summer then you have isis, encouraging people online to attack wherever they can. Its a really scary moment. Law enforcement officials are saying that theyre going to have to be at the top of their game into the future. The white house now called this summit that the attorney general spoke about, as well, and its laying out a strategy of really working deep into local communities. The biggest thing that Law Enforcement has been struck by in recent months is the effectiveness of these social media online campaigns by the radicals. Theyre reaching to young people sitting in their basements in their pajamas and theyre being effective. The fbi has caught 12 people trying to go to syria this in the last year alone even after they were chopping off peoples heads and people have been shocked by that. In one case a young man was caught at an airport literally the weekend after one of the journalists had been killed. And, commissioner kelly, of course, new york has been seized by this threat even from before 9 11, developed its own intelligence capabilities but youve got this difficulty right now. The threat is morphing from the focus on spectacular attacks to these oneoffs. Right exactly, and thats you know these lone wolves or small groups are very, very difficult to detect. The french have an excellent intelligence service, in fact, after a tumultuous ten years you had a decade where france was relatively quiet and much credit was given to the Intelligence Services but you cant cover everyone. Theres probably hundreds, if not over a thousand people, who fit the rough profile of these shooters in france. So deploying resources to cover them is no easy task. Its very expensive to conduct surveillance, and these individuals apparently did nothing to raise concerns after four years of surveillance, so they actually dropped off the radar because they had gone quiet, they had gone underground. Exactly. And once they do that theres no way to know what will happen. Gentlemen, thank you very much. We want to bring in the chair of the Senate Intelligence committee, richard burr. Thank you for joining us. Youve heard the french ambassador. Youve heard the attorney general and our experts here right now. From your perch as chair of the Senate Intelligence committee, whats the most important threat youre seeing coming in right now . Well, george, i think that the thing that worries me the most right now is the buzz on social media, whether it comes from a specific group like isis or whether its just on the chat rooms, the target is to just go out and kill Law Enforcement and other officials, and i think as some of your guests have displayed, especially ray kelly, thats a very difficult thing to detect, and i think that were going to be spending weeks and months taking some of what weve learned from this attack in france and tracking down leads that hopefully get us in front of a terrorist act and were able to thwart it whether its in europe or whether its here in the United States. Youve actually warned that youre worried these attacks in europe could become a weekly event. Well, i think certainly thats a tempo that could that we could reach given the number of folks who have gone in and out of syria and now were learning the extent of how much they went into places like yemen early on. So, you know, i think were going to learn a lot more as time goes on. This is an event that continues to unfold from a standpoint of intelligence. And i think what weve got to do is be vigilant at home to make sure we keep in place those tools that give us the ability to triage that data in a way that we can track down anybody here in the u. S. Thats what i want to ask you about because you heard the chair of British Intelligence Andrew Parker say he doesnt think they have the capabilities to match the threat. The attorney general said, no, right now we do. Your opinion . Well, i think that were stretched. Were the best in the world both from an intelligencegathering capacity and from a standpoint of the Law Enforcement capacity. But, george, lets be realistic, the french have many more tools from a standpoint of Law Enforcement, how they can detain people, the interrogations they can put people through than we do in the United States. So to believe that this slipped through with the massive surveillance that they have and the ability to get inside of really the terrorist element in france, they were unable and this slipped through. Youve also criticized the does not adequately convey how severe the threat is from terrorism. What is he failing to say or do . Well, listen, george, i give the attorney general credit. He used the word war this morning. Im not sure he meant to. But when you look around the world, whether its in yemen, whether its in syria, whether its in iraq or afghanistan or in north africa with boko haram, weve got terrorist elements that are carrying out terrorist acts, and if you put that collection together, what youve got is a war on western civilization. It really doesnt matter which terrorist group we insert into the blank, the commitment is that theyre out to kill innocent people, and whether it happens in paris or london or new york, weve got to collectively do our best to make sure that we thwart those attacks. Finally, sir, let me ask you also about this potential prosecution of David Petraeus, the former cia director. Do you think he should be prosecuted for mishandling classified information . Well, george, let me say this, i have tremendous trust in the fbi to do their investigation. I still reference back to the president s remarks when he announced general petraeus resignation where he said, this did not reach a level that put National Security in jeopardy, and i think the statute of the law says it has to reach