these picks. we have to see what they will do. it's not wrong to discuss the possibility of what they might do based on what they believe. ben, dean, thank you very much. a lot of news going on right now. let's get to it. >> by the way, are you glad i ran for president? >> trump will stay on as executive producer of "the celebrity apprentice." >> rebuilding this country with american hands by american workers. >> fake news can have real-world consequences. this isn't about politics. lives are at risk. >> we're not going to be the stupid people any more, folks. >> he's a climate science denier. >> these are talented people. smart people. >> the president-elect has continued to make deeply troubling choices. >> i want people that made a fortune because now they're negotiating with you. okay. >> announcer: this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. president-elect donald trump's victory tour made some

stops in the midwest. mr. trump selling his job-creating message and defending some of his deep pocketed picks that he's appointing to his cabinet position. a new potential conflict of interest for the president-elect. trump says he's going to remain on the pay roll of nbc as executive producer of "celebrity apprentice" while he is in the white house. what does that mean? 42 days to go until the inauguration. got it all covered and let's begin with sunlen in washington. sunlen? >> real uncharted territory for a president certainly raising a lot of questions. once donald trump takes the oath of office the nation will have a president who will still have his name listed in the credits of a reality show. all of this as trump hits the road in full force defending the people he has chosen for his cabinet. reveling in a crowd of thousands in iowa. >> you like it so far, everybody? >> reporter: president-elect

donald trump defending his cabinet appointments. >> i want people who made a fortune because now they're negotiating with you. >> reporter: touting the success of some of his healthy picks. >> no different than a great baseball player or a great golfer. >> reporter: including carl's jr. and hardee's jr. to head the labor department. puzder against expanding overtime pay and increasing the minimum wage. >> states have every right to decide what the minimum wage should be. i have been opposed to minimum wage increases that killed jobs. >> reporter: trump saying that puzder will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations. meantime, scrutiny is growing over trump's pick to head the epa, oklahoma attorney general scott pruitt. >> he is a climate science denier. . >> reporter: at his third victory rally in des moines, trump echoing pruitt's call to rule back regulation. >> we are going to end the epa intrusion into your lives. >> reporter: and doubling down

on campaign promises, including immigration. >> i've used the expression extreme vetting. extreme, oh, it's going to be extreme. but there's going to be doors. big, beautiful doors. >> reporter: trump also calling for improving u.s. relations with china. >> they haven't played by the rules and i know it's time that they're going to start. >> reporter: as he formally rolled out his pick to be u.s. ambassador to china. iowa governor terry branstad a long-time friend of the chinese president. >> a man who knows china and likes china. better to like china if you're going to be over there. do we agree? >> reporter: all this as all eyes are on two big announcements coming next week, potentially the president-elect's choice for secretary of state and a news conference on thursday to address potentially backing away from his family business. ♪ but the incoming president is keeping his ties to "celebrity apprentice" the nbc reality show

he launched nearly 15 years ago. sources tell cnn that trump will stay on as executive producer of the show and continue being paid as he is in the oval office. raising more questions about the growing list of business conflicts and the presidency. the president-elect will meet with west virginia senator joe manchin a democrat potentially being considered for a cabinet post and then trump will spend most of the day on the road. he will be in louisiana for the state republican party get out of the vote rally and on to michigan for another stop on his thank you tour. >> see what the senator says coming out of that meeting. let's discuss with rebecca berg, kirsten powers and david gregory. kirsten powers, staying vp of controversy? >> i think it's a controversy. my initial reaction to it was

that i thought it was pretty insane. and then i was sort of moved by the arguments that people were making that, no, this is just like getting royalties from a book. then when i thought about it more, it's actually not just getting royalties from a book. because a book is written and it's out there and people buy it. not an ongoing situation. if he's saying i'm just going to take money but not be any way involved in "the celebrity apprentice." okay, i guess. i still think it's inappropriate them sitting and watching television and you see the credits rolling and the president of the united states is on the credits. i don't think it's appropriate for the president of the united states. i don't entirely buy the idea that donald trump will stay out of it. if he sees things that he doesn't like that are going on, do we believe he's not going to the involve himself? i find that hard to believe. >> david, let's follow through on kirsten's thinking, let's say he keeps some kind of minor oversight on the show. most of it is pretty shot. not like he would have to follow

