at the cia. >> so this is the 1980s. and why would you want to join the cia? like, how did that just because it was the reagan era and patriotism was part of it. >> that was part of it. i come from a family of public service. so there was this idea in my family of quiet patriotism. not to mention it sounded like it was a lot more interesting than what any of my friends were doing. >> the need for cia covert operations has been essential, both before and after the collapse of the soviet union, and with the soviet nuclear stockpile scattered, terrorists at the time were eager to get their hands on any nuclear weapons they could find. valerie plame was part of a clandestine group responsible for making sure that didn't happen. i mean, how would you describe yourself? what were you? i was undercover, an undercover cia officer. >> yes, i was what's called a case officer. i did operations, i was undercover. >> so when you're a spy. yeah, i just picture. i have all sorts of pictures of, like, you know, here you are in casablanca, you know, wearing a hijab and talking

the cia new it needed these women.get is that once information is collected overseas, it's got to be kept track of so the cia built this massive database that consisted of three by five cards for decades and they had women who were the keepers of these archives and building the ability to know who's important out there in the world and which spies for other intelligence agencies know each other and which scientists are meeting with other scientists abroad. the data gathering part is really important. and these skills would come into play with a group of women tracking osama bin laden. that, the ability to mine databases and to process information might not be as glamorous as james bond out on a ski slope spy work, but it is critically important. >> your books are my favorite kind of nonfiction books because they are full of so many like ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances, right? so you each built these stories around real people, these characters. how did you choose the people in your books that you kin

and there's a there's a statue of her there's a statue of her on cia at cia headquarters. now.tatue? yes. are any more questions? how? oh. oh, i got one more minute, grace. oh, my goodness. which question should i ask? so will quickly books were the nazis were afraid of books, right? they saw them as that's why they were burning them and, confiscating them. but they didn't really understand the power of them right. can you talk sense? right. the book festival i thought would be really great to talk about the role books played in world war two. oh, my goodness. i mean, how much time do you have a minute there's look sherman kent, the history professor i mentioned earlier, the fellow who could throw daggers better than a civil sicilian. he believed that scholars can find out 90% of what an intelligence agency to know. you just have to do the reading not even secret sources. you just have to do reading. and he proved this after the war. he got a bunch of yale professors to spend the summer reading public documents and finding out a bunch of military that caused a big scandal becau

and remember tom cotton's wife, former cia lawyer herself. so he's got some inside knowledge coming in as the as the potential incoming chair of the senate intelligence committee as well. >> yeah, that's a really good point. and we'll see if his influence works here. it sounds like right now it won't. but to be determined. jameel jaffer, shelby talcott, great to have you both here on set to discuss that. up next i have new reporting about amazon's role in trump's inauguration. about to hand him $1 million. what jeff bezos may want in return. we have the one and only kara swisher here to join us. >> welcome to times square that's not of my life. >> that was so embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max. >> transform your website into an immersive 3-d experience with infinite reality. you can tap the power of the spatial and social web, unlock valuable data, and take your brand to the next level. it's time for better shopping bolder entertainment, and bigger sports. i

i'm of the way, the cia would be really well we could talk without to the cia and by the way, we've not had a embassy damascus for more than ten years. ... we could do it little by little. you know, intersection perhaps. >> a little carrots and sticks. >> exactly correct. by the way, what is going on with the russians? will they come today or not? you know? the answer is we don't know. we really don't know. and oh, by the way is there as well. actually, they are there really early. what are we going to do and then all of the sudden our friends, the kurds, are there as well. boy, this is really complicated. >> in that equation you said we should talk to them. >> quietly. >> what about turkey? i was going to bring it up u.s. and turkey has had, how can i describe it, not the most favorite a bit of a sour relationship over the past many years to put it in the most diplomatic way. [laughter] >> my son is a foreign service operator he was there for one, two, three, four, five years. i went there two or three times a year because i wanted to get my grandkids, okay? and turkey is wonderful exc

and remember tom cotton's wife, former cia lawyer herself. got some inside knowledge coming in as the as the potential incoming chair of the senate intelligence committee as well. >> yeah, that's a really good point. and we'll see if his influence works here. it sounds like right now it won't. but to be determined. jameel jaffer, shelby talcott, great to have you both here on set to discuss that. up next i have new reporting about amazon's role in trump's inauguration, about to hand him $1 million. what jeff bezos may want in return. we have the one and only kara swisher here to join us. can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life has extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year's day on cnn. heartburn makes you queasy. get fast relief with new tums plus upset stomach and nausea. support and love. food bank. >> dum dum dum dum dum. >> this christmas, you're her. right. you're the boxer

