let's talk to political reporter eugene scott.>> i did. you were working on this story over the weekend? >> i was. >> realistically, will he sort of get rid of all of the conflicts before he takes the oath of office or is it a work in progress? >> he intends to dissolve the foundation. the foundation is under investigation from the new york state attorney general's office concerned about irs violations. whether or not that will be handled before he can actually close the doors we mains to be seen. it is not likely. they want to wrap up the investigation. >> when the announcement happened over the weekend, it felt like a distraction. we are talking about the charitable foundation which has a legal obstacle to overcome before that can be shutdown. we haven't addressed or he hasn't addressed the business conflict of interests. that is the bigger conflict. >> it is. some democrats and republicans are hoping this is a step forward in that direction of conflicts of interest which is a constant criticism of his since being elected and du

i'd like to bring in eugene scott. eugene, so let's talk about this. is this a signal of donald trump departing from the geopolitical status quo, or could this be a mistake? >>> it's definitely a signal. one of trump's advisers on issued related to china seems to believe that it's possible to reach out to taiwan without alienating beijing. you saw that trump was defensive on twitter regarding how the u.s. government interacts with taiwan regarding trade. what will happen from this point forward seems to be an approach that will be different from how the u.s. government has responded to taiwan in the past. >> eugene, there has been the question, is donald trump, is his transition team working with government officials that have detailed explanations of how to interact with different countries. is that happening? i want to play a sound bite here. this is from kellyanne conway, with the trump transition team, speaking with anderson cooper about that very question. you get to hear her response on it. we can talk about this on the other side. >> there have

let's ask eugene scott. he joins us live from washington.rning, eugene. >> good morning. >> we watched donald trump cause an uproar on friday with the phone call with the president of taiwan and over the weekend tweeting about the call and tweeting about china's policies. the phone call flying in the face of u.s. policy where taiwan is not recognized as its own country and not recognized by the u.s. as its own country or recognized by china as its own country. listen to what mike pence said over the weekend. >> i think the conversation that happened over the weekend with the president of taiwan was a courtesy call. one of 50 calls president-elect has taken from and made to world leaders. president-elect trump takes a courtesy call from the democrat leader of taiwan gets this notoriety. >> what do you think, eugene? was it a rookie mistake or cal calculated move? >> it is still to be seen. it was not a surprise. especially supporters of his. he has been very vocal and critical of china related to trade policies since the early days of the cam

let's bring in eugene scott. i want to touch on the foundation because this is really in the news for a couple of days and what i think the trump team thought was an easy way to show he was separating himself from one area where there is a conflict of interest is turning into an issue with him. >> it has turned into an issue. it has been an issue for a while. as you know the foundation has been under investigation from the new york state attorney general's office for some months now. this story seems to continue on concerns of conflicts of interest regarding last week with trump's son eric's foundation. whether or not he will continue to be as concerned of conflict of interest as critics hope he will be remains to be seen. this is just a step they say in moving in a direction that removes himself from organizations and businesses and groups that could be problematic once he evnters the white house. >> eugene, is there any consensus on what this foundation was and was it actually a charity? are we certain it was a

to do so, let's bring in cnn politics reporter eugene scott live here on the set.you. >> thanks. >> let's talk about what we heard in michelle kosinski's reports. the president of the united states, the diplomacy he's used to reach agreements like the iran nuclear agreement to limit their capabilities. very different from the man set to replace him. let's talk about the president talk about that specific deal given that the fact that january 20th there will be a change. >> terrorists would love to see us walk away from the type of work that builds international coalitions and end conflicts and stops the spread of deadly weapons. it would make life easier for them. it would be a tragic mistake for us. >> so, the american people will soon see a big shift. and some people like the style of barack obama. maybe half the nation. the other half likes the style of donald trump and it will be a new direction. >> very much so. when i looked at that speech what i saw was the president defending attacks against him that argue he's not a strong president. his idea is that being