it around in realtime. but the definition of president is changed. defined by who is in the office and this time it's donald trump. >> yeah, i mean, they're pretaped. but you can still imagine a live tweeting party led by the president of the united states. yeah. i'm with kirsten on this. i don't mind the money but whether it's unseemly. this is the presidency. this is an institution that is bigger than donald trump. i was saying when we talked about this earlier this morning remember when everybody freaked out because people in the obama administration didn't wear their coat jacket or their blazer in the oval office like ronald reagan insisted upon doing. i think this is a new area where you have a president who tweets the way he does and who is going to associate himself as president with an ongoing reality show. >> a lot of this is going to be about how it's perceived by the people in the country. see if we get reaction to that. rebecca, let me pivot to you.

let me play you some sound of what he teed up last night about why he likes talking to ceos and what will make him more effective than other presidents. listen to this. >> i actually love calling these companies. i say give me a list of ten companies that are leaving. and i actually love calling these companies. and saying, hi. and i get the president of this company. and i say, hi, how are you doing? oh, hello, mr. president-elect. congratulations. yeah, congratulations. while we're on the phone please don't leave. don't leave. and we had great success. you'll be seeing a lot more success. >> interesting there, rebecca, he's already making these calls. what do you think of the president picking up the phone and talking to these companies directly. >> a few elements to this. first republicans would be uncomfortable in the long term with the president of the united

states using the power of his office on a company by company basis to encourage these companies to stay in this country. i think what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle would rather see is the president address the underlying problems here in the market, in the economy and actually make some policy changes with congress to encourage these companies to stay, not to be working against their best economic interests. so, that's actually a republican criticism i've heard of this carrier deal that he made. is that president-elect trump and vice president elect pence aren't necessarily addressing the underlying economic issues here. they're actually encouraging carrier potentially to make a decision that goes against its best economic interest. so, that in the long term could be problematic for trump. but then there's also this issue of someone who ran a very populous campaign. appealing to the american worker and then running an administration that sounds like it's going to be a very pro-business, pro-big corporation sort of

administration. then you worry politically if you're donald trump. are you ignoring the american worker at the expense of these, to quote bernie sanders, millionaires and billionairs. >> why doesn't it play the other way, kirsten. to the american worker out there, good, he's doing something for us. he's picking up the phone and talking to these companies. he's one of the big shots and he can get them on the phone and strong arm them. >> i actually support what he's doing and i wrote a column actually defending him. so, you know, i think that this is exactly what people want to see. they want to see people who are involved. it is true that it's not addressing the underlying problem. 85% of these jobs are not, are not lost because they're going to other countries. they're lost because of automation. but, look, these are still jobs. these are still jobs that matter and if he can work with these companies and try to figure out how to keep them in the country. i also think it's fine for them to give them tax credits. there's nothing wrong with that. >> economists will debate that. >> i think when you break down how much money. look at the carrier deal, for example. over ten years we're talking

about 700 or $800 in tax credits per employee. >> some economists say it's a false analysis. >> why? >> because they say that pro-rating 7 million over ten years, 700,000 a year dividing it by the number of jobs doesn't take into consideration any of the economic costs of benefiting one company over another. gifting money to a highly profitable company to the disadvantage of its competitors. >> are these conservative economists? >> people who look at raw numbers in terms of what can you do to push -- >> i think that you have to do something because the truth is there's the cost of the company to stay in the united states. they can leave -- >> true. >> they could pay $20 an hour here or pay $4 an hour in mexico. you have to give them some kind of incentive to stay here. >> true. david gregory. >> i want to make an observation. you've gotten two different views on this. i will not make a judgment but i want to offer this observation. trump is doing a lot thus far to keep people off balance.

there's an unpredictability and a disruptive influence. we don't know where this goes in a couple different areas. we can talk about that with regard to china. in this case, he is both the populist and the corporate guy. he'll call these companies and say don't move your jobs. i'm looking after the workers, keep your jobs here. on the other hand might dismantle regulations that have to do with protecting workers. so, you know, so that they have to defend more corporate interests. that dynamic is something that is striking so far. >> from the different perspectives to address your concerns whether they're conservative or in terms of the baseline economic for workers. who is on that list of companies he calls? they should be, according to most economic consensus new energy/new industry companies who are thinking of growing abroad because those are actual jobs that you could put existing manufacturing worker base into retraining. coming up on "new day," president-elect senior adviser

