the fact that he's listening to bob gates -- i covered bob gates. gates understands how this government works in national security better than anybody i ever met. he came out of cia to nsc. he was so solid at defense he was kept over. he served for george w. bush and then obama kept him on. this is somebody who really knows how it works. if he's the guy that donald trump is listening to on these key appointments, you would have to say this is a good thing. >> more on this coming up. let's get to our top story. today members of the electoral college will cast their votes for formally elect donald trump as the 45th president of the united states. electors will meet in their respective state capitols where they each are supposed to cast two votes. one for vice president and one for vice president. republican members of the electoral college have faced intense pressure to go against their states and not vote for trump. in pennsylvania, some are receiving police protection. the pittsburgh post gazette reports that thousands of e-mails land in their inbox

my father loves bob gates.ood friends. >> they spoke this summer at the atlantic council and the way he was talking teared up. it was amazing. >> didn't he win the first award? >> he did. nick burns joins the conversation straight ahead. you totanobody's hurt, new car. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. [engine revving] ♪ ♪ is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the season of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event. >>> with us now from boston, former u.s. ambassador nicholas burn

after all, condi rice and bob gates say they are on jbboard. this hilarious period today between the start of the reporting and the moment when everybody finally googled it and noticed, oh, yeah, condoleezza rice and bob gates are both consultants for exxon now. they're both on the exxon payroll. in fact, politico reported not long ago that the whole reason the exxon ceo even got a first look from the trump transition, even got his first introduction to president-elect donald trump is because condoleezza rice and bob gates made that introduction. they work for exxon. do you think exxon's getting its money worth for their consulting contract with condi rice and bob gates? they just got them a secretary of state. so that's our new nominee for secretary of state. in the wake of the formal announcement, there was obviously a lot of attention today to rex tillerson's exceedingly close relationship with russian president vladimir putin and attention to the fact while american soldiers were fighting and dying in iraq, to try to stand up an iraqi gover

so a couple things that donald trump said, just only back in september about bob gates.ormer defense secretary robert gates. he knows nothing about me but look at the results under his guidance. a total disaster. which is definitely not ringing endorsement for secretary of state." never went on to say, "never met, never liked dopey robert gates." that's the best part, right? dopey. "look at the mess he's always in, always speaks badly of his many bosses including obama." what's interesting about this, if he does choose someone like robert gates or asks him at least, we don't know if he would accept, says something trump is willing to pivot off his personal animosity toward people to take somebody into his administration that actually knows what they're doing on a certain subject. >> nayyera, trump is reportedly considering seven people for this job. kayleigh pointed out it's rudy giuliani or mitt romney. now up to seven. jon huntsman under barack obama. gop presidential candidate, but perhaps more important is the china part of his resume. also on that list. how likely i

bob gates is now in meeting with trump. he met with mike flynn yesterday, bob gates one of the most respected not only pentagon chiefs but cia chief, deputy national security adviser, veteran -- >> thought of as a brilliant federal government manager because he's had so much experience managing bureaucracies whether at cia or the pentagon. >> and i think signatory to the letter of former officials against trump. >> right. >> during the campaign. steve hadly, condi rice were not but gates was. >> right. >> the fact he's brought in, that mattis nominated, reassuring to those who were concerned when candidate trump kept endorsing waterboarding. >> right. >> donald trump said after meeting with mattis, i met with him and he explained why that's wrong. it is against the military code, all tradition, it hurts our own troops when they are captured potentially. all of those reasons. he respects this man. that's reassuring. the only sticking point is how getting the waiver. normally you have to be out of uniform seven years before y

bob gates, former national security adviser. he was a sharp critic before of donald trump during the campaign. he and others from the bush years. and now he and a number of others, including condoleeza rice, others who signed that letter of other foreign policy vorz, beginning to show up to advise, to try to consult, those who are not seeking jobs, wanting to be part of the process. that says a lot from the foreign policy people i'm speaking to. they want to help. >> reporter: you're right. we saw condoleeza rice, meeting privately with vice president-elect mike pence, and saw bob gates being whisked upstairs by lieutenant general michael flynn, now national security adviser, to donald trump. you talk about his criticism, the criticism from secretary gates of donald trump. it was fierce last month. an op-ed where he basically went after trump on everything from nato, this idea about building a wall, his position towards torture, even his embracer, i guess you could say his cozy relationship with vladimir putin, secretary gates i

