mcgurk: great question. they have to work with the iraqi state. that is a principle. we think most of these popular mobilization forces do operate under the control of the iraqi state, that about 15% or 20% do not, in those groups are a fundamental problem. another thing we want to do is make sure they stay out of sunni areas, where they can cause real problems. militias areia not there. this is one thing that gave the population the confidence to return. we have a principle when we support iraqi forces in the military campaign, we only support forces on the ground operating strictly under command and control. that means going through an iraqi chain of command were we are working with iraqi commanders. if there is a unit that is not operating under that structure -- senator cardin: are you confident they will be able to maintain the safety of the sunni civilians? mr. mcgurk: falluja, they just completed the liberation of the last neighborhood this weekend. we have 80,000 displaced people. there is one of the

mcgurk: we are in syria. together with partners. that is the basis for our coalition and having partners. if we look at the situation in osco last week, the attempted prison break, our forces have lent assistance to retake the british prison from isis fighters, it is a reminder isis remains a serious threat. that is why we are there. that is the only reason we are there. we will defend our forces from all threats. we have made that very clear to iranians and others. i should stay one more thing before leaving syria. syria activity remain a real threat to israel. we support israel's freedom of action to defending themselves. there are a lot of signs that a lot of these are tired of the regime. we support the action and we will defend our people,. -- people, period. that is the only mission, the only objective. miller: saudi arabia, the president candidate had some very tough words. a special meaning of characterization in the middle east. has that happened and if in fact it has happened, how would you differentiate the bidens adminis

before i let you go, mattis is leaving and so is mcgurk.ou expect because this is such a reversal there on to be more high-level departures because of this syria policy? >> it may not be the syria policy you, but to the extent that this sort of recklessness and the tweets and everything going on with the white house right now is sort of this last week, as i would call it. the person i'm looking at right now is gina haskell, the cia director. we are starting to hear reports that the president's reaction to the khashoggi killing and undermining the cia's assessment that clearly the royal family and the saudi prince was a targeted assassination, i would look to members of the intelligence community getting some sort of support by what mattis and mcgurk are doing so what i'm looking out for in the next couple of weeks. >> good to have you, juliette kayyem. >> thank you. >>> we continue to following breaking news this hour. new video of that deadly tsunami in indonesia overnight. hundreds are dead. the latest developments is next. ever since dar

brett mcgurk: it's a great question. and got real insight knowledge into their finances, an operation or special forces did, again, over into syria into a town shadadi, which is no and it n isil's hands was an obligation to isil's main financier.their main and our heroic special forces, incredible.are they pulled more information off that site than any raid in history. we learned more about how funding themselves throughout that operation than anything else we've done. they were generating about a year, about rs a $500 million from oil and gas nd about $500 million from antiquities trade, from extortion, from what they call revenues t extracting off the population. but based on that information rom that raid we were able to systematically develop all of that intelligence information in working across the u.s. government into the military progress to go after how they're getting oil out of the ground and how they're selling it. reduced their production by at least 30%. we've substantially reduced to generate revenue. the

mcgurk? mr. mcgurk: i have been to turkey more than any other country. we cannot defeat isis without turkey and i consult with our colleagues there all the time. there are talks right now in the geneva about the political way ahead. and there is a military campaign at is the track in a complex situation and something we are coordinated with. and the post-raqqa phase, stabilization and we will be coordinating with turkey. we can't do this without turkey and we work with them every single day. we have some differences, but they are close allies. reporter: the turkish foreign inister was on the record -- mr. mcgurk: but i have great respect for the foreign minister and great colleague and look for that relationship to continue. reporter: one for you, mr. secretary and the latest north korean launch, it was more successful than anything they have done so far and went to a high altitude. my question to you. how has this missile launch impacted your thinking, your assessment about the north korean missile threat. and if i may, mr. chairman, a separate question

