walking away from the agreement the latest on this edition of all the. politicking on larry king before we begin we wish you a happy new year it to all of our friends of the jewish faith myself included so happy new year to myself and all of our viewers on wednesday president trump told reporters that he's made a decision about the future of the iran nuclear agreement but he declined to say what that decision is i'll let you know is all he said to reporters whereas for details in his speech before the u.n. general assembly on tuesday mr trump blasted the iran deal as an embarrassment for the united states iran's president responded by saying the united states will pay a high cost if it walks away from the deal which was the negotiated by the obama administration so what is mr trump's end game and where do both countries go from

here let's talk about that with robert c. o'brien one of my favorite guests former u.s. representative to the u.n. general assembly during the george w. bush administration he was also senior adviser to the presidential campaigns of bit romney and scott walker and he's the author of while america slept restoring american leadership to a world in crisis he joins me here in los angeles what do you make of all this well good to be with you on a happy new year as well and look i thought the president gave a very hard hitting speech at the u.n. i think it's one of the best speeches of his presidency frankly he came in and did three things that i as a former representative of the at the u.n. who sat in those chairs and listen to other world leaders a he complimented the u.n. on things that was doing well dealing with refugees for example and the new sanctions on north korea be he named and shamed the bad guys. iranians the north

koreans the syrians the venezuelans who are killing their own people running concentration camps doing terrible things both internally and externally and then three he challenged the member states of the u.n. because he said look you can't blame the u.n. if things are going wrong it's the actual member states the u.n. that have to get together and make a difference so i thought it was a hard hitting speech you alluded to the issue with iran and he came out and was pretty tough on the iranians i'm glad he did it he also praised nationalism said he puts america first and that every nation through should put themselves first. if you follow up on that if iran puts it so first it will want to build nuclear bombs if north korea puts it so first it will want to be more powerful can that be contradictory well look i think what he was saying is that we have to have strong he was talking about leaders building up their own countries and doing it in a positive way he was talking about building up our families building up our economies and then for the member states coming together and cooperating and what

he called iran out on and i'm glad he did it because we've gone too long without doing this i was at the u.n. walk with him as i came and said israel should be wiped off the face of the earth he said that for one reason it was it wasn't because israel is a challenge to iran israel isn't going to invade iran it doesn't want of iranian territory he did it because he doesn't like the jewish people the israeli people he wants them wiped out of the middle east and president trump came out and said in his u.n. speech yesterday that you can't as a member of the u.n. building up your own country doesn't mean talk about talking about obliterating another company a country that is no threat to you at all and i'm glad he stood up for israel and i'm glad he called out the iranians on that it needed to be done but according to certain state to listen rand is living up to the room. well look what what the president said is it was a it was a bad agreement and it was a bad agreement we got taken to the cleaners the iranians were suffering under very

crippling sanctions that we've gotten a number un resolutions passed and the iranians were got to face a choice of either having an economy that could feed their people or having their nuclear weapons program and by pulling back and enter into this agreement in which we get a lot one hundred million dollars hundred billion dollars in sanctions relief to go to the iranians we let them have their cake and eat it too and since that time they've increased their support of terrorist in yemen in hezbollah in lebanon in syria and they've built this i.c.b.m. program that's very similar to the program the north koreans are building to us and says they're living up to the agreement you may not like the agreement but they are living up to it what do you think he's going to do what do you think he's going to look what i think he's going to do i think because because the agreement was it's pretty hard for the iranians not to live up to the agreement so good for him i think tillerson is right there i think what president trump is going to likely do and i don't know i haven't talked to my friends and in the white house about this but i think they're going to really try and crack down on this nuclear on this i.c.b.m. missile program i think they're going to try and crack down on the financing of