mitt romney, another guy that worked in a job like that. >> bob gates have been there.77, '79, and gates was the president whisperer, and nooks could come in and he's the one that sat there calmly and said here are your options, and he has a calming affect on presidents and walks them through it methodically. >> do you think donald trump could not trust mitt romney, and other people -- >> well, look at ben carson. belt buckle. >> yeah, he gets past it. he got past ben carson and he gets past a lot of things and that's one of the surprising things, jeremy peters, you think of all the people trump has savaged, including us. >> neurotic. >> that was true. how can you argue with the truth? >> as bill clinton said and i said on the show all the time, what a president needs more than anything is a short memory. he appears to have a short memory. >> yeah, it's a funny dynamic to his personality, because when you are feuding with him from afar on twitter or on television, it seems to be much more passionate and intense and nasty, but once you sit down with him and you talk to h

bob gates also reportedly recommended rex tillerson.ex tillerson has been a close friend with jim baker. why do i bring all of this up? just to tell you it's going to be very hard for marco rubio who came out against him and very hard for john mccain and very hard for lindsey graham to paint rex tillerson as some sort of putin stooge when you have condy rice and james baker and possibly even bob gates saying we know this guy. we like this guy. we think he'll be a very, very effective secretary of state. >> not only is it going to be hard for him to paint him as such, donald trump doesn't care. i had a conversation with a senior trump aide last night about the backlash and whether or not this is weighing on donald trump and affecting his decision making process. pretty much what i got back didn't surprise me at all. that was we are not going to let john mccain and marco rubio tell us who we can have in our administration. >> can you imagine a committee hearing, confirmation hearing where bob gates, james baker, and condy rice come before

. >> bob gates, former defense secretary to george w. bush and president obama. former head of the cia under bush 41 with a blunt assessment of russia's role in the presidential election. california republican congressman joins me now. thanks for being with us. now that bob gates has come out and there has been a statement by the fbi as well as the cia. are you willing to accept that russia tried to outcome the influence of the american election? >> first, let me note when you were introducing me before the break you said i had doubt that russia did this. i have never expressed doubt that russia had hacked into these e-mails and made them available to the american people. i never doubted that. what i have said is i don't care who provided us the e-mails. the e-mails were factual and thus the american people. this is just a frantic effort to try to discredit an election because the american people rejected the liberal left effort. the massive campaign against trump. and the media cannot accept that the people have rejected them. >> we are talking about 17 intellig

bob gates bashes him.e's talking to bob gates. >> this is the short memory you're talking about that politicians need to have. >> bill clinton said the best trait you can have as a president is a very short memory. donald trump showing at least this week that for some political rivals he has a very short memory. >> who doesn't have a short memory? >> this is fresh for a lot of people. the 2016 presidential campaign turned into a shouting match as top strategist from both the clinton and trump campaigns debated over how president-elect trump pulled off his victory on election day part of a two-day forum at harvard university sponsored in the wake of every presidential election since 1972. operatives from nearly all primary and general election campaigns and many journalists who covered them attended. one of the most raw and emotional exchanges was between hillary clinton campaign director of communication and kellyanne conway on whether the trump campaign encouraged racism. >> if providing a platform for wh

interestingly enough, bob gates is now apparently going to meet with -- >> today. >> well if that's the case, bob gates would be an excellent choice as well, because he would be the first time since general marshall, who became secretary of state and secretary of defense, the first time you have a secretary of defense and a secretary of state, bob gates a great choit choice. >> for secretary of state. >> absolutely. >> what about the others, who named are floated out there. like rudy giuliani for example? his name is high on the list. mitt romney. his name is high on the list. john bolton, former u.s. ambassador to the u.n.? >> it's not what i think. it's what president-elect trump thinks. as long as he's meeting with secretary gates, and i'm -- jon huntsman, i never talked to about this. there is a panoply of candidates to call upon with great experience. ultimately he's got to have the person that best reflects his own views. the secretary of state, secretary of defense, they don't set policy. it's the president of the united states. so whomever he feeled comfortable with can carry ou