kellyanne conway will be here in just minutes to explain where they are on the issues that matter. hillary clinton making a rare public appearance in washington. this was at a ceremony honoring outgoing senator harry reid. she weighed in on the growing problem of bogus, online conspiracies and fake stories. she called this an epidemic. >> it's now clear that so-called fake news can have real world consequences. this isn't about politics or partisanship. lives are at risk. >> of course, you know, a gunman who was self-investigating as he said one of those viral, bogus story about clinton and her campaign staff opened fire at a washington, d.c., pizza parlor on sunday. clinton is calling on congress to support legislation to combat this problem. and dramatic testimony in day two of the dylann roof murder trial. jurors shown disturbing aftermath of the charleston

church massacre, including video of roof arriving at the church and then leaving the church. moments after allegedly killing nine people. one of the victims' mother taking the stand saying roof belongs in the "pits of hell." all right. so the first family president-elect trump, fellow astronauts, all honoring the extraordinary life of space pioneer and long-time senator john glenn hero. he was the first american, of course, to orbit the earth. he died thursday at an ohio hospital at the age of 95. let's give you a little look, just a taste of an incredible life. >> last of the "mercury 7." john glenn hurdled into history aboard the "friendship 7" space craft in 1962.

the lone astronaut took off becoming the first american to orbit the earth. >> i feel fine. oh, that view is tremendous. >> reporter: those close to him remember his bravery. >> think about this. he's sitting on a rocket that had failed twice in some of the previous tests and nobody had ever done that before. he's going at this incredible speed and he's looking out the window and admiring the view. >> reporter: glenn celebrated as an american hero, earning the congressional space medal of honor. his legacy so great the government decided he was too valuable to risk in another spaceflight. glenn retired from nasa in 1964 and won a senate seat in 1974 representing ohio, where he served for 24 years. in 1984, he ran for president. >> with the nomination of my party, i firmly believe i can beat ronald reagan. >> reporter: he lost the democratic nomination, but went

on to succeed in a new endeavor. after 36 years, glenn's dream of returning to space had finally come true. proving at age 77 he had one more mission left in him. glenn became the oldest person in space aboard the space shuttle "discovery." in 1988. a legend in his own time. glenn was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 2012. overnight flags at the u.s. capitol lowered to half staff at the wake of his passing. respect for a man with a lifetime of remarkable achievements. a combat pilot in two wars, u.s. senator, astronaut. few parallel the extraordinary life of john glenn. >> you know people looked up for tens of thousands of years and wondered what was up there. in our lifetime we're going up there. what a fortunate time we are in. what a great time in history to be around. >> a man who lived the collective dream of an entire country. you know, to be in outer space.

he did it. >> at the courage it took to do something like that. i just love watching those old film clips and seeing his face, you know, through the years. 95 years. what a life. donald trump vowing to eliminate his conflicts of interest but seems in no hurry to cut ties with his business empire. what is his plan? that's next on "new day." [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. what's the best way to get v8 or a fancy juice store?s? ready, go! hi, juice universe? one large rutabaga, with eggplant... done! that's not fair. glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. [burke] hot dog. seen it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's over 6 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today.

comcast business. built for business. president-elect trump set to announce next week how he will intend to separate from his company. legal documents, is any of this really practical, especially in light of his plan to stay on as executive producer of reality show "celebrity apprentice." let's discuss we have emily jane fox and co-founder of helicol holdings and chief skeptic of tasty trade dylan -- >> is that a job? >> do we have to call you that? chief skeptic. >> that's optional. entirely optional but at your discretion. i feel you enjoy saying it. >> i do.

what's not lito like. when you see this from the outside, donald trump was, in part, elected because of his business reputation and now this talk about conflicts making sure that there is no dealing. can he sufficiently separate from what is essentially a brand of business? >> absolutely. i mean, it's self-evidence that he cannot separate. it's impossible to have a brand in a global real estate. it's not that donald trump is a bad guy. you cannot have a real estate empire across countries of the world and be president of the united states and not be conflicted. now, i think this is a fantastic development for america because i believe for the first time the conflicts that have been at senior levels are now out in the open. rather than having the more subtle or hidden conflicts in the past whether it's with reagan or bush or down the line,

obama for that matter, now we are blatantly and openly conflicted in a way that allows us to be more honest, alisyn, about where we are in our country and move towards some reforms over next ten years. >> where does that take us? >> takes us the realization that we can no longer allow these two political parties to, and we have brilliant people in this country across the country coast to coast, city to city, rural, urban. and the fact that the candidate pool we're with is this small minded is a huge opportunity to catalyze a gigantic, independent primary in america that could allow the generation of much more interesting candidates, which is what i believe is going to happen, actually. >> emily jane fox, let me ask you something. di we don't know what any of the holdings are and what the potential conflicts are. we don't know what taxes he pays. >> that's the exact point i was going to make.