hezbollah and hamas and the terrorist organizations and they're going to try and clip the iranian wings in a way that is acceptable the iranians and look perhaps will be the iranians a pull out of the agreement not us really. if we put comprehensive sanctions on them outside of the j c.p.o. way. you know the iranians may decide that they will they want to do what the north koreans are doing and threaten to restart their nuclear program unable to in order to have sanctions lifted or get more money speaking of that where do you think the north korea thing is going i am extraordinarily worried about it for two reasons number one ambassador haley has done a fantastic job at the u.n. for the president said three days ago that diplomatic options are exhausted at the security council and that is now and in general mattis is a chance at the pentagon so when you've got one of our top two diplomats saying we've done what we can and now it's it's over the generals that's

a worrisome sign. we draw up a new group there could be world war three. you know if general mattis came out and said something very interesting yesterday that i hadn't heard before he said that we have a kinetic option that would save seoul because of course for worry that if we if we launch any sort of attack on north korea they would use their conventional artillery or their chemical weapons against the twenty five million people who are densely packed into this the capital city of south korea seoul. general mattis made allusion to some sort of option that would keep seoul from bearing the brunt of that i don't know what that is i don't know if he's if it cyber or some sort of weapon that that none of us know about but it was interesting to hear that from general mattis russia's seeking a greater role in this north korea situation can they be a help. look i think china and russia could both be help if they choose to be and so far they haven't we've always looked to china would look to russia to help rein in kim jong un they voted for it in the u.n.

though the condemnation they did in there and the president think both president and president putin in his speech at the u.n. so i thought that was positive and look the russians if they want to can play a positive role it's just always a question in dealing with a lot of their putin does he want to make mischief or does he want to actually be positive and every once in awhile he surprises you and maybe he can do something positive here former secretary of state hillary clinton called his speech from speech dark and dangerous and she said the and so has to be diplomacy. i mean in a logical world isn't that rational again you know henry kissinger once said and i was taking this to heart that diplomacy is saying the nicest possible are the nastiest possible things in the nicest possible way and president trump did not say things in the nicest possible you way yesterday but ambassador bolton came out who i think has been one of our most effective u.n. ambassadors and said it's the best speech he sent us president give at the u.n. in twenty years and i think sometimes you have to go out and call out the

venezuelans the north koreans the iranians we act like these things are normal when they're killing people and threatening their neighbors and running concentration camps and torturing and murdering these things aren't normal i mean syria's a horror show and and i'm glad the president called him out i know people think that's undiplomatic and it's maybe we should do that plight company but you know sometimes the bad guys conduct calls for it but then the president comes out and says that. bill clinton and president obama were responsible for the most korean crisis do you believe that look for go back for it and not for administrations have been responsible for this bill clinton into a deal with the north koreans that was very similar to the j.c. p.o.a.'s to the iranian deal in one thousand nine hundred four. you know president . george w. bush why served was not able to make any progress on north korea and president obama wasn't able to make any progress on north korea so i understand president

trump frustration of becoming president inheriting this this mess but it's something's been deviled at least three administrations and you know would it have been better to take the tough decisions earlier probably so but but no president wants to be faced with a decision the president trump now has in front of them and that is do i take out the missiles so that l.a. and san francisco and seattle are not in danger but in doing so i put seoul and twenty five million south korean allies in danger and americans that live in south korea it's a terrible decision for any president have to make what do you make of kim jong. you know i think he is a i think is a terrible guy i mean he killed his brother kim jong nam with chemical weapons and in an international airport he had his security forces beat pour out a warm beer that the uva student into a coma and then sent him home to die in his parents' arms he's running literally running concentration camps where people are being gassed in concentration camps

and we know that we know that it's something that we haven't seen since the dark days of the early one nine hundred forty s. these are terrible things and to put the lives of our kids and our grandkids at the whim of a guy like kim jong un with i.c.b.m.'s missiles that can reach the united states and nuclear weapons is something that is very very worrisome but is the insane enough to start a nuclear war which you would lose in the day he would lose in a day the president was right to say that if there is a war north korea could be destroyed by the united states you know walk stock and barrel i just i just don't know larry and i don't think many people know it's such a closed society they call it the hermit kingdom we have very little access to folks that that have access to him but he he acts in such a cruel and brutal way that sometimes i think we have to take that into account in policy but the president of south korea apparently is trying to throw him an olive

