saying, donald trump can fire the head of the gsa, hire a new head of gsa if they make a determinationesn't like. >> what happens, because we also see the conflicts of interest seem endless, that we're hearing about. donald trump jr., turns out, was actively involved in interviews candidates for the interior position. heard other instances of eric and ivanka being in conversations either with foreign leaders or involved in transition stuff. when does this come to a head? is it something we might see in the courts, do you think? >> potentially, but you know, the trump transition was supposed to get out in front of this, this week. supposed to have a press conference. that's been delayed. so it sounds like they're going to let this play out until right up to the inauguration. and that gives people very little time to really run through exactly what they're doing, right before he takes office, and then is, you know -- the president, and is krooverseg all of these agencies and his businesses. they're letting it play out for a while. there is going to be -- congress will be critical, in che

administrator asking how the gsa was going to address the issue, writing, mr.mp will be in breach of the lease agreement the moment he take office unless he fully divests himself of all interest in the lease for the hotel. a lease that says no elected official may benefit from it. however, in statement, the gsa says it does not have a position that the lease provision requires the president-elect to divest of his financial interest. in a word, they want to wait to see what mr. trump will do with his businesses. the foreign businessmen and dignitaries, who have already shown interest in staying there >> this isn't a new issue, of course, when the framer wrote the constitution, when they enacted the constitution back in 1789 they enacted a provides in article 1 section 9. which prohibits -- which prohibits any type of benefit flowing from a to foreign government to government officials. >> reporter: if donald trump doesn't divest himself of this property by january 20th when he becomes president by law, he cannot be sued. so it may then be up to the general ser w

what is much more shocking, the gsa doesn't appear to have thought about it whatsoever. even the gsa inspector general's office appears to have had their head in the sand and ignored the train wreck coming down the tracks. >> briefly, when he says in mid december he will step away from actively running them but still have the financial stake and benefits, is that good enough? >> no. it doesn't solve any problems whatsoever. if he hands over operations to his children, first his children are on the transition team. they're engaging with foreign dignitaries and members of congress. they have the exact same conflicts he has. that's first. second the reality is he will continue to benefit because the lease makes clear that he is still the primary benefactor of the contract. each year the trump organization is required to make a massive complicated financial disclosure to the gsa then some poor gsa employee is supposed to negotiate with the president's children. >> it's a massive conflict. experts like you might be in increasing demand. we hope to see you again. >> thanks so

we need gsa to do the right thing. >> professor schooner, your class sounds fascinating.uch for sharing some of your insight here. we really appreciate it. >>> let's get to the news. >>> a victory lap for donald trump. >> this is a great first win without us even taking the job. >> you have never seen serious adults suck up at the rate that mitt romney is sucking up. >> donald trump promised that he was not going to have a government that was going to work for wall street. >> the president-elect announcing he will leave his business completely. >> his children talking about deals. he's talking about government. that's a problem. >> said that there were flames across the street from our house and she didn't know what to do. just hoping for a miracle. >> the raging wild fires in eastern tennessee have now claimed seven lives. >> right now search and rescue is our main -- >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >>> good morning. chris is off, john berman joins me. >> what could possibly go wrong. >> well we do have an hour left. up first, president-elect d

administrator asking how the gsa was going to address the issue, writing, mr. trump will be in breach of the lease agreement the moment he take office unless he fully di vests himself of all financial interest in the lease for the hotel. a lease that says no elected official may benefit from it. however, in a statement the gsa says it does not have a position that the lease provision requires the president-elect to divest of his financial interests. in a word, they want to wait to see what mr. trump will do with his businesses and there's more. the foreign businessman and dignitaries have already shown interest in staying there. >> this isn't a new issue. when the framers wrote the constitution, when they enacted the constitution in 1789, they enact add provision of the constitution in article 1 section 9. which prohibits prohibits any type of benefit flowing from a foreign government to government official. >> reporter: if donald trump doesn't divest himself of this property by january 20th when he becomes president by law, he cannot be sued. so it may then be

