White house. Good evening. Great evening to you. If the white house striking a major deal here to release Chelsea Manning after more than six years behind bars. Expected to be released on may may 17th, 2017. Dramatic reduction of the 35 year prison sentence. Part of a big day here at the white house as the president announces a number of commutations. Let me tell you about Chelsea Manning. Formerly bradley manning, accused of a major leak, a 2010 leak to wikileaks that revealed American Military and diplomatic activities across the world. Manning spending less than seven years behind bars, down from 35. Not on the list of commutations and pardons today, infamous nsa leak or edward snowden. Snowden has been holed up in russia. He has tweeted his support for manning, writing mr. President , if you grant only one active, c. Please free Chelsea Manning. You alone can save her life. Its ironic that five days ago wikileaks tweeted that if manning were granted clemency, Julian Assange would avail himself to extradition to the u. S. To face possible charges. Here is what he told sean hannity about manning. Im quoting weve never said Chelsea Manning is one of our sources. A child they have said they are buddy even if someone is arrested and convicted and even if they were to plead guilty, we still dont say whether they are one of our sources or not. Outrage on capitol hill. The lion issuing the following statement. This is just outrageous. Chelsea mannings treachery put american lives at risk and expose sensitive secrets. And he adds president obama leaves and plays a dangerous president that those who compromise our National Security will be held accountable for their crimes. I should point out theres one other note. This is important. We are told this is not it. We thought this was the extent of the commutations and pardons by the white house. We are told by senior officials to expect more, perhaps as soon thursday. Bret. Bret that is interesting. To that point, president obama as of today has 212 pardons, 1385 commutations. If you compare and contrast rather with george w. Bush. 189 pardons, 11 commutations. Bill clinton, 396 pardons, 61 commutations. He clearly has exponentially more commutations and what does the white house say about that . Are they wearing that as a badge or are they walking away from those questions . I dont think theres any question. They are wearing this is a badge of honor. I should add to the numbers that you shared. 504 of those were life sentences there were commuted. The president has made this part and parcel to his criminal justice reform. We are likely to hear more about that tomorrow as he holds his press conference. The white house sometime in the afternoon. Bret we will follow that. Kevin corke live on the north lawn. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is here. What did Chelsea Manning, what did it mean . What kind of damage do you do, the leak . In 2010 the afghan war diary was leaked. Incident reports outside of afghanistan. My contact inside the Intelligence Community say that after the documents were published the taliban and went on a killing spree. If they saw a description of someone with short dark hair working with the u. S. Government, they just went out and killed everyone with short dark hair. They were not this terminating at all in terms of the target. That is people who are working with the u. S. Government were killed but it made harder to recruit intelligence assets. This issue is addressed by tom cotton. I dont want to speak about specific cases in part because of the classification levels involved. I want to say that it caused serious national scaredy harm. What president obama has done today is going to cause harm as well. Pick up the other side of the argument is for the application for Chelsea Manning. It says the release the documents because no real damage to u. S. Interests, so the viewers will have to decide for themselves whether there was damage and individuals died as a result of those leaks. Bret chairman of the House Armed Services committee saying this action has put our country and soldiers at risk. This has a terrible message of the world. What message does that it sendo Julian Assange . We spoke with a former Senior Justice Department official under the Bush Administration this afternoon we asked if there was a partner clemency for manning, will it have a Ripple Effect on any kind of prosecution of Julian Assange in the future . He said absolutely it would help assange. I think it with strengthen his position. If the u. S. Government says we are going to pardon manning for those offenses, i think it makes it that much effort to then say but we are going to drop the hammer on the person who published that information. Assange was on twitter tonight. Its important to note he made no mention of that earlier offer to come to the United States if manning was freed. Bret thank you. We are less than three days away from Donald Trumps swearing in. We are bringing you stories and angles journalists have never dealt with during previous inauguration weeks. President elect trump is tweeting happily about record numbers for his big day. As House Democrats abandon the festivities in record numbers. The president elect will enter office with record low approval figures, pulls but he and his