tv Wolf CNN December 6, 2016 10:00am-11:01am PST
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learn how your business can save at pge.com/businessenergycheckup. together, we're building a better california. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in cairo, egypt. 9:30 p.m. from tehran. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up effects, president-elect donald trump wants the federal government to tell boeing, you're fired. trump is criticizing a government contract for boeing to build the next u.s. air force one presidential plane. this morning he tweeted this -- "boeing is building a brand new 747 air force one for future presidents but costs are out of control. more than $4 billion.
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cancel order." here's what he said to reporters when they asked about the tweet. >> well, the plane is totally out of control. it's going to be over $4 billion. it's for air force one program, and i think it's ridiculous. i think boeing is doing a little bit of a number. we want boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money. >> the air force budgeted $2.9 billion for two new planes to be ready by the year 2022, but so far it is only awarded boeing one contract worth $170 million. president-elect trump is also focusing in on transition business today. he has a series of meetings before heading to north carolina for the next stop on his thank you tour. he holds a rally in fayetteville, north carolina, later tonight followed by stops in des moines, iowa, thursday and grand rapids, michigan, on friday. vice president-elect mike pence motorcade arrived back here in
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washington where some lawmakers are concerned about trump's threat to impose tariffs on goods made overseas. we get the latest from our correspondents jessica schneider outside trump tower in new york city. manu raju is on capitol hill. jessica, who are the people trump is meeting with today? what should we expect from him in north carolina later tonight? >> reporter: well, wolf, definitely an adrenaline-fueled day for the president-elect and a morning and afternoon of meeting making way for the big thank you rally, the second stop on his thank you tour in fayetteville, north carolina. first theirs morning, down to business in trump tower. donald trump meeting with an array of people. exxon ceo rex tillerson. rex tillerson added to the potential lift of secretary of state nominees. sources say he's a long shot but donald trump is somewhat intrigued by his world view. also donald trump wrapping up in the last hour or so a meeting with d.c. mayor muriel bowser
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and his national security team is set to meet with former secretary of state henry kissinger. of course, kissinger just arrives back here in the united states where he did meet with president xi. could the former secretary of state kissinger have a message for donald trump and his national security team?pecially sending tweets out criticizing china over the weekend. after all of this business is finished, it will be back to what donald trump enjoys most, what he does best and his top advisers kellyanne conway says he gets his oxygen from. returning to rallies in north carolina. the rally set for 7:00 tonight and one notable thing happening at that rally tonight is that donald trump will officially unveil, even though all told us about it, officially unveil his pick for secretary of defense, retired general jam mattis. the four-star general will in
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fact appear onstage with donald trump. something donald trump has been talking about the past week. so a day of meetings making way for what donald trump really enjoys most -- some of those rallies happening tonight in north carolina. later this week in iowa as well as michigan. wolf? >> going to be going to several of those states that he carried in the presidential election. exactly one month ago today. manu, the vice president-elect mike pence is speaking, meeting with lawmakers where you are on capitol hill. some republicans, we're talking about, not onboard with trump's call for tariffs on goods made overseas. is this a sign of a potential rift between the president-elect and some congressional republicans? >> reporter: it is indeed, wolf. there's very little support among republicans for that idea. really it flies in the face of republican orthodoxy. of course, they've pushed for lower taxes for years and create a business environment encouraging imports coming from other countries. now republicans, they are saying that this could potentially spark a trade war including the
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house majority leader kevin mccarthy saying yesterday that there are other ways to deal with this and today house speaker paul ryan also not expressing his support. i had a chance to ask him about it. here what he had to say. >> so we think the real solution here is comprehensive across the board tax reform which is what we'll hit the ground running on working on in early 2017. i think tax reform is the answer to that problem. >> reporter: so they're talking about broader rewrite of the tax code, wolf, and something they believe could address some of the concerns that donald trump is raising about companies shipping jobs overseas. not necessarily imposing a punitive tax on those companies that do that. even john cornyn, number two senate republican, a chance sow ask about the trump idea. he would not embrace that approach. do it in a broader rewrite of the tax code next year. goes to show you, once they get into the details on legislation, it's going to be very hard to keep the party united. right now they're singing from