one of the most interesting names, bob gates. is it real? is bob gates really in the mix for this and would he even take it? former defense secretary. former head of the cia. somebody who had very strong words against donald trump. somebody who bipartisanly served george w. bush and barack obama. so who knows what donald trump is going to do. >> whatever bob gates said about donald trump during the campaign, nothing compares to what mitt romney said about donald trump during the campaign and mitt romney according to all indications is still high up on the list? >> certainly. one of the most interesting parts how this cabinet race played out and i call it a race because of all the coverage of it and how long it's sort of taken, members on the hill are up for cabinet positions and reporters are chasing them asking for details of the meetings and they have to answer all of these questions, and there are so many questions whether or not mitt romney is really still at the top or is there somebody who might jump ahead of him? >> this is donald tru

they include former secretary of state condoleezza rice, former defense secretary bob gates, both of whom served under president george w. bush. we should also point out that exxon is a client of the consulting firm that rice and gates started. also supporting rex tillerson, former vice president dick cheney and bush 41's own secretary of state james baker. but tillerson still faces a potential capitol hill showdown because of his ties specifically to russian president vladimir putin. so for that, let me first go to cnn national politics reporter mj lee. tell me first about these key senators and specifically republicans who are criticizing this pick? >> yeah, well, brooke, i can tell you this is the nomination that is turning a lot of heads on capitol hill for several reasons. tillerson is a controversial pick. the first reason is he has no prior government experience, much like president-elect donald trump and the other reason, of course, is the one that you mentioned, his close ties, businesses the, i should say, to russia and russian president vladimir putin. of course, the backd

i mean -- bob gates. sorry. >> former secretary of defense. >> right. >> and koncondi rais, and steve hadley, a consulting firm. it works with exxon, and they recommended this guy that trump did not know to the president-elect. the president-elect said, bring him in, and it turned out, they're two business guys. they believe tillerson can get the deals he wants and he took a liking to him. and i think this was very much a process that played itself out and it was clear to me from watching this on the outside that trump really didn't have any favorite candidate going into this. and he ended up finding one by taking some people's recommendations. >> would you say they worked with, that consulting firm works with exxon? >> work for, get paid by, yes. >> how much will tillerson have, before the senate foreign relations committee? marco rubio says i have serious concerns about tillerson's nomination, specifically because of his good relationship with putin? >> there are two steps. right? first, of course, you

bob gates, condi race, dick cheney. >> they all work for him. >> i dismiss that.k the fact that he would stand up and say baker's a patriot. >> but hiring somebody and recommended somebody, and say they're all on the payroll. >> and the very best recommendation i got was from the dep sec in the obama administration who says he's been dealing with him -- >> who's the dep sec? >> the dep sec of energy said -- >> what's dep sec? >> the deputy secretary. >> aren't you the supreme democrat. >> how do you pivot from overnight from being really since the reagan administration, a business diplomat, who is mostly concerned about profits and about cutting deals, you're very transactional. you have billions of dollars of money tied up in these sanctions in russia, and overnight, all of a sudden, you have a totally different set of -- >> here's how. >> you have 70,000 -- >> let her finish. >> i was just going to say, that have to do with national security interests. and the interests of -- in terms of public policy making, on behalf of our country, versus a company's profit.

