good morning, everyone. welcome to our "new day". we do begin with breaking news. a search for survivors is under way after a u.s. navy plane crashed off japan's coast with 11 crew members and passengers on board. eight of those have been rescued. the crash is the latest in a series of deadly accidents for the u.s. 7th fleet. as this emergency overseas unfolds, we assume the president knows about it, but we can't tell from his twitter account. because he is talking about other things. he is talking about them a lot and in heated tones. such as lavar ball, the basketball dad. and protesting nfl players. all of this comes just hours after president trump defended roy moore's denials despite the serious accusation of child molestation. and he does seem to be supporting him in his race. we have it all covered.

let's begin with barbara star live at the pentagon with our breaking story. you told us in the last hour that they were still searching for three of the 11 passengers on board. is that still the situation? >> reporter: as far as we know at this hour, u.s. and jab is niece forces are continuing their search for three missing people from that aircraft that crashed at sea carrying 11. eight rescued so far. so three families before this holiday weekend waiting for word on their loved ones. and they do not have it yet. the eight rescued have been taken to the uss ronald reagan said to be in good condition. this is a small passenger plane that routinely carries people on and off the deck of aircraft carriers. it happened 500 miles off the coast of okinawa, the japanese island in the philippines sea. rescue forces were there obviously in quick order to be able to get to be able to

recover the eight people on board. as you say, this has been a deadly year for the 7th fleet out in the pacific. 17 sailors being killed in two crashes. two collisions at sea. the "uss fitzgerald", the u s"u john mccain" colliding with commercial cargo shipping there. 17 sailors dead there. the latest one, a fifth on saturday. a tug boat drifted into yet another u.s. navy ship and caused damage there. we will have to see what happened in this latest aircraft accident. chris? >> please bring us updates as soon as you have them from the upon the gone. president trump is up early but he is not tweeting about the navy crash or the fate of the three missing americans. instead he is tweeting at 5:25 a.m. about the nfl and lavar

ball. it began with this tweet. it says it wasn't the white house. it wasn't the state department. it wasn't father lavar's so-called people on the ground in china that got his son out of a long term prison sentence. incident was me. too bad. lavar is just a poor man's version of don king but without the hair. just think, lavar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during thanksgiving with your son in china but no nba contract to support you. but remember, lavar, shop lifting is not a little thing. it's a really big deal, especially in china. ungrateful fool! >> the president then switched topics to the national football league and the civil rights protests taking place during the national anthem writing, the is now thinking about a new idea. keeping teams in the locker room during the national anthem next season. that's almost as bad as kneeling. when will the highly paid

commissioner, that part is true, finally get tough and smart? this issue is killing your league! >> the tweets come hours after president trump broke his weeklong silence on roy moore, all but endorsing the embattled senate nominee despite sexual abuse allegations against moore. joe johns is live with the president is vacationing with more. hi, joe. >> reporter: hi, alisyn. the real message the white house and the president are sending right now is that on roy moore, it's all about the president's political agenda before flying south here to florida for the thanksgiving hole day, the president did throw his support behind roy moore despite the fact that the president's communication's team had been saying what happens in the alabama election is all about the alabama voters.

>> i can tell you one thing for sure, we don't need a liberal person in there, a democrat. >> reporter: president trump all but endorsing embattled senate republican nominee roy moore. >> we do not need somebody that is going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad for the military, bad for the 2nd amendment. >> reporter: insisting his concerns were about policy above all else, despite allegations that moore sexually assaulted two teenage girls who he was in his 30s, including one woman who said she was 14 at the time, and allegedly pursued romantic relationships with six others. >> is an accused child molester better than a democrat? >> look, he denies it. he totally denies it. he said it didn't happen. and you have to listen to him also. >> reporter: the president siding with moore over his accusers before saying he was happy that women across the country are now speaking up about sexual harassment. >> women are very special. i think it's a very special time because a lot of things are coming out. and i think that's good for our society. and i think it's very, very good for women.

>> reporter: a republican close to the white house says the president doubts moore's accusers and sees a similarity between the accusations leveled against moore and the sexual misconduct allegations made against him by at least 13 women in the final days of the 2016 campaign. charges the president has denied.

