mike pompeo has emerged as the most powerful secretary of state in decades rivaling henry kissinger,. >>> john to you first, "new york times" analyzed pompeo as well saying, the strike against the iranian general has affirmed his position as the second most powerful official in the trump administration behind only the president himself. john, you're actually quoted in this article. talk us through it. >> i think what we see in the reporting of the past few weeks is that president trump's decision-making sort of process has gotten much more informal, smaller and driven by the whims of the president and it appears that mike pompeo, secretary of state, has used that to drive his agenda which is a hawkish policy against iran and he's been able to leverage a smaller process, a president who's sort of able to be manipulated when he gets fired up, but also a sort of -- sort of what we could say would be sort of less experienced people across the situation room table, mark esper the secretary of defense has far less experience with donald trump and far less experience working in washington t

henry kissinger was a knave. kissinger's participation in american policymaking was one of the most dangerous things that occurred during the nixon years. i believe nixon and kissinger actually helped extend the war more than they did stop it, and this goes to the point of whether we should abandon the war at all. unfortunately, american history is problematic. you know, i had a kind of a controversy going for several years among american historians, was vietnam part of a revolution? there's a tendency among american historians to view vietnam as another battle of the cold war. and it wasn't just another battle of the cold war. it was a revolution. and the united states, as i try to indicate with my mentioning of knute trying to hold the sea back, the u.s. was completely misplaced trying to get in the way of the vietnamese revolution. to the point about south vietnamese not understanding the united states, i mentioned the promises made, but there's more than that. it was that saigon governments didn't appreciate

a kind of henry kissinger wandering around the world stage.weekend, we're not talking about impeachment brexit, are we? no. let's talk about hs2. rail budget out of control, lord berkeley has had a look. he has never had —— been afan. do had a look. he has never had —— been a fan. do your figures, had a look. he has never had —— been a fan. do yourfigures, you are impressive. i'm not going to do them now, you have pre—empted them. basically, the cost of the project has risen exponentially since it was announced by gordon brown's government back in 2010. a review has been completed but wasn't released before the general election, were expected to be released in the next few weeks. lord berkeley, the deputy chairman, said it would cost a all those northern constituencies, several of those mps are very unhappy about h52, we could easily see a situation when they decide to build on the north, rather than building in london. the thing is, it is one of those government projects that keeps on spiralling in terms of its costs. the north end and is exp

my friend henry kissinger returned from a week and china. -- in china. he reported back. the chinese hierarchy had a very positive attitude toward phase one. i am bound to say he has said if it is not satisfactory, if it is not the kind of deal he wants, then the december 15 schedule tariffs will go back into place. >> so there is still a possibility? mr. kudlow: yes. there is. i don't want to sound pessimistic. i am just saying, the reality is those tariffs are still on the table. if president has indicated the short strokes remaining negotiations do not pan out to his liking, those tariffs could go back into place. so they could not, but they also could. there is no definitive decision on that yet. >> how long will it take for us to get to a phase one deal? many people have said we are close. the president said last week we could wait till after the election. which is it? mr. kudlow: he is giving you a wide range of options. i reckon it is the mark of a good negotiator. i would not want to comment any further. there is no arbitrary deadlines on this. it is what it is. t

my friend henry kissinger returned from a week in china. he reported back.e was in the office last friday. that the chinese hierarchy had a very positive attitude toward phase one. you have the two leaders. on the other hand, i am also bound to say that president trump -- first of all, there is no final and second of all, he has said if it is not satisfactory, if it is not the kind of deal he wants, then the december 15 schedule tariffs will go back into place. >> so there is still a possibility? mr. kudlow: yes. i don't want to sound pessimistic. i don't want to spin that. i'm just saying the reality is those tariffs are still on the table, the december 15 tariffs and the president has indicated if the short strokes remaining negotiations do not pan out to his liking, those tariffs could go back into place. they could not but they also could and there is no definitive decision on that yet. >> how long will it take for us to get to a phase one deal? people in the administration have said we are close but then the president said last week we could wait till a

