white christmas. no matter wh no. >> thanks so much for joining us. ac 360 starts regiight now. thanks for joining us a lot happening tonight on several fronts. we'll have the latest on devastating fires wurning in tennessee plus a new controversy over something president elect trump tweeted just this morning. we begin with the dinner date few would have predicted a few weeks ago. not far from here president elect trump is having dinner with mitt romney. the same who did his best to derail president trump from the election. this is their second meeting. jim acosta booked a table in the same restaurant and joins us now my phone. >> we see the president elect sitting at a table with mitt

romney who i suppose he's interviewing for secretary state right now,of state right now, along with outgoing chair reince priebus. from what we can tell so far trump sort of started out the conversation, talked for a good five minutes or so and then mitt romney chimed right in. i can tell you right now both men are very animated but smiling. it is warm. there is obviously no animosity whatsoever that is left over what from we heard during the primaries when mitt romney referred to donald trump as a phony and a fraud. and donald trump talked about mitt romney's choking like a dog in the 2012 presidential

election. we're seeing none of that venom on display. the person who seems to be doing the most listening right now is reince priebus. he's had trouble getting a word in edgewise. but a pretty elaborate set up in terms of getting this started. we sat down roughly about an hour before the two principals arrived. secret service swept the room, each customer at every table to make sure there was no trouble. and then the two men walked right in with reince priebus just before 8:00. as we were talking to you here, we could tell you they are not even on to their first course. they are having a good session right now. and from all appearances anderson, this is a very positive meeting between the president elect and mitt romney. >> are you part of a press pool? i mean did you just happen to be in this restaurant? >>. >> reporter: i didn't quite mac

that out. >> how did you get into the restaurant? what are you doing there? did you know they are going to meet there? are you part of a press pool following them. >> we had got an tip before this dinner it was possible they could be here. so like any enterprising reporter we decided to make a reservation. we had no idea they would be sitting down in this dining room, that is part of the restaurant. as a matter of fact there is a bar area and a dining area. they did not go to the bar area. they went to the dining area a couple of table where is where we are right now. just 15, 20 feet from where we are sitting right now anderson. and at one point reince priebus turned around and noticed me. i'll be very up front about that. but went right back to the session. they don't seem to be distracted at all. they don't seem to be troubled by us being here at all. and we did not disturb them as they came in. they sat down and went right

into their discussion. and i can tell you t most striking thing i can see right now anderson is there is absolutely no sense of an an masty between the two men. almost getting locke like old friends. at one point i saw donald trump crossing his arms for a bit while mitt romney was talking. sort of the body language maybe he's not really liking what mitt romney had to say but went right back to this talked about exchange. and we're watching it unfold right now. >> i assume cnn is picking up the check for you on this tonight. pretty enterprising on your part. was there a meeting at trump tower tonight that preceded the two before this dinner? >> reporter: the only thing we know of between these two, and i confess i'm having a little trouble here hearing you is that

meeting at the golf course a couple of weeks ago. we were also told by a source that melania trump and anne romney and they are not joined us. at this point it is just the three males. the future white house chief of staff, donald trump president elect and mitt romney, potentially the next secretary of state. >> and the trump team, what if anything are they say acting about this? or saying about mitt romney? >> what is the transition saying about mitt romney right now? >> yes. >> you are hearing a big split, anderson. and there are people who describe the transition who will tell you that selecting mitt romney as the next secretary of state makes a lot of sense because that will show the country that donald trump is cape only capable of getting over grievances and uniting the

country. that is what's so tantalizing of making him secretary of state. you have people like kellyanne conway and newt gingrich and lots of others inside trump world who don't like the thought of him becoming secretary of state because of all the horrible things that were said about him. i can tell you that the -- [indiscernible] bringing in a small pool of reporters and photographers. so hopefully, maybe our presence here helped open things up for this dinner anderson. but it is amazing to see. you know there was that dinner the other night when the family went out and didn't tell the pool about it. that is not the case tonight. the pool was informed and now there is a small pool of reporters and photographers in here getting some shots. >> we'll continue to check in with you. the dinner taking place caps a