that for there to be a prosecution. Ill let the fbi and the Justice Department work through this. But i always will go back to what the president told us when he announced the resignation of David Petraeus. So you believe there was no harm to National Security . Well, i think its the burden of proof is on the bureau and on the Justice Department i think to present to america where it was and why the president was wrong. Mr. Chairman, thanks very much for your time this morning. Up next, freedom under fire. How cartoonists got to the heart of this weeks massacre and later, mitt romney throws a roadblock in front of jeb bush. Will he follow through with a third run for the white house . Were back in just two minutes. Were back in just two minutes. Shopping online is as easy as it gets. Wouldnt it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple . Thanks to angies list now it is. Weve made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. Buy their services directly at angieslist. Com no more calling around. No more hassles. Start shopping from a list of toprated providers today. Angies list is revolutionizing local service again. Visit angieslist. Com today. Live scenes from paris. This morning World Leaders joining with citizens up to a million in the streets after the latest in a string of murderous assaults on free speech by jihadists. The cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo knew they were courting danger and after their sacrifice theres been a powerful response. Check out where people tweeted worldwide using jesuischarlie, i am charlie, and david wright has more on a remarkable display of solidarity. Reporter after a day in which comedy quite literally came under fire, comedians fired back. I know very few people go into comedy, you know, as an act of courage mainly because it shouldnt have to be that. Reporter hbos bill maher going farther than most blaming not just the fanatical fringe but mainstream muslims. Hundreds of millions of them support an attack like this. They applaud an attack like this. What they say is, oh, we dont approve of violence, but you know what, when you make fun of the prophet, all bets are off. Hundreds of millions of muslims support this . Absolutely. Reporter jimmy kimmel rightly called him on that. The exchange an example of free speech. People are free to say outrageous, offensive things. Others are free to voice their disapproval. Thats what is so wildly out of whack in what happened in paris. The idea that anyone would seek to prove the point in blood that the sword is mightier than the pen, and it isnt the first time. Three years ago after publishing a spoof issue guest edited by the Prophet Muhammad, Charlie Hebdos offices were firebombed. The editor at the time defiant. Without freedom of speech, we are dead. Reporter today he is dead. Satire under fire and not just in paris. You want us to kill the leader of north korea . Yes. What reporter the idea that a seth rogen comedy could end up launching an international cyberwar sounds, well, like something out of a seth rogen script, but it happened. You like it. Reporter this week cartoonists around the world got to the heart of it. Ruben oppenheimer with a plane barreling into the twin pencils. David pope with this scene. He drew first. Tom toles put a kalashnikov next to a quill pen. It will endure, but its not a simple, oh, the pen will always win. That day the cartoonists were killed and they will not be coming back. Reporter and the line will be drawn says the cartoonist little alter ego. In france pencils raised, weapons, a mass expression. For this week, david wright, abc news, london. And we are joined now by danish journalist flemming rose, the editor behind the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad back in 2005. He wrote a book the tyranny of silence how one cartoon ignited a global debate on the future of free speech. Mr. Rose thank you for joining us. What is that future after this attack . Im a little bit pessimistic although im very happy to see the kind of solidarity that the world is showing with Charlie Hebdo. But my fear is, you know, when we have to go back to our daily work and how this is going to translate into a daytoday editorial line i think im afraid we will get back to, you know, where we were before. And im speaking from my own experience. You know, we have seen examples of that this week, this morning a german publication attacked. You wrote an article this week saying we must all be Charlie Hebdo, yet your own newspaper chose not to rerun the cartoons. In your mind was that backing down or being responsible . It was both. It was backing down. But it was a consequence of the kind of situation we have found ourselves in over the past nine years. Several terrorist attacks against the newspaper have been foiled. In 2010 a cartoonist was nearly killed by a man who broke into his house with an ax so we have been in this situation for the past nine years under huge pressure, so, yes, we caved in, unfortunately, but we did it because a lot of people are afraid and people at the top of our organization were thinking about the security of its employees, and i perfectly understand that being in this situation. Whether or not i would have welcomed the republication or not. And you have written that in the wake of these kinds of attacks, we need not only sensitivity training but insensitivity training. What does that mean . It means that in a democracy you have many rights. You have the right to free speech, freedom of religion. Freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, the right to vote. But the only right you should not have a democracy and especially in a multicultural democracy is a right not to be offended because in a Multicultural Society we are all very different, and this difference in terms of culture, ethnicity and religion means that we also have very different ways to express ourselves. So its we have to be clear that a Multicultural Society should not lead to less freedom of speech but, in fact, to more freedom of speech, to more diverse ways of expressing ourselves. Mr. Rose, thanks very much for your time this morning. Were going to be back with all the weeks politics. Is mitt romney really back . Elizabeth warrens aggressive strategy, and can Chris Christie laugh off that awkward hug . At the cowboys Football Game yesterday, Chris Christie was spotted in the owners box hugging jerry jones. Yeah. It was right after jones said lets get some hot wings. [ laughter ] [ laughter ] when the flu hits, its a really big deal. The aches. The chills. The fever. 