mcgurk's defeat-isis coalition. tom, mcgurk was scheduled to retire in february. he's now moved that up. still no word who will replace general mattis as defense secretary, leaving the trump administration with two large holes in the global fight against terror. tom. >> lana, thank you. >>> we want to turn now to weather, the fresh round of storms threatening to slam of the nation just in time for the holiday. here, just off the coast of connecticut. several storm systems taking aim on the pacific northwest, bringing heavy rain and mountain snow. abc's rob marciano joins us now. there's a lot going on with the weather across the country. walk us through the next couple of days. >> as you mentioned, they're lined up in the pacific. another storm already coming into the pacific northwest tonight. i-5, very wet. i-84 as well. another one coming in on monday. but look at this jetstream, a little disturbance coming into the east. monday, christmas eve, around i-90 north might see enough snow there to create a bit of a coating christmas eve. then, the western storm gets

mcgurk saying isis is not defeated.e best case, worse case scenario for what happens when the u.s. leaves there? >> i can give you the worst case, the fight against isis will slow down. it's going to have to. we know that erdogan has designs on moving forces east of the euphrates to the iraqi border. he said he is going to do that. i don't know that the president has talked him out of that, maybe that's a part of the deal why we are going to leave. but if the turks move in anyway against northern syria, we're going to see what happened the last time they did this. the sdf, syrian democratic forces, mostly made up of the kurds, who the turks believe are a bunch of terrorists are going to stop fighting isis, they're the primary force on the ground against isis, they are effectism. they will stop fighting isis, they will redeploy to their home areas to defend what they believe their family and their territory. the fight against isis will take the back burner. we can continue artillery and air. we will not be able to move o

he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible the president doesn't know the envoy representing the u.s. to the coalition for the last two years good >> that's easy because the president will the secretary of state and secretary of defense. >> pentagon sources tell fox news to expect more continuous resignations in response to president trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria. >> julian turner, washington, thanks. fox news alert at least 220 people killed after a tsunami strikes indonesia without warning. waves smashed on the beaches last night ripping houses and hotels from their foundation in a matter of seconds. officials layman a volcanic eruption and undersea landslide for the disaster. jeff paul is live in los angeles with the latest. hi, jeff. >> hi, mike. as high as 65 as they crashed onto the island full of people celebrating the holiday weekend. the number dead likely to rise as many of the same unrest to cruise unable to get to all the devastated areas to search. >> i was sleeping. it

the person, brett mcgurk worked as a u.s.pecial envoy to the international coalition fighting isis. >> he was in iraq and had just finished briefing partners that the u.s. would stay in syria when he learned president trump had reversed course. his resignation on friday came just one day after u.s. defense secretary james mattis quit over the same thing. >> and this tweet from the u.s. president claiming not to know his own envoy. he belittled mcgurk as a obama holdover and quote grand stander who is going to leave the administration soon any way. >> joining me now is political analyst peter matthews a frequent guest of our program. peter, thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, natalie. >> all right. it's the holidays. happy holidays to you. i don't know how much happy holidays is going around washington because this is the first time in 40 years the government will have been closed three times in one year. and now congress says, well, we'll take it up after christmas. what do you think of the impasse and who is to

you cannot quit, i'm you. >> brett mcgurk was supposed to leave and the president said, mcgurk, who io not know. >> he is the leader of the anti-isis coalition. he has been knitting together the more than 70 countries that was united with the united states to fight isis. so, he is a president ial envoy. while the president may not actually know who he is, he claims, that underscores that perhaps the president was not involved in the details. if it's not someone that he knew and didn't care about. well, he seemed to care enough to tweet that it didn't matter to him. which only drew more attention to the story that this diplomat, who was hired by the bush administration, i should point out, was resigning in principal because of his syria policy. the second high level u.s. official to do so in the past week. >> all right, margaret, thank you. >> overseas a desperate search for survivors is under way in indonesia. a ever a massive sue gnocchi th -- after a massive tsunami killed 200 people, and 800 injured and dozens missing. the waves struck two of the more populated islands. we have the

without further do, brett mcgurk . brett: thank you. ok, thank you everybody for coming. what i want to do today, we