busy day in the trump transition. a short time ago we learned former wall street executive and hollywood producer steven min chen is expected to be named as treasury secretarily and the billionaire wilbur ross expected to be named a commerce secretary. kefb kevin, you obviously have worked closely with mitt romney. what do you make of them reaching out to mitt romney? of the relationship they have on what they said about each other during the campaign? >> well i think the initial outreach had to do with sending a message to a lot of republicans that donald trump was interested in uniting the party. and genuinely interested in getting some insights from somebody like mitt romney who

has spent a lot of time working on national security and foreign policy issues. and i think what that first initial meeting did was show another side of mitt romney, the side of mitt romney that donald trump endorsed during his 2012 campaign. there was an existing relationship there before it frayed during this 2016 cycle. so i think that this particular event, what's interesting about this is the nature of it. burying the hatchet is something you c you do over dinner. and breaking of bread is something very personal. particularly when you have your spouses there. i think this is an indication that reince priebus is helping broker this burying of the hatchet between the two men. >> how real do you think is the possibility that he could be named secretary of state? if there's only been -- the last meeting was a while ago and this is now a dinner meeting, that the that is not naturally a

substantive meeting. >> one thing i found interesting is as much as there are those in the trump world in opposition of mitt romney being named secretary of state. nobody is declaring it won't happen. and if there were folks inside that world that wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to that is what they would be predicting. and they are not dismissing that idea outright. so donald trump does have a blessing here in the simple fact that he has a number of candidates for the secretary of state position that are very good, very qualified and have a lot of support amongst people inside -- inside the republican party. >> and gloria it is easy to reed too much into a dinner. one side will say well he hasn't had dinners with any of the other interviewees. and spent ton of time with rudy giuliani. and petraeus, and corker and others. but at the same time it's easy

to read too much into something like that. >> well look i think this is high profile and they know it. and inviting mitt romney back for dinner, i was told by a source in the transition, is meaningful. that is the word my source used. and if you are looking at this, it is meaningful. these men could not be more different. they have said an awful lot of stuff about each other. i don't expect they are ever going to be best friends. but i think what they are coming to and maybe i'm wrong is some kind of mutual respect. and i think what trump is going to demand from mitt romney is loyalty and trust. and i think, if i had to guess that is kind of the back drop for all of this, given the words that mitt romney spoke about donald trump, including calling him a con man. and i think that he's trying to, as donald trump does with his gut, sort of feel out somebody to see if he's a team player. and one thing i should point out

is that sources in the romney world have kind of gone dark on this. and kevin you know this better than i do. but they are dark. mitt romney isn't talking to them. they are not talking a lot to us. and and romney is not lobbying for the job. nor has he asked anybody to lobby on his behalf for the job. if he gets it it is clear to me he want this is job or he wouldn't be having dinner there tonight. if he gets it great. if he doesn't, he'll go back to his life. >> even if he's not the pick it does help donald trump to not only have a relationship with mitt romney but to be seen to be consulting him. >> yeah, no i think this is -- we don't really know what donald trump is up too here. we don't know how serious he is about romney or if he's just doing this to make it very clear that not only did he win but now the person who's tearing him down is coming and being a --

bending to his will and that makes donald trump probably very happy and makes him look strong and very easily could be what he's doing. or he could be serious about it. we don't really know. as gloria said the romney people have been incredibly quiet. aren't saying much so we don't know what mitt romney is actually thinking. i think if he doesn't get it, it will look bad on limb to have gone this far and etc. >> kevin, along those line, they approached him. and yet you have in an unprecedented way people from the transition team coming out, you know, throwing shade and attacking governor romney. >> right. and they were an unconventional campaign and i assume an unconventional transition and aun unconventional presidency.

