tv New Day CNN November 18, 2016 5:00am-6:01am PST
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president. also a big meeting scheduled this weekend for donald trump as he moves to potentially consider other names for other top cabinet positions. he is meeting with former rival mitt romney who was very adamantly opposed to donald trump during the campaign. they'll be beating in bedmimster, new jersey. and we know a potential consideration for romney for a cabinet post potentially for secretary of state. also as you said, donald trump making his first formal appointment, that of lieutenant general michael flynn for national security adviser. this role does not need senate confirmation. but the other cabinet positions, of course, do. john and alisyn? >> sunlen thank you for all of that background. let's bring in cnn political analyst and washington bureau chief for the daily beach jackie susan itch and cnn politics executive editor mark preston. mark broke the news yesterday about trump's meeting with mitt
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romney. i've been watching you work your phone during the commercial break. what do you think of senator jeff sessions here? >> you know, not unexpected. jeff sessions has, you know, a long career here in washington. he also served as the attorney general out of alabama and most importantly, i think, he brings a lot of loyalty to the mix that donald trump seems to be looking at right now which we all know is very, very important. he's been with donald trump since the very beginning. the first senator to endorse him. but he also has a lot of experience when it comes to working on the senate judiciary committee. and, of course, his experience in state law, as well. so not a surprising pick at all, alisyn. >> guys, i should tell you just as we were doing this, reuters reported mike pompeo will be announced as the cia director this morning. or that donald trump has selected him, saying language we don't know if it was officially offered and accepted, but mike pompeo, representative from kansas could end up as cia director and a source in the transition confirms this to me. jackie, what do we know about
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mike pompeo? >> he's a west point grad on the intelligence committee. you'll remember during the benghazi hearing he had some really tough questions for hillary clinton. so, and this is someone who supported marco rubio initially. but in recent days has been meeting with donald trump. so, it's -- this one was a little bit -- this was a little bit of a -- not a surprise, per se, but i don't know that he was necessarily someone we were discussing who was top of mind. going into this. >> so, this is -- this is interesting how quickly these are breaking. back to jeff sessions for a moment, mark. he had been nominated in 1986 for the federal judgeship and it didn't go well because at the time people said that he was accused of making racist remarks. do you think that that's relevant today? >> listen, he has served in the senate for a couple terms now, and since that time -- it was ted kennedy, you know, who has sinced passed away, who led the charge against jeff sessions
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getting that judgeship. but, he has served in the senate now for a couple terms and i think that there is something to be said for senate courtesy, and i think that he probably will see that with jeff sessions. let's not forget, republicans do run the chamber right now. democrats have got to pick their spots about where they want to try to stop donald trump and where they're willing to work with donald trump. this might be one of those where they're willing to let it go because it is donald trump's adviser. >> this is a history that a lot of people know about. this is something i imagine democrats will bring up, jackie. >> yes. >> and it is something that happened. this is history. now jeff sessions disputes parts of it. but among other things during the confirmation hearing there was a former u.s. attorney who said, an african-american, who said that jeff sessions called him boy. and there were other things said about the naacp and the aclu during this time. again, i don't see any way that the senate wants frankly any of donald trump's appointments, but this could be something that
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comes up at a hearing. >> oh, this will be discussed, for sure. but i think at the end of the day, mark is right, that there is a lot of senate courtesy, and these are colleagues. this isn't just someone who is a stranger to them coming and sitting in front of them. so i do think that while you're right this will be discussed, ultimately jeff sessions is going to be just fine. >> mark, let's talk about other names. we've heard lieutenant general mike flynn name as nsa director, national security adviser. and he, too, has some controversial stances. we just had that entire segment about the fact that he says that islam can't be trusted, he thinks it's a political movement not a religion. how is this going to play out? >> well he doesn't have to be confirmed by the senate. all he has to do is be appointed by donald trump. we've seen some red flags raised by democrats specifically about this appointment being made. the fact of the matter is, we put him in the same category as jeff sessions. he's been a very loyal political