>> every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. >> reporter: mr. trump leaving the door open to possibly campaigning for moore ahead of the december 12th special election in alabama. >> i'll be letting you know next week. >> reporter: breaking with his party's leadership and a number of gop senators who called on moore to step down. >> he's obviously not fit to be in the united states senate and we've looked at all the options to try to prevent that from happening. >> reporter: moore's democratic challenger doug jones is speaking out about the accusations against moore for the first time. >> the women. i believe their stories, their credibility, and i believe them. >> reporter: and releasing an ad credit sizing moore. >> ivanka trump says there's a special place in hell for people who prey on children. jeff sessions i have no reason to doubt these young women. conservative voices. putting children and women over party. >> reporter: and this morning the moore camp moved quickly to capitalize on the president's support, sending out a fund-raising e-mail quoting both president trump as well as billy graham and a link where people could donate money. chris and alisyn, back to you. >> thank you, joe. joining us to discuss everything is chris cillizza and a.b. stoddard. we know the president is

interested in this morning. he's not talking about the search that's under way for the three missing u.s. sailors. he's talking about lavar ball and the nfl. >> yeah. look, if there is a thread that goes through donald trump's presidency in his political life it is personal peak. he does not like when he doesn't get credit that he believes he deserves. he does not like when people say bad things about him. and he is unwilling or demonstrated to willingness to ever take the high road. he will get in any fight with anyone. and this is just more evidence of that fact. look, last week he attacked lavar ball's son, liangelo ball, and two others arrested for shoplifting. he attacked jeff flake, cnn, the new york sometimes, marshawn

lynch. now we are to the nfl and roger goodell and now lavar ball. he cares about what is him. he cares what affects him and what people say about him. he does not view the presidency as a representative of the country, just as sort of a lone individual, an individual who gets a lot of attention, but an individual who will not allow himself to ever be attacked and not respond. >> so how does that play, a.b., into what's going on with roy moore? the president says this is a special time. it's good that women are coming forward. this is good for women. we need to hear about these types of claims of being assaulted and harassed. but then he says, but roy moore denies it. tkpwh good enough for me. i don't want a democrat in there. how does this work? >> well, there are so many tag it's to that question. >> every question i ask is multi-faceted like a diamond.

>> this is true. there are upwards of 16 women who accused president trump and he got through an election by saying he is going to sue them all. they were all lying. he knows there is a get it of jail free card. it is basically to talk about what's helpful not what is necessarily truthful. so standing there yesterday saying he denies it, he denies it, is pleasing roy moore voters who are sticking with him. he does not want to let them down. he nurtures his base quite vigorously. and so he's making the plain case that he is putting party over everything else. he needs the numbers in the senate. not a problem. he has basically gone against the white house message, which is it's up to alabama to decide. the rnc, which broke their funding agreement with roy moore, and his own daughter that

says there's a special place in hell for people who prey upon children. this is typical donald trump. it is not a problem for him to change his mind, to break with the team. the tweets obviously about mr. ball, you know, as chris was saying, he wanted to make the case that i alone took care of this. it's all about him. he's always animated by grievance. he loves a good beef. he can't stay away from it. and he's not really concerned this morning with tax reform or anything else. the team, the republican team wants him -- >> one other thing. first of all, a.b. is right. one thing to add, it is important to know what donald trump did as it relates to roy moore. he took roy moore's side here. he said he believes roy moore. if you believe roy moore, you do not believe the women who are accusing him. >> although breitbart guy was arguing vigorously. we see it all the time.

