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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  February 17, 2017 4:00pm-5:01pm PST

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north korea will reject the results of what it calls the forced autopsy which it says was not witnessed by north korean officials. who knows if the north korean will ever get that body back or what that autopsy will say about the cause of death. >> brian, thank you. i'm brianna keilar. "erin burnett out front" starts right now. "out front" next, breaking news, the dow hits an all time high again seven days in a row. trump taking the credit. does he deserve it? and the secret service investigating an incident tonight involving trump's mor or the cade, what happened, and trump's twitter tirade. he tweeted, deleted, retweeted. let's go "out front." good evening. i'm erin burnett. one thing going right for trump. an all-time high. these are the facts. stocks hit a record today in the midst of their best streak in 25
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years. it's a dramatically different headline than the ones about chaos and turmoil in the white house. those headlines are true, but so is this one. the economy is surging. another fact. a survey at its highest level since 1984. president trump today taking credit at a boeing plant in south carolina. >> since november, jobs have already begun to surge. the president celebrating his boeing visit. but does he get the credit or would that headline be fake news? sara murray begins our coverage tonight at the white house. sa sara, the economy right now is the big bright spot for this president. >> reporter: that's right. despite president trump saying earlier this week he inherited a
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mess, he does have an economy with a 4.8% unemployment rate, incredibly low. when he was in south carolina today he said he would spark even more job creation but didn't say how. >> i love south carolina. i love it. >> less than a month into his presidency he's breaking out of the bubble getting back into campaign mode. >> this was going to be a place that was tough to win and we won in a landslide. >> reporter: he visited a boeing plant today. the president trying to get back to his sweet spot touting his goal to revive american manufacturing. >> when american workers win, america as a country wins, big-league wins. that's my message here today. america is going to start winning again, winning like never, ever before. >> reporter: with the administration under fire over
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its russian connections, the botched travel ban, and the ouster of trump's national security adviser, trump's allies say he's been feeling cooped up so, he jumped at the cannes to get out of washington and try to turn the focus to job creation instead. >> my focus has been all about jobs. and jobs is one of the primary reasons i'm standing here today as your president and i will never dispoint you, believe me. i will not disappoint you. >> reporter: while trump vowed to prevent jobs from moving overseas -- >> i don't want companies leaving our country. making their product, selling it back, no tax, no nothing, firing everybody in our country. we're not letting that happen anymore, folks, believe me. >> reporter: he offered few details how he would do so as capitol hill is still waiting to see the framework of a trump tax plan, an item on his agenda this weekend when he and top aides are slated to huddle with newly
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confirmed budget director mick mulvan mulvaney. hitting the road as a key white house position remains unfilled. he fired national security adviser michael flynn earlier this week and retired vice admiral bob harward turned down the job. now trump says he has a handful of candidates on his short list. including acting national security adviser keith kellogg. while the president will be spending the weekend at mar-a-lago, some are calling the winter white house, his aides insist he will still be working, going over that tax plan as well as the next steps to repeal obamacare and we are told interviewing candidates who could become his next national security adviser. >> thank you very much. brinn gingras is out front in charleston, south carolina, where that boeing plant is where trump was today. you spoke to people there. they had strong opinions about his message, right? him saying things are great and i am responsible.
