warming is making this country have very severe weather. >> this will rank as one of the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years. >> my mom texted my sister they were trapped in the room. >> our hearts go out to every family who lost a loved one. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alyson camerota. >> welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is your "new day". chris is off. bill weir skwroeupbjoins me. >> good morning. he thinks special counsel robert mueller will be fair to him. he says the russia investigation makes the u.s. look very bad. this was an impromptu interview in which the president insisted 16 times there was no collusion between the trump campaign and russia. he said he has every right to do whatever he wants with the justice department. >> he made news last night with a tweet tweeting that the east coast could use a little bit of that good old global warming. as bitter cold temperatures grip much of the nation, once again trying to undermine the science behind climate change knowing the rest of the planet is above normal temperatures is something he called a hoax. cities are deploying an unprecedented number of law enforcement officers to protect revelers as they ring in the new year. abby phillip live in west palm beach, florida. good morning, abby. >> reporter: good morning, bill. the president spending a couple of minutes with a "new york times" reporter in the dining room of his mar-a-lago resort a few blocks from here. the president talking at length about this russia investigation and making some surprising comments about the idea that he believes that rocket mueller is conducting an investigation that he has at least some confidence in. let me read you a little bit of what he had to say to that reporter. he said there was no collusion with respect to my campaign. i think i'll be treated fairly. timing-wise, i can't tell you. i just don't know. but i think we'll be treated fairly. that seems to contradict a lot of what we have been hearing from other republicans who waged something of a campaign over the last several weeks to undermine the mueller probe, suggesting that it at its core unfair to the president because perhaps the people who are investigating the president are supporters of hillary clinton. the president also talking a little bit about the impact he thinks the probe is having on the reaction to the united states abroad. he said the only thing that bothers me about timing, i can it's a very bad thing for the country because it makes the country look bad. it makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position. so the sooner it's worked out the better. it is possible the president was reflecting on how it makes him look on the world stage in addition to the country. the other remarkable thing about this interview, bill and alisyn, is the president was at his club where he is often not totally surrounded by aides. and there was not a single person who worked for him at the white house with him when he sat down for 30 minutes with this "times" reporter. many of them learned about this interview much after the fact. and probably were surprised by the fact that he spoke so freely about this ongoing investigation. bill and alisyn. >> abby, very interesting is. so he was, we can assume, he was untethered by any aides. anyway, it is quite illuminating. let's discuss with david drucker and former federal prosecutor renata marriotti. david drucker, isn't it interesting to hear the different tone that he thinks robert mueller will be quite fair to him? >> i think the president struck the right tone. if you're going to try to cast doubt on an investigation, and that is a pretty normal thing to do, they don't want to be found guilty of anything or indicted, the best thing to do is have your supporters cast doubt and you play the role of the statesman and saying of course you have full confidence in the justice system. from a political standpoint, it was unusual because trump doesn't always abide by those rules. then we end up in discussions about whether or not he has any concern or understanding for how the rule of law works and how it impacts the presidency. here he seemed to be taking that conventional approach. if he could stick to that, i think it would do him as well as long ass, as he claims, there will be no aspersions cast on him from this russia investigation. >> renato, you made an interesting point about his control of the department of justice. he asked if he would open up an investigation against the clintons. and he said i have absolute right to do what i want with the justice department. but for purposes of hopefully thinking i'm going to be treated fairly, i've stayed uninvolved with this particular matter. he talked again about how his disappointment in jeff sessions's recusal. it's too bad jeff recused himself. i like him. i don't want to get into loyalty, but i will say this. eric holder protected president obama. totally protected him. when you look at the irs scandal. these were real problems and holder protected the president. i have respect for that. i'll be honest, i have respect for that. what strikes you about his take between the executive and the justice department? >> the second passage, essentially the president is saying he thinks the attorney general should shield them from problems that are problematic. whenever the president does something that might violate the law, the