we are back with our panel, rebecca berg, aaron blake and jackie kucinich.ecca, in so many words, president obama waited too long on these sanctions. something you certainly hear from republicans as well? >> absolutely part of the calculation for president obama was that he didn't want this to be seen as political during the election, but now you're having to deal with the same accusations of this having been political now that donald trump is waiting to be sworn in as president. and so i guess as it turns out, there was no perfect time for this, and that's going to be the criticism from republicans and democrats alike hiwho wanted hi to be stronger against russia. should have done it sooner. >> he didn't want to do it before the election, in part because he thought hillary clinton would win and i hate to repeat delegitimize or undermine her own victory. >> if he had been putting in these sanctions in the context of a president-elect hillary clinton, no one could have accused him of trying to box her in or making this into a political -- >> speaking of a box

donald trump is more interesting than whether or not he is draining the swamp in washington, jackie kucinich. corey lewandowski, his former campaign manager, said today draining the swamp would not be the priority, it would be at the bottom of the list after creating jobs. corey lewandowski setting up a consulting firm that may or may not be giving people access to the administration, which is just the swampy thing donald trump said he would do without. the swamp during the campaign also included wall street financiers at goldman sachs, the likes of which who will now work in the trump administration. >> right, it seems at this point he's draining the swamp perhaps to see the creatures better. because as you said, corey lewandowski is now going to start a consulting firm that is right next -- actually physically right next to the white house. it's maybe a block away. and then, as you mentioned there are several people from wall street who are very prominent members of his -- not only his transition team, but also that are going to be incoming in his cabinet. so it doesn't -- it's easier said

we have jackie kucinich, david gregory, and philip mudd. here it is right from the transition office. the announcement that the nomineeill be rex tillerson. they highlight in big ways his business experience. >> job creation. >> that he spent most of his career, they say, protecting the jobs of his some 70,000 employees, that he knows how to manage a major organization, which is critical to running this secretary of state, his tenacity, broad understanding of geopolitics will make him an excelle excellent. and his contacts with leaders around the world are second to none. david gregory, his business acumen is going to be a big second to his business contact, specifically his relationships with russia and vladimir putin. the timing here alone suggests trump says i don't care about the russia meddling with the u.s. election, this is my guy. >> it's clear he likes him because what does donald trump want in a secretary of state? he wants a good negotiator, someone who's going to negotiate on behalf of america. he wants somebody more like himsel

welcome back jackie kucinich and selena zito. thank you for being with us. let me read it for you here. we are more optimistic with caution because we don't know what the policy is that he is going to edopt regarding our region in general. but we can say part of the optimism can be related to the united states and russia. he goes on to say if the u.s. and russia get along that is good for you and smaller nations. what should americans make of this, jackie? >> it's not usually great to have dictators praising you, just as like a general rule. it's -- it's concerning. >> to say the least. >> it makes sense that assad is saying this. the obama administration has been tough on assad saying he should go because the humanitarian criskricrisis he's created. and he killed hundreds of thousands of his own people. this is cause for concern because we can't forget if putin is empowered, it really, it's at the expense of the united states. so, interesting times. >> yeah. and should we be concerned. i want to put this graphic up. take a special look at this, seena. this

jackie kucinich, you have all the backdrop and timing. cia saying russia interfered in the election to help trump. then you have, you know, tillerson's ties to russia causing concern among top republican senators, including marco rubio took to twitter saying, being a friend of vladimir, quote/unquote, is not an attribute i'm hoping for from secretary of state. with 48 democrats, we know he won't be confirmed. what do you think his chances are? >> reporter: that has to be one of the things the emerging trump administration has to be looking at. there needs to be a serious charm offensive. whether that be enough, he he -- it remains to be seen. no matter what, he is going to have to answer for this in front of -- for his confirmation hearing. it's going to be a tough one. we've been discussing which of trump's cabinet picks will be having an easy ride and which won't. rex tillerson will not. it is because you have fox writing a recommendation later, essentially, when you talk to some russia hawks. this will continued to be an issue. i don't

