>> ayman and i will take you through the next few hours. we have from the george w. bush state department, a distributor to "time pittsburgh" magazine. elise jordan we have a look at how the u.s. underestimated cyber threats from russia, finding inaction to be the most inaction policy. they included a 2005 launch of r rt. the kremlin network, came in 2014 when they backed separate its and eastern ukraine. an intercepted russian military report dated february, 2014, documented how moscow created fake person is thats on social media to support its broader military campaign. in the white house situation room in the spring of 2014, aids pitched president obama on

creating several global channels in russia, mandarin and other languages, that would compete with rt. the proposed american version would mix entertainment with news programing and pro western propaganda. president obama brushed aside the idea as politically impact cam. after the 2016 election, they broke out a new record that would authorize sweeping covert operations against russia. they opt aid begins such a far-reaching approach. instead, making this event existing presidential finding making it combat cyber threats around the world than specifically russia. obama signed a separate order that gave the cia authority to plan operations against russia. intelligence officials tell the washington post the trump white house remains divide over whether to act. so, clint what do you make of this report, is this a surprise to you? >> no, it's exactly what i expected. my colleagues and i were

researching this starting in 2014. we were mostly looking at the syria groups. we can see them meddling with you kravenlt there is two big failures to this, one we didn't understand the hacking was powering the influence, what you saw there in this article. >> how do we not know that? aren't we the most technolodge equal? we have silicon valley. why don't we know this? >> it is humerus. we did not think the russians were doing it in the united states, they were dock nit eastern university. we didn't think they would do it here in america. i think the other part is we we were looking at cyber space's hacking, hacking, we were obsessed with this. we continued to be obsessed with the hacking part, really, it was about influence, i don't think dwraen anyone understood it was about shifting audiences in their favor t. other part is people didn't believe americans would fall for it in many ways. that was consistent in the article, too. no one will fall for this. why would they be duped to this.

even if you look at the contend, you say, this seems sillily. large sections of the populous were going that way and social media, the russians went there early. rt. they took it to youtube, can you share it. you don't know why the content is the coming from. you cloak this is russian propaganda. it can get into anyone's audience or feed. >> i probably say a lot of americans don't know where to see russia today. they had clips clipped off. are you surprised when president obama was approached with probably countering the u.s. version of that programing and russian and mandarin, they passed on it saying it wasn't very practical. >> it doesn't surprise me because you look at local language channels. al heera. they end up being expensive boone dogles that don't have

much at the end of the day, when you come up with some metric. how do you measure the effectiveness of the u.s.-funded government broadcast? so it didn't really surprise me that much, that wasn't necessary will i the direction. we were so painfully behind the curb, understanding social media. >> to that point as well, having a free society. >> you were vulnerable too from russia today, probably in societies where that message would make it harder. we will talk about this throughout the course of the next few hours. between rounds of golf at his home, targeting andrew mccabe and james baker. the washington post says mccabe will be reassigned as director as christopher hunter-reay transitions from former director jim comeys, but he hasn't attacked him as a democrat for the virginia state senate back in 2015. anonymous public house sources have told politico that they're

investigating whether baker communicated with the reporter who broke the trump dossier story. in fact the reporter denied baker was his source. the president photoed baker's reassignment in a tweet on saturday afternoon adding, wow, and tweeted mccabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefit, 90 days to go, question mark. along with donations his wife received. john pistole said -- . >> exhigh ranking national security officials reacted. former acting cia director shared trump's tweet writing, i've served in both republican and democratic administrations and have seen some unusual things -- but this is really some strange stuff.

so you know we have this situation where this has been building, building, building. the president using twitter, which is his famous form, right through the chift christmas season, give us a sense of what impact this is having within the

f fbi. >> i think there is a plot or a cane that can you individually pick out acts you might not think about is on your team. everything is about teams with these guys that will somehow shift the tide one way or another. i think that's a gross miscalculation of the administration's part. this will val vannize the law to do things correctly and be a buffer. this damages an institution. this the a u.s. institution imagine you are an fbi agent in a very trump supporting area, are you supposed to develop source, get cooperation, this damages their ability to do criminal justice, national security all the way around. it really is damaging. i don't know how it helps the country. >> i'm curious why the president is suddenly more empowered to start weighing in again on issues relating to the russia investigation. you know, he went through a bit of a pause kind of over the

summer, where he wasn't tweeting about the investigation. he wasn't tweeting about the fbi. his legal counsel said stay away from that. which is smart strategy, over the holiday, he does seem empowered to let it all out there. >> you can get something beyond him deciding that's what he's going to do. >> he's excited. >> the concerted strategy. he's not as busy, thousand he is playing golf at mar-a-lago and taking meetings. >> do you think he's feeling the heat? this is something his lawyer said would be wrapped up earlier than expected. by thanksgiving, not christmas, now the new year. it will clearly drag into 2018. >> i haven't seen reporting readouts of the meeting between trump's legal team and the mueller team. >> on friday. >> they were supposed to meet on friday and the trump team had been saying they had hoped this was going to be kind of the nearing the end of the process. we certainly have heard anything

like that. well the u.s. announced it has negotiate a significant cut t. u.s. mission says it cut the budget by over $280 million and, however, the amount of the budget and how it will actually impact the u.s. contribution remain unclear. nikki haley said in a statement the u.s. would quote no longer let the generosity of the american people be taken and left uncut. they voted against the u.s. jerusalem to relocate the embassy there. gautemala will move it to jerusalem. it voted no to condemning u.s. president trump's decision is so far the only country to follow american's lead. it comes as two palestinians died in clashes over the weekend

between palestinian source, 12 have zooid died so far in the ongoing violence ignited by trump this month. one of the more surreal protests in bethlehem on saturday, palestinians dressed up as santa claus faced off against sources, pope francis adressed it in his christmas address, calling for a negotiated two-state solution, which includes a mutually agreed and internationally recognized border, meanwhile, pop star lorde can selled a show amid pressure from activists urging boycott of that country. at least interesting about the nikki haley announcement of slashing the bug, they're pourn punishing sovereign nations rather than individual nation was are actually voting against the united states. on the one hand, she criticized them for expressing their sovereignty, at the same time they're lashing against the europe which had nothing to do with the actual vote, itself.

>> i look at this as a process story at the end of the day the hoopla over the vote, everyone can come together and mutually condemn each other. what is the difference here? we're a sovereign nation, we will decide as to put our embassy where we want to put our embassy to b. i find nikki haley's posture interesting in the sense at looking at 2020 and 2024 as she a strong republican presidential contender down the road. this is something that is red meat in the republican primary to bash the u.n. to cut money to the u.n., to cut foreign aid. so this is her position. >> let's look at weather. >> on a lighter note. >> i came back from cleveland. for residents of erie, pennsylvania, dreaming of a white christmas, their wish came through, a record setting 13.6 inches fell over the city, with surrounding areas getting even more some far this month, more

than 52 inches of snow have fallen in that city, more than 31 inches above normal. making it one of the city's snowiest on record and how cold does vit to be to make the coast of minnesota look like a hot tub. >> impressive. >> check out steam coming off lake superior yesterday morning, where the air temperature of a crisp 9 degrees below zero with a wind chill of, get this, 31 below zero, made the lake's 35 degree waters look well almost balmy a. little hot tub action there. >> let's look into that. >> bonnie schneider, he thei th how sit looking? >> it is so cold, unfortunately dangerously cold. we have 30 million americans hit with cold air this time of year. in chicago, you will be feeling the cold in the days to come. lake effect snow is something we are watching as well.

you saw what it's been looking like if pennsylvania. heavy snow is expected. it will last through tomorrow. heavy band effects could be as strong as 3-feet. with that cold air coming over the warmer waters of the great lakes, grabbing on to that moisture. then the air rushes over the colder land, where cold air can't hold that moisture. so quickly, we see that moisture dump in the form of heavy snow. these bands will be blinding when they come down so for folks that live in this area. maybe it's something they're used to. it's the first time this season we are seeing it. potentially up to 3-feet. as i mentioned upstate new york. western pennsylvania, including erie. it's definitely going to be a tough go of it. warm weather, of course, down if florida, mild in the southwest. if this bitter cold that will be impact sock many people, not just for today as we go through the morning for the rest of the week this arctic blast of air is pushing eastward so we will feel it in new york city. we will feel cold in boston, where we had the snow.

eventually, the wind chill factors will be there for tomorrow. we are looking at a cold end of the year, end of the week. >> bundle up president trump tells the american people that his tax bill was for the middle class. but what did he actually tell his rich friends at mar-a-lago, i should say, washington correspondent for the "new york times" michael smidt will join us from there. we are back in a moment. stay with us.

