thanks for joining us this hour. topping the hour, house and senate republicans try to do what they couldn't do for years holding a veto pen. and things could change americans taking for granted insurance known as obamacare. they plan to take in 17 days, republicans deliver what they have bean promising a long time. cnn starts us off with a look at their agenda. >> do you solemnly swear -- >> reporter: the new republican order is taking shape for the first time in a decade. control the senate and house and white house. >> we know it will require cooperation from both sides.

>> reporter: mitch mcconnell of kentucky becoming senate majority leader as the 115th congress opened for business. paul ryan of wisconsin, easily re-elected speaker of the house. >> this old chamber might look the same but in the hushed whispers and whirl of activity, you can feel the winds of change. >> reporter: in just 17 days, donald trump will join them as president completing the gop's ascension to power, the optimistic applause echoing across the capitol will soon give cause to the challenge of governing and the change voters demanded making good on their pledge to repeal and replace obamacare and easing tax reform and government regulations, republicans are crafting a bold agenda. speaker ryan called it a once in a lifetime opportunity. >> the people have given us unified government. it wasn't because they were feeling generous, it was because they want results. how could we live with ourselves if we let them down?

>> reporter: out of power, democrats say they will find common ground when they agree and hold their ground when they do not. in the house, republicans now have a majority of 241-194. yet in the senate, republicans still need democrats. with republicans holding 52 seats and democrats, 48. most pieces of legislation need 60 votes to pass. >> when you lose an election like this, you can't flinch, you can't blink, you have to look it right in the eye, analyze it, learn from it. >> reporter: the trump cabinet will be one early test. secretary of state rex tillerson and retired secretary general mattis. visiting capitol hill today preparing for their confirmation hearings. in perform and pageantry, the new congress came with one old touch, vice-presidential joe biden in his formal role presiding over the senate, swearing in one final class of senators. it's one of his last official acts after 44 years in washington.

>> jeff joins us now. i understand both president obama and vice president elect pence will be on capitol hill tomorrow. what more do you know about it? >> very unusual for the president to come up 16 days before he leaves office. he will be trying to make the case to democrats to protect his signature agenda piece of legacy, obamacare. he wants democrats to tout the benefits to their constituents across the country. at the same time, mike pence will be trying to walk republicans through how they want to repeal and replace obamacare. the question of repealing it is an easy one. replacing it is a difficult one. that this is the challenge coming up for the trump administration and frankly all republicans here because they know they will be taking something away from people. the majorities in the congress, as they say now, republicans will repeal it.

replacing it, that's the question, the bottom line here. president obama, trying to give one last pitch for his legacy when he meets here on capitol hill tomorrow with all the democrats. joining us now is former obama senior advisor, van jones and trump supporter, jamie and former chairman of president obama's council of economic advisors. >> van, it's interesting while the president is meeting with house and senate democrats to protect his hallmark, pence is there to do the exact opposite discussing to repeal and replace it. >> that's where we are. we have a divided country if not a divided government. one thing you're going to be watching now, a lot of people in red states actually who have benefitted from obamacare, a lot of the coal miners, actually, their main healthcare now is obamacare. it's very easy to take something away, but when you take something away, people ask, what

are you going to do for me now? i think the failure of the republicans to really fully agree with any particular approach to the replacement is going to become a problem sooner rather than later. they got elected promising to do something, they will try to follow-through on it and we'll see how it goes. >> what can democrats actually do to try to prevent it? >> listen, you -- >> i think they have to -- >> go ahead, austin. sorry. >> they kind of have to rely on the -- spreading the message van is saying there, how many million people will lose their insurance. remember what it used to be like they could deny you for pre-existing condition when your uncle was 60 and he couldn't get on medicare and but he had heart problems, they're going to try to use the bully pulpit to emphasize that. but i don't think -- i don't know that they'll be effective. i think the republicans are

going to, a, try to make it -- try to take it away without making it seem like they took it away, so they're going to try to extend that as long as they can and say, oh, no, it was dying on its own, we didn't kill it. then, i think the second thing is, there are a lot of red states where a lot of people do benefit from it but they show at other points, like with the expansion of medicaid, that even if it hurt their own people the republican governors in those states were still willing to turn it down. i'm nervous for it but i think that's where we are. >> cailee, do you believe republicans actually are united on a plan not just about repealing it but replacing? because president-elect trump, during the campaign was very clear, saying he wanted to keep people who had pre-existing conditions, he wanted to keep that coverage. >> that's right. he did say that and i think that an important component that needs to stay. i think republicans are by and large united around paul ryan's plan you look at it, it says

