hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in new york, 8:00 p.m. in beirut, 11:00 p.m. in islamabad. wherever you're watching around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up first, president-elect donald trump celebrates the art of the deal that saved 1,000 jobs. right now, trump and vice president-elect pence are flying to indianapolis where they'll visit a carrier air conditioning plant next hour. carrier agreed to keep about 1,000 jobs in the united states in exchange for incentives from the state of indiana and the federal government. no details yet on what those incentives include. but trump supporters say the agreement shows he is keeping his promise to save american jobs even before he takes office. our national correspondent suzanne malveaux is joining us live from indianapolis right now. suzanne, give us a little preview of this important visit by the president-elect and the vice president-elect.

>> sure, wolf. about an hour or so, they're actually going to be on the floor, the plant floor, where ironically ten months ago it was the owners who announced to employees they were losing their jobs, that their jobs were going to mexico. that is where trump and pence will tour. they'll make a speech to talk about some of the details of those incentives. carrier said there were some state incentives involved in this deal. what we know so far from those involved in negotiations, it is $7 million over the course of ten years. now, wolf, that is really nothing compared to what the parent company united technologies said it was going to lose some $65 million or so overseas if -- each year if, in fact, they went to mexico. so let's take a look at the big picture here. united technologies is billions and billions of dollars in military contracting. $5.6 billion to the pentagon.

that could be part of the reason why of course they want to have a friendly relationship with the trump administration, to keep that kind of business going. they also, the government supplies $1.5 billion in their research and development. this of course, wolf, is all speculation, but it is interesting to see how donald trump and mike pence are taking credit for really the carrots and stick approach to this company and a lot of people who i took to, wolf, very excited. they are relieved. they don't care how the sausage was made. they talk about the fact that there's, like, $25 an hour that they make, that these are good jobs, that they've been in the company for dozens of years, and these are the kinds of things, the kinds of jobs that put their kids through college. and so this something that they are very pleased about and very excited, very interested, to see what the details are in this deal, wolf. >> yes, donald trump also promised during the campaign if he were elected president those jobs would remain in indiana. they're going to remain in indiana. all right, thanks very much,

suzanne malveaux, for that report. let's get some more on the trump transition. let's bring in republican congressman marsha blackburn, recently in aed a vice chair of the trump transition team. thank you very much for joining us. >> good to be with you, wolf, thank you. >> i want to get to all those issues. but first, i know you had an important meeting at trump tower with the president-elect earlier this week. tell us about that meeting. did he offer you, for example, some sort of job in his new administration? >> i think i'm one of those individuals the president wants to stay here in congress and continue to beat away at getting rid of some of these rules and regulations and working on the cost and the size and the scope of the federal government. kind of reining things in. we talked about ways i could be involved going forward. i'm one of -- i'm a total team player. let's just get the job done. it's time for action. the american people voted for action.

they are tired of waiting to get government out their pocketbook and off their back and they're saying come on, let's get to work. so i'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get going. that's what we're doing with the transition. >> let me just be precise, if the president-elect were to say to you, i want you to give up your congressional seat and become a cabinet member or take some other significant role in the administration, he says the country need also you to do that, would you do that? >> of course you're going to consider that. and you look at it from is it right for your family, do you think that you and the president are going to be on the same page. but of course you're going to consider that. and it is an honor to be a part of the trump team, to have worked through the campaign season, to have told people like you that he was going to win and that he was going to be the next president and now to see this happening, i think there's a lot of enthusiasm and, really, wolf, a lot hopefulness from people about what the future is going to hold and what the first 100

days of the trump administration will bring for them. >> you're a key member of this transition team. what are you hearing about the contenders? there are now final four contenders for secretary of state. which of those four would be your first choice? >> i'm going to leave that ranking to mr. trump. he knows who is going to best fit into the team he's building. you know, when you're building out an organization, organizational leadership requires that you look at the skill sets and then it's the deliverables you expect from that department. you match that up. and we know that whomover is going to be secretary of state, they're going to have to have an understanding of the hot spots that are around the globe. they need an understanding of what is happening in the eu and with the uk extraction from the eu. they need to understand what is happening in the south china sea and going on with china and trade policy, military policy,

