Breaking news. Backing moore. President trump breaks his silence and all but endorses the candidate and accused child mow lester roy moore. Will the President Campaign with him . Putin on the phone. President trump reveals details of a lengthy conversation with putin. They discuss syria, ukraine and north korea. Will the president and putin Work Together to reign in kim jongun . Accusations and denials. Capitol hill is rocked by sexual allegations against the longest serving of the house. He denies wrongdoing but tonight the House Ethics Committee is beginning an investigation. And pardon meat. Two turkeys compete for the president ial pardon with the birds face decided with an
online poll. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf blitzer is off. Im jim acosta. Youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn Breaking News. Breaking news tonight. President trump defending republican candidate roy moore and offering all but an endorsement. That puts mr. Trump at odds with many in his own party who called on moore to step aside after allegations he sexually abused one teenage girl and improperly pursued others. The president noted that moore denies the allegations and he said of the senate seat, moore is running for, quote, we dont need a liberal person in there. Also breaking, the House Ethics Committee Just Announced its investigating allegations of Sexual Harassment by democratic congressman john conyers the longest Serving Member of the house. Conyers denies doing anything wrong but does admit to paying a
settlement to one accuser. The federal Communications Commission chairman appointed by President Trump this year says hes going to repeal socalled Neutrality Regulations designed to keep the internet open and fair. Without them, Internet Providers will be able to deliberately speed up or slow down traffic from specific websites and apps. Were covering all of that this more this hour with our guest congressman mike quigley, our correspondents and specialists, theyre also standing bilets get straight to the Breaking News. Jeff zeleny is in florida where President Trump has just arrived to spend thanksgiving. Jeff, pretty stunning here today. The president not only backed moore, he also left the door open to campaigning with him. That was stunning, jeff. Reporter President Trump has just landed here in palm beach, florida. Hell beginning week long vacation. Its important to note its been nearly two weeks since those
explicit allegations first came out about the republican candidate for senate in alabama, the white house has walked a fine line up until this afternoon. The president made clear he supports roy moore. I asked one Top Republican close to the white house why. All of these allegations that have come out since, have made it quote easier and easier to back moore. President trump made clear today he would rather have an accused child mow lester in the senate than a democrat. We dont need a liberal person in there, a democrat, jones. Reporter the president weighing in publicly for the first time in alabamas explosive senate race, saying he accepts roy moores denials over the stories of eight women who have come forward with allegations of Sexual Misconduct. Let me just tell you, roy moore denies it. Thats all i can say. He denies it and, by the way, he totally denies it. Reporter for days the white house has said the race should be left to the voters of alabama. Republican leaders have distanced themselves from moore but today mr. Trump offered a
full president ial embrace. He says it didnt happen and, you know, you have to listen to him also. Youre talking about he said 40 years ago this did not happen. Reporter he even said he may go campaign for moore all in hopes of keeping the seat in republican hands. He went on to openly disparage doug jones the democratic candidate with a history of fighting the clue cluchl clan. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody thats going to be bad on crime, bad with borders and military, bad for the second amendment. Reporter the president s words put him at odds with his daughter. There was a special place in hell for people who mow left children. That sharp criticism is the campaign ad from jones. Conservative voices, putting children and women over party. Doing whats right. Reporter before leaving the white house today for vacation in florida, mr. Trump talking by phone to russian president Vladimir Putin. The call lasted more than an hour aids said with syria,
afghanistan, ukraine and north korea all discussed. The call was initiated by putin, a day after he embraced syrian president Bashar Al Assad during a summit where the u. S. Is not at the table for critical talks over isis and syria. Its another sign russias in the driver seat on syria. John mccain seized on to President Trump. Mccain saying the president mistakenly believes the u. S. And russia share interests. He added, its further evidence we desperately need a strategy for syria. Todays conversation between trump and putin comes after their brief facetoface meeting at the summit earlier this month in vietnam where talk of russians interference overshadowed other topics. As the president spends the rest of the week at maralago the Russian Investigation is still hanging over the investigation. You are hereby pardoned. Reporter