administrator asking how the gsa was going to address the issue. >> writing, "mr. trump will number breach of lease agreement the moment he takes office unless he fully die investigates himself of all financial interests in the lease of the hotel, a lease that says no elected official may benefit from it. however, in a statement the gsa says it does not have a position that the lease provision requires the president-elect tob divest of his financial interests. in a word, they want to wait to see what mr. trump will do with his businesses and there's more. the foreign businessman and interest in staying there. >> this is not a new issue of course. when the framers wrote the constitution and enacted the constitution in 1979 they enacted provision of constitution article 1 section 9 called mollyment s clause which prohibits any time of benefit flowing from foreign government to government officials. >> if donald trump doesn't divest himself of this property by january 20 when becoming president by law, he cannot be sued. so it may then be up to general services admini

and one of the most heavily bid projects ever in the history of gsa. >> reporter: the gsa may have to breach the contract making it liable to damages by the president. president trump or his family could end up suing the gsa which the president oversees if the lease is violated. >> he already has another place on pennsylvania avenue they ought to be looking after for the next four years and that hotel ought to belong to someone else. >> reporter: the top priority is the immediate transfer of management and portfolio of businesses to donald jr., ivanka and eric trump. without offering specifics, the spokeswoman said trump will comply with all applicable rules and regulations. the ethics lawyer i spoke with today for that story had a couple of scenarios that he suggested. he said donald trump needs to get rid of his business. don't sell it to his children, get it out of the family and congress can make a resolution aimed directly at donald trump insisting he divest and get rid of his business. if he refuses to do so he has to provide proof he is not violating any of the clauses in that

administrator asking how the gsa was going to address the issue writing, mr.reement and the moment he takes office unless he fully die investigates himself of all financial interests in the lease for the hotel. and a lease that says no elected officials may benefit from it however in a statement the gsa says it does not have a position that the lease provision requires the president-elect to divest of financial interests. in a word, they want to wait to see what mr. trump will do with his businesses and there's more the foreign businessmen and dignitary who's alreadyed have shown interest in staying there. >> this is not a new issue of course. when the framers wrote the constitution and enacted the constitution in 179 they enacted provision of constitution article 1 section 9 called a mollyment clause which prohibits any time of benefit flowing government to government officials. >> and did not invest property when he becomes president for law who will not be sued and may then be up to the general services administration which would then be under the oversight

administrator asking how theow gsa was going to address the t issue writing, mr.f the leasef th agreement, the moment he takeset office unless he fully divests himself of all financial financ interests in the lease for the hotel.te a lease that says no electedlect official may benefit from it. however, in a statement, the gsa says it does not have a position that the lease provision requires thes the president-elect to divest ofive his financial interests. in a word, they wantia tl io waw to see what mr. trump will dol d with his businesses andiness a there's the foreign businessmen and dignitaries who have alreadye ay shown interest in stayingstay there. >> this isn't a new issue of o course when the framers wrote w the constitution when they enactd the constitution in 1789 which pro prohibits anyhiba type of benefit flowing from a foreign government to government officials. >> reporter: if donald trumpgo doesn'vernter:t did i vest himsf this property by january 20anua0 when he becomes president byresb law he cannot be sued so itsuedt may then be up to the genera

jazz this week four house thi democrats sent this letter to thes s sent gsa administrator ai the gsa was going to address the issue writing mr. trump will be in breach of the lease agreement. the moment he takes office unless he fully divests himself of all financial interests intee the lease for the hotel, a lease that says no elected however, in a statement, the gss says it doesn't have a position that the lease provision requires the president elect to divest of his financiall interests. in a word, they want to wait to see what mr. trump will do witho his businesses. and there's more, the foreign businessmen and dignitaries whoo have already shown interest inin staying there. this isn't a new issue ofissu course. when the framers wrote the constitution, when they enacted the constitution back in 1789 they enacted a provision of the constitution and article i, section 9 called auntilments claused which prohibits any typy of benefit flowing from a foreign government to government officials. if donald trump doesn't diverse himself of this property byprop january 20 when he becomes pr

the gsa does run the government's property and own them and manage them. this is a first sign of that kind of problem we'll have. >> ali velshi, thank you very much. a lot of questions concerned over trump's pick of tillerson of department of state and the exxon's ceo. we'll ask senator ben carten. we'll talk to him and later we'll take you live to aleppo and collapsing and levering faiths thousands in the air and new video from the front line is staggering. today's microsoft pulse question, it is about president obama. he has viewed repeatedly not top send troops into syria, but civilians in aleppo are now being slaughtered. should the u.s. step in? let us know what you think on www.pulse.msnbc.com. literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. december 14th, 2015. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ >>> welcome back everybody, live inside trump tower right now as we ta

