controversial anti-transgender law which requires residents to use public rest rooms corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate. that does it for us on this sex on their birth certificate. "morning joe" with mike barnicle and joe scarborough starts right now. ♪ it's beginning to look a lot like christmas everywhere you go ♪ >> they know my last name, louis. okay. come on. this isn't third grade. >> mike barnicle. joe scarborough. another thing my agent wants to know, barnicle gets top billing? seriously? what's wrong? >> thank you, louis. >> now that's the sort of thing someone would worry about. i'm good. you can do me last. how is everybody doing? everybody happy? christmas coming. >> christmas coming and journey is in the rock 'n' roll hall of

fame. >> what is your favorite one? >> there's only one. there's only one song i liked. "don't stop believing." >> what's that, alex? "open arms." that's my favorite. >> we're all creeped out right now. >> isn't it broken arms? >> can you get "open arms" just a chorus so people know why we're so creeped out by this. i don't think i can go on. >> that's it. thanks for joining us. >> see him in a leisure suit. anyway. good morning. >> good morning. >> so this is for the kids at home that don't this, this is my favorite day of the year. why would you think this is my favorite day of the year? >> anything to do with the

holidays? >> no. take a guess. i bet you know. >> because from this moment on, it's going to get a little lighter every day. >> summer is coming. this is the shortest day of the year. >> it's all up from here. >> it's all up from here. there you go. >> we just had the longest night. it's still ongoing. >> in this job, actually, that's a good thing. everybody gets tired around 5:45. good. i can go to sleep without my kids mocking me. mika has the morning off. she's -- where is she, mike? is it monaco or nice? >> she's in paris today. >> she shops today. >> she took three people from the staff with her to carry everything. >> of course she did. >> apparently it's why we don't have a script. >> we could probably locate her right now in paris. >> i bet you could find that.

she'll get back quickly i'm sure. anyway, with us on set, we have veteran columnist and msnbc -- >> legendary. >> mike barnicle. also msnbc political contributor and former communications director to ted cruz's presidential campaign rick tyler. contributor to "time" magazine and msnbc political analyst and former aide to the george w. bush white house and state department and political analyst bob costa. you see the front of "the new york times" today. grim picture of angela merkel and obviously europe just trying to figure out, mike, how exactly to deal with what keeps coming at them and what keeps coming at them for a variety of reasons. in large part because of the chaos that continues to reign in syria. >> you have to wonder with the

truck incident in berlin and what happened in turkey, the future of europe as a democratic area, what happens with far right parties emerging more successfully in places like france and germany and elections being held in the upcoming year. what's going to happen? >> it's a question. a lot of europeans are asking what's happening to our countries. what's happening to our national identities. countries that don't absorb as well as the united states absorbs immigrants. and so hopefully europe is going to strike a fine balance. listen, obviously none of us here are sitting here excited about the emergence of far right nationalist parties. at the same time, they didn't rise out of, you know, dust. they rose because the eu has had

disastrous open border policies for years now. there has to be a middle ground somewhere. >> something that's interesting about the rise of the far right, too, is there is unification cross borders across these multip multiple parties. russia had an interest in promoting the far right in certain countries. austria's far right power met with mike flynn at trump tower last week. conservatives worldwide should do a better job of building a platform, building a message, figuring out what their response is to far right populism. we certainly the global left has done that. >> it's a challenge. of course these are not conservative movements that anybody in the trump administration want to be associated with especially when you see, rick, that you have neo-nazis glorifying vladimir

putin and putinism. >> germany is an unusual -- they haven't experienced the type of terrorism that france has consistently so they haven't had the police presence. i believe there's only five police officers at that scene where the truck was. now, the isis will claim -- and we don't know who the truck driver is yet because they're apparently still at large but they have claimed responsibility. so two things happen. one, people see immigrants coming in because germany has welcomed many of them. in all likelihood is probably a mid eastern islamic terrorist character and so it not only bolsters the far right on the one side, it also is going to be a problem we're going to have to

deal with. >> a problem we'll have to deal with and no doubt that so much of what is happening is happening in response to what angela merkel agreed to do over a year ago. she was praised widely by people in the media. there have become a lot of immigrants that have poured in. there have been a lot of crimes that have made it in the newspapers and it's created the backlash that a lot of people were concerned about. of course all of this though has its source with syria, which the united states has done nothing. the west has done nothing. and we've only made a bad situation much, much worse. that's why chaos as we've been saying around the table here for a year now is reigning across the middle east and of course europe. let's go right now to berlin. we have hans nichols joining us live from there. what's the latest on the investigation of the attack?

>> they found tunisia papers inside the truck that barreled through the christmas market there and they have that. it gives us further along in the investigation. yesterday they released the pakistani 23-year-old migrant who a couple points on the security aspect that you were talking about. germany, it's true, it isn't there in terms of overall security and having video, close circuit tv. a couple reasons for that. one, they haven't had the same level of terrorism you had in france throughout the 15, 20 years. two, remember, i'm here in the old west germany. across a few kilometers to the east and an important and ugly role in observing and spying on neighbors. there's a great deal of backlash on that. all throughout germany you don't have the same level of video surveillance that you have in, say, the uk, or you have in, say, france. that could hinder this investigation. one other quick note. we're here in the west where the actual pakistani was

apprehended. it's across a park about two miles, mile and a half from here. they still haven't explained, police authorities here, why they nabbed that guy almost across town, halfway across town, and why no one actually captured anyone here coming out of that truck. joe? >> great question, hans. thank you so much. we greatly appreciate your reporting. and this morning t"the wall street journal" editorial board is writing this about the terror attack in berlin. last year the terror news was guns in a parisian nightclub. in march, bombs at the brussels airport. in july, it was a truck at bastille day firework shows and a few days after that, an ax on a german train. europe continues to reap the bitter fruits of america's unwillingness to lead a full blown war against islamic state

and syria and iraq. and if europe's inability to right its own leadership in the obama administration vacuum. the cost of that failure will be tragically measured this year in empty chairs at christmas. >> you could talk about barack obama's unwillingness to lead. you can talk about europe's unwillingness to step up. we heard it in hans attack and i remember it in the paris attacks as well, and especially in brussels, just how poorly the belgian police monitor terrorists in their area. you look at the fact that germans still won't take a basic security steps to keep their country safe. >> well, belgium is a real problem for the europeans because you have three different languages being spoken in brussels. they have not been up to par in

terms of tracking terrorists. hans' report about the pakistani man picked up two miles from where the incident occurred because of lack of, you know, cameras employed in germany, it's understandable given germany's history. that's understandable at one level. i think the first thing that occurred to many intelligence people here was why didn't the camera tracking systems pick up anything from the truck? >> by the way, hitler died 71 years ago. i think it's time to wake up to the new reality that's going on over there. >> to your point, i mean, what's clearly happened in germany and it's been happening in over 12, 18 months, perhaps longer than that is the fear of the other that happens sometimes in some places in this country. so you pick up a pakistani man two miles from where the incident occurred and you combine that with the rise of nativism in places like france and germany and this is one of

the more serious issues that president-elect donald j. trump is going to have to deal with. >> which leads us to bob costa. bob, what is going to happen in syria? this is a real challenge. donald trump has moved quite adeptly from one position to another during the campaign. and from the campaign to the transition. we could even talk about on a personal level with everybody from mitt romney to carlos slim. what about syria? what can you detect? during the campaign it was hands off. let the russians have it. but i've sensed from public statements that james mattis may be suggesting that he take a bit more aggressive stand than barack obama did in taking on isis. >> the president-elect, joe, he faces a reality on one front this campaign promise to perhaps have a temporary ban on muslims entering the united states. he knows part of his base wants that. even though that position alarms republicans on capitol hill. and then he has these

noninterventionalist instincts that he articulated during the campaign. when it comes to combatting isis in syria and other parts of the middle east, he and his people, i'm told, are thinking through what would that coalition look like? what's the length trump is willing to go to combat isis? is he willing to work with russia, assad, western european allies, who does he not work with? these are all things they're grappling with. >> obviously with rex tillerson coming in as possible secretary of state, he obviously will have a coalition of the willing among arstates. >> i think the big question is russia. how much cooperation is there going to be? how much does he want to continue letting russia essentially lead this process in syria that essentially ends up with russian special forces leading and taking over aleppo and these horrible crimes in the aftermath and how much are we,

america, going to be complicit in it by letting russia lead. >> off the president-elect's statement that he doesn't have to look at the intel reports every day because he's a smart guy, the potential link between russia and these nativist right-wing parties in france, they already claimed to have influenced one election here in the united states. are they about to influence other elections in europe? >> i think they've been trying to for several years. which, by the way, as we talk about investigating what happened here, i think it is critical that we investigate what putin has been doing across europe. >> absolutely. i think this is going to be the big story of 2017. >> i think so. >> and to see where he's been successful. what he's trying to do and the impact he's trying to have. some other news. the trump team is pushing back after a new controversy involving the president-elect's sons. it comes after questions about whether they were planning to

swap big money charity donations to gain access to their father. let's bring in nbc news correspondent hallie jackson who has been working on the story. >> this is the second time, right, in the last week that we've had discussions about members of the trump family and ties to charity donations and questions about access. at this point it looks like donald trump jr. and eric trump are no longer part of this big event. pushback on a chance to party with the president-elect the day after he's inaugurated at least for donors who give $1 million to a newly formed charity called opening day. if they do, this initial brochure obtained by tmz says they get a photo-op with donald trump and hunting or fishing trump with donald trump jr. or eric trump, both avid outdoorsmen and listed as

leaders of the nonprofit. >> for a charitable event like this, it looks like you're selling on the auction block. >> reporter: the perception that charity donors might pay for access to the president-elect is exactly what trump himself accused hillary clinton of during the campaign. >> more pay for play. >> reporter: now he's the one facing questions about access to him and his family. earlier this week a charity auction to win coffee with esace ivanka trump was canceled. the trump sons are not involved in any capacity. a new final event brochure obtained by nbc news shows no photo-ops or hunting trips with the trumps. the brothers are named as managers of the nonprofit but a transition official tells nbc news don and eric weren't aware they were listed directors of

this newly formed entity adding their names will be removed from the filing. and outside lawyers that we spoke with says it shows good judgment on behalf of the trump brothers. an organizers confirms that for this nonprofit donald trump jr. and eric trump will be taken off the filing done in the state of texas. meanwhile kuwait's ambassador is denying a report that he was forced to move an event from four seasons to trump's hotel saying the move was to give his guests a new venue he enjoyed and despite talking with four seasons, they've held events elsewhere in recent years. experts in conflicts of interest are sounding the alarm. lat night a former special assistant to president obama on government ethics tweeted this. i've never in my life seen anything like the past weeks. if this keeps up, people will be in real trouble in the trump administration and soon. >> i mean, yes. we're very concerned about this.