. >> bob gates of our day. invites him to trump tower. bob gates try tillerson.dous openness to an argument. maybe it's the last person in the room. i understand your authentic concern, and i think the press needs to be vigilant but i am so much more optimistic than most people are because i believe that tillerson's selection shows us he is tremendously open to argument. developers do this. i talked to bob corker about this. developers are focus and execute people. >> all right. we will pause there. when we come back, some of the shining figures and ground breakers in politics and culture that we lost this year. >> my intention is to box to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. on mars and solar sates provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. ♪ >>> as we celebrate this holiday season with zprends families we want to take a m

but trump is now hearing from people like condoleezza rice, stephen hadley, bob gates.he state department would lead to the same kinds of strife that you saw during the bush administration. making matters even worse, rex tillerson has also said he does not really care for john bolton, and it seems to me at this point, hard to believe that trump would pick somebody who his secretary of state has said he doesn't want to work with. >> willie, i mean, hard to believe, first of all, you would pick somebody who still thinks invading iraq was a great idea. wanted to invade iran last year. is about as opposite of -- if rex tillerson is friends with jik ba jim baker, and it bob gates appointed him, it's hard to believe that anybody, except for the most extreme segment of the neocon community of the republican party, would support this guy. he also was a horrible administrator by all accounts when he was over at state. >> that's why the times is reporting that those very same people who helped convince donald trump to choose rex tillerson, also said john bolton is not the guy. we

people that used to be in government including bob gates who was running the pentagon and rice who was secretary of state. he's a terrific guy for the job and a close friend of the former secretary, james baker but likely could run into head winds in congress because close ties to russia and crafting oil deals with russia. here is what senator john mccain said earlier today in america's news room. >> i am concerned about his relationship with vladimir putin, vladimir putin is a thug, a murderer, kgb guy who only wants to restore the russian empire who has killed murdered, leader of opposition and shadow of kremlin, his equipment shot down an airliner, russian planes are pinpointing and bombing hospitals in aleppo, so, of course, i am concerned but we should give him a fair hearing. >> now, that announcement could come as early as wednesday, perhaps not until the end of the day. busy day here at trump tower already. carly fiorina walked in. remember, she said a lot of nasty things about donald trump in the election campaign. granted, he said a lot of nasty thing about her as well. she's

. >> i keep envisioning, like, bob gates at a 9/11 commission type of scenario.f course, the one person you could actually be bipartisan in one individual. >> even when he was doing the shows this weekend, he was very -- he was very diligent about saying russia did mess, and we should be -- we should be concerned. and donald trump, he should actually -- if he were to pick a statement and say, we are concerned and we'll look into it, i think it also gives him more legitimacy when people keep criticizing him on the russians. but instead, he's doubling down on the russian side and that's a little bizarre. >> that's the part of this -- and that's always the hardest thing about reading trump. what seems politically exnepedit here would be to what maria says. >> but i think the criticism that russia interfered and therefore his election is illegitimate is something that really gets to him, just speculation on my part, but that is what he is reacting to. and it may be that post the electoral vote, when there was real sort of scattered and not terribly well organized att

bob gates said we should modernize and maybe that's strengthening but the big question is, does he have the temperament to have the nuclear codes and that's going to be dependent as bob gates said, his advisors. i'm afraid he doesn't or too impulsive and huxley may understand him. i don't understand him. the american public is in for a rocky ride and hopefully, mother earth can survive the next pour years. >> representative steve cohen, thank you so much for joining me. >>> the berlin truck attacker shot on the streets of milan ending a week long international manhunt. let's go to nbc's claudio lavaunio. are they sure it's amri? >> reporter: katy, authorities say they have absolutely no doubt that the person who got shot and killed in milan is indeed and is amri, the man believed to be at the wheel at the christmas market on monday in berlin killing 12. now how did they encounter him? seemed to have been a chance encounter between the authorities and the suspect. the two italian policemen, young, were patrolling the area. this is a very quiet residential area. a small train station ther

let's face it, condi rice, former second stair of state, and baker, cabinet member himself, bob gates, of course, these are serious people who held offices at the highest level in our government. they know what is necessary in these jobs. they know what it takes to succeed. most importantly for the secretary of state is someone who will be representing the nation and the president, andrea, across the globe, but also someone who sticks close to foggy bottom to serve the president as well as appropriate. we are happy that member and women like condi rice, bill gates, jim baker, have waited with their opinion on any number of people. you see in the secretary of state search as it is over the last three, four weeks, it's been a pretty heady, compelling process where any number of people with diverse backgrounds, some of your typical folks usually are in the mix for secretary of state, folks who people had conceived of not being a possibility are in the mix. i know whatever decision the president-elect makes for secretary of state, and he will announce it this week he told me, it will be t