Talk Of Pardonens today at the white house as the president took part in the ritual of sparing a thanksgiving turkey but it was his comments about the Alabama Senate race that overshadowed it all as allegations of Sexual Harassment and misconduct against women Takes Center Stage in a Remarkable National debate thats toppled figures in hollywood, media and politics. His words struck an odd tone considering his embrace of moore. Women are very special. I think its a very special time because a lot of things are coming out and i think thats good for our society and i think its very, very good for women and im very happy a lot of these things are coming out and im very happy im very happy its being exposed. Reporter so those words from the president right there, certainly at odds with his decision to accept roy moores denials. The president made clear he did not say he didnt believe the women, he just pointed out
again and again that roy moore has denied this saying that many times. Jim weve been talking to the republicans close to the white house and inside the white house trying to get a sense of how this aboutface happened. I am told by one person close to the white house that all of the events over the last two weeks, from al franken to charlie rose to others simply confused the situation and this is the words of one person. Since then its become harder and harder to tell who the bad guy is so in that respect that was behind the thinking of the president to support roy moore. Well see if he campaigns with him in the coming two weeks before that special election in alabama. And that is something well all be watching for. Jeff zeleny in florida for us tonight. Thank you very much. Veteran Television Host charlie rose has been fired by both cbs and pbs after eight women accused him of Sexual Harassment. Rose admits to what he calls inappropriate behavior and hes apologizing for it and tonight one of the most senior lawmakers on capitol hill is also facing
harassment allegations but representative john conyers denies them. Cnn Congressional Correspondent is working on that story for us. The Ethics Committee Just Announced its investigation against conyers so this is getting more serious for the longest Serving Member of the house. It certainly is. Launching an investigation just hours after the congressman today strongly denied the allegations of Sexual Misconduct. In a statement he does admit that his office made settlements in a payment to the accuser out of his own offices budget. This is a significance because that was done outside of the typical process where a settlement would be paid out of a fund thats set up bill the Treasury Department for these sorts of cases. And certainly gives us some new insight into how Sexual Harassment allegations are handled and kept secret on capitol hill. Top of the morning. Reporter explosive new allegations against congressman john conyers, the longest
Serving Member of the house. Confidential documents obtained by Buzzfeed Show a series of accusations and complaints filed in 2014 against the michigan democrat by former unnamed women on his staff alleging the congressman repeatedly asked for sexual favors and once asked her to work from his hotel room one evening where she alleges he told her she need today touch his private parts. In another incident she alleges the congressman asked her to stay in his hotel room to just cuddle up with me and caress me before you go. The complaint leading to a wrongful Firing Settlement in 2015 to one woman who alleges she was fired for refusing the congressmans advances, a 27,000 settlement paid out directly to her from the congressmans office. Still using Taxpayer Money but not from the fund set up to handle settlements within the u. S. Treasury. Cnn has not independently confirmed the allegations or seen the documents involved. Connie conyers today denied the allegations but acknowledged a payment was made by his office to the accuser, quote my office resolved the allegations within an expressed denial of liability he says in order to save all involved from the riggers of protected litigation. Calls on capitol hill today from members of his own party including House Minority leader nancy pelosi for an ethics investigation. I just heard about congressman conniers. These allegations are extremely serious and must be dealt with in a very serious manner. Reporter this as pressure continues to mount on senator al franken who has been laying low since his own allegations have surfaced while democrats are struggling to answer questions if he should resign. These allegations are serious and women have a right to be heard, and listened to on this. Al is going to be subjected to a hearing in the United States senate and an investigation. Reporter and back on the conyers allegations, for the calls ethics investigation, there was Quick Movement here. The House Ethics Committee late today did announce that they have launched an investigation into the allegations into congressman, but jim as you know these things on capitol hill take a lot of time. They certainly do and well be watching that. Thank you very much. Lets get more on all of this with congressman mike quigley of illinois. I guess first of all, congressman, we have to focus first on what the president of the United States did earlier this afternoon on the south lawn of the white house before he was heading down to maralago for thanksgiving. He essentially endorsed a man who is accused of molesting a 14yearold and preying on teenagers, these are accusations and allegations. Theyve been jected by the roy moore campaign, but what did you make of the president s comments . Im sure you saw them or had a chance to read them, whats your reaction . To paraphrase his own