intelligence. the way all those geopolitical issues fit together. i know in the next couple weeks, mr. trump will finally say this is who i think i'm more in line with or i mesh well with or i feel will deliver the best product for the american people. and we're well served to trust him to make that judgment. i think it's so exciting watching him come to that decision. >> very quickly, would you have a problem with mitt romney? >> this is what you leave to mr. trump. prognosticating about who is or who is not going to be chosen is not the role for someone like me. i do think it is wonderful that mr. trump extended the hand of friendship to mr. romney and mr. romney accepted. and it is good role modeling for people who have really strong differences. and how to settle those. and to put the focus on the

country. and we have to realize that the preservation of freedom is a bigger responsibility than one or two personalities, and it doesn't serve our country well when we let personalities or past fights or differences, personal or personality differences get in the way of that goal which is to make certain we hand this country over in better shape than we found it. we give it over to our children so that they are going to be able to protect our freedom and liberties. >> let's briefly talk about donald trump and vice president elect pence's ability to keep 1,000 jobs at that carrier plant in indiana. i want you to get -- listen to the reaction we got to that and donald trump and mike pence deserve credit for keeping those jobs there. but listen to the reaction we just got from the white house press secretary josh earnest. >> that's obviously good news. and an announcement that we would welcome.

but, again, as i mentioned yesterday, mr. trump would have to make 804 more announcements just like that to equal the standard of jobs in the manufacturing sector created in this country under president obama's watch. >> congresswoman, your reaction to the white house? >> the labor force participation rate is the lowest it's been since jimmy carter. that is the problem. the ability to hire, to get a job, to keep a job, the conditions for the labor force, are not optimum at this point. donald trump and mike pence deserve the credit for getting in there and creating the environment that job growth wanted to stay here, job retention wanted to stay here in indiana. that is so important to realize. that's part of the difference.

you know, we've had an administration that says we can micromanage this economy. we can create jobs. and they've not been able to do it. the private sector creates those jobs. and it is government's responsibility to create the environment for jobs growth to take place and then turn around and look at the private sector and say let her rip. get out here and create as many jobs as you can. and there is an old equation i use all the time, talking about jobs growth and preserving those conditions for good labor stability. and it is less regulation plus less litigation plus less taxation equals more innovation and job creation. you got to bring it together and this is a first step and i will just about bet you in the next couple years donald trump and pence will be able to point to another hundred companies who said we're staying in the usa

and not leaving. >> well, that's what he promised. we'll see if he can deliver. so far he has delivered with that carrier plant in indiana. we'll get the details coming in. congressman marsha blackburn of tennessee. thanks very much for joining us. >> good to be with you. let's talk a little bit more about this. our chief political correspondent dana bash. our politics executive editor mark preston is with us. cnn politics reporter eugene scott is with us as well. dana, the devil's in the details. possibly $7 million in tax credits if you will for carrier over the next ten years promised by the state of indiana. that's already developing some criticism. >> it is. from people like bernie sanders for example who wrote an op-ed saying he things this is exactly the wrong way to go about it. develop a shared goal, a shared charge during the campaign to talk about job loss, especially because of trade deals, and he's

saying this is the wrong way to go about doing it. you know, we'll see -- we don't know all of the specifics of how this worked out. and at the end of the day, if donald trump and mike pence -- the truck administration in general, want to do this on a more global scale, or to be more clear, on a broader scale with more businesses, than there will have to be a big transformation of the incentives or lack thereof for companies to go abroad. whether it's state by state like what they did in indiana or more on a federal level. >> it's sort of this event that's going to take place in the next hour or so, mark, it's part a victory tour, a thank you tour, and it's a great way to kick off the tour, by going to indianapolis and saying, you know what, i told you these jobs will remain here. >> no doubt about it, he has a lot to celebrate and should be applauded for the fact he saved 1,000 jobs and, again, we can sit around the table and talk about the long-term implications which we should because there