affordable healthcare for all. i think the other guests are right to the extent republicans have to have some sort of replacement. you do have tens of millions of people who have gained insurance via obamacare. those folks need to keep insurance in some form. what is very important is to fix some mallities in obamacare and to many republicans that means repealing it entirely, where obama says, if you like your doctor you can keep it, not true. he promised families their premiums would go down by $2500 and in fact increasing by 25% next year. there's significant disapproval of obamacare on these fronts. you have to repeal it undoubtedly but you must replace it. if there's not a replacement there, they will have a big problems on their hands. >> van, she is right, it has gone up in many states and if republicans have a solution shouldn't democrats be receptive to work with them? >> one of the missed opportunities for hillary clinton when she ran, she could have said, listen, obamacare greats first step, no program is

perfect from the very beginning. republicans won't let us fix it. if you elect me we will have this program and i will work with them to make it better and better. we wound up saying listen, 20 million people have insurance and we were defending the status quo opposed to saying we don't think it's perfect but think republicans have stopped us from making it better and send a message you want to improve it. >> here is reality. i think both political parties have some peril. if republicans botch this up, there will be a revolt at the midterm level. if the democrats stand in the way of good things that would make it better, they're stepping on their own constituents. both parties have to look down the barrel what is going to happen to real americans over the next two years. >> is it clear what repealing would look like? how much would a repeal cost in the short term and long-term? >> i think it's pretty clear what it would look like in the short run, it would cost money

to repeal it and they're trying to figure out ways to make it not cost money. if you look, i think the republicans are at greater peril at this moment than the democrats are. the passing of obamacare, even the heralded saving $2500, that was compared to what would happen without it. we have had high healthcare inflation for many decades. healthcare inflation has been at about the lowest rate than we have seen in almost a half century. the problem was once you do something on healthcare then you own it. that's been barack obama's problem, once the republicans do anything to obamacare, repeal it, change it, whatever, suddenly every problem that everyone has with the health system becomes the republicans' fought instead of obama's fault and that won't be a fun place to be. >> i understand the argument of inflation and not growing as much as inflation was projected to grow. the argument what van was saying, it's about how americans feel. how americans feel they've seen the dollar on the premiums going up and not getting much in return. they have high deductibles, one-third of american counties only have access to obamacare and it was sold on a bill to give us more choice. >> in the exchanges. i'm not disputing that it is about feeling.

i think that's correct. what i'm saying is once the republicans repeal obamacare or gut it, then prices are going to start going up again, even more than they were going up under obamacare and then they're going to be mad at republicans. >> not if you open up state lines and implement free market principles. >> which is what donald trump has been saying. we'll see and have more coming up. thanks very much. just ahead breaking news, donald trump's new tweets placing doubts on the intelligence community about to

brief him and the tweeted warning to north korea and china and the fallout from that.

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we began the program with the report of the intelligence community that russia was behind the hacking of hillary clinton's campaign chief and president-elect trump getting a

high briefing on it, you can decide to make what you want of the quotation marks, the intelligence briefing on so-called russian hacking was delayed until friday, perhaps more time to build a case, very strange. cnn justice correspondent pamela brown has been on the story all night and joins us again. donald trump weighed in on this seemingly skeptical of russian involvement and the intelligence community. >> that's right. it's remarkable how this is playing out because for months donald trump has questions the veracity supporting intelligence that russia was behind the hacks. essentially donald, the president-elect, is challenging the intelligence agencies that will eventually be working for him when he in fact is officially the president. with this tweet tonight, i've spoken to intelligence officials who are frankly perplexed by it that there was some sort of delay with this briefing about that comprehensive report about election hacks. all along, i've been told by officials it was supposed to happen as early as friday and