daughter, theres a special place in hell for those who back a child abuser for the United States senate. Absolutely no worse place we can go from here. Its just unimaginable. And so youre stunned that the president did not withdraw the white house support for roy moore . He left the door open to campaigning with roy moore down in alabama. I suppose what would your reaction be to that that happening . I wouldnt be surprised. Lets just remember this is a Candidate Trump who has a lot of women alleging the same sorts of thing about him, so i think in his own mind this is okay especially if time has passed. Above all, the only thing worse than any of this is that we have a democrat in that senate seat. We talk about a cultural reckoning taking place here. I think all this calls for the structural change that a bill like Jackie Speier has which
creates far more transparency and protects those who make these allegations from being abused a second time, and i think really its a cultural change that that men need to lead besides having a Zero Tolerance policy and an internal look at ourselves, we have to call out anyone else who does anything like this. There has to be a Zero Tolerance policy by all men and i think we have to Work Together to lead that effort. As you know, this problem crosses party lines. Weve seen the accusations facing senator franken over in the senate and now we have these allegations against democratic congressman john conyers. Do you believe he should resign . Heres how i look at it. If these allegations are true, they should both go. They get their due process, but its a deeply disturbing that my
colleague, mr. Conyers used his own resources within his office to make this some sort of settlement instead of going through the official process. This concerns me greatly. I think the congressman needs to look at himself and frankly, if i was in his place, i would leave. Okay. I just want to make sure we have this right. You are saying if these allegations are proven to be true in both of these cases for Congressman Conyers and franken that they should both go. Absolutely. And what is your sense of the accusations thus far . Senator franken you have a photograph of him apparently groping a woman and in the case of john conyers you have a payment made in that investigation. How much more evidence do you need . Right. They get their due process. As disturbing as that is particularly in a system that hasnt created the same due
process for the victims. I think whats most disturbing again about mr. Conyers allegations is the fact that he must have structured internally in his own office some sort of settlement. To me this is greater sense of Cul Baability on behalf of his office and himself. I think mr. Conyers has to think about this very hard. My suggestion is that he leave. And weve heard members of congress say in recent days, congressman, that they know of other lawmakers up there on capitol hill who have engaged in this kind of behavior. Just to be sure we do our Due Diligence here, are you aware of who these harassers might be, who these lawmakers might be who might be engaging in this kind of conduct . Have you heard these rumors yourself . Is it something thats spoken about among lawmakers and staffers and so on . What do you know about that . Clearly, its not spoken about enough in the last few
weeks since these allegations have come forward across our country, across all the sectors, members have started to talk about that. Ive heard discussions about two or three or more and frankly what i hear from most of the members are they think theres a lot more out there. Thats why the culture has to change, the structure has to change. It has to happen immediately. And what do you make of the process thats in place up on capitol hill for victims to report abuse . Put this up on screen. Its pretty stunning. Theres a lot of hurdles here for people who have been victimized. The victim must report the incident within 180 days. 30 days of mandatory counseling they have to go through, not the person who is accused of all this, the victim. 30 days of mediation, 30 to 90 days of mandatory waiting period, they have to sign a confidentiality agreement. Wheres the incentive here for
people to come forward . These are the opiate, these are disincentives. This is a structure thats broken. Its designed to protect members and theyre insidious attacks on women. It has to change. It has to change now. Its a system designed to protect members thats what youre saying . Absolutely. All right. Congressman, thats very disturbing but stand by. We have more Breaking News we want to talk about. We have a break here but in a few moments well talk about this and some of the other issues of the day. Stay with us. Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis . Do what i did. Ask your doctor about humira. Its proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections,