but, rick, you're laughing. we haven't seen anything like this -- >> he doesn't remember the lincoln bedroom? 1987 clintons raised millions for selling access to the white house. trump can't afford this. that's business as usual. if you are selling access, it sounds to me as if you have a fund-raiser that's out of control. >> here's my favorite. my favorite moment in bill clinton literally turning the white house over to a fund-raising -- so he's raising money on presidents day. he's got all of these foreign people that are in and i don't know exactly how they were contributing or what. he actually had to explain to them today is the day in america we call presidents day. i mean, it was unbelievable. >> used to be washington's

birthday before we made it presidents day. >> i think you had a former dnc chair saying that bill clinton turned the white house into a fund-raising machine and did everything but handed out subway tokens to let people go in because there was just a turnstyle of people coming in to throw money at him. i don't like any of this stuff. this is the hypocrisy. it's staggering. >> rules don't apply to them. >> how about bill clinton yesterday saying that we are "living in a post-fact world where the truth doesn't matter." this coming from the man who said, right, depends on what meaning of is is and then caught in a lie again. even in the middle of that,

lying about who called whom. >> this is so much of the reason trump won. he needs to respect that this is the will of the people to not have this kind of unseemliness in the white house. >> that's why it's a story. >> it's a story because he's repeating -- it should be a story until he stops and just cuts it out. it doesn't -- he's not showing any signs of doing that right now, so i think the drum beat for him to stop this continues as it should. >> the thing is they have to sort through. he has adult children that are involved in the business that have been active in charities. they're going to have to figure out how to sort through this. you can wander into a lot of meetings or say i don't know the story behind what ivanka said, but i'm sure she said i'll help raise money. it's not like they haven't been doing that in this town for 20 years. >> but they have to understand that they're in a new position. just remembering how president

bush tried to change the tone when he assumed office after clinton. one of the rules, if you were a young staffer in the bush white house, you couldn't wear jeans if you were there working on the weekend. if you were giving a west wing tour, you couldn't wear jeans because he believed in respecting the oval office and respecting the west wing and treating the office with the highest level of respect. it's a really basic thing. i remember being a young staffer worried about a $20 lunch ethics violation and then we don't see that on the level of a president when a private or sergeant in the army could easily there are rules, there are consequences and trump is going to have to face up to the consequences. >> bob costa, this is part of the transition where the kids especially because -- a lot easier to have young children. these are adult children who have been children who have been working with him for a very long time. it's something that they obviously are sorting through and are going to have to sort through as they move forward.

>> most important person right now in these conversations within the transition is the incoming white house counsel trying to build the team while working with the president-elect to separate trump from his business interest and everyone is told you have to work through the staff of attorneys to make sure these kind of issues do not float up but of course the trump family is not an official part of the commission but they're a family company. this is something the whole trump orbit is having to deal with in a serious way and it's confronting them in an alarming way. the kind of scrutiny and level of scrutiny they're going to get in a few weeks once trump is in office. you can't be having any kind of associations that are not fully vetted. >> fully vetted. i want to underline the fact that we are not suggesting in our laughter that this isn't

important. it is very important. >> the idea that we've never seen it before is ridiculous. >> laughing at the former obama official being shocked, shocked, shocked, that gambling is going on because obviously this has been going on a long time. >> trump is setting a tone for how the entire administration is going to behave and proceed. >> he needs it set the right tone and use the mistakes of the clintons and the clinton foundation and the pay to play access that most voters thought she exhibited as secretary of state and avoid that at all costs, mike. >> bob costa raised the most important and critical point about all of this is that nobody, nobody, certainly not the trump children, the three adult children involved in the campaign, nobody is used to the scrutiny, the spotlight, that is placed upon you once you're in

that position. the children of a president-elect january 20th the children of the president of the united states, they won't be able to cross the street without someone asking why did they cross the street. >> they also have to understand that people are going to look at it very worse light ever. i'll give you a great example. we raised money for david axelrod after the last election. and there was a "washington post" profile on us saying donald trump -- they used donald trump for fundraisers for themselves. it's very fascinating because donald trump never gives money. we have it live on television where donald trump called into david axelrod because david's daughter has epilepsy. he called in and said i would

like to give $100,000. gave money there and elsewhere. somehow that was turned in this profile piece into something dirty. that's what the trump kids, bob costa, i hear you, it's what trump kids and donald trump need to understand that everything is going to be looked at especially with him in the worst possible light imaginable by the press. they have got to figure out how to adapt to that. >> you're spot on. it's not even if trump has malice or family has any kind of ill intent. it's about how these associations look to the public and i'm here on capitol hill. some of these private conversations i've had recently with senators and members of the house have been striking because privately a lot of top republicans are telling me when it comes to russia and these other issues that are in the headlines, they're not really focused on them as much. they are concerned privately that trump is going to make himself vulnerable on the business front if he does not have an army of lawyers guiding

him and his family each and every day because that's where they see some kind of opening there for a critic, democratic to say trump is not doing everything on the level. >> he needs an army of lawyers around him separating and building a chinese wall. forget the wall in mexico. building a chinese wall between his business and the white house so he can actually get what he wants done. still ahead on "morning joe," former national security adver to george w. bush, stephen hadley. retired four-star admiral james stavridis and we break down the top ten stories in the most exhausting news year in our lifetime. 2016. i'm looking forward to 2017. we'll show you which one takes the top spot straight ahead on "morning joe." ♪ feeling your heart beat with

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call today. comcast business. built for business. >> all right. we're talking about relatives that we're going to see at christmastime. >> what was that? >> i'm excited to see my relatives. >> we're all excited to see our relatives. we were talking about stuff that relatives would send around in e-mails and texts and we say stop sending that. you get all of the conspiracy theories. there's no conspiracy. hillary -- there's no conspiracy. stop it. you're an idiot. say that to people e-mailing you this stuff and then she faints. >> in a pretty dramatic way. >> then you're, like, okay, she just fainted.

you're just a member of the family. looking forward to christmas. a new poll from "usa today" finds that more americans believe president obama's best legacy is also his worst. 24% say the accordable care act is barack obama's greatest achievement. 22% say it was the economic recovery from the great recession and 9% say his moral leadership. atop the list of obama's biggest failures as president are obamacare at 27% and also 15% say his handling of wars in iraq and afghanistan and 15% say race relations. about a third of those surveyed said obama ultimately will be seen as a good president. 18% say he'll be a great one. one in four say he'll be rated only as fair and another one in four say he'll be seen as a

failed president. mike barnicle, i've got to say, if in this era of being president for four years if only one in four people say you're a failure, that's pretty good. >> a complex age we live in. his legacy is going to be complex. first african-american president that's going to be right up there at the top. i think as history measures his presidency down the road, 20, 30 years, i think his presidency will be viewed as not only transcendent but quite successful. the core of his presidency, i think, was at the beginning of his presidency literally he and his team saving along with elements of the bush administration -- bush was pushing t.a.r.p. and they worked together. >> saving the country from a depression. >> what do you think, rick? >> i think we would have

suffered a depression but far recovered from it. so i think pouring trillions of dollars into the economy didn't make a lot of sense to me. >> look at the anger that it ultimately fueled because people didn't see their bailout on a personal level but they saw these big bankers getting a lot and republicans underestimated how much lingering anger there was over -- >> both parties. >> both parties still. >> look, the recovery was very, very slow. a lot of optimism. i was with asset managers last night. one i talked to didn't vote for donald trump. he is supremely optimistic. >> robert costa, behind the scenes chattering conversations with democrats and republicans on the hill, what is the initial glimmerings of a review of the obama presidency that you hear?

>> between january 2009 and january 2011 when the president had democratic majorities, he got a lot done. since january 2011, president obama has struggled to cut the bipartisan deals that other presidents have been able to do in the past in divided government. coupled with the obama years is the story of the republican party and how it has moved from being the party of george w. bush at the start of the obama presidency to being the party of donald trump and so as much as the president struggled at times to make things happen with the congress, the republican party, too, was going through fits. >> there are a lot of weaknesses in that legacy i believe. you can look at the fact that the democratic party under barack obama lost more seats all across the board than any party since herbert hoover's party in 1932 when fdr was swept into

pow power. and leadership style problems, bob costa is right. after the last six years of his presidency, he just didn't strike any significant deals with capitol hill. he could never figure out how to deal with the republican majority and people can blame that on the republican majority but when you're president, you have to figure out how to do deals. bill clinton did. he didn't. syria is disaster. i focus on the 9%. moral leadership. think about it. if you combined bill clinton's effectiveness with barack obama's moral leadership, and what type of a man he was, and doing the things that we're saying donald trump should do about not gaining personally from the white house, being a

great father, being a great husband, being a great man inside of an extraordinarily difficult situation, i think that is a great success. and again if you combined his moral leadership with -- despite that i disagree with him on 95% of what he's done, with bill clinton's effectiveness, that would be quite a combination. >> now you're on to it. the elements of his presidency that will stand out is his moral leadership. the behavior of his family. remembrances of singing "amazing grace" in charleston, south carolina. his leadership ability. his leadership skills. >> it's amazing when you think about it. the big scandals of the obama years were hillary clinton's own scandals. the scandals that we're going to take away from the obama

presidency are more about what she did and that turned into what the election was a referendum on. >> all right. coming up, david ignatius acts could trump's free wheeling foreign policy have its benefits in we'll read from david's piece in the must read opinion pages. we'll be back with more "morning joe." for adults with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