withdraw troops from syria this time america's envoy to the global coalition against i saw brett mcgurk has quit in his resignation letter he said i saw we're on the run in syria but not yet defeated as the president has said mcgurk follows defense secretary jim mattis out the door he quit on thursday telling president trump he had a right to have a secretary of defense whose views were more aligned with his a trance decision this week to pull around two hundred two thousand soldiers out of syria has rattled the s.d.f. a kurdish led force american troops had been supporting they too say the war against isis has not ended before more on this let's cross live now to john hendren in washington so john yet another high profile departure for president. yet another self-inflicted wound another fratricidal blow to this administration at a time when it could hardly afford it less the government shutdown beginning at midnight on saturday just hours ago local time and now the president has his second major defection brett mcgurk was one of the few holdovers from the obama administration he'd been

mcgurk: accountability is fundamental.enator markey: accountability can be just saying don't do it again. mr. mcgurk: they have to have a process and a have to be punished when violations occur. senator murphy: i know we consider mr. mcgurk to be a global citizen, but he's a graduate of connecticut and is -- has overcome the rivalry. let me try to recover from that. thank you for being here, mr. mcgurk, and thank you for taking on what is frankly a nightmare of a job trying to manage this crisis and coalition and we are lucky to have you at the helm. in response to a question from senator corker earlier, you were talking about some of our coalition partners not being as involved as we would like, especially with the air campaign. i want to ask you a question relative to the reason members of the coalition are not participating at the level we would expect. when i was in abu dhabi at the and of last year, i went to get relief from the ministry of defense and i was there to oversee our counter isis campaign. knowing i was th

mcgurk is the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter isis.cgurk's resignation follows defense secretary james mattis's stunning resignation on thursday, that resignation shocking washington and stunning u.s. allies. with me now is arwa damon, cnn's international correspondent. what are u.s. allies saying? >> they're reeling, as you can imagine, because up until that moment, where president trump tweeted that he was withdrawing all u.s. forces from syria, everyone thought that america's strategy, a strategy that they had just recently also had emphasized to them by brett mcgurk himself, was to stay the course in syria, until isis was completely eradicated to. train up adequately the local forces there. and to continue to add a buffer to iran's influence. and now, none of that is anything remotely close to what america's strategy or should i say trump strategy seems to be in syria. and then you also have to look at america's adversaries in the region. i mean who is welcoming this? the syrian regime, the iranians, and the russians. turkey's posi

just days beforehand, mcgurk had stood at the state department podium to guarantee u.s. commitment to the fight saying, "while isis inhabited just 1% of the territory they once held, the group still maintains a dangerous level of influence and it would be reckless to withdraw now." >> i think it's fair to say americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeat is enduring. >> reporter: now, mcgurk had planned to leave the state department in february but he accelerated his departure in protest. he has been the glueled holding together the more than six-countries against isis. and this increases the level of concern that the president puts u.s. national security at risk. glig displi margaret, thank you. police arrested a british man and woman for flying a series of drones near a runway at the second busiest airport in england. the incident forced gatwick airport to close for nearly 36 hours on wednesday. passengers are still experiencing delays today. police are searching a house in cr

if we have the brett mcgurk sound, i would like to play it now.kay, well, we don't have it, but this is exactly what they were concerned about, a premature withdrawal. so when you have all of this going on and the president makes a decision to go, can you at all take it out of that context? do we look at this, mac, and just say, okay, the president has made a decision as presidents have beforehand, there are troops who are serving abroad in harm's way, we're going to go there for the holidays and let them know that we appreciate them, or do you have to look at it in a political context, as well? >> i think you have to look at it in a broader context. politics is part of that. but chris, the most sacred responsibility of any president of the united states is commander in chief, to keep the american people safe and we entrust that responsibility to the brave men and women who dedicate their lives and their careers to doing just that. so this needs to be a consistency in the policy, and certainly, secretary mattis was highly respected, as was special

mcgurk: great question. got real insight and knowledge into their finances because of an operation are special forces did over a year ago into deep into syria into a town no longer in isil's hands. theas an operation against deputy of the main leader and their main financier. our heroic special forces -- these guys are incredible -- they told more information off that site than any raid in their history. we learn more about how they are funding than anything else we have done. they were generating about $500 million from oil and gas and $500 million from antiquities, extractingrtion, revenue from the population. we were able to systematically develop all of that intelligence information and working across the u.s. government into the military targeting process to go after how they are getting oil off the ground and how they are selling it. we have reduced the production by at least 30%. we are produced their ability to generate revenue. the numbers are fuzzy, but it continues to go down. as we see it, we the