they air a lot of their differences publicly. and the odd thing is i don't have a lot of criticism for that. we've always asked people in the political world be more genuin and transparent. and kellyanne conway and others have been very vocal about that. but they have always finished their statements by but there is only one person who makes a decision and that person is president elect trump. and if he makes it that they will support it. >> kirsten it was interesting because monica langleyly from wall street journal was on last night and saying based on her reporting nothing kellyanne conway was saying publicly was going rogue. and it was all done with donald trump's knowledge and fore thought. and it's very telling and interesting if that is the case that he would want that message out there. and to kevin's point i think it is a valid argument we always

call for transparencey.. >> they are doing it in public. i would have expected a private room. it is very clear that trump wants everyone to see this. sorry, go ahead gloria. >> it is a reality show. he does want all of us to see it. and mitt romney is a big boy. if he didn't want to go he didn't have to go. >> also adds to the drama and conversation and donald trump loves that, like that. >> we should also point out a few moments ago gloria, carrier, a big air-conditioning manufacturer sent a tweet and i want to read. we are pleased to have reached a deal with president elect trump and vice president elect pence to keep close to a thousand jobs

in indy. they had decision to move jobs to mexico. it was a big talking point for donald trump. he was very critical of it. this is obviously something which they were negotiating and it is a big win for him no matter how you slice it. >> sure. and we don't know the details of the deal or the conversations. but i would have to guess that what donald trump and mike pence were talking about is easing regulations. changing up the tax code to make it more beneficial for carrier to keep its plant in the united states. and that also that perhaps donald trump wouldn't impose heavy tariffs on companies like carrier in the future who did decide to move some jobs over there. i don't know exactly what was part of it. but i guarantee you something linebacker this was going to be part of this donald trump's economic plan, which would be more favorable to business and then keep companies like carrier

here. it is a big win for donald trump. he promises in the campaign. he's not even in office and he kworkd to get it done. and the other day i think he tweeted we're very close. >> tweeted on thanksgiving we've been working on this. >> right. >> the carrots and stick. we don't know which was used in this or some combination thereof. ahead t president elect thinks people who burn the american flag should lose their citizenship or be thrown in jail. and why he decided to start tweeting about that this morning? is it to distract from other issues? and also tonight a live update from gatlinburg, tennessee. raging wild fires have killed at least three. the fight ongoing and the destruction they are causings.

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way they wanted to focus the college's efforts on addressing racist u misogynistic islam phobic anti-immigrant and other behaviors. this in response to some episodes you saw immediately after the election and incidences of the hate across the country. >> and understandably there have been counter protests from veterans, correct? and others. >> reporter: veterans extraordinarily upset this is happening. very big pretties here over the weekend. they are promising another protest if this is not wrapped up this coming weekend. the school trying to do everything they can at this point i think to get students to the place where they feel they can raise this flag again. and keep in mind it is only one flag. there are several flags around the college they are flying but

the one main flag in the college is not. >> have students had any reaction to donald trump's statement this morning? >> reporter: this is a very small school and a very small town and i think they are blown away by the magnitude of the backlash to all of this. the protest this past sunday, another one planned. we spoke to one student who's a trustee here at the school, sort of like being on the student government. he gets to actually vote with the trustees on a lot of matters pertaining to the school. here is what he had to say about the -- donald trump tweeting about this. >> what does that say about her first amendment? what does that say about freedom of speech? i think those are much more complicated issues and much more important than talking about as

small college in the middle of massachusetts that has burned a flag. >> reporter: that young man is a undocumented. a full rights scholarship to this college. came to the united states at 16. grew up outside of atlanta in georgia. he was not able to go to school there. he was able to go to school here. he's top of his class. on the board of trustees. a student on the trustees here and he's undocumented. and feels that the president elect is tweeting specifically and threatening specifically him. as for the flag burning he doesn't think it should have been happened. he sees it as a symbol of opportunity for this country and hopes that it will go back up soon. >> thanks very much. lot to talk about now. lots of smart people joining us.

jeffrey, before we talk about why donald trump is tweeting this out but not just about what was happening in new hampshire but also maybe the politics behind it or the media strategy behind it, just the legality of this. has been asked and answered by the supreme court t constitutionality of the american flag, as distasteful as burning the flag is. >> two things have been settled by the supreme court. one is the more famous issue which is in 1989 and 90 the supreme court said there is a constitutionally protected right to burn the american flag. it is protected under the first amendment. the other thing the supreme court has said the is the right to citizenship is a constitutional right.

