we would never release what a foreign leader said to george w. bush. we would talk about what george w. bush said but to release what somebody else says, i'm not the spokesman for pakistan or any other nation. so for them to do it is an entire breach of diplomatic protocol and tradition. if they had done that to me, i'd be on the phone right now with their press secretary chewing them out, the ambassador would be on the phone chewing the

do you remember tony snow, the press secretary for george w. bush before me? i was as principal deputy pic of the day before he left the white house, he asked me to come over to his office and he said how are you doing? not very good because i was very happy being behind the scenes. i said i just don't know how i'm supposed to fill your shoes, and you are so good at the podium. i'm just not feeling quite up to it. andy said, standup. i did pick and i am only five feet tall. he was about 6'5" and he put his hands on my shoulder and he shook me a little bit. he said you're better at this than you think you are. about two weeks later i was finishing the briefings and i have not started the war. the president had not gotten mad at me. everything was pretty smooth. i have been a deputy for so long. what are my piece of advice for young people, always take the deputy job because that's how you end up being able to know how to do the main job. i realized all oh, this is whate meant. i don't have to try to be just like him as a wider secretary. i can just be myself. i

. >> comblow mentioned george w. bush. talk about your experience working for him. >> great friend. and mentor and a strong leader and somebody that ostyussly has made an tremendous impression upon me as a young staffer that grew and my ten years of service with him as governor and president got to be an adviser to him in the white house so was there on 9/11. all those things really did impact me and my view of governing and leading and i think he was a strong leader when it cams to national security. i think he understood his first job is to keep the american people safe. and i think projecting strength and exercising our military force responsibly was something that kept the world more stable and kept the american people safer. and so that was something that i talked about during the campaign and would hearken back to jompletwrment buzz as commander -- george w. bush as commander in chief. so we talked about that. he is from midland, texas, which is the neighboring community and neighboring district with my district. he actually rain for this seat and the only time he was beat in

former assistant secretary of state under president george w. bush. thank you for being with me. >> my pleasure. >> you said ambassador, last night to my colleague you see this phone call as quote winging it. kellyanne conway on trump's team says it is anything but. she says trump is well aware of what u.s. policy has been and she said he has been fully briefed. does this phone call suggest to you and the readouts we have from both parties that he wasn't fully briefed? >> look, the u.s./china relationship since 1979 has been guided by two elements. one is one china policy that is all official contacts especially at our president's level or in any kind of official context, they need to be done with beijing, with the people's republic of china. the other is the taiwan relation pact and what that does is set out the types of contacts we'll have with taiwan, especially and including arms control sales. so that's how we have done it for some 40 years. that's how ronald reagan did it, bill clinton, that's how everybody has done it until yesterday. >> we kno

first hispanic to the supreme court and because of my relationship with george w. bush and the positions i held having served as the justic justice one supreme court there was speculation president bush would appoint me to the supreme court, so we prepared for a vacancy and the story continued to percolate that no vacancy occurred. come the end of the first term, he nominates me an the bank cond an event on july 1, we get the word, i get a call and she calls me to say we have a vacancy. chief justice rehnquist has cancer, we monitored the situation and expected we were preparing for a vacancy. so i get to the white house and there i am met by a small group of individuals to make final recommendations about who he would appoint to the supreme court. that would be the vice president, the chief of staff, the council, mysel council, mysy general and karl rove. so i arrive at the oval office and everyone is there except for andy who's been traveling but he is on the phone over teleconference and we talk about how we are going to prepare to roll out this announcement and

that's what every expert has said including george w. bush's ethics lawyer. not me george w. bush -- >> it doesn't exist for him. >> the constitution applies to him. it does. >> that talks about benefits. >> your party went after barack obama for using a nobel peace prize and used the. >> the founding fathers did not believe that anybody was above the law, including the president, that's the thing to remember. when they were putting together the constitution there's the trump international hotel. >> so he's the landlord and the tenant. >> he's the landlord and tenant so on day one he will be violating that lease because as an elected official he can not partake. there was a federal government that had a holiday party at his hotel. >> when we return, let me finish with a big question facing my profession -- the media. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> let me finish tonight with the big question facing my profession, the media, and not just democrats and what's left of never trump republicans in the coming years. what are you going to do about it? that's basically

graham a picture of george w. bush or more of bush with the local animal shelter for a fundraiser and came home with the dog. >> guest: eight months ago as the president bush and we were at a barbara bush literacy foundation event. one of the people next to me was jean rhys jones and she runs -- he built the spca building in dallas and is top notch. i saw the president say to her, i want to combine into or the facility and we would get some good press for you. i said to him, you can't go to the shelter and not come home with the dog. i don't know if mrs. bush was ready for a new dog or not, but sure enough he went and they got a new rescue puppy named freddie. laura bush wrote that pats made the white house a home and that is why barney and miss beazley and andy dekalb are great in president obama and mrs. obama had the most beautiful portuguese water dog. i don't know what the president-elect is planning to have a dog down there at all. doesn't sound like they'll spend too much time, but dogs make a house a home.