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to go and working together with a diplomatic solution with our allies we can make that happen. Id like to think he was working with mr. Putin to talk about ukraine and the Russian Occupation in the east. Im hoping hes working with him so he tells mr. Putin, maybe you will want to stop trading with north korea and help us exert influence to keep north korea from moving forward with its nuclear ambitions. Theres a lot of good he can do working with putin but at this point in time he doesnt recognize that russia has a ways to go to reconcile with working with democratic powers. And why is the Trump Administration announcing new sanctions on north korea when it still hasnt implemented the sanctions against russia for its Election Interference . Is this some picking and choosing here in terms of enforcement on the world stage . I cant begin to understand
the russian involvement with u. S. Policy. I guess im beginning to understand it after over a year, the Russian Investigation, the extraordinary volume of information about Trump Associates communicating, associating and i think coordinating with the russians. Its the only way i can explain the fact that our policy has been so altered, so influenced by mr. Putin. It began during the course of the campaign and in my mind its clearly impacting u. S. Policy today. And one of the biggest stories of the day, it hasnt garnered as much attention as it deserves the impact of the secs decision to undo Neutrality Rules that essentially allow equal access to the internet. What is this going to do for American Consumers . What did you make of that decision that came down from the fcc today . Nothing like hiding news just
before thanksgiving, unfortunately. I think its a blow against consumerism. I think its a continued assault by the Trump Administration against consumers as a whole using the regulatory process, undoing what needs to be maintained and attacking what needs to be out there to protect the American Public. Its unfortunate. I think there should be a Greater Public debate about this. Let the Congress Work with the American Public and the Executive Branch to talk about what is the right course of action here. This is virtually the color of darkness as you do something and make big pronouncements just before thanksgiving. Id like to think congress will take this up with the white house. Okay. Congressman mike quigley with strong words tonight. Thank you very much for joining us. Happy thanksgiving. You too. President trump backs an Embattled Senate candidate disowned by most republicans. Will he campaign with roy moore and what would it do to the gop, plus why a group of state
department employees say Rex Tillerson is breaking the law when it comes to Child Soldiers . She had to buy lots of groceries. While she was shopping for organic fruits and veggies, burglars broke into her shoe. They stole her kids Mountain Bikes and tablets along with her new juice press. Luckily the Geico Insurance agency had helped her with Homeowners Insurance. She got full replacement on the stolen goods and started a Mountain Bike juice delivery service. Call geico and see how affordable Homeowners Insurance can be. Ooh, ooh hot just gonna stay home on the farm, eat a beautiful idaho potato, and watch tv with my dog. Tv anncr the Big Idaho Potato Truck pulled into town today and its really a sight to see. Oh man. Lets go. distant you comin, boy . Sfx dog gulp woof. Witness katy perry. Witness katy perry become a legal witness. Witness katy perry and left shark. Or a card shark. Grandma . Witness katy perry work. Witness katy perry firework. Witness katy perry swish. Witness katy perry. Aaaaaaw look at that dog katy perry with music videos and behind the scenes footage, xfinity lets you witness all things me. Breaking news tonight. President trump breaking his silence on republican Senate Candidate roy moore. The president defended moore saying he denies allegations by women who say they were either abused or pursued
inappropriately by moore when he was in his 30s. Lets dig deeper now with our specialist, lets go to david swirlic. We finally heard from the president today as he was leaving for thanksgiving. Lets play some of that. We dont need a liberal person in there, a democrat jones. Roy moore denies it and, by the way, he gives a total denial and i do have to say, 40 years is a long time. Hes run eight races and this is never come up, so 40 years is a long time. The women are trump voters, most of them are trump voters. All you can do is you have to do what you have to do. He totally denies it. And david, what does it say about where we are in our Politics Today when the president of the United States is saying hed rather have an accused child mow lester than a democrat in the u. S. Senate . Let me say what it says about President Trumps response. The president is saying that roy moore denies the allegations and the president obviously is entitled to take roy moore at his word. Once you start throwing in, we dont need a democrat, once you start throwing in, well, this was 40 years ago, youre muddling what hes saying. Its no longer just about whether or not he believes roy moore or not. Hes saying people should make a political calculation that even if these allegations are possibly true, theres still reasons to vote for roy moore which really shows how far weve gone with the president s view of the alabama race in terms of how he wants to address the issue of Sexual Harassment. And rebecca burg, youve covered alabama politics, can you imagine the scene like the one President Trump campaigning with roy moore before this election in december . It would be a huge political risk, even though you consider that most of roy moore supporters are trump supporters, that trump recognizes that his Political Base is wrapped up in this. He wants to keep their support,