so a court can't take it away from you. it is like having a right to a lawyer when charged with a crime. the court can't sentence you to no lawyer. they can't take away your citizenship. they can put you in jail, execute you. take away your right to vote but no such thing as taking away your citizenship. >> does it concern you at that is all the president of the united states of the united states in a single tweet has gone against two parts of the constitution? two things which the supreme court says are constitutionally protected as distasteful as they may be. >> i do part company with him on this. i'm a strong believer in the first amendment which is why i'm with justice scalia on this just as with citizen's united. same thing. free speech. politically speaking i do think that this probably helps him. there is a lot of, for obvious reasons, very emotional attachment to the american flag. >> do you think he

understands -- do you think he knows that in a single tweet he said two things which are -- >> i honestly don't know. but i think it's good -- he has -- i mean he's now president elect of the united states. and all year we had people saying, you know, when he does these things he's not going to get elected. i he does them for stirring conversation, getting issues out. and help people vent in some case. >> they stir conversation. pa paul, it steers conversation and takes it away from others. in fact this take conversation from away from his last tweets which were completely factually -- there is no evidence of what he tweeted -- >> false -- >> -- about millions of illegal voters voting for hillary clinton. now switches to this. kind of an age old issue that is going to galvanize a lot of

people. >> and a very popular position. -- but i think in this case, this is just a theory. i think he's trying to distract from some of the appointments he's making. he today seems to be stocking his cabinet with washington insiders. good for him. perfect right to pick his team. elaine chao. >> married to mitch mcconnell. >> wife to the senator leader but very qualified to me. this dr. price, congressman price from georgia. chairman of the house budget committee. long time washington veteran. apparently now the choice for health and human services. so he's going right to the establishment for picking his cabinet and this could annoy his base. so what does he do? throes something out for the base, oh by the way i'm going to

take away your citizenship and that is going to help keep the base loyal to him. doesn't drain the swamp. just bringing in new ones. >> maybe there is no game theory here. maybe this is not a big strategic sort of gotcha. maybe he was watching a cable news channel that had a segment about hampshire college on this morning and their flag burning and maybe he tweeted about it three or four minutes afterwards. >> that is too scary. >> but that -- >> one myth, one hope that this guy's not nuts. >> that that happened. i didn't just create a scenario that. actually happened this morning. so what happened was donald trump as we know gets on the twitter. isn't restrained. has gotten his twitter feed back clearly because it is unlikely that any of his senior advisors. >> there was a fox news report shortly before he had tweeted out. we don't know if there was a linkage there. but certainly watching the shows as we were talking about. he was tweeting about this show

last night minutes after one of jeff zeleny's reports. >> -- dinner with mitt romney. >> he put up tweets on this and we're talking about this 12 hours later. and he put outlet several press releases and they aren't getting the attention. with with regards to the flag burning issue. majority of americans agree it is despicable and disrespectful. but what he's proposing hillary clinton did the exact same thing this 2005 with the flag-burning act which would require a year in prison as well as a hundred thousand dollar fine. so what he's proposing is not unusual. and with regard to the key appointments today, why would he want to distract from that? him appointing tom price in that position single handedly the beginning of the end of obamacare. >> it may be not be unusual but still doesn't make it constitutionally appropriate. >> that is exactly right. we soo to talk about this as this is our incoming commander

in chief. this man should understand constitutional law. it is fine to say the supreme court ruled in texas versus johnson and i don't agree with that. but it is curious. it is not what is within the 140 characters it is the mind set within what's behind it. the reason we talk about this alice over and over again is because it actually is legitimately scary to many of us who feel like. i know anderson, feelings, i'm sorry. but we feel like we elected a dictator. someone who doesn't have to be accountable the law and legislative branch and he can come in and do some crazy stuffs. that is crazy. >> we are in uncharted waters with a president elect who is continuing to tweet just as he did, maybe a little less but as he did during the campaign. when i first heard he was tweeting about something that was on this broadcast a number of tweets, again, factually incorrect tweets last night i kept thinking doesn't he have a