george w. bush allowed multiple u.n. resolutions -- >> that's all false. >> that's not false -- >> i am going to tell you the facts. my history goes back beyond brexit. what happened was in president bush's waning days of his administration there was a resolution that had to deal with the end of the war in gaza and israel acquiesced to that resolution. we're never happy with security council resolutions -- >> so you're saying it didn't happen? >> not only -- >> you're saying it didn't happen? it did happen. >> no i said that it did happen but israel acquiesced to it. look at the time what israel said in response to it, and you'll see -- >> so my question is -- >> the last time -- >> -- for president obama when it happened since 1967, technically since 1967, consecutive u.s. administrations starting with lyndon johnson and continuing through george w. bush they've made it clear to their opposition against the settlement. again the question is why do -- >> we're -- >> i will let you answer. why the ire for president obama

and the first poll after george w. bush 65% approval, 26% disapproval for george w. bush. now it's 48% and 48% and americans inclined as a people to say he's run the election we need to give him a chance. he's not benefiting in part because he's doing things like the victory tour which is designed to rally his own troops. >> dickerson: do you remember the first speech george w. bush spoke from the well of the texas state legislature talking how he'd worked with democrats and the house speaker. a very different message. look at the cabinet appointees they're about unifying the republican coalition and while our focus has been russia you can point to the epa or energy we'll have plenty of domestic conflict after he takes office because they point to an aggressive move to undo much of president obama's agenda but and make structural changes in the programs that were not at the foreground of the presidential election. >> dickerson: let's turn for a moment to president obama's press conference. what did you make of it? he's still trying to create space and room and give the guy

you mentioned george w. bush. talk but your experience working for him. rep. arrington: a great friend and mentor and strong leader. obviously, he made a tremendous impression upon me as a young in my 10 years of service to him as governor and president, got to be an advisor to him in the white house. those things really did impact me and my view of governing and leading. i think he was a strong leader when it came to national security. he understood his first job was to keep the american people safe. projecting strength and exercising our military worst possibly i think is something that kept the world more stable and kept the american people safer. that was something i talked about during the campaign. i harken back to george w. bush as commander-in-chief as opposed to the last eight years as commander-in-chief, barack obama. neighboringe community, he ran for the seat and the only time he was beaten in a political race was in 1978. there is interesting history there. he is guy especially as governor who was very result oriented and he brought people togethe

i just saw, on washington, a picture of george w. bush and laura bush. they went to the local animalai shelter for a fundraiser and came home with a dog. >> so about eight months ago, i was with president bush, and we were at a barbara bush literacy foundation event, and one of the people people next to me was jan reese jones. she built the building in dallas, and its top notch. i saw the present say to her, i want to come by and i want to tour the facility and will get some good press for you. i said him, you can't go to the shelter and not come home with the dog. i don't know if mrs. bush is ready for a new dog, but sure enough, he went there and they get this new little rescue puppy named freddie. laura bush wrote that he made the white house a home and that's why they were great. president obama and mrs. obama have the most beautiful portuguese water dog. i don't know if the president elect is planning to have a dog down there at all, and it doesn't tell mike they will spend too much time at the white house, but dogs made the house a home to matter i

very appreciative of george w. bush and how he carried himself after the election. he was, he basically disappeared. he allowed president obama to carry forth without really any commentary. it took years for us to hear from him. it doesn't, right now it doesn't sound like president obama may necessarily take the same course, in part because of the election outcome. is that the -- tell me what he is thinking in terms of how he views the role he will play, and is he -- i can imagine he's or the of personally -- he's sort of personally torn about that role he does take after the election. that he would love to not have to say anything, but he feels as if he will have to. >> i think it's premature to jump to that conclusion. >> okay. >> i think already you've seen the president avoid commenting on individual appointments that the president-elect has made. he doesn't want to get into that. he wants to be helpful. and i think thatting being most helpfulling right now is giving the president-elect his wise counsel confidentially, which is why i didn't answer your