every time she walks through the door i know there is new research and you go to where henry kissingerch is the fabric of the nation. the demographic trends that are out there. what did you learn in your study? abby: clearly tom ours has always been a nation of immigration. there has been so much noise in the discussion over the last few years that we really need to look at the data, which is what we have done. one of the key observations we have made is this -- over the last 10 years because the native population is getting older, there is a later -- lower birth rate, a higher death rate and in fact about 50% of the growth in our labor force in our population is now coming from immigration. that is something that is really the lifeblood for any nation's economic growth. the nation's right now in the world that are struggling are often those with extremely low birth rates and in some cases stagnant population growth. tom: there has to be a policy. in my life at bloomberg i have seen many policies succeed, though down in flames upon a vote in washington. how do we get something voted on

and you go to where henry kissinger is, that is the fabric of the nation, immigration, migration, dataaphic trends. what did you learn when you studied it? abby: clearly ours has always been a nation of immigration. and there has been so much noise in the discussion over the last few years we need to really look at the data, which is what we have done. one of the key observations we have made is this. over the last 10 years, because the native population is getting older, there is a lower birth and a higher death rate. and 50% of the growth in our labor force and population is now coming from immigration. and that is something that really is the lifeblood for any nation's economic growth. the nations now in the world that are struggling are often those with extremely low birth rates and, in some cases stagnant population growth. tom: there has to be a policy. my life at bloomberg i've seen many policies succeed and others go down in flames upon vote in washington. how to get some thing voted on the benefits all? abby: looking at the economic dimension we have identified some things imp

and german chancellor angela merkel is in berlin this evening to be awarded the henry—kissinger—prizey tube protest against gunfire laws. security was tied to violence. all chant: usa, usa, usa! they came from all over the country, bearing arms, after this state, virginia, decided it is going to try to push through what are very limited gun—control measures. well, we're just on a regular street in downtown richmond, virginia, and yet almost everyone around us is carrying a handgun or a rifle, and that is all perfectly legal. but they're out here to say they won't allow that right to ever be taken away from them. no—one is even talking about that happening, though. politicians here just want to introduce rules that would, for example, only allow people to buy one weapon a month, and allow guns to be banned at some public events. that is too much for everyone here. if it saves one life, is it worth it? i mean, not if it's going to impede on my right to defend me and my family. that person who lost their life should have had a gun in their hand and should have tooken their responsibility

individuals who we felt were key in helping phase one of the deal to be signed among them or henry kissinger sheldon adelson the governor of iowa and robert life hisor so the ceremony has proceeded trump says it's a big step forward people are looking on with a little bit of skepticism to me yeah we put a big question mark. bring us right up to date thank you very much. deep divisions have emerged in the german chancellor alliance party in bavaria with elections approaching poll has revealed that almost the hum of all people in the region would be against a muslim or a majority of those opposed being christian social union voters nobby's americans party well the scandal has seen a muslim come to that resign from the race too to resistance from his own colleagues with more in the story are teet bitter over. mehr all elections in the german state of bavaria raising questions about islamophobia in the regional wing of angela merkel's ruling coalition then asahi and had been a candidate for the christian social union but the prospect of a muslim heir sore protest from some party members so he is

what about president nixon and henry kissinger? those issues really fascinated me. along with sports. school, i gothigh into debates with my social studies teachers. my parents were conservative. always a passion. i went to the university of washington. my undergrad was political science. a big deal to me that was critical to my career was internships. i interned at the center for strategic studies. that was one of the big chances i got. i assumed i would go to law school. i did have an interest in getting involved in politics. i would listen to john f. kennedy speeches. to the point where i memorize them. i fell in love with language. the power of words. i thought kennedy's words were very powerful. i ended up making my way. that internship, i got some jobs in the think tank world. including when i was just a young buck. eventually i was hired as a speechwriter for william bennett. i was intimidated. i felt like i was dropped in the deep end. that i really did not know how to swim. but it worked out. i worked in the george h w bush administration. as a speechwriter