this is what bob gates is talking about. he's a little unpredictable which gives him better negotiating power when he deals with russia and the rest of the world. >> larry, everybody trying to make sense of the order of the events here. this tweet and this leader saying this. it did appear that trump's response, his tweet was a response to vladimir putin because it came in a couple of hours after we heard that pledge from putin saying he pledged to enhance his country's nuclear forces. but then you heard putin say hey, there's nothing new here. >> well, there isn't. we have an arm's agreement with russia that says by 2018 both of us are going to be down to 1500 and 50 nuclear weapons. in order to get that treaty ratified, president obama had to promise to nuclear our fources. basically in in fact you want to expanding with you would have to tear up all of the arms' treaties going back to president reagan. you put bob gates in with nuclear weapons. when i was in government working for president reagan, he did not want reagan

that includes condoleezza rice, bob gates, former national security adviser. tillerson himself may be expressing concern for bolton being his deputy. he remains in the running for that post. trump is going to be speaking in hershey, pennsylvania tonight as part his thank you tour. one of the states trump is visiting. i don't think he's visited a blue state yet. interesting news here, though, on the john bolton front. that name obviously remains a lightning rod when it comes to foreign policy. a lightning rod in foreign policy. >> we are in hershey, pennsylvania and this is one of those that donald trump put together, a must-win of those states that have so long been held in democrats' hands. that's part of the thank you tour that he is doing. when you talk about john bolton, he has been a lightning rod in foreign policy circles for a number of years. bolton was part of the bush administration, a rarity at that time, back years ago. when we see the decisions being made by donald trump in foreign policy, we do see there are different camps inside the trump trans

tillerson. >> thank you for pointing out, it is bob gates, former defense secretary. bill gates is alarmed by some of the policies that donald trump right now. but let's talk about this argument we keep hearing as the head of a multinational corporation. donald trump has been talking about that, deal maker. that's what they do. they're in the business of making deals. money is the motivator. when we looked at the u.s.'s relations with russia, you would know this, it's much more complicated than it appears to be. we have strong relationships militarily in terms of being able to make sure we don't get in a war with each other. john kerry has been working closely with sergey lavrov. we've worked with them even though we're on opposite sides of it. what does this great relationship with russia that tillerson has bring to the table that we don't already have? >> well, i don't think the fact that he knows mr. putin and president putin has awarded him this great honor is either disqualifying or particular qualifying. what is clear is that mr. tillerson is a negotiator on the

by the way, do you think bob gates is doing more than advising?hat he might play a role? >> he's run out of jobs. the only job that would interest him i would think would be secretary of state. it's hard to think of someone who has even more experience with how government works or with a full set of issues that will face the president and those around him. >> thank you so much. again, the book is a world in disarray, richard haass. it could not be more timely. richard, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good to see you. >>> coming up, going rogue. join me next on "andrea mitchell reports." so, mr. harris, we have your fingerprints on the safe. a photo of you opening the safe. a post using the hashtag "#justrobbedthesafe" so, what are we supposed to think? switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance. excellent point. case dismissed. geico. because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance woo! because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer. just serve classy snacks and bew a graciou

there are reports that bob gates has spoke highly of him to donald trump, bob gates the former defense secretary and that condoleezza rice has as well. so those are some powerful backers. but there are concerns especially in the wake of this ongoing investigation by the obama administration into exactly what it was russia tried to do during our elections. >> okay. so jason, all of that's going on because there's maybe going to be a congressional hearing, who knows, but these four very powerful senators want one both democratic and republican. senator mitch mcconnell is supposed to make remarks at the top of the next hour. we suspect he will say, we don't need any congressional investigation. it's nothing new. there's no hard-core evidence, why waste our time? and then donald trump says he might nominate another -- yet another person with ties to russia. >> you know, carol, in a historical context, this is called -- this is how nations, you know, hand off the baton to the next great empire. because when you get domestic leaders who are more concerned with power than the actual sovereign