when i was 26 living in england i never even met george w. bush. i ended up spending in san diego 9/11 happened and i can't act of washington working at the justice department and then ended up at the end of those eight years as a white house press secretary and then we moved from there up to new york and i started working on a show called the five. henry was with me for all those times. when you have a companion mike that whether it is companion like that with hemike that whetd one or a human or a dog i think it is a nice complement but he said we are grounded people. one of the reasons we have such a good strong marriage and we do stay grounded us because we found a shared affection for our pets and i think most people across america feel the same way. 67% of americans have a household pet and one of the things i found in terms of finding common ground is people who might not want to talk to a republican like in manhattan. when i go to the dog park in central park in manhattan it is a niche free from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.. i have some rules for both d

some of the review i'm getting from republicans, they're very happy from the george w. bush white house, but also i find it fascinating with the trump transition, they want to elevate the position. reorganize the structure, more in line with his national security adviser. you cover the white house. what does that look like and what does that mean?

>> no, i also have this george w. bush library jacket. i love to wear it and i saw shepherd smith in the elevator and he was wearing it, wow, you love him. i do, i love him. i think people do a double-take once in a while. there's a lot -- there are more republicans than conservatives in big cities than you think. they're just quiet about it. >> speaking of which george w. bush has a new book.er >> i'm so excited. >> what is it? >> he has undertaken a project where he's finishing the painting the portraits of 98 wounded warriors who served under his command, so a very emotional and moving tribute to these men and women and very a personal way, it's not been done in the history of the world and so that book will come out in february and i hope that book tv has a chance to talk to them. >> i hope book tv has a chance to talk to them as well. linda go ahead with your question or comment for dana perino. >> hi, dana. or i never -- hi. i love you and i'm a dog lover and never miss your show and congratulations, you're just big in everybody's e

bush has declined citing his age, bill clinton and george w. bush are still deciding whether or not they should go. granted, this was a heated election, we know that. you had attacks on all sides, but isn't that even more reason if you think about it for everybody to come together right now, for everybody to support the new president to look forward for the good of the country? democratic ohio state senator and evan, author, evan, i think you're an interesting one to talk about this because you were very antitrump, right up until the very end, but then trump won and your now supporting our president elect. so as someone who has had to go through the healing process yourself, what would you tell bill clinton and george w. bush? >> it's up to them personally and what they're comfortable with. it would be very nice for the nation to see all of our former presidents together celebrating the office itself, even if you don't like the man occupying the office. that's a patriotic thing to do and it would be very smart and it might not help heal the div

we will be quit richard painter, george w. bush's cheief eththics lalawyer. cacan north carolina stilill be consididered a democracy?? the answer is no according to onone study. we look back at saddam hussein, 10 years after hisis execution. >> year after year, saddam hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spending enormous sum, taking great risks to keep weapons of mass destruction. amy: we will speak with the cia saddam who interrogated hussein. what he says s may surprise you. at the time of the u.s. invasion, he said saddam hussein was s cused morere on writing a novel than bracing for war. all of that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russian officials are condemning a move by the united states to speed the delivery of weapons to syrian fighters, calling it a hostile act that threatens russian forces and could lead to terrorist attacks on airplanes. the criticism follows president obama's signature of a massive pentagon spending bill, known as the ndaa, which eases restrictions on

former assistant secretary for george w. bush. thank you, brian. >> thank you. >>> a difficult back to work commute for parts of this country buried under a holiday blizzard. your latest travel forecast up next. a little bit later, an incredible story of survival. we will hear from a mom who walked 26 miles in the cold and the snow to save her family. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. >>> people in the northern plains still digging out this morning after a major winter wa wallop. it's a rough day for those who have to get back to work. thousands of homes, businesses also without power and officials say it could be days before power is restored. nbc's ron mott live now from chicago. it looks like it's a little chillier today than it was there yesterday. >> reporter: it's a lot chillie