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soldier for donald trump, has stood by his side, holds his world view on many issues, and you can't take away from the fact that he does understand the military. he has sort of gone the battlefield. he has been overseas. he has been controversial, though. fact of the matter was, he was fired by barack obama back in 2014 when he was the director of national intelligence. but again, he doesn't have to be confirmed by the senate. so while it might raise some red flags amongst folks who don't like him, there's not much they can do about it. >> all right, let's move on to mitt romney, if we can. mitt romney will be meeting with donald trump this weekend in new jersey. this is a story broken by a certain mark preston yesterday. first and foremost. >> the fact of this meeting is interesting. this shows donald trump at least willing to listen to people outside his circle. jackie? >> right. we've seen him reach out to nikki haley, ted cruz, and he -- it does seem like he is, you know, he's listening to these folks. but, at the end of the day, i
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think you see the people he's actually putting around him are loyalists. it will be interesting to see if he does pull some from of these people who worked as rivals or very prominent critics. that will send a very different signal than what we're seeing right now. >> mark give us more scoopage that you have. what are the chances that mitt romney becomes part of the cabinet or even secretary of state? >> i think you have to look at this in different levels. first of all the first level is that both men have agreed to meet with one another and they've both been very critical of one another. just the optics of that is good for the nation, right? i mean just because there's been a lot of concern about whether donald trump would try to grind an ax, you know, with those who opposed him. second thing is, how this conversation actually goes tomorrow. it's going to take place in new jersey. how does it go? and, look, i do think, and i have been told that the secretary of state position is going to be discussed. and what we had learned from our
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reporting, jamie gangel learned late last night, that in fact mitt romney had talked to people about wanting to continue to serve in government, and one of the positions he would be interested in is secretary of state, which makes a lot of sense. you know, mitt romney seems to be itching to get back into the game. look, he once considered again about running for president. we all remember it seemed like ians ago, but running again. he chose not to do so. but even the folks that i talked to that are close to romney and know romney, he's not lobbying for the position by any stretch of the imagination, but if offered he does have this deep feeling of serving the country, and we hear that a lot from politicians. but mitt romney, i think we can all acknowledge, probably really believes that. >> what about rudy giuliani? as we sit here now, more than a week and a half in. mayor giuliani was one of the fiercest loyalists. not going to be a.g. jeff sessions was offered that job. it seems like secretary of state, that he wanted and rumored at, is now being floated for a lot of different people.
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is it possible because of confirmation concerns that at the end of the day, rudy giuliani like newt gingrich another fierce loyalist, ben carson another loyalist, doesn't end up as part of the trump team in the white house? >> i mean it could mean everything for him. or it could mean absolutely nothing. because it -- the trump organization has sort of shown that they'll look past naming some controversial records or mean look at some of the things that michael flynn has said. right? so it doesn't seem like that they're willing to take loyalty over perhaps what might be a tough confirmation hearing. that said we just don't know right now. there is a lot of -- it feels like i'm at a child's birthday party every day, there are so many -- we kind of have to wait and see at this point. >> i thought you were going to go with a clown metaphor. >> that's scary, alisyn. >> scary. >> so i mean mark you said that it's great optics for the country that you know these rivals are meeting but what if it's just for show?