david: except when henry kissinger was both secretary of state and national security adviser at the samee, generally, there has been tension between secretaries of state and national security advisors. how is your relationship with john bolton? sec. pompeo: yeah, i mean, look, there's always tension among leaders of different organizations. we come at these things from a different viewpoint. ambassador bolton has his responsibility to make sure all the ideas are vetted and get to the president. secretary of treasury, secretary of energy, the intelligence community each have their mission sets. we have robust, lively debates. i agree with each of them often and disagree with most of them sometimes. david: in your career, you were first in your class at west point. so how do you become first in your class at west point? that is pretty tough. i mean, what happened to all the other people who were second, third, and fourth? [laughter] david: do they become anything? sec. pompeo: one of them is the secretary of defense. [laughter] sec. pompeo: he's a classmate of mine as well. i give him a ha

prosecutors of policemen and politicians and henry kissinger that they are in this hothouse environmenturning out these papers it's all rubbish but what is interesting that counterargument is when susan rosenberg and when doctor berkman and betty and duke another member who was still at large, she jumped bail 1985 and the fbi still once or she is on the website. they were wearing disguises with 9-milliliter pistols and they had storehouses uncovered after the arrest. and there were storage lockers and things like that. so hundreds and hundreds of pounds of tnt that was in pretty bad shape learning more about hercules more than i ever expected but thousands of rounds of ammunition. blasting caps and dozens of small arms. fully automatic oozy and 9-millimeter pistols. rounds of ammunition, and thousands of blank social security cards and driver's license, dea cards, fbi card so you have to ask why do they have all this stuff? it is in just a couple of sticks of dynamite but to the point the dynamite that was found in new jersey the bomb squad came in and they started to load all this up i

quincy adams as a sad friend who lost two brothers and two sons to alcoholism and sympathize with henry kissinger who had the unenviable job of babysitting a drunk. this book has spanned four centuries and starts with the pilgrims and we will get into that it goes through the revolution, the civil war, senator joe mccarthy, the jfk assassination. i just took a bunch of events in which alcohol seemed to have or did have a huge effect on what happened and went through them. starting in 1620, so it begins with the pilgrims. when henry david thoreau moved to walden pond in 1845 the last thing that he had in mind was writing a book about it. he didn't have anywhere else to live, he had moved in with the emerson's because emerson went to europe. so throw did but he did not hink he was going to write bout it, he thought he would write a book about a river trip e took with his brother. but hawthorne asked him to come give a talk at the concord athenaeum. he came and david talk about the river trip. in the q&a, all anybody wanted to know was what it was like to live in a shack at walden pond. so i believe

and i blame our country and some of our leaders, the policy of president nixon and carter and henry kissinger that allowed the one country two system cloud that-- confusing cloud of confusion to be maintained for too long and it's time to clarify this confusion before china's action escalates more tension in the region and gets to a flash point that we don't want to see, as they did in hong kong, with the now infamous and misguided extradition law before it's too late. this is something that nobody wants. we've seen enough conflict in this world. i'm 65-- well, i'm not quite. i'll be 65 in april and i've seen enough conflict. this is something at that we should work together through diplomacy so that nations can prosper. if nations pro per, the people prosper. if the people prosper, we're all safer. china has accused president tsai and her party of stealing the victory with populous policies, smears against political rivals and fear mongering against china and they've also contributed the result of foreign interference, particularly the united states. this is so false. it's their action. and

but, part of the reason there are a lot of policy differences, detente, henry kissinger, tax cuts social issues are just starting to energy independence. and the soviets and all of those other things. but also, there was a personal element in that reagans and the fords did not get along with each other. >> i think that is fair. i don't think reagan was ever overly personal. i think he grounded his opposition more on policy and on real differences even though he i think he sort of viewed ford as an accidental president. i think ford resented the fact that reagan didn't give him more efforts. he was the president. i think ford felt that he was the president now and he deserved support if reagan wanted to run next time, so be it. >> but it did get back to reagan that they were jokes being made at his extent at his expense in the ford white house. and ford went to the gridiron speech and said, it is not true that ronald reagan dyes his hair, it is just turning prematurely orange. misses reagan was upset about that. >> a lot of that was generated by the people around ford. the one exception t