supporters are pushing back and what they are calling for fake polls. The relationship with Vladimir Putin is getting stranger. With putin comparing trump critics to prostitutes. John roberts is outside trump transition headquarters good evening. Good evening. Donald trump is tweeting about the inauguration on friday, he is angrily taking aim at polls that show him with the lowest preinauguration Public Opinion rating of anyone in recent history. Tweeting the same people doing the phony election polls are now doing Approval Rating polls. Trumps team is planning a steady stream of negative news reports. With just 66 hours until donald trump takes the oath of office his Transition Team is accusing democrats of doing everything they can to delegitimize his presidency and leave a mark on his election victory. Even senator john mccain, whose relationship with trump has been contentious, acknowledged when it comes to the leak of the dossier of unverified rumors, something just doesnt smell right. This damning information, i handed it over to the fbi. The fact that this validated to say the least document was leaked is somebodys responsibility. The president elect has a point. Trump got back up from Vladimir Putin who accused the Obama Administration of trying to undercut the president elect. Putin dismissing reports that trump was cavorting with prostitutes. Translator he has socialized with the most beautiful women in the world. I find it difficult to believe he ran to a hotel to meet with our girls. Although here also we have the best ones in the world. Putin charged for the peoplo paddle in sex rumors are worse than prostitutes. Interesting metaphor. The men and women of the United StatesIntelligence Committee are patriots. They are experts in their field. But putin did not stop there. Sending an admonition to democrats trying to delegitimize trumps pridency. Translator the people who do that harm the interests of the United States significantly. Cia director john brennan kept up the drumbeat against trump over the dossier. In an interview with the wall street journal insisting he didnt leak it, charging trump crossed the line and comparing the leak to the tactics of nazi germany. The number of democrats boycotting the inauguration is up to 58. Trumps team is playing it off as no big deal. Whether it was a memory lapse or something else, georgia congressman john lewis walked back his assertion that trumps would be the first inauguration in 30 years that he had missed. An aide acknowledging representative lewis also missed one other inauguration, the first inauguration of george w. Bush. His absence at that time was also a form of dissent. He did not believe the outcome of that election. We are learning more about trumps inaugural address. Presenting himself as a present for all americans, America First grade we are told he spent much of the weekend rewriting it in his own words and did at least one run through with the teleprompter. He will use two bibles. One, a gift from his mother, the other the same lincoln bible barack obama used in 2009. Bret john hubbards here in. Lets get more on the democratic perspective on the boycott. Steve from tennessee is in the group of lawmakers for said they will not be attending. Representative joins us tonight. Thanks for being here. Why are you doing this . Several reasons. A large part is to let my district know that they have a voice in washington. My District Voted strongly for Hillary Clinton and they felt that the slight tweet of john lewis, fighting for civil rights and Voting Rights at the Edmund Pettus bridge, it was wrong to say he was talk, talk, talk and no action. John lewis is a man of action. He had to do it against his own government to get Voting Rights and civil rights for that was wrong. That was the straw that broke the camels back. Bret could it be he was not talking about his civil rights record and what he did in the past but what hes doing now to lift innercity situations across america . And particularly in his district . Im not reading between the lines here in the president elects tweets but they are only 140 characters or less. I know cnn has is in atlantd you have to go through atlanta to get anywhere in the south. There are a lot of good communities and areas. He took a slight at atlanta. You cant communicate through 140 or 142 characters. Thats one of the problems the president has. If he wanted to communicate that, he shouldve sent a letter to john lewis, not tweeted and expressed his thoughts about inner cities. He expressed his thoughts in ways that were open to interpretation. When he does that concerning foreign policy, we are at risk. Bret congressman, your district, you mentioned the votes. Tennessee 9. Hillary clinton won to donald trump, 19. 8 paired what do you see to the utmost 20 in your District Voted for trump and in tennessee, trump won 61 to 34 . What you say to people who voted for donald trump from your state, your district, jose its not about the man or the campai. Its about the office of the presidency and the peaceful transition of power. I say two things. Im representative of district 9. Senators represent states. 