. >> i want to bring in eugene scott to talk about all this. eugene, if you were watching cnn overnight, this was an interesting back and forth. chuck jones, the union leader saying the numbers donald trump has said out loud don't add up. he is saving jobs, but not all the jobs he said he was. then donald trump responding and calling him out by name. yes, on twitter. it doesn't matter. when you have the president-elect, the man who will be president, calling out someone by name, has an impact. now chuck jones is getting death threats. >> now he needs to be mindful of where his kids are. the thing that is interesting is it is awesome to save 800 jobs before the holidays. if the number that was given to the media wasn't accurate, it was going to come out eventua y eventually. why not give us the correct number and take credit for that? >> it is one thing to go after a company. he went after boeing. to go after an individual, it feels a bit more personal. we did see robert rice talk about his thoughts about how donald trump is handling all the cri

let's bring in cnn politics reporter eugene scott. and you're here. >> good morning. >> you know what's interesting, we thought it was only trump that took to twitter for spats out in the open. no way, these folks really got into it and so publicly, too. >> that was actually one of my first thoughts as well. we often say that leadership starts at the top. and very much so i think his team has followed its approach in terms of handling very serious issues, be they domestic or international on social media. >> it's interesting to see the transparency because there is sort of this love/hate relationship between de blasio and trump but many say they're actually very much a like. de blasio obviously not a huge trump supporter here. and his funding was dramatically shut short than what they wanted. >> this is going to be expensive. repeatedly with melania and barron remaining in new york city during the first six months of the pregnancy. >> we got more back and forth between president obama and president-elect trump. and one example of that

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eugene scott live for us in new york and steven jong in beijing. thank you so much, gentlemen, for the reporting. >>> donald trump also spoke with another asian leader on friday. this time it was the president of the philippines, duterte. duterte has been you called the trump of the east and he has threatened to suffer ties with the united states. but after the call with trump, mr. duterte said this. saying trump says he's doing it the right way, keeping in mind that duterte has been criticized for extra judicial killings. human rights watch has called the war on drugs abusive and has resulted in the deaths of 5,000 filipinos since july. >>> this is "cnn newsroom.newsr" still ahead, days after the crash of the charter flight in colombia, the victims on one last journey back home to brazil. we take you there next. >>> plus, austria and italy are having crucial votes this weekend and the results could bring in a new political reality across europe. stay with us. , i got this. just gotta get the check. almost there. i can't reach it. if you have allig

let's bring back our political reporter eugene scott. let's start on the real transition, if you will, in the relationship with president obama and donald trump here. the very beginning, it looked like the white house is working with donald trump. now the influence of russian intelligence on the election. the president will speak at 2:15 this afternoon. you hear from donald trump in orlando today. push it forward for me. do you think we will hear more about two different world views of vladimir putin in the events later today? >> i think we will certainly. one reason is a lot of focus is whether or not russia was involved in hacking the 2016 election. as we previously reported, we have information that says russia continues to be involved in hacking in the united states. there is concern that this will not stop unless some stronger action is being taken. whether or not that action will be taken when trump heads to the white house is not clear. i think president obama wants to make it known to the american people this is something that de

joining us is cnn reporter eugene scott. let's talk about the terror attacks., kellyanne conway was on fox. and she talked about extreme vetting and that donald trump does have policies that will prevent these sorts of things from happening in the united states. listen. >> he has talked about combining with other allies to try to stop and the policies, everything is on the table in terms what that means. but also his extreme vetting program is very attractive to many americans because we simply don't have one now. we have countries that harbor and export terrorists, most notably islamic terrorists. and you remember, jenna, that isis said they would ming until with syrian refugees. they promise to do that. >> is it as simple as vetting? >> the refugees are buried here. years it takes to get in. >> the problems we have some europe, we don't really have those problems in the united states, right? >> that is very true. we've seen criticism of donald trump over the past few days that his response to terrorism issues globally seems to different 88 the fact that thing

for more on what was said, we're joined by cnn politics reporter eugene scott. good morning, eugene. here's part of what chamberlain said in her post. let's show you that. i have tried to tell myself that it will be all right and that i can continue in good conscience before god and man. i only know that i could never throw roses to hitler. and i certainly could never sing for him. this is coming after the rockettes had to deal with dissension in the ranks there. i wonder, is this a growing problem for trump? >> well, this certainly is another name and another member of an organization who is expected to perform at the inauguration who has had concerns with doing so. but the reality is that we haven't seen an overwhelming number of people from the rockettes and from the mormon tabernacle choir come out and express frustration with their company's decision. with that being said, we also have not seen a large number of groups sign on to participate in this event. >> well, donald trump says, of course, he wants his inaugural ceremony to be focused on the people. man

eugene scott, eugene colinson, appreciate your insight. thank you. >>> terror in turkey this morning. a deadly car bomb exploded next to a bus that was carrying soldiers. we'll tell you what we've learned thus far. >>> plus, china steals equipment from the u.s. navy, breaking international law. what the u.s. government is now demanding. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence. see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if yo

