i think he is sort of setting the table to be able to argue they re being unfair. and these comments come as the democrats are poised to take over the house, as you know. how do you imagine democrats will try to assert this new-found power? i suppose some of it is a political calculus on their part, how much they want to appear to be investigating the president while doing other things, but there s a lot that can be done, hearings in front of the cameras, subpoenas and so on. yes. so it is fraught. it is a tricky thing. a congressional investigation is different from a prosecutorial investigation. i was in position to do both. i worked on an investigation, led one, when i was in the senate judiciary committee. also obviously as u.s. attorney. i think the best advice you can give is to say that the members of congress who are engaging in investigations, that is their right and their responsibility and their duty as members of congress, if it is done appropriately, is to take some le
after the president announced the complete withdrawal of troops in syria. the president said he knocked isis out but he wants to keep u.s. troops in iraq to strike targets in syria just in case. what do you make of this? he is announcing policy while on the ground with troops in iraq. well, he is. it is a very interesting wrinkle. the president perhaps hedging his military bets, saying some of the troops in iraq could be used to conduct missions across the border into syria if isis rears its head again. did anybody think isis was really defeated? uh, not really. so how would this even work? this is going to be very tough. isis right now, the targets are very difficult. there are just a few. they are not very visible. this is not back in 2014 when there were convoys of isis fighters rolling through cities and towns in syria and iraq. they very much have gone to ground. so if you want the intelligence to be able to conduct either air strike it is or ground missions across the border in
turmoil back home and with his military decisions under fire. the president and the first lady have wrapped up a holiday surprise visit to u.s. troops in iraq. the commander in chief defended his widely-criticized plan to withdraw forces from neighboring syria, claiming isis has been knocked out, quote, silly. the president says he is in no hurry to find a permanent replacement for defense secretary james mattis who quit in protest. mr. trump suggests he is not in a rush to end the partial government shutdown here in the u.s. as well. this hour i will talk with a key democrat on the house armed services committee, congressman john garamini. our correspondents and analysts are standing by at this hour. first to our white house correspondent, abby phillip, there was growing pressure on the president to finally visit troops in a combat zone and today he did it. today was the day. reporter: today was the day, jim. president trump two years into his presidency finally leaving the united s
effectiveness of president trump s much-touted wall from stopping migrants from crossing the border. i want to point out that felipe and his father were apprehended in the el paso sector where a wall already exists, and this tragedy should be a wake-up call that believe that myththology about walls. migrants were dropped off at a bus stop after being held in cbp custody. reporter: in that group we saw a dozen of migrants who were dropped off who was just released from custody. half of them were children under the age of 10 from what we could tell. it s a mixture of slooasylum seekers, but in least one case, an adult male said he s not seeking asylum but he s seeking release anyway. the catch is release is effectively over, but if we take that man s story as truth, seems
some extent in afghanistan? jim, the administration already had a plan for countering isis in a meaningful way. it was staying engaged with the global coalition to defeat isis and working with our partners around the world to do things to stabilize areas once terrorists were removed from the battle field. this same thing is true on aefgt afghanistan. we have troops on the ground in afghanistan not just to remove the taliban from specific targets but to make sure that they don t come back. so i don t see the administration, trumping trump, if you will, and coming up with a new strategy on top of the ones that they just rolled out a few months ago. the president does not excel at self-reflection, we know that. i think it is very unlikely that he s now going to admit that maybe he got ahead of his skis and announced withdrawals that are directly counter to his own administration s policies. sean, how much do you think the president took away from this trip today? because i mean i woul