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i mean is that a possibility? >> well, let's go back to the word of optics. yeah it could be shore show. i mean donald trump knows how to play the media. he knows how to play the nation. in many ways he's a very good actor in many ways. although i do think we have to take a step back in what we know about donald trump, is that he is a very vindictive person. i mean we've seen that throughout the campaign. and i'm not quite sure that he'd be so willing to meet with the likes of nikki haley who said some nasty things about him. or ted cruz, who obviously had a very tough fight with him, as well. and of course mitt romney, you know, someone said to me yesterday, you know, other than the mainstream media, mitt romney did more to try to defeat donald trump, which of course is not true. the main steam media didn't try to defeat donald trump but it just goes to show you the level of the supporters of what they think of those who tried to stop mitt romney. so even if it is for show i do think there's something to be said about the optics at a time right now when there's a lot of concern about a trump
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administration and a new trump administration in who he surrounds himself with. >> guys thanks so much. again the breaking news, cnn confirming that donald trump has selected jeff sessions to be his choice for attorney general. and cnn just reporting right now confirming that mike pompeo, congressman from kansas, is donald trump's selection to be cia director. so two big appointments within the realm of national security and also law enforcement that we're just learning right now. guys, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> iraqi paramilitary forces capturing a strategic air buys from isis 40 miles west of mosul. mopup operations are under way to remove lingering pockets of isis fighters we're told. the air base will be used as a staging area for iraqi security forces in their battle with the terrorists once mosul is recaptured. neighborhood in mosul previously declared liberated came under mortar attack earlier this week with two civilians killed. >> an oregon man's attempt to connect with nature takes an ugly learn at yellowstone national park. police say colin scott was
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testing out various hot springs in unauthorized area when he tripped and became stuck in the churning acidic water. a lightning storm delayed the arrival of first responders. when they did get to the scene, the body could not be found. authorities believe that he died in the spring. >> that's terrible. video of this connecticut police officer going viral after he was spotted getting down with a group of teens in a parking lot. watch as officer max shows off his dance moves. come on. look at these. the teens were at first nervous. they lowered their music when they saw the police car but to their surprise, the officer told them to turn it up. and then he joined them. the teens were shocked. they said it proves not every officer is bad and calling this an inspiring moment. i love the dance thing. >> all right reaction pouring in for donald trump's cabinet
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picks, including some breaking news on cabinet picks. we're going to speak to the former head of the democratic national committee congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz about this and the future of the democratic party. that's next. where we explore. protecting biodiversity. everywhere we work. defeating malaria. improving energy efficiency. developing more clean burning natural gas. my job? my job at exxonmobil? turning algae into biofuels. reducing energy poverty in the developing world. making cars go further with less. fueling the global economy. and you thought we just made the gas. ♪ energy lives here.
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congressman mike pompeo has been asked to be cia director or been selected by donald trump to be his cia director. moments before sources tell cnn the president-elect has selected senator jeff sessions to be attorney general. here to discuss that and much more, florida member of congress and former chair of the democratic national committee debbie wasserman schultz. thanks so much for being with us. appreciate you being here. congratulations on your own re-election. you are the first official -- to talk to since the news of these appointments from donald trump selected jeff sessions to be attorney general, mike pompeo your colleague in the house to be director of the cia. your thoughts on either point? >> well, these are two certainly experienced elected officials. it is their personal views, particularly jeff sessions, that continue the -- the drum beat roller coaster ride that donald trump is engaging in in who he's surrounding himself with. let's remember that jeff sessions was nominated for a
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federal judgeship by president reagan and at the time was one of only two in 60 years to be rejected by the senate judiciary committee which was controlled by republicans at the time, because of his previous racist statements and really outrageous comments. the reference he made to the naacp, the racist and sexist comments he made, which he at the time owned up to, which is not even something that could be stomached by the republicans in the senate judiciary committee at the time. between the steve bannon appointment as his chief strategist, a step and heartbeat next to the presidency, one, you know, one, one person who fans the flames, and gives permission to sexism, racism and anti-semitism on his shoulder, and you know next door at the justice department, a person who exactly shares those views, it's really getting more and more