the head of the gsa approves and negotiates the lease. donald trump as president will now be appointing the head of the gsa who in turn will have to negotiate a lease with the trump organization. that's clearly a conflict. there's another, and potentially more serious in terms of u.s. policy. right now the department of justice is in talks to file a settlement against deutsche bank for a number of bad practices to the tune of billions of dollars. deutsche bank holds over $2 billion of loans by donald trump. so it's a little concerning that -- >> is it your view that because his name remains on the business, even though it may be run by his daughter or his sons, that there is still some influence, and interest that donald trump would have in the successes of these -- >> correct. there's clear influence and interest, personal interest that he would have. and also unlike all of the previous president business, democrats and republicans, who have put their holdings into a blind trust, this by definition cannot be a blind trust. he knows that

early this morning democrats on capitol hill publicized a letter in which they said the gsa had toldreach of the lease agreement on that hotel at the moment he takes office on january 20th, 2017, unless he fully divests himself of all financial interests in the lease for the washington d.c. deal." now, the gsa itself has put out its own statement separate from the democrats on capitol hill taking issue, it would appear, with what the democrats said earlier. their statement says gsa does not have a position that the lease requires the president-elect to divest its financial interests. we can make no definitive statement about what would constitute a breach of the agreement and to do so now would be premature. in fact, no determination regarding the old post office can be completed until the full circumstances surrounding the president-elect's business arrangements have been finalized and he assumes office. scott, the mystery here continues about whether or not donald trump will continue to be allowed to own that hotel on pennsylvania avenue. obviously, a prime piece of real estate, bu

take gsa. does it really present a huge conflict of interest if there are heads on beds who pay $300 a night and that for a guy worth $10 billion will change a decision? no. it might influence the people who run the general services administration that holds the lease to think is my boss the president going to differ if i do something. you have to have ethical lines. you have to get it right. it's going to take time. i love the fact there are private sector people in government. it is healthy, it's a change from career politicians and lawyers. >> what are you hearing within the transition, how seriously they take kind of the tangled web they are up against right now about conflict of interest on several different levels? >> i think the indication on the one hand, we would like to know sooner rather than later what donald trump is going to do but on the other hand the fact they pushed this press conference to january is an indication they have realized this is maybe more serious, more complicate

come the 20th, donald trump will be able to hire or fire the head of the gsa without senate confirmationthat ethics experts are raising questions about. there's a provision that allows the trump organization to renegotiate rent increases annually. that would mean the trump children could be negotiating with gsa employees who answer to a boss hand-picked by their father. cristina, thank you. >>> let's bring in mr. painter. thank you so much for joining me. the president-elect says he's about to hand over his business toss his children while signing legal documents he says will separate him from his business empire, but you say that's not good enough. why not? >>> he has to part with oral businesses, not just hand manage over to his children. if he gives the businesses to his children there would be gift taste issues, i don't think he wants to pay a lot of taxes. he needs to come many with a solution here. you and this issue with the general services administration, that's only one of them. there are many, many different problems that he's going to confront if he does not dispose of the ow

it is true that he is currently in breach of his contract with the gsa at the trump hotel here in d.c. because the minute he became an elected official, the government owns that contract some leases it to him -- leases the hotel space to him. so that its why there's pressure for the gsa to break the contract and they're not interested because he could fire them. that's an awkward political situation, for those in the executive branch and congress, yes, would be the body, the last line of defense to go -- if there was any violation, and impeachable offends under the clause they we be responsible for prosecuting that and responsible for the oversight of those relationships if conflict is not eliminated. that's a lot of them, i don't doesn't on donald trump to make the separation. doesn't sound like he is interest or sees the gravity of the conflict. it's going to be on the shoulders of congressional republicans. >> fascinating to cover. >> yes. >> amy stoddard from way clear politics.com. >>> president-elect has a lot of issues to tackle when he takes office. he said he wants to fix imm

so they're taking a much more careful approach, and it's clear there are ongoing discussions between gsa donald trump to reach a deal before january 20th. >> thank you for that report. >>> take a look at this. the dow moves closer to breaking a big barrier today. will it hit 20,000? just shy right now. an update when we come back. hi, juice universe? one large rutabaga, with eggplant... done! that's not fair. glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage, even liver cancer