attorney general should step in, have his back, and stop the investigations which of course is not at all pay back the justice department is supposed to act with the president of the united states. in that first passage you mentioned, that is a little concerning, right? the president is saying i have absolute authority to do whatever i want with the justice department. to end investigations into me. to initiate investigations into opponents. >> is he right? does the president have the authority to do that? >> he doesn't if he is doing so in an unlawful way. for example, you can imagine a president ending an investigation into himself or friends in order to benefit himself in a corrupt way. that's against the law. or imagine a president taking bribes. of course that's against the law. there are certainly limits on what a president can do. and he parrots an argument we have heard at times from his team. and so i do agree he was on point in terms of making the arguments that perhaps he wanted to make. but it's a very dangerous argument for a president. >> david, also interesting, 16 times he said there was no collusion between my campaign and russia. obviously you can tell he's thinking about it and concerned about it since he felt the need to repeat it many times. however, it's interesting because if he didn't know about the meeting with don jr. and a russian lawyer, if he didn't know about michael flynn's meetings with the russian ambassador that weren't disclosed, how can he know? >> right. and it's possible he can't. look, i think we have seen from the beginning the president very, very sensitive to this idea that his campaign colluded and did things untoward. it would delegitimize his victory and make it something aboveboard and not really real. i thought the best tact he could take is i did not collude. as far as i know, nobody in new campaign colluded because of course i wouldn't have abided by any such action. but let the investigation goes where it does. if anybody did anything they weren't supposed to do, i want them prosecuted. the president could wrap this up as a matter of trying to deal with the overall meddling with the russians in the election saying he was going to finally do something about it when his predecessor didn't. this would be an argument, regardless of what people think about that argument, that would put him on offense and where you would want a president to be politically. and i think voters would understand that a lot more. as we have found out over the last year, we don't know quite yet if there was collusion, but we do know people weren't always telling the truth about who they met with and why they met with him in terms of people in his circle. >> right. >> until those are explained, it leaves open this idea he might not always have known what was going on if in fact, it's true he did not personally participate in any activities like that. >> any time he brings up a particular point that makes you scratch your head, it opens up a new line of questioning into his logic. for example, he said i saw dianne feinstein the other day on television saying there is no collusion. she's the head of the committee. the republican, in terms of the house committees that come out, they are so angry because there's no collusion. i actually think it is turning to the democrats because there was collusion on behalf of the democrats. this is exactly what dianne feinstein said on television. take a listen. >> i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of a case of on obstruction of justice. i think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place. and some of the comments that are being made. and i see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of director comey. and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. that's obstruction of justice. >> he can say no collusion 16 times, 26 times. but the fact remains, renato, he fired james comey and said to lester holt he did it because of the russia investigation. >> the oddest thing, there are a number of odd things. one of those is this passage you're point to go where over and over and over again the president keeps saying the democrats are claiming he didn't collude. you can say whatever you want about democrats. but giving president trump the benefit of the doubt is not one of the things they have been doing a lot of. i think democrats have really been going after the president on this issue. i can't think of a democratic elected official who is out there sawing that the president didn't collude. that's a bizarre statement i guess in his mind if democrats are out there saying, hey, there's an obstruction of justice issue or something like that. that means in his mind there is no collusion. i don't know exactly what senator fine is stein is saying. >> didn't sound like it. david drucker, renato marriotti, thank you very much. >> it stkpdoesn't look like we get an end of the year press conference from the president. the president insisting he knows more about the big bills in congress than any other president ever. do the facts support this? we'll be right back. you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. president trump sat down with the "new york times", impromptu, unsupervised after i bragged about his knowledge of things saying, "i know the details of taxes better than anybody. better than the greatest cpa. i know the details of health care better than most. better than most. and if