what about president nixon and henry kissinger? those issues really fascinated me, along with sports. when i got to high school, i got into debates with my social studies teachers. they were liberal. i was conservative. not because i thought through political theory but mostly because my parents were conservative. it was always a passion. i went to the university of washington. my undergrad was political science. undergrad was political science. a big deal to me that was critical to my career was internships. a big deal to me that was critical to my career was internships. i interned in the washington state senate. i went to d.c. when i was a senior and interned at the center for strategic studies. that was one of the big breaks i got. seattleould return to and not knowing what i was going to do. i assumed i would go to law school, but i do not want to be a lawyer. interest in getting involved in politics. at the university of washington are used to go to the library and listen to john kennedy speeches on my own time, to the point

henry kissinger was asked is iran a cause or a nation?have a desire to be more than a nation that sticks to its own borders. to the list of countries, yemen, we can add in the list. they are looking to exploit their ideology. we saw the response they did on the air force base. it was well calibrated in the sense that they warned the iraqis who worn e-- who warned united states and was intended to be a signal. >> you called the strike by the administration a burn of bu-- ah of bull. do you believe trump is acting rationally when it comes to foreign policy? >> let me say first, i have been dealing with iran first as a military professional for 17 years. four years as a diplomat and teaching it for 15 years at the college of william and mary. they are very rational. they are one of the most rational on the face of the earth, given their circumstances and what they have been able to do. as to your question about soleimani and what that represents, i have to say irrational. let's start with the condition of immanence, it does not meet the para

and what about president nixon and henry kissinger and so those issues really fascinated me along with sports. and then when i got to high school, i was -- i got into debates with my social studies teachers. they were liberal, i was conservative. not because i thought through political theory but mostly because my parents were conservative. and so that was always a passion. i went to university of washington. and my undergrad was political science. and a big deal to me, it was critical to my own career was actually internships. i was an intern at the washington state senate when i was a junior. i worked for a state senator in olympia and then came to d.c. whether i was a senior at university of washington. and interned at the center for strategic and international studies. that is one of the big breaks that i got. i assumed i would return to seattle. i really didn't know what i was going to do. i guess i assumed i would go to law school even though i didn't want to be a lawyer. i thought, well, i need that as a credential. but i did have an interest in at some point getting involved in

jared said henry kissinger told me how to the president ever pull this off? i said can i quote henry on that. henry is outstanding. when henry is impressed with something, then i am impressed. henry, we are impressed with you. thank you. [applause] pres. trump: and michael pillsbury, thank you very much, and susan pillsbury, thank you very much. you've been saying fantastic things about china and about us. we have a good partnership. this is going to be something very special. we will talk about it in a second. a friend of mine, steve schwarzman is here. i know you have no interest in this deal. i'm surprised you're not sitting on the edge of the stage. steve has done a great job and a very good relationship with china and with us. nelson peltz is here. nelson is around here somewhere. what are you doing sitting back that way? how is general electric doing? you will straighten it out. he came in late. he did not come in too early. -- hank freeburg is here. hank. -- if hank it stayed like he should have, we would not have the problem we ended up having with our

bring robert hormats in, kissinger associates vice chairman, former senior economic advisor to henry kissingerith many people in and out of government over the years. bob, they bring that up. interesting to hear the president talk that way to business leaders. it could have been an off-the-cuff remark. certainly different from all the talks in recent weeks about decoupling of the two economies. he is saying there will be more opportunity for business in china going forward. what do you say? >> i think it could be both. in some sectors if the chinese do further open up as they have to a degree on financial services and number of other things, then there will be more business. i still think there are a lot of issues related to very advanced high technology, 5g equipment, ai equipment, supercomputers, quantum computers, where there is an overlap between technology used for economic purposes and technology used, that relates to national security. connell: right. huawei wasn't even part of this, for example so. >> huawei was, clearly indicated something separate from the trade negotiations by ameri