jeff flake said he was impressed by some of the endorsements including those by condoleezza rice, bob gates and others. >> and peter, going back to the possibility of rick perry leading the energy department. it's interesting, this is another selection potentially who has taken a strong stance against the agency they would head. do we know anymore about the thinking here? >> the bottom line is there's early criticism about this. hillary clinton's own vice presidential candidate tim kaine moments ago basically tweeting, tillerson for secretary of state, what's next? a climate change denier or epa or energy? of course, scott pruitt, who's now been selected as secretary of energy is a skeptic, it's safe to say, of climate change and a similar view on this. so he was mocking the selection there. rick perry clearly has been a person that despite calling donald trump a cancer on conservatism early in the campaign ultimately came around to be a surrogate for donald trump and when we repeatedly he hear, in the eyes of one's effectiveness is you have the ear of the president-elect and rick perry aft

interestingly enough on rex tillerson, he was supported by condoleezza rice, bob gates, jim baker, former secretary of state. so no matter what process he goes through, to get to an outcome, i think the appointments have been quite good. mr. goodman as i mentioned : earlier, you finished the year with a few initiatives we know of. we will try to talk about a couple of those, protecting kentucky coal miners, retirees, on health care. tell me how important that is. sen. mcconnell: a big issue, most important kentucky issue at the moment. we were able to get coal miners health care. this was a result of bankruptcies across coal country. you have a lot of retired coal miners were losing their health care is very month we're in. but for the effort i made to get extended to the end of april and then we will try to go for a permanent fix because these , folks deserve to be protected. their health care deserves to be protected. it is important, it is collateral damage from the decline of the coal industry, much of it attributable to the policies of barack obama, which i am hoping the new presiden

i don't know if bob gates would do it. eight presidents but he's the kind of guy that if your president calls, you really have no choice. but again, like we said before, imagine bob gates and jim mattis together. those two, that would be the strongest one-two combination. that's beyond -- we've said it before. that's as good as it gets. >> trump is convincing when he wants to be. >> so senator chris murphy, before we go, give us a sense of where we stand in terms of efforts toward a bipartisan bill on mental health. some success. >> some success in all of the dysfunction down here. last night the senate passed 94-5 the most comprehensive reform of mental health bills in a generation that i wrote with a consvative republican from the deepsouth. one of the big things it will do to change insurance laws to cor more mental health treatments. this was part of that bigger package that included $1 billion for opiate funding and others. hopefully a preview of the fact that notwithstanding whatever donald trump is saying on the nev

ran for president and as john roberts noted, he was actually recommended by condoleeza rice and bob gate two("t rqrs&y-resc servants. in the case of gates, one who served administrations of both parties. so, he does come highly recommended. on the other hand, he is going to get caught up in all this russia stuff. he did do really big deals in russia. developed a close business relationship with vladmir putin. was awarded russia's order of friendship in 2013. and this is going to get caught up in these allegations of russia's attempts to influence the election. we'll have to see where that goes. we do have some serious republican players in the senate, john mccain, lindsey graham, marco rubio, asking questions already about this nomination. martha: yeah. there you have it. their concerns, they're willing to give him a very fair hearing and they want to listen. we'll see. thank you very much, byron. >> thank you, martha. bill: martha there is bipartisan push for special investigation and upcoming hearings on that cia report that russia interfered with the election and tipped scales for mr.

i cannot imagine that bob gates or condi rice would be promoting a candidate that they thought was in the tank for vladimir putin or russia. i'm not -- you know, there's the expression, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer," i'm not saying putin is an enemy this is someone they know. >> gates said putin is a cold-blooded killer, that's his description. >> i spoke to a very senior former white house official who's very respected, who knows tillerson very well and he said to me today, i think he will be a great secretary of state and that he understands the difference between being the ceo of exxon and representing the united states of america. >> jeffrey, i interviewed rex tillerson before and actually was -- it was a broad-ranging interview on exxonmobil but also about some of the issues pof what the company at the time was doing on alternative investments, reading he was not a climate change denier, he was going ahead with that. the issue here, of course, is the lack of government experience. >> right. >> it's a positive in some, but is it a positive across a cabinet. >>