are long-term implications for making a deal like this but there are still 1,000 families and certainly thousands more people that are going to be affected by these jobs staying there. the question is, though, in the long term, can donald trump continue to do this, always be on the phone, wolf, try to keep companies here? i don't thing that's a great strategy. but you know what, in this case, good move for him. >> he's going to go to cincinnati later tonight, speak in cincinnati, and he's going to thank people in ohio for helping him become the president-elect of the united states. >> this is a state he fought really hard for. a state that he was at risk of losing to hill hiary clinton at some points and voters came out and supported him. will he be able to deliver to them what he delivered to indiana remains to be seen. worth noticing carrier is in indiana where mike pence is governor. will he be able to replicate this in states where the governor is not his vice president-elect like ohio. >> the whole idea of this thank you tour beyond indiana obviously going to a place like

ohio, i've been told that we should expect this kind campaign-style rally to continue during the trump administration. not just so he can kind of continue to connect with voters. but also because people around him understand that that's his oxygen. i mean, that's what really gets him going and makes him feel alive as a politician. and they want to make sure to keep giving him that oxygen. >> during the campaign, we always saw in the primaries, the general election, he would go to these rallies, 20,000 people would show up, thousands more were outside. that gave him the energy he needed. he could do three, four. at the end, he did, what, six or seven in one day. >> to dana's point to, this has never been done by a president. who's to say it is the wrong thing to do. we'll see how it plays out. you would thing he would be too busy in order to get on an airplane and fly out and do a big rally. but if that's going to make him a better president and allow him to connect with the american people. let's face it, here on the eat coast, there's a lot of anger

towards us because they feel, like in middle america, we're out of touch. maybe him going and connecting with voters not a bad idea. >> we'll see that later tonight. i assume you agree, eugene, he loved doing it for a year and a half and he's presumably going to continue even as president. >> i think it's easier to do when you're campaigning than when you're actually president. now, if he doesn't follow through on all these promise also that many of these voters hoped he would, i don't know if he wants to go to these rallies because the response might not be as positive as they were when he was making a lot of promises. >> we'll have live coverage of his remarks at the carrier plant and of course later tonight as well. the first of his thank you tour stops, these rallies are going forward. please stay with us. the three of you. more to discuss. donald trump heaping praise on pakistan's prime minister but it's a far cry from his previous criticism of pakistan. we'll take a closer look. later the growing humanitarian crisis in aleppo, syria. is there help on the way for desperate civilians? stay with us. wildlife rescue workers open up a lot of dawn.

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phone conversation with donald trump. many comments made during the call were surprising. outside trump tower in new york city, jessica, what is at issue here? >> yeah, you know, wolf quite simply it's a complete breach of diplomatic protocol. the prime minister's office releasing complete verbatim of this telephone conversation between president-elect donald trump and prime minister of pakistan nawaz sharif. it's something that just isn't done but of course these quotations were put out early this morning and i'll read some for you. donald trump telling the prime minister, quote, you have a very good reputation, you are a terrific guy, you are doing amazing work, which is visible in every way. continuing on, saying, i am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play. feel free to call me any time, even before january 20th. that is before i assume office. and then they continued with even more quotes. putting out this, as i'm talking to you, prime minister, i feel i am talking to a person i have known for long.

your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities. if these accolades are, in fact, accurate, this is an abrupt turn-around for donald trump who has spent years and month of of this campaign, in fact, talking about pakistan, calling pakistan a dangerous country and a problem. he tweeted about it as far back as 2012. he talked about it on the campaign trail, at cnn town halls. but of course now seeming to heap praise on pakistan's prime minister. this of course could rock the boat, rock relations with the u.s. ally, india, which of course is a staunch adversary of pakistan, wolf. >> all right, jessica, thanks very much. jessica schneider reporting. let's bring back our panel, dana bash, mark preston and eugene scott. it is pretty strange, some of these comments, that the pakistanis insist donald trump made to the pakistan prime minister. given the history, first of all, the u.s./pakistani history. there's been tension in the past going back to when bin laden was found there and the pakistanis saying they knew nothing about

it. the u.s. not so sure about all of that. >> it's hard to believe. >> any reaction we're getting yet from the trump transaction on the statement, the so-called transcript put out by the pakistani government? >> so they're referring us to a statement the trump transition put out about this call and another as well. which is very -- if this is the way statements are usually put out about calls, in diplo-speak, very vague where you can take really anything from it. the gist of it is they had a productive conversation about how the united states and pakistan will have a strong working relationship and he noted that he looks forward -- trump noted that he looks forward to a strong personal relationship. so you can certainly take that and extrapolate what the pakistanis put out was accurate but, you know, we just don't know. i think jessica was right. you know this better than anybody here. it is incredibly unusual and is a breach of diplomatic protocol for the pakistanis to put that statement out. just obviously looking at this