with me now is cnn political commentator and washington correspondent for the new yorker and jackie kucinichcnn political analyst and washington bureau chief of the daily beast. good morning to both of you. ryan, let me start with you. trump's aide kelly conway suggest obama trying to box trump in with these sanctions. what do you think? >> i think she's absolutely right about that. i think there is more of a focus at the white house on this, and doing it before obama leaves office. if hillary clinton had won it wouldn't have been such a rush they probably would have waited for clinton to decide what to do. i do think there's a major disagreement about how to deal with vladimir putin between the outgoing white house and the incoming white house. and i think she's right they are trying to box him in. they're trying to put in place sanctions that will be very, very difficult for him to reverse. and he's going to have a big decision to make, you know, in january when he gets in there. because reversing them will run directly in to his republican colleagues on the hill who as you pointed out is

josh rogan, jackie kucinich and nicholas burns. egypt wanted a u.n. resolution to end a settlement activity in israel. egypt wanted it to be sort of deemed, you know, illegal and the u.n. was going to move forward. and then israel, as we understand it, reached out to mr. trump and mr. trump weighed in. let me read to you the statement he tweeted. this was via facebook. so, yet another medium. he said as the united states has long maintained peace between the israelis and palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties and not through the imposition of terms by the united nations. this puts israel in a poor negotiating position and extremely unfair to all israelis. ambassador, again, what, what does this mean that the president-elect is weighing in on, you know, geopolitics before he's in office? >> well, it is unprecedented. we have a tradition of one president at a time. this resolution was going to be voted upon by the united states. president obama heads our government. he will until noon on january 20th. so, this is ext

political editor jason johnson and jackie kucinich. christine i want to start with you on this. through what this tariff would really mean for the average american. >> well it means at the border there would be -- let me be clear about this. this is floated. this is one of the ideas we are told that is the the army of things that the trump administration is considering to try to bring american jobs back to the united states. say you put a 5% tax or charge on everything coming in. so what is coming in? from china its footwear. it's bedding. it's furniture. it's auto parts in some cases. it's washers and driers from mexico. you would add a 5% tax on those products. what happens to the companies importing those goods? do they eat it out of their pocket or pass it on to consumers? many economists say you would add that to consumers. the seconding thing is you could have retaliation. china buys from the united states say agriculture products. it buys aircraft, electrical machinery, lots of complicated stuff. then china could say all right we're going to put a 5% tax back on you for y

cnn political analyst jackie kucinich. david, what do you make of this appointments.a lot of establishment figures like a bossard. but then you have flynn who makes a lot of people diplomatically uncomfortable. what do you make of this competition in effect in this administration? >> well we know that several members of the administration oppose each other on issues such as trade for example a big issue. but i do think what's shaping up, jim in this particular case and bringing bossard in as not only somebody from the establishment. and yes i do think as an offset to flynn. but i don't think that is the reason they separated him out. i think it is a big portfolio. i think the cabinet is going to have a larger voice than what you have seen in the obama administration and the bush administration in making policy. the homeland security is going to be in the hands of the general kelly. very respected in washington. he's a heavyweight. and i think his very presence is going to emerge as the critical player in shaping homeland security. just like tillerson at state is going

by cnn political analyst and washington bureau chief for the "daily beas beast" jackie kucinich and wajua sommers. and intel officials say russia was behind this. what do you make of this, jackie? >> taking it to the next level. you've had senate republicans saying that, john mccain, they'll have a review. senate democrats calling for the declassification of some of the information that intel has seen. so having president obama take this to the next level as michelle said, there is concern about how this will be handled in the future, and this helps move that along. >> and so in having some of that declassified, the idea of sort of exploring that this is a reality? because we've heard donald trump want to doubt the veracity of it being russia behind the hacks. right? >> we have. we've heard that. listening through the course of the campaign and the way donald trump talked about russia, he also said in jest russian hackers should perhaps dig into the e-mails of hillary clinton and her allies. interesting to see if this happens before president obama leaves, before the inauguration and what