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disturbing, and clear that donald trump is not trying to bring the country together with the moves he's making right out of the gate. >> jeff sessions, this was 1986 was rejected in committee. he denied making a few of the statements that were attributed to him. he admitted some of the others right there, and he points out, and so do trump insiders that he was elected at the senate many times after that from the people of alabama, you know, they -- they endorsed him. as for steve bannon you've signed on to a letter among many democrats who are very concerned about donald trump appointing him to this white house job of chief strategist. but other than a strongly worded letter at this point, there's really nothing you can do about it, is there? >> the presidency affords the right of the individual to surround themselves with whom they want at the white house. certainly. but it's also my responsibility as an elected official, as the first jewish woman to represent florida in congress, you know,
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i -- i take that role very seriously. and when you have someone who is literally the chief strategist, the top adviser, to the president of the united states, who has given permission, and fanned the flames of anti-accept milk, promoted racist views, promoted anti-muslim views, through a journalistic publication that he led, that's, that's truly problematic and disturbing. it sends a strong and clear message that the kind of policies that are going to be promoted by this administration. and you know, we can't -- it means that we can't take donald trump at his word after he was elected a couple of weeks ago that he intends to bring the nation together. having someone who is literally a door in the hallway away from the president of the united states who believes that women who are feminists, for example,
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don't want husbands, don't love their children, and -- and you know, essentially have no right to -- to -- to be supportive of women being equals is -- is really outrageous. >> you're talking about articles that were published in breitbart while steve bannon was in charge of it. just to be clear about that. >> yes. >> if we can i want to talk for a few minutes about the democratic party right now. obviously it's a party trying to figure out what happened more than a week ago and trying to figure out what to do next. in the house of representatives, the democratic caucus, you have all delayed election for leadership posts, in congressman tim ryan just appeared on the show a short time ago has announced he will run against nancy pelosi for the job of minority leader. this is why he said the party needs new leadership in the house. we have sound well that's the big story and i think part of it is our message isn't connecting
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with working-class folks. black folks, brown folks, white folks, gay, straight, rich, poor, black, you know, we got to connect have a message that connects with everybody. and so i don't want to hang this around nancy pelosi's neck. i love her. she's great. she was a mentor. amazing speaker. we got to ask ourselves who can get us back in the majority. >> so is congressman ryan right? that you have to do something different going forward? >>well, let me just say tim ryan is one of my closest friends in the democratic caucus and i have, you know, been proud to fight side by side with him, particularly when we were both newer members of congress, and standing on the house floor in the 30-something working group and talking about what was important to progressives, and younger americans. but the reality that we're facing here is that we are going to be dealing with a -- a legislative train wreck coming at us at warp speed. and there is nobody in my mind
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that is more battle tested and prepared for, frankly, savvy enough to be able to go toe to toe with paul ryan the republican leadership, and this really troubling and disturbing administration than nancy pelosi. we absolutely have to make sure that when we come to policy, that we are ready to beat back their really disturbing proposals with our full strength. now, that doesn't mean that we don't also need to make sure that we broaden the leadership table and that we make sure that we focus clearly on messaging. one of the things that we absolutely have to do is emphasize our economic focus. emphasize the things that we've accomplished. we're the party that rescued the american automobile industry, john. we're the party that pushed through and supported middle class tax cuts. we're the party that made sure that everyone was primarily helped people who are of lower income has access to health
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care. and can go to the doctor when they're sick. and so that message was definitely lost. whether we didn't argue it clearly enough, or whether we need to make sure that we have more mess edgers that people are able to hear and that got through, it's a really important thing that we do, as i said we need to do it with a more broad-based group of people. and more clear and focused strategy. >> quickly -- >> nancy pelosi is committed to doing that. >> number one you just threw your support behind nancy pelosi. but you're going to remain as nancy pelosi to remain as leader. how about your old job chair of the democratic national committee? who do you support to be chair of the democratic national committee? >> well i have tremendous respect for my former colleagues at the dnc and it's their decision. and i'm not going to weigh in on who it should be. i do know that -- that it's going to be important for us to retool and gear up. we've got to focus on both the grassroots, it's going to need to be somebody who can both raise the resources.