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the same song sheet, but when they get into the details, a lot hardser when legislation starts moving, woman. >> thank you both very much. talk about the transition and more. some of the key issues facing the president-elect. joining us from capitol hill right now, north carolina republican congressman mark meadows. he's also the new chairman of the influential house freedom caucus. congressman, congratulations. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. it's great to be back with you, wolf. thanks so much. >> so where do you stand? where does the freedom caucus, a lot of tea party supporters where do you guys stand on this proposal to impose tariffs on certain countries or companies that produce products overseas, outside the united states, that want to export those products to the united states? >> well, you know, most of us are free traders and so when you look at tariffs, it doesn't get a warm reception, but i think when you look at the top ten priorities of what this administration has proposed to do, tariffs is not in that top ten. so as we look at this first 200 days, you've heard the speaker
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mention tax reform. i've been in contact with some of the president-elect trump advisors on tax reform. i think we can find real unifying messages there, but it's all about making sure that jobs and american jobs are priority one. i think that's the overarching strategy. it's maybe the tactics we disagree on. >> that's a significant tactic. >> it is. >> repeatedly he said a company like carrier or ford or general motors, some other company, moves a factory to mexico or some place else they want to sell products back here in the united states, he wants to impose a 35% tariff, clearly making those products for american consumers a lot more expensive, but you would strongly, the freedom caucus, would strongly oppose that, i assume? >> i think, you know, we haven't taken any official decision or made any official proclamations on that. i can tell you last night we had our meeting. that was not one of the topics
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that we talked about. we really talked about the repeal of obama care. i think in general, most of our members would be against tariffs and would not support that. that's what you, why you have two different branches. executive and legislative branch. we have to work together to make sure jobs are a priority and you'll find that in the first 200 days, wolf. >> the obama care, affordable care act, repealing, replacing obama care certainly a key promise from donald trump, from republicans, and members of congress, members of the house, you're working on plans right now to do that. paul ryan says a repeal won't leave people worse off, but those plans could take, he says, maybe as many as three years to implement. are you okay with that? >> well, we're not. we've gone on record that what we want to make sure of is that we do a repeal and replacement in this next congress coming up. i think the american people are tired of us kicking the can down the road, waiting for some future congress to make a
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decision. so anything that we do, the repeal and the replacement, i think, needs to come together, and be in a, in no more than two years as we look at it so that we don't have an inadvertent failure to really support those that need the most help. i can tell you, the freedom caucus will be pushing for a shorter time frame on that, woman. >> two years, because as you know, about 20 million americans, they now have health insurance. they didn't have it before. you want to make sure that those 20 million are protected. is that right? >> we have to really look at making sure they're protected. you know, when we look at safety nets, i think that's an important aspect of that for both republicans and democrats. and so as we craft a replacement, it's making sure that we don't harm anybody in the process. and i think we can accomplish that. i know that potentially the new secretary, tom price, my good friend, has a number of ideas, but we'll be working with him closely to make sure we don't leave anybody behind. >> what did you think of the
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president-elect's statement today saying to boeing in 23e effect, i said it earlier, you're fired. he doesn't like the cost estimates of a couple new air force ones. he says that's not acceptable. what do you think about that? >> you know, he's a take-charge kind of guy. he's wanting to drain the swamp, wolf. you heard him on the campaign trail. he's serious about draining the swamp here and when he sees waste or budgets that go out of line, i think it's important for him to call it out. and as we look at that, this will not be the only thing that he looks at. it's really a real reform. we look at the state department. i think there's a lot of areas he were look at in terms of reforming that with whomever his pick may be. so i applaud him for taking a bold move. he'll be criticized. but it's time we do business differently here in washington, d.c. >> mark meadows, republican congressman from north carolina. once again, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. vice president-elect mike pence, by the way, he will be on
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part of donald trump's economic plan may have hit a speed bump of sorts. some republicans in congress resisting trump's call for tariffs on foreign-made goods and higher taxes on companies that shift jobs overseas. joining us to talk about that, mark preston, and jay newton small and commentator for the "wall street journal." how much resistance is donald trump facing in his proposal to increase tariffs on company that move their companies, for example, overseas and want to export their products back into the united states? >> we saw when we saw mark meadows, took him a while to say his caucus or his conference of really conservative lawmakers would largely not be in favor it it. in addition we saw paul ryan actually not engage in it.