show that he understands their priorities in this race, but at the same time if you send donald trump to alabama to campaign for roy moore, all of this work that republicans have done on capitol hill elsewhere in the country to try to distance themselves from roy moore and the allegations dwaens him, all of that work is erased. Its for nothing. The Republican Party brand is linked to roy moore if donald trump goes out there and campaigns. An endorsement definitely a step in that direction and it does undo the work the republicans have done but going out there is a whole other level. What did jeff flake the other day . The party of roy moore and President Trump were toast. More recently in congress, lets listen to that and ill get your response. Mr. President , what is your message to women . This is a Pivotal Moment in our nations history. Women are very special. I think its a very special time because a lot of things are coming out and i think thats good for our society and i think its very, very good for women and im very happy a lot of these things are coming out and im very happy im very happy its being exposed. Do you believe congress should release the names of lawmakers who have settled on Sexual Harassment claims . I do. I really do. I think they should. Jeffrey, im sure youve allowed all of this to wash over you. Whats your takeaway . Well, let me just say that in agreement, the idea that congress is spending Taxpayer Money to settle Sexual Harassment cases and we dont know who the harassers are is shocking and appalling and every day that goes by whether it was 15 million or 17 million, it is unbelievable that we dont
know who we as taxpayers are subsidi subsidizing. Now as for the president s statement that women are very special, well, i guess, its hard to disagree that women are very special, but i guess the only special ones are the ones who accused democrats because he doesnt believe the ones who accuse him and he doesnt believe the ones who accuse roy moore, so, you know, you can take that for what its worth. Hes certainly right about the payments in congress. We just heard from one member of congress, mike quigley a few moments ago, the system for reporting these allegations on capitol hill is designed to protect the lawmakers. That is pretty stunning. That was a very strong statement and one that kind of hints at the momentum that is gathering behind reconsidering this process in all aspects of american life, all different kinds of industries. Can i turn back to alabama for one second . Theres a Battle And War Issue here. It is understandable in some
sense that the white house is reluctant to lose another seat, any seat in the senate when they are dealing with such a narrow majority. If they cant finish the tax bill by december 12th, that could have a significant implication. Even if you win that battle because what youve seen already is in particular College Educated white women are very cool toward this president , and in virginia we saw that translate into a big Movement Toward the democratic candidate. And what i think from the president s done hes made it more difficult for republicans to disassociate himself from roy moore. Theyre talking about expelling him if he wins and the risk is they tar the party in a way that in these particular, white women that reverberate far beyond alabama in the battle for the control of the senate and the house. One thing the president did
say in those comments, he described the women in alabama as trump women and trump voters. Thats what youre going to right now. A lot of women voters stayed with donald trump even after the Access Hollywood thing played out during the last month of the election. Is it possible that the president is thinking you know what . Maybe theres some overconfidence here that he thinks that those women will stay with him and stay with roy moore in the end . Theres a real sharp class divide. Donald trump i would argue the biggest single reason hes president is because he won over 60 of white women without a college degree, particularly in the midwestern states that tipped the election, even as the College White women moved away from him and what we saw in virginia was a very stark divergence. Ralph northam won almost the 58 of white women, twothirds of them stuck with ed gillespie. Democrats have not shown the