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president trump spent the christmas holiday at his private club, mar-a-lago, if florida. last night he tweeted, i hope everyone is having a great christmas. then tomorrow it's back to work in order to make america great again, which is happening faster than anyone anticipated t. president signed the tax bill on friday the first piece of the a major lmpblgs r legislation since taking office. he said you all quote just got a lot ripper. mar-a-lago's initiation fee, by the way, $200,000. i want to bring in the "time's" reporter, michael schmitt. i think the first time i met you, we were on a christmas holiday with president obama in palmy, hawaii. now are you in balmy florida. a little different kind of presidency west virginia are you hearing about, if anything, what

the president is telling his wealthy friends at mar-a-lago. well, i think we saw what he is trying to sell this tax bill to different groups of people t. biggest they will have to sell it to is the middle class. that is something the republicans will do as they get closer an closer to the mid-terms next november. wausau him speaking to a small but narrow group about how he thinks it will help them. he has to make that argument to the rest of the country t. democrats will continue to cast it as the president did as something simply for the wealthy. >> let me ask you about other issues on the president's agenda, is he at all concerned about the russia investigation the fact that christmas eve he is tweeting about the fbi by fame. i suggest he is following, he is concerned by it. what are you getting a sense down there? >> in some ways the president

will be very transparent. clearly, this is something on his mind. his lawyers cold him it would be wrapped up by christmas. it clearly has some momentum. i think they are deeply unnerved that mike flynn flipped and is cooperating. they role e really don't know where it's headed the investigations will wind down. it looks like mueller will be around for a long time. part of what will go on the challenge will be managing the president, his expectations, having him realize, this is not something going away. >> michael, elise jordan here. we read the tweet talking about how it's back to work today.

on his schedule there isn't anything publicly listed. i'm curious, who was he staffed by this week in mar-a-lago, was there anything on the meetings, when you were referring back-to-work today, what is he referencing? >> well, compared to the obama trips in hawaii, obama seemed to have a lot of staff around. they seem to be pretty busy. we haven't seen a lot of white house officials here. we haven't heard about them being here t. president has sort of kept a much lower profile than obama did when he was on vacation. obama would go around hawaii, out to dinner and get shaved ice, play golf. the president was in the church. he's played golf, that's really about i. we haven't seen him that much. no opportunities asking questions or anything like that our sense is it will continue to

be that way through the end of the year, doing that as his vacation. >> they have these two things going on, i agree with you often the president, all you have to do is go to his twitter feed. you look at the event celebrating the tax bill. he felt euphoric about that we saw it in the signing ceremony. you think there is momentum going in he has this thing that he can't seem to let go, what is your sense about where the president's head is going into 2018, all the things not to mention the fact that the house and the senate are up for grabs? >> well, i think he concerned

about the house and senate races and the twinss those could have certainly the democrats would immediately begin investigating this white house and be a real nuisance i think the president understands the existential threat to his administration. i think over the span of the past couple months. he has come to understand the severity of mierl. i think that's the reason why we continue to see him harping on it. they have really gone after the fib football here and undercut its credibility and are beating the drum on that, the president has a huge microphone, megaphone to put out that message and the fbi has made some mistakes that have given him this am nechlgs you have the thing where the president is playing a big role in this investigation.

trying to hurt their credible. you know, and white house officials will say, they need to do this. they need to under shut his standings. a huge megaphone, cle checking the latest. michael smidt. always good to see you, thank you, my friend, from west palm beach. >> a christmas day thriller that i'm sure you will be upset about once you finally see what happened in that game. >> i can't even, between that and the browns, no wonder i had to come back to cleveland. plus the latest on the russian investigation, including the question is a simple yes or no? whoooo.

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he draws the double. throws it away. two hands double and pardon. rhythm. westbrook made the seal. everywhere they get away.

>> irving. stolen away by wall. what a pass. oh my goodness, did he this red the needle on that one? timeou timeout. >> out of the corner for 3. a couple big buckets. >> those were some of the biggest plays over the holiday, i'm back. the golden state warriors are hosting a rematch on christmas day to open the warriors, kevin durant with a real stocking stuffer. james said it should have been called a foul. the call is overturned after review. the warriors go on to win this one 99-92. chris jansing, i just want to make sure you are okay. i know you are a big cavs fan.

>> luckily her microphone was turned off. >> i want to point out. i didn't use any expletives that need to be turned off. that's ridiculous. you punch him in the nose? c'mon. >> lebron says he's failed twice he says it's frustrating. >> they involved a chance to tie it the texans hosting the steelers and they bought antonio brown an extra week of recovery time. the blowout win against the texans. roethlisberger airing it out as pittsburgh looks on to next week's shot at the afc crown. let's go to philadelphia, the eagles clench the nfc's top

seed. it wasn't exactly gift wrapped. tied at 10 with under a minute in the game t. quarterback intercepts the darren clark pass. it would be a game whenner t. philadelphia defense adds six on oakland's desperation attempt t. ride e raiders playoff chances go up in smock t. eagles are hoping quarterback nick foles can carry them the rest of the way through the playoffs. >> anybody want to pile anybody on? >> they're not worth showing sports. >> beifies. >> thank you very much, lewis. up next, did vice president pence know that michael flynn lied to the fbi? that question was posted to the vice president and his answer or lack thereof is coming under a lot of scrutiny this morning, we are back in a moment. life happens.

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well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade welcome back, everyone. "morning joe" will be back at its regular time we want to talk about mike pence, he knew that national security adviser lied about his contacts. a recent report alleges white house counsel don pittsburgh gone knew a week before he had violated the law.

he president tweeted he lied to the vice president and fbi and quote there was nothing to hide. trumps lawyer claimed he aired that tweet. he responded to questions about flynn this way. watch this. >> can you clarify how you understand what happened with music flynn, did you know that he had lied to the fbi? the president said that's what made him fire him? >> i stand by everything i've said with regard to that individual and every other aspect of this. >> reporter: when he was fired, did you know he had lied to the if ib fib? >> what i can tell you is i knew that he lied to me. >> there is a non-answer, answer there. joining us from washington, d.c., good to have you with us. what do you make of vice president, i'm not sure we can

call it an answer there. he certainly dodged the question and we know from our reporting that special counsel that flynn may be lying to them and the time he was actually fired and whether or not don mcgan, the white house counsel threwing mike pence might have phone that flynn lied to the fbi. what is interesting about his answer he doesn't say when flynn lied to him. but if he knew at the time that michael flynn was giving him a false answer and he sold it to the american peep, again about the content of the conversation between flynn and a russian ambassador, that would also be very misleading. so there is a lot in that tape i

think raises some questions. >> this is an answer there. >> eb keeps changing the story. he doesn't know the chess game going on around him. i understand what the mr. president is doing. >> you can make the argument. if you don't do anything wrong you simply say the truth. >> as you know it. >> he has been the most straightford up until now of what happened. i think it's chaos. you are looking at shifting positions no one knows. you never know what the president will do or attack he will take. when you look a at the breakdown, they were warned repeatedly. it sounds like president obama provided a warning him now it looks out of the gate the counsel is looking, to see, did

he violate the law? it seems to be from day one this was an issue. >> what do we make of radio silence out of trump's legal team. we've heard absolutely nothing. >> yes, it's been crickets, chris, of course, that meeting helped so much weight. they witnessed him the first time these two sides have met. it's not unusual for these two sides to meet before a case go es to trial. what's interesting here is there was a lot of weight the team put on, they wanted exoneration, muller to say while he was continuing to investigate people around the president. the president, himself, going to to be free of wrong-doing. they wanted this it's clear they might not have gotten what they

wanted. the legal team roob trying to wall the president. >> meanwhile, i want to talk to you about this meant. president trump was talking about the president began rattling off documents. it listed how many immigrants have received visas. the president complained, haiti

back to their huts. now the white house has strongly denied the president made derogatory statements about huts and immigrants and sad if telling the "new york times" would print the lies. julia, your take on this report. >> i mean, okay, we seen a lot of white house pushbacks. this ruffles feathers. it could have legal implications when this presidency is pushing the visa ban through the courts. and to have comments like this could enflame them the same way his comments as a candidate, that they are designed to keep out certain groups of people they have stronger isio types

about. that's what i want to point out, a lot of the numbers are overplane so when they look at, for example, nigeria, they sow 40,000. we know over this entire year only ske 00 so the president was intentionally misled or someone didn't have their facts straight. >> it's crazy when you think something like that made it into the white house. >> the u.s. is supposed to supply lethal weapons to ukraine t. decision is meant to provide defensive capabilities and sovereign and integrity and adding u.s. assistance is entirely defensive in nature. amongst the missiles to help defend tanks that have steadily

rolled through since 2018. it comes and continues to intensify with fighting up to 60% this year an estimated 10,000 people were struck. the u.s. has quote crossed the live he says it marks another step in the right direction t. u.s. seems to know, following through on something that had been previously requested by the ukrainian government. this is taking the u.s. into a confrontation with russia? >> this has been years in the making. so it's not entirely surprising it is happening. it's surprising it is happening during the trump administration given his posture towards president putin. while everything he says in his public statements is very

laudtory about vladimir putin. this is in direct contradiction to that. this is certainly something that russia does not want to see happen. >> is this something politically captivated by if president that down the road says, if are you not taking any tough measures against russia in any of these places? >> with this administration, it's hard to tell whether it is an over arching policy or whether this is someone within their own lane channeling a part of a strategy. so how many disjointed parts are adding up to the whole i guess you could say, because you really have sometimes you have president trump out there saying one thing, have you rex tillerson saying one thing, have you nikki haley being pro army ukrainian, have you so many different factions within this administration and the the card nation element is what i find baffling. >> coming up, he claims his inauguration audience was the biggest in history that is russia investigation is a hoax and a terrorist attack that never happened.