briefing book on isis to be reading last night at 10:00 or 9:00 of 8:00. >> he's turning those away those briefers. >> there is a huge amount of information that for him to be absorbing now and thinking about and the fact that he's watching shows. i appreciate he's watching the show. he zrubt a nielson box. doesn't really help but what is he doing? >> that was true during the campaign -- >> but i get -- >> okay. -- even then he should have been probably been boning up on what's going on. i think it is concerning he continues to do this but in terms of the substance what he said i think they are revoking the citizenship part is concerning. i oppose -- i believe that people -- i believe in the constitutional right for free speech so i have a problem with banning the flag, flag burning. but -- to be fair to him, democrats are supported and supported this -- and even though it is constitutionally

protected there have been repeated attempts to have constitutional amendments so if he supports that that is -- i don't support it. i disagree with it. but it is actually not really out of the mainstream. it is the revoking the citizenship that is problem. >> -- i want to believe that there is a strategy and now you are convincing me there is not and he's going to have to nuclear codes in a few weeks. >> more with our panel. and another target of the president elect tweets and retweets. jeff zeleny for reporting he did last night. trump retweeted multiple attacks on him after he reported trump's unfounded claim that millions have voted illegally. that is next. hop is part of the morning ritual around here. people rely on that first cup and i wouldn't want to mess with that. but when (my) back pain got bad, i couldn't sleep. i had trouble getting there on time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last into the morning. ♪ look up at a new day... hey guys!

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just last night there was another target, cnn senior washington correspondent, jeff zeleny, after jeff reported last nights, correctly i should audiaudidd, that trump's tweets that people voted illegally have no base of fact. and trump we tweeted a bunch of attacks. jeff zeleny another wanby journalist. a and. shame. exclamation point. trump added bad reporter. jeff zeleny responded, good evening. have you looked for examples of the voter fraud.

please send our way. full-time journalist here. still working. that he is. he joins me. did president elect trump respondent to your tweet, jeff? >> no anderson, mr. trump did not respond to that tweet but thousands of his followers did. and they believe him when he says that there was a lot of voter fraud that happened in the election. but, you know, this is not about us. this is about looking for this evidence of wide spread voter fraud. and we're talking wide spread. he said millions of people voted illegally. if not for them he would have won the popular vote and it seems to me that is what this is all about here. sort of day by day the popular vote, the tally is increasing slightly. hillary clinton is up by just over 2 million. and that is agitating, i'm told by people who have spoken to transition officials and the president elect. and that is one of the things behind this. but i think it gets to a larger point as well. the pattern is interesting.

we've seen a pattern throughout mr. trump's successful campaign. he tries to demonize and distract. and this is one of the latest things here. but so far he or his aides have not provided any evidence that millions of people voted illegally. >> those tweets have also gotten some criticism from a politically ally of his, right? >> they have. in fact several republicans we talked to today on capitol hill didn't want to talk about this at all, the flag-burning thing in particular. was something no republican wanted to talk about. but newt gingrich has been a die hard support over donald trump. and he did ab interview with susan paige of usa today this evening or this afternoon and he said something that was very interesting. he said the president of the united states shouldn't be randomly tweeting without having someone else checking it out. you wonder who else hooesz doing. gingrich called it his biggest mistake so far in the three weeks since he's been elected

but one other friend explained lithe like this. they did it's been 22 days since donald trump has had a campaign rally. he misses that applause and enthusiasm that really kept him alive here. so he's getting some of that at least electrically by looking through some of his supporters' messages but of course he'll be going back out on the road on thursday for a big rally finale. >> given there is no evidence that the claims trump made on twitter, no actual facts. where did he get the idea that millions of people, millions of people, voted illegally? >> reporter: this appears to be the original source of donald trump's so called evidence for his claim that millions voted illegally. the twitter feed belongs to the greg phillips. back on november 11th he tweeted completed analysis of database of 180 million voter