trump contracted with the gsa to redevelop the old post office building as a luxury hotel but there's a provision in the contract that reads, "no elected official can be part of the lease." >>> inauguration day is just over a month away now, and washington is once again getting ready for its closeup. there was a big briefing today er it would control the influx of visitors to the national mall. tom sherwood was there. >> reporter: inaugural day here is going to be crowded. it's going to be hard to get around. so if you're coming to praise the new president, or protest, everyone agrees on this, pack your patience. today, military leaders used a 60 foot by 40 foot map to show how nearly 15,000 military personnel will participate in inaugural day ceremonies and crowd control. about 800,000 people are expected january 20th along with an unknown number of protesters. one thing you can't control, the weather. >> so far, i put the chaplain on this task and he has guaranteed us a beautiful 40 degree clear, very nice day. >> reporter: whatever the weather, the military says it will be ready to

the gsa said it does not have a position requiring trump to back out of the deal. >> it's imperative to our democracy. >> reporter: a few folks here did tell me they see no issue with all of this. still waiting on a statement from the trump organization. activists will be coming here tomorrow and plan to deliver a 400,000 signature petition against what they perceive as donald trump's conflicts of interest. pete monteen, wusa 9. >> pete, thank you a lot for that. the president elect said he plan to have don, junior and eric run his businesses. he said no new deals will be done during his time in office. president-elect donald trump held a summit with tech giants at trump tower in new york in the meantime. trump is trying to find some common ground and smooth things over with the tech leaders after attacking some of them during the campaign. among them, amazon's washington post owner jeff besos. trump's son-in-law and adviser played a key role in organizing today's meeting. >>> back here in washington a 40 by 60 foot map of the city was unveiled today by the folks planning the inaugur

the landlord is the gsa.orbids any person -- >> the general services administration. >> -- employed by the government from receiving, from being the other side of the contract. so he now is both the landlord and the renter of this property. under most circumstances, the gs else. >> michael, appreciate you being on again. jan, thanks so much for being with us. >> you bet. >>> coming up, president-elect trump and the generals. he's picked three retired top brass to join his cabinet and play key roles in his national security team. we'll take a look at who they are and what it may mean about u.s. foreign policy, moving forward. ♪ for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if lef

the landlord is the gsa. the gsa forbids any person -- >> the general services administration. >> -- employed by the government from receiving, from being the other side of the contract. so he now is both the landlord and the renter of this property. under most circumstances, the gs a would have to go splals. >> michael, appreciate you being on again. jan, thanks so much for being with us. >> you bet. >>> coming up, president-elect trump and the generals. he's picked three retired top brass to join his cabinet and play key roles in his national security team. we'll take a look at who they are and what it may mean about u.s. foreign policy, moving forward. what if a company that didn't make cars made plastics that make them lighter? the lubricants that improved fuel economy. even technology to make engines more efficient. what company does all this? exxonmobil, that's who. we're working on all these things to make cars better and use less fuel. helping you save money and reduce emissions. and you thought we ju

gsa need to have an official plan. they can figure it out. >> there's a lot.troversial tweet, it's getting a lot of attention, >> it reads in that case i would like to be the secretary of white men, in response to trump selection of rick perry to lead the department of energy, tom fitzgerald is on this one and a lot of people are buzzing about this one. this is a person who sent this tweet out that had this not happened nobody would know who she is. >> no, nobody would know who she is, she's a spokesperson for the dc public schools, communications director. you guys tweet. how carefully do you scan back over your tweets before you send something out >> i try to >> i've had a couple of slip-ups. you get very close and intentional with what you send. >> if you're in any pig of public notoriety, you have to be careful about the things you say and tweet especially if you have something on your own twitter account that says my views are not those of the dc ps. here'swhat happened. her name is hillary tone, she's the spokesperson for the dc ps, and apparently hillar

daughter and on the lease that the general services administration over sea and primary contact for the gsathe democrats say the conflict of interest are obvious. >> when you deal with someone with massive real estate holdings. they are not simple transactions and selling major properties or buildings takes time. and the next white house chief of staff said they are working hard on the issue. >> the trump brand and product and hotel and golf course was not something that was real and was going to be cut off instantly right after the election. this is not easy stuff. what president-elect trump is doing with lawyer and people involved, making sure that all government ethics are followed. >> reporter: part of why mr. trump was elected because he is extremely successful. there is a new's conference to give his team more time to work this issue. jenna. >> mike, thank you. >>> the president-elect is facing dozens of open lawsuits against one filed against celebrity chef. the guy on the right is taking a page out of the guy on the left's lawsuit. what he just did and will it work and our legal pan