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daily ritual. abc news compiled a fact check on the sweeping falsehoods so far. take a look. >> this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. and the audience where the crowd was great, the audience, overall audience, was i think the biggest ever to watch an inauguration address. >> it has sean spicer saying it is a long held belief of president trump that millions of illegal voters participate in the elections. >> when i looked at the information, i said, i don't think he did anything wrong, if anything, he did something right. the thing is he didn't tell our vice president properly. there you look at what's happening in germany, you look at what's happening last night in sweden. sweden, who would believe this?

sweden. >> we're going to reduce taxes for the people. we pay more tax than anybody in the world. and we're going to reduce taxes. >> with respect to the president's alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, i have no information that supports those tweets. >> there were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of robert e lee to following it looked like they had some rough, bad people. neo- nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them. i don't know if you know, they had a permit. the other group didn't have a permit. earlier this month the president's dpis dis missal. "the washington post" has a fact check. in the first 298 days of the

presidency he's made misleading claims. >> you do the math, that's more than one a day. several a day almost. >> you know, and it sometimes it's a mild exaggeration maybe. it's something that just didn't -- you know, would be more in the realm of i guess a harmless untruth, but then there's some big ones. it's very hard to see -- >> like going on his twitter account and accusing the former president of illegally wiretapping hiwireta wiretapping him. that's a huge false allegation. >> and not backed up by james comey. >> recreates his own reality. i'm not saying that russia instructed him to do it, but this is how it works in russia. you run your public relations in the way you want the world to be, not in the way the world is. the dangerous part is we are in a democracy, so when you're talking about your elected

officials and they debate from facts so you can actually show up at a debate stage and have two contenders talk about the same set of facts, the public gets misinformed and tune out. >> not only do they tune out. they disregard. i'm looking at his most repeated claim according to washington post which was uttered 60 times with a vary ration of the statement that the affordable care act is essentially dead. we see the new numbers. in spite of the fact that the republicans have been saying in this new budget that they're going to essentially start repealing the affordable care act. the numbers have far outdistanced expectations for the number of people getting health insurance through the aca. >> well, i think you see americans who want to get their health care locked down while they still feel it's possible while there is some existing infrastructure. i think it reflects the panic people feel right now over the

uncertainty in the health care market, so having something, being better than nothing and letting your insurance lapse. i think it's a scary time when our public policy is predicated on uneasiness and political gainsmanship rather than focusing on a solution to help the americans get the affordable health care they need. >> some of this comes back and hurts the president. he alluded to the fact that he possibly has tapes with jim comey's meeting and may or may not release them. it seems like a lot of the problems he's finding now are a result of his own doing. >> he talks so often and creates so many falsehoods that one things pivot around, they ultimately do, the this mueller investigation being one, it can come back to haunt him. what if in the next year evidence emerges both with russia or obstruction or with

tapes or trump tower claims and the public says i was a trump supporter, but this is over the top. it can pivot. the other thing we have to worry sa is apathy. the public tends to become apathetic. they don't know what to believe so they move away from the political democracy. >> they can become numb because it's constantly there. >> 5.5 false claims per day on average. coming up how the u.s. underestimated cyber threats from russia even before the trump administration. and the president launches fresh attacks on the fbi this holiday season including on the agency's deputy director who could be called as a witness in the investigation as to whether the president obstructed justice. stay with us. this is electricity.

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good morning. it's tuesday, december 26th. we hope everyone had a very merry christmas. "morning joe" will be back tomorrow on the air at 6:00 a.m. >> we are going to take you through the next couple of hours. with us we have former aid to

george w. bush, elise jordan. and former fbi special agent, clint watts. and we begin with a new and sweeping piece in the washington post that looks at how the u.s. underestimated cyber threats from russia finding inaction to be the most consistent policy. early warning signs of a growing russian disinformation threat included a 2005 launch of the kremlin funded tv network, but the real wakeup call came in early 2014 when the russians backed separatists in eastern ukraine. an intercepted russian military report dated february 2014 documented how moscow created fake personas to spread disinformation on social media to spread the broader military campaign. in the white house situation room in the spring of 2015 aides pitched barack obama an creating several global channels to compete with rt.

the proposed american versions would mix entertainment with pro western propaganda, but barack obama said it was politically impractical. after the 2016 election officials considered rushing out a new order that for the first time since the collapse of soviet union would allow sweeping covert operations against russia but they went against it and made use of an existing presidential finding rather than specifically russia. obama signed a separate order which gave the cia authority to plant operations against russia. intelligence officials tell "the washington post" the trump white house remains divided over whether to act. the question is as long as there are divisions about whether to act, as long as we're trying to figure out what should we do, is the other side just progressing? >> this is exactly what that

wanted. the idea is to divide everybody up based on whatever issue or policy position so they don't act. that's the goal. don't act and we can move forward. if you look at what the russians have done since the election, it's to take their foreign policy objectives. >> how does this happen? how do we not see this coming? it's been discussed not just over the obama and trump administrations but going back many administrations in some form or another. obviously the rise of social media has changed things, but long conversations about how much better isis is, for example, at recruiting than we are at stopping that. how did we get to this point? >> well, it's just very difficult, this immediate propaganda landscape in particular is just so difficult to actually make end roads and to counter the narrative. it's something that the u.s. government for so many years has tried to pour funding into whether it's in the iraq war we

were trying to counter extremist voices. the state department setting up a new department to deal with the counterradical narrative. there have been attempts, but it's hard to actually do something concrete that ends the threat once and for all. i think that's probably the point, that this is not going away any time soon. >> you almost want to believe that given what the white house said, especially trump, that you want cooperation with russia to solve some of the big issues, have we seen any of the major issues in the world where there is some russian american cooperation leading to a solution of some of these conflicts? >> deconflicting the air space over syria, that's somewhat of a compromise. i think that with regard to the cyber warfare element with russia, the fact of the potential collusion in the election and the unanswered question of that and donald trump's headsatisitation to saya

did interfere in the election, he cannot admit that anything happened so it's holding back the entire whole of u.s. government from attacking the problem. >> and speaking of russia, their elections are coming up this year. russia's opposition is calling for a national boycott to the upcoming election after officials announced he's ineligible to run against vladimir putin. the central election committee says it's going to bar him from the contest in a move that was widely expected given his criminal background or at least fraudulent criminal charges levelled against him. the committee cited a criminal conviction for embezzlement against him. a court has ruled against that conviction and he himself says it was politically motivated. in addition to calling for the boycott, he is also raising the threat of protests over the move saying on twitter he would use

his substantial street support in russia's bigger cities to organize demonstrations against the decision. while most of the fors have rallied around him, he would have likely lost in a race against putin whose approval rating is around eighty percent. there's no credible opposition that can run against putin unless it's sanctioned by the kremlin. in this case, does this man have enough street support to stabilize that political process. >> >> i don't think he'll be able to fully destabilize the political process, but it's important he's there and has supporters and that he's opposing putin because no one else really is. courageous enough to do it. i think that symbolically it's important, but unfortunately it really isn't going to change the status of an election that is anything but free and fair.

>> is there an opportunity for the u.s. to play a role in this in the same way that perhaps russia played a role in our elections? is the u.s. watching this and saying what can we do? or if they seem to be too close to him, it may be a kiss of death for them? >> i think perhaps we should not have a tit for tat. i mean, i think that anything we can do to support democratic opposition and to help further the process along the way toward democracy is great, but perhaps we should not covertly be meddling. >> such a radical statement on the day after christmas. >> sergey lavrov has called on north korea and the u.s. to hold talks. lavrov says russia is open to brokering the negotiations. it comes as the united nations

security council passed on friday harsh new sanctions against pyongyang. the 10th round of sanctions since 2006. the new sanctions cuts oil supplies headed to north korea and heavily bans exports, other imports and gives a window for people to return home. after the vote president trump tweeted in part the world wants peace, not death. russia and china both voted in favor of the resolution, however, the russian ambassador noted that the u.s. was too focussed on sanctions instead of talks, and china's ambassador warned against, quote, tough posturing and confrontation. pyongyang responded by calling the latest sanctions, quote, an act of war while warning that all members of the uns shall be completely responsible for all the consequences caused by the

resolutions. >> russia would like to set the terms. their goal in the meddling and everything else has been to rise up in the world stage. they have. they are now involved in everything and see this as an opportunity to be the stabilizing force and set things for peace. what the real question is is going into this year, i think most people are underestimating the severity and chances of war with korea being we're looking at a battle between two countries. the u.s. versus north korea, and it really comes down to will north korea back off? i don't think the united states will allow them to develop a missile with nuclear capability that can strike the u.s. homeland. and negotiations, i don't know how that plays out. >> i should have looked to see if there's any polls. this is completely anecdote, but besides donald trump, the number one question i get from family and friends is about north korea. i would say at least on the street, regular people, this is a source of real angst for them.

>> you look at how the tension has been ratcheted up between kim jong-un and president trump in both of their statements. donald trump will tweet. he'll talk about fire and fury and attacking north korea with everything we have and then have an incendiary tweet and go to the u.n. and call kim jong-un rocket man. and so there's just been the torquing up of the level of rhetoric that's made everyone, frankly, very uneasy and with good cause. this is not a mild, trivial laughing matter that can be handled over twitter. >> that is something, the president saying he wants to see cooler heads prevail and get the negotiations started without the conditions. when you the secretary of state on one page and the president on another, it's hard. rex tillerson will come out and say no conditions for talks. we want to get to the table. we'll talk about anything any time. and then the president says

talking with north korea is a waste of time. >> that's a confusing message. think if your kim jong-un and you're worried about keeping your state alive and hearing confusing messages. in warfare, that's camouflage for military maneuvers. you're looking at a culture that is about honor, being strong in the face of an adversary. his regime has been built around that. the question is will he negotiate to the power he rails against all the time and give up nuclear weapons or push forward. and the moment that he decides i'm going to launch a nuclear missile or i'm going to do this test, he knows his whole country may fall. it's going to be the most interesting story going in to 2018. >> and our team, october ap poll, 67% of americans very or extremely concerned about the situation there. and all of this is going to take some of the focus off what is

supposed to be a positive pr thing for the country, and that's the upcoming olympics. >> that's right. between rounds of golf this week, president trump continued to hammer away at senior leaders of the fbi. he targeted deputy director and james baker. t"the washington post" reported mccabe will retire early next year. the president has actually attacked mccabe for his wife running as a democrat for the virginia state senate in 2015 and anonymous house republican sources are saying they're investigating whether baker communicated with the reporter who broke that dossier story. the president noted baker's reassignment in a tweet on saturday afternoon adding wow. and tweeted at mccabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits 90 days to go along with another attack on the