. >> he invites the pre-eminent nonpartisan public servant, bob gates, of our day. invites him to trump tower, says, i don't know who to make secretary of state. bob gates says, why don't you try tillerson. that tells me -- step away, a tremendous openness. i understand your concern and i think the press needs to be vigilant. i am so much more optimism because i think tillerson's election shows he is open to development. developers do. this i talked to bob corker about this. developers are focused and execute people. >> we'll pause there. >>> when we come back, some of the shining figures and ground makers in politics and culture that we lost this year. >> my intention is to box, to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. >>> as we celebrate this holiday season with friends and families, we also wanted to take a moment to remember those in the world of politics, media, and culture who we lost there year and who meant a lot to us and to you, our "meet the press" viewers. ♪ the last end game segm

i envision a commission that will have a bob gates who i will have on the show. you can picture how he would be heading a 9/11 type commission thing to oversee something like. this he would be seen as the fair operative. and obama defense secretary, fan at the same time has always been considered skeptical of russia. so he would be the right kind of person. look, we have a problem. the public is not believing our institutions whether it's us or the government institutions themselves. so there needs to be some more public investigation of this. this is serious. >> oh, yeah. >> it is mucking with our democracy. hard stop. doesn't matter who wins or loses, hard stop. >> now they're saying prove it. >> yeah. >> we're in a tough spot. >> it's a tough spot. you proveit the wrong way and people can die. there are agents, you know, we have agents that got us information. so that is a box, that's for sure. >> all right weechlt have intense conversation on "meet the press" coming up in 11 minutes or so. can you join chuck todd at 150:150 10. 306789. >> john glen made his f

it's important to add, though, that bob gates and con ledoleez rice are paid consultants for exxon. >>> we want to go to that press conference in oakland updating folks to the investigation in california that killed 36. >> for the district attorney's office investigation. although atf is no longer on the scene, we would like to let the families and friends of the victims know that our thoughts are with them. at this time i would like to turn the podium over to fire chief reed. >> good morning, everyone. i would like to start off by acknowledging the remarkable work that was done by oakland fire department personnel. their time on scene during those four days was very taxing physically and mentally. i just want to thank them personally for the contributions they have made in regards to this tragic incident. the work they performed was spectacular, because it was a very difficult event. i want to thank the atf for their participation and support throughout this incident. for providing us with investigators and specialized personnel from their fire research laboratory in maryland. curren

i think he views -- he and others in his camp and some of the folks who have beened advisg him, bob gateseezza rice, they believe that tillerson has had enough experience engaging with world leaders on the world stage in the private sector and can take that experience into, you know, the state department. but in terms of trump's inner circle, there were folks who wanted anybody but romney. they did not believe that romney possessed the loyalty to do that job. tillerson is not quite a rudy giuliani. he's not the sort of long-time loyalist, but he doesn't raise a lot of the red flags in terms of temperament, in terms of stamina, and other concerns that had kind of bubbled up over the course of the last few weeks within his inner circle. the never-romney folks and the romney folks look at tillerson as someone who can satisfy both camps. they have a lot of similar attributes in terms of being global business leaders. trump believes they have the stature. they can stand up in a room with vladimir putin and look eye to eye with those folks. that's very important to him. >> the biggest problem f

bob gates says try tillerson. that tells me, a tremendous openness to an argument. in the room. i understand your authentic concern, and i think the press needs to be vigilant but i am so much more optimistic than most people are because i believe that tillerson's selection shows us he is tremendously open to argument. developers do this. i talked to bob corker about this. developers are focus and execute people. >> all right. we will pause there. when we come back, some of the shining figures and ground breakers in politics and culture that we lost this year. >> my intention is to box to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. be free, be free ♪ ♪ 'cause there's a million things to be ♪ ♪ you know that there are ♪ and if you want to be me, be me ♪ ♪ and if you want to be you, be you ♪ ♪ 'cause there's a million things to do ♪ ♪ you know that there are ♪ >>> as we celebrate this holiday season with friends and families we want to take a moment to remember those in the world of politics me