. >> jackie kucinich and solina zito and ron brownstein. jackie, let's talk more about rex tillerson since there are, you know, obviously, conflicting impressions and opinions of him. donald trump supporters, i think, and he, feel isn't it better to have someone who has dealt with vladimir putin, who knows vladimir putin rather than a novelist who doesn't know how to approach this guy? they have a point about that. >> that's what you'll hear ecoed throughout the campaign and people who do like rex tillerson. this is bigger than him. this is about russia. a pick like rex tillerson, someone who has a friendly relationship with vladimir putin sends to the united states allies. that's what he's going to be struggling against these confirmation hearings no indication it will not be contentious and probably excellent television. >> solina, trump is putting tillerson in a box, russia was involved with the hacking. that's what seems clear from the response of him and his team. but that's putting tillerson in a box because now it's making his russian

. >>> let's discuss all of it with jackie kucinich and senior editor of "the atlantic" ron brownsteinks for being with me. jackie, let me begin with you. this shouldn't surprise many people that in the span of three or four hours trump tweeted that the transition is not going smoothly and then told the reporter, what do you mean? of course it is going smoothly. we're great. he tweeted that reince priebus and rnc was terrible and then made reince priebus his chief of staff. that happened. >> that was the example we were going to use. we saw a lot of this during the primary because he thought the rnc was out to get him and then reince priebus would call him and they would talk and it would be fine. a part of this is frankly theater. donald trump feels like he needs to save face. he doesn't like that obama has been sort of poking him. the comment president obama made the other day that he could have defeated trump or he basically said that. i think really bothered donald trump. and, so, he feels there is kind of this push and this pull going on with him that, you know, while he wants to

discuss with senior political analyst and senior editor at "the atlantic" ron brownstein and jackie kucinichlet's talk about this war of words that is playing out over trump tower. don't know if it is happening where they are tweeting from. trump tower was preefly evacuated. sean spicer tweeted this thanking the nypd saying there was a problem at trump tower. thank you, nypd. >> back to work here after a false alarm. thanks nypd. >> and then other folks jumping in, including dan scavino and dan philips and on and on and on and it all played out on twitter. this is a bigger problem than most people realize because of the money and maybe we're, you know, it's showing just how big it is that it is spilling out to social media. >> how many times can we use the word unprecedented. the amount of time that donald trump envisions, seems to envision spending in new york is unprecedented, i think, for a president to be kind of a dual resident toth the extent and th to have the dual residency be in one of the busiest commercial streets in the world just creates a unique set of security challenges that

jackie kucinich, manu raju and r rebecca berg, thank you all. >>> is russia getting ready for a space war? >>> what is north korea getting ready for? the u.s. spots new activity at a chemical weapons plant as kim jong un oversees a drill by fighter ploilts. ploilts. pilots. ly $40 per line. you'll even get the iphone 7, the samsung galaxy s7, the pixel phone by google, or the motoz droid for only $10 per month. no trade-in required. hurry, these offers end soon. get the best deals and the best network, only on verizon. >>> sources say russia has recently tested what is believed to be an anti-satellite weapon. that is a growing concern for the u.s. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr has been looking into this. tell us, barbara, what you've been learning. >> reporter: why is this so significant? because satellites rub everything from your laptop computer to the military's ability to drop precision bombs. so if those satellites are taken out of commission, that can bring things to a halt. and russia is one of the countries out there that is testing weapons that can bring down, can

jackie kucinich, and other great people. don jr., sitting in on a meeting today. tweeting about the meeting with the tech ceos. interviewing and vetting a cabinet nominee. this is trump's son who trump this week said on twitter would be the one running the trump businesses. >> right. not until next month though. when they hold the news conference. >> for me, having his family involved in providing guidance, analysis, whatever it may be isn't an issue. the idea that they are running his empire and helping make decisions, that is the issue. >> the two things simultaneously. >> correct. that is the big issue. presidents have always relied on their family for some kind of counsel but this is a little too close for comfort. >> basically a water color going into this. it doesn't just like start over the day that the presidency starts. there is pictures. >> change in a few weeks is not going to fly. >> especially because the advisor, the tech ceos. they were sitting. they see the children sitting there. that is a message that, you know, if you are sitting down with don j