from semiinformed question, you can agree with this, perhaps they did that because they were so stunned and the prime minister was so stunned that he said that in the first place. >> i can only imagine, mark, and i have no idea if this is true, that the pakistanis would have cleared that statement with the trump transition because it is a stunning breach in diplomatic protocol, the prime minister of one country speaks on the phone with the president-elect of the united states. they have an important conversation. and then the pakistani government releases this statement. and they're experienced, these pakistani diplomats, we've worked with them for a long time. would they do that without getting authorization from the trump team? >> well, i would say this would be an educated view that probably not. it doesn't seem as if they did. statement was released. it did take some time for the trump transition, you know, to put out a statement their own. having said that, there have been multiple phone calls, you

know, from world leaders to donald trump and we haven't seen readouts of those. we haven't seen those type of readouts. other than there was a discussion held on the names. you have to wonder did pakistan do that in order to drive a little bit a wedge between india and perhaps the new trump administration. trying to look for an upper hand wherever they can. as we do know, that is an extremely volatile relationship over there. >> if we quickly had, also seems to be for domestic consumption in pakistan. a guy for whom a lot of the things that trump allegedly said about him, a terrific guy, somebody who he respects. a lot of people in pakistan don't feel that way. to have a president-elect saying that way to you on a private phone call would be something he would want his own constituency to hear. >> i suspect, eugene, they didn't get into the whole issue of donald trump wanting to ban immigrants from countries that have a history of terrorism from coming to the united states and presumably pakistan would be on that list. most recently, the ohio state

slasher, his family lived in pakistan for most of his life. originally from somali. and donald trump tweeted the other day, he should have never been in the united states to begin with. that family came to the united states, received sanctuary in the united states not from somali but they came from pakistan. i suspect they didn't get into that whole issue in that phone conversation. >> certainly doesn't seem like it, based on what was made public. one could ask and question whether donald trump is as familiar with the issues happening in pakistan right now as they are related to terrorism, related to immigration and border issues with india as well. you would thing he would be far more aggressive if he was very aware of those issues. even though these conversations are initially very diplomatic, they certainly aren't as warm as what we just saw. >> i'm curious, what are you hearing about the next secretary of state? >> that it's still a holding pattern. by all accounts, there was a dinner that donald trump had with mitt romney the other night here in new york. was quite good. that they enjoyed each other's

company. maybe more than they thought that they would, particularly from donald trump's perspective. but it's still tbd on whether or not he is going to go with mitt romney. david petraeus obviously is another candidate. there's a lot more vocal concern from people who would confirm him in the senate about the fact that he himself breached classified information, sent via e-mail, which is obviously a no no, something that was a big issue on the campaign trail for hillary clinton. and it might be a little bit ironic to ask for him to be the secretary of state now. >> what are you hearing? >> i think dana's right. they said there are people out there -- which is amazing they're putting names -- >> we're calling them the final four. >> the final four, like college basketball in march. they put giuliani out there and bob corker, senator from tennessee. i think dana's right, it's either petraeus or romney. the question is does donald trump feel comfortable enough with romney. we know he really likes petraeus

and he likes romney. but the petraeus fight could get a little bit ugly and does trump want to deal with that. if petraeus doesn't become secretary of state, i think there's some role for him. >> in the administration? >> absolutely. >> even though he's still on probation after pleading guilty to that misdemeanor charge of violating classified rules. >> right, right. >> one thing i thought was very interesting about the meeting with mitt romney, if you look at the statement that romney made after the meeting, it was very positive and very favorable and very different from what he said when trump was on the campaign but i'm not sure that's going to be enough for the base who have a problem with romney. >> the base is making it clear, at least, newt gingrich and mike huckabees and kellyanne conways as well that would be a serious problem but we'll see what the president-elect does. thank you very much. coming up, what's next for democrats? nancy pelosi staying in charge of the democrats of the house of representatives. but what's the rallying cry now for the future of the party? stay with us. ♪ look how beautiful it is... honey, we need to talk.