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did not want to engage in it. wants to change the tax code. we saw host majority leader kevin mccarthy, we don't need to get into a trade war. basically all members of congress trying to avoid fighting with donald trump. it's not a good political position to get in on the wrong side of donald trump on these issues. january and february, donald trump will see the reality of getting things done on capitol hill is not as easy as stating them on twitter. >> there seems to be, jay, an ideological divide between donald trump and his people as opposed to the free traders up on capitol hill who don't impose the tariffs, just raise prices for the american consumer? >> absolutely. including his own vice president. look back. has a long record voting for free trade deals. this is something always separated donald trump and the rest of the party. this division on trade. the real question is, can they sort of bridge that? that's why you see a lot of leaders being incredibly careful
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not to say anything bombastic or burn bridges, say tactfully we disagree. talk about it, see where we can go and find common ground, do something but not necessarily place tariffs on companies shipping goods overseas. >> how can the community, internationally, as well, about united states and china and mexico or japan, say, or other countries right now, the fear, of course, is that could lead to a huge worldwide recession? >> we've haddings actions like this, very specific actions for many years. one action does not necessarily lead to a trade war. congress unfortunately m lly ma oppose these matters. section 301, a targeted tool. executive branch controls anti-dumping and countermachinery, law on the books allowing trump to raise tariffs, impose 15% across the
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board tariff on any country six months. ironically, the idea behind it, congressional law ruling gave a smoot holly from the great depression making it worse. we have to understand what trump's logic is. he doesn't want a trade war. sees this as a negotiation. he believes and hopes that the threat of the 35% tariff will actually get companies to do what he wants them to do without actually having to go to that step. >> you understand, mark, and i know a lot of us scratching our heads this morning. why all of a sudden on this morning donald trump tweets about the boeing air force one contract basically saying much too much money. forget about it? >> right. must be a conscience. a few million people did not vote a few weeks ago he said. in fact, voter fraud among a couple million. i honestly think donald trump must get wind of a little news, heard it yesterday, perhaps this morning, and then he just does a stream of consciousness and puts it out theredanger out when
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you're the leader of the free world let alone commander in chief of the united states. >> concern he goes after boeing, the largest -- maybe one of "the" largest exporters of american-made products around the world. is it the largest right now? maybe. >> yeah. and this is -- look, it's suc h free-wheeling thing. whether taking phone calls from taiwan. a lot of areas he disagrees on republicans. not just tariff. infrastructure spending. no republicans wan deficit spending. donald trump is open to that. medicare and medicaid, things republicans want to cut, rein in. he's vowed to protect them. a lot of areas republicans are worried he's going off-script and not representing the base, not representing the establishment. >> greg, how significant is this? boeing employs hundreds of thousands of people in factories here in the united states, they export enormous numbers of planes. china, for example, by some estimates over the next 10, 20 years spending hundreds of
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billions of dollars getting a new series of aircraft, commercial aircraft. they could go to europe to get airbus or come to the united states and get boeing. so there's been some concern throughout these past few hours since donald trump's tweet. why is donald trump sort of besmirching boeing right now? >> i think we have to first of all figure where this goes. i actually don't think anything is terrible by the president saying i don't think the taxpayer is getting good value for its tax money spending on this aircraft. barack obama said something about the new helicopters. >> marine -- >> exactly. so for the president of the united states or president-elect to say hey, a better way to get value of the taxpayers money is appropriate. you worry, drawing towards, unless boeing starts outsourcing x to country y we won't buy that thing. this country put in place processes like procurement guidelines and so forth specifically designed to make sure these sorts of transactions