mcgurk joins james mattis who also resigned this week.he president said he gave him a second chance after obama fired him. joining us is a foreign correspondent for "the new york times." thank you for being here with me. let me start with you. this is significant for a couple of reasons. one, this was the top official in charge of fighting isis. >> it is. >> and number two, it could be an indication of things to come. talk about the significance of the departure. >> so brett mcgurk served three administrations two republican. he was kept on after obama left specifically because he was considered so valuable to the fight against isis. this is the person, a human being, who went all over iraq and syria and cobbled together this mosaic of a coalition that ended up fighting isis for us. keep in mind it's not american troops that are actually fighting isis, but it's the kurds, the iraqis. it's the local partners that are doing this. >> and to really get inside his decision, he's basically saying, i could no longer guarantee our allies that we

brett mcgurk told of his decision last night. mcgurk was set to leave his position early next year but will now depart at the end of this month after splitting with the president over syria just days after he defended the u.s. mission there. >> it would be reckless if we were to say, anyone who has looked at a conflict like this would agree with that. >> mcgurk's departure follows that of secretary james mattis who handed in his resignation on thursday. that's a day of the president's syria announcement. that announcement was reportedly sparked by a phone conversation between the president and his turkish counter part, according to "the washington post." joining me now, crihristopher hill, and michael alan, former special assistant to george w. bush and staff director for the house intelligence committee. and vivian salama, during the rise and fall of isis. ambassador hill, let's start with you on this. who is brett mcgurk and what are we lose something. >> well, you're losing a lot there. he's quite a dedicated public servant. h

president trump tweeted last night: "mcgurk, who i do not know." should we understand this statement by a president who is more than 700 days into his term? >> brett mcgurk is washington's leader of the anti-isis coalition. he has been the person knitting together the more than 70 countries who have been united with the united states to fight isis. so, he's a presidential envoy. while the president may not actually know who he is, he claims, that actually underscores that perhaps the president wasn't involved in the details. if this isn't someone he knew and didn't care about, well, he seemed to care enough to tweet that it didn't matter to him, which only drew more attention to the story that this diplomat who was hired by the bush administration, i should point out, was resigning in principle because of his syria policy, the second high level u.s. official to do so in the past week. >> quijano: alright, margaret brennan, margaret thank you. >>> overseas, a desperate search for survivors is underway in indonesia after a massive tsunami that killed

of mcgurk: the level influence is something we look at. the russians were seen as the , and moreencer recently, we have started to see the armenians eclipse them a little bit, and both of them are backing the assad regime, and we say to the russians, look at this. you guys are in bed with the assad regime, with hezbollah, with the quds force. you guys, what is your long-term strategy here, and, friendly, i do not think they have one, so they came in to try to bolster up the assad regime, and i thought they would find a path out of syria, but that is not the case. the only way to have a sustainable solution is where our forces can organize against these extremist threats. myator isakson: and that is point. given the fact that there is not one, given the fact that syria has been decimated with a civil war over four or five years, given that the armenians are backing assad pretty steadily all of the way through, there assad's to be no end on ability to stay in place. am i correct? i think you have hit the nail on the head with a very difficul

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a summer eleventh mcgurk knew everyone in the region and he reportedly told colleagues this week the president's new policy on syria would make it impossible for him to continue in his post. already both congressional democrats and republicans have called trump's syria decision dangerous and deployed jim madison's departure from the pentagon now those who had been fighting alongside the americans are looking to these legislators to try to change the white house's mind dear senator lindsey graham south carolina kurds in syria appreciate your strong opposition on the wrongfulness of trumps unilateral decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting eisold now certain as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be u.s. forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington staying with washington the us government remains partially shut down after politicians failed to break an impasse on the budget spending the stando

. >> reporter: overnight president trump reacting to the resignation of brett mcgurk. after the top u.s. envoy to the global coalition to defeat isis said he could not carry out the president's orders to withdraw from syria and, quote, maintain my integrity. the president hitting back in a flurry of tweets, calling mcgurk a grand-standing and downplaying his resignation as a nothing event. president trump said if anyone else made st critics of the syria decision are actually alice of the president. >> this decision is a disaster. on multiple were tsat leave w. >> reporter: mcgurk's announcement comes on the heels of the resignation of secretary of defense james mattis who in his resignation letter wrote we cannot protect our interests without maintaining strong alliances, the example mattis specifically mentioned, mcgurk's defeat isis coalition. >> as the u.s. pulls out, there will be other players in the region who will rush in to fill the void, syria, saudi arabia, russia, iran. all of these countries will have a vested interest in moving in. when the u.s. moves out.