larry kudlow made a great comment after speaking with henry kissinger who was there when mi nixon wentis likely the hardest part. once oveyou're over the -- oncee over the initial hump, what comes next could be significant. if we can get the same thing on the otherred side, the trade deficit is irrelevant, as the free trade principle goes, the best competition will win out. cheryl: let's talk about what this means for americans, american companies and businesss in the heartland of this country. the office of the u.s.tr released a statement saying they're going to reduce some of the tariffs that were implemented back in august. so this is the -- this is february 14th of 2020, this is effective this year, down to 7.5% from 10% on some goods and there's also a lot of talk that this will actually be good for us to export to china. so our manufacturing, our companies are going to be exporting products to china. that seems to me to be a really big win. >> yeah, so, again, the idea is to be on an equal playing field where china, if they drop their protectionist measures and the u.s. companies

and he made a statement to jared who came in and said henry kissinger told me how did the president off, i said can i quote henry on that, because he is outstanding? and when he is impressed with something, then i am impressed. and henry, we are impressed with you. thank you very much for being here. [applause] thank you. and michael pillsbury, thank you very much. and susan pillsbury, thank you very much. go up and sang some fantastic things about china and about us, and we have a good partnership. this is going to be something that is very special. we will talk about it in a second. a friend of mine steve schwartzman is here. steve, i know you have no interest in this deal at all. i'm surprised you are not sitting here on the ledge of the stage, but he has done a very good job with a very good relationship with china and with us. nelson peltz is here, a friend of mine, he is around somewhere. what are you doing sitting all the way back there, nelson? how is general electric doing? let's straighten it out. you will straighten it out. he came in nice and late. he did not get into early.

course of the last three years is if you take a look at the 1950s through '70s when you had like henry kissinger, it's a holistic approach, kissinger was noted for pursuing a course called triangulation. that's a fancy way of saying when you take an action anywhere in the world it will have repercussions elsewhere. you want to understand and take deliberate actions to get the desired strategic response. what we've seen over the last three years is an administration where in many cases the president will direct a specific action and now the rest of the organization, the defense department, the state department have to catch up to try to now determine that specific action. how do we actually align our strategy to get back on course? >> i have to say mike pompeo the secretary of state when he talks to the press at 10:00 there are some serious questions he has to answer, bianna, number one where is the evidence that there was an imminent threat that general soleimani, the killing of soleimani somehow obviated that immediate threat. where is the evidence of that? we have yet to see t he has promised

is every bit as henry kissinger paints him as the most brilliant diplomat he is engaged with. down and rewrote a massive soviet draft treaty with his team in 48 hours. rejecting all the concessions. taking them over for china. and having a total chinese draft. for the soviets who immediately adjourned. had to consult with various -- stalin and molotov. the sovietser, agreed to almost everything, but there is in the archives a copy he submittedthat in which according to russian experts, of which i am not one, stalin made marginal notations words blue pencil, curse up-and-down, striking out clauses. he was obviously on initial reading bent out of shape. but voted, because he came up as i argue this new concept. in which the risk would be assumed by mao. and so that's what i referred to as his reassurance treaty. robert: we'll take two more questions. that gentlemen and then that gentleman. and then we will adjourn. >> thank you. from george washington university. speaking of the chinese, i want to ask a question about chinese -- going into north korea. because what we know is ch

it's funny, when i leave, i'm going to have henry kissinger in my office. he's a very dear friend of mine. he's been a great mentor to me. but the other thing that was noteworthy, what the president said during that lunch, at least that i can tell you, is he believes, potus believes that phase one, that's the tough one, and he feels that phase two will come much more easily because we climbed the mountain for phase one. this has never been done before, ever, it's a historical moment. people will say is it going to work. this is an enforceable agreement. we can go into that if you care to on the details. but the ground covered in phase one was enormous and you know, we thought we were dead in the water last may and we have come back from that, both sides working very hard to get it done, and the changes in phase one, i mean, we should talk about the i.p. changes and the broad base of -- american exports, the $200 billion number, you know what's in there, it's not just farm stuff, $40 billion to $50 billion. it's $75 billion of manufacturing, okay? it's $50 b