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>> oh, yeah. strong opinions. really dueling opinions, erin. both sides coming out today two miles from that plant where he spoke. those people in favor of the president. they said that speech is exactly why they voted for him, because he talks about creating jobs, bringing jobs back to america, because he engages corporate america and because they believe he's the reason why the stocks are going in the right direction. but then you have the people who booed air force one as it flew over our heads. one person said i've become deaf to what the president says. it could be something that benefitted me. they just don't trust him. a number of opinions. >> i do believe the fact he's been able to bring jobs back to the united states, keep jobs here in the united states, that he will go far. in spite of all the people who are naysayers i think they need
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to give him a chance. >> i think whatever he says it changes from day to day, so i don't actually believe he has the vision and ability to follow through on policy. >> reporter: strong opinions on the topic. on both sides we heard on a number of issues people are passionate about. >> thank you very much. out front, former economic adviser to donald trump's campaign, steven moore and former chairman of the council of economic advisers for barack obama, alston goolsbee. thanks to both. four weeks into president trump's term, taking credit for job growth, stong consumer confidence, surging stocks. fair? >> i think there is a trump effect, no question about it. if you look at the stock market, after a level 2016, it started to surge after the november 7th election. no question about it. and it's not unusual that a
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president would take credit for things that happened on his watch. he's only been in office for a month and some of these were let in motion. the big effect here, over the last week, the whole media story has been, oh, a tumultuous week for donald trump and washington, but what most americans are paying attention to is not this kind of palace intrigue we in washington pay attention to but what's going on in the real economy, and trump has had a good number of weeks so you've seen an increase in consumer confidence, small business consumer confidence, the factory orders that came out last week were strong for january. so things are looking up and it's not unusual for a president to take credit for it. >> of course they'll take credit, whether fake nudes or real news we are at an all-time record on the dow. some of the things that are
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doing really well are things about the future, right? small business optimism, highest levels since 2004. stocks themselves, right? those are things that do seem to be about a belief in trump, right? >> you have a lot of things going on there. literally hmm one third of the increase in the dow is accounted by the increase in goldman sachs alone, and i'm not surprised that goldman sachs would go up in value when donald trump was elected. if you look at the financial sector, i think they feel very much like he's going to let them out of the cage they've been in and we'll go back to rip up the rules of the road and they can go back to the good old days. i'm of two minds on that because i think for most of us we remember what happened the last time that we ripped up the rules of the road. if you look at the small
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business confidence or consumer confidence measures i find that hard to reconcile with the fact that the same polling shows donald trump is the least popular incoming president in the history of polling. before you look at some indicator like the stock market, i think it's worth at least recalling that the stock market tripled in value under barack obama. we did not make a habit of trying to interpret the stock market as a measure of the actual xi. >> i agree with that. you don't want to judge the economy by the stock market. you're right the stock market did very well under barack obama, especially after the crash that we saw. >> right. low levels but back up. >> right. >> my point is i think what americans are mostly looking at is not what happens in the stock market. although half of americans do own stock and their wealth goes up when the stock market goes up, but i think the whole issue
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of wages and jobs is what americans will look at. you know, my attitude about the obama years, yeah, the economy did pretty well, but there's really only about the top 20% that saw gains in income and the other 80%, not much. i traveled around with donald trump and we went to places like michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, and people there were saying they didn't feel much of a recovery. >> well, i would say that i disagree with that. you know, if you look at the actual data on wages, the last year's wage gains were the biggest in the middle class on record that we have been keeping track of that. i get the feeling if you look at what donald trump's doing, you know, we just had the super bowl. barack obama saves us from depression, he's been the starting quarterback for seven years, and with 30 seconds left in the game, and they're way ahead, they bring in the backup. and he's going around saying i won the game! he didn't win the game.
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look, we had a crisis -- >> i was hoping you would give donald trump a little credit in this interview. [ talking over each other ] >> steve, here's the thing. donald trump, say you want to give him credit. he can't take credit until things come to fruition. optimism is one thing, right? let's see what happens to those small business profits. he's done a lot of meetings, airlines, the retailers, he's met with everybody. tech companies. and here is what he has said after each one of those big meetings in recent weeks. >> they're all talking about the bounce, so right now everybody has to like me at least a little bit. but we're going to try and have that bounce continue. the auto industry just left a week ago. they were here in the same room. and they're very happy with what we're doing and -- you're going to be so happy with trump. i think you already are. >> there's a lot of you're going
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to like me and be happy, but he hasn't put anything on the table yet, steve. nothing. there's no tax plan. there's nothing on the table yet. >> wait a minute. i worked on the campaign and the tax plan. we have a tax plan. there will be some nuanced changes to it but everybody knows what he wants to do. he wants to lower taxes for families and bring america's -- >> is he going to put his plan on the table? he hasn't done anything yet. this is so far all talk. >> one reason for that is they've been focused on obamacare, which is another high priority for trump. but i would make this point to both of you. you know, i think the reason you're seeing a bit of a bounce in the step of the economy since the election is that trump ran a kind of pro worker, pro business platform, and you know what, businesses want pro business in washington. i'm not saying, look, i agree with you, we have to make sure regulations are in place to safeguard safety and other things like that, but just