both sides can be credible. >> no. >> both sides are credible. it is an impossibility of logic, but that's what they argue. both sides can be critical. >> it is important to say if donald trump believes roy moore's denials and he has issued a full scale blanket denial, these are lies. i never met these women. if he believes that, then he does not believe the women. so to say women are special and this is a special time for women, those two things don't go together. >> yeah. you can like donald trump or hate him, but that does not add up. >> chris, i'm not sure he has issued -- i don't hear it as unequivocably as you do. >> you're talking about roy moore? >> roy moore. >> true. >> he said something to the effect of i don't believe that in the past i may have not done

that. >> you're right. the denial for roy moore has not been unequivocal. as it relates to these charges, lee corfman in particular said he never met this person. >> how do you think this would change the equation? if instead of the women, the eight women, it was eight men. if eight men had come forward and said the same things, not the dating thing. it wouldn't fit the persuasion of mr. moore. but if eight women come forward -- >> and said what? >> he pushed up on me, did inappropriate things. do you think it would change the calculus? is that more ofpbgsive to people than when it happens to women? >> i don't know about people. >> some people. >> the president made it clear with some of his comments, a.b., the president has made it clear that he is willing to believe one man's strange denial over eight women's compelling stories.

i think for the president that he has made that decision. >> the reason i bring it up, the reason i have been thinking about this, it is a reflection that we are not where we need to be when it comes to how we respect these claims. if you switched it. there is absolutely no suggestion. i'm saying hypothetically. if there were little boys involved, people say that's disgusting, i don't want to hear it. it's horrible. but with women, we're not there yet. >> you don't think the past month of the flood gates opening has solved the problem? >> it has exposed the problem, though. that's a good start. >> a.b., history teaches us that roy moore will win, as we know from the 12 women that came forward during the presidential election and accused president trump of sexual misconduct. his base was willing to overlook that. >> there is a probability. you tell me, a.b. >> what do you think? >> officials are saying they have this unbelievable high amount of on request for

instructions about write-in ballots. those people away from roy moore. those are people looking to use another name because they can't stomach, you know, voting for roy moore. then some roy moore defenders will come out. december 12th when there is nothing else on the ballot, expected to be low turnout, you can expect them to be motivated. there is a chance jones wins because the write-in votes take votes away from moore. but then again roy moore still has a very good shot. >> just very quickly, what donald trump said yesterday made it much, much more difficult as a republican to have a chance. >> there you go. chris cillizza, a.b. stoddard, thank you. we have video you must see. a north korean soldier is trying to escape into south korea. running for his life, getting shot at while doing so. north korean troops then violate the truce that ended the

korean -- it's an armistice. what did they do? they opened fire across the border. they chased the soldier. cnn's ana cornyn has more >> reporter: a north korean soldier is recovering here at university hospital following his dramatic defection to south korea. his daring escape was captured on cctv, something things rarely shared with the public. a desperate run for freedom. the dramatic moment a 24 kraoerld north korean soldier left his post. it's one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. first, in a jeep, then on foot. he's pursued by his own comrades. they fire more than 40 shots. doctors say he was hit at least four times before reaching safety.

these scenes captured on cctv were played at a news conference in seoul. the u.n. command said as the north koreans pursued the defector, they violated an armistice agreement that dates back to 1953 with a cease-fire between the north and south, but the war has not officially ended. they claim the north korean peoples army fired across the demarkation line and that one soldier crossed it briefly during the incident. >> you would see personnel notified kpa of the violations today through our normal communication channels and requested a meeting to discuss our investigation and measures to prevent future such violation. >> reporter: when the soldier arrived here on the outskirts of seoul, he had lost 50% of his blood and was unconscious with barely a pulse. doctors say he had suffered

gunshot wounds to his chest, shoulder, arms, and abdomen. by the time he reached the operating theater, he had almost died. they found parasitic worms, one nearly a foot long. doctors say he is now conscious and able to talk. >> translator: he and i have spoken a lot. i feel he defected so south korea of his own will. >> reporter: the soldier is a third member of the north korean armed forces to defect this year. they have notified north korea of the armistice sroeulzs and dema violationsis and demanded a meeting. >> what a story. what a video. ana coren, thank you. >> you get to see with your own eyes the desperation of even the soldiers. imagine regular people. and the soldier just risking

obviously his life to try to make it to freedom. >> and also a little bit of a window into the fragility of the situation there. you wonder if everything that wasn't going on that is going on, would they have shot across like that? we'll stay on the story. all right. president trump breaking with gop leaders defending roy moore. a lot of his supporters say, well, no, no, he didn't say he believes roy moore. he made it clear he is supporting moore in the race. why is he doing this? we ask a supporter next. ...the rest of the world fades away. so i got you something that stands out as beautifully... ...as you do. le vian at jared. only jared has more exclusive le vian pieces than any other jewelry store in the world. and now, visit jared.com for one-hundred dollars off any le vian purchase. the one gift as unique as she is.