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. as we were hearing earlier, the top white house official in the fight against the islamic state group has quit over president trump's decision to pull us troops from syria. in brett mcgurk‘s resignation letter, leaked to the media, he said the militants were on the run but not yet defeated. it comes just a day after the us defence secretary, jim mattis, handed in his resignation, with the syria withdrawal thought to be a bone of contention there too. earlier i spoke with kamran bokhari, director of strategy and programmes at the centre for global policy based in washington, dc. i began by asking why brett mcgurk made the gesture of resignation when he was

mcgurk: it is a great question. the camp david meeting is interesting because that is when we thought, and this is reflected somewhat in the book, but that would be a key moment that hard questions are going to be asked. it ended up being a cover for a secret tip of a new sense of a new government and things are moving. i have to say, it is reflected in the book, but nobody supported sending more forces to iraq. it was a very small number. some of the colonels in the council of colonels, but not the consensus. state department. we had a debate about clear hold build in 2005, which would have been a counterinsurgency-type thing. that did not go anywhere, and the state department really swung totally against any real talk of more resources. so, from our perch, it was frustrating. and then there were things outside of my purview, even next door to me. stephen hadley asked bill, two doors down from us, to actually look at this, is this even feasible militarily. i did not know bill was working on that. so there was a lot

leave the role it drifts here culls mcgurk the architect of dangerous and short sighted policies in iraq and syria he's probably referencing the group's work with the george w. bush administration he was an early advocate for the surge in iraq in two thousand and seven now in an e-mail to his colleagues mcgurk said trump's decision to pull troops out of syria came as a shock and left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered i worked this week to help manage some of the fallout but i ultimately concluded that i could not carry out these new instructions and maintain my integrity. now let us know what you think about this latest high profile departure from the trump national security team you can get in touch with us as always on twitter using the hash tag it's a news group thank you for that andrew and the impact of president trumps decision is being felt on the ground in syria al jazeera is in a harder has this report from the techie syrian border. turkish military reinforcements are being sent deep into syria to the front lines north of the city of mumba

envoy to the anti-isis coalition brett mcgurk also resigned in protest. here's former defense secretary leon panetta on why he finds the situation so concerning. >> if you're in the white house where you really have to look at the situation and try to do what with you can to try to provide a little better stability for the country. there's just too much chaos, too many crises going on. i've been in politics over 50 years in a number of positions, and working under nine presidents, i've never seen a situation like this. jon: gillian turner has more. >> reporter: the latest member of president trump's national security team to resign in protest over the decision to withdraw american troops from the ongoing syrian civil war is brett mcgurk. foreign policy leaders from president trump's own party say they don't blame him for leaving. >> i would not be surprised if they have not had a immediating. he was leaving -- meeting. he was leaving in february, but as mattis just did, one of the greats patriots i've ever met in my public service, general mattis. but as

against isis has quit over president donald trump's sudden decision to pull troops from syria brett mcgurk departure follows the resignation of defense secretary james mattis who had opposed withdrawing from syria and cutting the u.s. presence in afghanistan a partial shutdown of the federal us federal government has began after politicians failed to end their dark deadlock over spending trump refused to back down on funding for his border war forcing the congress to adjourn without a budget deal. the head of the u.n. team tasked with monitoring a cease fire in the city of data has arrived in yemen on friday the security council vote to send observers to oversee the truce between the rebels and the saudi and iraq backed yemeni government. at least ten people have been killed in sudan in protests against the rising cost of food and fuel schools and universities are closed in the least five states cities of bata and get out of the state to right now under emergency rule inflation is at seventy percent among the highest in the world. at the head of the sudan opposition party and maddy says th