bill clinton said the same thing about george w. bush. but we are seeing what seems to be this personal sensitivity from donald trump, the idea that the president would say this about potentially winning against him in a general election. >> this will be interesting to watch when donald trump becomes the president of the united states, will he still respond in such a sort of personal and public way to every slight that he sees on twitter or on cable ne news. what we have seen so far is the fact of the matter is things donald trump said about people on twitter six months ago or even three weeks ago no longer really matter when he sits down and talks to them face to face. they have very nice relationships. in fact, he said very hostile things about barack obama shortly before the election and then they sat down in the white house a couple weeks later and got along famously. i'm not sure how much we should read into his twitter account. the question is going to become when he's president of the united states, does he sort of step back and sa

and like george w. bush, george w. bush, we didn't have at the time at this point in time we were debating the recounts. there was no transition at the time to ask. so there is no comparable number there. but he, too, sort of -- when you have a decisive win, you get ben fist the doubt. when it's not decisive, you see the divide in poll numbers. i think this is going to be a struggle for donald trump. he needs an early win when he gets in there and that first quarter to sort of get the stain of the post election tumult behind him. i think this is what this poll indicates that obviously his people approve and a handful of others do and that's it right now. >> right. >> and looking over this poll, the me is there was a question about whether or not he felt the president-elect is going to be able to change government. it seems like a good majority of them, 6 will 8%, right? >> to me, absolutely. i think there is no doubt -- if you look by his picks, i mean, just some of them are unconventional. people are criticizing him.

thomas is the george w. bush alum with an extra piece in cybersecurity. >> if the government doesn't step in. >> reporter: as the bossert will be considered equal to the national security advisor, the general michael flynn. according to a statement from the trump transition, he will focus on domestic and transnational security priorities while -- transnational security priorities. >> the time for action is now. >> reporter: following last week's u.n. security council condemnation of their west bank settlement, mr. trump has announced a new international negotiator. jason green a business lawyer who has been with mr. trump for two decades was also a campaign advisor on israel. the president elect said he has a history of negotiating substantial complex transactions on my behalf. something that may appeal to republicans like lindsey graham. >> i'm very encouraged under president trump israel will get a better deal. >> reporter: mr. trump supports more settlement construction for his choice on u.s. ambassador t

something george w. bush never did. even with the mistakes george w. bush made in policy, he did not do that. trump is echoing that christian nationalist line which puts us in a dangerous line when you have this potential israeli ambassador wanting to move the embassy to jerusalem, which could touch off a conflagration in the muslim world. i am not sure donald trump knows his own mind enough to have a strategy to deal with an absolute crisis which he himself could provoke very soon. >> joy makes a really good point. i think if you take a look at the tape, if you see donald trump's first reaction to things, his gut reaction to topics, whether it be planned parenthood or the iran deal it is a much more moderate position. it's only after he has taken that moderate position and somebody gets into his ear behind the scenes, who knows which adviser it is on any given topic does he change and did he go to the more conservative end of the spectrum. early in the campaign one of the earliest rallies i went to was july in phoenix. it was huge. he got up on stage

george w. bush had people come in and gave him the understanding of what was going on, and he also had an hour with them afterwards. and now president obama read as well as takes the briefings. so we understand donald trump does not like to read much, so we are expecting it will be catered to him. >> senior sources on capitol hill, it seems like rex tillerson is going to be fine. fine doesn't mean the process is going to be pleasant or not bumpy. but he's an impressive guy. >> thank you, john braybender, april ryan. thanks for being with us. >> what's the big upset? >> i think pennsylvania. >> the opposite of synopsis. the presidential briefings going back a couple years since we're hearing donald trump doesn't like them to get repetition every day. bill clinton was a voracious reader. he read his intelligence briefings. george w. bush had people come in and gave him the understanding of what was going on, and he also had an hour with them afterwards. and now president obama read as well as tak

i witnessed george w. bush do an outstanding job understanding the nature of the threat to the country and working very hard to protect us. >> andy card, thank you so much. advice we can all follow, taste your words before you spit them out. we do appreciate you as always being with us. >> thank you very much. >> and cominge ing up, obamacar enrollment reaches a record high as the president-elect promised to repeal it next month. what does this mean for the plan and for millions who use it, next. >>> president-elect donald trump promises to repeal obamacare when he takes office next month. some now wonder if he could face growing opposition. why? well, enrollment in the program hit a record high. nearly 6.4 million americans have already selected obamacare policies through the federal exchange through the new year. that is about 400,000 more people than last year. my panel of cnn political commentators. ryan lizza, washington correspondent for the new yorker. patty solis doyle, former campaign manager for