donations mccabe's wife received. the deputy director under robert mueller for six years says it's disappointing to see how the criticism of the fbi is being used to try to undermine the credibility of the mueller investigation. i think they figured out they can't undermine bob's integrity so they'll go after whoever they can get dirt on. there was an reaction to the attacks on fbi leaders. one side i've served in both republican and democracy administrations and have seen some unusual things but this is really some strange such. james comey said sadly we're now at a point in our political life when anyone can be attacked for partisan gain. james baker deserves better. he is what we should all want our public servants to be. michael hayden tweeted jim was and is a wonderful public

servant. former cia director john brennan tweeted he was donating to fbi agents association in baker and mccabe's names adding they epitomize integrity, competence and respect for rule of law. not surprised donald trump fears them along with the rest of the fbi. and when we look at all of this in a context of what seems to be a very specific goal by a lot of people who are trump supporters in the white house itself to discredit various factions of the mueller investigation, the one thing that a lot of people will point to is that for the general members of congress, most of the members of congress, and certainly the american public in general what from what they've heard, t going to be very hard to discredit robert mueller. this is not a guy who with a couple of statements by members of congress is going to suddenly gold or be looked at as somebody

who has a political agenda. he never has. >> it's ridiculous. >> he was a republican appoin e appointee. he's registered, i believe as a republican before. he did his term and was asked by a democrat, the president, to stay longer because he'd done such a great job in the wake of 9/11 about rebuilding the fbi as an intelligence-led organization. he has wide ranging respect. the other thing is he's not watching twitter. he is not going to react to anything on social media. he's going to do his job. he's going to follow through on the investigation. i think that's why you hear nothing from the investigation. that's how the mueller team is going to work. the only time they have is when there's confusion about their legal limits. when they were doing retrieving of e-mails, they said we're authorized under criminal law to do that. that's a statement of fact. this is going to be troublesome for the republicans. they've come out so early on this information trying to

discredit it. this is going to go all the way into 2018, maybe all of it, and if you're trying to attack this early on, it really is going to backfire against you. >> how much do you think of the strategy to discredit the fbi is more about resonating with the people, with the base, with the trump supporters to not believe the charges or accusations that are kind of coming out in the media and not really about the investigation itself? is this a political calculation to posture himself as a victim of the establishment, the leaders of the fbi with close associations to the democrats a conflict of interest, and that's what he'll play. >> president trump is framing the narrative that this is a witch hunt, that this is an institution that can't be trusted, that it is out to get him, and that he alone is the one who speaks truth, and is telling the truth, and is in the right, and so that narrative requires taking on the nation's law enforcement apparatus, and

you see how he is trying to go through and destroy the credibility of the institution, and it's an incredibly damaging precedent. it also, i think is ultimately very shaky territory for a president who cited bone spurs three or four times to avoid deploying in vietnam when he's up against robert mueller who i believe won two purple hearts in vietnam. interesting questions about how much republican tolerance there is going to be about speaking out against law enforcement. >> all right. well, a federal judge in seattle lifted parts of the ban on certain refugees admitted into the country. it comes after trump instituted, quote, enhanced vetting capabilities to america's ref ju program in october, and follows lawsuits from the aclu and jewish family services which argue it prevented people from reuniting with families living

legally in the united states. the judges order instructs the government to process refugee applications, quote, with a b n bonified relationship to someone in the united states. the judge states foreigner officials detailed concretely how the order will harm the national security and foreign policy interest. the doj says it, quote, disagrees with the court's ruling and are currently evaluating the next steps. still ahead the new foreign policy move from the u.s. that russia is actually taking issue with. and the president says his new tax guests will make them a lot richer but what's up next for his legislative agenda? we'll talk about that coming up.

welcome back. president trump continues his holiday vacation after scoring his first legislative victory with the tax reform bill and he's up earl he this morning and tweeting writing based on the fact that the unfair and unpopular individual mandate has been terminated as part of our tax cut bill which repeals over time obama care, the democrats and republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new health care plan. and health care is expected to be on the next -- one of the next battles for trump and the republicans in 2018. edward lawrence has more. >> reporter: president trump at his mar-a-lago resort in florida

gets back to business today. he set aside sometimes harsh language in twitter to send a christmas message of peace. >> on behalf of melania, myself, barren, and the entire trump family, god bless you and america. >> reporter: the president not backing off the fbi this past weekend pushing the idea that the clintons gave andrew mccabe's wife a large campaign contribution while the fbi looked into the use of hillary clint clinton's personal e-mail server. >> the president is saying we need to know our civil servants are doing the honorable thing and it's important the american people know what happened in the investigation. >> reporter: the white house will have to sell their new tax plan to the american people. democrat say it will be a tax increase for the middle class. the president says fewer taxes will be taken out of their paychecks starting in january. >> for more, let's go to

garrett. garrett, the president is signaling after his big tax cut victory, he wants to turn his vaengs to infrastructure in the new year. what are you hearing about that? could this actually be a bipartisan agreement? >> well, that's going to be the open question, chris. it's interesting. when i talked to democrats on the hill on my day job, they said want to work with the president on an infrastructure plan. if the president will work with them on day one, rather than developing his own plan and then essentially presenting it to democrats and saying get on board or get off. that's what democrats say is what happened with the tax bill. you have to keep in mind the math changes slightly but in a very important way doing into 2017. republicans are only going to have a 51-49 majority. they had one additional seat to spare in the fall. if john mccain's health problems continue to be difficult, that essentially wipes out a governing majority. you have republicans on the hill

who are going to have to work with democrats if they want to get this done. we'll see if they can come together on a plan. the sticking point as i understand it is where the money is going to come from. whether it would be all government money or whether the president would like to see more private investment in it. the other sticking point is it's about to be 2018, it's about to be an election year and do democrats want to hand republicans in the trump administration something they can run on in november by working with them? so there's some practical measures here and then some pure cynical, political decisions involved in whether or not this gets done. >> let me ask you about the president sweeting a short time ago and putting a deal on health care back on the docket for himself and congress. let's talk a little bit about a how likely that is to happen since they struggled for most of 2017 to actually repeal obama care. is it likely to happen in 2018 for some of the reasons you mentioned? >> reporter: yeah.

it's interesting. you read that tweet and there's a lot of qualifying language that this will happen over time and done eventually. and i think that kind of lines up with what i've heard on the hill. there's not a lot of appetite of refighting this fight. a lot of republicans on the hill like the idea that the president was essentially going to declare victory for having repealed the individual mandate in the tax bill and then move on from the issue. there are other things they would like to see get done nature said, repeal is never the hard part for republicans. it was coming up with a replacement plan. if democrats and republicans can get together on ideas to stabilize the health care markets in the country in a way that doesn't involve the obama name which i think is sort of bad for anything this president is willing to touch. the first half will be busy with other issues already lined up waiting in the hallway. i have a tough time seeing a brand new health care bill working its way through.

>> thank you for that. let's deal with the facts. the trump administration cut the amount of time people have to register for obamacare in half. they slashed the budget for advertising and slashed the budget for outreach and yet the number of people registering has exceeded expectations. 8.8 million people. 4 .1 million in the last week alone. and here's the part that republicans should be thinking about and maybe the white house too. of that 8.8 million people who signed up for obamacare in this latest enrollment period, 7.3 million live in states that donald trump won. that's according to an ap post. >> you look at the repeal of the individual mandate, and is that going to cause a lot of young healthy people to flee the insurance market or cause people, those 7 million people you were just talking about there j is that going to cause their premiums to spike? is that seen as a negative

repercussion of the tax cut? there's so many different elements as republicans are looking to message this tax cut and research it for 2018 elections, but if people are not actually seeing a reduction in their taxes and they're seeing other quality of life issues such as their health care premiums rising go up, it could negate any benefit. >> i would argue there's no bigger quality of life issue than health care. >> and the fact that people are enrolling i think is speaking to that point. people want to capitalize on the opportunity that they can access the health care before it's completely destroyed through various legislative tactics. >> and here's an interesting statistic from the new york times. according to filings with the federal election commission, democratic candidates have filed in all but 20 house districts held by republicans. by comparison democrats in 80 districts do not have a republican opponent for their seat. this tells us a lot about where

the momentum is. i can tell you i spend quite a bit of time on the campaign trail going to these so-called expansion states where hillary clinton thought she was going to be able to span the democratic base. 2018 may be an opportunity there. what i heard over and over again for democratic operatives in a lot of states was bemoaning the fact that they did not have the support that they needed to get people to run against republicans even entrenched republicans. if you don't run against him, you're not saying we can run against a democrat. >> you see for the first time in two decades democrats are sending a senator from alabama to congress which is just absolutely incredible, and so they didn't even -- they weren't putting a ton into this race, at least they had someone, jeff

sessions ran unopposed in 2010. so democrats weren't even putting anyone out there. they didn't even have legislative races. but then with the resources that they put into alabama and this being a special election, they saw they could net a huge gain. i wonder how that example is going to gavel news democrats. >> thank you for that. coming up, the historic appearance by meghan markle at the royal family's church service, and what queen elizabeth has to say about her future granddaughter inlaw. male vo: when that hurricane hit, the entire community came together as a whole. ♪ it was such an overwhelming response to help others. no one thought that they were going to do this before

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welcome back. "morning joe" will be back on the air tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. as evident by this next story we're about to story you. this is not probably a story you would see on "morning joe." meghan markle joined her future family at christmas service. crowds gathered as she made her first public appearance with queen elizabeth and the family. elizabeth who is 91 and phillip 96 appeared in good health after missing last year's church service due to the flu. it was the first time the royals

have included someone who is not yet part of the family in their holiday pra digss. in her annual christmas address the queen said she was looking forward to welcoming new members. >> we're on saysed. >> especially if you watch "the crown". >> do you follow the website "what kate wore"? >> i do not. >> i'm going to have to check it out. now you started a new internet addiction. >> we were august tall talking w we watch "the crown". >> next time we want to hear. >> the iq needs to come up a little. >> it's pretty low. >> focus more on netflix. stay away from the books. >> ask me about russia troll on social media, i got it. otherwise, i'm out. up next, russia warning the u.s. about arming ukrainian security forces. we'll talk about america's role in that and other global hot

spots with jack jacobs. and in a column it's written the president's national security strategy is shockingly normal. they appear out of nowhere. my secret visitors. appearing next to me in plain sight. hallucinations and delusions. these are the unknown parts of living with parkinson's disease. what stories they tell. but for my ears only.