hotel as soon as he is sworn in as president unless he gives up the stake, but the gsa saying they will announces business plans. the jury will soon get the case against dylann roof who was charged with carrying out last year's massacre at a black church in south carolina. rest are their tas without cowling a single witness. polly shepherd allowed to live because she could tell them what happened. comedian bill cosby in a pennsylvania courtroom for the second day of a pretrial hearing. they are trying to get the judge to allow 13 other women to testify at the upcoming trial. they deny all of the ak occasions against him. bitter cold wlsh in the upper half of the country. 20 to 30 degrees below normal. it will spread across the northeast the next few days and flags are flying at half-staff in connecticut because of the massacre at sandy hook elementary school. they are holding a moment of silence remembering the 20 children and six teachers shot and killed before the gunman took his own life. tributes are pouring in for actor and television host, musician and cultural icon alan thicke wh

quick definition here, you said, the 18 f office and gsa, what's that? >> it's an office, because the general service administration is located at 18th and f street. so they basically build really cool stuff for the government to harness technology and put information out and i think it's really cool what they do there. it goes unnoticed by a lot of people. that investment in technology is something i would love to see continue. you talked about jeff sessions, when someone asked me what the new president will be for foya, i said, i don't know that he cares. when i saw his attorney general, his attorney general pick was, i got really scared. press friendly piece of legislation got through congress. >> there are quite a few members of congress on both sides of the aisle, foya truly is -- a bipartisan effort when it gets right down to it. charles grassly is a big proponent of transparency, he uses those transparency laws himself and when he's -- he's chairing a committee, like judiciary, he can push those things. pat lahey, always been a big supporter. darr

every president-elect gets a transition office in the gsa building.ur president-elect has office space in d.c. you and i are paying for it. but he's not really using it. from his house, from his apartment building in midtown manhattan but particularly for people trying to cover the presidential transition, that has posed some challenges. i want you to watch this tape. this is reporters trying to cover some protesters who had just come to the president-elect's transition offices to plead their case. watch. >> hi, do you want to come talk to us? >> so we are here -- >> hold on. this is the microphone. hold on. everybody get -- >> one second. >> there you go. >> so we are here to deliver over -- >> the mike, sir. >> over 400,000 signatures. >> it's about -- >> you won't let them talk? >> nope. >> if you're trying to cover the goings on of the highest profile public office in the world, let alone this country, when the hub of all of that activity happens not at taxpayer funded offices but in public, instead, inside the incoming president's house, it turns

look at something like the 18 f office and gsa. which is basically a technology think tank to do a lot of great things. that was a real positive, okay. and i don't know if it's going well, i don't know if it's staying. you mentioned the office of government offices which is an overseer of foia. to the justice department. what will their future independence be? which created a metric for our participation and our ability to lead on the world stage as a -- as a country committed to transparency. and all of these things were created in the last year, eight years, and they were great, i don't know if you'll see extensions of them or improvements on them over the next -- or other areas that are similar. and what i've heard about all of those things and seen about all of those things that makes me worry for them. i'm not saying they're going away. if every belief that they will still be in exist tans and i want them to be because they have created a culture within government that i know people can't quantify, can't see, but people have t

the trump team has not yet had any communication with the gsa about that hotel.t raises serious questions about how he plans to proceed. they are calling this an imminent breach that will take place on january 20th. the primary point of contact has been ivanka trump. >> these are real estate properties. they're not -- you can't turn on a dime. i thought andrew ross sorkin had a great idea. a little interim. you can't just -- these aren't stocks. you can't say, could you buy that for me? these are very complicated properties. it's an interesting ruling. there's a lot of rear guard action happening. >> problems for shippers but maybe good news for retail. online shopping and shipping is booming. look at trump tower this morning. we are awaiting the arrival of tim cook and more as the biggest names in tech meeting with trump continues. come on! why doesn't verizon offer unlimited data like t-mobile? is it because their lte network was built six years ago? six years ago? that's like a hundred... in phone years! their lte network is older, slower and they limit you. s