branch i mean. we've had people on from korea who said that basically we koreans are one people they love each other the people in south korea miss the people in north korea they basically should be one state do you think this president so korea is on the right track or is the i'm appeaser look i think you know especially as a you can imagine if america was divided and we had friends and family and brothers and sisters on the other side of the line and they were being basically kept in prison by any evil dictator you know that's a heart wrenching situation and certainly i agree that the koreans are. the one people the peninsula should be reunited in a democratic korea where people have the rule of law and freedom and the ability to to live their lives everywhere and you know what that would be good for china it would be good for the greens but we've got this small family i kind of compare dislike of tony soprano got ahold of a country and the only thing that this organized crime family of this this kim family has to sell are ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons and support for

terror and cat and drugs and counterfeit money i mean you've got people that are unfortunately in the grounds of a very very bad regime a very very bad family and so i look my heart goes out to the south korean president to the south korean people because a they're in danger and be their friends and family and fellow countrymen fellow koreans across the border in great danger. why did the north koreans live on the path look i was it was me they you know i think it's about the worst police state that you know i've seen in my lifetime i mean it is a it is a brutal police state where look if there's any sign of insubordination to the government not only are you killed not only is your family killed your extended families killed maybe even your whole village is killed that sort of course of power is something that we have a hard time imagine isn't americans but it's real and when you read the reports

from the defectors have come over that they're literally horrifying it's like a horror movie that you see a trailer for when you go see if a movie every time you rub it it's your own bed and then i'm sorry thanks for your time we love having the great to be with you sir robert o'brian we thank him for being with us more politicking after the break. about your sudden passing i've only just learned you were a south and taken your last to turn. your act caught up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. but then my feelings started to change you talked about war like it was again still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our ark and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave

a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with death this one quite different i speak to you now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its maker. i'm a trial lawyer i've spent countless hours poring through documents that tell the story about the ugly side of. corporate media written users to talk about news current partners. i'm not a pretty clear picture about how disturbing how cool was corporate conduct has been a model these are stories that no one else has until march to a host of american. question.

welcome back to politicking in addition to all is happening in new york this week at the u.n. general assembly the russian investigation continues the g.o.p.'s resurrect the. all over replacing obama can hillary clinton continues to jab president trump and her former rival bernie sanders well on for blues the tour for her book what happened is talk about all out and more with our political panel they had tom tancredo ten credo the republican former congressman of colorado he also ran for the g.o.p. presidential nomination in two thousand and eight he joins us via skype and in las vegas is laura schwartz the political analyst and commentator and former white house director of the events very in the administration of bill clinton terms of popularity levels still is historic lows tom in your opinion how's he doing

well as saw today that they're actually picking up a little bit there into the mid forty's as i understand it so and with republicans it's very hard something like eighty percent of republicans like what he's doing i do and so i tend to think of course most people sure. laura what's what's your read well you know it's kind of desperate when picking up in the ratings brazier into the forty's but he is a bit of an uptick i think that's the bipartisan deal that he's been making in the last couple of weeks but when you look at our allies especially this week with the united nations in talking about north korea he's plummeting in japan and the region as far as his approval rating because they sincerely just don't trust him and don't know what he's going to do so while he remains strong with republicans and his good thirty three percent base here in the united states i think a worldwide it's

a much different different scale hi tom let's get into some issues according to reports the senate will vote next week to appeal obama again this mcconnell says that that's going to happen. he's told colleagues he will only bring up if he thinks the bill will succeed there been no hearings no witnesses tom what do you make of that little bit of deja vu is it not i think i've heard this before i think i record several times. i have no idea i don't know what's in the bill or do not know whether or not he can achieve the goal of fifty votes and have the vice president there to break the tie. i in frankly not knowing exactly what's in it it's hard to say whether or not i'm very excited about it the idea of just saying that you repealed and replaced obamacare with almost everything else that was almost everything was in obamacare and just you know around the edges does not