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uh, compliance training. 6:30? sam's baseball practice. 8:30? tai chi. yeah, so sounds relaxing. alright, 9:53? i usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. wouldn't it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do? yeah. introducing essential portfolios. the automated investing solution that lets you focus on your life. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. u.s. officials announced the trump administration is set to provide lethal weapons to ukraine. in a statement state department spokeswoman says the decision is meant to provide ukraine enhanced defensive capabilities meant to help defend its

sovereignty and territorial integrity and deter further aggression. ed aing u.-- adding u.s. assistance is is defensive in nature. it helps them fight against separatist tanks that have rolled through ukraine since 2014 this. it caomes as the conflict intensifies. an estimated 10,000 people have died in fighting in the last three years sparked by russia's annexation of crimea. russia's foreign ministry says the u.s. crossed the line. while john mccain praised the plan saying it works another step in the right direction. joining us now, now the dean of the fletcher school of law and diplomacy, james davritas.

and also here colonel jack jacobs. admiral, if i can begin with you. when you survey the foreign policy of this trump administration, looking at the hot spots, it's hard to say there has been a paradigm shift in some of the conflict zones or key issues he promised when he was campaigning. we're still trying to negotiate with north korea. we've kept our relationships in the middle east despite the criticism he levelled against the countries. when you survey it, do you see any difference in how we're conducting foreign policy? >> i don't. i mean, i wrote a column the other day about the new national security strategy which was just issued last week, and i said it's shockingly normal. when you look back at what the trump candidacy was talking about, nuclear weapons to japan and south korea, a close

personal relationship with russia, none of those things have happened. i applaud that. and so i think the initiatives in afghanistan to get ourselves better positioned to deal with the challenges there in ukraine as you just talked about finally providing lethal assistance to the ukrainians a. our close relationship to nato continues. and a in asia we've tried to increase the ability to be ready in the case of military conflict. overall, there are some things i could criticize, the climate agreement pulling out of that, or the -- a couple other ideas, but as you look broadly, i think it's within the range of what we would want to see at this point. >> the rhetoric is different when you hear a president referring to another leader as little rocket man, you could say that's definitely been a bit of

a paradigm shift. >> if we look at the lethal weapons for ukraine, it's dmes part, the military strategy on the ground. is it likely to change things? >> i think it will. these defensive weapons are awesome to use. you can acquire a target tank three miles away. and it's a set and forget system. you acquire the target, press the button and whoever the fires the missile can just disappear and go someplace else. the missile goes up as high as 500 feet and then hits the tank in the most vulnerable location, and that is at the top of the tank where the skin is relatively thin. >> what's the real world impact? >> i think it will neutralize the capabilities of the rebels and the russians who rely heavily on tanks. it's going to be difficult for them to use tanks in the assault.

it's one of the reasons russia is complaining about it. it will change the entire battle on the ground. >> admiral, if we can pick up on that point, where does that leave the united states in term of it vulnerability if we're seen as aiding the ukrainians with these anti-russian rebel capabilities, that could be game changers at least on the battle field, is there a place where we could see the russians perhaps counter that with something in syria or block measured we'll be interest in the pursuing at the diplomatic level that will be a problem? >> i think that's a worry. i think as you point out, laterally expanding the level of escalation is a risk. but let's face it. these relationships with russia are already cratered. it's hard to imagine anything really dramatic that the russians can do to really change the equation. i want to pick up on a point from colonel jack. i agree with his assessment.

let's remember that ultimately what vladimir putin would like to do in ukraine is connect south eastern ukraine with crimea, the so-called land bridge across. these weapons will prevent an armor assault coming across, and i think colonel jack lays it out just right. the strategy is to prevent the next step in ukraine. it's the right move. >> let me turn if i can to north korea. let's talk a little bit about what russia has been saying. obviously they said they're willing to broker negotiations. we heard lavrov saying that -- citing the russian news agency, lavrov calling on the u.s. and north korea to open negotiations. where do you see this going? it wasn't so long ago, several months ago when we were hyperfocussed on north korea and the rhetoric was ratcheting up

between donald trump and the man he calls little rocket man, and there was a widespread concern that something could be imminent. where do you put the concern level right now? >> i'd say there's a 10% chance of an all out war on the korean peninsula. we have secretary defense mattis talking about storm clouds of war. i think there's about a 20% chance we have an exchange of ordinance that doesn't need to an all out war and the good news is there's still a 70% chance we can negotiate this, but it won't be because of moscow. all roads to pyongyang lead through beijing. in a very encouraging moment in the united nations was seeing the entire security counsel come together to add sanctions. we've seen now china talk the talk. we're going to have to see them walk the walk and walk kim jong-un right to the negotiating

table. that's our best chance at an outcome. >> are we shooting ourselves in the foot when we have a secretary of state saying one thing and the white house saying? different? >> it looks like we're disorganized. it never helps in that different people have different objectives in the administration. so it would be better if we all either spoke with the same voice or said nothing whatsoever. it doesn't help. >> all right. thank you both. up next the digital world with pass words. how great would it be if we could get rid of them? >> but are fingerprints now have keep cyber criminals from getting your information? we'll see how people are working to address that next.

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it. >> please. >> our computers are under attack. all address the world one million victims a day. >> there are a lot of attacks? >> yeah, there are. >> reporter: outside of seattle, microsoft giant microsoft keeps track of cyber crime at its own internal lab and they've noticed something alarming. >> 81% of what we saw was related to user name pass word. gives you a good idea of the magnitude of the problem. >> chief information security officer. >> did you get any bad guys? >> without going into any specifics. >> yes, the hacking community has grown in size and sophistication they use. why it's so important we solve the problem. >> microsoft is one of the handful of companies pushing hard to scrap passwords. the most vulnerable aspect of every day digital life. >> people use very simple passwords that are easy to guess or using sophisticating

computers, they're easy to crack. >> in 2016, the most popular password found among data breachers was 123456. more than 80% of people using the same weak password across 20-30 accounts. what's more, half of tech users write their passwords down on paper. leaving estimated 24 billion intelligent devices over the next two devices exposed. >> this is the center. >> vice president of microsoft cloud platform. >> what is buy mow metrics. >> means using you as a password. your face, fingerprint and some cases a heart beat to say you are who you are. >> she and her team are working to make passwords a thing of the past. >> it's taking 300 different points, that's it. >> show me what happens when you walk up and try to get into my laptop. >> i get in there and it's like, no, not logging me in and it's

not. >> even with the same haircut. >> biometrics are already being used on laptops and cell phones like the iphone x. >> but the goal she says, is to access everything from banking to brooks brothers without ever typing another password. >> it's better from a security perspective. it's just a better experience rather than having to worry about forgetting my password. i am the password. >> people are going to want to know, can it be stolen. once my face is stolen, i can't get another face. >> security people won't say that impossible, but it's incredibly unlikely. >> i want to get your thoughts on this first of all from two different perspectives. are we going to get into an area worrying about what we touch, what we don't touch. if we're using fingerprints everywhere. >> takes it one more launch on the ladder.

every time you go up, criminals are going to move with it. it's a major step forward we should pursue, but we also have to wonder, we eventually wonder out of ways to identify ourselves that couldn't be used or trafficked or taken. your information has to go in a repository somewhere in a lot of these systems. for a personal computer. fine. now you're doing it at work and biometrics. what if someone hacks in or you have an insider. i think that's years away. away out on the horizontal. it could be pretty scary if someone can get your biometric data and know about your health or other aspects about you. >> that data has to be held by microsoft or someone to have that repository you said of the fingerprint. if that gets hacked. people by the millions, bio mitt rick information is going to get leaked out there somewhere. >> individually on your phone it's not a big deal. we're seeing this across corporations. they're moving to get access to buildings. when you get giant repositories,

that's when i get worried someone is going to gain access to it. really a lot of data overtime. long ways way, but makes me queasy. >> looks who has joined us. >> april, we something interesting a video going around, identical twins were able to unlock the iphone. >> they say that actually can't happen and the technology is getting better and only getting better. it does, it makes people uneasy. the idea of facial recognition does. they say although the experts we spoke to said it's extremely unlikely. they wouldn't go as far to say it's impossible. there's this constant cat and mouse game with these cyber criminals who are incredibly savvy. if you take away the ability to log in on a random computer from anywhere.

into someone's account and make it hardware specific, your phone, your laptop. you definitely make it more secure. we're getting to a point where we've got to do something. passwords are the weakest point in the whole system. you think about, i mean, where do you keep them? do you write them down? a woman we spoke to her mother writes them down on a piece of paper. >> what's the point. >> what else are you supposed to do with them? what are you supposed to do with your passwords. >> there are apphouse can put on your phone. it's actually a locked app. where you can list all of your passwords. most people have 25-30 user names and passwords. >> e-mail them to themselves. e-mail like here's my password to my bank account. e-mail it to themselves thinking the e-mail is going to be safe. >> the ore thing you have to do with is companies whether you're a retailer or bank or whatever, any time you have to hit that

don't remember user name or password, that is a cost that a company has to deal with. either getting someone on the phone, or figuring out a system where mair mailing you a new password. that sucks up resources and makes it difficult. >> i'm costing companies a lot of money. that's all i'm going to say. >> thank you, stephanie. coming up, bad weather being blamed for mishap at boston logan airport last night. latest on that. president trump is up and tweeting this morning. this time about obamacare. remains resilient. ho the legislative agenda stacks up to that of the house speaker.