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the new book "the way of strangers." and also joining the conversation, can we show the picture? >> that's classified. can't show that one. >> graeme, the berlin attack, does it have the markings of isis? >> first marking is isis said they did it. when they said they've done it, didn't mean they've done anything operationally to arm the guy, they just take credit for it because someone has reached out to them said, yes, i did it, or posted publicly saying yes, i did it. what matters here is that it doesn't again take very much for isis to get the credit for this. it has the markings of isis also in the fact that it's using

exactly the tactics that isis describes in its propaganda. they talk about how much clearance you want and truck you hijack to crush as many bodies as possible. it's a textbook attack. >> so richard haass had said a few days ago we could expect more attacks like these because of the fall of aleppo and what was happening in mosul and isis being pushed back in iraq and syria. do you expect more of the same? >> it's the holiday season so there's public gatherings and isis said don't wait. just do it. i think in some ways they probably are at 100%. when there is more attacks like this happening publicly like nice, there's also people who learn from each other and learn how much damage they can do with weapons at hand and how effective even the most basic

tools can be in causing a lot of people to have very, very strong reactions. >> that gets to the degree of difficulty that intelligence agencies in the united states, france, germany, wherever have in locating the lost souls whose imaginations are triggered by events as happened in germany. talk about the degree of difficulty in locating and recruitment process involved in isis. >> nearly impossible. we're talking about people who are against weapons easily at hand. if you find anyone that goes off the deep end at the last minute, then the tools are right there for that person. you can't watch everybody who is just on the brink of going slightly because it's a huge population to watch. not effective to watch refugees. unlikely, in fact, that this person is just someone who just arrived from syria. if we look at the track record

of major attacks from isis, it's usually from people who are citizens of the country where they're attacking. >> so you have the new book out "the way of strangers" and spent a lot of time with isis recruits. and one thing that you've said is they're iedidealisidealistic. what is it about isis that brings out idedolism because its dismal and down on the state of the nation on both sides of the aisle. >> when people hear isis' message, they see a strong disparity between the life they live at home and what isis promises. isis says we're part of a paradise. what do they have at home? a really pathetic life because they've been involved in crime, in drugs. >> a year ago that was a more compelling ooargument. today they are getting killed in

iraq. getting wiped out in parts of syria. >> that's how isis is framing it. that getting killed, that loss, is a sign that they're on the right track. it's a sign that the hard work is there for them to be done. they can leave behind a long comfortable life in belgium or in uk but when they go to syria and they die, when they are killed on the battlefields of mosul, that's a great thing. it gives them meaning they wouldn't have been able to get in their criminal life back home. >> in terms of why germany and why in germany that is not involved in the fight against isis on battlefields like the united kingdom or u.s., would would they target a place like berlin like a christmas market opposed to any vulnerable places in america where they may have an easier inroad? >> one is political situation in germany. we don't know who did this. it's already having these political reverberations because of germany's status as the country that's been most welcoming to refugees. even if this was not perpetrated

by a refugee, you can see angela merkel is teetering on the brink because of the fact that germany is politically sensitive right now. i wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the reasons for targeting germany. also targets of opportunity. germany has all of these christmas markets in every major town. it's a time of festivity, happiness, and public gatherings that are really soft targets for this kind of attack. >> i want to read from david ignatius and "the washington post" and ask you about it. could trump's free wheeling foreign policy have its benefits. most presidents wait until election day until sparking their foreign policy crisis. he has wandered into two. one with china and one with russia. he can control his destiny with beijing. with kremlin not so much. in his early foray with china, he created ambiguity and negotiating room.

several analysts argue there's benefit to creating ambiguity but caution it's a high risk strategy which may create consternation among allies even as it enhances deterrence of adversa adversaries. i have heard china experts say wait a second. he poked them in a way that could unsettle them a bit and throw them off. fascinating things happening in the middle east. you have in the selection of an israeli ambassador someone that's sure to horrify not only palestinians but arab world. then you have in election of rex tillerson a person if confirmed who will be the most powerful foreign policy leader in america with pro-arab sentiments since my co-host's father, brzezinski.

there is and they believe if you look like arab sunni leaders who are actually excited about a lot of them about trump coming in, i'm sure you've heard that too. there's some opportunities, which is the most ironic thing in the world given his anti-muslim statements throughout the campaign. >> the way i would describe trump's approach to the middle east right now is that it has a lack of cohesion. that may actually work in some ways as you highlighted some of these examples. there's some areas where there could be a collision course of interest. on the issue of iran, for example, you have president trump very much against the iran deal but also come out and said that he wants to work with russia. he's deferring a little bit to russia on the issue of syria. russia is also a big proponent and supporter of the iran deal. that's going to put trump at odds with russia on the iran deal if not necessarily in syria.

his approach far from the way i've read the tea leaves is each part of the middle east he's approaching separately. used to be let's deal with the middle east in one lump sum approach whoever i put as ambassador of israel and whoever i appoint as special envoy has to get along on all of these issues. seems like from key appointments he's compartmentalizing middle east in different approaches. the middle east are excited about rex tillerson. people who support the iran deal excited about rex tillerson. the ceo of the largest oil and gas company in the world at one point interested in exploring opportunities in iran. that's also going to be an interesting to see how rex tillerson fits into the trump approach on iran. i would say that he's kind of approaching it with a compartmentalized approach to countries and conflicts one by one. >> only country in the middle east not excited about rex tillerson, israel. >> general mattis is an interesting appointment. he's had tough words for israel

in the past or the consequences of america's support of israel and how that played out when he was commander of centcom in the middle east. interesting to see their dynamics in the room advocating for a policy on what to pursue. >> they're looking at it separately. we'll make israelis happy with jerusalem and talking but then we'll make the arab -- especially sunni arab -- >> at one point you have to say i need to pursue this policy more than this one. this is more important than that. that may be tricky. >> graeme, thank you for coming back. we appreciate it. coming up next, the search warrant that allowed the fbi to reexamine hillary clinton's e-mail case just weeks before the election is now public. her allies not happy. they say their suspicions have been confirmed. plus, some lighter fare for

heavy news this morning. a wisconsin police officer teaches a speeding college student an important lesson. a great video straight ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ style lets you stand out from the herd. what's inside sets you apart.

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all right. newly released dash cam footage shows a wisconsin police officer going above the call of duty after stopping a speeding college student. in the video, the student tells the officer he was late for a presentation and was trying to find a friend to tie his necktie. >> where is your tie? >> right here. >> while i do this, grab your proof of insurance and driver's license quick. >> the officer ties the neck tie. hands it back to the student. helps him adjust it, which takes a few times.

by the end of the video, the officer let the student go with a warning for speeding. there you go. >> great stuff. >> that's great stuff. >> something an officer will never have to do for me because i wear this every day. >> might have to fix your zipper. >> i know. >> my daughter's boyfriend had to teach me how to tie a bowtie. it was humiliated but i suffered through it. >> at the end of the day, it's just vexing. that and, you know, nuclear physics. those are two things i just can't do. coming up, new questions over potential conflicts of interest with donald trump's sons and their involvement in a charity that seemed to be suggesting access to the president-elect through donations. it's all squared away. we'll talk about it. berlin is on high alert with police looking for whoever is responsible for this week's attack at a german christmas

market. isis is now claiming involvement. we'll go live to berlin for the latest back in a moment with more "morning joe." afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine.

all seems beautiful to me.

same nose. same toughness. and since he's had moderate alzheimer's disease, the same never quit attitude. that's why i asked his doctor about once-a-day namzaric. (avo) namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimer's disease in patients who are taking donepezil. it may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. namzaric does not change

the underlying disease progression. don't take if allergic to memantine, donepezil, piperidine or any of the ingredients in namzaric. tell the doctor about any conditions including heart, lung, bladder, kidney or liver problems, seizures, stomach ulcers, or procedures with anesthesia. serious side effects may occur, including muscle problems if given anesthesia; slow heartbeat, fainting, more stomach acid which may lead to ulcers and bleeding; nausea, vomiting, difficulty urinating, seizures, and worsening of lung problems. most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, dizziness loss of appetite, and bruising. (man) dad and i shared a lot of moments. now we're making the most of each one. (avo) ask about namzaric today. ♪ here comes santa claus here comes santa claus right down santa claus lane ♪ >> you know, you ask me what song from the 1940s, i can tell

you. "santa claus is coming to town." >> who is his right-hand guy? >> i did not know that. you stumped me. welcome back to "morning joe." 12 conversations going on at the same time. rick, if you could do us a favor, because if frank is talking to elise and mike is talking to me, you can just talk to yourself. >> isn't this 3-d television. >> exactly. on the interrupt network. >> mika is not here this morning and it's just chaos. >> mika is the one that holds it all together. where is she? >> she's in paris doing some shopping. she has four staffers with her carrying bundles en route to nice. >> yes. either that, my friends, or somewhere in westchester county. it is amazing how many people will come up to her and say when she's in westchester county, how did you get back from the south

of france so quickly? she's sitting there staring. he's joking. i'm here. >> it's a miracle. >> it's a christmas miracle. mika is back. frank, i asked you a question now. you're supposed to be the most interesting man in the world. i said what do you want to talk about? >> according to whom? >> i'm just making this up. good thing i didn't say the other word i wanted to put in there. i'm making this up. what are you talking about? >> what's the other adjective? >> what do i want to talk about? i think five minutes have gone by without the mention of donald trump's name. >> i got a good idea. let's start this way. we have news. welcome back to "morning joe." veteran columnist mike barnicle. >> legendary. >> also msnbc political contributor rick tyler and msnbc political analyst elise jordan

and we have the great bob costa and joining the conversation, "the new york times" columnist frank bruini. also my phone going off. let me just do that. frank, so barack obama, there's a new poll out on barack obama talks about his legacy. only about one in four people say he's been a failure. about 20% say -- it's sort of split in a lot of different ways. again, for this era that we live in, pretty good numbers. what do you think his -- what do you think his lasting legacy is? other than being the first black man elected president, which of course that's legacy enough. >> it's hard to say other than that because symbolism the obama presidency is in some ways what people will remember most. it's important symbolism. i think also his legacy is shaped by the person following him. we here theories that people

pick a president to counterbalance what happened with a president before. i think every president's legacy is ultimately shaped by who follows that person and the contrast and so i think we'll remember him as very dignified. we'll remember him as very sort of even keel. >> the moral leadership that he showed. even though i disagree with so many of his economic policies and his foreign policy, and even the way he led, his moral leadership inside that office, he brought no shame to the white house. he brought dignity to the white house. his family brought dignity to the white house. that in 2016 in the age of the kardashians, that ain't nothing. >> i could not agree with you more. i think whether people politically agree with him or not, a lot of americans in barack obama they had a president who in various ways they could feel very proud of. i think donald trump is going to be -- he was polarizing in many ways. i think we're entering an era of

even greater polarization with this new president. >> let's go to berlin. police are looking for the person behind monday night's deadly truck attack. yesterday officials released the original suspect. a pakistani migrant because they said they didn't have enough evidence he was behind the wheel at the time. now, the media arm of isis is claiming "a soldier of the islamic state carried out the attack." hans nichols has been following the story from berlin. he has a very latest on the investigation into the truck attack. hans? >> police found papers in the cab of the truck belonging to a tunisian man. local media is putting out a picture of him. part of it is blocked out. the manhunt for him presumably continues. meanwhile, this is a city that's, yes, under surveillance, under tight security but i have to say i was in paris after "charlie hebdo," this doesn't have the same feel. not folks walking around with machine guns patrolling the

entire city. christmas markets will open back up today. it's a city that wants to get back to normal even as this manhunt continues. joe? >> all right. thank you so much, hans. greatly appreciate it. and we should note that nbc news has not independently confirmed the report of a tunisian suspect and federal prosecutors say they are not commenting at this time. president-elect donald trump was early to weigh in on what happened. he called the terror attacks in turkey, switzerland and germany actually terror attacks adding it's only getting worse. the civilized world must change thinking. but turkey is yet to find links of the terror groups and gunman in switzerland has no known ties to terror organizations and while isis claimed the attack in berlin, the assailant is still at large and definitive link is yet to be established. last night trump senior adviser kellyanne conway justified trump's swift responses in an interview with judy woodruff.