it featured criticism from jack kemp, henry kissinger and richard nixon. the treaty was not verifiable. two, it left the soviets with a significant advantage in conventional weapons. and the questiony whether or not the treaty was motivated by domestic political concerns. does anybody know what i'm talking about? iran-contra. that president reagan was making this deal not because he believed in it but rather because he was so unpopular in that moment. his poll numbers were so far down that he was making this deal for political reasons. nixon and kissinger, for their parts, by the way i believe to my knowledge, this is the first time nixon and kissinger had released a joint statement since watergate. they thought it was that important that they come out together and criticize president reagan for his naive foreign policy. they insisted that any western leader who indulges the soviets'disingenuous fantasies of a nuclear free world courts unimaginable perils." they concluded that while the president wanted to remember to be remembered as a peacemaker reagan n

he said, you know, henry kissinger told me, how did the president ever pull this off? i said, can i quote henry on that? henry is outstanding. when henry is impressed with something, i'm impressed. henry, thank you very much for being here. thank you. [ applause ] >> michael pillsbury, thank you very much and susan pillsbury, thank you very much. you've been saying fantastic things about china and about us. we have a good partnership. this is something that will be very special. >> we will talk about it in a second. a friend of mine, steve shoresman is here. i know you have nothing to do with this deal at all, surprised you're not sitting on the ledge of the stage. he has done a good job and good relationship with china and us. nelson, a good friend of mine here. hi, nelson. what are you doing sitting all the way back there, nelson? how's general electric doing? he'll straighten it out. he came in nice and late. hank greenberg is here. hank, if they took care of hank they wouldn't have had the problems that they had. where's hank? hank greenberg. [ applause ] >> hank. h

jared came in and said, you know, henry kissinger told me how did the president ever pull this off? i said, can i quote henry on that? because henry is outstanding. and when henry is impressed with something, then i'm impressed. and henry, we're impressed with you. thank you very much for being here. [ applause ] >> thank you, henry. thank you. and michael pillsbury, thank you very much. you've been saying some fantastic things about china and about us and we have a good partnership. this is going to be something that's going to be very special. we're going to talk about it in a second. a friend of mine, steve schawarsman is here. but steve has done a great job and very good relationship wh china and very good relationship here.s. hi, nelson. what are you doing sitting all the way back there, nelson? how is general electric doing? he'll straighten it out. you'll straighten it out. he came in nice and late. he didn't get in too early. hank greenberg is there. if they took care of hank, they wouldn't have had the problems that they had. where is hank? [ applause ] >> if hank had stayed

and henry kissinger. this is the 1967. >> couple of questions about working with robert kennedy. you will his special assistant. he assigned to you, one of the errors central civil rights cases problems to reopen schools in prince edward county which had been shut down for four years. my wife would refuse to enforce the brown first this board of education decision. any fines of that decision. tell us about the lessons you drew from the experience in terms of art still ongoing and urgent quest for racial justice. have a current confront racism today. >> news difficult to remember that the state of virginia, led this intent desegregation. against brown and board of education rick is the massive resistance with the words used. it was ahead of the the political system in virginia. and so won't the decision was absorbed, virginia took the position that the supreme court might order us to desegregate our schools but they can't order us to help schools. because there is nothing in the constitution that obligates us new educational system. as of the used a sneak test case, this extraordi

we're also told sheldon adelson is there, henry kissinger. the optics of this -- we took that live shot of the text we would love to get our hands on that red book and what we think is about 86 pages of translated text. but the subtext is important in some way. >> yes, i'm here you see a lot of support there at the white house for what the president is doing i want to weigh in for a second on this commodity purchase issue. i'm not going to get into the specific numbers other than what the white house has already said publicly, which is on agriculture they will get up to $40 billion a year from china. everyone needs to remember the baseline they're using there is 2017 where we had $24 billion in sales to china and that will go up to $40 billion. a lot of people said no, that's not realistic but once you see the agriculture captor, you'll understand why it is just to give you a couple examples, poultry is a market where we sold zero dollars into china in 2017. they're now going to get rid of their ban on u.s. poultry and that is something the u