one thing to be blunt and direct which i think obama has been and george w. bush also but also the lack of experience, glaringly apparent with donald trump. he's obviously a business person with no experience in government which worked for him because people voting for outsider but doesn't carry well in governing. it's very different story and he's not just going to govern the united states but be one of the world leaders, perhaps most important, in a coalition with somebody like angela merkel in germany,ificationinging re-election, opened doors to million plus immigrants and now the narrative is back firing because some of the refugees could be the culprits. >> play what republican chris collins said, first member of congress to back donald trump, explained the doctrine when it comes to isis. >> this president is going to take the tack to isis unlike president bottoobama, notice goo hesitate. calling them out, putting them on notice. i think america appreciates he's going to take the fight to them and not just sit back and wait for the next attack. >> that c

george w. bush and george h. bush also took extraordinary plans to assure the public that their actions would be in the public interest and that there would be no infringement on the private interest or private holdings so that's not happening in this administration so far. maybe we will get a different announcement on december 15. but my thoughts would be we have a president elect is already beginning to use the power and nonorthodox ways. because it is a matter of tradition, he said correctly the walls of the conflict of interest don't govern the president said he can do what he wants. what we are relying on is a sin line of the presidential tradition going back to the beginning of the republic. if it is preached, and i'm not saying that it will be but my thought has been we have a special obligation to track the extraordinary behavior in the executive branch of the chief executive unlike any seen before. >> i have a few questions here when you are ready to raise your hand. can you give me a brief scope of the

john bolt online shopping who was remember, the un ambassadora during george w bushes tenor was only the united nations ambassador because george w bush had to reappoint him because he could not get him through the chemically controlled senate. what had to happen was this, john bottle online shopping evep though he was not really nameday to the top security post and the foreign policy post still holdss a lot of sway. the things he says still hold a lot of weight especially inin trump circles. >> this is the kind of john bottle online shopping has been saying forsh a very long time n, that the united states needs toe startd looking at a different relationship with the unitedn nations and whether or not that relationship has gone up up to this point is in the interest of united, whether or not it's located in new york city or have been analyzing of whether things areof in the best interes of the united states. > thank you so much. > well, another one of donaldld trump's big campaign proms was c toa repeal and replace obamacar. now there are some new options that people are operating ou

bossert also served under president george w. bush. and, jason greenblatt will be special representative for international negotiations. he's now the chief legal officer for the trump organization. in the day's other news: shinzo abe became the first japanese prime minister to visit the u.s.s. "arizona" memorial at pearl harbor. more than 2,300 americans died there in the japanese attack on december 7, 1941, hurling the united states into world war ii. today, abe joined president obama in a wreath-laying ceremony before making statements on the occasion. >> ( translated ): i offer my sincere and everlasting condolences to the souls of those who lost their lives here, as well as to the spirits of all the brave men and women whose lives were taken by a war that commenced in this very place, and also to the souls of the countless innocent people who became victims of the war. >> sreenivasan: the abe visit came six months after president obama visited hiroshima, where the u.s. dropped the first atomic bomb. an outbreak of bird flu in south

coming up, we will ask george w. bush's choice for the epa to weigh in. this is president-elect donald lilly. she pretty much lives in her favorite princess dress. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. this is president-elect donald trump's choice to head up the environmental protection agency

george w. bush. the townsend, was quoted in the statement. speaks very highly of him. most importantly, this is a man who the trump transition insists will be in parity. people might think this is about process. it is not. as you well know, it is about the ability to not just get information flowing to the president, which both these men will have open access. but it is also how they inact with all the national security agencies around the government. so they insisted there will be parity. and a lot of the reason why i reported earlier, sighs of relief among republicans, there is a lot of caution about michael flynn. the former general who is the national security adviser because of the controversial statements he made. they hope he will an good counter point to him. >> i've heard some real concerns from a whole host of people about general flynn, as this closest national security adviser to the president. do you read this, the appointment but also the elevation in effect of that role as a way to temper perhaps general flynn? >> if you look at the three people that tru

george w. bush. george w. bush was very -- he was very let the new president run his team, make his decisions and make -- >> i thought you meant -- i thought you were talking about the executive orders. i remember the democrats were up in arms about president bush's executive orders. i think even there were -- there were prizes won by reporters who wrote about that. >> your thoughts? >> obviously it's better. it's longer lasting. and if you look at the difficulties that the republicans will have in terms of repealing and replacing obamacare, because that was a law that was passed, even though it was passed without bipartisan support and went through the congress, so there is -- it's more baked into the cake than an executive action. i'm sorry i used a banned phrase. >> everybody understood it. >> i want to hear what juan has to say. >> i do, too. >> a little hypocritical. >> i listen to my friends here at the table. i want to know what you are thinking. what i heard president obama say in that sound was, becau