quick definition here, you said, the 18 f office and gsa, what's that? >> it's an office, because the general service administration is located at 18th and f street. so they basically build really cool stuff for the government to harness technology and put information out and i think it's really cool what they do there. it goes unnoticed by a lot of people. that investment in technology is something i would love to see continue. you talked about jeff sessions, when someone asked me what the new president will be for foya, i said, i don't know that he cares. when i saw his attorney general, his attorney general pick was, i got really scared. press friendly piece of legislation got through congress. >> there are quite a few members of congress on both sides of the aisle, foya truly is -- a bipartisan effort when it gets right down to it. charles grassly is a big proponent of transparency, he uses those transparency laws himself and when he's -- he's chairing a committee, like judiciary, he can push those things. pat lahey, always been a big supporter. darr

cabinet, and if the sons take ownership of the trump hotel, they will be negotiating directly with the gsa, an agency that has to report to their father. republicans on capitol hill are so far staying quiet about any potential conflicts. >> he needs to make sure that the appearance of any conflict is taken care of, and i'm sure they'll do that. divesting is an onerous thing to do with somebody with that complex work. >> reporter: two questions, what role will ivanka trump play going forward with this hotel? of course, now she's going to be advising her father, the soon-to-be president. and two, will republicans on capitol hill decide to investigate and look further into this issue if donald trump does not go far enough to separate himself from his business? we don't know the answers to either of those questions just yet, wolf. >> manu, thank you very much. tonight, the obama white house says donald trump was "obviously aware that russian hacking was intended to benefit his campaign." the president-elect has repeatedly rejected u.s. intelligence about election meddling by moscow. joining us

the gsa released a statement today that says in part "we can make no this time about what would constitute a breach of agreement and to do so would be premature." >>> little more than a month from now, 800,000 people are expected to flock to the national mall for the presidential inauguration. some 15,000 military and national guard troops will help handle the ceremonies and the crowds. news 4's tom sherwood is here now with a look at what to expect on january 20th. tom? >> well, pat, expect big crowds and big delays. the military has it all mapped out. the u.s. capitol, peaceful grounds for now. in 36 days, hundreds of thousands expected here for the trump inaugural. on the 60 x 40 foot map laid out at the d.c. armory nearby, military leaders are rehearsing how nearly 15,000 military and national guard troops will assist in ceremonies and crowd control. military participation with inaugurals goes back to george president-elect trump wants are still to be worked out, there's history to inaugural day and physical restrictions on innovation. >> the planning that we've been doing for the inau

he helps control the gsa's budget.od what's going to happen donald trump as president will have to get off the lease, technically. and sell that property to one or both of donald jr. and eric. my broader point is this is going to be part of whatever he does with his news conference that was supposed to happen this week. does he divest completely? does he get his kids more involved? these are going to be big questions. >> i walked by your office the other night and it was really really late. you are sitting in there and hunting and pecking and typing with two fingers i noticed. i said what are you doing? you said finishing up a book. what is it? >> jackie robbison april 49 timing of the jackie's first game april 15th. you see his picture here. is he a hero of mine. my son happens to have the same birthday april 15th. patrick. nice coincidence. i was at a dinner party in washington. 2008. one of the worst parties. >> i think i may have been there. >> you may have been there. >> it's about jackie robison facing god. the b

you've got to be able to run the gsa. you've got to be able to do immigration. you've got to be able to do cybersecurity. all these things happen all at the same time. so what you want is a leader who can organize, prioritize, and multitask. >> some, though, say a militarized america got us into the iraq war, it's created problems with abu ghraib, it created the mess that is now guantanamo bay. so do they have a point? >> you know, they may in the abstract. i think the key question is how do these generals operate when, for example, general kelly will be in a civilian context. this is not the pentagon. >> speaking of general kelly, then, he's tough on border security. this is what he said last year about that. >> if a terrorist or almost anyone wants to get into our country they just pay the fare. no one checks their passports. no one -- you know, they don't go through metal detectors. no one cares why they're coming. they just ride this network. >> so you were the governor of arizona. you were homeland security secretary. is general kelly right? >> you know, i