ability to peel those voters away even though they have expressed more scepticism about trump in office probably largely around the efforts to repeal the health care bill. I dont know if that is the risk. I think the risk is more concentrated with those professional women who are responding i think very viscerally to these allegations. We see them driving the allegations in most of the cases that have emerged so far and they are also a constituency have shown they are willing to take out their dislike on trump on other republicans and that should make a lot of republicans nervous. And rebecca, would we be in this place right now if he had a couple of wins on the scoreboard, if he had some legislative victories that he could look back on throughout the year . It sounds as though he is so desperate for legislative win on tax reform that hes taking this position on roy moore . If he had a whole slue of wins throughout the course of this
first year in office from obamacare to whatever else, immigration and the travel ban and so on, that perhaps it wouldnt feel like everything is riding on this Tax Reform Bill and losing a seat would be so costly for him . Theres some urgency to this for the president and not only reflecting on what has already happened or not happened might be the more correct phrase here for the president in his first year in office, but he also has to think about the next three years in office and we all know that 2018 is going to be a difficult year for republicans across the board. The senate map is better but theyre likely to struggle in the house side. So hes thinking you know how can i shore up my majority now to prepare for what is to come . If hes going to get anything done in his final two years of his first term, if republicans lose the house, the senate is his only firewall, the only republican controlled chamber potentially so this is this is a longer term play for him as
well. Its important to remember that he is also politically vulnerable from some of these recent races weve seen in virginia, the alabama primary on the republican side, donald trump has gone out there and tried to insert himself in these races, energize Republican Voters, energize specifically trump voters and he has failed in those races. Hasnt worked out lately. Stand by. Weve got more to talk about coming up after the break. Well get into this issue and some others and one that jeffrey talked about yesterday, the at t time warner deal. The president weighed in on that. Well have more on that if a few moments. A congressman from illinois, democrat, basically said if he were john conyers he would step aside. Right. If the buzzfeed reporting is true that conyers should step aside and i think youll have more democrats saying that precisely because, one, were in this climate where congress realizes its under scrutiny, two, people in congress, congress owned party feel like they have to step occupy and three theres this total lack of transparency in the way these allegations were handled, handled by this closed office on the hill. Apparently according to buzzfeed that a settlement was reached using funds out of Congressman Conyers own budget rather than separate funds, that is sort of the antithat sis of what they expect from their members of congress. Can i can i just raise another point about john conyers . Hes 88 years old and anybody who has spent five minutes in congress watching him in action knows hes out of it. He is not he is too old to be in congress. He is not up to the job and he is a Walking Advertisement for term limits. I know the Supreme Court has said theyre unconstitutional but it is absolutely outrageous that that man in that condition is getting a salary from the taxpayers to do this job. He is just not capable of being he was elected people of that age in life can serve affectively in congress. In the case of john conyers its not so effectively and it seems that these accusations are so serious that he had to use some of his own funds to settle a case that was brought to the attention of congressional investigators. And remember when we talk about he has to settle the case. Its not him settling the case, its the taxpayer settling the case and we can talk about which account it talks from but its our tax dollars that are going
to because these men are, you know, abusing their positions and the idea that there is no system for reporting to us the taxpayers how this money is spent is just outrageous. And mike quigley made the point that the system that exists up on capitol hill for reporting these abuses is just so out of whack, so out of alli. Help us crunch numbers here. A new poll asked whether people would still vote for a candidate accused of harassment by multiple people, 41 of republicans said. Is there a trump factor there, i guess . This is a temporary moment in terms of that contrast here because i think many republicans would view this as a referendum as a coded way of asking whether they would vote
for donald trump but i think the alabama race will be an important measure of just how far our politics has gone toward becoming a purely tribal or parliamentary style of election in which the character and the qualities of the individual Doesnt Matter. That is the argument that Kellyanne Conway and the president is making. We need a vote. We need a vote for Supreme Court justices. We need a vote for taxes. It Doesnt Matter who that vote is. We need a vote from alabama. I think with the specificity and the credibility of the widespread allegations not only from the women themselves but also ancillary witnesses like former Police Officials against roy moore, i think this will be a powerful test of how many voters in this case Republican Voters in alabama are willing to vote for someone whom they have these doubts about simply because they want his vote on the agenda. It is a moment ive often said in modern america, the color on the front of the jersey