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good morning. it's tuesday, december 26. we hope everyone had a very merry christmas. morning joe will be back tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. >> taking you through the next hour. with us to help out, former aide to white house, and former fbi special agent, clint watts. president trump is continuing holiday vacation at mar-a-lago report, but yes, he is up and tweeting this morning about the next steps after signing tax overall into law. based on the fact the very unfair and unpopular individual mandate has been terminated as part of tax cut bill which essentially repeals overtime obamacare, the democrats and republicans will eventually come

together and develop a great new health care plan. last week, house speaker paul ryan told reporters he wanted to tackle entitlement reform next. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said the senate needs more time. more bipartisan ship in 2018. entitlement reform is not a bipartisan issue. authored by senators lamar alexander and patty murray. senate split in the republican favor next year because the democrats picked up a seat. >> in alabama. >> mitch mcconnell and paul ryan have differing priorities. paul ryan has been saying entitlement reform, welfare reform and mitch mcconnell essentially shutting that down. >> mitch mcconnell is write about the fact. also incredibly bipartisan issue. >> he's being realistic. after all the trouble with having any kind of obamacare

repeal. three strikes and they never achieved that goal. they kind of managed to squeeze it into tax reform. they were able to do tax reform. really is there any other issue that would you night republicans more than tax reform. thank goodness they got they one. >> do you think the president is beginning to listen to mitch mcconnell more because the point even with the alabama senate race, obviously mitch mcconnell is very critical of the steve bannon and roy moores early on says you need to actually feel candidates who can win races and now they can actually, mitch mcconnell can point and say you should have listened to me. do you think mitch mcconnell's voice will grow louder within the white house. >> i think with donald trump, the one key constant that's always there is that he trusts himself and really doesn't trust anyone else. he might listen or take counsel on occasion. at the end of the day, it's always going to be his gut impulse. his instipnct that he follows.

>> i want to go back to the riff between paul ryan and mitch mcconnell. paul ryan knows he's not going to get entitlement reform through next year. it is something he's consistently talked about whenever you would sit down with him and sometimes call in the white house correspondents and sit down and have off the record meeting, this isn't something that's a surprise to any of us. what's the political calculation on this. just to send it to people who are upset about what has happened with the tax cut and the fact they're not paying for it? what's he doing. >> they're adding. this is not a conservative tax plan in the sense that it adds 1.5 trillion to the deficit. fiscal conservatives are rightfully upset about adding to the deficit. at the same time that we don't see spending cuts in concert with this new tax plan. >> so when ryan calls for entitlement reform knowing he's not going get it next year s that just a message to him. i haven't forgotten you. >> i think it's a passion.

i think it's a passion project. he can continue onwards with his passion project. just might not get anywhere. >> a lot on the agenda for 2018 they might not get anywhere. talk about the announcement the u.s. has made. significant cut in the budget for next year. said it cut the budget by over $285 million, and, in fact, plans to make further reductions to the u.n.'s management and support functions. however the amount of the budget and how it will actually impact u.s. contributions remain unclear. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley said that statement the u.s. would no longer let the generosity of the american people be taken advantage of. future cuts are on the table. after the u.n. general assembly voted against the recognition of jerusalem as the capital. the decision to relocate the u.s. embassy to that city. meanwhile, graduate mall guatem

announced it will follow the u.s.'s leads. is the first and so far the only country to follow america's lead. it comes amid more violence in the region. two palestinians died in classes over the holiday weekend. 12 palestinians in total have reportedly died so far in violence that has been ignited by the announcement earlier this month. pope francis weighed in. addressed the conflict in christmas address. calling for negotiated two state solution. includes mutually agreed and internationally recognized border. lorde canceled show amid pressure from activists to boycott the country. a lot to sift through here. let's start with the announcement against the united nations. somehow punishing the united nations for the decisions of 120 sovereign countries is now the

new mo of this administration. >> it's not exactly new for a republican administration to beat up on the u.n. they are perhaps just being more open about it and i think that nikki haley, her political is strong. she knows this is a winning issue for her. it isn't going to repeal any republican based voters by giving the u.n. a hard time. these actions taken. it was a lot of chatter. a lot of noise. really i would say it's a bit about nothing. you have bodies debating and talking. at the end of the day, we're a sovereign nation and we can move our nation where we want to. >> nikki haley's profile has gone up significantly since she got this post at the united nations. there's already been talk. do you see any circumstances under which nikki haley would go running back to washington. >> it would make no sense at all for nikki haley to become the next secretary of state. you look at the last woman who tried to run for president after

being secretary of state and that didn't necessarily work out so well. >> where you suggesting she's trying to use higher profile to run for the president of the united states. >> i think that nikki haley has a very promising political future and i am -- i would advise everyone to keep a close eye on her and watch her. >> clinton, what's the message here when the u.s. is punishing the united nations for the decisions of the countries that voted against the u.s. on this. i've seen criticism from the former security diplomatic officials who say this is not the right message. we're expecting our countries our these countries to exercise their sovereign right, but we're punishing the international organization. >> it's supposed to be a place to come together and hash through the complicated issues and america essentially say fg we don't get what we want, we're going to pull the rug out from underneath it

>> we have we have it in the middle east. we need these tools and options otherwise it's all hard power and force. we're tired of war since 9/11. it's shooting ourselves in the foot in the long run to achieve a very small political victory. >> meantime, new sweeping piece in the "washington post" that looks at how the u.s. underestimated cyber threats from russia finding inaction to be the most consistent policy. early warning signs of a growing russian disinformation threat included the 2005 launch of rt. that's the kremlin funded tv network. the real wakeup call came in early 2014 when the russians annex and backed separatists in eastern crew crane. according to the post, intercepted a report dated february 2014 documented how russia created fake personas to spread disinformation on social media to support broader military campaign.

in the white house situation room in the spring of 2014, aides pitched president obama on creating several global channels. in russian, mandarin and other languages to compete with rt. the proposed american versions mixed -- president obama brushed aside it as political impractical. first time since the collapse of the soviet union would authorize sweeping covert operations against russia. opted against a far reaching approach. and made use of presidential finding to combat cyber threats around the world rather than specifically russia. obama signed a separate order which gave the cia the authority to plan operations against russia. intelligence officials tell "the washington post" that the trump white house remains divided over whether to act it was

interesting when i travelled to asia with president trump. wanted to come to the united states to study. it was also clear, as smart as they were, their view of the united states came from american television. whatever movies or tv they were able to access. that's where their view of america was. how is it we have not done this, how have we not used what is regarded everywhere as the top entertainment ability, top television ability, anywhere in the world is here in the united states based in hollywood, washington, new york. and yet, we seem to be having not the upper hand here. >> we invented the mediums. we actually spearhead them and get beat on them. it's an irony in this. >> are we not putting the money?

>> there's no one in charge. when we did this during the told war, the focal point for coordinating efforts. actors, musicians, artists, they were ambassadors. they did what they did and we put that out there and we did democracy pro motion. if you look today, what does the united states really want? we are not promoting democracy around the world. we don't really have a message we want to send and we don't have good messages to do it. there is no coordinating body. the u.s. information agency is gone. the mission is sort of broken down to state department, which has been very defunded and a lot of staff have been taken away. the department of defense has it in a military context and a lot of regions and from the cyber space angle, the intelligence committee is very scaried to do this because you're not allowed to influence americans on these platforms. you kind find in the audience who is american or foreigner and find out what we're trying to promote.

it comes down to we don't know what we believe in and don't know what we want. >> couple that with the track record of the fact of democracy promotion in the middle east is suspicious as well. whenever the u.s. tries to do something that the good. we talked about this with programs and channels like that were launched in the middle east, a channel designed to put out this pro-american content so to speak, but it doesn't resinate with that part of the world. we have -- our brand, america's brand has been tarnished. it's a tougher sell, so to speak. >> we're just not that good at our propaganda efforts apparently. and i don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. i think it's good that american culture and american art resinates far more than anything that we're disseminating by the u.s. government.

i think that's where america's core strength in public diplomacy lies and i wish the state department was able to harness that the way they had in previous administrations. by having a strong -- you have under secretary of state for public diplomacy. that position is unfilled. a lot of very valuable exchanges happened you know between celebrities, figure skaters, athletes, into foreign countries, person to person diplomacy that wouldn't necessarily otherwise be occurring, but that we facilitated through the u.s. state department. i think that at a time like now where there is no much violence in the world, we don't want to become involved in more wars. i think it's more important than ever that we double down in those human interactions. >> also comes at a time when our own immigration policy seems to be closing the door more and more to people coming in from overseas.