we have no idea what the conflicts are. we know there are conflicts -- >> or at least potential ones. >> there is the potential for conflict of interest once he takes office. we don't have any idea of what the scope of his business dealings are because he has not released his tax returns and that is a problem. i think we have a general sense that there could be issues going forward. a more specific sense of what those problems would be. >> if this were anyone but donald trump, could this work? all these potential conflicts which we see in this sort of cascading way from "the apprentice" to his real estate holdings to his daughter sitting in with meetings. how would anyone else -- why is donald trump allowed to do this when no one else is? >> i don't know if he's necessarily going to be allowed to do this if he can get away with it. he is held to a different set of standards. people give him a very long leash. everyone can talk about the conflict of interest is such a problem, but when push comes to shove, nobody can say let's do

something to stop this. >> the thing that is also unique about donald trump is that he's not trying to win the confidence of people who don't like him. so, everybody who is offended by the conflicts or potential conflicts that doesn't like donald trump, he doesn't care. in fact, the people who do like donald trump, i believe, find it appealing that he is conflicted and that the people who are offended, yeah, of course, please offend the fancy dressed people in mid-town and san francisco with their conflicts. >> you've watched him closely for a long time. what is the chance that instead of doesn't the right verb tense now is didn't. didn't care in private life. he didn't care in the campaign what insiders thought about him but now he does. one of the reasons he's even saying he would even do something that you reasonably conclude is tough to do structurally is he wants approval more than anything else. that may be his motivation to at least try to appease sensible interest about keeping business on one side and the governmenten

on the other. >> i want to hear what emily says to this. your theory makes a tremendous amount of sense. my bottom line with donald trump is this. we cannot judge anything he does by his words. words for him are toys that come out of his mouth to create feelings in people and he likes to create feelings in people because he's an effectively tremendous television host. this is a really ngeing time for all of us journalistically because it's sort of like watch the ball. what he says and what he does means nothing. literally look at the actions s that the administration takes and that's really the only fact that exists. >> a lot of people around him who are yessing him and saying, everyone's supporting you. that's a way to manage donald trump because he actually doesn't do well with criticism. you've seen that a million times. that's why he strikes people on twitter. >> there is no need for you to explain that to the two italians sitting in front of you.

>> so, dylan, let's segue to this seems like your natural you to sit around a table and argue things about politics. but what have you been up to since you got out of this racket? >> that's a loaded question because i know you know the answer. i left this particular business about four years ago and we built a business really inspired by combat veterans. marine combat veterans that came up with the idea for the business and inspired the idea for the business to create a company that makes standardized plug and play solar powered greenhouses that work as a kit that can be placed anywhere in the world very easily and immediately pop up water, power, communications and farming three acres of produce so you can resolve inner city food deserts, rural food deserts and employ veterans domestically to do this and work with the food banks. inside of housing developments. we also just received letters of intent this morning from the prince in kuwait who wants to

build a network of them throughout kuwait. we also received a letter of intent from a large group of investors in wales. a welch network of farms. because it is the same piece of equipment, the children or the adults working in wales or working with the first nations in canada, we have incredible, justin trudeau and that administration is really making a big investment in inf infrastructure in canada. a big opportunity there. but we're being able to connect. imagine connecting the children and adults at the first nations in canada with kuwait and louisiana. so, that's -- but that's fun. also, this is fun. i want to do both. >> i think you can. >> you want to do something meaningful with your life and also talk -- >> and be on cable. >> that's the american dream. >> what an endeavor. that's wonderful. i'll tweet out more about helical holdings so people can find out more about it. >> thank you. next up, we talk with donald trump senior adviser kellyanne

conway about his decision to stay on "celebrity apprentice" and so much more.