perhaps even later because this comprehensive report hasn't gone to the desk of the president and when this high level briefing does happen it will be the first time trump comes face to face with the leaders of these agencies he has been challenging and questioning. >> it's not clear -- can we say definitively there was not a delay or do we know? >> the people i've spoken with in the intelligence community, a couple of officials, have said they're perplexed because it was never on the leaders of the intelligence community's schedule to go up to new york and brief the president-elect before friday, before. so there may be some miscommunication or misunderstanding about the schedule, but i can tell you that in terms of the leaders of the intelligence communities that will be involved with this briefing they were never on the schedule to do it before friday so there is some confusion about this so-called delay and it hasn't gone to the desk of the president and trump would be briefed after that happens. >> pam brown, i appreciate it. trump's tweet was far from the only thing making headlines and used twitter to send a message to north korea. >> reporter: nobody knows if north korea's jim kong un has seen donald trump's latest tweet. saying it is in the latest stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the u.s. it won't happen. nobody knows how north korea's erratic leader will react.

>> this tweet is putting them on notice that they are going to be watched very carefully by the incoming administration and they don't have carte blanche. >> reporter: this after kim said -- >> cutting edge arms equipment is actively progression and inter-continental ballistic test launch preparation is in its last stage. >> reporter: it's not clear how soon kim can be ready to launch

a missile that could reach the u.s. but the prospect raises alarm. if a nuclear weapon exploded over a west coast population center like los angeles or san francisco, tens of thousands could be killed. even a non-nuclear north korean attack into south korea could also kill tens of thousands including 30,000 u.s. troops based there. trump, on the campaign trail, was open to talking to kim. >> i wouldn't go there. that, i can tell you. if he came here, i'd accept him. but i wouldn't give him a state dinner. >> reporter: now, trump wants to pressure china to get kim to roll back this is nuclear program. china has been taking out massive amounts of money and wealth from the u.s. in totally one-sided trade but it won't help with north korea. nice. but that message already brushed aside by beijing. >> we hope to see all sides avoid remarks and actions that would escalate tensions. >> the obama administration doesn't think north korea can threaten the u.s. with a nuclear

missile yet. >> we do not believe he at this point in time has the capability to tip one of these with a nuclear warhead. >> reporter: the current u.s. military response focuses on defending against an attack with intercepters in alaska and california and ships in the western pacific. in the face of a sudden imminent threat, u.s. officials tell cnn president trump could activate existing plans for preemptive attack, so-called no mercy strikes to destroy the regime and its weapons. a former defense secretary who called for a preemptive strike in 2006 now says it must not happen. >> a preemptive strike could bring about complete and total catastrophe to south korea and japan. that is not an option. >> the person who also called for a preemptive strike against

north korea, back in 2006, the current defense secretary, ash carter. anderson. >> barbara starr, thanks. a lot to discuss. the author of "nuclear showdown," north korea takes over the world and mike rogers. before we talk about north korea, let me ask you about this tweet of intelligence briefing hacking being delayed puts quotes around the word "intelligence" and hacking. is he setting himself up for a difficult relationship with the intelligence community and is that a bad thing or is that a maybe a wise thing? >> i'd be a little cautious how you do it. if he's pushing the intelligence

community on its analytical products what they're finding and recommending, i think that's perfectly okay. what gets a little dicey, if you're attacking the integrity of the officers out risking their lives right now to get information, that will backlash in a way i don't think they will anticipate. i hope they're not getting there or that's what this is. if he wants to challenge this in about less than 16 days he's going to get the keys to every cabinet. he will have all of the information he needs to make his own assessments. he can have dissenting agreements come to the white house and talk him through where he thinks he wants to be on a particular position. if you jeopardize the relationship between the executive and these intelligence agencies, i think that's a dangerous place to be mainly again because these are almost living original numbers out doing -- living organisms, didn't care about the election and out doing their bit some

risking their lives to bring it back to formulate an analytical product to inform policymakers. if you disrupt the trust, i'm not saying you can't push them or give them the wire brush treatment as a matter of fact i think they would thrive in that environment, if you attack the integrity, that's where the line crosses, i haven't seen him do it yet but he certainly has come close. >> gordon, is there any way to know how north korea responds to donald trump's tweets? this is on unchartered water where the president is cheating 140 character messages to north korea. >> if you look at what he said in that first tweet, it's clear kim jong-un saw that as a declaration of war imminently. we know one thing, he's in an unstable regime, executed 140

people in his first five years. >> 140 members of his own government. >> senior -- senior leaders in his own government and regime. also, when you put in the junior officers, that's maybe 500 or so, when you total it all because they've been sent to the camps and we can't count that. for kim jong-un, he has to look tough because if he doesn't look tough he knows he could die. >> chairman rogers, i don't know if the question is about the appropriateness of president-elect tweeting to kim jong-un or something he will read, what do you make of what kind of impact it will have, if any? >> i didn't see anything that would directly threaten an escalation of their certainly conventional conflict. one thing for certain, we have to change the dynamic we're having with north korea. the way we've been handling it isn't working. i'm not a big fan of using tweets to engage.