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focus on grass roots outreach. make sure that we continue to build on our digital and organizational successes and take a hard look at where we need to improve. i'm confident that dnc membership will do that. >> going to pass on dnc chair but supporting nancy pelosi for house minority leader. debbie wasserman schultz thanks a lot for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you, john. >> john, here's a question, what divides america the most? is it race? socioeconomic class? is it education? geography? wait until you see the panel we have assembled to debate this. we have ana navarro, charles low and j.d. vance next. also hear what they say about trump's new cabinet picks. pop the popcorn everyone. e fulle of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy,
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we are following breaking news. sources tell cnn that president-elect donald trump has asked kansas congressman mike pompeo to be cia director. a source also telling us the u.s. senator jeff sessions has been offered the post of attorney general. joining us now to talk about this, as well as how the country is dealing with the aftermath of this divisive campaign, we have incredible panel. we have cnn political
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commentator ana and a half oro and charles glow. also j.d. nance. great to have all of you guys. let's start with the breaking news. ana we know that senator jeff sessions, attorney general. your thoughts? >> well, it looks like it's shaping up to be a very diverse cabinet so far. different white men of different ages or no -- >> different sections of the country. listen, jeff sessions is a man who i think showed great loyal to donald trump. was one of his first, maybe first endorser in the senate. i think that what we've seen in the appointments so far is he is rewarding loyalty. it is something that is of great importance to him. with michael flynn, with jeff sessions. with congressman pompeo. they're also very hard-line people. they have, i think, you know, they share the same kind of things that donald trump said during the campaign, and we were waiting to see whether donald
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trump was going to moderate. what we are seeing from his early picks, whether it be steve bannon, whether it be general flynn, whether it be jeff sessions, is that no, he is not moderating. jeff sessions was considered too racist, too controversial in the '80s to be confirmed for a federal judgeship. >> that was awhile ago. i mean what we've just heard -- >> well i'm not -- statute of limitations for racism. >> jeff sessions, michael flynn, steve bannon, these are people who worked for donald trump a lot during the campaign. obviously share his world view. so whether you agree with it or not why would it be surprising that he would surprise himself with people who share his loyalty. >> i don't say it's surprising at all. i'm not surprised. and i think it's safe to say i'm not surprised by anything. but i'm not surprised by this pick either. i'm disturbed by it, however. i mean, it is -- it is one thing to say it's the '80s, that
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somebody said something a long time ago, that was controversial. but you have to say that you grew from it. you repented of it. you repented of it -- trump has not done that. sessions has not done that. i have to see that you are changing and growing. i hope that i am changing and growing. i hope that if i do something wrong, that if i say something offensive that i come back and say you know, that part of me i should not have done or said that thing. that's not what these guys are. that's not what bannon is. that's not who sessions is. that's not who donald trump is. and that should worry a lot of people. a lot of people's only kind of interaction with the department of justice in recent years has been around these cases of black lives matter when the department of justice has had to come in and take a look at these cases of unarmed black men being killed by police officers and whether or not those -- that was -- had violated the civil
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rights of those people. in fact we just saw they were monitoring the case of castile and there's a charge in that case. what kind of department of justice are you now going to see? and what actions will they take if sessions is the guy who's in charge? i don't know the answer to that. it does not bode well for that. >> j.d. your whole back is about the swath of sort of the forgotten people, poor whites who, you know, played a big role in this election. are these things that they are concerned about? or is it just all about getting a job back? >> i don't think people are going to be concerned about this back home. partially just because people don't pay that much attention to the day-to-day politics. i think what trump will be judged on by the folks that voted for him, who i know, is whether things start to get a little bit better offer the next few years. and ultimately that doesn't depend on whether jeff sessions is the attorney general. at least for them. i think that it does show that
