i want to bring in amanda carpenter. amanda is a former communication s carpenter. heard what congressman king just said. i know you've heard this before and senator cruz has heard this before. we were at the republican debate. everywhere you go, you could find people in the republican party, people connected with the senate who would bash ted cruz pretty openly. does this bother him? does he care that he's not likable? and couldn't this hurt him eventually? >> well, hey, number one, i respect the congressman's candor. we hear that from and that's certainly his right to voice that opinion. i don't buy that ted cruz isn't likable. he's not liked in washington by powerful people. this is the same phenomenon i saw when i was working for senator jim demint. a lot of powerful people in washington didn't like him because of what he was doing to disrupt the status quo. once he got outside of that beltway, he was treated like a rock star. even right now if you look at the des moines register favorable ratings of ted cruz, he is the highest in the republican field. as soon a

amanda carpenter and jeffrey lord, thanks very much. >>> coming up next for us, more from donald trump, this time about who is more sexist, trump or hillary clinton's husband, former president, of course, bill clinton and what the prosecutor calls a perfect storm of mistakes that killed 12-year-old tamir rice. a tragedy by any measure but not a crime, that's what a grand jury ruled today. oh no... (under his breath) hey man! hey peter. (unenthusiastic) oh... ha ha ha! joanne? is that you? it's me... you don't look a day over 70. am i right? jingle jingle. if you're peter pan, you stay young forever. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. ♪ you make me feel so young... it's what you do. ♪ you make me feel ♪ so spring has sprung. [martha and mildred are good to. go. here's your invoice, ladies. a few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. it might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office... or filling your days looking down the south end of a heifer, but...i wouldn't have it any other

the point is they cannot hide and our message to them is you are next. >> and amanda carpenter joining us, and cnn political commentator kevin madden. in terms of national security, in terms of terrorism, all of these candidates on the stage will be trying to show how tough they are, what they would do different than what president obama is doing. >> yeah, and i think one thing that president obama has been criticized for is that his national security and foreign policies have been rather amorphis. we don't seem to have a very clear-cut strategy, either dealing with our allies, building up our allies or taking the fight to the enemy. and what you have seen is the candidates who have done well has been when they're bold and offered clarity to the american public. among the candidates there will be this race to offer the most clear, robust policy that offers a clear contrast with president obama as possible. >> i want to put the latest national cnn poll, a couple of weeks ago when you asked republicans who they think best equipped to be the commander-in-chief, donald trump far ahead. the

joining me now, cnn political commentator, amanda carpenter. e's the former communications director for senator ted cruz. also, cnn political reporter, nia-malika henderson. amanda, you've got cruz and rubio head-to-head last night. if trump does falter, do you see this race as possibly coming down to the two of them? >> absolutely. i do think that. a lot of people have forecasted it would come down to them. it's really interesting. we've seen sort of the governor's fall as a collective class and the senators rise. and one of the reasons i think that is is because the senate has been the closest, most proximate place for someone to really fight against the obama agenda. while the governors want to look back and talk about their records, they weren't really in the middle of the fight. i do see a cruz/rubio primary happening, but for the life of me, i can't figure out why rubio is picking these fights right now with ted cruz, reminding the conservative base of what they view as his greatest sin with the gang of eight, rather than trying to take aw

gloria borger and jake tapper and also cnn political commentators amanda carpenter, s.e. cupp. jeffrey was a political director in the reagan white house. s.e. a conservative columnist. appreciate you all being with us. gloria, let's start with you. did you hear anything tonight that changes anything for the four men that were just on stage? >> i don't think it changes anything. but what i heard tonight was an emotional lindsey graham. somebody who said i've been talking about these issues this entire campaign and now the campaign is kind of caught up with me. and here i am at this undercard debate, right? >> and it was a gloomy debate. it was reflected the fear and anxiety in this country. post-paris and san bernardino. and the most memorable line to me was lindsey graham saying i blame obama for isil, not bush. i miss george w. bush. >> lindsey graham also having some very tough words for donald trump on his pledge to ban muslims, at least temporarily from entering the united states. >> he apologized to the muslim world on behalf of america for donald trump. something that i'

here now to talk more about this, cnn political director david chalian and amanda carpenter, also themunications director for senator ted cruz. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> tanks fhanks for being here. david, i thought it was interesting what jeb bush told "new day" this morning, that it's not really a debate, it's a performance. you don't really answer the question. you just want to get your point across. that was refreshingly honest. >> that was refreshingly honest. and jeb bush admittedly -- self-admittedly says he has struggled with that performance in the past. i do think it was one of his trong stronger performances. the big question now is this too late in this process? are voters still giving -- are primary voters still giving jeb bush a full hearing? i think that was the performance that his supporters, his donors, they were looking for that a few months back as the donald trump surge was taking place over the summer and heading into the fall. >> amanda, everybody says -- >> and on that point -- >> oh, go ahead. go ahead, amanda. >> i was going to sa