>> does he not have a responsibility to wait until the authorities have looked into it? >> he's very responsible. i remember during orlando or san bernardino, we'll have to look, he blamed radical islamic terrorism then and people attacked him for doing that before he had all of the information. information that he was correct. >> you chuckle. it gives me pause. >> i have known kellyanne conway many years. she's a national marvel. i mean that in every which way. you can put anything before her. this has been an amazing "saturday night live" season of political commentary and sketches and skits. my favorite of all was that kellyanne conway's day off. we entered this era of hyper spin. >> the problem for kellyanne

conway is she works for a guy who is the opposite. not only does he not engage in hyper spin, it's the obvious. every time he tweets or says something, you can't say that. she has to go out and unspin it which is interesting because, rick, as you know all too well, as you know all too well, trying to hold things together for ted cruz, the fact that the guy is the opposite of what kellyanne conway is paid to do actually is what makes voters vote for him at least in the republican primary. >> donald trump broke all of the rules and things we said you can't say that and can't do that. can't be there. can't go there. he did it. people loved it. it was pretty remarkable. >> some people loved it. >> his supporters loved it. i don't know if it's transferrable to other candidates. i've not seen another candidate

be as successful at it. it's interesting. i'm trying to remember when we have this transition period whether donald trump is so dominating the news cycle even now, if these things happen -- like dow is going to go to 20,000 probably under obama and not trump. we talk about trump in context of the dow. we talk about in the context of these -- berlin attack. why weigh in on it. the safe thing to do is -- >> i want to talk for a second. you said that you don't know if anybody can get away with this. somebody already has. he's right in front of our nose. and for some reason there hasn't been the link that there should have been. the two giants that were battling each other yesterday on twitter, bill clinton and donald trump, do you guys remember -- you speak of "saturday night live." this is happened before. you remember the "saturday night

live" skit after bill clinton was acquitted of impeachment and darrell hammond said i'm now going to go to a square and smoke me a big bag of pot or something. i'm untouchable. i'm invincible. democrats say how do we get away with that? we said that for eight years but you can't -- the era of trump started with bill clinton. >> that's why it is hilarious because it takes one to know one. with bill clinton you have this incredible smoothness that donald trump doesn't have. just a bull in a china shop. >> the incredible smoothness that worked in 1992 might not have worked in 2016. >> this is a new smooth. >> they were both politicians for their times. 2016, a year of disruption. and he blew it up. so maybe somebody that had the right smooth answer to every

single question wouldn't have fit 2016. >> we're also a much, much coarser culture. >> you've been on the trail with donald trump for nearly two years. 18 months or so. and his level of genius with social media is something that i think a lot of us in this business, the media business, news business, missed for many, many, many months. >> it's a reaction. whenever i've covered the president-elect on his plane or behind the scenes, he feels that if he's in the mix immediately on social media especially with the tweet, he can in a way connect with his political base that he's speaking in their

cadence with similar reaction. there's a political motive beyond gut instincts and what he's doing with twitter. part of the power of it, he thinks it truly distracts is the splash on the surface of the water even if it's not backed up by policy and legs kicking in other areas, he thinks that splash itself has some political potency. >> it's something we all missed. i've said this for a long time. even i -- while i'm saying that still missing it, we underestimate him at every single turn. for instance, the rallies. you know why he's doing the rallies? it's not for the polls. it's not for democrats. it's to maintain the space but also to poke republicans. and paul ryan was the most fascinating example of this, rick. he goes up to wisconsin. the crowd boos paul ryan. no. no. paul is a fine wine. now listen. i won't say that if he turns on

me. there's paul ryan holding up a packers jersey that says trump and he's there in his own state and he's got to get the manhattan billionaire to vouch for him with his base. paul ryan just like any politician, you take that back to washington d.c. so we sit here and think why is he doing this and why is he doing that? at some point we have to use the bill clinton quote. if a turtle is up on a fence post, it didn't get there by accident. >> when mitt romney showed up at the country club, it didn't get there by accident. well designed. remarkable what he's able to do. i don't like the tnk me tour. >> i don't either. i personally wish he would go to

all of the states that didn't vote for him. that's what i would love to see. donald trump, again, i think he's sending a message to the republicans and the house and senate saying cross me but you're going to do it at your own risk because notice he's going one republican state after another. >> the key word in donald trump's tweet and everything, distract. >> he's done something fascinating which is you know better than i do, we heard politicians talk for years and decades about trying to get around the media and filter. he's done that more than anyone i've ever seen through the grace of social media. in going around the media, he's actually held the media wrapped in a way that politicians who did not succeed -- >> for instance, he'll send out a tweet that's not true. the media will write about this tweet that took him three seconds that's not true for the next three weeks. >> sadly we seem not to care about truth anymore which is pretty disturbing. >> as bill clinton said and i think he's the best person, the

best vehicle to deliver this message, we are living in a post-fact world. >> we keep saying that sentence. let's stop and realize how disturbing that is. >> it is disturbing. why wasn't everyone as disturbed when bill clinton ushered in the post-fact world? this isn't my side against your side. >> it goes way, way -- >> i can tell you, i was on -- >> the bill clinton era pulled back the curtain on how many mainstream journalists were in bed with getting him elected president. you remember sid saying they shouldn't write negative coverage about bill clinton. >> i remember being in the oversight committee and having clinton's people come in every day and their lies would be so obvious and so bad that while they were giving testimony, everybody in the room would

laugh. i would sit there, going, is this isn't funny? why is this funny to everybody? the media didn't seem to be as shocked. only time the media paid attention to his lies was when it involved monica lewinsky. >> depends on the definition -- >> which was the least significant of all of the eight years of lies. >> ask this genuinely. were those lies as corrosive as going on twitter and saying that but for voter fraud you would have won the popular vote? did lies have those sorts of implications in terms of faith in public institutions? >> because the media didn't cover in a real and meaningful way the most significant lies, i would say no because they weren't focusing on, like, for instance, when the largest contributor to the dnc had missile technology that he wanted to transfer to china. and bill clinton couldn't get

the d.o.d. to approve it. couldn't get state to approve it. couldn't get nsa to approve it and couldn't get anybody to approve it. ron brown in congress approved transfer of advanced missile technology to his top donor in dnc to china. i bet you around this table and across america, there may be three people that remember that. >> i want to know if the statute of limitations has run on that. >> that's the thing. this happened every week. and nobody gave a damn. that's why when i hear that this is the first time this has ever happened. i sit there, going, where were you from 1993 to 2001? do we want to talk about how we ended with a pardon of frank ridge? >> the shoe is on the other -- >> which ridge was it?

mark ridge. >> that went by me at first. >> you thought frank would need to be pardoned. >> all franks need to be pardoned. >> with donald trump supporters, right, it's kind of if you show them this is a falsehood, the answer is how do you like it? >> i know. >> it's like what you do all the time. now we get to do it. >> by the way, it is horrifying. it was horrifying then as it is now. we just have different people horrified in 2016. bob? >> so we keep talking about former president clinton. there's a lot of lessons to be learned from clinton '93 and '94. elected in '92 with working class supporters. he worked for democratic congress like trump has with the republicans right now. he doesn't really have a coherent agenda. they lose as you know more than anyone they lose in '94 the

house. you saw a president in many ways in '93 and '94 who was aimless in the white house and had a disorganized staff. that's the real lesson if i was trump and his people, look to history and how clinton had to find his way not -- it took to '95, '96 for him to become the competent clinton we speak about. >> oklahoma city bombing was a turning point. i will tell you this. republicans need to look at what happened to democrats in 1994 after they went too far left for two years. what happened to democrats in 2010 when they went too far left. if they think they're going to be able to go as far right as a cabinet selection suggest they are, they will be wiped out. let me just say this. before they're even sworn in because i was saying this about 2010, if republicans go as far right as their cabinet choices suggest they're going to go far right, they'll get wiped out in

2018. there i said it. mark it down. write it like we said in june trump could win, this happens over and over and over again. just because you own all branches of government, the soccer analogy is 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in soccer. soccer people know what i'm talking about. >> in many ways the cabinet picks in my opinion are -- they are the balance to what has happened. that's wthe way a lot of people look at it. it's the communication strategy with the american people that's the difference. when you get welfare reform back in '95, bill clinton didn't want to sign welfare reform. they won the argument, republicans won the argument of the american people. that's what has to happen. that's the big if. if it remains to be seen is can the trump administration, their surrogates, explain every step of the way the vision of what they're doing. >> i will tell you the road

block -- i don't mean to sound dismissive and skeptical of the republican party that hasn't even been sworn in yet, they're going to get blown up, their political land mine is going to be obamacare. they're going to push hard to repeal it. they have no viable replacement for it. the democrats are going to sit there and smirk just like frank bruni right now. >> that wasn't a smirk. >> they're going to repeal it because base will force them to repeal it. there will be no replacement and they'll lose all of the states trump won in the northeast. >> they've got one saving grace which is lineup of senate elections in 2018. it will be very, very difficult to impossible for democrats to take the senate in 2018. >> republicans need to show discipline. we'll see if they do. a little bit of restraint. frank, stay with us if you can.

we really love that smile. it's impressive. one of the leading voices in support of rex tillerson at the state department. stephen hadley is our guest straight ahead on "morning joe." world ugly and messy. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. but under the proper care, they become something beautiful. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road.

healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

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with us from washington. former national security adviser to george w. bush stephen hadley. principal at rice, hadley and gates. a bunch of no names in front and behind him on that letterhead. how are you doing today, stephen? >> i'm well. thank you, sir. >> i read that you want help from outside the administration. you know you could help from inside the administration? >> they've got a lot of folks now that they have announced for various cabinet positions. it's a strong team. i don't think they'll need my help from the inside. if there's something i can do from the outside, i'm delighted to do. >> may i say i strongly disagree. would you be interested?