excite me one bit and so i don't know what to say larry because i really don't know what's in it i just know i've heard it all before and apparently no one those of us in it laura what do you make of it i think it's really irresponsible for them to take this to a vote on the floor next week when health care is one fix of the american economy and this bill as tom just mentioned we don't know what's in it fully it has not been scored by the congressional budget office so we don't know how many americans will lose insurance or what the costs would be and even though we hear that all still cover preexisting illnesses it allows insurance companies to say you know the rake on those folks with preexisting illnesses so that they're still covered so there's this so much unknown i think that they should take a page out of a bipartisan play but because i really think they want to repeal and replace to come through on a campaign promise you've got different committees on the hill actually working for

a bipartisan solution to fix health care so i don't really think you need to repeal or repeal and replace let's fix this and i think the american people would be pretty happy by that do you agree laura with medicare for all. i agree that there's absolutely be health care for all i don't think it's i think it's a right i think that america's been lagging behind i think obamacare has made great strides i think there are many things that can be fixed with it but but that's what they should focus on it's not just this quick flip around for one sixth of the economy and and really impacting people's lives whether they live die can afford where they choose to spend their money so i think it's very important that that the congress get serious and they get bipartisan about it so that's really something to hear somebody say in their you know almost cavalier manner and you have to excuse your kind of took it that way that we need medicare for all that we need it's a right and then all those sort of easy to say that i know it plays well him in

certain communities but the reality is it's enormously absolutely incredibly expensive to do something like that and to turn the entire as you say one sixth of the economy over to the government what does what does it have now that tells you it runs things efficiently i mean the v.a.'s rooms to hire i said that it needs to be fixed absolutely it's not perfect by any means but i don't think we need to put a price tag on people's lives i have family and friends that would not be living today unless they had benefited from the affordable care act that allowed them to get treatment for serious life threatening illnesses because without the ac a they wouldn't have been able to afford the insurance premiums to cover such preexisting illnesses so i believe that it can be improved upon believe health care is a right and what has this to it if you go if you don't believe it's

a right to know why ours is some americans die and some americans live with the price of a prescription well of course bad i don't believe that that message has to happen. even if you do not take over the economy i mean take over one sixth of the economy by the federal government you know believe it or not people did exist people did survive and i don't know i really don't know i don't believe that there are that many people even anybody that said you know what i have i'm not going to make it i will die and pack did die because they couldn't afford a prescription before the reality is there are many ways that this of this issue can be addressed but it does not have to mean that the government takes over the entire one sixth of the economy i think that's a disaster and i think people will die because of course when you do that you immediately even even the government has to do something called just panels and you

know she was i don't know you have reached an age and you have a particular element and we just can't handle that you will die and that will be under our government health care plan it happens all over it has happened anywhere else with the government takes over the entire health care so it's not as if everybody survives under any kind of plan and including the government health care of those so some of the areas laura what do you make of mr trump getting along was to moon palosi i think it's at think it's a fun suck at nancy so i really think that his poll numbers went up slightly over the last week because he is getting a lot of what's up in nancy i think the american people like to see that now is thirty three percent hardcore base maybe not so much you know that the majority larry you know chuck and nancy both being the big democratic leaders that they are they they don't always want to see them get along but i think it's a good signal and i got to tell you i think congress might have to take

a page from what donald trump said with chuck and nancy in the last two weeks i don't think it hurts anybody to get along somme or do you think well i don't think that the uptick even though it's not great. the uptick in his in his approval rating comes from the meeting that he had with chuck and nancy i think it came from the way in which the two hurricanes were handled to the extent that they could be handled by the various agencies that were involved i believe that it did a great job people saw it even though the press doesn't want to talk about the fact that the president doesn't that the press doesn't talk about it today is an indication that everything went well or us believe me we'd be hearing about it every single minute what it what a disaster it was what a failure trump is at everything including trying to handle this kind of an emergency but in fact it isn't that way they did a good job and i think a lot of that uptick is a result of that in terms of actually what happens or how i feel about it you know