with them, with the cia. we haven't had an embassy in damascus for more than 10 years. that is a real problem. >> should the us reopen it now? >> you have to decide but i think it would be interesting, and i thought we could do it little by little, intersection perhaps. >> carrots and sticks. >> exactly correct. by the way, what is going on with the russians there? okay? will they come? they wanted to today or not? you know? the answer is we don't know. we really don't know. by the way. ankara is there as well. they are there, really well. as our friends are there as well. boy. this is really complicated. >> in that equation, we should talk to them. and what about turkey? i was going to bring it up. us and turkey had, how can i describe it, not the most favorite sour relationship over the last few years in a diplomatic way. >> my son is a foreign service officer and he was there 412345 years. i went there to her 3 times a year and i wanted to get my grandkids, okay. for the government. >> don't i know. ..it.

there's a board in the cia who approves those things. so it is she has been out there with the fact that she has that experience, and it's something that she has been wanting for a long time. um, but she does have some, some views that republicans are already concerned about. >> so i think we should probably note, big picture, that this idea that the cia killed jfk is a conspiracy theory. i mean, let's just let's just straight up call it that. and it's not the only theory that rfk jr.. subscribes to. um, what is your sense of where he stands on the hill in terms of his confirmation hearing and the ways that senators may press him on the various beliefs that he has, including this one? >> he really is the last big controversial pick that will have their week on the hill next week when he'll actually have an opportunity to start talking to senators. there are certainly questions about some of the things he believes in, but what i've been hearing most consistently from republicans is not even some of his beliefs about, you know, fluoride in

cia connected pilots, weapons smugglers. this was a preexisting network, sort of an internationally underground political network that that sprung out of the cold war that the cia was putting into action in areas where they felt that it was called for or was necessary. and so all these pilots that willie and sal were meeting were legendary cia connected pilots. this was a preexisting smuggling universe that the cia had been a part of long before these cuban exiles came along. and some of the pilots had very fascinating characters in there, in and of themselves. can you maybe highlight one of them and tell us his story? well, there was one pilot named jack devoe who was a cia asset. he had done he'd been involved. he was a vietnam vet. as many of the pilots were. and he had been involved in previous operations with the cia. and he was invaluable. he was courageous, daring, had skills for doing things like flying below the radar so that he couldn't be detected and for los muchachos, he was an important cog in the machine. and

government, particularly the cia.this became a central aspect of why and how they were able to get away with it for so long. it was felt that they were above and beyond reproach, innocence a sense. and this is a great calling card for them in the criminal world, . host: absolutely, those passages and sections of your book really come through and shine the light on the crime, politics, the complexities of crime and international relations and the ability to capitalize on some form of at least pretend state -sponsorship for conducting their criminal activities. speaking of which, can you tell us how you did research for the book? u were able to get some incredible interews, including with key characters. tell us about that and how you were able to verify and crosscheck the information. guest: for me, the research, a lot of it started with a previous book i published called the corporation, a book about the cuban-american underworld revolving around the criminal record of -- revolving around bolita, which is the numbers.

>> there was one pilot named jack devoe who was a cia asset. he had done -- he was involved as a vietnam vet as many of the pilots were. and he had been involved in previous operations with the cia. and he was invaluable. he was courageous, daring, had skills for doing things like flying below the radar so he couldn't be detected. and four los muchchos, he was an important cog in the machine. and willie falcone in particular had a special reference for the pilots because he knew the pilots were so important to the operation of smuggling. so, jack devoe was a robust -- even though he wasn't cuban -- he was a robust member of this organization. he partied with them at this night club called the mutiny which was their special place for hanging out and celebrating the successes of their operation. the only problem was, jack devoe became addicted to what the cubans called [ speaking in a global language ], which is a cocaine paste. it is cocaine before it is transformed into the white powder. it is in a sticky paste form. it is smoked in a pipe. i g

government in the form of the cia. and this carried a tremendous amount of weight not only in south florida, but i would say in the criminal underworld. cubans who had this reputation of being connected to the movement were viewed by many as untouchable, that they were being protected by people in the u.s. government, particularly the cia, so this became a central aspect of why and how they were able to get away with it for so long. it was felt that they were above and beyond reproach in a sense and this was a great -- this was a great calling card for them in the criminal world. >> absolutely. those passages and sections in your book really come through and shine the light on the crime, politics, complexities, crime, international relations and the ability to capitalize on some form of at least pretend state sponsorship for conducting their criminal activities. speaking of which, can you tell us how you did research for the book? you were able to get some incredible interviews including with the characters. can you te