>> one of the big things i heard from students in asia about that. >> still ahead, talk about the president's legislative agenda as he tweets about getting back to work. democrats mostly stayed on the sidelines in the 2016 election. ahead of 2018, seems they're ready to get in the game. tell you about a very telling new statistic.

welcome back. president trump is signaling he's looking to take up health care in the new year, suggesting

the democrats and republicans will eventually come together in spirit of bipartisan ship and develop a great new health care plan for this country. let's go to west palm beach. up early. tweeting about health care. optimistic about making another run for health care. 0-2 in 2017. congress though, you think they're going to share his enthusiasm for a third time around? >> reporter: the short answer to that is no, probably not. mitch mcconnell said just before the senate left town that he is interested in seeing some bipartisan fixes, stabilization to obamacare into the individual markets which have been really the area where they've seen the most problems with the health care bill. not a lot of appetite on capitol hill to keep going back and refighting that battle when tax bill passed and was signed into law last week. you heard some republicans say

they were hoping the white house would see this as opportunity to essentially declare victory and move on. you get that in the first half of tv president's tweets saying look, we got rid of individual mandate. that's what so many people hated. i think a lot of republicans who would like to keep pushing him in that direction and move past the obamacare debate, which was so bruising for them last year. worth pointing out too, doesn't get easier next year. the math and senate gets worse for republicans when doug jones replaces luther strange in january. one more democratic makes this just that much harder for republicans to do. >> meantime, as you saw, the president tweeting he's getting back to work today. although nothing on public schedule presumably. maybe that means there's meetings going on. what are the priorities for the white house in 2018. particularly in early month skbls ta. >> reporter: the white house talked about a couple of

different things. meet with speaker ryan and mitch mcconnell to hash out how they're going to do this. infrastructure is high on the list. immigration is going to have to be addressed at some point. democrats have been making noise about fighting for the dreamers. there was talk in december democrats would hold the line and force some kind of fix for daca. that didn't happen. clock is still ticking towards march. that's something democrats are going to get enormous pressure to deal with. could see some sort of deal on immigration. those are probably the two biggest issues. you know, of course. never know when north korean or the russia investigation or any one of these issues will pop head up and distract and change the pace. >> thank you with that beautiful backdrop in west palm beach. joining us how. conservative radio host. msnbc contributor and author of the book how the right lost its mind. good to see you. happy holidays to you. >> there's supposed to be a

meeting with mitch mcconnell and ryan in early january. talk about getting on the same page. we were talking a little earlier. it's clear they're already on different pages on things like entitlement reform in that paul ryan would love to see a push for it now. last week, last month. mitch mcconnell looking at something different. is there something that the republicans can do something what the leadership and the president can do in this meeting to buck what is the traditional wisdom and that is both historically and in terms of facts on the ground. 2018 looks good for the democrats. >> it does look awfully good for the democrats and get the sense there's almost a perfect storm brewing. on the other hand i will tell you republicans and conservatives feel energized by the package of that tax bill. tremendous pressure now among republicans to acknowledge that, hey, you know, look at all the accomplishments of the trump administration. you never trumpers need to get on board because of all these

conservative wins. i would say there is some momentum for them to okay, what is next? obviously infrastructure would be the most tempting, but i just don't see any indication that democrats are going to be willing to cooperate with trump or the republicans on any issue with the possibly exception of daca. >> charlie, i want you to listen to a statistic according to the "new york times" and filings with the federal election commission. democratic candidates have filed in all, but 20 house districts held by republicans and in comparison, democrats in 80 districts do not have republican opponent that is actually going after their seat. so if you are a democratic and you're looking at 2018 going into this. you're feeling pretty optimistic about a momentum that is building around the country and especially after what we just saw in alabama. do they feel emboldened that they can win some of these seats. >> well, yes, they ought to feel

emboldened, given history and some of the dynamics. the aprproblem that republicans have is they're counting on tax bill being more popular. they may be right about that. on the other hand, you still have the boat anchor of donald trump who continues to poll so poorly. this is part of the problem. they're trying to say look, even with donald trump being historically unpopular at the head of our party, we're going be okay. republicans are saying that. democrats on the other hand, i cannot recall when they were as energized or mobilized as they are right now. and they have some reason to be. >> they also have one more thing, which is that over the course of 2018, and this happens in every election, right. it's not about the things you know and coming in to prepare for. the things you don't know that might be out there. suddenly going to change the trajectory of the race. something that fits into the category is the russia

investigation. going to continue to hang over the president's head. continue to hang over republican's head. we don't know which kind of turn it's going to take over the course of the next year. >> we don't know what kind of turn it's going to take, but we do know that president trump is prone to behave erratically when he feels challenged and threatened by the russia investigation. more so than anything that will be uncovered, i think that how he comports himself, how he handles himself. how he controls his own impulses to the worst of his detriment, i think that's what we'll watch over the next year. >> maybe how he gets baited. there are certain things that can be said by certain people that they know is going to get a rise out of him. >> anything you think is worth the democrats trying to cooperate with the republicans on to take to voters and say here is something we have worked on and got done? >> no, not really. the possibility of daca, they need to come up with a solution

for all of that, but at this point, i think the democrats best argument is going to be the voters need to give the republicans a restraining order in 2018. so we'll see. i'm guessing it will mainly be that message. >> shaping up to be an interesting year. >> normally, i'll ask you quickly. you need to give voters something more than voting against the other side. right. maybe 2018 won't be that. maybe that's all they need to do. >> hey, look at alabama. i'm sorry. it was a terrible republican candidate. possibly one of the worst candidates who has ever been, but it is alabama. and they voted in a democrat for the senate. major cancellations at boston logan airport this morning after a plane slid off the taxi way in bad weather. may not be the extent of travel chaos this holiday. tell you what to watch for, next. whoooo.

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welcome back. a jet blue passenger plane skidded off last night. as the flight from savannah, georgia landed at logan airport in boston. received nearly three inches of

snow. temporarily delayed flights earlier that day. no reports of injuries. let's bring in bonnie snider. weather having a factor on holiday travel plans. >> luckily looking at better weather for boston going to turn colder. here's why. look at the cold air. dangerously cold through the northern tear of the country. 30 million people impacted today with dangerous windchills that unfortunately could get as low as below 30 degrees. it's really incredible because as the jet stream plunges southward. all of this cold air will work its way east ward. looking at hi g aing at highs t chicago of 1467. going to feel like negative 12. bismarck, windchill is 20 below. interesting also the fact that all this cold air is pushing east ward. temperatures as we wrap up the end of the year are getting colder for boston and philadelphia. staying in the 20s and even the teens with windchills below

that. lake effect snow is a huge concern today. especially western pennsylvania. some of the snow drifts could be as high as three feet. so tough travel in this part of the country. >> thank you very much for that update. >> up next t president claims response so hurricane maria was a quote, ten out of ten. >> are you surprised. >> some parts of puerto rico won't get power until may. just in time for the 2018 hurricane season. we're going look at new york magazines new cover story on how that natural disaster has turned into a manmade one. it's your last chance of the year to get our best offer of the year: zero percent financing for seventy-two months, plus an extra one-thousand cash back across a full lineup of ford cars, trucks and suvs. so hurry and save big on america's best-selling brand. it's the final days of the ford year end sales event with zero percent financing for seventy-two months plus an extra one-thousand cash back! see your ford dealer before jan 2nd and save.

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you look at the tremendous, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died. what is your death count at this time? 16 people. certified. 16 people versus in the thousands. you can be very proud. >> that was president trump speaking of puerto rico back in october. this morning, a new piece in new york magazine looks at how nearly 100 days since hurricane maria made landfall, the natural disaster has turned into a manmade one. death toll threatening to eclipse that of hurricane katrina. joining us now, thank you for being here. cover first of all is striking and really speaks to how disturbing the information in the article is we see a body in a morgue there. officially, two weeks ago, last

official number we got from puerto rico government, 64 people have been killed. you make the argument as others have it could eclipse the 1800 that were killed in hurricane katrina. how that huge disconnect happened. >> well, ep deemologist say the best way to calculate the effects of the disaster is take the baseline and subtract that. any difference over what is historically, should be attributed to the hurricane. a lot of deaths come to electricity. when there's no electricity, people die. >> no heat stroke. >> no deaths attributed to heat on the government's official list. they have this process at the department of health for attributing deaths to the hurricane, but if you look at the baseline, it's over 1,000 extra deaths. that's 17 people dying every day through september into october.

we're going to get the november numbers next week. so the numbers continue to rack up and now it's more the total death toll is more than halfway to the katrina death toll, which was 1800. >> let me ask you something that stuck out to me, label of manmade disaster. natural disaster that started. talk to us about what you observed down there that compounds it to now a manmade one. >> the big issue is electricity. we're seeing a historic lowering of the bar. what kind of services are you entitled to as an american citizen. we're going on 100 days now since hurricane maria. 100 days on december 29. more than a million are still without electricity in their homes. this is a big issue. no water, no lights. means you have to buy a generator. and fill it with gas if you want any of these things. we also know if you're sick or

old or in a hospital and there's no it increases mortality. it creates problems throughout society. hasn't been a week or two weeks. it's been 100 days now. some areas won't get any electricity back until the end of may. >> people should read this article. it was really sobering. you talk about the main hospital on the island. how the roof was ripped off. had to move the neonatal care unit. three generators with only two of them working. one seemed to go offline. then you don't have any electricity essentially in major parts of the hospital. a woman who choked, right, on her oxygen cord, and they're saying it's a suicide. seems she was just trying to get oxygen. where are we? where are we with if federal response. president talked often about how many people were sent down there. the resources.

are they all still there? >> if you look at the rhetoric and look at what is happening on the ground, you would think the job is done. the total number of personnel has declined to about 5400 right now. president trump has mentioned puerto rico for a couple of weeks. he pulled back general buchanan, three star who he sent down to lead the response. buchanan is gone. u.s. comfort, the hospital ship is gone. he is sort of acting as though the job is over and can just be put back on the shelf. there are a lot of people down there who are still suffering and particularly, this electricity issue has a long way to go. >> why has the bar been lowered? when it comes to puerto rico. you said that you feel the bar that they've set a lower bar and that's really upsetting that we're just letting a million american citizens languish for over 100 days without

electricity. is it incompetence? >> it's a great question. i think part of it no one pay as little cost when puerto rico suffers. no votes in congress. has a resident commission who doesn't cast a vote. puerto rico doesn't have electoral votes for the presidency. i think if puerto rico were a state, you would see a much more substantial response because you know, whichever party turned out to be responsible for this would be feeling the heat, but because puerto rico is incorporated territory, nobody in washington will pay a price for it. >> we see what happened when the mayor of san juan made her concerns known. the white house and the president went after her. the article is in new york magazine. it is the cover story. thanks so much for coming in. we really appreciate your reporting. up next, brine sullivan here to talk about the holiday shopping season or quite frankly whatever else he wants to talk about.