the first survivor of alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. visit alz.org to join the fight. oh, how waso good!en house? did you apply? oh, i'll do it later today. your credit score must be amazing. my credit score? credit karma. it's free. that's great! um hm. just whip bam boom, it's done. that apartment is mine! credit karma. give yourself some credit.

president-elect donald trump announcing more picks to his

cabinet and our next commander in chief is raising some eyebrows with the news that he will stay on as executive producer of "celebrity apprentice" even while in the white house. joining us now to talk about all of this is senior adviser to the president-elect kellyark nne conway. hi, kellyanne. >> hi, good morning, alisyn. >> why is mr. trump going to stay on as executive producer of "the apprentice"? >> well, he's a very transparent guy. everyone can see what he's doing and the fact is that he is with all types of experts who tells him what he can do and not do as president of the united states. if this is one of the approved activities, then he will consider staying on. >> every hour he devotes to "celebrity apprentice" is an hour he does not devote to, fill in the blank. jobs, national security. whatever. >> were we so concerned about the hours and hours spent on the

golf course. the presidents have a right to do things in their spare times and leisure time. >> wait a minute, everybody objected to that. i heard you object to mr. obama playing golf. will mr. trump not be playing golf for the next four years? >> well, maybe he will be. it certainly seems like there is a lot of time to do it while you're president of the united states. whether it's president obama or president donald trump, the idea that these men are going to be all work and nothing else all the time is just unrealistic because it's never happened in our lifetimes. but, you know, i know donald trump very well. and i can tell you that work is his work and work is his hobby. preferred time is with his family but vfollowed very closey to his work. he is high energy, high octane, high activity and, so, again, if

the powers at be, if the lawyers and the protocol officers say that he can do that, then he probably is going to say why not. >> he is a multi-tasker. that is true. we all know that. but will he be collecting a salary? >> doubtful. i think he's actually already said he will not keep the salary for president of the united states. about $400,000. >> i mean for "celebrity apprentice." will he make a profit with royalties or a salary? >> i haven't discussed that with him directly. however, there are many options. he could do what he he's going to do with his white house salary which is donate it to charity or refuse, decline to take it. again, all of that will be decided. i don't think it's as big an issue than the cabinet he's putting together. majority of americans, over 60% say they approve of his actions with carrier last week making good on the centerpiece of his

campaign to keep jobs right here in the us of a instead having them shipped off to mexico. you saw real support for him in that regard, alisyn. over 50% of independents and i was 50% or 60% of independents and over 80% of republicans. that's what he is focused on these days. >> does it matter that the numbers, it turns out, were not as high as he said. not 1,100 jobs. it's 800. >> no, what matters is, look, it matters to election deniers and there seem to be many of them. >> to the people whose jobs -- look, you heard the labor union leader who said that there were people who misled who thought their jobs were going to be staying because of the higher number and then it turned out they weren't. >> they should talk to their employer first and foremost. secondly, i talked to some of those carrier employees directly. we don't care if they vote, for whom they voted. what their politics are. we care that they were able to keep their jobs here.

and i think those who just want to continue to criticize donald trump and keep the permanent campaign going will always try to undercut his successes and his victories. it is amazing. look, this could have been done. the current president could have done this same deal with carrier. it took the president-elect before he was even sworn in to make good on the centerpiece of his campaign and keep those people in their jobs. it's a huge boom in a nonswing state, by the way. they carried indiana by ten points. he is only saying thank you in the states that he won. is he going to go to states that he didn't win? he will be president and very active out there with the people. last week with carrier was a great example of how this man, a nonpolitician goes to washington owing nobody anything will execute, deliver and accountability and results the way he has his entire brilliant career. >> let's talk about the cabinet. secretary of state. who will it be? >> that's up to donald trump, the president-elect. but, obviously, he's been

broadening the search and incredibly diverse group of individuals by their background and their experience. you have governor romney, mayor giuliani, general david petraeus who nobody can argue knows a lot about the world and would be effective. you have senator bob corker who is the head of the foreign relations committee and then, of course, in recent days, he's been meeting with ambassador john bolton, and more recently rex tillerson from exxon. these two men are captains in industry who already deal with the developing country and in the case of mr. tillerson have cases in russia and china and most of the world. it's exxon. it's a fascinating way of approaching such an incredibly important job and it's very donald trump to have a number of people in and not make it a cage match between two people played out on cable tv. that would be ridiculous.