and mariah ellis fox kennedy is an author and former cia officer who's also expressed a belief of cia involvement in the assassination. the president-elect has already vowed support for uncovering exactly who and what motivated the tragic shooting in dallas over 60 years ago. i will establish a new independent. >> presidential commission on assassination attempts. >> they will be tasked with releasing all of the remaining documents pertaining to. >> the assassination of president john f kennedy. >> conspiracy theories have been swirling for decades since the assassination with many doubting that lee harvey oswald acted alone and americans remain eager for answers. polling shows a majority of americans do not believe oswald worked alone and nearly 40% believe someone within the federal government had something to do with it during his first term, former president trump promised a full release of the jfk files. millions of documents have been released but a few 1000 remain sealed due to appeals from the cia and fbi declassification could soon become more likely with trump's new picks fo

. >> but he embellished those tales, saying he worked with the cia, carrying out top secret missions in south america. but there was nothing stealth about his love for daphne. and within four months, jose and daphne were on their way to the altar. the pair honeymooned in north carolina, where they quickly snapped up a rustic mountain retreat. but the dream of a marriage to a secret agent turned furniture king was about to become a nightmare. just a few months later, jose drops a shocker, telling her he's dying from a rare condition called cjd, better known as mad cow disease. >> i started bawling because we'd only been married for a short time, and now i think he's dying and that i'm only going to have six more months with him. >> daphne says jose told her he contracted the disease while he was in the military, and had to eat monkey brains while on assignment in the jungle. you spoke with the doctor? >> yes, i did. >> and what did the doctor tell you? >> that he had cjd and he would answer any questions i had. we went to an mri clinic and he had an mri done of his brain. >> did he sh

but he was not in the cia. until he became cia director 1981. so people are saying what he was a lawyer what was he doing? no he really was wired. and he was working it. and he was israeli intelligence as as the shah was toppled. and i also want ask just giving your back around covering this story, i know you said you were employed for a couple of years because of the lawsuit, the conspiracy theorist label getting fired. but as sort of more time passed continued working on this. what were the implications of some of that blowback and how did some of that blowback evolve over time time? well, the dust settled i think i began to realize, you know, i sort of it took me forever to figure out who i, i was. and to be honest, i there were at least two types of disinformation. i think there was disinformation sent by israel to up in people's faces and discredit them and i think there were some some of the people, you know, there were three or four pilots who piloted jets and supposedly made these secret flights. and it was very hard to ferret out who wa

they both called the cia a rogue organization.senator frank church who headed a commission to investigate the cia in -- his point was to cia was involved in illegal and unethical activities and so they investigated that at the time. later on he came back and said i changed my opinion. presidents had unfiltered power. they could ask the cia to take action that they did not want to go to congress or the public with. so this was more about untethered presidential power. laura: how could they impact information gathering and relationships with sources and spies? john: yes the cia runs large technical operations and has spies around the world. foreign organizations and foreign partners we work with provide the bulk of the information this government gets. our friends in britain and around the world, partners we work with share information that is very sensitive for them. so they are going to have to ask themselves are we now working with a professional serious organization or working with an organization that is about partisan politics

s daughter in law for a major role in the cia. and one company trying to sell a small bottle of sake for more than half $1 million. why? because they're brewing it at the international space station cnn sports coverage of army versus navy is brought to you by the holiday buffet at golden corral. >> oh, man, this looks really delicious. >> i would just like to say yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum. >> what is happening? >> yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum. just make it stop now's the time to go back in time and shine a light on the family journey that led to you. >> learn when they said, i do. when they became heroes, how they ruled the school and what you got from your parents. the place is on mom's side and dad's side. detailed dna results, inspiring family history, memberships. now's the time to save at ancestry it's time, yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food every day. more dog people are deciding it's time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmers

s daughter in law, amaryllis fox kennedy, to be the cia deputy director. cnn's kristen holmes is with us now. so what's going on here? i mean, what are the qualifications well, she was a former cia official, but we don't know exactly what her tenure there looked like. >> now, she ran rfk's campaign. now, it's not that surprising that one of the loudest voices pushing for her is rfk jr.. her father in law, who has become quite a staple in trump's inner circle. someone who trump actually listens to, which we saw in that time. interview. he was very clear that rfk was a voice in his ear. now, the other part of this that has been so fascinating is the relationship that the kennedys have with the cia, particularly when it comes to rfk jr.. who has long said that he believes the cia was involved in the assassination of his uncle, president john f kennedy. donald trump also well on the campaign, said that he would release any remaining files that were under seal around the investigation on the assassination. so that's just an extra little added part of all of thi