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we've got to be a little bit empathetic to the concerns of other voters. charles blow mentioned a very significant concern that could exist among the black community. i happen to think donald trump should be given some deference because he won the election but we have to be careful that there are reasons that other people are concerned. >> it's so interesting. you listed you know some of the things that don't matter to certain trump voters in what charles was talking about there and what ana was talking about was the fact that jeff sessions wasn't confirmed in the senate because he had said things that people thought were racist. that doesn't matter you say to a large number of voters. to other voters it's the only thing that matters. and we saw this with some of the things that donald trump said during the campaign or came out during the campaign the access hollywood tape for a lot of voters and i guess primarily on the coasts in california and on the east coast, those comments were the only thing that matters and they couldn't get beyond that. so how do you reconcile that fact that for some people it's everything, and for others it's nothing? >> yeah well i didn't say it doesn't matter. a lot of these comments definitely bothered a lot of the
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people that i know who voted for donald trump, they just said there were other things that ultimately mattered more. so how do you reconcile? i think ultimately depends on the president-elect. and we haven't gotten fantastic signs so far that he's ready to sort of reconcile these two sides of the country. but i'm still hopeful because as ana said so far he's rewarded the loyalists who really supported him. but that list is getting shorter by the day. and unless he wants appoint ivanka as secretary of defense he's got to start expanding beyond the circle. >> he may. >> well, prime minister of japan yesterday, so he really may. >> in terms of the division that this election laid bare, ana, how do you explain where we are as a country? are we most divided by race? by money and terms of socioeconomic class? geography as j.d. vance spels out so well in his book? how do you see where we are? >> you know, i think we are as humans a product of who we are, plus our circumstances. plus our experiences. i think we are divided by
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experiences. and circumstances. and that means racial division. that means economic division. that means social division. that means geographic division. it is not just one thing. and if you would ask me to name one silver lining to donald trump's presidency, and god knows i'm hard pressed to find one, i will tell you that it's just what you articulated. this election has laid bare, we cannot continue sweeping under the carpet the racially divisive, social, ethnic, national economic divisions that are out there in america. we've -- we're right now at a fork in the road. they are there. we cannot deny it. we either address them, or they continue to grow larger. >> one of the things that the people like to say is to make us all feel good is there's more that binds us that divides us, charles, you know, as you sit here and look at it is that the case? if you look at some us know the voters in los angeles, who in california actually voted more for hillary clinton than it did for barack obama.
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they increased the democratic vote total in california even as in other parts of this, huge swings toward donald trump. >> well, i mean, there are some things that are about us that bind us together. but some people voted for their lives, literally. if you are an immigrant in this country, you're voting for your life. if you fshs if you look at this pick and you look at sessions and what that could mean in terms of the -- of the attorney general and the a.g.'s office, that's about your life. that's not really about, you know, ideological difference. this is about whether or not i am going to feel safe in my country, in my community, in my skin. it's about -- i voted -- literally this is not like an argument to have. i don't sit here and feel like you know i'm just having an intellectual exercise i'm talking about the fact that i have three kids walking around
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this planet, walking around this country, this is about my life. and for me it -- there is nothing bigger than having a place, being able to lay down at night and feel like they are at home in their own country. or not. and i am increasingly of the mind that maybe they are alien to this kind -- this administration and this country because of the kind of -- the attitudes that the people in that administration may have. or that they may be turning a blind eye to people who have even worse attitudes or coddling people who have even worse attitudes. so, so it's not an intellectual exercise for me. i don't have the luxury -- >> of course j.d. vance's relatives in kentucky also say it's about their life? if you are poverty stricken and it's about jobs, they would call it, that's about their life, too. >> right. so you have the -- you have the
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layer of race being about all of those things. that there's no way to step rate out the pressure, the economic pressures on your life, then the physical imminent dangers -- >> i get you it's just how you define life and what you think is the top priority. i mean what do your relatives and everybody you know from the -- the appalachian region think this was all about? >> well, they think it's about a lot of things and of course a lot of people voted for trump for very complex reasons. but one thing i always try to bring up is that if you look at the juxtaposition of the map of counties that were affected by the opioid crisis versus counties that went for donald trump. it's really striking how the opioid crisis seems to have predicted support for donald trump. i think there's a real sense of crisis. it's not the same sense of crisis that charles is talking about but there's a real divide. i think a failure, frankly, from my folks who recognize why people like charles are so worried. but also a lot of folks on the left fail to recognize why so many people were so motivated to