it's a secretary of state position. taking his time and recognizing that we're way ahead of schedule with our cabinet appointees when you compare us to past administrations. >> it's been entertaining and interesting to watch. let's talk about mitt romney. you have not made it a secret that he would not be your first choice. but is he still the top contender? >> well, it's not my choice at all. i'm not the president-elect. but donald trump -- the president-elect gave me permission to express publicly what i expressed privately. i would never say anything that was otherwise. and i'm in his service here. and the fact is that i just was reflecting what i saw in the grassroots. i had not seen blow back like that in quite a while about anything. governor romney -- >> are you still seeing blow back to the possibility of mitt romney being chosen? >> yes. and the reason is it has a lot to do with the disloyalty and what he said in those remarks.

obviously, donald trump has extended an olive branch because that's how he is. he said on election night or the wee hours of that wednesday morning he would be president to all americans, even those that did not support him. that may or may not include governor romney. he has been meeting with many different people who were part of the never trump movement and people who are from the other side of the aisle. senator joe manchin will be here and the day after being elected he met with president obama. they have talked several times. people like valerie jared being helpful to people like me. >> for senator of state, do you think mitt romney is still a top contender? yes or no? >> yes, he is definitely in the mix. several top contenders and governor romney is in there, as well. it just tells you something about donald trump. he is willing to take into account the background, the experience and the resumes and vision of each of these men who are being considered, alisyn.

i think everybody also needs to appreciate and am understand if gnaw assimulate you're in the service of donald trump. he'll be commander in trump and i think all of his cabinet needs to understand that. what his view is on this issue or that issue and the different agencies and that, of course, includes and not begins with secretary of state. >> very quickly. i only have two seconds. will we hear an announcement next week? >> on secretary of state? >> yeah. >> it's possible. it doesn't need to be pushed through. president obama had four weeks before he announced his first cabinet pick and it was the secretary of treasury and we feel really good. they've met. the president-elect and vice president elect have met with more than 85 people. some who will serve in his administration and all who love the country and want to offer their advice, counsel for the nation and their background and experiences and they also talked to over 50 heads of state now and that list continues to expand, as well.

high energy, high activity. a lot of work going up here in the tower in between him going out on his thank you america tour. really exciting times. i think you can see an announcement next week but only one man is responsible for that and that is the president-elect and we'll all respect his decision. >> got it. kellyanne conway. thank you. >> thank you. politifax says president obama has officially taken less vacation days. despite all the threats adoubt dismantling obama care, congress is united when it comes to funding mental health services. this is a huge issue. everyone has someone in their family or someone you know that suffers from mental illness. congressman tim murphy has been at the forefront for years and is a key sponsor of the 21st century cares act. what is it, why it matters and what we still need and a book that is a must-read for anybody who wants to get better.

all right. big news. we talk a lot in this country about mental health and needing to address it. president obama is set to sign the 21st century cures act. what is that? it's a lot of things. but one of the things that is in it with bipartisan support is to do better when it comes to mental health. we'll speed up the approval of new drugs in different categories but the first mental health legislation in a decade and also hopefully dovetail with the need to address the oepoid

epidemic. tim murphy addressed a house version of the bill and also the author of a very good book "overcoming passive aggression." you can explain the distinction to me in a second. but, congratulations to you, congressman. i know this mattered a lot to you. why should it matter a lot to us people in our country? >> we have had a lot of tragedies. you have been great helping america understand that we need to address the mental health issue behind it it and provide treatment instead of tragedy. our bill came out of years in investigation. my role as the chairman of oversight and investigation and we found the federal government was really partially to blame. 112 federal agencies out there that don't work together that are supposed to address mental health and mental issues. like how to make a fruit smoothie or interpretive dance and not dealing with mental health illness. the assistant secretary of

mental health and substance abuse to get our government moving forward on this. change the grant programs to make them evidence based. making sure we have more psychiatric beds to treat people instead of dumping them on the streets or sending them to jail. more provide psychologists. >> one of the things this addresses and, again, i know you want to do more, but especially where you are right now, you have to take one step as a time here. especially when there is such a vacuum and mu against the mentally ill and treating it like illness and not behavior modification needs. so, a family who knows they have somebody who needs help or who doesn't want to get help and doesn't follow with the cure and as an adult they're handcuffed. you want to address that. how can we now? >> i want to address it because there are certain laws, hipa laws that prevent doctors from talking to families members. a physician can ask a family, it elme what i need to know. some doctors think they can't do