registrations. number of non citizen votes exceeds exceeds 3 million. phillips is the found over vote stand, a voter fraud reporter act. i reached out to him on twitter asking for him to provide me the source of his information and any relevant data and he responded no. when do you plan to share and how i asked? his response, as i said from the beginning i'll release the data, analysis and to the public no media spin. he never said when that information will be released. when i asked for an interview he sent me this article calling out trump's claim about millions voting illegally false and writing cnn seems to have already made the decision. >> how greg phillips could possibly verify millions voted illegally just three days after the election is anyone's guess. the washington post reported he started making these claims even

before data was available in most jurisdictions. none of that has stopped websites like info wars from picking up on his tweets. info wars is the brain child of radio host alex jones who rolling stone once called the most paranoid man in america. jones has suggested that the 9/11 attacks and the boston marathon bombing were inside job fwis u.s. government. jones also argued those involved in the sandy hook elementary school shooting were really actors and that nobody was actually hurt. he even claimed the apollo 11 moon landing was faked. if donald trump based his voter fraud claim on what he read on info wars, it wouldn't if be the first time. when trump argued thousands and thousands of muslims in new jersey celebrated the 9/11 attack he tweeted to info wars.

and suggesting that trump is an isis supporter. >> your reputation is amazing. i will not let you down. you will be very, very impressed i hope. and i think we'll be speaking a lot. >> randy kay, cnn new york. >> and back with the panel. jeffrey lord. i got to go to you. as a die hard trump supporters, this is a man who's going to be president of the united states, following info wars, talking about which -- >> right -- >> -- inside job. >> i don't know anything about info wars. what i do know is this. 2014, john fund, formally with the wall street journal and national review on line now. wrote an article. in 2005, the u.s. government accountability office found that up to 3% of the 30,000 people called for jury duty from voter registration roles in a two year

period in one of the 94 current u.s. district courts were non citizens and goes on at length here with other examples. my point is clearly this is happening. >> that doesn't say those people actually voted. >> no but they shouldn't be on registration roles. >> there are dead people on registration roles. we know those are problem. >> they shouldn't be here, period. >> again there is no evidence three million people voted illegally. >> the answer is we don't know. >> but does it scare you that the president elect is listening to info wars? >> no. >> right. >> you listen to all kinds of people all over the place. ronald reagan got pin for having members of the john burch society. >> they believe 9/11 was an inside job. >> right of course. >> sandy hook is all crisis actors. people i interviewed, their followers terrorized the -- >> i'm not going vouch for info wars.

i don't listen to infowars. >> but the president elect seems to. >> what i'm saying other presidents, our good friend and i wish he were here to defend himself. our good friend van jones has his problem with the obama white house because he was accused of just that. unfairly i think knowing van jones but nonetheless there he was in the obama white house. >> first of all it was unfair. i think -- >> i agree duh -- >> talking to him right there. >> -- it is. >> not the same thing you can't compare. >> it he's no longer a candidate. he's the president elect of the united states. should his behavior -- should his behavior change more? do you think it's sunk in that he is president elect of the united states? >> clearly we've seen a dramatic slow down in the tweets without a doubt. and i think the tone has changed lightly is. i think with regard to this voting tweets he's put out, he should put a little more attribution to what he's talking

about. >> his tweets last night seemed to imply that he can say whatever he wants and it is up to reporters to decisiisprove h. again he's going to be the president of the united states. should the president of the united states. should the president of the united states be putting out false information. >> if you -- >> -- you can argue that was done for political purposes. but this is -- with donald trump now. and doesn't worry you at all? >> it is different. you have someone who is not just putting out information. he's actuallying attacking people. >> that's called free speech. >> no -- hold on. >> -- >> here is the problem. a lot of republicans are stuck in this position. look, there is this hopeful moment that republicans never

thought they would have. so even republicans who didn't support donald trump feel that maybe there is an opportunity to get real policy through. >> of course. a huge opportunity. >> and then we have these totally dichotomous experiences of really -- yes, having real concern about some of the sentiments and ideas that he's expressing through twitter, the propaganda and the lies and the falsehoods he is propagating. that is serious concern. >> it is not even the ideas necessarily. just the impulses to continue in this way, when again, i just keep come coming back. i'm happy he's watching the show. but shouldn't he be reading a book the looming tower by laurence white about the history of al qaeda -- >> you said it's free speech. but free speech doesn't mean it should be undisciplined or attack a person. free speech doesn't mean it should lack the character -- >> -- [inaudible]. >> every president does things their own way. reagan specifically was accused