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roy moore denies it. and by the way, he gives a total denial. and i do have to say, 40 years is a long time. he's run eight races, and this has never come up. so 40 years is a long time. >> all of that signals support by president trump for senate candidate roy moore.

what does this mean for other republicans? will they throw their weight behind roy moore? leonard lance of new jersey. they're looking into democrat john conyers. the tax bill. we will talk about those things. happy thanksgiving to you and your family. let's start with roy moore. what is your position on the accusations against roy moore? >> i believe the women, and i do not think he should be elected to the united states senate, chris. >> people say innocent until proven guilty. let the people of alabama decide. >> i agree with senior shelby, the distinguished senator in alabama, sixth in seniority. he said he will not be voting for judge moore. and i agree with senator shelby. >> why do you think the president is doing something different from your disposition?

i don't know. we should have all members vote for tax reform, democrats as well. we should not have a narrow victory in the tax reform issue. >> do you think for the president it's about the math, getting that seat, even if it means supporting somebody like roy moore? >> that was what kellyanne conway had suggested. i hope that the people of alabama might write in awe republican. i want a republican to win but i hope it might be a write-in. >> is it a fair criticism of this move to say the president by this move does not value women the way he should? >> he spoke yesterday about it is a good thing for women to come forward. i would urge that to continue.

we need to do a better job in society and in congress. >> can you believe that and then say, but you're not going to take the women's side against roy moore, you will take his denials. do those go together? >> in my view, we should believe the women and i believe the women. >> when you back roy moore, how keu can i believe the first part? >> i think we should believe the women. >> let's talk taxes. conyers, democrat. very long serving. the settlements that seem to be new to everybody's mind. i don't know how that can be. there is a treasury set up. it's been going on a long time. what are your thoughts on it? >> i do not comment ever on what may or may not be coming to the ethics committee. i want to assure you it is is completely bipartisan, five republicans and five democrats. if any matter were to come

before the ethics committee, we would go at it. i think all of that should be made public moving forward. and i believe transparency is the best way to proceed regarding these matters. >> you didn't know there were settlements? all you guys do is talk about each other. >> perhaps i'm not the person who engages in the most level of gossip in the cloak room. but i think transparency is important moving forward. >> now that you know, should my money go to pay for somebody else's settlements who is in congress? >> no. >> will you back one of those measures to make sure it's one of you guys pays if god forbid you're in a situation? >> yes. >> taxes. the bill as it stands now, are you for it? >> i'm against it for several

reasons. particularly to new jersey and new york is the state and local taxes. >> why? you fat cats from these big states on the east coast, you want to help the wealthy. middleclass don't file for the s.a.l.t. deductions. >> this has been in the code since 1913. it is a matter of federalism. we shouldn't pay taxes on taxes. that's what happens when there is no deductibility of s.a.l.t. >> why taxes on taxes? you get deductions for the federal side. state and local, that's for you. that's on your municipalities, size, and expense. why get a break on the federal side for what you choose to spend on the state and local side. >> if you pay taxes locally you shouldn't have to pay taxes at the federal level on that. >> you don't pay taxes on the federal level on that. you pay your local tax, state

tax, your federal tax. >> i also don't want winner states, loser states and incidentally new jersey contributes more to washington per capita and gets less back than any state in the nation. we get about 60 cents on each dollar we send to washington. so we are subsidizing other states. and i certainly think this should stay in the code. >> are you on board with the bill if they fix s.a.l.t.? >> it would increase overall debt by a trillion and a half over 10 years. i tend to be a budget hawk. >> do you think it's a middle class tax cut, that's what this is designed to be to advantage that group of people? >> many in the middleclass will be helped, but certainly there are also corporate reductions from 35% to 20%. and i might favor reductions from about 35% to 25% because that is the rate at which small businesses will be paying taxes.