and they really can. we'll push towards that. we have to somewhat but not fully address the physician's ability to tell a family selected information. not describing therapy notes and not breaching a person's privacy. 75% of people with a mental illness have a chronic illness and wouldn't it be great if a physician could at least say, mr. smith, your son, i can't tell you everything we do, but he needs to see an oncologist. >> because the physical and mental go together. >> they really do. >> to give the family the ability to go to the doctor and say chris isn't right. his behavior is weird. i know he's not taking his medication and getting erratic. how many times have we seen in these mass violent events where there was a chain of events the family felt unempowered. now comes the book. "overcoming passive aggression." they worked on this before,

individual works, as well. you got a great story that describes what passive aggression is. a lot of people don't believe that they are passive aggressive. what do people learn initially in this book? >> well, they learn that not only other people and oftentimes we see it in other people but don't see it in ourselves. how you get back at some people or you annoy them or attack them with not really doing anything. you may delay the phone call or give them a left-handed compliment and not take care of their needs right away. you may get them the wrong size clothing for a present. all those little nagging things. i know it happens in congress and every business. >> why does it have to be overcome? >> because it's an awful way to communicate. we have lost our way to communicate efefecteffectively. we tweet and we facebook posts and we put digs and nastiness indirectly instead of looking someone in the eye. and it can bring down a company and destroy a marriage and hurt a relationship.

we need to overcome that. >> one of the chapters i was surprised in this book to overcome passive aggression is go nose to nose and argue it out, if you don't like it, have a fist fight and end it there and go get a coffee. >> no. don't say that. >> a lot of great communication skills and a learning of how we behave and why we behave that way and what to do aboutit. i know the fight to get more help for the mentally ill continues and we'll cover it. >> thank you. >> be well congressman. we all remember the sandy hook school massacre four years ago. it was one of the saddest days in our con's history. well, now, those grieving parents are facing threats because of online haters and conspiracy theirrists who say that tragedy was a hoax. just another painful example of how real stories cause real pain. we have two people on the receiving end, next.

afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

all right. please, listen up. gatlinburg, tennessee, and the great smokey mountains national park are open for business this morning after who weeks of just terrible wildfires, deadly, killing 14 people, destroying thousands of properties. now, in the midst of all of this disaster, there have been heros that went beyond the call of duty. paolo sandoval has their story. >> it looks like it just went to the edge, right through there, but it didn't go any further. now, look at that fire line. just across. now, this has gotten so hot, you knew it had to be so hot, that it had blistered the wood. >> reporter: amy williams assumed that she would never see her gatlinburg family retreat

again. >> this entire mountain was on fire. >> reporter: she and her husband, doug, were nearly 100 miles north in bristol, tennessee, when they saw a photo of their property on social media. it was taken during the deadly wildfire outbreak in their state. >> all of the images we saw, it really looked bad. i mean, it looked like there's no way for this house to survive. >> reporter: not knowing the fate of their gatlinburg home, the williams family shared their story with a local tv station. and a fire captain from tennessee happened to catch that story. >> the homeowner was stating she didn't know whether it was still standing. >> reporter: jerry redmond and his volunteer crew knew they had the tans amy and doug williams were hoping to hear. their retreat on holly ridge road was still standing. he had even unknowningly caught proof in this picture. that's the williams home standing tall on the scorched hillside. redmond went beyond the call by

making a call to williams. >> she would have gone a couple more days with excruciating thoughts of, is her family home still there? and we were able to answer that question for her. >> reporter: williams and her husband are heartbroken for the neighbors that lost everything, but they're also grateful forhe volunteers who never gave up. >> it's just unbelievable that there are people in this world that will do that, for free! >> when they were tired, they just kept going. >> reporter: the williams plan to have the volunteers back to their house to thank them personally. >> these people are miracle workers. >> reporter: they are among the hundreds of men and women who charged up the smokey mountains, determined to save who and what they could. paolo sandoval, cnn, gatlinburg, tennessee. >> thanks to paolo for that. well, december 14th will mark four years since a gunman murdered the 20 first graders and six adults at sandy hook elementary school in newtown,