the great kevin mccarthy the great lou dobbs. [ laughter ] henry kissinger.of mine, steve schwartzman. nelson peltz is here hank greenberg is here hank steve daines joni ernst deb fischer. lindsey graham he's become a great friend of mine chuck grassley jerry moran. rob portman. pat roberts. mike rounds. and dan sullivan [ light laughter ] vern buchanan. mike conaway christie, thank you for being here i didn't know you were gonna be here [ laughter ] mike kelly drew ferguson. darrin lahood michael mccaul patrick mchenry. devin nunes. adrian smith david abney. darius adamczyk. ajay banga mastercard josh bolten. [ laughter ] >> seth: "congratulations to the class of 2020. [ cheers and applause oh oh, the places you'll go [ laughter ] jail." and then, in an even more desperate attempt to counterprogram the impeachment talk, trump made a random announcement out of nowhere, about the fourth of july, that had nothing to do with trade or china or really anything to do at all >> we're gonna do a big fireworks display. right? mt. rushmore we're going over i think i'm

finally, the panel will be moderated by professor hal brands, henry kissinger distinguished professor of affairs. he is also a columnist for bloomberg opinion and scholar of american enterprise institute. dr. brand is author and editor of many books, including american grand strategy in the age of trump, published just one year ago. professor brand served as special assistant to secretary of defense for strategic planning from 2015 to 2016. so please join me in welcoming a very distinguished panel this afternoon. [applause] mr. brands: thank you very much. i would also like to thank our hosts here at smu for putting on this event today. it is a lot of fun to get together with the folks who worked to bring this book to fruition and so many of the policymakers who generously shared their time and insights with us. it is a pleasure for me to be up here on the stage with three gentlemen were not only importantly involved in the decision-making with the surge and its implementation, who are also generous with their time and insights. the basic run of show is that each of them will have a c

in his book he wrote about how henry kissinger began reaching in the dark final days for a broader argumentst impeachment, that impeachment, the process, the removal of the president itself was a threat to american strength on the global stage. quote, watergate was shattering the illusion of american strength and with it american foreign policy. the specter of the united states as a pitiful helpless giant aptly describing the impeachment of richard nixon. we're going to get into that and the limits of this type of debate when we're back with our panel of experts in 30 seconds. looks different. the unbeatable strength and speed of advil liqui-gels. what pain? it's red lobster's new three-courfor $14.99.east choose soup or salad. one of seven delicious entrées - like new hawaiian-style garlic shrimp. and, get a sweet dessert. three courses. one amazing price. so come in today. >>> i'm joined by new york daily news contributor, host of the podcast and daily beast columnist margaret carlson. i want to be clear as i mentioned in the earlier setup, it's not that everyone is doing this, and even a

we have to think ahead the way henry kissinger used to do. what would be the smart american move if this weren't the president? if a normal president were president to be blunt about it again. but also if this is an opportunity for someone to exploit, people who want regime change, what must we fear here with people in the room with trump? >> we fear that trump has made these decions without any regard to consequences thus far. this was not a surprise. when qassem soleimani was assassinated, it was quite obvious what the response would be in iran given his stature. here we are. if you were sitting in the white house today, look, you would want to de-escalate this situation. you would want to make sure we're protecting our diplomats in our facilities but you would immediately be talking to other countries that have service channels between the united states and iran in the past. oman that hosted the secret talks that led to the iran nuclear agreement. our french allies who remain in frequent contact with the iranians and try to find some pathw

jared came in and said to henry kissinger told me how did the president ever pull this off? i said can i quote henry on that because henry is outstanding. and when henry is impressed with something, i am impressed. and henry we are impressed with you, thank you very much. thank you. [applause] and michael pillsbury, thank you very much, susan pillsbury thank you very much. you have been saying some fantastic things about china, and about us, and we have a good partnership. this is going to be something that is very special. we are going to talk about in a second period friend of mine steve schwartzman is here, i know you have no interest in this deal at all. i'm surprised you're not sitting on the ledge of the stage, steve's that a great job, very good relationship with china and with us. nelson is here he's around here someplace, hi nelson paired what you doing sitting all the way back there? [laughter] how is general electric doing now? you will straighten it out, you will straighten it out. he came in nice and relate to didn't get into early. hank bloomberg is here. if the