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between the government and private sector are above board, transparent, done in public interests and taxpayer in mind. we haven't seen that now, but you want to watch for it. >> trump wants boeing to make a lot of money. it's going to cost u.s. taxpayers way who much to get the two new air force ones down the road. very quick. >> greg is right. president trying to keep jobs here, admirable. the fact is, his facts aren't correct. boeing's first contract is only for $170 million. and donald trump just throws out broad drebtives. it's dangerous. >> and only two companies can build airs one. boeing or airbus and you know the president of the united states is not going to fly in a european-made plane. don't go far. later, van jones looks back at what happened in the 2016 election for a cnn special "the messy truth." >> in ohio, as you know, ohio went for trump. we're going to go to one of the bluest counties, trumbull
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county, which since 1976 has always voted for the democrat. until this year. and they voted for trump. i'm baffled. i'm bewildered. we got to figure it out. >> you can watch that and a live town hall, live, with special guest michael moore, rick santorum, anna navorro, "the messy truth" 9:00 p.m. right here on cnn. coming up, president-elect trump didn't mince words on the campaign trail calling for a temporary ban on muslims coming into the united states and extreme vetting. so what will that mean for relations with muslim majority countries? like egypt? egypt's foreign minister, he's here. he's joining us, live. we'll discuss this -- here he is. welcome, mr. foreign minister. we'll talk in a moment.
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when egyptian -- when president-elect donald trump won the election, among the first foreign leaders to call and congratulate him, the egyptian president ceci. since the egyptian military took power in the coup the relationship between cairo and washington has been rocky at times but that may change with a new administration. i'm joined by egypt foreign minister, former egyptian ambassador to the united states. minister, thanks very much for joining us. how's the relationship right now during these final weeks of the obama administration with egypt? i know there is still some serious problems. >> we're always interested in
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announcing a relationship. i had the opportunity to see secretary of state kerry when i was here signing an agreement to protect the harriet of and antiquities in egypt and the relationship has always been one where it's been valuable to both sides and where we have extracted benefit and so has the united states. but let me challenge you on your introduction. >> go ahead. >> it was not a coup. it was a popular uprising by the egyptian people. >> the military -- >> of which i participated. >> the military -- el sisi was in charge. >> no. the military didn't organize it. 30 million egyptians among them myself when i was retired that took to the streets and the military protected the 30 million, and forged the political road map with the participation of all of the political dimensions of egypt and decided to depose morsi. >> a muslim brother leader and we know of the problems created
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in egypt but he was democratic elected? >> yes. never -- >> now in jail? >> yes. >> how long? >> for the duration of the court rulings issued against him. he's been acquitted of some wrongdoing but convicted of others. the term i think is 25 years. >> let's look ahead. we can argue about whether it was a coup or not a coup. >> it wasn't a coup. >> look ahead. talk about the relationship you anticipate developing between egypt and the united states during a trump administration. i understand you personally had a chance to speak with the vice president-elect. how did that go? >> yes. it was a very fortunate conversation where i reiterated again a message from president assisi, the importance we attach to the relationship, strategic nature, our ability to deal more effectively with the common challenges that face us in the region, regaining the security, the stability of states in the region and that egypt's role is
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indispensable in that regard. egypt's weight and it's traditional role as a beacon of modernity and enlightenment is fundamental to regain the stability and to counter the radical extremists. >> what was the reaction in egypt? a country of nearly 100 million people. mostly muslims. 90% if not more of muslims. i'll play a couple of clips during the campaign when donald trump said this about muslims. listen to this. >> donald trump donald trump is cais -- is calling for a complete shutdown's muslims into the united states until our country can figure out what the hell is going on. >> would you, please, explain whether or not the muslim ban still stands? >> it's called extreme vetting. i don't want to have, with all the problems this country has, and all of the problems that you see going on, hundreds of thousands of people coming in