. >> let's talk about this with cnn reporter eugene scott and reporter for talking points, lauren foxeugene, let me start with you, phone call, protocol blunder or something more than that? >> well, i definitely think it's notable. this is something that we previously reported that is not common that hasn't happened in nearly 40 years but what will happen remains to be seen. i think we saw people from trump's team suggest they would like to see warmer relationships with taiwan during a trump administration. how they will go about that remains to be seen. they certainly believe that it's possible to do that without compromising the u.s.' relationship with china, specifically, beijing. but the details regarding how that will happen haven't been made available. >> lauren, trump senior adviser kellyanne conway was asked about the call on "anderson cooper 360." listen to what she said. >> it's a matter of the executive committee. it's a matter of the president-elect. the vice president-elect, other advice to the transition making suggestions. it was a great process to make sure there's ple

eugene scott, live in washington.hanks for your time. >> reporter: thank you. >>> ahead here, another deadly explosion hits turkey. this time targeting off-duty soldiers. we'll have that coming up. >>> plus, evacuations are halted in aleppo, syria. but there's word that there may be a new agreement on getting more civilians out. we'll have that story next. >>> a story we're following in turkey. turkish armed forces say 13 of its soldiers are dead after an explosion. reports say a car bomb detonated near a public bus that was transporting off-duty soldiers and civilians. >> 48 more soldiers are wounded, but we haven't heard any details about civilians. it was just a week ago there were two blasts in istanbul that left dozens of people dead. a splinter group of the pkk claimed those attacks. >>> we turn to syria now and east aleppo. a rebel group says they've reached a new agreement to resume evacuations from the city. convoys carrying people to safety came to a stop on friday because of a breach in the cease-fire. >> i

. >> we want to talk about this with our cnn politics reporter eugene scott and tom lobianco. i want to read you a little bit more of dr. stein's statement here. by demanding a $1 million bond from voters yesterday the court made it clear it has no interest in giving a fair hearing to these voters over the accuracy, security and fairness of an election tainted by suspicion. here's the thing, eugene. they want $1 million. she raised nearly 7 million in an online campaign specifically for a recount. is she not able to use that in this capacity? >> so many voters i don't think dr. stein has made it very clear regarding what it is that the money has been able to raise. significantly more than the amount she initially suggested. it will go to and why it is needed. to your point, it's not really clear why the money she has is not sufficient for doing what it is that she says she wants to do, which she's been a bit vague about. what she has been clear about is that leftover funds if there are any will go to support the green party. what that means isn't very clear, but she says she's

. >>> cnn's senior editor at the atlantic, paul brown and eugene scott, thank you. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> ron, wanted to ask you a very measured response from donald trump there to what michelle obama said about feeling like there is no hope. do you think she did not mean it the way that he's referring? >> no, i think she -- i think she did mean that the results of the election have dispirited kind of the coalition that was on the other side. this was an incredible gulp in this campaign. if you go back to the election day exit poll, something like 95% of trump voters said hillary clinton was not honest and 95% of clinton voters said trump was not qualified to be president, but one thing we have seen in this transition, even as we have seen i think some unprecedented levels of conflict between the incoming and outgoing administrations, particularly over the role of russia and the strains between the president-elect and white house press secretary last week, that the principles are taking the high road. there's no question that donald trump has gone

let's bring in cnn politics reporter eugene scott and politics reporter tom lobianco. trump says he doesn't feel strongly about prosecuting clinton anymore. we don't care about that now. people in the audience still care. >> absolutely. i mean this is -- you put -- maybe three or four things out there that defined his campaign. that's right up there with building the wall. one of those things where you kind of can't go back on it. so, the thing that i'm watching for at least is how will crowds start to react when they realize that, okay this is not on the table anymore. this really isn't? there's sort of a dynamic that we're still getting used to as political reporters, which is the words aren't always as literal in his -- when he's using them. but the -- in the crowds, and his supporters, they don't take them literally, they take him seriously. what will happen when it becomes serious to them that he's not going to go after her? it think that remains to be seen. >> eugene, is there any evidence that there will be any consequence for donald trump pulling away from that

