donald trump says he has signed more legislation in his first year in office than anyone since harry truman. true or false? we'll check the claim. new military moves in north korean, why officials worry it could be signs pyongyang is getting ready for another test. melting glaciers in green land and the impact on cities everywhere. welcoming viewers joining us in the united states and around the world. we're all together.

i'm richard quest and you're in the cnn "newsroom." now let's begin with president donald trump who's making perhaps we might say questionable claims about what he's done as he heads towards his first year in office. the president said on wednesday he'd signed more legislation than any other u.s. president in the same time period. it follows the passage of his tax cut plan. the bill widely recognized as the only major piece of legislation donald trump signed this year. this is how he presented that feat while visiting world responders. >> we have broke the record of harry truman and they were saying if we get this big tax cut, that's the biggest legislation there is. it included the repeal of the

individual mandate. that's where you have the privilege of paying a lot of money so you don't have to buy health insurance. the most unpopular thing, which most people thought should have been unconstitutional. >> here's the problem with what the president said when he talked about breaking a record. whether he knew it or not at the time, there's no getting away from it, it's a simple fact, it's not true. president trump has signed 96 laws this year. harry truman signed around 250 bills in his first year, according to his presidential library. in fact, mr. trump has signed fewer bills in his first year than any administration in decades, and you've got to go back to the eisenhower administration at least. that hasn't stopped donald trump. it's a claim he keeps repeating. here's what he said last friday. >> legislative approvals, for

which i'm giving no credit for in the media. harry truman had more, and we beat him, for which i get no credit. >> we have the are professor of international politics at city university in london. >> good morning. >> is it true? has he broken the record? what is the actual fact here? >> the key factor is that president trump has his own style and the first thing he does every morning i think is throw a big one toward the mass media. it's a claim which he knows is unsustainable. but it gets everybody focussed on president trump and what he's been doing. and it takes away attention from other things he might be doing, which could be much more negative. that could be appraisals of where has he got to at the end of almost his first year in presidency. >> let me take that point. what you're saying is that what

we are now doing is exactly what he wants us to be doing, which is to be talking about a falsehood rather than something that might be more important? >> i think he's a very, very skilled, media savvy individual. he's built a big career in that regard. he's got a strategy of sand in your eyes, diverse nar tactics, which makes him look like he's appealed to the large public, and solved many of their problems. for those people who support him, this bolsters that support. and galvanized other people. >> let's look at the legislative actions, if you like, that he has done overall. if you look at a totality of this. modifies existing programs, repeals rules and regulations, encourage innovations, this makes up your 96. but besides this, the

presidential actions that he signed, have reset an agenda, haven't they? >> absolutely. that's the key part of it. he came in as a procorporate, probusiness candidate. extolling the virtues of business, and deregulate corporate behavior. he's done it in terms of environment mental protections, labor protections, and so on. all of it is part of the policy, and the tax law, which is freeing corporations and his claim is they're going to invest a large amount in investing new jobs. >> feel free to be brutally honest here. are we and i missing the point when i'm focussing on the amount of legislation signed? and, actually, the real thing is the totality of all these other things that have changed the business environment? >> i think you have to look at, if you like, the major

constituencies to which this administration is addressing, if you look at the dow jones up 15% since last december, look at the air row space 33% up since last year. look at the opinion polls in regards to his approval ratings in the e lek telect as a hole. it tells us he's interested in big corporations. they love him. they're donating more funds to his campaign than before. and he's bolstered that position very, very carefully. if you look at wealth and income inequality, which he campaigned on as well, trying to reduce, that's going to continue to increase. >> that's incredibly significant. but is it significant that he

does exaggerate the truth -- i was going to use the phrase that sir robert arm strong used, but he goes further than that. hez he exaggerates the truth to the point of breaking. >> it's a more hyped up version. all leaders want to suggest at the end of a landmark period they have achieved a great deal. they want to different yat themselves from other leaders. but he's not such an outliar has he claims. they've been procorporate, and not towards the citizens and their needs. he plays a media game that is probably more brutal and honest if you like from his perspective than anybody else. but he's not an out liar.