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basically saying we want america to be competitive in the global economy, that's a very positive thing. i think businesses are responding in advance of some of these policies. >> i'm not against that. >> how much time does he have, alston, before he has to have legislative victories in congress? >> two things. one, i don't think he has much time. most of what you get to do as president you do certainly in your first year and probably in your first just few months. i think the more they just kind of sit around and sign vague executive orders and don't actually put out details of what they want in a tax plan, the more danger they have that they're just not going to be able to do it. >> all right. >> i agree. i've been frustrated with the pace of -- i want to see these things -- i wanted them to rush out of the gate like secretariat. i agree, alston, i think a president has a bit of a honeymoon period but the press hasn't given him much of a ho y honeymo honeymoon. but you have to get this stuff done quickly. most presidents get their agenda
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passed in the first six months. as you know, president obama got his stimulus plan done in the first month and a half or something like that. >> the first month. it was done by this point. >> he did come out of the gates like secretariat. the executive order that got shot down in court. all kinds of things that were secretariat-like, just not the ones you want. thank you. next, the secretary of state not staying with other world leaders for a conference in germany. wait till you see where he's staying. is it a simple logistical error or something much bigger? and an incident involving the trump motorcade on the way to mar-a-lago tonight, the secret service investigating. and on a lighter note, we'll introduce you to the guys responsible for "saturday night live's" newest star. i love how usaa gives me the and the security just like the marines did. at one point, i did change to a different company with car insurance, and i was not happy with the customer service. we have switched back over and we feel like we're back home now. the process through usaa is so effortless,
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u.s. allies on things like russia. the senior administration official talking about the trip using the word reassure and reassurance three times, this just after rex tillerson's first major meeting in germany with the g-20. michelle kosinski is out front. the vice president seeking to reassure as i said, reassure, reassurance, but the president of the united states doesn't even have a national security adviser right now. how convincing can this reassurance be? >> he can try. among allies there has been worry, skepticism, in some cases disgust, for example, over the travel ban, and there's been inconsistency. i mean, for example, they see one member of the president's team like the secretary of state say things like we'll consider working with russia, if certain contingencies are met, but they turn their head and see president obama -- sorry, see president trump on television making headlines saying we would love to do a deal with russia. and saying things that just
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aren't consistent. i think the good thing for mike pence is he'll be talking to nato allies even though president trump during the campaign said nato is obsolete and allies might have to defend themselves, he's since changed his tune and now we've heard the administration say multiple times that at least they are committed to nato. >> and, you know, speaking of the world order, the secretary of state, rex tillerson, at the g-20 staying at a sanitarium 30 minutes away from the rest of the world leaders. the g-20 is a major event, known well in advance, right, that the state department would have planned for regardless of who the secretary was. does it speak to a lack of coordination within this administration? >> i think it points to a lack of everything being in place and you psi that throughout. there are people in top positions who are political appointees but who had decades of experience and were here for obviously multiple straights, asked to leave before those positions could be filled by the new administration. you have people within the state
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department who aren't sure what the policy is even going to be. so this is a little built of disorganization, although the state department says, look, tillerson has been in office for two weeks and we didn't book it until we knew that everything was going to be in place. but it points to maybe them not being 100% certain he would be confirmed. >> all right. thank you very much. richard haass author of "a world of disarray," also met with president trump during transition. the secretary of state rex tillerson staying at a sanitarium 30 minutes away from where the players are at the g-20 and bloomberg describes it as, you know, security agents in a parking lot, elderly people in wheelchairs coming for their spa treatments. is this a logistical issue or reflective of a state department behind the 8-ball right now? >> it's a logistical issue on the surface but underneath it all i think it reflects two
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serious things. one is the lack of support at the state department. rex tillerson is essentially home alope. there's no staff. he wasn't able to get the deputy he wanted so that's one issue. second of all, it highlights the basic issue of the relationship between the secretary of state and this white house. no secretary of state can be successful if the world does not think he speaks and speaks authoritatively for the president. let me just say every day that goes by with this sort of thing happening, it begins to create doubts and doubts are poisonous for the ability of a secretary of state to be effective. >> tillerson hasn't taken any questions on this trip as you know. he doesn't have a deputy. he hasn't had a press conference since he took over. how much time does he have? he is someone that does lend gravitas and credibility in world leaderships to the trump administration, but as you said, the runway is short. >> the president has tome power his secretary of state. the president has to go out there and show that the
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secretary of state speaks for him, that the two of them -- there's no daylight between them. it would also help if there was a national security adviser in place because we don't really have an administration to speak of when you start talking about national security. so these are early days, only, what, less than a month since the administration began, but they can't count on the world remaining a calm place or a relatively calm place. sooner or later, a real crisis rather than one general rated by the administration itself is going to come into their in boxes and they had better be up and running and ready for it. >> prime minister benjamin netanyahu is a very important visit, obviously, this week. and trump was asked twice about anti-semitism in america. here at his press conference is how he answered a jewish reporter's question yesterday. >> what we haven't really heard being addressed is an uptick in anti-semitism and how the government is planning to take care of it.