i was talking to amanda carpenter, who used to work for him. you heard from donald trump.hat do you know having covered it for so long? >> he's a very nice human being to the people who work for him. they love him and adore him. he's a nice person. he does not play well with other others. he went to the senate and instantly antagonized all but three of his colleagues. he came out and called the leader of his own party a liar. he devoted the first chapter of his campaign buy yogiography to making the case there was so much men das itty in the senate that it was important for him to expose that and people don't like that. he does not play well with others. he's somebody who doesn't just want to shake up washington but wants to play against it. who wants to show that those people are so evil and mendacious that you need a savior like him to come in and mop it up. it's hard to see the establishment overcoming that level of antagonism that he has created. >> to be able to embrace him. i was rereading the new yorker piece from two summers ago on ted cruz. fascinating details rea

amanda carpenter and jeffrey lord, thanks very much. >>> coming up next for us, more from donald trump, this time about who is more sexist, trump or hillary clinton's husband, former president, of course, bill clinton and what the prosecutor calls a perfect storm of mistakes that killed 12-year-old tamir rice. a tragedy by any measure but not a crime, that's what a grand jury ruled today. when emergency room doctors choose an otc pain reliever for their patients muscle, back and joint pain. the medicine in advil is their #1 choice. nothing is stronger on tough pain than advil. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil. gegiving up all the thingsan she loves to do. it should just mean, well, finding new ways to do them. right at home's professional team thoughtfully selects caregivers to provide help with personal care, housekeeping, and of course, meal preparation. oh, that smells so good. aw, and it tastes good, too. we can provide the right care, right at home. >>> as we said, donald trump is ramping up attacks on hillary clinton. over the weekend, he accused a democratic front

"outfront" now, host of "the money matters" and amanda carpenter, former communications director fored cruz. wes, let me start with you. huge 21 points in the latest national poll. are the other republican candidates running out of time to stop him? do you buy this national polling? >> i do. this polling is very indicative of the tide in america. there's an unmistakable tide and it's anti-establishment. and that's exactly what trump is. quite frankly, it's what cruz is as well. you see who is leading the gop and they are taking advantage of it and the establishment tide. you go back to june, july when trump just got into the race, it was a fad kapd, a fad fand. it turns out that it's too late for a lot of the other gop field to make up any ground on trump at this point. >> amanda, do you accept trump as inevitable? >> no. i think he's very vulnerable and i think we're going to see him get notched down a few places. i want to focus on where he's at right now in michigan. i find this fascinating. i have long believed that trump is speaking to a different republican and democrat-leaning

now to the controversial side of candidates and their kids with our cnn political commentator amanda carpenter and for senator ted cruz and cnn senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and media analyst bill carter. jeff, you say there is a double standard in political coverage that you happily abide by, politics can make their kid as focus but the media shouldn't be focussing in on them explain. >> there is a long tradition of politicians having a tableau with their children and they walk out when they except the nomination of their party and appear in public with their children but we have always given children a wide birth. we don't report on their activities. we don't investigate their lives. and so politicians can in effect brag about their kids but we don't investigate them. i think that's fine. i really do think children are off limits and that system i think worked pretty well for all concern. >> i agree. senator cruz is using the incident to fund raise. that's fair game in your book because his critics say you can't have it both ways, you can't say keep the kids out of it but i'll use the

joining us for us for a christmas eve edition, our political comment ator and maria cardona and amanda carpenter maria, let's start with you, let's talk about the democrats. what do you make of clinton being so far ahead of sanders specifically on issues that people are paying attention to, voters? >> i think what people are looking at is her past very robust experience on the issues of national security and foreign policy. her years as secretary of state and very importantly, the way that she has talked about these issues during the democratic debates, she has talked about them not just with ease and with expertise, but she brought to the table nuances and a way of explaining things to people, that especially democrats really understood and was very relevant to having them choose who they thought could go against not just whoever the nominee would be but who the person would be to keep them safest in this world who we all know and everyone is thinking about. they feel very unsafe. i think those have been very winning issues for her. >> exactly. josh, when you think about it, it wasn't that long

also with me cnn political commentator, amanda carpenter, who used to be the communications director for senator ted cruz. great to see both of you. i love seeing everyone rolling through getting the lay of the land. to you first and let me just be real. i've read so many polls on this whole muslim ban. there are conflicting numbers so i want to take the polls and chuck them for a second and ask you straight up, how will these other candidates sort of thread the needle with -- mindful of this primary republican audience, we know how trump stands on it. no one else is seconding the ban. but some people obviously in the audience are in favor of it but don't want to appear discriminatory. how do they draw a line in the sand tonight? >> i think everybody wants to see something done, which is why donald trump initially got credit for just saying something and being out there on the subject. now that they have looked at it, oh, maybe that presents some problems. ted cruz has a bill to temporarily stop the refugee program for countries that have large populations of terrorists. i think this