>> is the mandate a repeal a make or break for you. >> i think that is mixing apples and orangings and would prefer that not be in it. i'm not sure it will be in the bill. >> thank you for being with us. best for thanksgiving and your family. you're always welcome here. the president taking on the at&t and time warner deal again. what he is saying now. adjustable sets. ♪ find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com. [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future.

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president trump weighing in on the justice department's lawsuit to block the at&t time warner merger. >> i'm not going to get involved in litigation, but personally i've always felt that was a deal that is not good for the country. i think you're pricing is going to go up. i don't think it's a good deal for the country. but i'm not going to get involved in this litigation. >> joining us now are cnn global economic analysts ran rana and steven moore. time warner is the parent company of cnn. do you know any reason why this merger shouldn't happen? >> look, there are concentration

of power issues in media right now, but i think this merger is the wrong target. it has been poisoned by the politicization of turner and cnn. the fact that it is now in play -- >> it is the president's personal vendetta. the president has gone after cnn time and again. >> right. >> and said how much he doesn't like it and how he doesn't want this deal to happen. >> that is particularly problematic at a time we need to look closely at antitrust. this is a vertically integrated merger. companies that don't committee. when you look at 2011 comcast/universal went through. no divestment there. the targets he should look at are googles, facebooks. that's where the real power in media is. i think this is a poisoned deal really. >> steven, what do you think? >> i disagree that there is somehow an overconcentration of power in media.

>> these companies, 80% of value in the corporate world. most are in california in silicon valley. >> do you think that this deal, do you see any problem with it? >> look, let me address the big picture because it's really important. this is going to be the issue of the next decade, the concentration of power by these companies. look, i grew up in the 1960s and '70s when you had two or three media outlets. now you've got thousands and thousands of media outlets. the idea that somehow someone is going to monopolize media is i think the exact opposite the truth. people have thousands of options. with respect to the at&t merger, look, i don't have a problem with it. it's one of the few times, alisyn i actually disagree with donald trump on economics. >> i know. so why is the president doing

this? >> i think he is concerned about too much concentration of power. >> if you're concerned about concentration of power, go after the companies that actually have the power. i have to jump in and say i disagree, even though you can make an argument there are lots of internet companies out there. there are tons of ad companies. the major power being held by a handful of players, google, facebook, amazon. those are the communities that they are worried about. >> sure. >> the firms are stealing our ip, monopolizing the markets. they own most of the value in the economy right now. >> it's a great point. you're exactly right. there are incredibly huge companies that are in a lot of ways bigger than john rockefeller. >> absolutely. >> so that's a fair point. but i would ask you this question, what is happening to the prices of all of these things. the whole idea behind monopoly

powers, they raise prices. alisyn, the prices are falling, falling, falling by 90% every year. so there is no issue here for consumers. >> yeah, see that's where i disagree. and i think this is where we need a fundamental change. you're right. but antitrust law has been predicated since the 1980s that on if prices go down, it's good for the consumer. but we are now paying for digital services in the form not of money but our personal data, that is the current fee. >> that's a concern. >> then we need to start thinking about antitrust in an entirely different way. >> i agree with you on the privacy issue. i'm not sure antitrust is the way to deal with it. >> ran that, i want to talk about the president weighing in on this. he said i'm not going to weigh in on this. then he proceeds to weigh in on it and says it's a bad deal. do you think his words will be used in this lawsuit now filed by the doj. as we have seen, the president's

words and tweets have come up with his travel ban and other things. >> yeah. >> so the president publicly weighing in during a lawsuit. what do you think this means? >> i think it questions rule of law. you know, i think it really -- at a terrible time when we do need a fundamental change in how we look at corporate power, mergers, antitrust, he will poison the well not just on this deal but how we look at the rest of this administration. if that happens, that's a terrible thing. >> poisoning the well. do you think the president is exceeding his bounds by talking about this publicly? >> no. i think it is a major issue in the day. we're having a good live live debate on this. there is a real difference in opinion. as i said, i worked as an adviser on the economy. i told him i disagreed with him on this. but look at time warner and at&t. in a lot of ways, they are almost dinosaurs. these companies may not even exist 15 years from now. i agree with rana's original