i didn't, i couldn't have talked all of these people into doing ultimately only to be rejected. >> this is not you messing up this read. it is the grammar where it gets a little tricky. >> a bit of an off-ramp i wasn't seeing. a man with good grasps of the english language, david drucker and abby phillip is back with us. renato had to leave. let's talk about the big bilge. abby, you have covered this white house since the beginning. i remember the quote about who knew health care could be so complicated. but he seems to be taking credit for the tax bill. take us through your impressions of than comment. >> yeah. i think the idea that he knew health care better than anyone is something most people on the hill would disagree with. it is true they gave him a lot of credit for knowing the details of taxes, or caring a lot about them, wanting to move things around to want to make that bill work. it was interesting to hear him say that he also knew all the details of the big bills that congress has done of which there have not been that many in this past year. but it's fascinating to hear him react to that criticism of him that frankly you hear from both democrats and republicans on the hill that this is a president who just does not want to get into the weeds on policy except on the issues of taxes which he appears to know better than others. >> i will read a little bit more, david, of what he said in this revealing interview to the "new york times". number one, i have unbelievably great relationships with 97% of the republican congressmen and senators. i love them and they love me. and number two, i know more about the big bills than any president that's ever been in office. whether it's health care and taxes. especially taxes. i couldn't have persuaded a hundred congressmen to go along with the bill. i was a great student and all this stuff. oh, he doesn't know the details. these are sick people. reading these is enjoyable. >> it's very entertaining. i guess i'm a sick person. the thing about it, presidents don't need the details of everything. it is to know the details of a few big things and make sure they know how to delegate and they know how to build unity around some big ideas and get some things done. the american people don't expect their presidents or members of congress for that matter to be experts on everything. they want people that are competent, they can trust and they feel are generally intelligent so when they come into contact with new policies and things that pop up that you can't plan for, that you will be able to deal with it. we saw the president's deficiencies when it came to certain policies versus others. when it came to health care, he knew a lot less about international trade and taxes. i always thought his biggest handicap this year was that he didn't seem to understand the process of governing. what i mean by that is he came to the table not really understanding the pressure points in congress and the processes of congress, the committee process, and how members of congress are going to deal with pieces of legislation and how the president, maybe the president and the leader of his political party. it doesn't mean everybody just hops to it like when he was ceo. him getting his arms around that process if he has, if he understands that better will put him in a much better position in 2018. and i don't think, alisyn, that it is necessary for him to brag about things that are just not -- i mean, they're just not true. >> you don't think he knows more than abraham lincoln, bill clinton and, i don't know, we could go through all of them. you don't think president trump knows more than all of them? >> he is one on of 44. they may not have been as good politicians. they didn't necessarily get things done. it is odd that he feels the need to put himself, to describe himself that way when that is not how the american people will judge him. >> he has a perception of a man who ran a privately owned business, not even answering to shareholders. especially when talking about democrats, abby. he said had they come to me, the dems, i would have gone to mitch. i would have gone to the other republicans. i would have worked something out bipartisan. that could have been a change to salt or knockout of salt. that is the state and local tax deduction on the federal. what was the reality of the interplay between democrats and the republicans during that tax process? >> reporter: yeah. i think the republicans made it pretty clear from the beginning that they wanted this process to be largely one that reflected the values of the republican party. and it was going to be difficult to get democrats on board with that. underlying all of this is the reality that not a single democrat has voted with this president in this first year of his term, which i think in january everyone would have thought was unheard of. there are several democrats, joe manchin and clare mccaskill are in states that donald trump won who this white house believed would need to be with this president on a lot of policy and they haven't been. largely, the reason for that is because the president is viewed as politically toxic among democrats and among moderates. many democrats don't see any political consequences to not being with him on policy. so perhaps that's true. although i'm not positive that mitch mcconnell and paul ryan would have gone along with that. i think in the theory of bipartisanship is often more