according to two state department officials, we are learning that mcgurk informed secretary of state mike pompeo of his decision friday evening. now brett mcgurk was already planning to leave his position early next year but will now depart at the end of this month, just 11 days ago with a warning -- >> nobody working on these issues day to day is complacent. nobody is declaring a mission accomplishment. defeating a fiscal caliphate is a long-term campaign. >> that's another departure after the departure of james mattis. the president is standing by his decision tweeting this morning "when i became president, isis was going wild and now isis is largely defeated and other local countries, including turkey, should be able to take care of whatever remains. we're coming home. >> joining us michael mcfaul, ambassador to russia. ambassador, with brett mcgurk, and we're just learning today of his resignation that he evidently turned in friday night, what is the impact here? he was, in effect, the head prn -- person in battling isis. >> the effect is bad. the effect is bad for american natio

mcgurk saying he could no longer serve the president in this policy against syria.se lavin, cnn. >>> let's bring in julian zeleny and siraj hasmi. thank you both for joining us. first, i'm going to start with siraj. let's remind our viewers what the president tweeted. so president trump is essentially admitting to not knowing the guy leading the fight against isis after declaring they were defeated. stop me if i'm wrong here, but shouldn't they have been having these conversations? should not there be briefings that would have him know who mcgrk um mcgurk was? >> quite possibly. it should give americans pause when russian president vladimir putin and iranian ayatollah. it cannot be understated. it's possible he might be inflating his own significance but he did get turkey on board with basically trying to stave off defeating the kurds and the kurds were absolutely integral and critical in defeating isis. they lost upwards of 10,000 troops in fighting isis. the fact that president trump doesn't know who mcgurk is not a good sign but he is the commander in chief and i

our special envoy to the global coalition for isis here us, brett mcgurk. i know you heard from him a couple of weeks ago and he wanted to come in today to update you on where things hand. without further do, brett mcgurk. brett: thank you. ok, thank you everybody for coming. what i wanted to do today, you heard from the secretary, about a trip around the world. everything going on in the world in activity at the state department. what i thought i would do is drill in a little bit more about what he discussed, one of our key priorities here in the state department about the campaign , against isis. so, i want to focus on the overall campaign, it is a global campaign. but dive in a little bit to the so-called caliphate in iraq and syria. bring you into what we are doing every day and how it is working, interagency, throughout the government, and particularly with our diplomats here at the state department. some topline points, i think it is important, if you go back to when isis arrived on the international scene, back in 2014, we had 40,000 foreign fighters

mcgurk: we are preparing for all contingencies. in part you spoke about damascus, isis has been able to infiltrate what has been an assad stronghold and talk to what you are seeing in libya. how is the growth of foreign fighters there and the kind of structure different than what is happening in syria? mr. mcgurk: isil took credit for the car bombings. and we have no reason to doubt it was isil. they have done a number of attacks in damascus before. isil is a threat to everybody. and all of our partners in the region, we try to make this point. there are different depth perceptions. but isil is a threat to everybody and a threat to the people in damascus. and we want to unite ranks as much as possible against isil. libya is a bit of a different situation. you don't have the sectarian dynamic like we have in iraq and syria, but we do see isil using the same tactics that it used in syria. it establishes itself, eliminates all competitors and tries to attract the migrants in rica and own open source propaganda, they are saying don't g

joining me from washington, brett mcgurk, u.s. deputy assistant secretary of state for iraq and iran. he served as adviser to the u.s. ambassador to iraq. i am pleased to have him on this program. welcome. and you tell me, there is a new york times report that said the united states may be prepared to send u.s. troops are rescue refugees? >> i haven't seen that report but what that is probably referring to is a commitment that the president has addressed the american people, that we are committed to breaking the siege of mount sinjar where thousands of innocent people, yazidis, are trapped on this mountain, surrounded by isil terrorists. we have been doing airstrikes on the north side of that mountain. those strikes have been very effective. they have allowed a lot of them to get off the mountain. we are now actively undergoing an assessment to determine how many people are left and what we can do. >> you are basically saying we will do everything we have to do to get these refugees to safety. >> charlie, the helicopter that crash