would you, for the sake of your country, if asked to serve, would you consider doing that? >> everyone, if asked to serve, has to consider it. i've taken a look at it and for a lot of personal and professional reasons, i don't think my role is inside this administration. i gave eight years to the bush administration. kind of left it all on the playing field. i think i can be useful for the outside and that's really what i want to do. it's important for the country that this new administration succeed. if they succeed, the country succeeds. if there's something i can do to help, i'll certainly want to do it. >> tell us about rex tillerson. do you know him? what can you tell americans about him? and what type of secretary of state would he be? >> i think he would be a good one. i do know him. my colleagues bob gates and condy rice know him much better. they've had a more long standing relationship. i do know him. i think he would bring a wealth

of experience and context to the new administration. you know, someone in the media said if there's a job outside of government that's most like being secretary of state it's probably being the ceo of exxonmobil. oil and gas seems to be in some of the most difficult and challenging locations around the world. and rex tillerson has been working in those locations negotiating deals, getting to know leaders and i think that experience and those set of relationships will be useful to the president-elect. >> mr. hadley, the other day with events in berlin was sort of a welcome to the world for the president-elect. not that he would need it or be unaware of it. as you know from your career, there are decisions involved in global politics and global terror that only a president can make. the national security adviser can't make them. secretary of state or defense can't make them. does it bother you that

seemingly we're told that president-elect trump does not take the daily intelligence briefing as you know is a never ending and continuing story. does that bother you at all? >> you know, it really doesn't. he's not president of the united states yet. it's only been a little over a month after his election. what's he been focusing on? he's been focusing on putting together his cabinet and the agency and department heads that are going to help him govern this country. that's really what he should be doing. how people take daily intelligence really depends a lot on the style of which the president and how the president likes to get information. some presidents want to sit down and read the book, read the briefings with the intelligence analysts and talk about it. that's one way to do it. other presidents have preferred to actually have their national security adviser take the briefing and then come in and summarize it.

be briefed on the brief rather than reading it themselves. it depends on how the president wants to get information. we've made too much of that at this point quite frankly. >> i was lucky enough to be at the white house and national security council when you were national security adviser and observed your class and the dignity and the seriousness with which you approached the office. what do you think of incoming national security adviser general mike flynn taking meetings with parties such as the austrian freedom party at trump tower in the run-up to coming into office? >> well, i did not know lieutenant general flynn. i had the opportunity to meet with him last week. i like what i heard. i think he's a serious person. he's trying to learn this job. it's a very challenging job. i think the number one

requirement of that job is to have a good, strong personal relationship with the president. he seems to have that. he's reaching out and trying to get information. these are all parties and governments and leaders with whom he will have to deal once the president is elected and takes office. i think, you know, he's trying to address issues about how the staff should be organized and what approach they should take that meets management style of the president and getting his feet on the ground for this job and that's exactly what he should be doing. >> do you think general flynn is up to the job? >> yes, i do. >> what type of management style do you think he'll have in that position where management style is so extraordinarily important? >> i don't know at this point. i've talked with him a little bit about it. one of the things that i think

is important and i've talked with him about and he shares is the notion that he's had to be very out front of national security issues because of the campaign mode in which the candidates were in and because there weren't a lot of national security folks with that kind of experience around mr. trump. i think it forced him a little bit to be more public. i think once the administration takes office on january 20th. once there are these cabinet secretaries in place, i think you'll see him take a more traditional approach to the role of the national security adviser, which is to act and operate more behind the scenes and off stage. i think that's probably what you will see once the new team gets started january 20th. >> all right. stephen hadley, thank you for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. >> nice to be here. >> a day after an off-duty turkish police officer gunned

down russia's ambassador. they arrived in turkey to assist in determining the shooter's motives. they vowed not to let the assassination derail their efforts to end the nearly six-year civil war in syria. officials from both countries as well as iran met in moscow yesterday and agreed to the moscow declaration. a road map for ending conflict which calls for expanded cease-fire. neither the united states nor the united nations were invited to the meeting but russian office foreign minister said he spoke to secretary of state john kerry by phone after the meeting. the moscow agreement. we are -- it seems we're officially irrelevant to right now one of the most -- well, the most pressing global crises. >> we're never totally irrelevant, but we have been on the sidelines of this one.

>> rick, what is the impact of being shut out of these talks? >> i think -- look, when you have russia, iran, and turkey trying to negotiate peace agreements where the united states -- what is our posture going to be in the middle east? it seems to me when the united states is not engaged and not leading the planet becomes rather dark and bloody quickly. >> let's bring in former nato commander retired four star admiral james stavridis. thank you so much for being with us, admiral. there's a book written called "the inheritance" by david sanger talking about what barack obama would inherit from george w. bush. syria and actual ly our lack of

commitment to that region leaves a terrible inheritance for the incoming president. can you think of a time when the united states was as irrelevant in a whether it's peace process here or just in diplomacy as we seem to be in this dispute? >> hard to surface another moment where you see such a wrenching handoff. it's very tragic as we've all spoken about what's happened particularly in aleppo. this new turn is as bad a moment for u.s. policy as i can remember. we have to be engaged in the middle east. it's an enormous amount of global events turn. >> what happened? i know we -- based on your na analysis, the president didn't want to get involved and didn't

want to be bush and cheney but the red line was crossed. we did nothing. but there were decisions that had to be made every day. how did we get to this point? >> yin a word incrementalism. instead of making relatively bold choices and some obvious ones, enforcing the red line as you mentioned, joe, we've kind of added a little bit at a time. a thousand troops in iraq. a few more advisers. we've tried to bring some special forces into syria. we've never taken the bold step and never enforced a red line. we didn't put sufficient troops on the ground to really have impact. so we are edged out of this one. i don't know where the trump administration goes on this. i know they're going to focus on taking out the islamic state and that's important. that could lead to setting a

base, a no-fly zone for the moderate arabs. >> you said there should be some kind of retaliation by the united states for russia's hacking and involvement in the electoral process this election year. what do you think that retaliation should be and what do you think should be the fate of sanctions against russian officials and institutions during the trump presidency? >> taking the first question first, i think we absolutely need to retaliate. that can be a mix of covert and overt. it should probably begin with showing a little more evidence of what's happened publicly without revealing sources and methods. and then it needs to be proportional so things like revealing senior russians financial dealings internationally embarrassing them and showing the way the russian government is suppressing its population,

proportional response but something that has real impact. we've sent a muddled message thus far and promotes further attacks. on the second question, i think we need to maintain the sanctions because they are really are only point of leverage on syria and what's happening there. so we have to hold them because of what happened in ukraine and crimea but they also are part of what i'll call a transactional relationship with russia. this is where i do worry about mr. tillerson. we cannot get too close to russia given the ways we confront them around the world today. >> admiral james stavridis, thank you for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. coming up next, kristen welker live with the latest reporting on the trump transition. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. completely clear skin. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. >> apparently donald trump's sons started a foundation where people with get certain meetings with donald trump based on the size of their donation. for $500,000, you attend a private reception and get a photo. for a million dollars you get

access to the vip lounge at his inauguration. for $2 million, you will personally get to click send on the tweet that starts world war iii. >> that's a good deal. >> all right. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker joins us now live from palm beach, florida. kristen, what's happening at mar-a-la mar-a-lago? >> well, more meetings here today at mar-a-lago as president-elect trump and his transition team are doing damage control insisting any suggestion of potential conflicts of interest you just heard jimmy fallon talking about that are absolutely false. president-elect donald trump fending off new pay to play accusations after tmz obtained this brochure saying donors that give $1 million to a newly formed charity called opening day could party with the president. the day after he's inaugurated. the big spenders get a photo -o

with the new president. this after candidate trump accused hillary clinton of pay to play tactics. >> hillary clinton's only allegiance is to herself, her donors and her special interests. >> reporter: this morning trump transition officials say the inauguration flap is being overblown. they argue the details in the brochure or initial concepts that have not been approved or pursued by the trump family adding don jr. and eric trump are not involved in any capacity. this revised final brochure obtained by nbc news removes any references to photo-ops or hunting excursions with the trump though don jr. and eric are listed as honorary co-chairs and a new look at james comey's decision to revive the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails in the final weeks of the race. on tuesday, the fbi's request for a search warrant related to hillary clinton's private e-mail server was unsealed showing investigators believe there was

probable cause a laptop seized as part of its investigation into anthony weiner contained classified information. that turned out not to be the case. the heavily redacted documents contain few specifics. clinton's former spokesman blasted comey tweeting the documents show his intrusion on the election was unjustified. this as president-elect ramps up a new war of words with bill clinton after the 42nd president told a local new york paper he received a phone call from trump after the election describing trump as cordial then saying mr. trump doesn't know much. one thing he does know is how to get angry white men to vote for him. mr. trump hitting back at the former president on twitter. wrong. he called me with a very nice congratulations. he doesn't know much. especially how to get people even with an unlimited budget out to vote in the vital swing states. and president clinton did try to clean up part of this flap tweeting late yesterday. here's one thing at real donald

trump and i can agree on, i called him after the election. clarifying that one point. still this back and forth underscores that tensions between these two families not simmering down any time soon even as you have the current commander in chief calling for everyone to lower the temperature to try to foster a smooth transition. joe? >> all right. nbc's kristen welker, thank you so much. and, frank, i want to talk about the middle part of that package where she's talking about james comey. i know you had to hear. we all heard people saying comey would have never brought this up ten days before election if there wasn't something significant there. there's nothing significant there, which makes the decision all the more staggering. >> all the more mystifying. i think history is going to judge james comey very unkindly on this. we're never going to get past this election. there are so many questions being asked more and more all the time about what really happened here, what really moved votes, and i remember thinking

and writing before the election this is the election that will never end. i believe that more today even than then. >> everyone is talking about the russian hacking right now. you could look at polls in real time and people were sort of digesting that. even democrats were saying it's just recipes. it's nothing. i remember saying on the air repeatedly when i looked at their e-mails. they're better than i would be in that position. i actually said it gave me confidence that they understood she was messing up. i don't think that changed votes. this comey thing though, especially off the news, you can actually look at the numbers. look at the data. and see that comey's decision ten days out did make a difference. >> it may have made a difference. it would have made a difference in pennsylvania, which is really hard to explain because she spent a lot of time in pennsylvania. she didn't spend time -- and ohio. didn't spend time in wisconsin. she didn't spend a lot of time in michigan. i think it comes down to, look, they targeted the right states and got the right votes out, and

she didn't. we can talk about all kinds of factors, russian hacking, comey, et cetera, et cetera, but in the end, i think kellyanne is right on this point. they targeted the right states and turned out the right voters and that's how they won. >> this should not have the been close enough when you step back for these things hato have move the needle. shouldn't have been close out. >> the fact that a comey letter ten days out could have an impact is only because hillary clinton's honest and trustworthy numbers were lower than donald trump's which brooklyn could never figure out. >> it was a tight race. she clearly was so unpopular by that point. i thought it was baked in. i thought the letter would be but it wasn't because people were still so on the fence. the bigger question is the choices the fbi made and how they devoted their resources. contacting john podesta once after he's hacked? two days after? >> the comey letter -- >> once and then dnc calling the

help desk at the dnc saying you've been hacked and not following up with -- they're in washington d.c. it's incompetence. >> it's just incompetent. >> the comey letter was one thing. it was an alarm clock to people. >> all of that baggage of 30 years. >> oh, yeah. >> then i wonder if a day or two before the election when he said there was nothing there, whether that didn't just re-alert people to the issue. >> reminding it and bringing it back in. >> bringing it back into the conversation. >> he should have stayed out of it. >> yes, he should. still ahead are you ready for dow at 20,000. the markets are closer than ever to breaking that major wall street milestone. we're going to see that. we will reveal the top stories of 2016. >> wonder what number one is?