important to this president than the reality of it, which would require them sacrificing a lot of things and even sacrificing republican votes in order to get a few democrats on board. >> so the president i think just tweeted about global warming or how cold it is. maybe we can put that up. >> that was last night. >> okay. in the east, it could be the coldest new year's on record. perhaps we can use a little bit of that good old global warming in our country, but not other countri countries. so bundle up. the president said it's a hoax. global warming isn't happening. >> for reference, let's put up a map of the entire planet. and you can see the bright red spots are where it is is above normal temperatures. and the arctic is the most alarming part of that. the blue sphrofp we're living through right now is a little tiny part of a big heated planet. it is sort of like not understanding when the sun goes down in your naked, it's not dark everywhere. >> it's not? >> no. >> well, i don't know, david. case closed on global warming. >> i think sometimes the president is just trolling us and having a good time. there are disagreements about climate science and about the impact of climate -- man made climate change and what should be done about it. these are times i think the president, who has probably been briefed enough because he had to make a decision about whether or not to keep the u.s. in the paris accords or not, just decides to have a little fun with everybody. it will resonate with his political base who in particular is more skeptical about man made climate change and the impacts it may or may not be having than our people in the middle and people on the left. and so some of these things with the president i take with a grain of salt in that i just think he's probably putting the tweet out there and then having fun watching everybody react. >> such a great point. david drucker, thank you very much. abby phillip, thank you as well. now to this story. it is so tragic what happened here last night. at least 12 people were killed in the worst fire in new york city in 25 years. what caused this? why did so many people die? we have a live report from the scene next. mvo: you're not doing work to help somebody, you're gaining something from meeting mr. adderley. it's a calling to not only everybody in this neighborhood in miami, but to the nation how great we are. and how great we can be. ♪ ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ and i'll never desert you. ♪ i'll stand by you. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪ with expedia, you can book a flight, then add a hotel, and save. ♪ everything you need to go. expedia wifiso if you can't live without it...t it. why aren't you using this guy? it makes your wifi awesomely fast. no... still nope. now we're talking! it gets you wifi here, here, and here. it even lets you take a time out. no! no! yes! yes, indeed. amazing speed, coverage and control. all with an xfi gateway. find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. we are following breaking news. at least 12 people were killed in the worst fire tragedy in new york city in 25 years. four children are among the dead. cnn's scott mcclain is live in the bronx with the latest. scott, what do we know? >> reporter: hey, alisyn. we are learning three of those children that you mentioned who died in this fire were under the age of 10. this is an absolute tragedy. you can see firefighters are still on scene. they have been here since minutes after this fire broke on out, 7:00 yesterday, on the first floor. they got here quickly. three minutes or less, according to city officials. but the flames seemed to spread even quicker. 150 plus firefighters ended up here on scene battling those flames. obviously not everybody managed to make it out. those who did had to climb down the fire escapes on the side of the building into absolutely bone-chilling temperatures. one of our local affiliates spoke to one woman who was waiting outside anxiously, as you can imagine, because she had gotten a text. the last text she got from her mom was from her mom saying she was trapped inside of a third floor apartment. all told, 12 people have been killed. there are others who have been injured. the ages of the victims range from 1 to 63 years old. the mayor says there could be more victims because people are still in the hospital. we checked public records. this building has 29 suites inside. it only had four complaints since 2004, and none appear to be fire related. we spoke to a fire official on scene here. they haven't gotten any new information for us. they should have an update just after 8:00 this morning. bill. >> all right, scott. when it gets this cold, people get desperate to stay warm. sometimes judgment is impaired on that. be safe with space heaters, et cetera. of thank you. another arctic blast is on the way. a record-setting brutal cold will last into the new year, we're told, by meet rolls, including our own chad myers with our forecast. good morning, chad. happy friday. >> happy friday, bill. it's hard to tell where one arctic blast ends and when one arctic blast arrives. the next nine days we will be well below normal. in some cases 20 degrees below normal on the high end. temperatures are well below zero in new york city. it briefly warms to 25 on saturday. that's the warmest new york city will be. morning lows into the single digits. if you're partying outside, this will be as cold as 1962. when you're out there freezing, think about that song tonight we're going to party like it's 1962. if it's 10 degrees, we go all the way back to 1917 and i don't want to party like it's 1917. atlanta, 20 degrees for a windchill factor. key west and miami, somewhere in the upper 60s. frigid weather continues. it is just this one batch right after another. it doesn't stop. it's not going to stop until at least i see is a break january 10th. alisyn. that sounds horrible, chad. thank you very much for the forecast. okay. so the president says those of us in the media want him to be re-elected in order to survive. all of this and more in a new revealing interview. that's next. with neulasta onpro? 