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[vet] two yearly physicals down. Martha and mildred are good to go. Heres your invoice, ladies. A few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. It might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office. Or filling your days looking down the south end of a heifer but. I wouldnt have it any other way. Lo ok at that, i had my best month ever. And earned a shiny new office upgrade. I run on quickbooks. Thats how i own it. Coming up, mitt romney shakes up the gop with that surprise announcement. But will he really make run number three for the white house . And Mitch Mcconnell makes a bold claim on the economy. Is it a gop recovery . Our powerhouse roundtable weighs in. Our powerhouse roundtable weighs in. But to get from the old way to the new youll need the right it infrastructure. From a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. Hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. 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[ speaking a Foreign Language ] mitt romney sends a thunder clap across his bow telling supporters hes looking for a third run at a run. What happened to mitt . Im not running. Im not planning on running. Then there was Elizabeth Warrens barely veiled shot at the clinton legacy telling aflcio that too Many Democrats have talked about the evils of Big Government. All sounded good. But what it was really about was tying the hands of regulators and turning loose big banks. And who can forget that hug . Chris christie reaching for Dallas Cowboys owner jerry jones, a field day for the late night comics. You guys hear about the earthquake in texas yesterday . Scientists say it was aftershocks from Chris Christie celebrating at the cowboys game. Christies dooubling down paying his own way to the packers cowboys faceoff today. But did the hug hurt his white house hopes . Just one question ahead for the roundtable. We are joined by republican strategist ana navarro, former labor secretary robert now at u. C. Berkeley, Nicolle Wallace from the view also who worked for both jen and george w. Bush and democratic strategist James Carville. I sort of just feel like throwing the ball up. Ill start with you Nicolle Wallace, mitt romney, is it real . I heard from his folks last night knowing id be here talking to you. Its very real. You will hear in coming days, Ronald Reagan ran three times. I think what we have to keep in mind so did richard nixon. What we have to keep in mind, though, while it matters very much at this moment to all of us what the donors are doing it matters very little in the outcome of the republican primary. All we have to kibbutz about. The fact that hes hanging on to 30 or 40 donors i dont think does anything to dampen what was a political firestorm in the Republican Party this week. Jebs announcement generated more enthusiasm than i would guess jeb even expected it to. Anna that regard row, you worked for it looks like jeb bush came out this week and the week before because he wanted to block mitt romney. Mitt romney comes with these donors on friday and says, no, youre not blocking me yet. Ill look at this. I take nicolles point that in the long run it may not determination the nomination but who locks up this money early does matter. George, what can i tell you . Mitt happens. Look, i dont think general was doing anything frankly to block mitt romney. I mean i can tell you i was surprised by romneys announce because ive heard him say a lot of times particularly in donors in florida and people in florida that he would not run if jeb was running. Now, i think romney as a veteran, hes certainly got the experience. Hes qualified. If he wants to run, he should look at it the same way that jeb and everybody else is looking at it. As a personal decision where he weighs the considerations and decides whether this is something he has. Now, if thats what its about, him wanting to run, he has all the right to do it and he should do it if hes got that fire in the belly. If its about holding on to the donors, if its about having a hard time, which is natural, letting go of that center stage, going from being the prima ballerina absoluta to being the understudy, then thats a different thing and i think he needs to work through those issues. That to me is the question. I think the big issue here, george, is that the republican establishment breathed a huge sigh of relief this past week. I mean the last thing they wanted was somebody like ted cruz or rand paul or huckabee, you know, romney would be okay, but he already lost. They wanted jeb bush, they got jeb bush, they always get ultimately in a president ial election the candidate they want. But thats it. If James Carville, if you have mitt romney versus jeb bush, its hard to know which one actually is the hair apparent. Which one is the i think jeb bush closed might have closed a window on maybe some donors. He opened a giant