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despite their often heavy

burdens, members of america's armed services ask very little from the rest of us. that can present some real difficulties when veterans don't get the care they deserve. our very own willie geist caught up with one unique team looking to give a little back. >> t-time why don't you come over here and say hello. >> reporter: once a month leland wineberg visits veterans hospitals, meeting with disabled veterans. by his side, teton, his 73 pound labrador. >> sargeant major teton. >> reporter: hoping to bring smiles. >> you can tell they're depressed. they don't talk. >> do you remember teton. >> reporter: he calls him the perfect ice breaker. >> when i see a veteran looking down, bring the dog in, eyes light up. it makes me feel just wonderful. they pet him. it's like they wake up from a sleep and then they start talking. >> look at that doggy getting on my blanket.

>> reporter: he has long worked to help veterans, something that came from his father. >> my father instilled the passion and inspiration to serve vets. i want to serve veterans in any way i can. >> reporter: he calls veterans his role models. >> freedom is not free and we need to take care of our veterans in any way that we can. we should do it through pet therapy and through volunteerism and making them feel that they're home and they're wanted. >> what a good dog. >> reporter: veterans like timothy. >> teton's just great. he gets nice and cuddly with you. he puts his paw on the bed. i love it. raises my spirits. >> reporter: it's an emotional connection there, and it's a spiritual emotional lifting. >> reporter: leland is a corporate audit manager with mazda which is holding its annual drive for good event. >> you're a number one. >> reporter: the charity event gives employees like leland a

chance to help those who are in need in their community. >> it's good to work for a community. sit, stay, salute. good boy. >> nice story. still ahead, we're going to go live to berlin where officials are still searching for the driver in monday's deadly truck attack. plus, hillary clinton might feel like her e-mail server was treated as the biggest story of 2016 but does the ap agree, the associated press? we'll break that down ahead at 8:30. "morning joe" is back in just a moment.

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welcome back to "morning joe." wednesday, december 21st, 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. mika has the morning off. with us on set msnbc contributor, mike barnicle. >> legendary. >> that's a sort of weak team right there. also msnbc contributor rick tyler. a lease jordan and political reporter for the washington post robert costa in d.c. you see the front of "the new york times" today? grim picture of angela merkel and obviously europe just trying to figure out, mike, how exactly to deal with what keeps coming

at them. what keeps coming at them for a variety of reasons, but in large part because of the chaos that continues to rein in syria. >> you have to wonder with the truck incident in berlin and what happened in turkey, the future of europe as a democratic citadel, what happens this coming year with far right parties emerging, more successfully, more successfully in places like france and germany. elections being held in the upcoming year. you know, what's going to happen. >> it is a question a lot of europeans are asking what's happening obviously to our countries. what's happening to our national identities, countries that don't absorb as well as the united states absorbs immigrants. and so hopefully europe's going to be able to strike a fine balance. listen, obviously none of us here, elise, are sitting here

about the emergence. far right nationalist parties, at the same time. they didn't rise out of dust. they rose because the e.u. has had disastrous open border policies for years now. there has to be a middle ground somewhere. >> well, something that's interesting about the rise of the far right, too, is that there seems to be some unification cross borders among these different parties, and you look at especially russia has had an interest in promoting the far right in certain countries. >> right. >> then you look at how these different far right parties are talking and even, you know, austria's far right party met with mike flynn at trump tower last week. so i think that conservatives worldwide should do a better job of building a platform, building a message, figuring out what their response is to far right populism. we certainly the global left has done that. >> it obviously is a challenge.

these are not conservative movements that anybody in the trump administration wanted to be associated with, especially when you see, rick, that you have actually neonazis glorifying i think i read a daily beast article yesterday glorifying vladimir putin and putinism. >> germany's actually kind of unusual. they have experienced the type of terrorism let's say france has consistently. they haven't had the sort of police presence. i believe there's only five police officers at the scene where the truck was. >> right. >> now the isis people claim, and we don't know who the truck driver is yet because they're apparently still at large, but they have claimed responsibility. and so two things happen. one is people see immigrants coming in because germany has welcomed many of them. >> right. >> it's in all likelihood this is probably a mid eastern islamic terrorist character and so it not only bolsters the far

right on the one side. >> right. >> it also -- look, it's just -- it's -- it's going to be a problem we have to deal with. >> it's going to be a problem we have to deal with, and there's no doubt that so much of what is happening is happening in response to what lang merkel agreed to do probably a year ago. she was praised widely by people in the media and a lot of immigrants have poured in. there have been a lot of crimes that have made it in the newspapers and it's created the backlash that a lot of people were concerned about. of course, all of this though has its source with syria, which the united states has done nothing. the west has done nothing. and we've only made a bad situation much, much worse. that's why chaos as we've been saying around the table here for a year now is reining across the middle east and of course across europe. let's go right now to berlin.

we have nbc news correspondent hans nichols. what's the latest on the investigation into the truck attack? >> reporter: well, the latest is they have a name. they found tunisian papers behind the truck that was behind me that barrelled through the christmas market. they have that. so that gives us a little bit further along the investigation. yesterday they released the pakistani 23-year-old migrant. joe, a couple of points on the security aspect you were talking about. germany, it's true, it just isn't there in terms of overall security, in terms of having video, closed circuit tv. couple reasons for that. one, they haven't had the same level of terrorism we've had in france throughout the 15, 20 years. two, remember, i'm here in the old west germany here. just a few kilometers away the stazi play a very important and sort of ugly role in observing and spying on neighbors. there's a great deal of backlash on that. all throughout germany you don't

have the same level of video surveillance that you have in, say, the u.k., you have in, say, france. that could hinder this investigation. one other quick note, we're here in the west where the actual pakistani was apprehended. it's across a park about two miles, a mile and a half from here. they still haven't explained, police authorities here, why they nabbed that guy almost across town, halfway across town, and why no one actually captured anyone here that was coming out of that truck. joe? >> great question, hans. thank you so much. we greatly appreciate you reporting. this morning "the wall street journal" editorial board is writing this about the terror attack in berlin. last year the terror news was guns in a parisian nightclub. in march bombs at the brussels airport. in july it was a truck at bastille day fireworks shows, and a few days after that an axe on a german train. on monday evening a terror truck

struck again, this time at a christmas market in berlin. europe continues to reap the bitter fruits of america's unwillingness to lead a full-blown war against islamic state in syria and iraq and of europe's inability to write its own leadership in obama's vacuum. the cost of that failure will be tragically measured this year in empty chairs at christmas. mike, there is a lot -- a lot written there to talk about. you could talk about barack obama's unwillingness to lead, you could talk about europe's unwillingness to step up. we heard it there in hans description of the attack, i remember it in the paris attacks as well and especially in brussels just how poorly the belgian police monitor terrorists in their area mp you look at the fact the germans still won't take basic security steps to keep their country

safe. >> well, belgium is a real problem for the europeans because you've got three different languages being spoken in brussels. they have not been very up to par in terms of tracking terrorists. hans's report about the pakistani man picked up two miles from where the incident occurred because of lack of, you know, cameras employed in germany, it's understandable given germany's history. that's understandable at one level, but i think the first thing that occurred to many intelligence people here was why didn't the camera tracking systems pick up anything from -- >> by the way, hitler died -- >> i know. >> -- what, 71 years ago? >> yeah. >> i think it's time to wake up to the new reality that's going on over there. >> but to your point, what's clearly happening in germany, been happening over 12, 18 months, perhaps longer than that, is the fear of the other that happens sometimes in some places in this country.

>> right. >> so you pick up a pakistani man two miles from where the incident occurred and you combine that with the rise of nativism in places like france and germany, and this is going to be one of the more serious issues that president-elect donald j. trump is going to have to deal with. >> which leads us to bob kosta. bob, what is going to happen in syria? this is a real challenge. donald trump has moved quite adeptly from one position to another during the campaign and from the campaign to the transition. we can even talk about on a personal level everybody from mitt romney to carlos slim, but what about syria? what can you detect concerning the campaign that was hands off, let the russians have it, but i've sensed from public statements that james mattis may be suggesting that he take a bit more aggressive stand than barack obama did in taking on isis. >> the president-elect, joe, faces the abrasive reality. he has on one front this

campaign promise to perhaps have a temporary ban on muslims entering the united states. he knows part of his base wants that even though that position alarms republicans on capitol hill. and then he has these non-interventionist instincts that he articulated but he did have a militaristic tone. when it comes to combatting syria, he and his people right now, i'm told, are thinking through what would that coalition look like? what's the length trump is willing to go to combat isis? is he willing to work with russia, assad, western european allies? who does he not work with? these are all things they're grappling with as trump is down at mar-a-lago. >> trump will obviously have a coalition of the willing among arab states. >> well, and i think the big question is russia. how much cooperation is there going to be and how much does he

want to continue essentially letting russia lead this process in syria that essentially ends up with russian forces taking over aleppo. how much are we, america, going to be essentially come police sit in it by letting russia lead. >> off of the president-elect's statement that he doesn't have to look at the intel reports every day because he's a smart guy, the potential link between russia and these nativist right wing parties in france, i mean, they've already claimed to have influenced one election here in the united states. are they about to influence other elections in europe? >> i think they've been trying to for several years, haven't they? >> yeah. yeah. yeah. >> which is -- by the way, i think as we talk about investigating what happened here, i think it is criticaling that we investigate what putin has been doing across europe. >> yeah. absolutely. i think this is the big -- this is going to be the big story of 2017. >> i think so. and to see where he's been successful with what he's trying