former secretaries of state and former defense secretary bob gates. mr. trump will soon name former texas governor rick perry as secretary of energy. perry lacked the wattage of trump tower's other major visitors this afternoon. bill gates and nfl stars ray lewis and jim brown. >> couldn't have been a better meeting. graciousness, the intelligence, the reception we got was fantastic. >> and right now mr. trump is on his way to wisconsin for another stop on his thank you tour. guys, these stops have been fairly newsy so far. it remains possible we'll get another appointment tonight. >> all right. thank you. >>> the nypd says a teenager showed up at trump tower with a knife, some handcuff the, fireworks and a water pistol. didn't go so well. the 19-year around 6:30 last night at a security check point. he was due to be arraigned this afternoon. >>> more than four years of fierce fighting, the syrian government has retaken control of aleppo and all fighting has stopped. the deal has been worked out with rebel forces allowing this tome leave the city. along w

bob gates said i strongly endorse the president-elect's selection of rex tillerson to be the next secretary of state. another voice of support for tillerson is former vice president and former ceo of halliburton, dick cheney. he said tillerson for secretary of state is an inspired choice. i've known rex for many years, both as ceo of exxon and as a personal friend. i'm confidence he will do a superb onin dealing with the difficult and complex list. a member of foreign relations committee, thank god you're on that committee and what does dick cheney push? he is pushing a fellow oil guy, they've got their arms around tillerson already? what is going on? why does he have the love of cheney, the hawk? >> i hope he doesn't get a friendship award from dick cheney. that might be a problem. but i'm keeping an open mind on tillerson. i can't to know what his world view is more than what he has traveled or who he knows. i think it may be overblown. he has made deals in many, many countries. i don't know that this means he is skiing and fishing with putin. they got some award. let's hear a little bit

. >> he invites the pre-eminent nonpartisan public servant, bob gates, of our day., says, i don't know who to make secretary of state. bob gates says, why don't you try tillerson. that tells me, skip stepp -- st tremendous openness. i understand your concern and i think the press needs to be vigilantes. i am so much -- vigilant. i am so much more optimism because i think tillerson's election shows he is open to development. developers do. this i talked to bob corker about this. developers are focused and execute people. >> we'll pause there. >>> when we come back, some of the shining figures and ground makers in politics and culture that we lost this year. >> my intention is to box, to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. you can fly across town in minutes or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and

today, former secretaries of state condoleeza rice and james baker and former defense secretary bob gates. all three work for law firms who represent exxon. back at trump tower, the president-elect refusing to tis cuss any of it. the outspoken west, tight-lipped, as well. kanye, no comment? nothing to say? >> i just want to take a picture right now. >> reporter: and as they said their good-byes -- >> you take care of yourself. i'll see you soon. >> reporter: west later tweeting that he was there to, quote, discuss multicultural issues. >> and tom llamas with us live tonight. tom, we saw president-elect trump and kanye west in the lobby today, many still waiting iffer that press conference. in november, the president-elect declaring in a tweet, quote, i will be holding a major news conference in new york city with my children on december 15th to discuss the fact i will be leaving my great business to fully focus on running the country. what's the trump team telling you now? when will that happen, this press conference, and what's their explanation for the delay? >> reporter: well, david, i

. >> he invites the pre-eminen nonpartisan public servant, bob gates, of our day.ites him to trump tower, says, i don't know who to make secretary of state. bob gates says, why don't you try tillerson. that tells me -- step away, a tremendous openness. i understand your concern and i think the press needs to be vigilant. i am so much more optimism because i think tillerson's election shows he is open to development. developers do. this i talked to bob corker about this. developers are focused and execute people. >> we'll pause there. >>> when we come back, some of the shining figures and ground makers in politics and culture that we lost this year. >> my intention is to box, to win a clean fight. but in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. g new cars. you're smart. you already knew that. but it's also great for finding the perfect used car. you'll see what a fair price is, and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. now you're even smarter. this is truecar. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're i