it's 140 characters can be misconstrued in a way where people have large armies and could react in ways that aren't anticipated. i do think it's okay for the president-elect to set out a path that says we will do things a little differently including trying to engage china hopefully in the black market activities on the southern border of north korea's northern border that allows this regime to continue to flourish. that hasn't been dealt with. if that's the path we're going down, it could be great. if we continue to use tweets after the president is sworn in on january 20th, i get a little concerned because it is too easy to misconstrue those words, those 140 characters in a way that probably won't be helpful and that's not a whole of government approach. you want a whole of government approach to try to rein in kim jong un. it's too late. he has nuclear weapons and inter-continental ballistic weapon that has been fired and a

submarine and all spell danger for the national security of the united states. we're going to have to deal with it in a way we haven't done before. it doesn't mean conventional action or preemptive strikes necessarily. i don't think we should take those off the table but i don't think you ought to lead with those. >> do we know enough about what the impact of a strike against north korea would be? >> well, the thing that we know is that north korea -- north korea has chemical and biological weapons and short and long range missiles, they can take out any city they want. when people start talking about the casualties from the war they're talk hundreds of thousands and that's why war is the last option. the one policy we haven't pursued is imposing costs on china. we know chinese have been

selling hexafluoride to them and we stand back and don't do anything about it. this has to change and it will. the end of the obama administration we started to see the first sanctions on china. i'm sure trump will continue on that path. >> thanks very much. appreciate your expertise. coming up next, the republicans of the house nearly gutted the watchdogs keeping them and the democrats honest and where house speaker ryan stood on the move and from admitted influence peddler jack abramof joins us ahead. with the xfinity tv app,

anything with a screen is a tv. stream 130 live channels. plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. reporting on the gop legislative agenda, however before they started on that, house republicans were busy with something else. as you may know, they voted in secret last night to essentially neuter the congressional office of ethics. and then there was a tweet by

donald trump and by this afternoon the plan was dead. a former lobbyist whose crimes paved the way. jack abramof spent 43 months in jail for influence pedaling. >> i'm wondering what your reaction was when the republicans on the hill wanted to gut the ethics office that was created in response to the actions you ended up going to prison for. >> i don't know that they necessarily wanted to gut it. there is concern among some members that some of the procedures of the office are not necessarily great. they made what i think was a bad move to first of all deal with this as one of the first issues, obviously, the optics are very bad and number two, to move it or to put it within the confines of the members probably not a good move either. i think what they should have been doing is remembering what the election was about in

november and coming forward with a series of proposals to have reform the other way and have less corruption and be able to go after the things that frankly americans are upset about, not to do something like this. >> when you talk about corruption, obviously, you saw this first hand, you were deeply involved in this, i know on "60 minutes" you said you essentially owned up to 100 congress men and their offices and i would offer jobs to their chiefs of staffs or key employees when they left so while they were still in office essentially they were beholden to you. is capitol hill still as corrupt as when you were lobbying? >> i think there's a level of corruption that isn't quite necessarily what i was involved in or some of the people at the tip of the sphere involved in, that's a more normal corruption if there is such a phrase where people feel it is completely normal for people soliciting favors and i guess acts, from

government officials to give them things of value and campaign officials. that's the corruption america is sick of and we have to deal with. in terms of the things i was involved with i don't think you will find too many lobbyists that had the resources to do the things unfortunately i was involved with. the everyday corruption, they don't feel today is corruption is the biggest problem, they think it's completely normal. >> at one point i think you said you were spending a million dollars a year on tickets to sporting events to congress people, for their staffs, but that everyday sort of corruption you talk about, explain that a little bit more. the rules are really interesting. there are rules about you can't buy a congressman or congresswoman a meal, you know, a hamburger but you can throw them a fund-raiser and give them, you know, tens of thousands of dollars. >> right. it's that kind of idiocy people look at and crash -- scratch their heads and wonder what is