in the meantime dan hoffman, former cia station chief in moscow and longtime cia agent. good to have you with us, dan. tell me a little bit about what goes through your mind as you think about potential actors in this situation. >> yeah, well, this is an attempted mass casualty terrorist attack. at least, that's what it looks like. i would be concerned about isis or al qaeda being responsible. it's not the first time that this has happened in germany. recall the attack in berlin in 2016 at the christmas market there. to date, that was the worst terrorist attack in germany, so these sorts of gatherings at this time of year, sadly, tragically, are opportunities for terrorists to do harm to innocent civilians. isis has demonstrated an external opera operations capability. they launched an attack at the city hall in moscow. we don't have us invite, fix, and finish counterterrorism ability we once had after all having left afghanistan in that very chaotic withdrawal in 2021, and as a result, al qaeda and isis and south asia and afghanistan and pakistan enjoy a lot of open fie

and mariah ellis fox kennedy is an author and former cia officer who's also expressed a belief of cia involvement in the assassination. the president-elect has already vowed support for uncovering exactly who and what motivated the tragic shooting in dallas over 60 years ago. i will establish a new independent. >> presidential commission on assassination attempts. >> they will be tasked with really say all of the remaining documents pertaining to. >> the assassination of president john f kennedy. >> conspiracy theories have been swirling for decades since the assassination with many doubting that lee harvey oswald acted alone and americans remain eager for answers. polling shows a majority of americans do not believe oswald worked alone and nearly 40% believe someone within the federal government had something to do with it during his first term, former president trump promised a full release of the jfk files. millions of documents have been released but a few 1000 remain sealed due to appeals from the cia and fbi declassification could soon become more likely with trump's new picks f

s daughter in law as the deputy director of the cia. tell us about that. >> yeah, there may be not one, but two kennedys in this second trump term. and that's because right now, amaryllis fox kennedy is rfk jr.. s daughter in law. she's married to his son, but she also ran his campaign earlier this year before he dropped out of the race and endorsed donald trump. and we are told that she is potentially going to be named as the deputy director of the cia. that is not a senate confirmed position. she is a former cia officer for several years, wolf, which is why her name has been under consideration for this. and i'm told that a lot of trump's allies, including his son, donald trump jr.. tucker carlson and others are advocating on her behalf. of course, robert f kennedy jr., as well, is also advocating for her to be in this role. there is one notable pushback, though, wolf. senator tom cotton, i'm told, has become a strong voice urging donald trump not to put her in that position. he has several issues with her that he has raised from a bo

led the cia. that is the kind of level of experience and management you need to have. when you put all of that together, i'll just close with two words -- nuclear codes. this is a job that goes beyond the range of anything else in the cabinet in its power and its impact, the number of people, the complexity, and the need to model appropriate behavior. >> richard, you're well acquainted with the federal government with the pentagon. give us your sense as to hegseth's qualifications for this job but also consider all of the allegations that are being put forth here, how would this be perceived by the rest of the world were hegseth to get this job? >> well, look. he is unqualified for this. the one thung in ing he served military and that is significant but from the character issues to the lack of management issues and experience and so forth is disqualifying. this is not a close call. the rest of the world, particularly our allies who depend on us, they see this. this is the sort of thing that is un

i would say a cia thing. i mean, like, for example, the current greek ambassador was rejected when he was nominated to be ambassador of norway because he actually had never been to norway and didn't even know system of government there. under president obama. a previous french ambassador was former ceo of the muppets. these things are political jobs and usually political appointees. they usually go to friends of the president or fundraisers of it. i can't really get that outrage about ambassadorships going to family members or close friends. >> the u.s. government is becoming a trump family business. but, you know, do we really are we really that surprised that this is something that he's doing? i mean, we knew that this was something that he wanted to do, that this is sort of his m.o., that this is kind of something that he didn't necessarily campaign on it, but this is who he is. and so i think moving forward, this is going to be an indication that he's not there to really appoint the best people for the jo