>> with a new year around the corner the white house is looking for something, bipartisan support for legislation on infrastructure. it's something the democrats have been trying to get through congress for years only to see their efforts derailed. that might change as phil mattingly explains. >> reporter: president trump may be coming off 2017 that was defined by partisan battles, whether it's obamacare or the tax plan. they're going to shift, change gears fwlalt. that's according to white house officials when it comes to 2018. their focus infrastructure. it's going to be so much of a focus that white house aides saying it'll be central to president trump's state of the union address in january. they're saying a floor of about

$200 billion in federal funding with the hope that states and local governments will kick in another $800 billion for a trillion dollar package. they believe democrats might sign on. and there's been a lot of work going on behind the scenes with leaders meeting with democrats who might come on board in both the house and senate. this is a issue that needs to be addressed, the roads, bridges, railroad tracks, these are things that need to be fixed in some way, shape or form. but while there's bipartisan agreement on that front, there's not bipartisan how you would do that. look at the number the president's team has laid out to this point. democrats say that's not enough. they pitched ideas from $800 billion to $1 trillion. so how is this going to work? it's an open question.

you have republican leaders in the house and senate who have different ideas about what the 2018 agenda should look like, but when you look right now at the u.s. senate with republicans holding just a 51/49 majority. mitch mcconnell making clear that bipartisanship is really the only path forward in 2018 if they want to get anything done. infrastructure is certainly the path they think they might be able to get something major accomplished. they're looking at ten red state democrats, who are up for re-election in 2018. states that president trump won in the 2016 election. but those democrats have not crossed the aisle on anything major to this point, whether it was health care or the tax bill, anything you can think of up to this point. so the question is how do you thread the neetdle for a plan that can bring democrats on board, not ail nate too many republicans. and by the way, in the middle of a midterm election year, it's a question as of this moment

nobody has an answer to. but at least as of this point, the president's team says that is the direction they're going to try. another story we're following about the special election in alabama earlier this month. now the loser, the republican roy moore has filed a complaint alleging fraud. his campaign wants to postpone the results until an investigation is completed. it contains a polygraph test that said the allegations were false. the results were scheduled to begin today. breaking news i need to

bring to your attention. 40 people have died in a suicide bombing in afghanistan. 30 people have been wounded. the blast targeted a cultural center in kabul. the taliban said they are not responsible for the attacks. the u.s. secret of state rex tillerson has written an op-ed, it outlines the numerous foreign policy challenges facing the united states and how he hopes to continue addressing them. he puts the new sanctions on north korea in context. he writes, we hope this internationalize lags wiisolati pressure the regime into serious negotiations on the aban domment of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

u.s. officials think the regime may be preparing another missile satellite launch. barbara starr has that part of the story. >> reporter: the u.s. intelligence community, the u.s. military keeping a sharp eye as always on north korea. there are preliminary signs, cnn has been told, that the north again is moving equipment around. what is not clear is the aim in this equipment movement. is it aimed at another upcoming ballistic missile test or are the north korean's preparing to launch a satellite on top of a rocket. too early to say, we don't know. but all eyes on the satellite imagery and any intelligence they can gather. now this comes at a sensitive time. the olympics in south korea are coming up in the next several weeks and the u.s. military is

saying it will keep a more quiet view, it will not be talking so much about any upcoming training or exercises because of the sensitivities in the region. it's not talking about when its next exercises are scheduled for. for example, something very different than in the past because tipedly pentagon talks about it, it wants north korea to know it is training, routine business, these are not upcoming military operations. but the sensitivities in the region right now, the effort to get a diplomatic solution is leading the pentagon to pull back publically on its own discussion about exercises. now it will be up to president trump to decide whether he is going to take that line or he may, once again, engage in very aggressive public rhetoric about the north. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. still ahead, a dangerous

mission under cover of darkness. cnn rides alongside the turkish police who are trying to shut down an isis cell. it's so cold in some parts of the united states, bone chilling temperatures are settling records and those records are on the low side. a look at the forecast is ahead. you're in the cnn "newsroom." we're in london. ahhhhhhhh! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour.

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turkey is once again taking a very hard line against its neighbor syria, even saying president bashar al la sad should have no role in the future. but the president seems more assured than ever he will stay in power. yet as russia, i ran and others seek a lasting peace, the president's harsh remarks took many by surprise. >> translator: let me say it clearly assad is a terrorist who has carried out terrorism. we cannot say this person can do this job. if we say that it will be unfair to a million syrians who were

killed. syria fired back blami blam erdogan for supporting terrorists. cnn's david was allowed to go on a raid against a suspected isis cell. >> if we are ready, we are moving the officer radios to his men. it's just a few days after new year's eve and the police force is getting ready for a raid. and we are briefed, they're deemed to have the capacity to cary out an attack. turks are wary and anxious this