door, mitt is going to get in and go to the right. Hes going to run against of course, hes going to get in and hes going to run against bush from the right. He said, you know, if you look at bushs i hope he does. I think he will and i think he has a strategy that he didnt have before and his strategy is hes the conservative alternative. Why do you hope that i hope he does because mitt no republican has ever had a wider gap among white and nonwhite voters ever, and i think it puts i mean, jeb bushs issues and agenda and record draw more diverse base of support and i hope whether its romney or cruz, i hope people jump in and try to run to jeb bushs right. I think hell laugh all the way to the nomination. I think i think jeb bush is the most not very diverse. And i think mitt romneys got that figured out. And i just think hes going to bush will ward him off but hes created a big opening for romney. Let me just say this, guys, i have served jeb bush for the last several weeks. He is working in the most tireless, focused, lasered way. I think thats what led to a lot of this shifting that weve seen this week, whether its from Chris Christies you know, the reports that hes going to put his announcement make it before he was going to do it. I think its shifting. Hillary world, as well. Its accelerating everything. Accelerating Mike Huckabees decisions because jeb has shown that hes not thinking hes entitled to it. Hes working hard for every donor. I was struck by one report on what mitt romney told these donors bob reich. He sort of went at bush saying bushs business background is going to be the problem after all the criticism that mitt romney took last time around. Well, look, youre going to have two big business candidates, candidates of wall street, candidates of big corporate boardrooms, that does mean hillary and who else . Whoever is going to be the next president , shes going going to have some very important decisions to make about big business. You know, i do think did you just come out for Elizabeth Warren . It leaves a big opening in the Republican Party and, well, lets also talk about the Democratic Party with regard to the nonestablishment nonbig business, nonwall street wing of both parties. Im glad you brought that up. I want to bring this to you, James Carville. There was a fascinating focus group this week run by peter harden, colorado. Dan balz writes about it in the washington post. 12 voters, a small focus group, independents, democrats and republicans, the one thing they can seem to agree on theyre not really excited about bush or clinton about the establishment. To be fair theyre less excited about bush than they are about Hillary Clinton in any reading of that story but they were and they were sort of more open to Elizabeth Warren thing. I just i actually take Elizabeth Warren. I think worried shes not running but one day she will run for president. I just dont think its going to be now, but its clear that there is and professor reich, im sure theres some real dissatisfaction with wall street out there, not just in the Democratic Party but all across the country everywhere. You have to recognize those that dont recognize it or address it do so at their own peril. Its wall street but its also big business, big corporate america. I mean, we have never seen as much dominance by big business and by big corporations over all and wall street in terms of financing, in terms of lobbying. There is no counterveiling power any longer in the United States and i think Elizabeth Warren i agree with you, i dont think shes going to run but shes trying to change the debate in this country so its not simply about how Big Government should be, but who government should be for. Who changes that debate on the republican side . I guess Mike Huckabee . I think the republicans cant cede this ground to the Democratic Party. Its made up of working class families that hear their president saying the economy is getting better. They dont feel it. Its not a republican or a democratic problem. Thats more something that divides us by class and by income so i dont think the republicans should cede an inch and jeb bushs history in florida is putting the economy back together and making it a businessfriendly place he understands that and so does Mike Huckabee. Chris christie has done a lot for new jerseys economy so i dont think the republican field should cede an inch on thinking the economy is working for them. Except youve got a huge economic problem. The economy is coming back, nicolle, we all know it, and thats great if but wages arent coming back. More participation in the republican field as its shaping up, i think youll see conversations about poverty. I think youre going to see conversations about prison reform. I think republicans understand that they have to expand the core issues that they speak about and not cede not only an inch, not cede one democratic group, not cede one issue to the democrats and i think thats a good thing for the country. Look, i think whats going to happen is i think that mitt romney is going to say that jeb bush says in order to win we need to be more like democrats. I disagree with that general formula. I think that we got to be truer to our values and who we are, thats why im running. I think youre looking at thats going to be the kind of macrodebate underneath all this. He has an opportunity to do something that hes never been able to do in the previous two times hes run for president. He can run as conservative the mere fact that James Carville is on tv encouraging mitt romney to run should be all the warning [ all talking at once] mitt romney doesnt need my encouragement to run. No, ive always said that i thought he was going to run. I dont think my opinion matters one bit to mitt romney. I