. >>> now, political commentator and the former communication center for ted cruz, amanda carpenter andlewis. his wife was a former consultant for cruz's senate campaign. good to have both of you with me. do you believe ted cruz's explanation for his apparent flip-flop on the issue? >> no. no, i don't. these are the facts. during the debate he said he never supported legalization and doesn't intend to support it in the future. as we just saw in that segment, in 2013, just two years ago, he did in fact introduce an amendment that would legalize illegals. now, at the time, he was pressed by conservatives like byron york, a conservative writer for the washington examiner, and robby george, a highly respective conservative at princeton. they pressed him. is this a poison bill? are you trying to kill the bill? he assured him no. he's been compromising in good faith and will pass immigration reform. so honestly he was either misleading us during the debate tuesday night or he was misleading us in 2013. >> amanda, that's a tough issue, right? which is it? >> well, it's very simple and i can te

strategist and jeb bush supporter, ana navarro, katrina pierson, spokesman for the trump campaign, amanda carpenter senator ted cruz and cnn political commentator s.e. cupp. katrina, you heard sarah palin, a huge fan of donald trump. but she agrees with rush limbaugh and mark leaven that the criticism that trump levied against ted cruz, he's a little bit of a maniac for the way he goes after the republican establishment, she doesn't care for that, thinks that wrong, as levine, limbaugh. is he going to continue that line of attack? >> we have to see. senator cruz criticized mr. trump behind closed doors which isn't courageous and mr. trump responded accordingly. he obviously felt like you know he had a decent relationship with mr. cruisz krit size him openly. his response, his personal. and he's not shy of hiding that. >> david axelrod said if he were advising donald trump, i asked him, what would you do, he said, go after ted cruz for being a politician, for saying one thing in public, another in private, which would hurt his brand and not this other attack that donald trump is doing about like you

also, cnn political commentator amanda carpenter.tributing editor for atlantic media and a senior fellow at the new american foundation. hugh, you were very clear later on during that interview that trump is off the mark in your opinion when it comes to what happened in new jersey on september 11. do you believe he's just confused, or is it something intentional? do you think he saw the video from gaza and is conflating it? >> i think he's conflating it. a university did a great ted talk on people who conflate memory and add to memory. i said that to donald trump tonight. on the other hand, earlier today, rudy giuliani on this network said there were isolated incidents in new york, including a story that he recounted, and i do believe donald trump remembers the west bank or gaza demonstration, and that i'm certain hundred of people have told him they saw the same thing because hundreds of people have told me they saw the same thing, that i'm wrong. i don't think we should fact check memory, and i also think most of the american peopl

let's bring in cnn senior political reporter nia-malika henderson, amanda carpenter, a former communications director for senator ted cruz as well as kevin madden, gop strategist and an adviser to mitt romney's presidential campaigns. all right, guys. a lot happened last night. let's distill it down to a lightning round of who was the biggest winner of the night. amanda, go. >> let's say reince priebus. this was a great debate for the entire party. it was substantive. they kept to the issues which was remarkable given the big field. so i think everyone was very happy. except for maybe the question -- sorry, hugh hewitt -- whether he'd be willing to kill civilians, go to war with isis. that caused some heartburn among republicans. other than that, great night for the party. >> nia. >> i think jeb bush. i was a little cold-hearted to him yesterday. >> you were cold. >> sort of at his most relevant point. i think he wins most improved award. i thought, you know, in terms of going after donald trump, he landed some of the biggest applause lines last night. i was in the auditorium. so people were

here to talk about that, amanda carpenter, former communications director for senator cruz and writernn commentators. let's talk about these polls. you see hillary clinton has this huge lead, ryan, but in likability she's not faring so well. when you pit hillary clinton against some of the republican candidates, and we have a graphic to show that, she loses to rubio and ted cruz, among others. what do you make of that, ryan. >> sanders hit this wall that liberal candidates do where it he does well with northeastern white lib rals but he can't expand his base beyond that and does not do well with african-americans or hispanics, which are important, especially african-americans when you go into the southern primaries like south carolina. it seems like it's a tough race for sanders. hillary clinton is still likely the democratic nominee. he needs to upset her in one or two places to get another look by some of those other constituencies. on the likability front for hillary, it's always been a major problem, going back to when she was first lady. people know a lot about hillary clinton an

