A price. And sometimes thats also a monetary price. So were not the suckers of the world. Were no longer the suckers, folks. And people arent looking at us as suckers. Thats one way to put it. Visiting troops abroad is a tradition of president s from both parties. That tradition also includes being careful to keep politics out of it. But as is tradition with President Trump, he did not stick with tradition. Listen. I dont know if you folks are aware of whats happening. We want to have strong borders in the United States. Democrats dont want to let us have strong borders. Only for one reason. You know why . Because i want it. The president and first lady are back at the white house now this morning, so let us go there. Cnns Boris Sanchez is joining me live from the white house. Boris, he defended his syria decision and explained how he says he reached that decision. What did he say . Thats right, kate. Yeah, President Trump defended his decision to withdraw american troops from syria while visiting a country that has felt the ramifications of a hasty american withdrawal the way that few have on the planet. In iraq, he suggested that the United States is no longer the suckers of the world. He said that the american operation in syria is not a nationbuilding one, and he added if necessary, if there was a resurgence of isis, the u. S. Could always reenter the country through a base in iraq. He suggested there was no plans for a troop withdrawal from that country. He also shed some light on the conversation that led to this decision. The ultimate decision to remove american troops from syria. Listen to how he described his interactions with top military leaders. One years ago, i gave our generals six more months in syria. I said go ahead, get them. And it turns out it was really a year and a half ago. I said go get them. We need six months. Go get them. And they said give us another six months. I said go get them. Then they said can we have one more like period of six months . I said nope. Nope. I said i gave you a lot of six months. And now were doing it a different way. That sort of shed some light on where we are now. It is possible that those types of conversations are what led to the departure of the defense secretary, james mattis. The president was asked about a replacement yesterday. He effectively said theres a long list of candidates that everybody wants that job. More broadly speaking, the president also talked about the Government Shutdown, repeating that refrain we have heard from him before, saying the shutdown will continue until he gets his border wall. Kate. So theres a lot to get through today. Boris, thank you. Joining me to discuss, cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel lleyton, and david broed. Thank you for being with us. Lets talk about the president , his trip overseas and his decisions with syria. When it comes to syria, if that is how it played out, in what the president just said in that sound bite that we ran, which is i gave them time. They asked for six more months. I gave them more time, so on and so forth, what do you think of that Decision Making process by the president . The generals were saying they need more time, and he says no. Well, sometimes it happens, kate, that the president steps in and says no, youve had enough time. You know, this is not the only administration to do that. But in this particular case, i think that the nuances of the syrian operation are probably lost on President Trump in the sense that theres a lot of stuff thats happening on the ground. Theres so many competing factions. As we know so well. And the fact that if we unilaterally pull out like hes demanding, then we leave a vacuum there. And in essence, what were doing is ceding syria to a russian, iranian, turkish sphere of influence, and i think if we havent made that decision to do so, we either have to revisit what the president did or we have to acknowledge the fact that were not going to be in syria in any meaningful way. Yeah. Sphere of influence, i dont know if the president gets that. It doesnt seem that he cares. I was struck, david, when the president said, and we played it, were no longer the suckers of the world. He was talking about syria when he said that. So of course, i mean, logic leads you to wonder, does he think that the u. S. Military, the United States and the u. S. Military were suckers for going into syria to fight isis . Does that mean that he thinks that theyre suckers for going into afghanistan after 9 11 to take on the taliban and al qaeda . Does that mean he thinks the u. S. Is suckers for being part of any coalition around the world . To be fair, hes asking a legitimate point, how long are we going to be in the wars . But the way he acted yesterday, its almost tragic. He asked the fair question. The point is he is sort of disparagic the generals with that comment. Were not suckers. Over 1,000 kurds died in 2017 fighting the Islamic State. Last year, one american died. 1,000 to 1. Four americans have died since u. S. Troops went there four years ago. The overwhelming number of people who are dying are local fighters. In afghanistan, its worst. Afghans took over security four years ago, 28,000 people have died, in the same period, about 60 americans have died. Thats nearly 500 afghans for every american. So this is not how you keep allies. This isnt how you get moderate muslims to fight terrorism by disparaging them. David makes such an important point, colonel. You hear this from the president in how he talks. I just got back from afghanistan. When i was at Resolute Support headquarters in kabul, i was sitting at dinner next the lithuanians, the belgians, the germans. This is not the United States alone, as david is pointing out, in any of these fights that were talking about. Even in the case of afghanistan and in afghanistan, its