to do and the impact he's trying to have. some other news, the trump team is pushing back after a new controversy involving the president-elect's son. it comes after questions about whether they were planning to swap big money charity donations to gain access to their father. let's bring in nbc news correspondent hallie jackson. >> reporter: this is the second time, right, in the last, what, week that we've had a discussion that members of the trump family, ties to charity donations, questions about access. at this point it looks like donald trump jr. and eric trump are no longer involved in his charity that's holding a big event on inauguration weekend. that did not appear to be the case just a couple of days ago. watch. push back on a chance to party the day after the inauguration. opening day, this initial brochure obtained by tmz says they get a photo op with donald

trump and a hunting or fishing trip with donald trump jr. and/or eric trump, both avid outdoors men and both listed as leaders of the non-profit. >> for a charitable event such as this, it just looks like you're basically selling your largess, you know, on the auction block. >> reporter: the perception that charity donors might pay for access to the president-elect is exactly what trump himself accused hillary clinton of during the campaign. >> more pay for play. >> reporter: now he's the one facing questions about access to him and his family. earlier this week a charity auction to win coffee with ivanka trump was apparently canceled. the trump transition team released a statement saying the opening day events, quote, are merely initial concepts that have not been approved or pursued by the trump family adding the trump sons are not involved in any capacity. a new final event brochure obtained by nfc news now shows

no photo ops or hunting trips with the trumps. the brothers are named as managers of the non-profit but a transition official tells nbc news, don and eric weren't aware they were being listed as directors of this newly formed entity adding their names will be removed from the filing. and outside lawyers that we've spoken with says that does show good judgment on behalf of the trump brothers. i spoke with a spokesperson who confirms that for this non-profit, donald trump jr. and eric trump will be taken off the filing that was done in the state of texas. meanwhile, kuwait's u.s. ambassador is denying a report he was threatened to move an event from the four seasons to trump's hotel. the move was to give his guests a new venue they would enjoy and despite talking with the four seasons they've held events elsewhere in recent years. experts in conflicts of interest of sounding the alarm, at least a little bit. norm eisen, a former special assistant to president obama tweeted this.

i have never in my life seen anything like the past weeks. if this keeps up people will be in real trouble in the trump administration and soon. >> well, i mean, yes. yes. very concerned about this. rick, we haven't seen anything -- >> the lincoln bedroom, 1997 they paid $5.7 million. >> in the white house. >> for selling access to the white house. >> in the white house. >> which is why trump can't afford this. that's business as usual. if you're selling access. >> thank you, hallie. >> you have a fund-raiser that's out of control. >> here's my favorite -- my favorite moment in bill clinton literally turning the white house over to -- >> it was better than the trump hotel. >> -- a fundraising -- the best place. he's raising money on president's day and he's got all of these foreign people that are in, and i don't know exactly how they were contributing or what, but he actually had to explain

to them, today is the day in america we call president's day. i mean, it was unbelievable. >> used to be washington's birthday before he made a president. >> every -- i think you had don fowler, former dnc chair saying that bill clinton turned the white house into a fundraising machine. they did everything but handed out subway tokens to let people go in because there was just -- there was just a turn style of people coming in to throw money at him. all the white house -- so, listen, i don't like any of this stuff but, please, this is the hypocrisy. >> the rules don't apply to them. >> how about bill clinton yesterday saying, elise, that we are, quote, living in a post-fact world where the truth doesn't matter. this coming from a man who said, right -- it depends on what the meaning of is is.

then he ended up being caught in a lie. >> sad he missed it by two decades. >> he did miss it by two decades. exactly. then he got caught even in the middle of all of that lying about who called whom. >> and this is so much of the reason that trump won. he needs to respect that this is the will of the people to not have this kind of unseemliness in the white house. >> right. right. which is why it's a story. >> and why it should be a story. >> and it should be a story until he stops and just duts out. still ahead on "morning joe," measuring the obama presidency. his legacy still being decided. they're sharply divided over the president's performance. first, here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill, what's it look like? >> good morning to you, joe. quiet and active as we head towards the holiday weekend. we've gotten rid of all of the arctic freezing air. today's forecast looks relatively calm. a lot of the airports are good.

a little bit of rain in miami, a little bit of snow around salt lake city. this is about as quiet as it gets this time of year. also this morning, welcome to winter, everyone. longest night last night, shortest day of the year, today. as far as what we're going to deal with, let's fast forward to friday. this is when we're going to watch a storm coming into california. a lot of rain and driving through the passes there. there will be heavy snow one to two feet into the sierra sz. the storm is over areas of the four corner region. rain in arizona. by the time we get to christmas day that storm will be powerful into the central plains. maybe a blizzard in the dakotas. thunderstorms and very warm conditions throughout the eastern half of the country. not going to see anything horrible. traveling in the inner mountain west, that will be the most difficult spots to go to. new york city, you could be up to almost 50 degrees on christmas day. no chance of a white christmas this year for the kids.

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hi, we(laughter)lford quads. we're in 8th grade. technology is the only thing that really entertains us. i'm gonna use this picture on sketchbook, and i'm going to draw mustaches on you all. using the pen instead of fingers, it just feels more comfortable for me. be like, boop! it's gone. i like that only i can get into it and that it recognizes my fingerprint. our old tablet couldn't do that. it kind of makes you feel like you're your own person, which is a rare opportunity in my family. (laughter)

a new poll from "usa today" and suffolk university finds that more americans believe president obama's best legacy is also his worst. 24% say the affordable care act is barack obama's latest achievement. 22% say it was the economic. 9% say his moral leadership. but obama's biggest failures as president are obama care at 27%, and also 15% say his handling of the wars in iraq and afghanistan and 15% say race relations. one in four say he'll be rated as fair and another one in four

says he'll be seen as a faux president. mike barnicle, i have to say in this era president if one in four people say you're a failure, that's pretty good. >> yeah, it's a complex age we live in. his legacy is going to be complex. the first african-american president. that's going to be right up there at the top. i think as history measures his presidency down the road 20, 30 years, i think his presidency will be viewed as not only transcendent but quite successful because the core of his presidency i think was at the beginning of his presidency. literally he and his team saving, along with elements of the bush administration -- >> oh, yeah. >> bush is pushing paulsen. bush was pushing t.a.r.p. they worked together. >> saving the country from a cataclysmic depression. >> what do you think, rick? >> i think we would have maybe

suffered a depression but i think we would have recovered from it. i think pouring trillions of dollars into the economy didn't make a lot of sense to me. i don't know -- >> want enough. >> look at the anger that it ultimately fueled because people didn't see their bailout on a personal level -- >> right. >> -- but they saw these big bankers getting it. >> arbitrarily. >> i think republicans underestimated how much lingering anger there was. >> both parties. >> both parties still. >> recovery was very, very slow, right? a lot of optimism. i was with asset managers last night. when i talked to them they didn't even vote for donald trump but he was supremely optimistic in 2017. >> robert costa, in your -- you know, behind the scenes chattering, conversations with democrats and republicans on the hill, what is the initial -- the glimmerings of a review. obama presidency that you hear.

>> mike, between january 2009 and january 2011 when the president had the democratic majority and was able to enact much of his agenda he got a lot done, but since january 2011 president obama has struggled to cut the kind of grand bargains, the kind of bipartisan deals that many presidents in the past have been able to do during a divided government. the debate you have to attach is almost coupled with the obama years, what the story of the republican party was and how it has moved from being the party of george w. bush at the start of the obama presidency to being the party of donald trump. and so as much as the president's struggled at times to make things happen with the congress, the republican party, too, was going through fits. >> there are a lot of weaknesses in that legacy, i believe. you can look at the fact that the democratic party under barack obama lost more seats all across the board than any party since herbert hoover's party in 1932 when fdr was swept into

power. you'd have to go back to 28 for a party that's had as bad of an eight-year run under any president. and leadership style problems, b bob costa's right. he didn't strike any significant deals with capitol hill. he could never figure out how to deal with the republican majority. people can blame that on the republican majority. when you're president, you have to figure out how to do deals. president clinton figured that out, he didn't. syria a national disaster. i focus where the 9% focus. i think it's more leadership. think about it. if you combine bill clinton's effectiveness with barack obama's moral leadership and what type of a man he was and the -- doing the very things that we're saying donald trump should do. >> mt. rushmore. >> about not -- about -- about not gaining personally from the

white house, being a great father, being a great husband, being a great man inside of an extraordinary -- extraordinarily difficult situation, i think -- i think that is a great success and, again, if you had combined his moral leadership with -- despite the fact i disapprove of 95% of what he said with bill clinton's effectiveness. >> now you're onto it because i think the elements of his presidency that will stand out as historians look back at his presidency is his moral leadership, is his exemplary personal behavior and his family and the remembrances of singing "amazing grace" in charleston, south carolina. i mean, his leadership ability, his leadership skills. >> it's kind of amazing when you think about it, the big scandals of the obama years actually hillary clinton's own scandals. the scandals that we're going to

take away from the obama presidency are really more about what she did. >> right. >> and that turned into what the election was a referendum on. coming up on "morning joe," the associated press is out with its top ten stories of 2016. we're going to be taking a first look at that list and plus another record day on wall street as the dow continues to march to 20,000. we're going to be going live to the new york stock exchange next. ♪ music playing

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thank you santa!!! now lease the 2017 c300 for $389 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. well, last year i think it was an obvious pick. it was islamic state that topped the a.p.'s list in the top ten stories of 2010. 80 years ago on its very first list back in 1936 the a.p. chose the abdication of brittain's king edward viii so what will be this year's top story? the national writer from the associated press, david creary. king edward viii to 2016, top story? >> we had another coronation, as it were, not quite the british

style but we had a presidential election so that's one of the contenders this year but we'll see what the list is. if you want to go from the bottom. >> let's go -- we'll count them down like casey kasem. >> number ten is related to u.s. politics. it was hillary clinton's e-mail. some think she didn't do anything. but comey speaking out had an impact. >> "the new york times" drove that story. what's number nine? >> number nine was related to the topic. the supreme court starting with antonin scalia. obama made the nomination of merit garland. >> first time in 150 years that a nominee didn't get reviewed by the senate. >> yeah. there was some vague precedent for that but not quite the same. not as long a period.