mcgurk, 192 t-walls were up. the big progress is that 43 t-walls are up, in addition 17,500 t walls. they save lives, put them up. number two, the iraqi jewish archives ted deutsche and i and many other members are concerned. i don't want them to be shipped back. the iraqi government incorrectly states these papers are theirs. that is not true. we hope you continue to work on that. the bigger issue that brings that together obviously since the departure of the troops, al qaeda's reemergence causes iraq to take a turn for the worse. and al qaeda safe haven so we've got to rebuild our influence there. thank you, mr. chairman, for calling this hearing. >> thank you, ms. ross slay ton. mr. deutsche of florida. >> thank mr. chairman and ranking member engle for holding this hearing. in the stability in the iraq government and the syria conflict, the number of al qaeda affiliated fighters in iraq has reached levels not seen since 2006. the off-shoot is now the primary perpetrator of violence. al qaeda disavowed the use

diplomat in the global coalition against eisold brett mcgurk has quit over trump surprise decision to pull troops out of syria it comes hot on the heels of the resignation of the u.s. defense secretary james mattis who strongly opposed the syrian decision a state department correspondent rose jordan as more u.s. president daal trump made two major foreign policy decisions this week he said he's pulling seven thousand u.s. troops out of afghanistan and trump is pulling out all two thousand u.s. service personnel from northeast syria a decision he's been defending on twitter on syria we were originally going to be there for three months and that was seven years ago we never left when i became president isis was going wild now isis is largely defeated and other local countries including turkey should be able to easily take care of whatever remains we are coming home. defense secretary jim mattis quit in protest on thursday on saturday it was revealed that a top u.s. diplomat in charge of coordinating the fight against eisold is also quitting the military mission is enduring defeat of isi

mcgurk, let's quick go back to the kurds. i've been made aware of the fact the baghdad government is basically in arrears on current budget by about $6 billion. is that accurate? >> there are a lot of ways to do the accounting and the math. baghdad claims the kurds owe them money. kurds claim that baghdad owes them money. in that space is where a deal lies. i think that's going to be part of the conversation in forming a new government. >> if it is true baghdad owes them as much as $6 billion, with u.s. support kurds ability to export oil and obtain that revenue so they can keep themselves going? >> we want to get as much oil on to international markets as possible from all parks of iraq. that is something we very strongly support we worked very hard over the last six months to get a deal on the table by which the kurds would have exported as much oil as they possibly could through some of the existing arrangements with the revenue-sharing allocations that exist. that deal almost succeeded, but it ran up against the election

the president says in a tweet, he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible that the president doesn't know the envoy who has been representing the u.s. to the coalition for the last two years? >> oh i think that is easy. the because the president is dealing with the secretary of state, secretary of defense. despite what people think the white house is not grand central station. not anybody in the administration gets to see the president. the president getting briefing by general dunford. chris: here is the question, if he went against the recommendations of mattis, mcgurk, dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs. apparently pompeo or bolton, who he is listening to? >> the president listens to a bunch of different people that. >> is the national security team. >> including people who live here and ordinary americans the people he promised when he ran for office he was going to lead. we recognize this is unpopular within the beltway. we recognize it is unpopular with the defense department. it is very popular with ordinary american pe, the

mcgurk was embarrassed. that's why he's resigning early. that's one of the things that keeps happening with this administration. so i think trump should look at history about. if you look at caligula who was a roman emperor back in the day, he was crazy, he was having war against the sea, making all of these like ridiculous policy maneuvers. but when he started to insult people and when he started to insult the military personally, changing the watch words, making them like get seashells as treasure, when he started insulting people he got himself into real trouble. that's what trump is is doing with the military he's insulting them. >> we went back to harding last segment and now caligula. >> you can't find an example of a defense secretary resigning in protest so this is a remarkable week indeed. >>> and coming up, as if a failing economy and a government shutdown weren't enough of a year end gift it's looking like nancy pelosi and robert mueller may give president trump a rocky start to 2019. we'll look at that when we come back. that wh