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there are people who are committing anti-semitic acts or threatening -- >> he said he was going to ask a simple, easy question, and it's not. it's not. not a simple question. not a fair question. okay. sit down. number one, i am the least anti-semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life. number two, racism. the least racist person. >> he didn't answer the question. what do you make of that response? >> well, in what was an odd 77 minutes that was on the short list of odd moments. i thought it was a slow curve, but i thought the president -- it would have given him a simple opportunity to denounce anti-semitism, say it has no place in american society. what i couldn't figure out is whether he simply misunderstood the question, he didn't get it all. you know, i know there are those reading into it saying he politically didn't want to say
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certain things. i'm not prepared to go there. again, i just thought it was something of a missed opportunity to stay what needs to be said, that there's simply no place for anti-semitism in any aspect of life in this country or anywhere else. >> he did seem to take it personally, i'm the least anti-semitic person that you know. he made it about himself. obviously something that on all of these issues something he tend to do. >> again, i thought it was a missed opportunity but, you know, one thing i can bet on, he'll have another opportunity because anytime a president does that kind of a thing with the sensitive issue, you know and i know that some other journalist is going to revisit it. >> your name, richard, has been mentioned as a possible deputy secretary of state. elliott aber talked about his meeting with rex tillerson and president trump and said he thought president trump was engaged in the entire conversation, obviously that didn't work out. president trump found out that elliott abrams criticized him
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and wouldn't allow rex tillerson to hire him. if you were offered the job, what you've seen this week with elliott abrams, the national security adviser, would you take the job? >> well, again, i'm a great bhooefr that you don't turn jobs you haven't been offered, but don't get me wrong, i'm not interested in that position. before you take a senior level job you have to be comfortable with the conception of the job, comfortable with the sort of policies you'll be asked to represent. you've really got to be in alignment. anyone who's read my recent book, anyone who's been reading me on social media or watching me on shows like this will know that i'm in many areas, many important areas, i'm not in sufficient alignment with this president and this administration so far to accept a senior position. >> richard, there are some who say the united states is less safe right now, and when you look at foreign policy or the lack thereof, right, we don't know what foreign policy of this administration is, right, there is no syria policy thus far, his
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position on israel policy has completely flipped. he was for settlements, now is saying that he is -- wants a deal on that front. you see it with china, whether there's a one china policy or not. you see wit north korea. do you think the world right now is less safe than it was one month ago? >> well, the one thing i think the administration did that may have made the united states and the world less safe was its position dealing with refugees and the whole homeland security issue. more broadly, though, by move eight way from so many established positions, we've created real doubts in the minds of our friends and allies about whether we are dependable, whether we're reliable, whether what has been the case remains the case. so i don't think it's that we're in the short run less safe but what worries me is we're setting in motion dynamics and trends that over months or years will reduce u.s. influence and will mean that a lot of traditional friends and allies increasingly go their own way. and they may defer to powerful
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local states, they may decide to take matters into their own hands and think about developing nuclear weapons, making more independent decisions. we're not there yet, but i think we are setting that kind of historical trend in motion. >> richard, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. next, the president today tweet, deleting, betweening, retweeting. what is the one word that was so important for him to take out? he actually censored himself? and the trumps in florida, eric and don jr. are in dubai. how much is it costing you right now for all of that to keep them safe? . this is my retirement. retiring retired tires. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire?