matters more than the name on the back of the jersey and in this election, i think let me ask you, what does it say that charlie rose can just be gone from Network Television . He loses his job. And yet the voters cant fire a member of congress for this sort of thing. We have to wait for the results of an Ethics Committee investigation which could drag on for who knows how long. It dozen seem like theres a fair system in place for dealing with this sort of thing up on capitol hill. Right. Well, its a different case with roy moore than it is with someone like conyers because in the case of roy moore, voters have all of the information. It is out there for them to make their decision. For conyers, who knows if he would have had a competitive primary in elections past, which he really hasnt for as long as hes been in congress, if that information about his Sexual Misconduct or alleged Sexual Misconduct had been available to voters. For american politics, thats just how it works. Votererize the company board, the ceo, the one who makes the ultimate decision, and they have they priorities. It might be tax reform, it might be health care, it might be the character of the person theyre voting for. The difference in this cases, do they have the information they need to make the decision . Do they have the information to consider the persons full character. Jim. Yeah. You want to talk about whos fired. How about billy bush . Billy bush got fired for listening to donald trump talk. And donald trump got elected president of the United States. Very different standards. Absolutely. Thank you very much, everybody. Ron, well get you on this next time. We have to get going. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Happy thanksgiving to all of you. Just ahead, a protest by state Department Police who say Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson is violating u. S. Law on Child Soldiers. Give your family the security it needs, at a price you can afford. Since 1985, selectquote has saved over a million families millions of dollars on life insurance. A dissent memo saying Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson is violating u. S. Law by not calling out those countries. Lets dig deeper on this important issue with the former state Department Spokesman and cnn military and diplomatic analyst, retired rear admiral john kirby and nancy mcildowny, thank you for joining us. Why would secretary tillerson exclude these countries on an issue like this, Child Soldiers. It sounds like something we could all agree on, this is bad. Well, its very clearly bad. The reason that was given initially was that tillerson determined that the countries had made some progress even though he and others in the State Department acknowledged they were still using Child Soldiers. The irony here is that the law gives flexibility to designate that Child Soldiers are being used and simultaneously or shortly thereafter to issue a
waiver sore the military assistance that would otherwise be restricted could go forward. The fact that this flexibility was not used is what troubled the officers in the State Department because they felt that their efforts to combat Child Soldiers, a horrific crime, were children sometimes as young as 8 years old are forced into combat. And by not designating these three countries, those officers felt that their work to stop this human rights abuse had been undermined. And john, you know how rare this is for this type of memo to be written. What kind of message does it send to the countries the have this troubling mishue with the ethnic rohinga. What kind of message is the Trump Administration sending those countries . Sends a horrible message to them and the militaries that were trying to help groom and develop their capacity when we do Something Like this. When there was a waiver we could
have employed. It also, i think, hurts u. S. Credibility abroad. Thesis lists, these naming and shaming lists are actually really useful tools in helping us hold other governments feet to the fire in terms of human rights. Whats really ironic, all three of these countries were listed for exactly the same problem on the human rights report this year as well as trafficking and persons report. This is also a decision thats inconsistent with the State Departments own other reporting. Whats the possibility, ambassador, that this decision could be reversed . Is this something that the president needs to weigh in on, like he did with the Elephant Issue that we saw where he came in and said were not going to do what my Interior Department is saying. What about the president on this . Should he go to the State Department and say, secretary tillerson, i disagree. Were not doing Child Soldiers. Thats certainly within his rights. The president could say that. Tillerson could reverse his own decision, and once he realizes with the expertise of the people who work for him at the State Department, that he can both name and shame, as the admiral has mentioned, but also continue
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