holiday season following the pain and shock of last year's new year's eve terror attack when a gunman opened fire on a club in istanbul. and the security cannot afford to take any chances. they're trying to move in as quietly as possible. this is part of a sweeping operation that is evolving around three dozen targets and hundreds of police officers. residents peer down but stay well in doors. this is as far as we're permitted to go in this stage. there have been instances in the past in the course of the last year where the targets have exploded suicide vests or attacked the officers no one is allowed to go on camera and the information disclosed is scant. they're targeting a couple that's believed to be the head

of a south moving fighters. the search is still ongoing. the couple has been apprehended and it's believed they're the heads of the entire cell. there are no casualties on this night or any clashes. video later released by the police force shows other targets their homes searched and tossed for any grain of information. all 28 people were detained and there have been regular crackdowns throughout the country. over the last year, hundreds of isis suspects have been taken into custody but the threat level remains high and casts a shadow over what should be a festive time. u.s. president donald trump is winning praise in israel these days where a high speed rail station will be named for him. it will take a year to plan and four years to build. it follows mr. trump's decision

to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. the israeli government hailed the decision. most countries in the united nations general assembly reversed it. it runs through the west bank which palestinians want. the power is back on at disney land. tourists were stranded on a dozen or so rides. one guest said he was stranded for 25 minutes before he was escorted to safety. so arctic air is blasting the united states with chilly temperatures and record snowfall in some places. it's all right covered erie,

pennsylvania 64 inches, the height of a average female. they've issued warnings for people to cover up as much skin as possible. derek van dam has more. believe it or not, this is not the coldest air we will feel in the big apple this week. we have new year's eve coming up sunday night into monday and a secondary blast of arctic air is going to drop south from canada and that's going to make things interesting for the ball drop at midnight. check this out, international falls set a record low temperatures, this is fahrenheit, it's about 38 degrees celsius, below zero. when you start smashing record low temperatures by five degrees, we're talking cold air.

over 30 record low temperatures were set wednesday morning, that t shifts eastward so you're waking up to a bitter start to your thursday morning from d.c. to new york to boston. the national weather service has issued wind chill warnings all the way to maine. this is what it feels like when you step outside. you factor in the winds and cold temperatures. it's 1 degree in the big apple. 25 below for green bay. very bone chilling air expected today and again right as we head into the holiday weekend. here's a look at daytime highs in the afternoon. struggling to reach above 20 in the big apple. can you handle that? >> i'm due to be in times square on new year's eve with anderson and andy -- what are you

laughing at? how cold will my bits freeze? >> all i say is good luck to you, sir. literally, thermals, every piece of winter warm clothes that you can bring from london to new york. >> i've dondavos. maybe not the best idea. we'll continue that, thank you. it may be cold outside now -- i'm not sure -- derek seems to be taking humor in my discomfort on new year's eve. when we come back after the break, cold in new york, and yet the earth's temperature is rising. >> it's only from the air that you get a scale of the sense and enormity of the ice sheet and what's staggering to imagine is in the center of the island, this ice is 2 miles thick.

>> we'll take you to the epicenter of the climate change in a moment. russian president vladimir putin launches his bid for a fourth term. the grip on power that he holds. cannot live without it.

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bombing attack in kabul. interior ministry said 30 have been wounded. there's been no claim of responsibili responsibility. the taliban say they are not behind the attack. president trump visited a fire station in florida on wednesday, to thank first responders and repeated a claim he's sign more legislation than any other president than harry truman. and he hasn't. he's signed 96 bills into law, the fewest of any president since eisenhower. roy moore has afiled a complaint in the election. he wants to wait on the results. vladimir putin has officially launched his bid for a fourth term. he submitted the paperwork

necessary to register and he's expected to win handily. alexi navali is prevented from running, and has encouraged people to not vote. >> translator: we will start a big campaign. on one hand persuade everyone to participant and boycott and not take part in the election. and on the other hand take count of how many people come to the polling stations and not let putin fabricate that number. come out to the street for yourselves, your rights, for your future. for the fact we do not want to lose another six years. >> even if he gets his wish, mr. putin is likely to change -- cnn's phil black looked at the factors that combined to make him who he is.