>> it's brian. >> we let him run free. we wind him up and let him go. stay with us. life happens.

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that's my message to family and friends. thank you. >> according to national retail federation, retailers expecting average of 13% of holiday sales will result in returns. average of 11% of returns will most likely be fraudulent or stolen returned for cash. doubled that of estimates five years ago. otherwise on par with the annual fraudulent return rate. >> let's bring in my friend, cnbc brian sullivan for more. all right. what's going on out there? people obviously feeling pretty good about their own pocket books because they're spending more money. >> they are. good morning. hope you all had a great holiday. here's the reality s that retail sales are up big. mastercard saying it rose 9.4% from last year. that would be the best number we have seen in around about a decade or so. that's is x automobiles. i don't know who those people are who buy the new cars with giant bows on them in the drive

way. overall retail looking strong. unemployment at 17 year low. this is good news. remember, 4.8 approximately people that work in retail and fortunately 2017 was a pretty dismal year for many nononline retailers. saw a number of high profile bankruptcy. this holiday season is not only important for the economy. consumer spending, about 70% of the u.s. economy. many store s hoping this holida season will keep the balance sheets in the black and keep them going. e-commerce probably rose 18%. much of that coming from that little startup out there in seattle. what's its name? amazon. it's a river. not nile. >> i think it's amazon, but you can check me on that. >> you know what, you're right. it is amazon. i think they've got a future. that's just a wild prediction. either way. we'll see what types of stores are the new terms is unamazonable. is this store unamazonable.

you're a genius. i've got things i'm going to return, but since friends and family are watching me, everything was great and fits perfectly mom. >> by the way, your gift is parked in with a big bow on it. >> brian, thank you very much. coming up. take a look back on the year in sports and politics and what happens when they collide with activism. dave joins us next. ♪ one is the only number ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ staying ahead isn't about waiting for a chance. ♪ because one is... it's about the one bold choice you make that moves you forward. ♪ ...that you ever need the one and only cadillac escalade. come in for our season's best offers and drive out with the perfect 2017 cadillac escalade for you. get this low mileage lease from around $899 per month. ( ♪ )

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president trump has turned accusations of fake news from the oval office into an almost daily ritual. nbc news compiled a fact check on some of the president's most sweeping false holds so far. take a look. >> this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. the audience, the crowd was great but the audience, overall audience was i think the biggest ever to watch an inauguration address. >> it has press stkt sean spicer saying it is a long-held belief of president trump that millions of illegal voters participated in the election this fall and they participated in general in elections. >> when i looked at the information, i said, i don't think he did anything wrong. if anything, he did something rig right. the thing is, he didn't tell our vice president properly.

you look at what's happening in germany. you look at what's happening last night in sweden. sweden. who would believe this, sweden. we're going to reduce taxes for the people. we pay more tax than anybody in the world and we're going to reduce taxes. >> with respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, i have no information that supports those tweets. >> they were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of robert e. lee. the following day, it looked like they had some rough, bad people, neo-nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them. i don't know if you know, they had a permit. the other group didn't have a permit. >> now, 2017 also saw a collision between politics and sports. >> wouldn't you love to see one

of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a [ bleep ] off the field right now? out, he's fired. he's fired. >> yeah, colin kaepernick obviously got under the president's skin this year. joining us from washington, d.c., a sports editor for the nation, dave siren. dave says he strayed from his usual formula of reviewing the year of sports and politics write, quote, now in 2017, we've reached another place. as the me too movement has become a part of the sports rhetoric of resistance but this has also been the year of the backlash. open ugly racism aimed at athletes who recognized that in historical moments such as this one, they need to do more than just shut up and play. dave, always good to see you. such a thought provoking piece. tell me sort of what got you in this frame of mind. was there one particular incident? was it colin kaepernick?

was it just in general what we've seen over the course of the year? >> yes, i mean, i speak to a lot of nfl players, particularly the ones who have been part of these protests this year. kneeling or sitting or raising their fist during the anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality. the thing that really struck with me was when donald trump made that speech in huntsville, alabama where he used vulgarity about the players and said they should be fired and forced to stand for the anthem, that the reaction of that in the lives of these player was so intense, whether it was social media harassment, whether it was actual death threats against their family. whether it was having to hire security around their houses. these players felt a tremendous amount of pressure. and yet within this incredible ugly story, to me i found something that gave me more hope than almost anything in 2017. one of the concerns of the players was that once donald trump made that speech, everything would become about trump. and the message of the protests would be completely lost.

and yet a poll taken a month later by huffington post and you gov showed that more people in the united states understood what the protests were about by a pretty significant margin after trump made those remarks than before. that's because these nfl players, you know, who are often stereotyped at jocks, you know, who don't know anything and are only good for selling ads or sports drinks, they were tenacious on shows like this one, on other national news programs of not taking the bait and making this about trump versus the athletes. but staying on message about police brutality and racial inequality. and i think there's a lesson in there taught by the jocks to all of us that when you just enter the social media bubble of back and forth jibe, we don't really get anywhere in terms of advancing either policy or political arguments. >> dave, let me ask you really quickly about some of the accusations that the president's comments have had racial undertones to them. >> sure.

>> when you think of some of the comments made by the athletes and many of them prominent black athletes. he's denied this has anything to do with that race. in some of the evidence that has been cited here in the article it seems there's a racial undertone with the way the president is responding to the criticism from these athletes. >> yes, look, it's not a dog whistle, it's an air raid siren. if you look at some of the people in the sports world who have been the most critical of donald trump, you have people like gregg popovich, the coach of the spurs. steve kerr, the coach of the golden state warriors. no response from donald trump to either of them. they happen to be white. the people who he's responded to are people like colin kaepernick, jamal hill from espn, la var ball of course. there's this focus, this honing in on, quote/unquote, ungrateful people in the sports world who are black. i just want to point out this is a very old playbook in this country. it dates back to jack johnson

who was condemned by the u.s. congress. the first black heavyweight boxing champion. this idea when you focus on black athlete, what you do is you feed white resentment because it's anger whether it's their salary or fame or this idea they should be grateful for having these opportunities as if they haven't worked for them and are one in, you know, a million people who will have the skill and ability to achieve that plateau. >> in the article, you talk about athletes past who have had a very big impact on the conversation, whether it was muhammad ali or jackie robinson or billie jean king. having said that, you had an interesting quote from mark twain which is history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme. explain that. >> no, absolutely. because i think oftentimes you see people compare colin kaepernick to someone like muhammad ali or venus and serena williams to people like billie jean king and people clap back at that saying that was different times, muhammad ali

was facing time in prison for opposing the draft or billie jean king was on the first wave of the women's liberation movement in the '70s, it's completely different. and the answer is yes, it is completely different in some respects but in other respects we have so much to learn from this history as well and we can build upon the history of previous generations of activist athletes to understand not only how to keep pushing forward sports as a platform for social change but also keep pushing forward the very idea that you don't sign away, you know, your right to citizenship or to have a political opinion just because you're an athlete as well as how to navigate backlashes. >> you spoke about how some of the players needed security in the aftermath of trump signaling them out at that rally in alabama. i also found just as disturbing in that rally he said that nfl players weren't being hit as hard. and he was somewhere -- it seemed he was endorsing ct, you know, concussions.

it seemed he was endorsing brain damage for these players and for the players not to be protected. how did the players respond to that? >> that was actually one of the things that upset the players the most when i spoke to them. one thing every player lives with now is this exespin chul fear that their brain is disintegrating when they take the field. it's something they live with and their families live with. and donald trump who never played football -- i mean, frankly, it's not -- while i loathe comparisons to football and war, which far too many people make, there is a comparison there of donald trump, someone who both never fought in our military but also never played football, speaking about it as a vie carious observer and calling for more violence while having no sympathy or empathy or dialogue with the people who have to actually take the field. >> absolutely brilliant article. and the hash tag me too movement and its impact on sports. i want to mention today is the

premier episode of the new show this is football, hosted by joe scarborough. >> and that's going to do it for us this morning. morning joe will be back at 6 a.m. this morning. dave picks up our coverage right now. >> appreciate it. a holiday tweet storm. taking aim at fbi deputy director andrew mccabe as reports swirl he's on his way out a week and a half after he spoke at quantico. >> the president of the united states has your back 100%. >> one opponent down. a well known kremlin critic barred from running against vladimir putin as the russian leader seeks his fourth presidential term. asking his supporters to boycott the vote. >> they're thinking about me and they're afraid of me. >> a nation under cyberattack. your passwords may be putting you at risk for the next big