wrong with people. i travel the country and speak on campuses and nobody other than people in this beltway seem to not get this. everybody seems to realize if you give somebody a public servant something of value and asking that public servant to do something for you that's not a good thing. within the beltway people think it's part of the process and don't really get upset about it. >> is it true when you were lobbying and lobbying hard and quite successfully, earning about $22 million a year although you gave away a lot of that to various groups, did file you were doing something inappropriate and did the congresseostdid they feel this was corrupt? >> first of all, i can certainly speak for myself. unfortunately i didn't feel there was any problem with it. it was basically the way the system worked, i probably did more than i should have -- certainly did more than i should have -- did more than others xct in my mind, the system where lobbyists and others are trying to get people to do something in government by natural course, particularly the congressman give contributions provide in those days meals.

it's a little more difficult to do.s, tickets to the ballgame, et cetera, that system is a system that's been going on for decade is in this town and unfortunately is not likely to go away until the american people continue to do what they did in november which is throw the bums out and basically say we're fed up with this. >> jack abramof, thank you for your time. >> thanks. were trump's efforts a factor for the ford company to keep jobs? mark fields is next. now, there are many right ways to fill out this tax return. and the irs will accept them all. one of them gets you the most money back. isn't that the one you want? that's the one i want. that's the one you want.

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throughout the campaign and now during the transition, president-elect trump is taking a hard line with america's automakers pressuring them to create jobs at home the same as other manufacturing companies and by pressure we mean threats of hefty border taxes and did the ford company blink and cave? in an interview with ceo mark fields, poppy harlow asked him just that. >> reporter: in a stunning about face, ford today scrapping plans to build a $1.6 billion small car plant in mexico. are you cancelling these plans to build plant in mexico because of the president-elect? >> we do what's right for our business. this makes sense for our business. we look at all factors including what we view as a more positive u.s. manufacturing business environment under

president-elect trump. it's literally a vote of confidence around some of the pro growth policies that he has been outlining. >> reporter: that plant was going mean 2800 new jobs in mexico, now ford says it's creating 700 new jobs here at home instead. >> this business decision was done independently, but we did speak to the president and the president-elect and the vice president elect this morning. >> reporter: did he say he was going to stop with the tweets and attacks against ford? >> i don't think we got to that level. he was just very appreciative for the announcements we're making. >> reporter: there's little doubt trump's persistent threat of a 35% tariff on cars made in mexico and sold in the u.s. made that plant a lot less attractive. >> reporter: why not as many jobs here as you were going to create in mexico. >> first-off, you have to understand the reason we're canceling our plant in mexico, the main reason, we're seeing a

decline in demand for small vehicles in north america. >> reporter: this is a trend we've seen, the president-elect calls out carrier and gets jobs to stay here and calls out boeing and gets a cheaper air force one and calls out lockheed martin and they say we will work with you. there is a concern among some this is in essence a form of crony capitalism dangerous to democracy that the president can cut deals with companies and they expect favors from the administration in return. >> first-off, we didn't cut a deal with the president-elect. we did what's right for our business. >> reporter: you said on cnn this fall one of the things you'd like to see from the administration as they review fuel economy standards. what about the concern from someone who might look at this and say, is this crony capitalism they might get more regulation on fuel standards because they're bringing jobs home. what do you say? >> as a company we're very dedicated to improving fuel economy and we want it to be a

fact-based discussion and want to make sure we preserve vehicle affordability, customer choice and american jobs. >> reporter: trump and ford have quite a history. for more than a year, trump has repeatedly slammed the company. >> ford is leaving, you see their small car division leaving, thousands of jobs leaving michigan and ohio. >> they think they will get away from this and fire all their employees in the united states and move to mexico. >> reporter: ford's ceo shot back in this exclusive interview. >> will ford cut any u.s. jobs as a result of this move? any single one? >> absolutely not, zero. >> reporter: in october, chairman, bill ford, called trump's attacks infuriating. >> he knows the facts. who knows what the campaign trail is all about. >> reporter: this morning, the president-elect took on gm, tweeting general motors is sending mexican-made model of chevy cruze to u.s. car dealers