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from syria when we know nothing about them. >> did you have the opportunity, you or president el sisi, to discuss this issue with either the president-elect or the vice president-elect? >> no. there wasn't a discussion of such a specific nature, and we do not traditionally interfere in how societies organize or legislate related to their internal affairs. >> egypt is the largest arab country, arguably the most important arab country. when you hear that kind of talk from a man who is now going to be the president of the united states, what was the reaction in egypt? >> i can't say there was a violent reaction to the statements. there was a, a desire that any policy that would be undertaken would be done so with care and with consideration that any form of racial profiling i think is not in tune with international communities understanding of human rights, but, again, these are matters which are debated
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within societies, and whatever the u.s. administration decides of the u.s. congress decides on these issues, it's not for any other country, as we don't accept interference in our internal affairs, we don't interfere in the internal affairs of others. >> but you certainly wouldn't support, initially called for a temp aware ban and revised it, evolved into extreme vetting of countries where there's a history of tear original. did he tell you that he can considered egypt one of those countries? there has been terrorism in egypt, as you know. >> no. he didn't. between our security services, the relationship, i think justifiably is strong enough to be able to deal with issues of this nature. again, i think the development of the ideas of the president-elect in this regard will continue to -- evolve as the policy -- apparatus is put
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in place. >> you know egypt has come under criticism from various human rights industries for some policies the president imposed in egypt right now and the united states state department criticized egypt as well. do you expect that to ease under a trump administration? >> well, i can't really speculate. i think there's been always a healthy discussion, and debate, between us and our american partners related to many areas of our development and our reform policies. we do so in the spirit of friendship and cooperation and to benefit from u.s. experience, but also we have a very clear understanding of what our society needs and how it should proceed in terms of reform. >> what about syria right now? because what's going on in aleppo, and you're not that far away, is horrendous, when we see hundreds of thousands of people over the past four, five years killed. millions displaced. refugees, what, if anything, for
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example, is egypt doing to ease this problem? >> well, we have been very heavily involved in trying to alleviate the humanitarian d difrlt difficulties that exist. with the security council trying to push ahead a solution to the humanitarian solution. >> the rebels fighting the syrian regime is what you're saying? >> oh, yes. >> who does egypt side with? the rebels or regime of president bashar al assad? >> with the national opposition, we maintain our close cooperation with the u.n. envoy and promoted resolution to this conflict. we don't feel continuing violence after five years, there's no military solution and we have to move on to a political solution to -- >> what's the syrian military of president bashar al assad supported by the russians, the
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iranians, lebanese hezbollah, going to win in aleppo. looks like they've got the momentum. >> that's a possibility. the syrian people deserve an opportunity to take matters into their own hands and within a political peaceful process. this is the security council resolution, the u.n. representatives a responsibility and the international community's responsibility to do so to protect the people. you have more than half of the population which is displaced, and half a million killed in the process of it. enough is enough. >> awful, awful situation. foreign minister, welcome to washington. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> good to have you here. coming up, any moment president obama will arrive in tampa, florida, where he'll deliver a major national security speech later this afternoon. his last before leaving office. what will he tell the american public? the president-elect, and what will he tell the president-elect? all that and more, coming up.