agree with you, james. But i think the democrats also have a challenge in terms of being more like democrats. You know, there is the same problem of feeding at the same financial trough as the republicans. And its worse than ever. I think that, you know, one of the big challenges that Hillary Clinton has is to respond to this anxiety that is still there in the middle class. And theres no question people believe the system is rigged against them, the middle class people believe its rigged against them. This question to you, Nicolle Wallace, that said, a lot of powerful economic progress in the last several weeks, a lot of job creation in the last year. 243,000 jobs in december, that does pose a challenge to republicans trying to run against president obama next time around. Well, republicans would be wise to make this about the future and, you know, i dont recommend that any of them run against obama, but whoever their opponent is but thats problematic for hillary or Elizabeth Warren which sounds like you may be heading up a chairing committee for her, but runs against progress and running against good news is a loser regardless of your party so i think republicans can take credit for maybe trying i saw mcconnell saying that between election day and now republicans have added more certainty to the economy. It is you know, i dont condemn anyone that tries to spin things in their favor. Ive made a career doing so but you know its a little audacious but i think republicans have to put forward ideas to i think nicolle is absolutely right. Its time for republicans to talk to the country with an optimistic vision and message. Thats what we have to offer america. The time for being the hell no party is over. Thats not going to win 2016. Well, i thought mcconnell said that and i thought it was like an onion or something. Unaware i think he kind of embarrassed himself and i think he knows that and we can sort of move on to the next thing here. Bob, you get the last word. But it is an important question. I mean, republicans have been running on a bad economy now for at least six years, eight years and now the economy is not bad. It is bad in terms of wages but its going to get better and so what do they have to run on . Whats the positive message here . Theres no positive message. I havent seen anything. Oil pries are down on the economic growth. You know, everything is basically running in the right direction now. Bob lets take a break. Huge issues. You guys continue off camera. People dont feel it. Were going to come back with a look at tomorrows Historic College football showdown. Lmer for his take on that historic game tomorrow night. First National Championship playoff for College Football. Buckeyes of ohio state versus the oregon ducks. Jesse, not too many people predicted this matchup but how do you think the playoffs went . Thank god for the College Football playoff, george. You know, if we were still in the old bcs era, it was predicted in this game, alabama would have played florida state. Now, obviously that would have been the wrong matchup. I think in the very beginning when the College Football playoff was created, it was to give fans and give the sport a more clearly defined champion and i think they succeeded in that. Settling it on the field, the fans here all week have been extremely excited. I think for the most part all year they have been, as well. And this game has a really big feel to it. Almost feels like a super bowl. This is obviously unprecedented, its the first ever College Football playoff National Championship game. The first time two teams have to play 15 games and you felt that energy here on the ground in dallas and ft. Worth all week. How do you see the matchup . Well, two explosive offenses, high octane. You start with oregon. They like to go fast. They get lined up quickly, theyre balanced. They run, they throw the quarterback and have a quarterback in marcus mariota, Heisman Trophy winner. Ohio state scores a lot of points but rely on a physical running game. They got a great running back in Ezequiel Elliott and a quarterback in Cardale Jones 65 250 pounds with unbelievable athleticism only making his third start. A huge key. Which team plays the best defense. Are you going to make a prediction . You know, since i started in 2007 here at espn, george, this is the toughest game ive had to predict but its very rare in a game of this magnitude that you have the discrepancy at experience at the quarterback position. I talked about Cardale Jones at ohio state. looked so good in his last two games only making his third start. Mariota is the best and i think he gives the ducks the edge. There it is, anybody disagree . Yes, i disagree because the oregon head coach earned 2 million this past year. The ohio state head coach earned 4. 5 million. On the theory that people are paid what theyre worth okay. Im at the Anderson Cooper level of sports floj. Those are indefensible. Thats who i think is going to win. Bad imitation of a duck. Ill go with oregon. We have got to go and well cover it all tomorrow and, of course, espn has the game at 8 30 eastern tomorrow night. And before we go, some welcome news. 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Hurry its your last chance offer ends january 17th go to verizon. Com thefacts today. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v im monica malpass, on inside story pennsylvanias attorney general is herself in the cross hairs after a grand jury recommends criminal charges against here. Lets get the inside story good morning and welcome to inside story. Lets meet our insider this week. Sharmaine matlockturner, good morning. Happy new year. Brianrne event with y. Tyranny and christine flowers. We won being a democrat. A grand jury is