tax-free across border, make in usa or pay big border tax. >> general motors responding to the president-elect's tweet today in a statement saying it quote manufactures the chevrolet cruze sedan in lordstown, ohio, all cruise sedans are sold in the u.s. and they build the hatchback for global markets in mexico with a small number sold in the united states. in an ironic twist, general motors ceo has recently named by trump to a forum that will advise him frequently on jobs and on the economy, meantime on this news, ford's stock closed up nearly 4%. >> poppy, thanks very much. donald trump certainly ran as a pro business candidate. no surprise there. what are the implications short and long-term. here to talk about it. is this a quid pro quo between

president-elect trump and these companies? if it is, is there a problem about that? >> i don't see it as quid pro quo. i see what trump is doing -- it is carrots and sticks approach. the carrots he's offering ford or gm or other companies are a better economy where you won't be hit with corporate taxes where he promised they would be 15% maximum. that's the carrots. the sticks are the 35% tariff. i do think that somehow had to be weighing in the mind of ford. i don't see quid pro quo here something tangible we can point to was given to the ford ceo in exchange for jobs. i think it was the result of robust economy going forward. >> is that all it is? the chairman and ceo seems to be saying this is going to be a more robust environment? >> i don't know what was said behind closed doors. i think many republicans and most business people are probably pretty uncomfortable with the notion who ever the

president of the united states decides to get up and attack one morning, that the market is going to attack them and he will threaten them personally with taxes unless they do what he says. have you ever been to a wedding where there's that one relative nobody wants to give the microphone to make a toast. and then when he starts speaking the opening might be, i'd like to wish the bride a wonderful wedding. everyone is like, oh, no, what's coming next? i think a lot of the business community feels like that. so far, donald trump is saying the wants to cut the corporate tax rate. they probably agree with it. i think nagging in their mind is this question of call it crony capitalism, call it a mob of twitter goons to come after you if the president declares you a bad guy. we have to think that through. >> i guess there is a version of

this that has companies responding to trump's policies. they believe what lies ahead, the argument you made is a better marketplace with fewer restrictions and that's why they're making these decisions, essentially what ford is saying. >> i think that's right. if the president-elect was clear on anything in the campaign, if you try to take advantage of the american economy but want to produce your goods elsewhere, gm is a great example. the "wall street journal" says 20% of north american products they import are made in mexico or abroad, if you're going to do that and take advantage of the american economy you will suffer in the form of a tariff, perhaps. >> is there a danger -- go ahead, austan. >> i was going to say be careful concluding it's about policy because none of the companies that have not been targeted by donald trump are coming out and saying they're going to do that.

you don't see chrysler coming out and saying we're going to open this extra plant. it's only when you get targeted they come out and respond. there are a lot of business people asking, wait a minute, donald trump's own businesses outsource their jobs. so how is he determining who he's going to go after? >> austan, i do think he's -- look, he's not even president yet, he's done a pretty good job, 700 jobs from ford and 1,000 from carrier and getting lockheed and boeing to rethink their pricing structure, this is pretty good for someone who is just president-elect. >> he's not singing out ivanka trump for basically manufacturing all her clothing and products overseas in a variety of countries. >> that's true. he's singling out companies he singled out all along the way. as a businessman, he did. it's true, he did outsource. that was him as a businessman. he is promising to put policies in place to allow clothing companies like ivanka trumps and

others to produce here. right now the economic environment, i'm any sure, austin, you would agree to some extent it's not as easy to make a product here as in china, you can get it much cheaper here. he wants to remedy that. i think pointing it out and remedying those conditions is what will bring chrysler on board but he has to be president before he can make any sort of change like that. >> thank you very much for being on tonight. just had the video raising questions about president-elect trump's friendship with convicted felon as they ring in the new year.