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vote for trump because they felt very afraid. >> i can see it. there's a lack of empathy in some ways on both sides. but it's not new. right? i mean sarah palin in 2008, i can't remember where she was. but she got to a campaign stop and said it's good to be in the american heart of america, right? it, it, it, it wasn't horrible i know that much. it wasn't miami that much, but you know, ana, do both sides see it like that? do both sides see only their america? >> it's become very easy in america to be socially and politically isolated. we can now live in a world where we can listen to things that we agree with, only watch things that we agree with, only hang out with people that look like us and that we agree with. so it's become easier to be isolated. to live in a cocoon of the same type of thought, experiences, same type of life that we have. and unfortunately, i think there are politicians, on both sides of the aisle, who have exploited
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that division. who have made it a wedge issue for electoral purposes. and i think we see it on both sides. i want to say it's just a donald trump or a liberal democrats that are, you know, culprits of it. i think it goes both ways. i do want to say that i suspect today there's a lot of immigrants, a lot of latinos who are very afraid of this jeff sessions appointing. he has been a brick wall against, you know immigration reform. he is very harsh on immigration and as doj as attorney general he's going to have a great deal of jurisdiction on issues affecting immigration, and also affecting things like justice reform, and you know, prison sentencing reform, which he's also been an obstacle to. >> thanks so much for this discussion. i think it's an important one to have. the only thing that's going to help heal this is leadership on all sides which we're counting on. >> but you know, john, we as individuals have to take responsibility. >> i agree. >> we'll talk more about this next week.
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>> up next, catching a boy. hailed as a hero. what do you say about the fast reaction that saved his brother from a frightening fall. we all need this this morning. some conokay bap. (pop) campbell's tomato soup and grilled cheese. (more popping) go together like being late and being grounded. made for real, real life.™
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so there's this great video that has gone viral that we want to show you. a 9-year-old boy, look at this. look at his cat-like reflexes. he's called a hero. he leapt across the room to save his 11-month-old baby brother after falling off the changing table. his mom turning away for only a second, and the baby rolls over and starts to fall. that's when big brother joseph makes that amazing diving catch. both mother and son call this a miracle. joining us now is that heroic boy joseph levy and his mother tila. great to see you guys this morning. >> hi, good morning. >> good morning. >> joseph, how could you move so fast to save your little brother? >> well, i really didn't know how i ran that fast because i'm never actually able to run that fast. >> but now, joseph, we know just
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how fast you are. what was it like? i mean what were you thinking when you were holding your little baby brother in your arms? >> i was really, really, really nervous. because i didn't know what had happened. and then i started crying. because that's when i asked my mom what happened. >> now, how did you know he was going to fall off the changing table? >> i didn't. i just saw -- i just turned for a second, and i saw him rolling and i ran. >> i trust you. you're someone i need around to help out in times of need. >> i think we all do. >> exactly. what was -- what was your reaction after this happened? >> i -- the first thing i did was i fell to the floor, and i hugged him, and the baby was fine. he never hit the ground. but, i really needed an explanation. i wasn't really sure exactly how everything occurred. i just kept saying to joseph, you saved him.
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you saved him. you're a superhero. thank you so much. and then as soon as everybody kaumd down the first thing we did was go back to the cameras. it's an app on my phone and we just watched the whole thing happen over and over again. it was miraculous. >> oh, my gosh. i need joseph around. i mean, babies, sometimes tumble out of cribs, mine tumbled out of a high chair which i think is an even higher fall when they were that age. and you can see, i think, on your video that there is that like little sort of protective ledge built on the changing table but your baby just tumbles right over that one? >> yeah. the truth is, is that now i know, everybody who has dropped a baby, whose baby fell off the bed, the couch, the high chair, changing tables, i'm getting all kinds of e-mails, and all kinds of stories, and confessions, really. and the truth is, i think that as parents we try our best, we try to protect our kids, nobody wants to see an accident like that happen. and accidents happen anyways.