connecticut. believe it or not, there are online conspiracy theorist who is claim that that tragedy never happened. and they have even done worse than deny it. joining us now is the director and producer of the documentary, "newtown," kim snyder. we also have dr. william beg, the vice chair of emergency medicine. and we want to mention that chris cuomo's sister also helped produce the film. great to have both of you here today. in the world of fake news, fake stories, conspiracy theories, i can't imagine a more sickening one than the people online who claim that newtown, this event that crushed all of us, that it never happened. kim, why do they do this? what is behind this conspiracy theory. who are these people? >> you know, early on, we didn't even really want to address this. we took the lead of the town,

that we didn't want to address our attention. now 3 1/2 days later, days before this anniversary, it's just become contextualized in such a larger, more dangerous problem. and i think that it's not as fringe -- you know, it's frightening because it just seems to be larger numbers than i think we understood. >> hillary clinton just called it an epidemic. other people feel that way, too. we saw violence at the d.c. pizzeria over a different crazy online conspiracy theory. and i understand that there is the debate. why give it oxygen? why talk about it and give it oxygen, but, of course, we're at the point now where we have to figure out how to stamp it out. >> i agree, and there's a difference. previously, we may have considered it a fringe event, but now with the latest political climate and the proliferation of social media, it's having real implications. we do see that people in our society are being affected. and the latest incident, where because of fake news, somebody goes into a d.c. pizzeria and starts shooting off their gun, i

think that we have to address this issue, realize it's an issue, and then consider what are we going to do about it. >> and that is where we are. so dr. begg, you've been on the receiving end of these conspiracy theories about newtown and threats? >> yes. >> what do they say to you? >> well, it's insidious, because when you try to be an advocate from my point of view about the public health issue of gun violence, you're willing to speak to people. but then the conversation morphs. in my situation, what did you see in the emergency room, what did the bodies look like? and when i point out that social decorum suggests you don't speak about that, then the conversation goes in the wrong direction. then videos surface with the hoaxsters saying this is the e.r. doctor, he was there that day, but it didn't really happen because he can't describe what happened. >> so people online try to engage, then say you're lying, and you, natural, i assume, human instinct to try to defend yourself. >> worse than that, they engage me in public when i'm in a

public venue. and i think that they're just a citizen or someone who's interested in this public health issue. yes, they engage me. and then it morphs into an online proliferation of multiple thousands of hits. >> so real people show up? >> oh, absolutely, yes. >> and including this, just recently, this florida woman, 57-year-old lucy richards. she was just charged with making threats about the -- to the sandy hook families. she was arrested, thank god, and charged. >> right. >> that's the -- you know, if somebody shows up, i assume that the people who are doing it to you have not been arrested and charged -- >> gosh, no. >> but she crossed different line. >> that's the difference. kim? >> and i was just going to say, friends like dr. bill here and others who were in the film, they wanted to bear witness for three years about the unthinkable grief and trauma that town has experienced for years, just with the motivation that they could help other

families and communities from not having to go through this, by telling their stories. >> that is the right answer. i mean, sunlight is important. and to come out and to bear witness. but the idea that you would be on the receiving end. can you get your mind around why people, what drives people to challenge this? >> i think there's three reasons. there's either a political benefit, there may be a financial benefit. if you have a website where you have advertisers and you get a lot of hits, there's a financial reason. and then the third component, there's people that have psychological issues. teeter delusional disorder or paranoid disorder or personality disorder. and it feeds their ego by getting themselves out in the limelight. so there are real reasons why people are doing this. >> now that you've been on the receiving end of it, and since we've agreed we're at the point we have to talk about it, what do you think the answer is? >> well, i think now that we've identified this is a problem, there has to be ramifications for those participate traiterpe. and the fact now that we have

folks that are being arrested and possibly going to jail, that's important. >> but they've crossed a line. by the time you get arrested, you have lobbed so many threats, you've shown up, you've disrupted things. you have to really cross a violent line in order to be arrested. so before that, what's the answer? >> i think it's also an issue of bullying. even with the film, we get people on our newtown film website that just say this is a hollywood fiction. they've targeted film programmers who programmed our film to say they're fbi operatives who are part of this conspiracy with fake film. >> how many people are you talking about? are we talking about a dozen or hundreds? >> that have been affected? >> no, that are doing these sorts of things online? >> if you go to our imbd page, it's scary. you see all kinds of comments from people buying into this. >> we'll figure this out. thanks for coming on and tell us about what you've been on the receiving end of it. thanks again.