something george w. bush never did. even with the mistakes george w. bush made in policy, he did not do that. trump is echoing that christian nationalist line which puts us in a dangerous line when you have this potential israeli ambassador wanting to move the embassy to jerusalem, which could touch off a conflagration in the muslim world. i am not sure donald trump knows his own mind enough to have a strategy to deal with an absolute crisis which he himself could provoke very soon. >> joy makes a really good point. i think if you take a look at the tape, if you see donald trump's first reaction to things, his gut reaction to topics, whether it be planned parenthood or the iran deal it is a much more moderate position. it's only after he has taken that moderate position and somebody gets into his here behind the scenes, who knows which adviser it is on any given topic does he change and did he go to the more conservative end of the spectrum. early in the campaign one of the earliest rallies i went to was july in phoenix. it was huge. he got up on stage

the best example is george w. bush and the flu. andooked at the situation of the 1918 flu and said what the federal government did was borderline criminal. there were so inept. we know a lot more. what should the federal government response be? financial collapse, when things were going poorly, he said at one point, if this is the great depression, you are dam sure i will be fdr. theote another book about movies they watch. i talk about the kind of reading they do. read historynd to and biography spring from that, they get lessons from history that they apply. host: i do not a you are this issue. how do you think the governor of the state and reacted to the flint water crisis? city leaders were charged in the past week. this was a real problem. i talked a little bit and i have a chapter on food and water shortages. this is the kind of thing that is mostly a local issue. the responsibility of the state and local government to handle the water systems in their states. in this case, it seems like the epa knew about a lot of the proble

george w. bush and george h.w. bush also took extraordinary pains to ensure the public that their actions would be in the public interest and there would be no infringement on private interests or private holdings. so that's not happening in this administration, at least not so far. maybe we'll get a different announcement on december 15, but my thought would be that we have a president-elect that's useady beginning to executive powers in unorthodoxed ways. the accountability for some of these things are not because it's a matter of tradition. president-elect trump has said, correctly, that the laws of conflict of interest and the gift statutes don't govern the president. in fact he can do what he wants. what we are relying on is a very thin line here of president ial canon and tradition going back to the beginning of the republic. if it is breached and i'm not saying it will be, we don't know what's going to be announced on the but my thought has been that 15th. we have a special obligation as journalists to try t

the best example is george w. bush and the flu. andooked at the situation of the 1918 flu and said what the federal government did was borderline criminal. there were so inept. we know a lot more. what should the federal government response be? financial collapse, when things were going poorly, he said at one point, if this is the great depression, you are dam sure i will be fdr. theote another book about movies they watch. i talk about the kind of reading they do. read historynd to and biography spring from that, they get lessons from history that they apply. host: i do not a you are this issue. how do you think the governor of the state and reacted to the flint water crisis? city leaders were charged in the past week. this was a real problem. i talked a little bit and i have a chapter on food and water shortages. this is the kind of thing that is mostly a local issue. the responsibility of the state and local government to handle the water systems in their states. in this case, it seems like the epa knew about a lot of the proble

we have, -- so far among other names, elaine chao, former labor secretary under president george w. bush. she's been tapped to lead the transportation department. price, a doctor, will be the secretary of health and human services. republican charge to repeal the affordable care act. we also know that candidate campaigned as the ultimate outsider but has turned to washington and wall street to lead -- elites to lead the cabinet. what should we read into the picks made thus far? carrie: we wrote this week in stories, it was two honestly, of this cabinet. one is that he's picking extraordinarily conservative leaders in these respective education, someone who does not like public school, and wants to drastically change it. you have tom price who, you controversially than wanting to repeal bank of america is that he wants to privatize medicare. go down the line. there's a number of extraordinarily conservative taking over and then you have a group of wall street long-time wall street figures, that, in treasury and other places, that is proving to be -- that's controversial. that directl