now, the gsa says it's still premature to determine whether trump will in fact run but we know that trump's lawyers and position aides are trying to untangle this mess and we're hoping to get answers about that today when donald trump was slated to hold a press conference explaining how he would remove his business interest from his interest in the oval office but now that has been kicked to january. >> all right, sarah, stay with us. author of "how's your faith" david gregory and political anchor of spectrum news, errol louis. people who voted for trump knew how important his kids were. how big an issue is this? >> well, i think whether or not people think it is a problem is very different from whether it is a legal problem or it does, indeed, provoke a constitutional crisis. i think if you ask most people, i don't think most people have given it more than two seconds of thought. there is a huge problem. as we just saw with the trump hotel and that, believe me s the tip of the iceberg. the notion that you would have family members. members of the business empire that donald trump has built

pennsylvania avenue in washington, d.c., and whether or not it violates a clause in the contact with the gsath the government entity that leased it to the trump organization for it to still be in his control when he becomes president. second, i do think that there's going to be lots of public calls for a resolution of these conflicts of interest so that it's clear what decisions the president-elect is making. and third, there's recently been some dust-up, some challenges with suggestions of foreign governments and their diplomats are already changing which hotels they're booking, which facilities they're working with for the short finally -- >> i think all of these factors in conversation -- >> will make a difference. >> this will be a distraction. republicans in congress, jim, want to move ahead with their legislative agenda. they don't want this to be a constant source of distraction. so i do think they'll join with us in pressing for the president-elect once he is president to clarify these issues. >> finally, just quickly, can the democrats do it on their own without republican backing?

it's very possible he will be in breach of the gsa lease on his trump hotel here in washington, d.c.,he capital of the united states. let's see what his lawyers come up with. i will give him a chance as kailee says to see if he is serious about putting his money where his mouth is, and -- >> to that point. >> see what he comes up with. >> to that point, maria, when you read the statement that the democratic party put out, in part it said, a wilted fig leaf. about the foundation. this is a wilted fig leaf to cover up his remaining conflicts of interest and pitiful record of charitable giving. when you put it as you have, maria what i marry from the trump transition and trump supporters is, no matter what donald trump announces, he's dissolving his foundation, or no matter what donald trump announces regarding his business, democrats, critics, will never be satisfied. is that fair? >> well, i think what would be fair is if he comes out in january before he's inaugurated and he says that he is liquidating his 111 or how many ever, companies he has. >> right. >> and putting all of that mo

road from the white house is the new trump hotel and we have to talk about that, david, because the gsal services administration say if things stay status quo, trump will be in violation of the lease when he's sworn in on inauguration day it sits on federal property and there's a provision in the deal that prevents any official, president of the united states, from having a piece of the lease. what do you think trump should do? >> well, what the lease says is he should get out of his involvement with that hotel. and there's a good reason for that, both for the government and also for trump. if trump had created a giant conflict of interest, literally three blocks away from the white house, that's a bad thing for the country and it's a bad thing for him because all the time he'll be faced with questions about whether he's acting to promote his hotel, mr. he's helping people more who paid for the hotel. he's going to have that question overlaid on anything he does. especially as foreign governments anything your out that's a way to influence him. so it's a good thing for him to comply wit

but, in an official statementtae the gsa said they haven't reached that conclusion.onclus that that'slal services administration.tr donald trump will have to be b forced to get rid of his business interests in this hotet and perhaps everything else, guys. >> he said that he would address it presumably before bef january 20th, right? just? us because he's pushing the the announcement from today, right yes. >> reporter: till errly errly january. and apparently what the gsa is s saying that they still need their staff needs to meet with w his business representatives,ate donald trump's businesses representatives to figure thise all out before they will officially force him to sell his interests in the new trump trump international hotel here just aa few blocks from the white house. >> complicated issue but, um, u they seem to be entirely serious. >> reporter: it. >> democrats seem to be blowing the whistle on it,>> too see.m bob, thank you very much. >> reporter: you bet. >> 8:05 right now. and developing overnight inightn montgomery county, a man and a woman shot as they sat in their ca

he will be violating the gsa contract. time, he's put off this press conference and won't tell us when it's going to happen how he's going to distinguish himself from his business while having maybe his son-in-law who is married to his daughter who will be running the business in his oval office. it's such a mess. it is so sad. i mean, it's really boggles the mind how absurd this is, and yet, we'll see if anybody on the republican side in congress stands up to this. >> and david eleventhal, it seems like there's going to be a cycle here that the press gets into. these kinds of things will be conceived. they will be under way or getting under way, you discover them. other reporters will discover them. and then we'll watch that how long it takes for the trump what will become the trump presidency to unwind one of these things or to try to pull whether i ever trump is in it out of it and say no, no, no, that trump is not a director that have thing. and it seems like this will be a cycle. we will go through. >> we have a whole