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by now probably heard about the new year's eve celebration that president-elect trump and his family hosted at mar-a-largo.

guests are getting a lot of attention. one raised questions. a convicted felon approximately miguel marquez reports. >> reporter: joseph cinque, joey no socks, convicted of a felony in 1989 for art theft, celebrating next to the president-elect on new year's eve. cinque's current lawyer insists the art was legally owned but said pled guilty and conviction stands. given a conditional discharge and served no jail time. trump and cinque go way back. in 2008, they shared a stage at the miss universe contest. >> by the way, joe is probably one of the most important men in the hotel industry. >> reporter: in 2009, trump was given an award by cinque, one of many over a decade. >> would like to congratulate

and thank joe cinque for the unbelievable job that he does. >> reporter: and last year at trump's mar-a-lago's new year's eve celebration. >> thank you very much joe. american academy is amazing place. >> reporter: jeaagain, cinque ft and center. last may trump told associated press he didn't know cinque well and wasn't aware of his conviction. >> let's assume donald trump doesn't know who this guy is. wow! donald trump is so unaware and doesn't have people around him to warn him that you are standing next to a convicted felon. >> david k. johnson covered the rough and tumble times, his new book "the making of donald donald trump" pulls no punches. >> i was shocked that donald trump would stand next to convicted felon, who claimed to be connected to john gotti

credibly enough that the new york city prosecutor's office thought that was a real connection. >> u.s. secret service refused to comment referring to the trump transition team who also refused to comment on the relationship between trump and cinque. several members and guests tell there was no secret service background check prior to it, but they did go through metal detectors. the relationship rooted in the america academy of hospitality sciences, an organization that over the years trump has been listed as ambassador extraordinaire. >> donald trump hangs awards, signed by joey no socks and as donald trump as chairman of the board. >> reporter: trump's signature is on some of the awards. it's like trump giving himself an award. the secret service says it's

their job to protectically t-- o protect the president-elect and president, not their job to control the guest list. and referred cnn to trump transition team which refused to comment on the relationship. >> thanks. coming up. something to make you smile at end of the night, the ridiculist, just next. i had that dream again --

that i was on the icelandic game show. and everyone knows me for discounts, like safe driver and paperless billing. but nobody knows the box behind the discounts. oh, it's like my father always told me -- "put that down. that's expensive." of course i save people an average of nearly $600, but who's gonna save me? [ voice breaking ] and that's when i realized... i'm allergic to wasabi. well, i feel better. it's been five minutes. talk about progress. [ chuckles ]

okay.

time now for the ridiculist. before we get to the meat of it, help to have a little bit of a backstory. this is about wendy's, the hamburger place. everyone of a certain age remembers "where's the beef" but there's another slogan. that wendy's has used for years and years. take a look. >> if hamburgers were meant to be frozen, wouldn't cows come if

-- from antarctica? wendy's burgers made from 100% fresh beef. never frozen. way better than fast food. it's wendy's. >> apparently in the world of big hamburger everything counts. a few days ago, wendy's tweeted a reminder of its policy on its meat. i quote, our beef is way too cool to ever being frozen. smiling emoji. it's like the kind of tweet no one could have a problem with. but someone out there, someone was having the kind of day that made them decide i believe i will spend a large chunk of time arguing with the social media account of this company. thuggy d. i will read the wendy's tweet and frank will play the role of thuggy. take it away, frank. >> your beef is frozen and we all know it. you know we laugh your your slogan fresh never frozen right?

>> there's one more line. >> like you're really a joke. >> i like that last line. to which wendy's replied. sorry you think that but you're wrong. we've only used fresh beef since 1969. >> so you deliver it raw on a hot truck? >> let me pause here because you have to admit that's interesting question that thuggy d poses. this is where wendy's gets frosty. in response, and i quote, where do you store cold things that aren't frozen? ah, yes, a riddle. how will thuggy d respond? >> you all should give up. mcdonald's got you guys beat with that dope ass breakfast. >> you don't have to bring them into this just because you forgot refrigerators existed for a second there. boom. thank you, frank. excellent read. should come as surprise to no one as fully eviscerated by the social media account of

hamburger chain thuggy d deleted his account. that's what we call the twitter beef on the "ridiculist." that does it for us. thanks for watching. "cnn tonight with don lemon" starts now. breaking news. donald trump promising to hold a news conference next week here in new york. his first in more than five months. this is cnn tonight, i'm don lemon. meanwhile the president-elect battling his own party today and winning with the force of his own twitter account. after house republicans voted to gut the office of congressional ethics, which did not sit well with the president-elect, who after all, ran on his promise to drain the swamp. trump tweeted his displeasure and the house backed down. and workg