meeting with them on that issue i'm ok with it because frankly whatever it takes to get congress moving on his agenda i'm all for and if it takes you know a sure thing with with chuck and it's fine with me because believe me i want his agenda to advance tom in another area explain some of the hillary and her new book wonders why she's become a lightning rod for fury she claims she's come to terms with the fact that millions of millions of people don't like her she's been the united states senator first lady as secretary of state why don't why don't tom why don't you like her. well. i don't know or what i what i did you know like i mean what are you going to disagree with but why do you dislike her ok there is something about her persona

that i find i don't know off putting maybe that's a better way to put it it's a smugness but it's always there it's it's a she is not doesn't come across as a you know having a true kind of commitment to the issues i just you get that feeling when she when she speaks and and so i when i hear people say you know that she's not light i naturally you know you go back to your own feelings on it and say yes there's something about it this is a very off putting type of person and you know what i saw a great meaning the other day it was. the front page of the cover is on the top it says what happened in the bottom was hillary clinton and that means said you know the question was answered on the front page and that's exactly what happened there wasn't anybody else it was hillary clinton laura. i mean i respectfully

disagree i do know hillary clinton quite well and and she would never have entered in a presidential race especially at fifty nine after having done all those great things you just talked about larry unless she was committed to policies she truly believes could change the course of this world and make it better for americans and everyone abroad as well we live on the backdrop of this incredible globally interdependent world and she i've feel was very poised to take it on she absolutely made mistakes there were other influences as well that came together and she lost and even though winning the winning the majority of the vote and i think a book like what happened is good for a number of reasons you've got it very cathartic for her to write it at the consorted for her supporters not to relive it in a negative way but understand what happened from behind the scenes as well as in front of the scenes how do you control those things that come at you that you can you know not necessarily can control and lastly i think it's wonderful to show what

happened behind the scenes when it comes to the staff working together because it truly is and this happens for republicans and democrats alike when you join a campaign and you work hard to get someone elected that you believe in you're part of that democratic process i think that's wonderful they're so a readership of democrats republicans alike maybe get more people involved in getting behind a candidate running for office themselves so i think for many reasons this was a very good move for her to make and i'm glad the books out there saunders laura thanks dear done today thank you thanks larry and thank you for joining me on this edition of politicking remember you can join the conversation on my facebook page or tweet me it's gigs things and don't forget to use the politicking hash tag and that's all for this edition of politicking. about your sudden passing i've only just learned you were yourself and taken your

last to bang turn. your act caught up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each bet. but then my feeling started to change you talked about more like it was again still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral in the same as one enters my mind gets consumed with death this one might differ as i speak to you now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its maker.

is a real irony boy. you showed what a laughing at it response was poisoning people and there is always all that's what goes on the other must always be seen anything as doing only dealing with all the ordinary and out wholesale surveillance you feel you have already in while those who mentioned the show she doesn't trump has used social media like while our goal is our life story because it's garbage in real genuine. fears will people been saying about rejected in the neighborhoods exactly it's full on ourselves well the only show i go out of my way to launch a lot of the really packs upon our leadership is the john oliver of our three americas good to see we are apparently better than blue fest that said i see people you'd ever heard of love redacted the night cause rose of the world bank. he doesn't really mean it seriously send us an e-mail. to.

the russian foreign minister calls for urgent talks to resolve the north korea crisis in a speech to the united nations to the u.s. impose new sanctions on pyongyang. crowns in paris voiced their fear of president mccollum's labor reforms. russia warns of retaliation against u.s. military groups in syria if they continue to get local government forces. that's it for me for now in a day or two to be live from studio with all the latest news in around an hour's time they with us.