she did a short tenure, cup of coffee at the cia, then wrote a book about her tenure at the cia, violatingules about running the book through prepublication review, and when they confronted her about publishing secrets, what the heck, she said it's all fiction, i made it up. not someone who should be at a high level at an intelligence agency. >> frank figliuzzi, thank you very much. >>> breaking news on donald trump's legal battle. abc news and anchor george stephanopoulos have agreed to an apologize and donation to trump's presidential library. he said in an interview that a jury found trump quote liable for rape. in a lawsuit brought by carroll. they actually found him liable for sexual abuse. they must pay his lawyer's legal fees. the settlement allows both of them not to sit for depositions scheduled next week. >>> trump backs away from a campaign promise he made repeatedly, bringing down grocery prices. i'll discuss with ruth and another guest after the break. >>> social media praise and polarized reaction to the murder of a health care executive. a jet-packed hour on "the saturday sh

his coauthor is john cipher, retired top level cia operator who ran cia operations in russia.th us. it's a very impactful piece. general haden and you so ghly. you say it could jeopardize not only our relations with foreign partners, particularly the five partners, but also risk washington's vulnerability, our vulnerable human spy network. talk to me about that. >> yeah, well, i mean, a lot of the intelligence that the u.s. intelligent community gets is from working with foreign partners, not just allies. we work with foreign partners around the world to give us insights into what's happening in their countries so we can help protect the american citizens with. frankly there's going to be concern if the people they work with are not trained professionals that are just looking out for the health and national security but also, you know, partisans in working for one political party or the other. in fact, you know, we recruit sources around the world who are frustrated with their own governments cronyism and corruption and those types of things. if ms. gabbard or mr. rat cliff at

in the 1970's senator frank church called the cia a rogue elephant, enters point wise of the cia was unethical activities for the 1950's and 1960's, so they investigated that. later on he came back and said i changed my opinion on this. it was that presidents had unfiltered power. presidents could add to the cia to take action that they did not want to go to congress with or the public with, so this was more about untethered presidential power. correspondent: how could i director gabbard or director patel affect relationships with sources and spies? >> that is a good point. the cia runs intelligence operations all around the world. foreign organizations and foreign partners provide the bulk of the information that this government gets. our fans in britain, around the world share information that is very sensitive for them, so they are going to have to ask themselves are we now working with the professional, serious organization or any organization about partisan politics and cronyism and corruption? i worry some of the people who give us important information will hesitate to do that

i am the daughter of a cia officer. he was a life long cold war officer, and so i grew up in a house of from a very early i learned that, you know, how to keep a secret, basically, i knew that my father did something that a secret. we talk about what it was. i was ten years old. i of got up the gumption to ask my dad what. his job was, i don't know why i did, but i suspected there's something funny there. and so i asked him what his job was and he he told me he was in the army and i thought, okay, i can get behind that. that's. i was proud. was a soldier protecting america and i kind of i had never seen him in a uniform. but i put all that away. i put all that away. but then just, you know, a number of months later, overheard him talking to someone on the telephone saying, oh, yeah, i'm with the state. and i thought wait a minute, it's nothing had changed in our family. we hadn't moved. no announcements. you know, the same school, same friends. nothing had changed. his job had changed. and i really from that moment on,

the cia does have apparently i'm not giving thing out of the bag here.ther countries drones and devices that can find things in censored nuclear material or telecommunications that they were doing that why wouldn't they just say so say we are doing a test of some things there but were not going to tell you what it is but don't worry about it folks. >> first of all i would be shocked if this were that cia. it's not their mandate operating in the united states is extremely restrictive. so i thre throw that for your consideration. in terms of why the federal government would not be more forthcoming i don't know. if you listen to some of the statements coming out of members on the hill, they said look, a democrat from new jersey said something along the lines of i was just briefed on this behind closed doors and now i am more concerned. i read that is more concerned the federal government is not sharing whatever it is they know. but those decisions about when to go public versus when to keep things quiet are often decided based on what is going to reveal sou

s daughter-in-law for a spot at the cia. i think it is deputy director. this is interesting, because one of the things he wants her to do is to look into whether the cia or fbi played a role in the assassination of president kennedy. is this the proper use of government resources? >> boy, you don't have to really name of relative to be deputy director of the cia in order to try to get a freedom of information act request with a file back. at least, when i was a new agent in training at the academy, we got a presentation on the entire investigation of jfk's assassination. there is no evidence, zero evidence that they were involved in assassinating jfk. more importantly, though, we need to look at the qualifications of this woman, because she did a short tenure, a cup of coffee at the cia, then she brought a book about her tenure at the cia, violating all the rules about running the book through prepublication review with the agency first, and when they confronted her on it, you publish a book with secrets, what the heck? she said, it's all fiction. i made