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the secret service investigating an inconsistent with trump's motorcade. we are learning it appears an object was thrown at the vehicles today. it took place at west palm beach as the president was en route to mar-a-lago. athena jones issing wi travelin the president. what are you learning? >> reporter: it happened about a mile from with we are now.
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this was on west palm beach over the bridge from palm beach, an island. secret service are investigating. it appears someone threw a rock or something at the motorcade. the secret service and local law enforcement paid particular attention to a rock about the size of a baseball lying in the graz on the edge of the road about 6 to 8 feet from the edge of the road. they took pictures, i believe we have video of it and there was also another object that was a piece of wood about this big. it's unclear whether either of these objects actually struck a vehicle in the motorcade. that's something they're investigating. they're going to the businesses around that intersection to take a look at video that these businesses have. we just spoke to the man who runs a gas station at that intersection and he has several cameras with several angles and secret service was still there reviewing that video.
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we're awaiting more word. the president travelled in a limo called the beast that is armor plated and able to sustain quite a bit of force but still concerning. >> absolutely. the president launching a new strike tonight against the media and this is interesting. he went out on twitter, shocker, tweeted, but then he deleted his tweet, that's unusual, then he edited it and sent out a new tweet and all of this seems to be about one word. >> reporter: exactly. let's just spell it out. the president has already said he's at war with the pedia, his chief strategist steve bannon has called the media the opposition party. clear how he feels about the media. the first tweet was the fake news media failing new york sometimes, cnn, nbc, and many more is not my enemy. this is the enemy of the american people. sick. you see that word there in all caps. he deleted that tweet and tweeted again a few minutes later, apparently wanting to
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include more news organizes, which required him to edit himself. edit out that word sick. that second tweet he said the fake news media failing "new york times," nbc news, abc, cbs, cnn, is not my enemy. it's the enemy of the american people. he wanted to make sure he got every news outlet he could into that message. i should mention about an hour after that second tweet he said that -- he tweeted again quoting rush limbaugh, who according to the president said his press conference yesterday was one of the most effective press conferences i've ever seen. the president then adding many agree yet fake media calls it differently. dishonest. i would expect we'll hear more of that kind of language tomorrow at the rally. >> that's right. big rally. athena, thank you very much. kayleigh mcenany, keith boykin, and nia-malika henderson, our senior political reporter. kayleigh, i'm sure "the washington post" is shocked and happy to be left off of that
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tweet. in all seriousness, he's had a great day. chaos and turmoil, true headlines. but the headlines about the stock market and the economy are also true. a big moment at boeing. has this and then he goes off on twitter about the fake news media and, you know, had to drop the word sick which i'm sure was heartbreaking for him because he had to add in more news organizations. skeersly, why not capitalize on the fact that he had a good day at boeing? he looked presidential. everything was going his way. >> sure. he's an equal opportunity employer including more news organizes. it's a personal attack on the media.
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i think the public at large views the media with suspicion. i think when he attacks the media he highlights the coverage, encourages viewers to view the media and their coverage with discerning eye particularly when there are gaps in the facts like the flynn transcript and left wing commentators inserting wild speck haitian. i think when he calls out the media it encourages the public to scrutinize the public and the press and it is a win, supplements his message. >> keith, while kayleigh may have some points, i disagree on one important thing. the enemy of the people is something that would bring down an institution that makes our country great. that is deeply concerning to me. >> you're right about that. >> keith, what is your view on the effectiveness of this? kayleigh points out, people who like trump, this is what they
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want to hear. >> it is what his supporters want to hear but not what the american people want to hear. it's not effective. it stepped on his message today at boeing. no discipline. did same thing about the convention on the benghazi day. stepped on that message with his fox news interview. this guy is unhinged and he can't stay focused. the problem is his job now as president is to unite the country. and he has not done one thing since the election to unite the media. he's attacking everyone except vladimir putin, by the way, and this is supposed to be the time presidents have their highest approval ratings. he has the lowest gallup approval rating for any president this time in history. it's not a good start and it's his fault. the campaign is over. time to start acting presidential and i don't think he's capable of doing it. >> nia?