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democrats have been doing a lot of soul searching since donald trump's stunning victory. the house minority leader pelosi did survive a challenge by ohio congressman tim ryan. so what's next for the democrats in washington? representative steve israel of new york is joining us now to talk about that. congressman, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> i know you're retiring from congress, you only have a few more days left. do you want to tell us who you voted for in this leadership battle? >> i didn't have a vote. as an outgoing member of congress, did i not participate in that election. there's no secrets here, i have

been a top lieutenant and friend of nancy pelosi's. i was urging my colleagues to support her. she had a decisie win yesterday. now we have to move on to the battles that are going to be waged in the new trump administration. >> what does it say that 63 house democrats voted for tim ryan over nancy pelosi and that the republicans are celebrating her win? >> well, it says that she won over two-thirds of the caucus, which is as decisive a win as you can get. but beyond that, wolf, she has made the necessary changes to bring in a new generation of house democrats. she's expanded her leadership team. she's diversified it. she listened very carefully to those younger members who said we need to make sure we are replenishing and revitalizing our caucus. cease done that. she's done that. we're moving ahead to some tough battles. we're looking at a two-pronged war on capitol hill. number one, the first thing house republicans will try and do is repeal obamacare. and number two, they're going to

try and privatize medicare. those are the opening salvos. we've got to be united as democrats in order to withstand those salvos and defend medicare and health care in the united states. >> you're the minority, significant minority in the house of representatives. you're going to fail in that effort, assuming the republicans stay united. >> we, ill, i'm not so sure. one of the real skills of pelosi has been despite the fact we've been in the minority, every time the republicans try to bring us over a fiscal cliff or shut down the government it was democrats who worked with paul ryan to do the right thing and our priorities were always reflected in the final results of those bills. and so i think we're looking at that again. the republicans look united today, but they've proven that they divide very quickly. you've got a freedom caucus that continues to lurch their party further to the right. so i'm not so sure they're going to be as united later as they are now. and that gives us opportunities

as democrats to make sure that our priorities, defending medicare and making sure that people have health care are reflected in public policy going forward. >> why did the democrats do so badly this time around in the house of representatives? really couldn't score any major victories. >> you know, i think -- people are saying what kind of country could elect donald trump. i think that's the wrong question. the issue is what kind of time could have elected trump. we're in a unique time. convergence of anxieties from middle class voters. i think it's paramount on us to figure out why those voters turned on us. there are too many voters who supported barack obama in 2012 and did not support hillary clinton in 2016. we've got to do a real assessment, real analysis, on what went wrong and how to get those voters back. >> forget about the -- congressman, forget about the presidential election for a second. the house of representatives, the democrats trying to get a majority or at least decrease the number of republican seats

that the republicans have. they had every opportunity. they failed miserably in the house of representatives. why? >> well, i'll give you one very specific reason and that redistricting. the republicans were smart in 2010. they built themselves a redistricting fire wall so no matter how bad it got for then, they had too many safe seats. we made a mistake in not making investments in state and local races. and we've got to go back to basics. and start doing it now. and so build so that we can win those states back in 2020. take control of redistricting in 2022. and secure our seats into 2030. that's exactly the playbook the republicans used between 2010 and 2012. we've got to use the same playbook. >> who would you like to see emerge as the new chair of the democratic national committee? >> there are plenty of people in this race. i'm not endorsing any of them. to me, quite bluntly, it's less

important that -- who runs the dnc than where we are going. i think we've got to have a conversation as a party on what happened with those middle class voters in pennsylvania and ohio and michigan and elsewhere. we've got to make sure we're tapping into that anxiety, figuring out how to get those voters back. who runs that operation is less important to me, quite bluntly. >> are you interested in being the chair of the dnc? >> no, so many gray hairs on my head, i don't have room for another one. chaired the dccc for four years. >> the democratic congressional campaign committee. all right, congressman, thank you very much for joining us. good luck with the next chapter of your career. >> thank you, sir. up next, the global effect of donald trump's win. i'll also our unflinching international correspondents how the trump bravado is playing overseas. whoa, this is awful, try it. oh no, that looks gross what is that? you gotta try it, it's terrible. i don't wanna try it if it's terrible.

