officer frequently used the n word on the job, compared black suspects to the terror group isis, and called donald trump, quote, the last hope for white people, end quote. i find it more instructive to wait a while between additions of this segment, because these stories will inevitably pile up, proving my point, that while not every hate crime in the trump era takes its cues from the president, there are far too many like these that do. we ll be right back. performance comes in lots of flavors. there s the amped-up, over-tuned, feeding-frenzy-of sheet-metal-kind. and then there s performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. that s the kind lincoln s about.
suggestion, frankly. reporter: president trump announced in december he would pull more than 2,000 remaining troops from syria. we have won against isis. we ve beaten them and we ve beaten them badly. reporter: votel aligning himself with the u.s. intelligence community assessment that despite significant advances, there are tens of thousands of isis fighters spread across syria and iraq. and the decision to pull out of syria leading defense secretary james mattis to resign last year. last week votel made a stunning revelation that the president did not consult him on the decision to withdraw. certainly we are aware that he has expressed a desire and intent in the past to depart iraq. so you weren t consulted before that decision was announced? we were not i was not consulted. reporter: nonetheless, votel emphasizing he is carrying out the president s orders. this morning votel stressed military pressure must be
the stroke of a pen. that was mike pence. 2014 mike pence thinks it s a bad idea to go around congress. 2014 mike pence warnings about the abuse of executive authority. 2014 mike pence and 2014 republicans battled president obama in public and in court over similar actions. but, 2019 mike pence and many 2019 republicans are already saying, thank you sean hannity, may i have another? not all republicans agree, though. overnight the wall street journal editorial board came out against in and some key senators have expressed reservations. this will end up in court for sure facing near certain delays at a minimum. plus, breaking news overnight. something you almost never see. a top active duty commander publicly disagreeing with the president. the top commander of u.s. forces in the middle east publicly breaking with the president over his decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria saying the terror group isis is far from defeat. we have i lot to cover. let s begin with joe johns live
breaking with president trump. general joseph votel who leads the war against isis tells cnn in a new interview that he disagrees with president trump s decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria and insists the terror group is not defeated. cnn s barbara starr who just interviewed the general and is the only tv correspondent traveling with him joins us live with all of the breaking news. what did he tell you, barbara? reporter: well, alisyn, good morning to you from oman in the persian gulf. general votel very candid, very blunt. you might be a bit surprised about what he had to say. it wou it would not have been my military advice at that time. reporter: the top u.s. commander in the war against isis flatly disagreed with president trump s decision to pull out of syria. in an exclusive interview with cnn, general joseph votel says it s too soon to bring u.s. troops home. i would not have made that
might be additional decisions about how to move ahead, how to still support the u.s.-backed fighters in syria and try to help them out. what he doesn t want it is to leave them to a potential blood bath and he does not what isis to come back. john, alisyn. barbara, thank you very much for that reporting. startling revelations from former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe s new book. it is not just about the president. what he says about former attorney general jeff sessions next. in the time it takes to brew a cup. here s the story of green mountain coffee roasters costa rica paraíso. first, we go to san marcos, costa rica. and meet sergio. that s his daughter, maria. sergio s coffee tastes spectacular. because costa rica s land is spectacular. so we support farmers like sergio. who use natural compost.