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not so much. so he turned to his friends at legalzoom. yup! they hooked me up. we helped with his llc, contracts, and some other stuff that's part of running a business. so frank can focus on the beat. you hear that? this is frank's record shop. and this is where life meets legal. i used to ask if you can hear me now, but i made the smart choice hi, i'm paul. and switched to sprint. these days all networks are great. so why would anyone pay twice as much with verizon. now when you switch you'll get 4 lines of unlimited for $25 a month with the 5th line free. 5 lines for only $100 a month. that's 50% off the unlimited rates of the other guys. it's the best price for unlimited. (vo) don't let a 1% difference cost you twice as much. plus, switch and get 50% off samsung's newest phones. think about what you can do for people with hearing loss, with all that extra money. visit sprintrelay.com. more now from that revealing "new york times" interview. one of the tidbits president trump said the media will help him win another term. he said another reason that i'm going to win another four years is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if i'm not there because without me their ratings are going down the tubes. so they basically have to let me win. probably six months before the election they will be loving me because they are saying please, please don't lose donald trump. okay. joining me is abby phillip and bill carter, cnn media analyst. great to see you guys. okay. so, bill, he he has a point. >> he does have a point. >> he does have a point that the ratings have gone up and there certainly have been a lot more interest in journal issism during the era of donald trump fact checking, going back to primary sources, getting the facts. that has gone up. he's right about that. i like that he thinks the media controls who wins and we can let him win. that's a lot of power. >> and that we won't do our jobs. we will sell is out for money. because that's what he would do. >> he's focused on ratings. >> that's right. exactly. and i do think he's right in this sense. if and when -- whenever he leaves office on, the television ratings probably will go down. people do watch in a very unnerved way now. he is so unpredictable and things are so controversial that people are compelled to watch more than they would be with almost anyone else in office, i think. >> abby, reporters familiar with the communication shop within the white house there and the fact that everybody has been clamoring for interviews with the president. everybody would love to see a year end press conference, talk about your impressions of him just impromptu sitting down at the country club grill after a round of golf with a couple of "new york times" guys and no minders around him. >> reporter: it's incredibly tuf trumpian really. he has been known to do this on numerous occasions. he has picked up the phone and called a "new york times" reporter or "washington post" reporter. this is important to know about him too. he really values the opinion of the "new york times". that is his hometown paper. he, despite the criticism, the failing "new york times", he likes being in the "new york times", being on the front page. and i think his comments about the media and the election reflect that too. it's a little bit tongue in cheek, to be fair. i think the president is just trying to mess around with us here. but on some level it reflects the idea that the president always likes being at the front of people's minds. he likes being on the front page on on cable news, every single morning. that is what drives a lot of his behavior day to day. so the fact that the president would have been golfing earlier in the morning runs into a "new york times" reporter at his property and just decides to sit down and chat is really what trump does. he often does these without many of his aides or his communications really having any idea about what is going on. >> one of the revealing things i thought was that it reveals he wants another four years, okay. >> yeah. >> so we heard from some places like steve bannon who gave a 30% chance of finishing out his first term. here he said he will win the next four years, he wants the next four years. look, this is a window into what his thinking is now particularly since he doesn't have minders. that was the first time that i have heard him say he's gunning for eight years. >> once he was in, who thought he would give up this attention. he loves this attention. >> steve bannon. >> if you know donald, he doesn't want anything other than to have maximum attention. what can be bigger than president? he's not going to give that up willingness. >> if