point, this may help competition with the giants you were just talking about. >> steven, we go back to the original question which is how do you see it as anything different than the president having a personal vendetta against the news on cnn and isn't that dangerous? >> no. for one thing, his own justice department is taking a different finish from him. he's clearly not weighed in. >> but the justice department is the one filing the suit. >> is what? >> filing the suit against this merger. >> no, look. my point is the justice department is taking an aggressive position. but this was the position of the obama administration, frankly. they were very skeptical of this too. you can't say they have somehow changed the position. >> this is what the head of the antitrust division at the department of justice said a year ago about this. he said this is more of what we

would call a vertical merger, a content rather than tpwro competitors merging. they will have very little role in what this will be. a year later he feels quite differently. >> listen, i don't have much to say about that. i'm going to say i simply say this should be adjudicated on what the law is. whether it will be something good for consumers and frankly good for american competitiveness. and i think net neutrality issue, you know, getting rid of net neutrality. what i want from the internet is for it to be tax free and regulation free. >> getting rid of it, terrible idea. you create two lanes, one for the rich, one for the poor. it is not how we should invest in broadband. companies doing that should get tax incentives for that. >>. the nfl dealing with a family feud. you've got roger goodell at the head of the league as

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the "new york times" reporting jones has changed his mind and will not take over the proposed contract extension. bleacher report presented by the new 2018 ford f-150. jones's lawyer told espn his client wants all owners to be able to see goodell's contract before it's approved. not just the sixth on the league's compensation committee. all owners are set to meet december 13th to discuss this issue. alisyn, chris, look at this. >> no matter who you are, no matter what the situation is. >> meet damon hodges at liberty

high school in youngstown, ohio. despite having two prosthetic legs due to complications at birth, he decided to join the football team to make his late father proud. he lost his dad at 12 years old. >> this is for my dad. he always wanted to see me play. he's watching right now. i love making him proud. >> you know what his advice is for anyone. just use that to motivate you. he is an inspiration to everybody. go to bleacherreport.com to check out the full feature. >> i love it. especially right by thanksgiving to be reminded, my brother, that what your limitations are often become your motivations. thank you, new friend. we are thankful for your handsome self. all right. so where does the trump/russia investigation stand now more than a year since the election? we have the facts and numbers next.

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all right. so, it's been about a year since the election. the russian investigation has been going on. there are those who say, what have they really done? so, this morning we have facts on the trump contacts with the russians. here is one way to quanify what has been done. court filings and reporting from cnn and other outlets, at least 12, a dozen of president trump's associates had contact with russians during the presidential campaign or transition. we now know of about at least 19 face-to-face interactions with russians or kremlin-linked figures. there are at least 51 communications, meetings, phone calls, e-mails and more between trump associates or people closely related to with the russian government. all of this flies in the face with nine blanket denials from

trump and his associates who have said that there was no contacts or ties between the campaign and russians. let's put these numbers into context. joining us now is former cia director general michael haden. sir, good to have you on the show, as always. happy thanksgiving to you and your family. >> thank you. >> so, the numbers. do they matter? am i quantifying or do you believe this volume of communications and people involved are relevant? >> no, i think it's very relevant, chris. you know, if you step back there are three big meetings we know about. imagine you and i were having this conversation a year ago and a year ago we knew that a campaign adviser that candidate trump had personally identified had a back channel to the rupg s to get e-mails about hillary clinton and the president's son was coordinating activity with

wikileaks and the president's son and son-in-law were having a meeting with a russian lawyer where they were discussing trading sanctions relief for dirt on hillary clinton. a year ago, chris, that would have taken our breath away. and now we know those kinds of things. so, you list all those numbers. i'm going to put it over here that that's really definitely weird. i would also forward the proposition that that's probably beyond acceptable, political behavior for most americans. and now we're going to go find out whether any of it was illegal or not. >> that is the big bar because at the end of the day either there were crimes committed, you can show me that there was knowledge of russian interference and some attempt by officials or close associates to enable those efforts or you have nothing. i mean, isn't that just what it comes down to? on that side of accountable not how did russia do it, how did we stop it, which is, let's be