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a rejection of the established government. strict immigration laws and free trade. all populist ideas that arguably won donald trump the election here in the united states. that same wave is responsible for the brexit vote where britain decided to leave the european union. now europe is poised to make even more anti-establishment decisions. one example, this sunday, italy holds a referendum that will allow some constitutional changes. if voters say no, the prime minister, he has vowed to resign. let's talk more about the seemingly global populist movement under way. joining us, our senior international correspondents arwa came damon, clarissa ward nick paton walsh. a rarity to have all them in new york at the same time but it's great to have all of you here. nick, this is amazing, what happened with brexit, what's happening in the united states,

potentially could spread to other countries in europe. you're watching this very closely. >> absolutely. if you look at the underlying causes, not actually that surprising. let's take brexit because that's an established thing. i suppose if you look at britain, for years, we've had governments that weren't different in the policies that he were offering but they had overseen this huge change from rural communities where all the money and all the focus the economies were in the major cities leaving behind large communities, meaning education for many britains wasn't exactly where it should have been and i think some blame that perhaps on the level of ill informed debate around brexit, some that were told about the idea of pushing the idea of leaving the union and i think that's left britain now with the moment where people had a chance to destroy the established order. they hadn't seen anything getting better. they were told to blame foreigners. told to blame things that maybe weren't at the heart of the problem. still, they've made this sea change now. they're struggling to put it through into legislation and actually get brexit to mean

something. but still the message was clear and that's we haven't liked what we've been seeing in our own country for the past couple of decades and we want a change, no matter how destructive it is. >> we may see some of this develop very soon in france for example. >> well, so in france, we already saw a major surprise. we had the center right party had its primary. this was supposed to be the former french president nicolas sarkozy's big comeback. instead, we saw francois fillon win. we're seeing now this referendum taking place in italy that you mentioned. prime minister rensi has said if it doesn't go through he will resign. that leaves the space for potentially pepi degreo who's the leader of the opposition, an entertainer, a populist. this is a narrative we're seeing playing out over and over again. we have an important election coming up in austria. again, it looks like someone quite far to the right, a populist, may also seize the momentum. the european union is facing its most serious existential crisis since its inception and what it

speaks to on a broader scale i think is what we saw here in the united states as well, which is a ground swell movement, a shift in the zeitgist and it is a tetonic shift in the way people feel about the establishment and their unhappiness in the way their country is moving. >> arwa, you're based in istanbul but you're traveling the middle east all the time. what was the reaction when the people you're working with heard that donald trump would be the next president of the united states? >> i think everyone was very, very surprised. people were quite shocked. the reaction is very mixed. you have some governments, such as the government in turkey, of president erdogan, they to a certain degree say they're looking forward to this because they had such a strained relationship with the obama administration and they're hoping trump will give them more support. when it companies y s comes to e war with syria and their own

internal war with the separatist group the ppk. a lot of syrian activists we've been talking to amongst the population in turkey and in iraq as well. there's a lot of fear about what this is going to mean because people already feel as though the u.s. has abandoned them, especially in syria. and when they hear trump's rhetoric, especially towards muslims and the middle east, it does cause genuine fear amongst populations. they don't know what this is going to mean for them. >> what was the reaction you saw, nick? >> i think in beirut, surprise, overturning all the different models. the problem about trump he's sort of to many people a blank canvas. so some for example consider the idea of him talking tough as maybe a little more intervention, maybe he will finally do something in syria perhaps. at the same type, on a separate hand, he's talking about russia, which potentially gives the assad regime a lot of assistance in that area too. i think it's thrown a lot of people. possibly the strong man like the

idea of this man doing mano to mano deals with them maybe but i think there's a blank canvas some people see scary images on. >> they're looking closely at the people he's surrounding himself with when it comes to international affairs. >> they are, and they're trying desperately to read the tea leaves and put the puzzle together and get a broader picture and they're not seeing much. because ultimately i think the greatest fear factor with president obama trump is less about his policies than it is about the fact that he is such an unknown commodity. there is this erratic element. he's clearly dispensing with traditional protocol, with traditional diplomatic means. that he is just, you know, reinventing the whole office and the way he does business and the way he engages other countries. and that's left a lot of leaders on the back foot sort of rethinking how do we engage here, how do we go forward, how do we pursue this relationship. >> a model of european security