he cares about the "times", he must care about "vanity fair". >> he obviously does. >> he obviously does. the reflection of his desire for coverage is reflect on the walls of his office, if you have ever been in there, all of those magazine covers. of course with carter, the first man to call him the short fingered eventu fingered vulgarian is stepping down. the vanity is fair website put up a funny jokey video about hillary new year's resolution. it created such backlash they had to apologize. >> is they apologized and he didn't like that. >> and he turned on them. >> it's interesting. he probably liked them picking on hillary. so they apologized, so he had to pick on them for that. something very consequential. this is so in consequential, it shows how his mind works. he can be on the most picky little thing. if it involves one of his obsessions, and hillary is one of his obsessions, he can't resist going after. it is small. think about how little it is. it is not even commenting about him. they were talking about her. and he went after them. >> and china, north korea, and trading fuel came from something he saw on fox news. the weight he gives to some outlets and not others is really telling. >> it is. it shows you what is in the front of his mind. this interview did the same thing. i know people kphraeupbcomplain this because they said he didn't get challenged enough. it was about his thinking. it was all over the place. it was stream of consciousness and i think pretty revealing. >> thank you both very much. the mass shoot anything las vegas and the recent terror attacks in new york city are leading law enforcement to increase security for new year's eve celebrations across the country. a live report of the unprecedented layers of security coming up. i use herpecin l.re, it penetrates deep to treat. it soothes, moisturizes, and creates an spf 30 barrier, to protect against flare-ups caused by the sun. herpecin l. celtics with a comeback to beat the rockets. >> lebron james wasn't happy after that big christmas day showdown with the warriors. now james harden of the rockets not happy with really questionable calls at the end of last night's game. rockets had a 26-point lead. they were up three with 11 seconds left. after jayson tatum dunks here, the refs call harden for an offensive foul. even though smart was just giving him a bear hug. they score to take the lead. watch this. harden, again, called for an offensive foul before the ball is even inbounded. just unreal. 99-98. only two refs in this game because one hurt his back during warmups. harden not happy with that after the game. >> you can't have two officials in a professional game a lot of no calls needed to be called. it changes the game. national tv. professional game. can't happen. >> i have to completely agree with harden, not just because i'm from houston and a big rockets fan. what if one of the other officials got hurt in the first three minutes. what are they going to do, play with one? >> i'm sure they will get a volunteer. >> someone out of the stands. >> yeah. give me a whistle! andy, thanks so much. >> all right. >> happy weekend to you. revelers on new year's eve will ring in 2018 under unprecedented levels of security. how law enforcement plans to keep it safe when we come back. when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums fl[ gasps, laughs ]c, progressive gives you options based on your budget. you ever feel like... cliché foil characters scheming against a top insurer for no reason? nah. so, why don't we like flo? she has the name your price tool, and we want it. but why? why don't we actually do any work? why do you only own one suit? it's just the way it is, underdeveloped office character. you're right. thanks, bill. no, you're bill. i'm tom. you know what? no one cares. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪ law enforcement are going to use new tactics to keep revelers safe. what's happening in times square, athena? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. securing new year's eve festivities is always a massive security challenge. we will see an increased presence in part because of the recent terror attacks in new york. the truck incident on halloween. and this month a man detonated a bomb just a few blocks from here. this entire area is going to be closed off to traffic starting early in the day on sunday. the 12 access points for spectators will be manned by teams of police, heavy weapons, equipment to detect radiological material, bomb-sniffing dogs. and sand-filled sanitation trucks and cement blocks to help block off the area. a few more measures, rooftop observation, countersniper teams, 125 parking garages sealed off, additional officers in hotels and special suicide attack training for police officers to try to prevent any sort of suicide attack. the "new york times" is reporting that for the first time police will be attaching reflective markers to help figure out where a gunman may be located. they will be screened twice in order to get in the area to see the ball drop. while authorities say there is no direct credible threat they want folks to remain vigilant and say, as always, if you see something, say something. bill. >> okay. athe athena, thanks so much. stay warm out there. let's discuss with james gagliano and security analyst bob bare. if you have never been, it is a marvel of how they get 2 million people into this space, keep them safe, and then