former president george w. bush became a decorated -- george h.w. bush, flew torpedo bombers during world war ii. in 1944 shot down over the islands and i want to show you as well live pictures coming to us from pearl harbor. where there's a -- where there is a program going on there right now, as well as what we are seeing down at the national mall. and i'm going to toss over now as we look at these pictures with so many beautiful memories, memorializations today. wolf blitzer, he's are such an important day happening all over the country. >> certainly is brianna. commemorating an infamous day in american history, looking to the future as well as a new administration takes shape. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. welcoming viewers here in the united states and around the world. these are live pictures coming in from hon lou honolulu from harbor, the pearl harbor hickam joint base there. the ceremony just beginning to get under way. the ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. here in washington, vice president-elect mike p

george w. bush, none of us god forbid saw 9/11 or katrina coming. the presidency is a long grind and that's what you have seen up close. how will he handle consoling americans, reading letters from americans who don't like him or agree with him and what you call the set pieces. summits and six-nation tours of africa and europe. >> what we have seen for presidents going way back is those late nights. you walk down the col nad with a large briefing book. you have a dozen letters picked out by the office of people telling you their worst stories and how you react to them. ronald reagan as you remember used to write his own personal checks to the people. there could be the incidents, natural disasters like katrina and gun violence. what do you do? you get in air force one and you don't tweet 140 characters saying they will be missed, but you have to sit and look them in the eye and not a moment for grandstanding or press. to be the consoler in chief. this is something that came relatively easy to bill clinton, harder to george w. bush, but he did it, an

george w. bush had. >> he had several. >> anyway. he was the transportation secretary, his name is escape me. regardless, it is the tradition we should see a did the in the trump administration. however, going after a democrat from the reddest of red state is also about trying to take away a democratic seat in the senate where every single seat counts. you know, every single vote counts when you're trying to get your legislation through, and the bench of democratic candidates to replace heidi hidekamp is not very big. >> let's give him the benefit of the doubt that it's an olive branch. had did speak unity, but he dissed hillary clinton, the crowd chanted "lock her up." protesters were thrown out, so was it unifying? >> no, i don't believe anything that donald trump says about unity. i can see that from the administration he picked, from the policies he's proposed. he'll tweet about "new york times," about "hamilton" he hasn't tweeted anything about the rise of hate crimes or white nationalist groups. when he does that, i'll believe

a one-time trump organization official who also served under president george w. bush. trump also appointed jason greenblatt, one of his main visors and u.s.-israeli relations during the campaign and transition a special representative for international negotiations. in the meantime from the trump tower lobby have to be evacuated following a report of a suspicious package. video posted on twitter shows people running through the lobby for the exit. the bomb squad checked out the bag which contained children's toys. donald trump is currently at his estate in florida. dagen: israel bracing for more attention with the obama administration of secretary of state john kerry gets a major speech this morning that the u.s. vision for resolving the israeli-palestinian conflict. the o sides continue to grapple with the fallout from the u.n. security council resolution condemning israeli settlements in the west bank. the israeli government insists it was the apartment frustration who orchestrated it. the white house denied the accusation that prime minister benjamin netanyahu's spo

george w. bush and george h.w. bush lies. all these people lied. but the thing about trump is almost every utterance that spills from his lips is either a lie or built on a lie. and in a case like this you have to get in a six degrees of prevacation to really understand the depth of the dishonesty. and it's dishonest on about four different level which is i'd be happy to run down for you. >> so this is part of the issue. there's a posture that news organizations tend to have which i think of as presumptive authority so you'll see it around police accounts of a police shooting. it will be "police say the suspect had a weapon. "and the reporting isn't it's definitively the case but embedded in that is the sense that they're not just outrightlying then sometimes we see in some police shootings that has been the case, they have outright lied about what the suspect had. there's a sort of similar thing happening with trump. how do you report what he said while not lending it presumptive authority. >> well, there are ways and we saw in the the coverage of

now, that same george w. bush is urging republican senators to get over their misgivings and back tillerson for secretary of state and then there's dick cheney, who you'll recall, was the chairman of halliburton. trump and his team are relying on cheney to help ensure that tillerson is confirmed. and that's not all. condoleezza rise is also pushing hard for tillerson. they made money from oil as exxonmobil is a client of their consulting firm. and that's far from the only through line. remember the bush era push to privatize social security? it might be back very soon if trump's new pick for budget director gets his way. that is next. >>> during the presidential campaign, donald trump promised massive tax cuts to the rich, a trillion dollar infrastructure program and an explosion in defense spending which would increase the federal deficit. yet over the weekend, trump said his pick for budget director was mickey mulvaney, who is willing to push the country into default in order to reduce spending. >> the nati