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>> on the one hand, it does bind his supporters together. this is what they want to here. this is what they're used to hearing. donald trump has to have a foil. it's donald trump and fox news and rush limbaugh versus everybody. i think his attacks on other institutions like the court hasn't worked out well for him, his attacks on the intelligence agencies as he calls them, hasn't worked well for him. as well i think american presidents have used the idea of the freedom of the press as an argument why america is an exceptional country. this idea that he and bannon have floated that the media is an opposition nal party is not in keeping with what american presidents have used. i think it's dangerous taking away that argument. it's also kind of silly and a waste of time. cnn was here before donald trump was president.
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we'll be hereafter ward. t"the washington post," other news organizations will be here after he's gone. it's like a broken record. kind of like what else you got, donald trump? >> is there something to be said here for steve bannon, i get it, he came from the opposition, this is how he sees the world. i understand that. but donald trump doesn't have political experience so maybe he doesn't understand the job of the media is to speak truth to power. that is our job. when you are in power, we are going to look, we are going to find, we are going to make sure. that is our job. he doesn't seem to get that. >> yeah, erin, i agree entirely about the importance of a free press. it is crucial to a democratic society. there is no argument about that. i think what president trump is frustrated with is like keith said president trump hasn't done one thing to unite the country. that is patently false. yesterday when the media was very into trump's press
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conference, rightfully so, it was a big moment, they did so at the expense of what was a unity moment, having coal miners in the white house, rescinding regulations, helping this ailing industry, issuing an order on black colleges and universities. these are unifying acts but left wing commentators ignore them or act as if they've never happened. >> we leave it there. i thank you for tonight. out front next, president trump's third straight weekend at mar-a-lago. his adult sons opening a golf course in dubai. a lot of that is on your bill. melania still spending most days in trump tower. president trump talking tough, putting iran on notice. what does the average iranian think about that? >> donald trump, he's just talking. i think he's just talking and he doesn't have anything to do.
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the secret service investigating an incident with president trump's motorcade in florida as the first family is receiving an unprecedented level
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of security, the first children overseas in dubai today, the first lady still living in new york. the price tag for security is becoming a big number, huge, in fact. tom foreman is "out front." >> reporter: the cost of protecting the jet-setting first family could be epic starting with the president, vice president, their wives, confidant, children and grandkids, over 20 people from the get-go. >> that's unprecedented, but not unattainable to protect them all. >> reporter: the equation is complicated by the trump family working out of so many place -- the white house, the mar-a-lago in florida, several private residences in and out of d.c., and trump tower in new york, which the first lady calls home. secret service director joseph lancing. >> when i go into trump tower the restaurant is full, the starbucks is full of people, so the challenge is to allow those businesses to continue to operate but in a secure manner. >> reporter: in the works,
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permanently hiring out a whole floor for security operations. that would be 13,000 square feet of prime new york real estate at a four-year market value of $6 million, although the president could give his team a deal. another worry, most of trump's chirp are grown and involved in business meaning lots of travel. "the washington post" puts the secret service hotel bill for his son's trip to south america at $100,000. and two sons are opening a golf course in dubai this weekend. >> i would say the most challenging trips for us are the foreign trips. >> reporter: ef time a president takes off up to 300 people go along. teams for personal security, counterassault, intelligence, military support, intelligence, transportation, communication, staffing and more. price tag is hard to pin down, but a government study found a three-day trip by president
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obama in 2013 cost taxpayers $3.6 million. will the total be tens of millions, hundreds? >> it's hard to forecast what the cost will be. >> reporter: other presidents have raised security challenges with their lifestyles and travel. bill clinton's vacations in martha's vineyard, george bush's retreats to texas, barack obama's holidays in hawaii. and cnn is told just protecting vice president biden's family took nearly 50 agents. >> that's stunning. unprecedented bills to taxpayers? >> that depends on what kind of pattern they set into over the long run. this could be a lot more than barack obama, but not necessarily. if they settle down and deal
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with new york and d.c. and mar-a-lago, then maybe. president obama made various trips across the country, all of which cost a lot of money. the bottom line is president trump is not doing anything wrong. these are just the challenges in the modern world of guarding a president and those challenges can be very expensive. >> all right. thank you very much, tom foreman. next, jeanne moos on "saturday night live" giving new meaning to the bully pulpit. and anti-americanism in iran. intensifying since the election of donald trump. >> we are ready to fight. all of us. with every early morning... every late night... and moment away... with every click...call...punch... and paycheck... you've earned your medicare. it was a deal that was made long ago, and aarp believes
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it should be honored. thankfully, president trump does too. "i am going to protect and save your social security and your medicare. you made a deal a long time ago." now, it's congress' turn. tell them to protect medicare. mattress firmness? enter sleep number... she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore. you can both adjust the bed for the best sleep of your life. save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed, plus 24-month financing. go to sleepnumber.com why do so many businesses rely on the u.s. postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. ♪ that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ here, there, everywhere.