let's talk about all this with politics reporter eugene scott. it almost feels like a real-life audition playing out before us. we know these four. we're watching. cameras staked out, we're watching who's coming in and out of trump tower. at this point, bob giuliani, haven't heard his name in a few days, but he is the most loyal of these candidates. what are you making of it? >> it's not completely clear where the administration is leaning. i wish it was, we would be able to say we know for sure it's going in this direction. >> david petraeus would need a pardon. >> yeah, get permission from his parole officer for his world travel. >> to me, that seems like that would be unnecessarily messy. hike y like you shouldn't have to go through that to have a secretary of state. >> senator mccain and others are saying he's the most qualified. >> it depends on what you think the qualifications r theare. there are people in the romney wing. >> but that's messy, too, for a totally different reason. >> newt gingrich is out there saying mitt romney is sucking

. >> let's pick up on that last point bringing in eugene scott live from washington via skype. rudy giuliani withdrawing his name from the list of possibilities. this goes along with chris christie and newt gingrich. these are people who have been loyal from the start and now seemingly left out in the cold. >> these are certainly people that wanted to be in the administration, but it appears they wanted very specific positions and if not that, perhaps nothing else. and some of them, at least giuliani are reporting says was not a finalist or at least a top finalist for the position that they wanted. but this does not mean that they will not have any influence. we have seen in past presidencies that sometimes some of the big withest advisers are the informal ones. >> what about trump also saying that as an executive producer on that show "apprentice," that he would keep that role. his campaign manager pointing out that he will do it in his spare time as he will have the full-time job of being the president of the united states. >> well, critics are suggesting that that displays,

let's bring back our panel, dana bash, mark preston and eugene scott.e, some of these comments, that the pakistanis insist donald trump made to the pakistan prime minister. given the history, first of all, the u.s./pakistani history. there's been tension in the past going back to when bin laden was found there and the pakistanis saying they knew nothing about it. the u.s. not so sure about all of that. >> it's hard to believe. >> any reaction we're getting yet from the trump transaction on the statement, the so-called transcript put out by the pakistani government? >> so they're referring us to a statement the trump transition put out about this call and another as well. which is very -- if this is the way statements are usually put out about calls, in diplo-speak, very vague where you can take really anything from it. the gist of it is they had a productive conversation about how the united states and pakistan will have a strong working relationship and he noted that he looks forward -- trump noted that he looks forward to a strong personal relationshi

let's bring in cnn's politics reporter eugene scott. eugene, it's not just that simple. down. there are others involved here. >> that is true, martin. as you mentioned earlier, the charity is currently under investigation from the new york state attorney general's office concerning some violations in the past regarding donations and the irs. whether or not he will be able to move forward in the direction he's hoping to as soon as possible is unclear. >> so, can the new york attorney general actually demand that he not do this? in other words do, they fear that, perhaps, the trump organization might be, i don't know, trying to hide something by shutting it down? >> whether or not the trump organization is trying to hide something or not, that won't stop the investigation from revealing what it is that it's hoping to find and get clarity on before everything comes to a close. the charity, from what we understand, cannot be officially closed until the investigation is complete, which is why the trump transition team said they intend to dissolve as opposed to immediately shu

let's continue the conversation with cnn politics reporter eugene scott. good morning, eugene. you look at the obama administration and its relationship specifically, president obama's relationship with prime minister netanyahu. it hasn't been good over the past eight years. and this is just kind of an end -- this is ending on an ugly note. the perception here is that president obama did pretty much make a parting shot. kind of giving netanyahu the finger on his way out the door. >> yes. based on what you just shared, this is not that big of a surprise. i think people would have liked to have seen things in more positively, those who are more sympathetic to conserve tiff movements in israel. but president barack obama has made it known, repeatedly, that he would prefer a two-state solution to what we have happening right now. and this is not a position that prime minister netanyahu has shared. >> you look at what the u.s. ambassador of the u.n. samantha power said after abstaining from the vote. listen to this. >> israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 up u