frankly, such as norway, seeing how they're very nervous about the idea of trump reshaping nato alliance, what it means for them in terms of their quite unruly neighbor russia. >> he wants the allies to pay more to meet that 2% threshold that only britain, maybe canada, the united states, are doing. he's laid down his views on nato. arwa, you have an important project that you're working on right now, because we see these pictures coming out of aleppo, syria, these children who are starving now. tell our viewers here in the united states and around the world what you're working on. >> i started this nonprofit called inada and basically what we do is we deal with war-wounded children or children who have been somehow impacted by the war and they need medical attention. what we actually do is we go out and we see what's already being provided. we map out what's needed. we map out the gaps. and then we provide the children specifically with that catered medical assistance. targeting specifically what it is they're dealing with. in all honesty, sometimes you go

out and you tell the story and you can make an impact and a difference and sometimes it's just not enough. sometimes the stories you're telling are not making the changes. especially when it comes to syria and iraq and these war-torn countries, that you have to go out and do something else. you see a problem and you see a capacity to fix it, and i have to say, like, all my colleagues have been absolutely amazing in helping us get it up and going. >> tell our viewers how they can learn more. >> our website is www.ineda.org. you see it up there on your screen, you can go, you can donate, you can help spread the word. we have a christmas cap pain going on now. we're looking to expand our reach at this stage. >> thank you very much for all of that good work and thanks to all of you. three very, very courageous journalists who help all of us appreciate what's going on in the world. we're grateful to all of you. welcome to the united states. >> thank you, wolf. >> now get back to work. syria clearly a major issue on the plate of the president-elect of the united states. up next, the devastation of aleppo's people, how they are

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leap is on a descent into hull, that's how the united nations is describing the utter will i dire situation in syria's largest city right now. they're pleading for help before it becomes in their word one giant graveyard. more than 27,000 people have fled heavy fighting in eastern aleppo in recent days but an estimated 200,000 people are still there. there's intense fighting on the ground between the syrian government and rebel fighters as air strikes pound the city from above. at least 40 people were killed today in shelling. fred pleitgen the covering the story from beirut. fred, you've spent time in syria. what's happening on the ground right now? >> what's happening is the syrian government beliefs it might be able to take all of

aleppo away from the rebels. it's been remarkable over the past couple days the gains the syrian military has been making. they took about 20 to 25% of an area where they haven't been able to make inroads the past four years. now one of the things that's been going on over the past 48 hours is it's been bad weather over the aleppo area. that curbed the strikes of the syrian air force but it makes the situation for the civilians on the ground even worse. now the syrian government says it's still advancing, however rebels say they've banded together to form a unified front and they're trying to hold the syrian government up. however, it seems as though at this point in time, judging by the momentum, it's not sure how much longer the rebels will be able to hold up in aleppo, wolf. >> how much help is the syrian army getting from the russians,

for example, iranian troops, le lebanese hezbollah. >> well, the russians are a huge factor in the battle for syria if you will. but they are carrying out bombing campaigns that relieve the syrian air force as well. it's not clear whether or not the russians are completely staying out of the airspace over the city of aleppo. the other thing that is significant is the amount of revolutionary guard troops on the ground and hezbollah forces as well. we have heard there have been reinforcements for assad's military coming from both the iranians and hezbollah over the past couple of weeks. the past couple months, you'll recall. about a month and a half ago, the rebels were able to break the siege of aleppo and after that major reinforcements came in to bolster bashar al assad's forces, wolf.

>> fred pleitgen be careful. thanks for joining us. that's it for me, i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern there the situation room. amanpour is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, news room with brooke baldwin starts right after a quick break.

top of the hour, you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. we begin with breaking news. at any moment now we will be seeing donald trump live up to a major campaign promise as well as his precipitation as a deal maker in chief. note, it is 50 days before he officially places his hand on that bible in washington and becomes the next president of the united states. i'm talking about trump winning back a thousand jobs in indiana that had been on their way to mexico. any minute now