of not reading his briefs. and you know what they did. they showed him movies. so all i'm saying is donald trump is going to bring his own individual style. let's just give it a -- >> i'm just not sure watching cable shows late at night and tweeting about them is the best use of the president's time. >> he lost my over two million votes the popular vote and he's lying. >> he's met with over 60 foreign policy leaders and foreign leaders since he's been elected president elect. so he is given information. whether sitting down and reading a briefing book he's talking with people and revealing the information. >> and we'll have more ahead. the breaking news t air-conditioning and heating company carrier announcing they have reached a deal with the trump team to keep jobs in indiana. we'll talk about that ahead

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or that friendly dumpster diver outside. i wouldn't sit there. it's your tv, take it with you. now you can watch your dvr anywhere, at no extra cost, with directv from at&t. as we reported the beginning of the program, carrier an air-conditioning manufacture was going to move jobs to mexico.

the company tweeted tonight we are pleased to reach a deal with president elect trump and vice president elect pence to keep jobs in indy. in clearly something trump talked about on the campaign trail and could rightly say look i made a difference here. >> if true it is great. terrific. let's see the details. i do think we have a right to check the details. because sometimes mr. trump sometimes gets a little over his ski tips. but if true this would be an excellent example. >> it is a tweet from carrier themselves. >> if true this is terrific and how the bully pulpit ought to be used. i think that is great. if you are beating up on a big corporation and you are the president that is kind of what people want to see. and i'd like to see more of that and a little less of beating up on reporters or college kids or the other things. if this is true i want to know the carrots and the sticks you referred to earlier in the show.

what benefits did they get? >> and we've been critical of donald trump in this program tonight. i think it is important to point out, you know, this -- he can rightly crow about this and point to this and say look, i'm not even president yet and i'm already making a difference just by having conversations. >> sure. and he and mike pence are expected to go there and make the big announcement this week, which i think is good. this goes to show that some of his economic policies, which would businesses to keep their manufacturing plants here and the jobs here on american soil are working. and i do think this is a good sign and hopefully he'll be ain't to flesh this out and incentivize other jobs and businesses to keep jobs here in america and i think he deserves a lot of credit for it. >> the term hasn't escaped donald trump's lips yet, but when you see something like this, you think, at least i do, historically, franklin roosevelt and the hundred days. i mean, i am guessing here that the first hundred days of the trump administration are going to be filled with action, action, action.

>> this is all -- this has mike pence -- this has mike pence written all over it, right? obviously, this is mike pence's estate. he has relationships with his manufacturers, working with them all the time. he was clearly there working on the deal for his boss. but it does say something to the argument of trump surrounding himself with abled tacticians, politicians, but also people who can get deals done and make him look good. this is like one good category, and the other thing is, what we're going to see, and this is the beginning of a major shift in economic policy on the republican side. >> but it's easy -- i mean, it's easy to point to mike pence. but i think also, if in fact, is true, and we don't know the details, you've got to give credit to donald trump. he's the one out on the campaign trail was talking about it. >> and directed mike pence to -- >> let me push back on this a little bit. initially, the conversation was about 2,000 jobs. this is about saving half the jobs and leaving them here on american soil. >> you're moving -- >> no, this is what they said! >> 2,000 jobs was the point.

and it's not 2,000 jobs. the other part is, initially, he talked about imposing tariffs. he talked about penalizing companies that wanted to do this. it's clear from the deal that they at least began to discuss, he's talking about, any lower your tax bracket or lower your tax rate, rather, will you keep the jobs here? >> we don't know that. >> that's what's being -- >> we don't know -- you could also say, there was some comment last night that perhaps there was a threat of carrier's other businesses being affected if they did this. so we don't know how this deal, whatever the deal was -- >> and we also don't know what congress is doing. to paul's point, that's the big point here. we don't know what's going to actually end up happening. >> but for years, democrats have been campaigning on this. democrats have been calling for laws to punish corporations and to shift jobs overseas, reward corporations to keep jobs here. now, a republican president-elect is doing something democrats have called for for a long time. >> but in trump's defense, what stopped. you know, president barack obama from making the phone call? >> the phone call, yeah.