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any moment now president obama will land in tampa, florida, getting ready to give a speech on counterterrorism. later this afternoon at macdill air force base. that's also home of the u.s. military's central command in charge of the north africa, slee middle east, south asia, and aa way to cement his legacy on foreign policy. and president-elect with congressman seth molten of massachusetts served multiple tours of duty in iraq as a u.s. marine. thanks so much for joining us. >> great to be back. >> you served directly under general petraeus when he was commanding various commands in iraq as well. we'll get to that in a moment,
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but bottom line. how would you assess these eight years president obama's handling of the iraq situation? >> well, look, it's been rather mixed. president obama prevented an attack on the homeland. dealt with an incredibly difficult, complex worldwide situation. especially in the middle east. he did pull the troops out of the middle east, out of iraq, but the problem it -- the problem is he pulled out the troops and had no political plan to ensure the peace. a few year the later had to send the troops back and we're still there now. >> as the president-elect says to the creation or enhancement of isis, did that lead to -- >> it didn't lead to the creation of isis but the problem, left a vacuum in which a terrorist group, turned out to be ace isis, was able to grow. point, next time we pull out of iraq or afghanistan we need a political plan to ensure the safety. >> i hear you saying by the president's decision to leave iraq, pull out of iraq, because no, you know, agreement could be reached for a unity for u.s. troops with the then iraqi
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government, by pulling out, not having a plan in place, a vacuum was created and isis exploited and became what it is today? >> here's the problem. trump talked about how we have to have more military action against terrorists. actually, the obama administration has been effective militarily against isis. they only occupy one city now in iraq. they've been dramatically reduced in their holds in syria. the problem is we need to have a political plan to ensure peace. trump gets it exactly wrong. the mistake obama made not so much pupping out the troops. after the surge we'd gotten military progress. the mistake, not have be diplomatic support to support of iraqi government. we built the largest u.s. embassy in the world in iraq, we knew they needed continued support and left it half full. >> would you say only one city, happens to be mosul. second largest city in iraq. a city that used t have more than a million people. don't know how many of there now, that battle for mosul still
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continues. >> a big city. again, when we fish the battle in mosul, militarily, which is starting to go well. the iraqis are carrying the fight. we've got to have a political plan to ensure the peace or we'll find ourselves back in iraq yet again. >> what do you think of general petraeus potentially -- you served understand him in iraq at secretary of state? >> i did. i think he would be a fantastic secretary of state. general petraeus is celebrated for being a warrior scholar, for his ph.d. from princeton, and a doctrine that helped turn the war? iraq around during the surge in 2007 and 2008 and frankly the best boss i've ever had. >> what about the crime he committed? >> he made a mistake. admitted it. it was big, significant. >> national intelligence? >> right. and he's paid the price for that, i think. to think that america would be better off with him in the back room and not out taking part in our national security again i think is the wrong thing.
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>> are you okay with general mattis, retired marine corps general serving as defense secretary? you have to vote in the house of representatives on a waiver giving him that authority to serve as defense secretary, only out of useful three years as opposed to seven? >> right. full disclosure, my commander during the invasion in iraq. i know general mattis as well and think he would make a good general. one of the best -- >> a good general. >> a good secretary of defense, sorry. one of the best thinkers we have. >> e would vote for the waiver? >> we need a vote about civilian control of the military and should not give him a blanket approval. we like general mattis and can throw out this important law. a serious debate. congress has to do its job and debate whether it's okay to have someone come in after just three years, when the law says seven years, ensuring there's that break. there really is civilian control of the military. but i expect we're going to are impressed with general mattis.
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actually think trump has been hoodwinked here. trump xlected general mattis he has a nickmaim "mad dog," thinks he's a touch guy general, when, in fact, he's incredibly thoughtful. he's a great moral leader. the kind of check against a president trump we need. >> and the problem that some are having is national security adviser general flynn, a general. secretary of defense proposing a j general, maybe a secretary of state. a bunch of generals and at merri admirals. too much military in his top cabinet positions? >> a legitimate concern. i have great concern for general mattis and petraeupetraeus, i d feel strongly about general flynn. >> he doesn't need -- >> no. but you have to be concern having too many military in there. on the other hand,
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president-elect trump doesn't know anything on national security. you saw so many experts come out against him during the campaign. having serious military minds in the administration to prevent donald trump from doing something stupid, i think would be good for our country, i understand. seth molten, thanks for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. coming up, the syrian army advancing into eastern aleppo as russia deny as u.n. plea to bring much-needed aid and medical supplies to civilians, including children. we're going live to aleppo, when we come back. [engine revving] ♪ ♪ is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the season of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event.
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bombs are constantly falling. dozens of people are dying by the day, including children, food and medicine are in short supply yet the latest effort to stop the fighting and dlaielive aid to the people of aleppo has failed. russia and china vetoed a cease-fire in the u.n. security council. fred pleitgen is in aleppo for us right now. fred, how much of the city is now under the control of the syrian regime?