>> not as long of a period. what about number eight? >> number eight was the one big kind of violent foreign conflict. there were a lot that were going on around the world, so many you almost couldn't keep track of them, yemen, sudan. syria was on the list at number eight. i think partly because of the drama in aleppo, the siege there, the photos and videos of people suffering. >> and a story that will stay with us long. >> yeah. yeah. >> number seven? >> number seven, again, u.s. political story. it was the leaks of the democratic party e-mails. the dnc, john podesta's e-mails. again, at first that just seemed embarrassing to the democrats and then it took on a whole new connotation when word came out about the russians possibly being involved. >> i'm kind of mildly surprised that the hacking stuff isn't separate and higher. >> we made a separate entry for hacking and false news generically. you know, a lot of these overlapped this year. >> yeah.

>> it was hard to break them down so that got some votes. >> number six, a big domestic issue. >> yeah. absolutely. this was a tough one for us because there seemed to be a relation between police killing black men and then police officers getting killed. we decided to separate those two. really tragic what happened in dallas, five police officers killed in one day, there were other incidents like that. >> number six story is attacks on police officers? >> yeah. yeah. >> number five? >> number five was probably the saddest entry of all. there were these terrorist attacks at a relentless pace around the world, almost every corner of the world, and yet there were so many we couldn't break them out. remember the attack in nice, france. we added it all up. it was the number five story, really sad story. it's just continuing with the attack on berlin at the christmas market the other day. >> winter or attack that you did

put separate -- >> that's right. >> -- this is number four, the attack at the pulse nightclub. >> yeah, because we're a u.s. news agency, we figured we had to separate that out, the biggest mass shooting in modern american history, 49 people killed so -- >> and number three is an off shoot of number six? >> that's right. they're intertwined to some extent, the killings of black men so viral on social media that the video of the woman with the guy who was sitting next to her, talking to the police who just killed my husband. pretty graphic social media coverage of this thing. >> we're going to tease number one and number two is a link to what happened with number one. >> poor taste in a way. all the polls in brittain showed that voters were going to stay in the european union. the odds makers there who are very active were betting that brittain would stay.

it didn't happen. i think 53%, 48% out of here. it was a stunner. >> the markets. the british markets. >> the pound at its lowest level in decades, years. but, you know, they're stabilizing now. it's going to be a long, slow process to negotiate that exit. >> right. >> people don't realize it's going to take more than two years to work that out. >> we heard your number one story was going to have a huge impact on our stock market, but it didn't quite have the impact everybody expected. >> going up. >> record highs. >> skyrocketed. >> number one, the u.s. election. >> you bet. that gets so many subplots. it was fascinating to think back through this year and even into 2015. the huge republican field trump prevailed over. bernie sanders, much stronger than expected campaign against hillary. a lot of substories.

we didn't want to diffuse it. we kept it as one entry. it was an overwhelming choice, almost unanimous. >> you know what may have the longest impact, the collapse. the total collapse, the shocking collapse in the democratic party after hearing for a year and a half that donald trump's party was going to be the one that collapsed. i think it's such a shock to so many that the democrats still haven't come to terms with it and can't even begin to think about how to rebuild. >> democrats is a regional party. it's not really a national party anymore. they control so little. they control four statehouses with governors as opposed to the republicans who i think control 25. they're very strong in the cities and inner cities. donald trump has actually won suburbs which is something the democrats should have been winning. >> shocking how quickly the narrative has changed because it was the republican party that was the local party confined to the deep south, the regional party. >> yeah. >> it's all changed with your number one story. >> people thought the

republicans might split to a far right, more centrist thing. now they seem to be at least for the time being pulling together and interrupting that. we'll see over the next year or two. >> it will be shocking. a.p.'s david crary. thank you so much for being with us. i'm glad we weren't in pajamas for you. still ahead, the one thing that could help push the dow over 20,000. we'll talk about that in just a moment.

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time to bring in cnbc sara eisen live with the new york stock exchange. sarah, the dow continues its march for 20,000. do you think it's going to happen today? >> today could be the day though we've been saying that every day for the past two weeks, joe. i think i jinxed it because i brought out my dow 20k hat and showed you that last week. >> of course. >> i'll save it. but we did close yesterday within 26 points away from that

big round 20,000 level for the dow would be the first time ever. got as close as 13 points away yesterday. two factors to watch in today's trade that could take us to that milestone. oil prices, which are higher this morning. that bodes well for energy stocks, a big part of the market. nike, which is a dow component, released earnings yesterday after the bell. came in a little bit better than expected. a bullish upbeat conference call from the executives. if we see niko surging that could be the ticket for dow 20,000. here's a stat for you. since the election, 17 record finishes for the dow jones industrial average. >> my gosh. >> the historical stat, the financial crisis low for this index, joe, 6,547. that was hit back in march of 2009. what a journey it's been. this story out of silicon valley, a senior employee,

someone who's been with the company since 1993 by the name of george paulisner has publicly announced he is resigning because of oracle's support for donald trump. she is joining the transition team. he published his letter of resignation on linked-in saying, quote, i am not with president-elect trump, i am not here to help him in any way. in fact, when his policies border on unconstitutional, the criminally and morally unjust, i am here to oppose him in every possible and legal way. quitting publicly a symbol of how sensitive donald trump is with silicon valley after that big tech titan summit in trump tower last week. >> sarah, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i hope you can put that hat on today as it hits 20,000. >> we will see. >> we shall see. thank you so much, sarah. still ahead, last spring donald trump sounded the alarm with the jewish community.

>> iran is a problem in iraq, a problem in syria, a problem in lebanon, a problem in saudi arabia. it provides more and better weapons to support their puppet states. >> we have new polling out on how jewish americans are viewing iran's role in the middle east and whether donald trump can make the ultimate deal negotiating peace between israel and the palestinians. we're back with ryan lautor in just a moment. ♪

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president-elect trump, my friend, congratulations on being elected president of the united states of america. you are a great friend of israel. over the years you've expressed your support consistently and i deeply appreciate it. i look forward to working with you to advance security, prosperity, and peace. >> well, donald trump is soon going to be setting american policy towards israel. with us now, someone who has known the president-elect for 50 years. former u.s. ambassador ron lauder. president of the world jewish congress and just commissioned the first ever global jewish survey. it's great to have you here. you've known donald trump ever since college. >> together at wharton. >> when we met six months ago

you were one of the few people who told me, donald trump's going to win. >> i may have been the only person to tell you that. >> yeah. >> i would like to talk for a second about donald trump. i was shocked during the time of the election when people were talking about him being anti-semitic. there is not an anti-semitic bone in his body. he is a man who believes strongly in jewish values and he's a man who believes strongly in israel. and that did not come out in the campaign. >> i was just going to say, you told me that also six months ago in our meeting and yet there was concern during the campaign. why do you think that is? >> i think because they wanted to make donald trump something he wasn't. this man who believes strongly in jewish values, he's a man who i must tell you the people in israel will appreciate and i think you will find that he will push very, very strongly those values.

at the same time donald trump is somebody who has a world view. i must tell you in the middle east he's respected. >> you know, there's conflicts from what we hear. you, of course, hear the stories about steve bannon and people being concerned is ththat one o president's top aides may be anti-s anti-semitic. >> i don't know steve bannon, i don't know his birth right. i've never seen it, but i do know that donald trump will never have somebody around him who is anti-semitic. david freedman, he has strong jewish values. he's somebody who i believe will be very, very good for israel.

the fact is when i was u.s. ambassador under ronald regan, the president makes the policy. >> right. >> the ambassador just carries it out, and i believe that david friedman's people will carry out the policy that president trump will give him. >> do you think or believe that a trump presidency, donald trump in the white house, will make a significant difference in the age old problem of getting palestinians and israelis together? do you think it will make any difference and if so, why would it make any difference? >> first of all, many presidents have come into office talking about it and they've all failed. they've failed because they were trying to make a deal between two people but none of them had the experience of how to make a deal and i do believe that donald trump has that experience to understand how to make a deal. and if anyone has a chance, it's him. >> as a president of the world jewish congress, you've actually

put together a survey. talk about a comprehensive survey. you've polled jews in six countries, 5,000 in each country, and came up with some pretty remarkable conclusions. the country's -- united states, france, the u.k., russia, argentina and israel and let's look at the top concerns that this survey found. 24% mostly concerned with terrorism, 23% the economy, 13% the rise of radical islam and 7% anti-semitism. iran seen as a significant threat by one in four jews that were surveyed across the world. overall 58% oppose the iran nuclear deal. jews in the united states generally more supportive of the nuclear deal than those in other countries. still even in america, 47% oppose it. let's talk about that, the iran

nuclear deal. >> the iran nuclear deal, the only place that it was even somewhat positive among jews is the united states. throughout the rest of the world they opposed it by very large numbers and the fact is that for them the whole question of iran is part of the terrorism that's going on and they look at iran and muslim extremism as one of them in the same. they look at them as saying the united states has just given iran a free pass to do more terrorism by giving them the necessary money and taking away some of the sanctions. >> another part of your poll, 70% believe anti-semitism is more common than 15 years ago. 28% of jews in russia think discrimination is on the rise there. anti-semitism has obviously been a growing problem in europe for some time. it's been a growing problem on some elite college campuses here

in the united states and across the world. how do you as the president of the world jewish congress right now, how do you -- how do you look at the trend lines? are they disturbing to you? >> very disturbing. after world war ii nobody was anti-sem mitt particular. they didn't want to side with nazis. it grew because you had an outside group, mainly muslim extremists, pushing it and pushing it harder and harder. and in france it's the worst and today many of the people believe that there's no possibility of ever changing it. interesting, 44% of people worldwide either themselves or knew somebody that was backed by

anti-semitic people. the amazing figure, 66% of world jews have a positive feeling for the future, and it's amazing to have these two different things. you have a feeling of anti-semitism and at the same time you feel things will be better. >> mr. ambassador, does the iran nuclear deal, do you think that goes away? >> i can't answer that. only one person can answer that. >> should it go away? >> my own point of view, yes. i believe very strongly that iran is the major source of terrorism throughout the world and is getting worse and worse because there's nothing really stopping them. >> as we said here on the show, at least i have, it's been the epicenter of terrorism since 1979 and that doesn't appear to be changing. >> remember, always iran speaks about eradicating israel.

that is something that jewish people cannot understand how a country can talk about that. if any other country talked about eliminating another country, they'd be thrown out of the u.n. in the u.n. they're praised. what is that all about? >> unbelievable. well, all right. ambassador, thank you so much for coming. >> thank you. >> greatly appreciate it. the president of the world jewish congress. hope you'll come back soon. >> thank you very much. >> that does it for us. stuff any ruehl picks up the coverage. a manhunt. a giant search for the terrorist who killed 12 in germany after police arrested the wrong man. now they're zeroing in on a new suspect as isis claims responsibility. how did he get away? and a massive blast. terrifying video. a fireworks market exploding in mexico. a dozen dead, more than 70