mcgurk, thank you, mr. chairman, i yield back.>> t >> thank you, mr. engel. this morning we're pleased to be joined by special presidential o envoy brett mcgurk. rece mr. mcgurk was recently promoted from deputy special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter isil. prior to these assignments ser special envoy mcgurk served as the deputy assistant secretary of state for iraq and iran. mr. mcgurk has been a valuable voice in the administration, pressing for a morrow bust u.s.a role.tion, i appreciate that.d without objection the witness'sr full preparedd statement will b made a part of the record and members will have five calendar days to submit statements, questions and extra neous materials. so wek yo askchairm if you can your remarks. >> thanks mr. chairman, ranking member engel, other members of the committee.ppear b it's a real honor to be here. i first appeared before you in r november of 2013 to talk about what we knew was al qaeda in nu i aq and the emerging threats of isil. i've been back a number of timeo since then. this i deeply valu

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.litary commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. let's get some of the day's other news. the main opposition party in sudan says 22 people have been killed in four days of protests over a rise in the cost of bread. the leader of the opposition condemned what they had been the armed repression of the demonstrations. the protests had been muted on saturday after the authorities closed universities and shut down mobile internet services. a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in the somali capital, mogadishu. the explosion happened less that 400 metres from the presidential palace. the militant islamist group al sha bab says it was behind the killings. hundreds of people in moroc

brett mcgurk. in one of his first interviews since the agreement was reached. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. tonight, time is running out for tiktok. now that the u.s. supreme court has upheld a law that could shut off the site for 170 million americans as soon as sunday. cnn's paula reid reports on the high court decision and whether soon to be president trump will give tiktok a reprieve. >> a unanimous supreme court allowing tiktok to be banned in the u.s. as soon as sunday amid bipartisan national security concerns over the popular apps linked to china. >> no one had argued the ban violated the first amendment, but the justices disagreed, writing tiktok scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government's national security concerns. last year, congress passed the law banning the

mcgurk, who was appointed by president obama and retained by mr. trump, warned earlier this month that it would be "reckless" to bring u.s. troopsi home from his departure comes just a day after defense secretary james hettis also quit over policy differences with administration. in a series of tweets today, president trump defended the decision to leave syria, saying "now isis is largely defeated and other local countries, including turkey, should be able to easily take care of whatever remains." finaial markets were rattled this week by the shutdown and news of defense secretary james mattis' resignatn. see what that means for the u.s. economy at pbs.org/newshour. for our year-end broadcasts, thought we'd let you hear from the team of producers who bring you our newshour weekend stories each weeto gain some insight into our production and journalistic process, and maybe even hear few war stories ong the way. newshour weekend's hnii srsan recently sat down with the team of chris booker, laura fong, and mori rothman.an >> sreenivall right, chris, l

>> well, i've known brett mcgurk since we started working together in iraq in 2007.ed public servant. and i can only imagine that this was a very difficult decision for him. but as we talk about syria and the way forward, and admiral kirby made good points, the global coalition to defeat isis isn't just about boots on the ground, they have many musions ahead of it, like countering the extreme rhetoric that isis continues to spread online. and when you think about someone like brett mcgurk, if he had to go back and talk to the 78 other countries and organizations that still comprise that coalition, he would be in a much more difficult position today, when the u.s. is withdrawing. >> right. >> we cut off stabilization assistance that the state department was supposed to deliver. how is he going to ask other coalition members to continue the fight if we're pulling back? >> admirable kirby, is there any hope in your view of holding bashar al assad accountable for war crimes and maybe international courts? or do we just now live in a world where the genocide of a million

which is part of the reason why mcgurk himself was resigning.being in a position where you're hearing from top administration officials, that america's strategy is one thing, only to have that completely and totally flipped on its head. on the other side of the equation, of course, there is the reaction of america's adversaries in the region, namely the syrian regime, the russians, the iranians, and they're all welcomes this decision, and that speaks for itself. >> no doubt. what exactly does the u.s. role in syria look like going forward then? >> if the americans are completely withdrawing from the military battlefield, it is really hard to see what kind of role america is actually going to have, or at least what kind of a productive role it can have. look, america a long time took itself out of the political solution equation when it came to syria. the more significant negotiations when it came to some sort of a political solution were really just being held between the turks and the russians and the iranians and now america is effectively to