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>> boston, a pro-are opposition monitoring group came out a few minutes before we went live to air and said they believe that about 75% of the east of aleppo is in the hand of pro-regime forces and 82% of all of aleppo so we have seen major gains by the syrian military over the past couple days and it's absolutely clear why that is happening. it's because the government is bringing massive firepower on to these osteoporosis earn districts. i was woken around 2:00 a.m. because there were massive explosions close to where we were staying and i looked out my window and it was like a scene from starr wards. there was tracer fire you could see, explosins, jets in the air. that's going on here 24/7. as you can really feel the syrian regime has the sense of urgency where they seem to want to take the rest of aleppo as fast as possible which leaves little room for diplomacy, wolf.
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>> and what about the effort to get food and flies to people who are struggling, children. is there any hope? >> the people who managed to get out are the ones that are in the places that have been retaken by the government, they are getting supplies. but for the folks sill trapped inside the rebel-held areas, it's impossible at this point in time. the government here is tightening the noose on those areas. international aid groups can't get any aid into those areas so it's unclear how long the folks will have to hold out. one thing we have to take into account that it's horrible for these people not to get food, water and medical supplies but what makes it worse is that it's very, very cold in aleppo. especially during the nights. that weakens the people even more and makes the situation all the more unbearable. wolf. >> fred pleitgen is one of our
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courageous cnn correspondents reporting live from aleppo. fred, be careful over there. we'll check back with you, of course. coming up, president-elect trump wants to renegotiate the iran nuclear deal, but the country's president is now threatening the ones to react. i'm quoting him now "very harshly and severely if donald trump tries." we have details. that's next.
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now to a new warning from iran to the united states -- don't mess with the nuclear deal. president-elect trump has vowed to make changes, but the iranian president, hassan rouhani says he won't let the u.s. rip it up. let's bring in global affairs correspondent elise labott. how could iran retaliate? what would they do? >> well, the president and the hard line clerics are already threatening to retaliate. there's already talk in iran about boycotting american goods. even though there are a lot of
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sanctions on iran, the iranians do purchase a lot of american goods. and also you remember that there are companiesboeing that have agreed to sell iran some aircraft, that could end if the new administration decides to do something with the deal and then it just puts iran moving closer towards other countries for business deals and, look, iran also, as you know, wolf, some of its other activity in the region has its way of retaliating. >> the state department still considers iran to be -- >> a terrorist organization. >> the leading state sponsor of terrorism. despite that the u.s. has gone ahead with this deal. >> iran could certainly make some trouble in the region and make its dissatisfaction known. >> during the campaign as we know president-elect trump repeatedly said this was the worst deal, awful deal, he would rip it up on day one and all of that. but it's complicated because it's not just the u.s. iranian deal, it involves other countries with top u.s. allies. >> france, germany, britain,
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russia, china. these countries are eager to do business with iran. france and germany in particular very being trading partners with iran, eager to do business, those deals going ahead. and so even james mattis, pre president-elect trump's incoming defense secretary says he doesn't love the deal either but he thinks it's too late to rip up. the question is what could they do? there are things that hillary clinton on the campaign trail said she wanted to do with strengthen implementation. you saw the senate voted to extend the iran sanctions act. if iran does violate the deal. and so far largely this administration -- the obama administration says there's pretty much followed the deal pretty much to the letter. i think it will be difficult too tear up the deal entirely.
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>> we'll see what the president-elect and vice president-elect and the secretary of state decide to do. elise, thanks for that report. that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. east american the situation room. for our international viewers "amanpour" is next. for our viewers in the u.s., "newsroom" with ana cabrera starts right now. >> hello on this tuesday. i'm ana cabrera in for brooke baldwin. thanks for joining me. president-elect trump says he want s to permanently ground the new air force one. he said in a tweet "costs are out of control, more than $4 billion, cancel order." >> totally out of control, it will be over $4 billion for air force one program. and i think it's
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