not even the United States leading the fight in taking the brunt of the casualties at this point. The president doesnt note that. Right, and thats very disappointing. And as david correctly pointed out, these allies are really taking the lions share of the burden here. And you know, to expect a country like afghanistan or some of the forces in syria to, quote, pay for, unquote, these operations, u. S. Military operations, is just impossible. It doesnt work that way. Theyre doing us a favor by helping us in places like afghanistan and syria. And the fact is that these are all either actual or potential launching points for terrorist attacks. Thats the reason we went in on 9 11, as david knows so well. And one of these key things is that if you dont allow your forces to learn the geography, the human terrain, all those kinds of features of places like afghanistan and syria, youre going to lose out. Thats a real danger here. I want to play one more thing, Something Else the president said, when he was speaking to the troops about the syria withdrawal. Lets play that. There will be a strong deliberate and orderly withdrawal of u. S. Forces from syria. Very deliberate, very orderly. While maintaining the u. S. Presence in iraq to prevent an isis resurgence and to protect u. S. Interests and also to always watch very closely over any potential reformation of isis and also to watch over iran. Well be watching. I was struck by that language, in him saying we will be watching and also the deliberate and orderly withdrawal. That seems different. He was reading those words. That does seem different from his announcement, which was we have beaten isis. Its time to come home, and he even specifically said, and our troops are coming back and theyre coming back now, which was his original announcement. Do you think there is wiggle room there . Do you see that in that statement . It did seem more scripted, and whats dangerous is by declaring were just pulling out, its a political win for the president. Whenever you sort of politicize the use of the military, its dangerous. Hes taking a big risk by pulling the troops out of syria and even reducing them in afghanistan. Both barack obama and george w. Bush were very afraid of a major terrorist attack in the United States because thats a massive blow to any american president in terms of their public support. This is a very dangerous thing hes doing. He might be right. Theres a real question of how long should we stay. Its just the way he does it, the abrupt announcement, and this is a big propaganda victory for the Islamic State and for iran. They have outwaited us since we ran out of patience in syria, and the taliban will also we started peace talks with the taliban. For especially at this moment. Yes, for both of these groups they have in a sense defeated the United States. This is a big plus for them. This is risky but a fair question, how long do we stay . Especially in afghanistan, i was speaking with the ambassador. This is a crucial moment, is how he was painting it, in getting them to the table, and we didnt know the drawdown was being discussed, but thats top of mind. Thank you so much. Coming up for us, after a second child dies in Border Patrol custody, the Homeland Security secretary says hes headed to the border to see things for herself and the new measures theyre putting in place. Will it be enough . Ill talk to the head of the American Academy of pediatrics next. Plus, congress is back in session. Back at work, but not really. Still no end in sight to the partial Government Shutdown, the president vowing to do whatever it takes to get his wall funded. Are we in this for the long haul . If so, what does that look like . . Cascade platinum does the work for you, prewashing and removing stuckon foods, the first time. Wow, thats clean cascade platinum. So we improved everything. We used 50 fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top Safety Standards the new johnsons® choose gentle the head of u. S. Border patrol says his agency needs a complete overhaul to adequately handle families coming across the border, and that includes more funding for medical care and health care for children. This comes after an 8yearold boy from guatemala died on christmas eve. Thats the second death of a migrant child in u. S. Custody this month. Kirstjen nielsen said shes going to travel to the border to personally review the conditions at the Border Patrol facilities. Dan simon is joining me from el paso, texas, with much more on this. What is being done to make sure migrants are getting the medical attention they need . What is happening down there right now . Well, kate, first of all, obviously, with two children dying in less than a month, there is obvious ly a major concern about whether or not Border Patrol is equipped to handle the surge of Central American migrants coming into the country and whether or not these children are being cared for properly. Obviously, Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is facing this fresh crisis. She said shes going do order her agency to do enhanced medical screening on children in their facilities. And she said theyre going to be subjected to fairly rigorous medical screening, whether or not their parents even ask for it. So obviously, you know, this is all coming about because of the death of these two children. And in terms of what we know about this 8yearold who died, we dont know how this 8yearold became sick, whether it was a result of this very dangerous journey or just from being in custody. But what is clear is you do have really an unprecedented amount of migrants coming into this kungtry. Just last month, you had 25,000 families who were arrested. So obviously, the system is at maximum capacity, and thats why you have what we saw here at the bus transit just a few days ago, with hundreds of migrants simply being dropped off here at the bus station with no apparent plan for them. That practice is now apparently stopped because of the pr fallout there, but it just goes to show you how overtaxed the system is, kate. Yeah, another example of how overtaxed it is. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Joining me now for more perspective, dr. Colleen craft. Thank you for coming in again. Thank you, kate. So as were hearing from dan simon, the Homeland Security secretary is put in place new rules in light of this boys death on christmas eve, ordering, calling it a secondary medical screening for all of the children taken into custody. Is that a fix for the problem at the border . Kate, whats really needed is pediatric expertise and oversight and monitoring of the health of these children and the conditions in these facilities. Its really important to understand and differentiate adult care from pediatric care because children get sick very quickly. And it takes a trained eye to know the difference between a child who is well, a child whos mildly ill, and a child who is severely ill. What is the difference that a pediatrician can bring that any other like, im not knocking any other doctor, right, or any other pediatrician, but what can a pediatrician bring, what can they do that another medical professional wont be able to do when it comes to these kids . Thats a great question. The difference is our training is with children all the time. We get to see what happens between the time a baby or a toddler or a young child is born and how they get sick. A child whos mildly ill may actually have some signs that heir going to be severely ill. It may be increased respiratory rate or heart rate or decreased capillary profusion, but they know who is sick and who has something mildly ill. So the head of customs and Border Protection, i was struck in an interview yesterday, acknowledged these Holding Facilities they have, that they arent meant for children. They arent meant for families. Let me play what he said to cbs. What were seeing with these flows of huge numbers of families, with lots of children, young children, as well as unaccompanied minors coming into Border Patrol custody after crossing the border unlawfully, our stations are not built for that group crossing today. They were built 30, 40 years ago for single adult males. We need a different approach. We need help from congress. We need to budget for medical care and Mental Health care for children in our facilities. Doctor, what are the risks of keeping children in these places . We know about these detention facilities, they are not built for children. And we do not recommend that children even be present in these facilities. They are cold. Lights are on 24 7. There are open toilets. A child whos well might get sick in this facility, and a child who is sick can get much worse in these facilities. When we talked over the summer, you said that the separation of children from their families amounted to the clinical definition of abuse. In what we had been seeing over the summer. Knowing what you know about the facilities, what would you call this, holding these children with their families in these facilities . We call it not good for children. We call this a way to make children much sicker than they are, and something thats going to hurt the health of all of these children coming into our protective custody. You said yesterday that you have talked to the head of customs and Border Protection and you also have reached out to dhs to offer some help. Have you heard back . I spoke with a commissioner yesterday who is very interested in what customs and Border Patrol can do to remedy this situation. And the American Academy of pediatrics has offered our expertise to him as well as to the department of Homeland Security. We know how to take care of children, and we know what the environment needs to be like to keep children well and keep them healthy while theyre in our custody. Was he open to that . We had a good beginning conversation. And thats the good news. Thats the good news. Well leave that one there in hopes theres more to come from it. I have heard from former heads of Border Patrol saying that the reality is, and its a tough reality, is that these children by and large, they arent well when they arrive after this dangerous journey. And that their medical exams they receive after crossing sometimes are the first checkups they ever had. If thats the case, doctor, how much can a pediatrician do for these children with just these screenings . The pediatricians can do a lot for these children. Because if they are seen by a pediatrician or someone who is specially trained by a pediatrician, they can tell what their vital signs are, if theyre mildly ill, if theyre severely ill, and they can really be triaged to important treatment if these kids are having difficulty when they come to the border. Regardless, its always important to have your voice in this conversation. Doctor, thanks so much for coming in. Thank you. Still ahead for us, congress is technically back today, but with only congressional leaders on capitol hill, will there be any progress on a deal to end this partial Government Shutdown . Well get a gut check on this next. A brand new john deere. Thats not a mirage. With 60 months financing at 0 , say happy holidays to money well spent. If additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. Now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. New john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. See your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. New year, new deere. Welcome now to day six of the partial Government Shutdown, and congress is back to work kind of sort of. The house and senate will gavel into session briefly, but lawmakers are still out of town