now, the gsa says it's still premature to determine whether trump he is not in the white house yet. we hoped to learn today how trump was going to separate his business interest from his interest in the oval office, but now that press conference that was originally slated for today has been kicked to january. chris? >> all right, sara, thank you very much. >>> let's bring in the chief strategist for the rnc sean spicer. good to see you. >> good morning, chris. let's keep on your theme of transparency. do you believe that you will be the press secretary for the administration? >> here's what i believe, that every single decision is made by donald trump and until he makes it and announces it, it's not final. so, there's nothing to announce on that front. >> do you have reason to believe that you could be the next press secretary of the administration? >> like i said, i'll refer to my first comment, but thank you. >> what's the point? the point is that i wish you well, but also that transparency is very subjective. that gets us into the discussion of the conflicts. you had a very inter

donald trump will divest from that hotel, whether he could make changes between now and then and the gsa put out a statement saying look, it's premature to evaluate right now whether donald trump will run afoul of this lease. but, brook, as you said, if nothing changes it looks like he will. his aides have been punting on this question today saying we are trying to work this out, we are trying to figure it out and be transparent in how we're going to unwind donald trump's white house from donald trump's business interest but these are not answers that we're expecting to get by the end of this month, brooke. >> okay. sara murray, hopefully we'll get the answers in january when he holds the news conference, if not before. thank you. let's have a bigger conversation here. kevin sheridan is back, he was communications director for paul ryan's vice presidential campaign when he ran with mitt romney. maeve reston is with us, cnn national political reporter. good to see both of you guys and, kevin, let me turn to you and piggyback off of sara's point on this d.c. trump hotel. again just to make

i assume it focuses on the gsa, general services administration, lease. but donald trump said he'll announce he's separating himself, disentangling himself from his businesses. >> andrea, he's not saying he's going to disinvest. and he -- what he's doing, basically, is he's -- i think he's kind of playing with the media and the public. basically what he said is i'm going to make an announcement on december 15th but he doesn't say exactly what he's going to do. with regard to this week, clearly, once he becomes president, he will have violated the lease and the lease clearly states you cannot be an elected official positive be part of that lease. this is just symbolic of the many conflicts that he has. anyone with 111 companies operating in 18 countries would have. and so, i think he needs to do what others have said. he needs to divest with regard to these various assets, put them in a true blind trust, not operated by his children, but by an independent person and that way, i think, republicans and democratic experts say that's the way he assures he does

cabinet, and if the sons take ownership of the trump hotel, they will be negotiating directly with the gsaan agency that has to report to their father. now, jake, the question is also what does ivanka trump do, because she was heavily involved with the trump hotel, and we're not quite clear if she will also separate herself from the hotel going forward. because as we know, jake, she'll also take some advisory role in the president in the white house. so that will also raise conflict of interest questions as well. >> manu raju, thank you so much. >>> the president-elect says both of his adult sons will run his businesses but donald jr. and eric trump both seem to be heavily involved still in the transition process, even attending today's tech leaders meeting. is there enough separation there? >>> buses sitting empty instead of carrying the stick, starving and wounded while the ceasefire in syria fails to take hold. what's next for aleppo and for the thousands of people still trapped there? stay with us. so she makes her pie crust from scratch. and sprinkles on brown sugar streusel. so that

it will create a lot of problems because of the foreign diplomats, the lease with the gsa come and all sorts of other problems. i think you should sell the hotel or give it to his children or somebody. you should not be holding on to that property. amy: richard painter, thank you for being with us professor of , corporate law at the university of minnesota. he was the chief white house ethics lawyer for president george w. bush. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. is north carolina a democracy? stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "i need a dollar" by aloe blacc. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: in north carolina, a new report finds the state's democratic institutions are so flawed, the state should no longer be considered a functioning democracy. the report by the electoral integrity project, or eip, points to extreme gerrymandering, voter suppression of communities of color, and the recent stripping of power of incoming democratic governor roy cooper's power by republicans. erp