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a stern warning from iran to president trump. the controversial travel ban has sparked outrage, anger we are seeing play out first hand. frederik pleitgen is "out front" from iran. >> reporter: "death to donald trump, death to america" these protesters chanted at the iranian revolutionary day in iran. on top of the usual anti-american chants in protesters, many depicting the new president. >> we are ready to fight. all of us. from the child, from the baby to the oldest one in iran. >> reporter: some three weeks into donald trump's presidency, the anti-american rhetoric and criticism is intensifntensifyin. president row hanni mocking trump, calling him a political newcomer after the u.s. hit iran with new sanctions following a
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ballistic missile test. saying his administration needs to be careful and all options including military actions are on the table. >> donald trump, he's just talking. i think he's just talking and he doesn't have anything to do. and he can't do anything. >> reporter: as pictures of trump and israeli's prime minister benjamin netanyahu broadcast around the world, iranian officials are balking with one top official attacking israel's influence on the trump administration. "we think the decisions in the early stages of the trump administration are influenced by delusion and propaganda like the israeli lobby which is determined to damage the recent nuclear agreement." while iran continues to taunt the u.s., posters like this one mocking american sailors who were captured by the revolutionary guard navy last year popping up in tehran, there's also this, posters thanking americans protesting
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president trump's travel ban. still many here fear they could be headed for a major conflict with the new administration after a relative warming of ties during the obama years. frederik pleitgen, cnn, iran. and tonight it is becoming america's most famous podium, right? you know the one i'm talking about. as we said, something that gives a whole new meaning to the world bully pulpit, here is jeanne moos. >> reporter: when president trump stood behind a podium and asked a reporter -- >> you okay? >> reporter: -- it reminded us of another podium and a fake reporter asking the same question. >> just mentally, though, are you okay? >> are you kidding me? are you -- >> reporter: melissa mccarthy as press secretary sean spicer drove her "snl" podium into immortality. the world's most famous motorized podium. did you have to teach jenny mccarthy how to drive a podium?
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>> we did. it was a lot of fun. >> reporter: "snl" gave this small pennsylvania company monkey boys productions less than 48 hours to create the podium. "snl" first suggested rigging a segue, but that was deemed dangerous so they took a motorized wheelchair, removed the seat, and built a podium on it out of foam and wood. mccart mccarthy controlled wit a joysti joystick. in her first rehearsal, mccarthy's driving was a little bit tentative. >> something you've never done before but once she got the hang of it she was playing around having a great time, trying to run people over. >> reporter: of course even nonmotorized podiums have mishaps. >> whooo! >> reporter: hillary's collapsed. and obama's -- >> we cannot sustain -- whoops. was that my -- >> reporter: yep. presidential seal. >> all of you know who i am. >> reporter: podiums are always
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getting abused. by coaches. >> well -- >> reporter: makes mccarthy seem almost gentle. when you take the podium, try not to take it with you. then prime minister of italy tripped on a mike cord at the white house. vil veoh berlusconi decapitated the podium but kept talking. when your podium acts like a bully -- >> we've been calling wit the bully pulpit. >> reporter: jeanne moos, new york. >> live from new york it's saturday night! we'll be right back.
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thanks for joining us. "ac 360 with jim sciutto is next." >> john berman here. closed doors, potentially high stakes. members of the senate intelligence committee entrusted to see and safeguard the country's deepest secrets got a briefing today from fbi director james comey. the subject -- russia. the details not so easy to come by. and the context, one departed national security adviser reports on this network and others of extensive contact between trump campaign advisers and russians and a cloud of suspicion that will not lift. in the