joining me is elise labott, cnn global affairs correspondent jackie kucinich, washington bureau chief beast and ed o'keefe, political reporter for the "washington post". "washing" rex tillerson, democrats are saying he has ties too close to russia. i've heard people who support him say he'll change allegiances, take off this hat and put on another one but that's not what democrats are saying. >> well, they're not saying that and they're saying these ties to russia will hamper him in his future job but i think you've heard really credible people like former secretary of state condoleezza rice, steve hadley, former deputy national security advisor, is bob gates, the former defense secretary, these are people that recommended him and they say, look, he knows, he has a vision of the world, oil politics is strategic and he'll be able to use these skills to apply them and he won't be working on behalf of a company anymore where he's looking to make profits. he'll be working on behalf of the american people and american interests. >> we've seen people move in between politics and certainly o

joining us, cnn political analyst jackie kucinich and david gregory, also with us, jeff mason, with reutersnd also the president of the white house correspondents association. guys, thanks very much. so yesterday we saw meeting with the tech leaders. three of donald trump's adult children were all there. listen to how some of his advisers are explaining that. because some are saying there's a potential conflict. >> so ivanka and jared will make their own announcement in due course. i think we would benefit tremendously by having them inside the administration. ivanka's incredibly committed to women in the workplace, women in the economy, women entrepreneurs. >> number one, the president by law can't have a conflict of interest. number two is the reason you know about the children being involved are two things, one, they're on the website and they were publicly named as being part of the transition. and two, we brought the press in to show who was at the meeting. so it's not like there's anything nefarious going on or sneaky. we'll been very clear about the role of his family. >> so what do

editor for reuters, and errol louis, political anchor for spectrum news and cnn political analyst, jackie kucinichly beast. elise, set first, set the stage for us, the importance of today, what you expect to hear from the secretary. >> i understand this will be the culmination of the last four years of secretary of state kerry's work on the peace process. you remember he spent the better part of a year when he first took office shuttling back and forth between israelis and palestinians trying to get them to agree to a framework for a peace deal. those talks broke down in 2014, then ever since then, secretary kerry has been looking for an opportunity to try and get those parties together but unfortunately, they only seem to be growing farther apart. now with the administration leaving office, secretary kerry wanted to lay out i think what he had offered the parties, what he tried to get them to agree to. he will outline the deal as he sees it. of course, previous presidents and secretaries of state tried to do this as they walk out the door. i think the parameters of the deal are very similar but y

also jackie kucinich, political analyst and washington bureau chief for the daily beast. this is long your area of expertise. how confident are you that sanctions right now coming from the obama administration, though we of course don't know the exact details right now, but that sanctions right now will have an impact? >> well, you know, they're upping the ante. even though the obama administration says it's proportionate. they're upping the ante because we don't know yet but, you know, it could be more personally aimed at president putin releasing or leaking information about, which could be embarrassing information, about the president himself or key members of president putin's administration or oligarchs or others of power in russia. and, you know, i've been messaging back and forth with the foreign ministry spokesman, maria zhahatava and i asked her with these things, and she said, quote, they will get the same. she's saying we'll be proportionate too. you know, we'll answer everything you do in kind. i think this is very disturbing right now because it feels so much

i'm joined by my political panel, susan milligan, jackie kucinich and michael warren.an, president-elect trump issued a tweet earlier this afternoon praising vladimir putin, describing his nonresponse to the sanctions as very smart. what do we make of all this? >> well, it was smart in a way. i mean, he's sending a message to the obama administration. i don't really care what you think anymore, we have a new president coming in. i'm not sure that the president-elect quite understands the little dance that's going on here and that when he comes into power, putin seems to know flattery goes a long way with trump and trump seems to think it goes a little way with putin but i'm not sure it occurs to him he's being played on this. >> michael, doesn't take a lot of translation for the russian president to understand that donald trump enjoys being praised, but, you know, the question i guess of the hour and of this afternoon, is donald trump being played by vladimir putin, i guess we've asked this question before. what do you make of that question when you hear it? is it over