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so the purpose of this video is really just to bring awareness, and we decided that we wanted to help other people to make sure that whoever doesn't have a joseph around can, you know, just be more vigilant. >> this happened roughly 100% of us, you know, who have had kids. so it definitely happens. you were lucky to have joseph there, which probably saw -- joseph your brother's young at this point. he probably doesn't talk very much. but is this something you intend to hold over him for his entire life? i mean, you know, it's been a few years he starts taking your stuff you're going to say well yeah, i saved your life? >> yeah, if he tell on me for something i did, i would tell him i saved his life. >> exactly. that's exactly what you do. >> a good friend. >> we're just really lucky that it all turned out okay and it's a happy ending so we're happy to share it with everyone. >> well joseph and tila thanks
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so much for sharing it with us. we couldn't believe it when we saw the video yesterday. joseph you are a hero, so thanks so much for what you did for your little brother and for sharing your story with us. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> he's also really cute. >> i know! look at that head of hair. >> right. >> late night laughs are next. >> and are voting is now under way for the cnn hero of the year at cnnheroes.com. here is one of the year's top ten heroes. >> -- called me because i didn't have any father figure around that taught me what being a dad is. fatherhood doesn't come with a map. fatherhood doesn't come with a manual. and sometimes you can learn from others, what you learn on the fly. >> in this program trying to do better moore my son. >> hey, man. >> 70% of african-american children grow up in single parent households. so what i wanted to do was figure out how to provide these men with the skills and taos that they need to stay involved
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in their children's life and really support the next generation of children. my goal at the end of the day, when i started the dovetail project was to break the cycle because i grew up in a community where a lot of young men face the same issues that i was facing. and no one is doing anything about it. there aren't too many places where a father can go and get the help and support that he actually needs. being able to have those resources that you actually need in order to make an impact on your child's life, like employment, or some type of assistance, is key and very important, and i really wanted to be the person who built the hub for that. what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever?
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all right breaking news this morning. sources tell cnn that donald trump has selected kansas congressman mike pompeo to be cia director. and has selected jeff sessions, alabama senator, to be attorney general. cnn's sara murray reports the two along with attorney general michael flynn who has been offered the position of national security adviser have accepted their new posts. >> okay. so it's friday. let's have a little levity. comics taking on president-elect donald trump. surprise. here are your late night laughs.
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>> big news in television, ben from the bachelor has called off his wedding. oh. yeah. apparently donald trump wants to interview him for secretary of defense. >> ted cruz is actually being considered by donald trump to be attorney general. so it will be pretty awkward when he shows up on the first day of work and trump says, i said tom crews. top gun. remember trump said he was keeping a list of his enemies? turns out he was keeping it so he could offer them all jobs afterwards. liv streaming footage of the elevators at trump tower. let's take a look. >> during president obama's visit to greece yesterday, huge anti-obama protests broke out. yeah. however, obama was able to quiet down the crowd by saying wait until you see the next guy. >> trump's transition continues its transitioning. i don't know a lot about what's going on.
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but i do know that his team has not yet called the pentagon, possibly because he knows more than the generals. or maybe -- maybe he is just never going to call them. maybe he'll just launch a literal tweet war. @pentagon, please bomb syria, #lyingnewyorktimes. >> late night laughs. >> already dated. the news cycle happens so fast nowadays. have a new weekend. "newsroom" picks up after this very quick break. enter sleep number... she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. you can both adjust the bed for the best sleep of your life. save $500 on the queencse mattress with sleepiq technology. hurry, ends sunday. know better sleep with sleep number.
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this is cnn breaking news. >> and good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. the trump administration kicking into high gear just within the past hour. we've seen the trump white house start to take shape with several key leadership posts offered and accepted. sources tell us that trump has chosen alabama senator jeff sessions as the u.s. attorney general. critics are sure to bring up claims that sessions made racially charged comments decades ago. we've also learned that trump has asked congressman mike pompeo to be his cia director. and there's another national security post expected to be name today. sources say trump wants retired three star general michael flynn to serve as his national security adviser. flynn faced strong criticism from his former colleagues, both in the military and int
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