together he has seen it all and he made a statement to jared jared came in and said, you know, henry kissinger told me, how did the president ever pull this off i said, can i quote henry on that henry is outstanding and when henry is impressed with something, i'm impressed henry, we're impressed with you. thank you very much for being here thank you, henry thank you. [ applause ] >> and michael and susan pilsner, thank you very much you've been saying some fantastic things about china and about us we have a good partnership this is going to be something that's going to be very special. we'll talk about it in a second. a friend of mine, steve schwartzman is here. i know, steve, you have no interest in this deal at all i'm surprised you're not sitting on the ledge of the stage. very good job, very good relationship with china and very good relationship with us. nelson peltz is here very good friend of mine hi, nelson what are you doing, sitting all the way back there, nelson how is general electric doing now? he'll straighten it out. you'll vaten it out. he came in nice and late he didn't get in

jared came in and said, you know, henry kissinger told me, "how did the president ever pull this off?said, can i quote henry on that? because henry is outstanding. and when henry is impressed with something, then i'm impressed. and, henry, we're impressed with you. thank you very much for being here. thank you, henry. [applause] thank you. and, michael pillsbury, thank you very much. and, susan pillsbury, thank you very much. and you've been saying some fantastic things about china and about us. and we have a good partnership. this is going to be something that's going to be very special. we're going to talk about it in a second. a friend of mine, steve schwarzman, is here. steve, i know you have no interest in this deal at all. i'm surprised you're not actually sitting over here on the ledge of the stage as opposed to -- but steve has done a great job and very good relationship with china and very good relationship with us. nelson peltz is here, a friend of mine. where's nelson? nelson is around here someplace. hi, nelson. what are you doing sitting all the way back there, nelson? ho

country and some of our leaders -- the policy of president nixon and carter and henry kissinger have allowed the one country, two system cloud that -- the confusing cloud of confusion to be maintained for too long. it is time to clarify this confusion before china's action escalates more tension in the region and gets to a flashpoint that we do not want to see, as they did in hong kong with the now infamous and misguided at tradition law -- extradition law. we have seen enough conflict in this world. i am 65 -- i will be 65 in april. i have seen enough conflict. this is something we should work together through diplomacy so nations can prosper. if nations prosper, their people prosper. if there people prosper, we are all safer. president tsaied and her party of stealing this policies,th populist smears against clinical rivals, and fear mongering against china. the've also contributed result of foreign interference, particularly the united states. this is false. it is there action -- their action. we got singled out along with senator rubio, chuck schumer, and nancy pelosi and myself

but a damning portrait of henning henry kissinger that won the national book critics circle award. that went out further ado, i would turn the podium over to seymour hersh. cutback. [applause]. >> i will sleep about the book, i'm really glad they told you where to buy it. it is the backbone. it is an amazing book. i will tell you this. and if so if you've ever read it, you can daydream for a second or two. but if you haven't, just off of the essays. stephanie is done, dennis, fell short. if this doesn't get to writing the book, nothing will. i'm here before because i am a vietnam work junkie. like most of you here. i happen to believe my heaven and no, you can hear me. i have given speeches before huge auditoriums where at the end of the speech, everybody came up to me and they said they couldn't hear anything. [laughter]. what is wrong with you people if you get here. [laughter]. let me come on. we wouldn't have ended the war if everybody had that war. anyway, i am a junkie in the war. i do believe in is the most mystery war. in american history and i will say why. i guess the peo

bush wrote to his friend henry kissinger. henry, you did not know my father, the president did, meaning president nixon. my dad inculcated into his sons a soast values that have served me well in my own short public life. not realizing that 20 years hence he would still be in public service. one of these values quite simply is that you should serve his country and his president. now, that's what george h.w. bush wrote in 1975. his notion of public service. whether you're a republican or democrat, those words public service of the needs for us as individual americans to do our duty when called upon and to offer ourselves to serve the public and to serve our fellow man, is something that was commendable in 1975 and it is absolutely, absolutely commendable and especially commendable this day. so on the floor this day on boston sides of the aisle we honor an amazing legacy of what he became known as, as 41. the 41st president of the united states. and his first lady. not just his time in the white house but his first lady in his l