clean up just hours after they're gone. this year we are hearing the word "unprecedented" thrown around. clearing out 125 parking garages. >> i spent 20 of my 25 years of my career with the new york city police department. the nypd is the most professional, most experienced and best equipped to deal with what we call an nsse, a national special security event, which the new year's eve times square event falls under. just think about what the nypd has accomplished. in 1991, my first year, there were 2,245 attacks. now there is under 300. stunning actually. great expertise in this realm. we have to take spwa factointo e weather. the temperatures are supposed to be around 10 degrees, which should severely limit the amount of people that come in. but still there is going to be a lot of people down there in a small area. i think there will be 12 check points. to athena's point, the hotels along 7th avenue, in response to the las vegas shooting, they will put police in every one of the hotels so if something happens. they have bomb-vapor smelling dogs. if somebody has been dealing with bomb making explosive materials, they walk past one of the dogs and they can detect the particulate. i think new year's eve, times square, new york city, will be the safest place to be in the entire world. >> interesting. bob, let's talk about vegas a little bit. it is so interesting, curious that we still don't have a motive for the shooter, stephen paddock. what does that tell you about this attack and how it might inform protecting folks now. >> well, bill, exactly. these things are not really preventable. you cannot get in the minds of people who own guns, whether they are terrorists or simply the insane. the police have a really hard time calculating who is going to turn to violence. and this happened in las vegas. you can protect public areas. you can put up shock detectors, helicopters and snipers and the rest of it. but you basically, like times square, have to put an armed force in there to protect people. the fbi has the same problem protecting people against jihad and the rest of it. it is very, very difficult to do. >> yeah. >> that's why new york city is not completely protectable over new year's. >> just in vegas, 300 national guard troops, snipers. this is a first for them there as they keep an eye on all the hotel windows which is haunting. a number of quick response teams doubled. more medics, canine units, mobile command posts, 1800 concre concrete bollards. in the end, we saw how the city bounced back after that horrific car attack down by chambers street, this is a certain sense of accept is answer that we do have to keep an eye out. you do have to see something and say something. it's really the community that is as much a protective layer as the authorities. >> absolutely, bill. as we move along that continuum between total security and civil liberties, we have to keep the sweet spot. we want to respect civil liberties. i know after the vehicle attack in lower manhattan, they put up concrete bollards that are removable along the route where the bike path was. the countersniper teams they are deploying in vegas. obviously lessons learned there that a committed shooter took the high ground. how do we ameliorate that. lastly, if you're down in times square, anywhere else in a big city, understand when you look to the left and right of you and you see what you think are fellow revelers, it could be a cop on the left, a member of the jttf on right. they will be in plainclothes, circulating among the crowds, doing everything they can to keep us safe this year. >> well, we all wish a happy, safe new year's for everybody who plans to stay in or go out. james, bob, happy new year's to you guys. thanks. coming up on "new day" we will talk to mayor bill de blasio about the preparations in times square among other topics. thank you to our international viewers. for you cnn talk is next. for others, "new day" begins right now. >> i didn't collude. over and over again. >> he said he thought the country would be harmed by the investigation for a long time. >> never gave any indication any evidence of wrongdoing by the campaign. >> i think the chinese probably got a wakeup call from the president. >> i don't think it's in their best interest. >> the chinese have been caught red handed. that puts trump in a very difficult position. >> as of now this is historic in its magnitude. >> everyone hold your families close and keep these families here in your prayers. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". chris is off. bill weir joins me. happy friday. almost happy new year. president trump tells the "new york times" he thinks special counsel robert mueller will be fair to him. but he says the russia investigation makes the u.s. look very bad. this was an impromptu interview. he insisted 16 separate times there was no collusion between his campaign and russia. >> as scrutiny intensifies, president trump says he has an absolute right to do whatever epbts with the justice department. and he reveals why he has been soft on china hours after accusing beijing of secretly shipping oil to north korea. >> let's discuss with one of the writers for the "new york times" story, michael sheer, a cnn political analyst. good morning, michael. >> good morning. thanks for having me, guys. >> thanks for being here to explain this article. it was very revealing. it was impromptu in the dining room of his golf club after