republicans tried to pass laws, but democrats blocked it on the hill. >> this is what americans want to see. someone who picks up the phone, sees a problem, and fixes it. >> i don't people care if it's a carrot or a stick, the fact is they're keeping jobs here in america. just ahead, more breaking news. the national parks service says people are to blame for the raging ever withes blazing in eastern tennessee. the death toll now stands at the three. walls of flames, thousands have fled from their homes, some barely in the nick of time. >> oh, shit. why is every cabin on fire?

i want to get to the latest breaking news about the wildfires raging in eastern

tennessee. at least three people now confirmed dead. the fires, which started yesterday, destroyed more than 250 buildings, forced thousands of people to flee their homes, as walls of fire were closing in. this video captures just some of the terror. >> everything is burning around us. every cabin, everything. there you go. we're not going to make it across that road. shit! oh, [ bleep ]. oh, shit. >> you're good. >> wow. are it's okay. [ bleep ]. hit the gas! hit the gas! >> fires just all around that vehicle. here's brian todd with the latest. >> reporter: an orange glow fills the fight sky as one of the many fires burns in and

around the tennessee resort towns of gatlinburg and pigeon forge. officials say severe drought and hurricane-force wind gusts combine to fuel a, quote, perfect storm. >> those winds of that nature, it is common to pick up embers of fire and take them greater than a mile away. at the same time we were facing that challenge, those high winds were knocking down trees, those trees were hitting power lines, and they were falling on this very dry, extreme drought-like condition, and everything was catching on fire. [ sirens ] >> reporter: the fire forcing mass evacuations, sending residents and tourists into nearby red cross shelters. popular area attractions were under threat, including ripley's aquarium of the smokies, which houses 1,500 animals and marine life. and the dollywood theme park. at least 150 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, including this 16-story hole

complex in gatlinburg. a guest shot this video before escaping. >> but all of the previous fires i've been part of could not have prepared me for what we have experienced over the past 24 hours. >> what's the latest on how this fire started? >> reporter: well, anderson, a short time ago, i talked to a national parks official and she told me this set of fires was human caused. i pressed her several times on whether that mean this was arson. she would not go there. she said it is human caused and under investigation, but a few minutes later, she did tell me, we would love to catch this person. so maybe while they're not ready to draw the line directly yet to arson, they seem to be getting pretty close to that. >> brian todd, thanks. in a moment at the top of the hour, a new cnn special report, "war in space: the next battlefield." here's the nightmare scenario, u.s. satellites in space targeted and destroyed, everything from bank

transactions, traffic lights, smart bombs could become dumb, cell phones could stop working. the military spending billions to protect against the attack. here's a quick preview of the special attack from cnn's jim sciutto. >> weapons fired from earth is one thing, but now the u.s. is considering capabilities it could deploy on the front lines in space, arming satellites. >> you could have weapons that could be fired against the weapons that are coming at you. >> reporter: secretary work raised the possibility of arming satellites with weapons he compared to the death charges that navy surface ships use to defend against enemy subreins in world war ii. >> so you can imagine us doing that type of activity in space. essentially, it would all be defensive in nature, trying to keep our satellites from being destroyed. so, some people might say, well, that sounds like offensive war in space to me. we look at this as totally

defensive. >> a whole new kind of warfare. that does it for us. the cnn special report "war in space: the next battlefield" starts right now. >> announcer: the following is a cnn special report. >> it is an arms race. >> is the u.s. at risk of losing? >> i think so. >> in outer space. >> looks like a communications satellite, when in actuality, it is also a weapon. >> threats of a potential world war iii. >> i think it's an inevitability over time. >> you could kidnap another satellite? >> essentially. >> designed to bring america to its knees. >> our satellites are at risk. and our ground infrastructure is at risk. >> standby! data building in florida! >> what can the u.s.