honest, a little bit ignored in the wake of the other questions. when it comes to what we're calling collusion, that is the bar, isn't it? either you can show it or forget it. >> and, chris, i fear we're going to end up in a very ambiguous place. we're going to end up with a great deal of evidence about this kind of cooperation which i just suggested and we'll probably find out more about those kinds of contacts. so, we're going to end up with this massive amount of what i think most americans would agree to be political guilt, political responsibility. but it's very likely going to fall short of criminal responsibility and, so, this issue is never going to be behind us. it's always going to be in the face of this administration and the american public. that's about the darkest place i can think of ending up. we will be without resolution. >> all right. let's weave this into another headline which is that the president of the united states

spoke with the russian president vladimir putin for about an hour, we're told. what to do in syria was on the table. what are the considerations and concerns when it comes to this topic for you, sir? >> well, i actually think, chris, it's pretty clear now that we have conceded the lead to the russians for a political settlement in syria. we remain and the president has said this very clearly. we remain very laser focused on isis and killing terrorists and we have not become too involved with what happens after we succeed against isis. and i fear with the russians in the lead, this is not going to lead to a very good place either. i think we end up with assad remaining in power. syria being quite a bit larger than i imagined it ever would be. russia having a major hand in the middle east for the first time in half a century and the iranians having an uninterrupted

bay bridge. >> if i'm on the road heading to my in-laws house, why do i care about who's in the lead in syria? isis is the ones that threaten us. syrians don't threaten us. >> well, actually, chris, what the syrians do or what the syrians have done create the engine that in turn creates isis. you just heard me mention who's kind of the winners here in this equation. i haven't mentioned our best friends in the region, the kurds, who are definitely not winners and i haven't mentioned the sunni arabs who make up the majority of the population in syria. they will not be satisfied with this resolution and that dissatisfaction, chris, creates the dynamic that creates isis. in other words, if we don't significantly change the conditions on the ground, we're going to have to go back there, again, sooner or later and kill terrorists one more time. >> i don't know if this is a mark of my age or the

repetitiveness of this cycle, but you keep seeing in the war against terror, we go in there with the best fighters in the world. that is the u.s. military, period, objectively. they clear out whatever the situation is. and then the real problems become. and the higher on the military chain of command you go when you get up to someone like you, it becomes even more clear, general, that's the easy part. yes, it's costs us blood and treasure, but treasure is less important to america than the blood. but that's the easy part. it's what happens afterwards. how big are those concerns now? have we really gotten better at this than the taliban and al qaeda and now isis. are we better at the after? >> look, the after is really hard. so, a couple of iron clad laws of physics here, chris. number one, i think anybody with my experience will tell you, you can't kill your way out of this problem. the only way you resolve this problem is to change the facts on the ground. and i think president trump and the administration have made it

very, very clear we are not in the change the facts on the ground business. and, hence, my concern. >> general michael hayden, always appreciate your perspective. again, the best to your family for thanksgiving. we're thankful to you, sir. >> and to yours. there are some big headlines. let's get after it. this is cnn breaking news. good morning, welcome to your "new day." wednesday, november 22nd. now 8:00 in the east and we do begin with breaking news. a search under way for three missing americans. a u.s. navy plane crashed off the coast of japan. 11 crew members and passengers were aboard. the navy says eight have been rescued and are in good condition. that's the good part of the news. >> so, chris, while this emergency unfolds, overseas president trump is tweeting about his feud with lavar ball and protesting nfl players. and the president is under

scrutiny for his public defense of roy moore despite the sexual abuse accusations. we have it all covered for you. let's begin with cnn's barbara starr live at the pentagon for you. >> good morning, alisyn. u.s. and japanese forces are continuing a search and rescue mission about 500 miles off the coast of the japanese island of okinawa. a c-2 aircraft was expected to travel there with 11 passengers onboard. all military personnel. this is a small aircraft that routinely goes on and off aircraft carriers bringing people back and forth. it crashed. we believe quite close to the carrier because they were able to quickly rescue at least eight people that were brought onboard the "ronald reagan" and are said to be in good condition. they are still searching for thre