joining us to discuss is amanda carpenter, former communications director for ted cruz. you're a conservative woman. you know many. how are they processing donald trump's often coarse language? >> well, there is one respect in that trump has become immune from criticism because he's always saying controversial things. but this one, man, this is a hard one. it's uncomfortable for me to even use this word. i would certainly not accept will kind of language from anyone in the workplace. i don't think any other woman should even if it's coming from the oval office. this is a bridge too far. and i really position it's a bad idea considering the fact that republicans are very likely to face the first female democratic presidential nominee who wants to stake her entire election on becoming the first female president. he is just handing her loads of ammunition to use against republicans up and down the ticket. so i wish he would consider becoming more precise and respectful with his language particularly when it comes to women. >> it's hard to see it in the polls, though. he see

we have amanda carpenter, a former communications director for the senator from texas.icket item. the debate's focus. foreign policy. national security. here are his hot points. prevent the nsa from gathering phone meta data. allow syria to fight on its own. prevent isis -- >> the first point. preventing nsa from kwarting meta data isn't quite right. just had the nsa has to get a warrant to get meta data from americans. this is the reasonable standard. it doesn't stop them from collecting the data. it just protects the privacy rights of americans. i think that is a good mainstream position. it may come up in the debate tonight because marco rubio wants to pick a fight over it. rubio wants to position himself more as the muscular national security candidate. more in the camp of john mccain and lindsay graham. and this is something that's been brewing in republican circle farce long time because those voices have dominated republican foreign policy and people are looking for alternative. >> let's talk about the ted cruz's response to donald trump's ban on muslims entering

carpenter. you see where we're going with this. amanda, we know what it was supposed to be.e several times, i don't think they're going to fight. in terms of how the men handle the moments. what did you see? what did you like, what did you not like? >> i thought it was great. we saw a truce come between the two candidates. take my former cruz hat off, just as a republican voter, i'm so sick of the in-fighting. we went through that in 2012 with romney and newt gingrich. i do not want another repeat of that. i was happy to see they weren't going to get into it and we have a substantive debate on the issues. >> not only did they got get into it, they played nice. here's a moment. watch this. >> over the last three or four days i've gotten to know hill. he has a wonderful temperament. he's just fine. don't worry about it. >> okay. [ applause ] >> senator cruz. senator cruz, you have not been willing to attack mr. trump in public. but you did -- >> you better not attack. >> the question is judgment. >> dana, what i said in private is exactly what i'll say here, the judgment that

amanda carpenter, cnn political commentator and former communications director for senator ted cruz.>> what beautiful bookings we have this morning. mr. lord, i start with you. if we look at this national poll, donald still strong, donald trump in first but we do see a contraction. even though his numbers are up, the margin is down. how do you read these numbers, sir? >> right. well, i think one of the important things, this is -- iowa is a state where religious liberty is a very important thing and senator cruz has a record on that. there's just no question about it. the thing i'm interested in is donald trump is bringing in a lot of people to the process that were never involved before. i'm not sure fight how you measure that. i mean, after all, polls or no polls, at the end of the day you have to show up on a cold winter night in iowa in february and stay there for several hours while you go about this caucus process. so the question is going to be in some sense, although donald has done very well with evangelical, what is the role of all of these new folks? that will be interesti

amanda carpenter, as we wait for the candidates to gather behind the stage and we watch this, what are you going to be looking for? >> here's the thing. i think everyone acknowledges the fact that there are eyes on ted cruz. in big moments like this, there are people who relish the opportunity to perform in a high-stakes environment and there are some people who kind of dread it. i know from experience working with ted cruz he is the former. he really rises to the occasion in this type of environment. and, so, we'll see what happens. i think marco rubio given all that he's forecasted in the previewed attacks on national security has to try to land a blow on ted cruz and i'm interested to see if marco rubio delivers on that. >> ben carson dropped in the polls. national security. a lot of his critics will say not his strong suit. >> although he said in a message to his supporters earlier today, he wants questions about international relations and national security come, it will be a slam dunk for him. he said. we'll see how that goes. i agree with what the panel is saying. there are goin

amanda's parents flown to california to be with her as she recovers. >> blair: one man already in shooting outside who's on first and dominique carpenter grady him and someone else exchanging fire and hurt in the shooting and was killed but right now not clear who fired the deadly shot. filed. the wake will start at 6:00 in tomorrow. >>> blair: also teenager charged wealth -- with stabbing was arraigned yesterday and pled not guilty with assault to attempt to murder on everett quarterback marvin fedna. he identified him as line-up and police shows knife near his bed during his arrest. >> julie: 9:37. this morning we are hearing from the elderly man who was tricked $100,000. was helping him and agreed to clean his house and take care of his pets but she was making up stories to get money. recently she told him she was having brain surgery but police actually said she was in miami the day she was supposed to have the surgery. >> she called me on the phone, said she was calling from lahey and operation went well and i guess she was calling from miami >> julie: she told the judge she thought the money was a gift and facing larceny charges and until the