. >>> cue my panel of experts, eugene scott, and anna palmer, and our mark preston, cnn politics executivetor. okay. secretary of state. this is interesting, anna. jon huntsman is in the mix. makes you wonder if that's someone who might fill the role a mitt romney might fill. right? >> srnl mitt romney is this his nemesis. things are getting more interested, who is going to be secretary of state. he is certainly qualified, would be a statesman-like figure. interesting to see. just named, every day more people are being under consideration. >> what do we make of that? that there's more people and it's not being whittled -- seems he was going in one direction, seemed romney, then perhaps petraeus. what do you think? >> clearly, donald trump hasn't settled on who he wants to be the secretary of state, and what qualities he wants to see in one. he was very intrigued after that dinner with mitt romney a couple weeks ago, in a very public space where they had a discussion and got along, and the readout afterwards from my folk whose know of the meeting said that it went really, really well and ac

with eugene scott who never sleeps. always around to give us analysis here for our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. eugene, thank you. >> thank you. >>> let's take a quick look at some of the people trump wants in his cabinet. they've clued long time trump supporters, senator jeff sessions, steve manuchin and john kelly and james mattis to head hillary clinton and defense. the senate must approve all cabinet appoints. >> that's coming next. >> plus, if you're here in the united states, you better bundle up because it is cold outside. there's wind, there's snow. cold weather sweeping across most of the country. stay with us. we'll tell you about it. footbal this is the goal post. the end zone. the goal of every team. we know you have goals. like getting exposure for your idea or business. with godaddy website builder, you can easily create an awesome mobile-friendly, get you more exposure website. we call that...a website builder touchdown. get your free trial of website builder now. youthat's why you drink

also with us, cnn politics reporter eugene scott. gentlemen, happy thursday. let's get rolling with what sarah was just talking about in ohio state, where we haven't seen this consoler in chief role and we should point out next hour i'm talking to one of the professors who was hit who is choosing not to be part of this because he sees trump being in columbus a pr stunt. why do you think mr. trump is there? >> this is who many people in the campaign have told us who he is behind closed doors. we've seen him hold babies on the trail, say he loves talking to president obama. we've seen him just reach out to other communities. even i recall after the pulse massacre really coming out and saying that he wanted to look out for the lgbt community members something we don't hear a lot from our republican presidential candidates. many voters will have a hard time holding that intention with harmful rhetoric he said as well. >> we'll look for that message, words are important as he'll be in cluck bus neolumbus next hou. let me move to you. and the movement we have so far

cnn politics reporter eugene scott, political analyst and "usa today" claumist kirsten powers and maryhryn hamm, senior writer for "the federalist." mary katherine, the first lady painting a bleak picture here and yet it should be pointed out while no doubt she speaks for many people, hope, the hope that donald trump is going to be an average, good or great president has actually risen considerably since the election? >> she is speaking for the liberal half of my facebook feed who does not feel hope right now, but a whole other half of my friends who felt like they didn't have hope during the obama years and i think the, the language where -- the obamas pretend they have the market cornered on hope, i think is false. so the people in these counties where i used to live in north carolina for instance, who voted for democrats all the way through, obama twice and switched to trump, you have to answer the feelings of hopelessness from those people as well. >> that's the thing, kirsten. some people were very disappointed, felt he didn't deliver very much for their pocketbook at least and th

we are joined by eugene scott live in washington. great to have you with us.icer. sort of conflating the issues with conflicts of interest and trying to explain why we have yet to receive answers with the trump family and trump white house. >> conflicting of interest arise when you are sneaky about it and shady about it. if you tell everyone here is what's going on, here is the process and people playing a role. that is being transparent. >> you can have, to get at issue here, you can have transparency and conflicting of interest. there are issues with the division of the trump family and trump white house. questions up until now have not been answered. they were supposed to be answered today. supposed to be a news conference today on how trump would distance business from the white house. he cancelled or postponed that news conference. >> he certainly did. interesting point in the int interview is whether spicer argued trump being transparent. there are cameras in trump tower part of the business portfolio that voters know little about. what people that didn'

wanna summers, politics reporter eugene scott and dana bash. dana, not a lot of humility from president obama. not a lot of hue mimility from president-elect trump. >> well put. from neither. having said that, given the kind of reaction that donald trump usually has from a statement like he heard from president obama, his tweet was a little tempered. >> fairly restrained nchtd yes. i think even he got that the person who was -- who was kind of getting the back of barack obama's hand is hillary clinton, and not so much donald trump. so he was a little restrained. you know what? just for everybody's, never mind it's the holidays, just sort of as our nation tries to move on, probably it's better for the current president to stop the should have, would have, could have game, or at least wait until out of office for, i don't know, a day, a month or so. you ghknow what? he had a nice conversation with his friend. >> david axelrod. >> our colleague. when you have that comfort level, things like that come out. >> i have to say, eugene, president obama,