>> reporter: some would argue vladimir putin is the most powerful man in the world, but what are the sources of his power? he has cyber power, military might and a consult of personality, while moscow denies its hackers interfered in the u.s. election. they've been accused in other countries, claims they reject. russia's enormous hacking power isn't new and traces back to the ussr. putin's power is also hugely enhanced by his personal control of russia's vast military. much of it is also a soviet legacy. so putin has been pumping extraordinary amounts of money into its modernization. but they agree they have a limited ability to project military power far from the country's power. one of the biggest is his

extraordinary power at home. the more his behavior attracts disapproval from other countries, it increases at home. countries care about their ability to influence other countries. he also benefits from a political system and media landscape with zero tolerance for criticizing the president. so no doubt he's powerful and unpredictable but also limited by big problems, the russia economy isn't going anywhere. that's why there's another popular theory about putin and his web of influence. he's someone who plays a weak hand very well. you're watching cnn "newsroom" we're live in london. we'll visit one of green land's fastest moving glaciers and see firsthand how the melting ice

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2017 will go into the history books as one of the warmest ever. and nowhere is climate change more evident than greenland where the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. cnn clarissa ward has the exclusive. >> reporter: imagine a world where you can sail right up to the north pole. where the largest ice sheet in the northern hem is fear is simply melting away. >> the melt is winning this game. >> we've now broken all-time records for three consecutive years. >> as oceans continue to rise, flooding the streets of american cities half a world away. >> what happens in the arctic doesn't stay in the arctic. >> reporter: imagine a world where hurricanes and heat waves

reek havoc. >> just a held storm. >> politicians deny the problem as temperatures continue to rise. >> it's a hoax. >> green land is an epicenter for climate change. >> reporter: what if i told you this is already happening right here, right now? we are the primary cause and only we have the power to stop it. this is greenland. though you will find very little greenery here. home to some of the most stunning wild life on the planet, the world's largest island is more than 80% made up of pure ice. it's only from the air that you really get a sense of the scale and the enormity of this ice

sheet. and what's staggering to imagine is in the center of the island this ice is 2 miles thick. it looks as though time has stood still for thousands of years. but this environment reflects the big changes in our world's atmosphere. as the planet gets warmer, the arctic is heating up at double the rate and greenland, in particular, is warming even faster. jason box is an american climate scientist who has been coming to this remote corner of the world for more than 20 years. >> the amount of water that's produced across this landscape has increased. it's doubled in the last 50 years. >> reporter: everywhere you go in greenland you can see and hear the ice sheet melting. sometimes a drip, sometimes a roar.

its surface is etched with fast flowing rivers that carry the melt water deep down to the bed. >> it cascades down thousands of feet and makes its way to the bed. it's heating the bed of the ice sheet. everything is stacking up that the ice is going faster than forecast. >> reporter: and no sign of slowing down? >> the melt is winning this game. >> reporter: and the more greenland melts, the more it speeds up the melting process. take the large melt lakes that are forming on top of the ice sheet, stunning to look at, but bad news for the ice. these lakes are deceptively beautiful because where the white of the ice reflects the sunlight, the piercing blue of the lake actively absorbs it, heating them up and accelerating the rate of melt. perhaps the clearest example of

this vicious melt cycle can be seen in greenland's glaciers. as melt water moves through the ice, it softens it and drains to the bed where it then lubricates the movement of the glacier. we got a rare closeup view of one of greenland's faster moving gl glaciers, it is vast and unforgiving. >> this is one of the most productive glaciers in green land. it's about three golden gate bridges wide. and it drains in the order of like 40 billion metric tons per year. it's an astronomical amount of water it's delivering. >> reporter: between august of last year and august of this

year, new york university said it retreated 2 miles. the furthest retreat inland they have seen in a decade. you can see vast chunks of it crashing into the water, a process called calving. >> what does that mean for the sea? >> there's hundreds of glaciers like this in greenland, many of them have doubled in speed. the rate it's decanting to the ocean has gone up in ways that surprise the science community. >> reporter: it's not only scientists that have been surprised. 56-year-old tobias has been hunting with his dogs in greenland his whole life like his father and grandfather before him. these days there's far less ice for dog shredding. >> six years ago, maybe 500 meter and more is glacier.

so we can start dog sledding down from sea. >> is that something you have seen with your own eyes? >> yeah i have seen this. now i cannot hunt in july from dog sleds, only boat. >> this year he has to take his dogs off the ice and back to town for the summer. he doesn't know if his grandsons will become hunters. if the past is anything to go by, the future looks bleak. warming has been faster than any time in the past. >> how concerned are you by the data you have collected and the changes you've seen here? >> what concerns me most is the amount of committed loss. so the amount of co2 excess, due to humans burning fossil fuels

mainly. that commits us to more than 1 meter of sea level rise. >> reporter: that's roughly 3 feet. greenland doesn't play by las vegas rules. what happens here doesn't stay here. as temperatures increase and the melt accelerates, greenland has become the largest source of sea level rise globally. this year after decades of deline, the amount of ice lost in greenland was roughly equal to the amount gained. but he says this is an anomaly and drastic cut in carbon dioxide emissions won't be enough to stop the melting. >> someone said the canary is dead. >> it's dead in that it indicates it's time to get out of the mine. in other words, we have a problem. now's the time to start developing that response.