20 of your District Voted for donald trump. Obviously not, every single one of those people who wanted to go to the inauguration has been offered to get through my office. I will see them on thursday and talk with them. Im not casting a vote or doing anything congressional. Its Congress Getting the best seats available. Bret do you see donald trump not a legitimate president . Do you say he is illegitimate . I dont know the definition of that term. He won the electoral college. Bret so he is a legitimate president . Yeah, hes going to be president. Bret john lewis says hes illegitimate good thats what triggered the treat. What john lewis is saying is that the russian leaks to wikileaks that trump used the same verbiage 174 times about wikileaks. They knew that would influence votes, the influence of those votes in michigan, wisconsin, michigan mightve made the difference. If they did and if there was any coordination between the Trump Campaign in russia youve got a major factor to consider about your allegiance to the United States. Bret there are many states, michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania where polls showed the people voted for donald trump not because of what they were hearing from wikileaks but because they were concerned about their jobs and their situation. You dont know that. None of us know that. Theres an accumulation of events that happened. A lot of moderates. If the polls made a difference, why would donald trump 174 times have talked about wikileaks. The polls told him that will move votes. Bret today the president , president obama, is commuting the sentence of the man, now woman, who leapt to wikileaks and many believe put u. S. Troops in danger appeared whats your reaction to that . Dont approve of that. There might have been some term that should have been lesser. I dont know. I think the governor of alabama was unjustly convicted and many u. S. Attorneys and attorneys general have written and asked that his sentence be commuted or pardoned. I think people in prison for marijuana in states where its legal now should be commuted or pardoned. I dont think that people like Chelsea Manning should come before all the people who have had nonviolent drug offenses in states where marijuana is legalized should be housed by the federal government. Bret we appreciate your time. You are not making a determination whether President Trump is legitimate or not. You are skipping the inauguration. Right. I am skipping the inauguration because of many things hes done. It was wrong to say john mccain wasnt an american hero. It was wrong to criticize, in my opinion, shouldnt have criticized meryl streep. It shouldnt have criticized john lewis. It shows he doesnt know about civil rights, thats important to me in my district. The fact that he didnt have engagements on Martin Luther king jr. s birthday to celebrate their birthday and that man is a terrible indictment of the next president of the United States. Bret we appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on. You are welcome. Bret the president elect did meet with Martin Luther king iii and expressed on Martin Luther king day. We said manning is waiting. She has been told she will get gender reassignment surgery while in prison but will be released may 17th. President elect trumps nominee for education secretary is appearing before this hour before a committee. Mike emanuel has the latest tonight. Good evening. Democrats would love to derail one or more of president elect trumps cabinet nominees. One of their prime targets is testifying now and if confirmed is expected to shake up the education system. I share president elect trumps view that its time to shift the debate to what moms and dads want, expect, and deserve paid that makes betsy devos, the pick for education second, a target for the left. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren sent a 16 page letter ripping devos qualifications, writing there is no precedent for an Education Department secretary nominee with your lack of experience in public education. Devos support for School Choice and charter education has angered the teachers union. She spent 30 years defunding public schools, railing against them, fighting against having an investment in them and fighting for having private, forprofit charters. The record is abysmal. A fellow republican reformer says devos represents change and is the right person to fix our schools. She has worked with children all over the country in michigan, indiana, arizona. She understands what the problems in education are and she will go right at what i call 30 years ago, the blob, which is the mess of interests that clog up the American Education system. Montana republican congressman ryan zinke had his confirmation hearing to be the next interior secretary. Bernie sanders grilled zinke on Climate Change. Zinke replied climate is changing and man has played a role. I think where there is debate is what the influence is and what we can do about it. Im not a client scientist expert but i can tell you i will become a lot more familiar with it and it will be based on objective science. I dont believe its a hoax. A break from the president elect who has suggested Climate Change is a hoax. Zinke appeared to win over Bernie Sanders with the answer. The retired navy seal is not considered one of the more controversial nominees. Bret we will continue to follow that hearing. 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