>> reporter: at summit station, weather patterns and climate changes are a focus of much of the research. an outpost funded by the national science foundation it is perched at 6,000 feet at the top of the greenland ice sheet. the only way to get there is on a u.s. military plane. a two-hour flight from the nearest airport. it land osa runway of snow using giant skis. all equipment and personnel have to be flown in at great expense. >> reporter: it doesn't get much more remote than this. with the high altitude, the science that is being done here at summit station requires enormous resources and sheer physical effort. but this place is u neekly positioned to answer a crucial

question. has the arctic reached a tipping point? engineer zoe korville has explained its isolation is its greatest asset. >> it's a pristine of climate change specifically. >> we've been making measurements since 1980 here. we've also drilled to bedrock. so we have -- >> 140,000 years? >> yes, we're standing on two miles of ice below us. and you can use ice core as tree rings to get an idea of what it was like. >> but summit's hefty price tag has made it a pro po sal for

budget cuts. they want to slash funding for the national science foundation and many fear the summit could be the first. >> it's short term gain, long term environmental gain. >> he says he's frustrated by the lack of the white house commitment to climate change studies, and the withdrawal from the paris climate change. >> people say listen, there have been ice ages, heat waves, there's a natural fluctuations in temperatures and that's living on planet earth, what do you say to that? >> what's happening now is human activity has become the dominant agent of change for about the last 150 years. the climate change we observe today is at least 80% due to human activity. we are now a force of nature. >> reporter: and not a force for

good. for millennia, man kind's presence in greenland has been dwarfed by the dramatic scenery and the extraordinary living creatures we share this unique habitat with. but in recent history, the balance of power has shifted, and with it responsibility to do something. clarissa ward, cnn, greenland. stunning pictures and a story to be told. it's one of the most pressing questions of the year, what is cofeoff. yes, you know what i'm talking about. we'll talk about it when i come back.

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vof hundreds of families, he'se hmost proud of the one the heads he's kept over his own. brand vo: get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. quickbooks. backing you. the results are in, and the most admired man in america is, the former u.s. president, barack obama. it's his tenth year in a row that he topped the gallup pole. in second place was the current u.s. president, donald trump, it's his third year in the running. he still lags behind his white

house predecessor. the most admired woman in the united states, hillary clinton. she's topped the list for the 16th straight year. twitter says president trump was the most tweeted about world leader of the year, that's not a surprise. however it may not be such a good thing. one of the most memorable and viral moments in his first year in the white house, that baffling, late-night half tweet about cofveve. jeanie moose needed to help us out. >> reporter: giberrish goes presidential. despite the constant negative press, what's that word? >> cofveve, huh? >> professionals could only guess at how to pronounce it. >> that is hilarious. >> how do you say it? >> cofveve.

>> cofveve. >> i've been saying it cofveve. >> we're sure the president meant to type negative press coverage, but the cofveve tweet stayed up for almost six hours. it was then deleted and the president tweeted who can figure out the true menning of cofveve, enjoy. which the internet did. it was turned into a wheel of fortune puzzle. eventually the white house press secret only confused things more. >> the president and a small group of people know what he meant. >> i thought it was a hidden message to the russians. >> reporter: tweeted one joker are you functioning from small dysfunctional hand. i thought cofveve is what you say when someone sneezes.

it was turned into an ivanka fragrance. a man bought the license plate when he saw it trending. >> what is cofveve? >> ted cruz tweeted cofveve, hard to say but i hear al franken's book is full of it. >> many assume he fell asleep. >> i know many words. >> reporter: the best nonwords too. >> cofveve. >> you say that with such assurance. i'm richard quest in london. "early start" is next for viewers in the united states. for everybody else, i'll be back, like it or not, with more from the cnn "newsroom." around the world, around the clock, this is cnn.

. roy moore with an 11th hour lawsuit to block the special election. we have signed more legislation. >> president trump with the big pat on the back pofor himself b his claim doesn't exactly hold up. >> and the secretary of state says changes at the a state department are showing results. we'll tell you