retired ambassador james jeffrey was assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, and was u.s. ambassador to iraq from 2010 to 2012. he's now at the washington institute for near east policy. ilan goldenberg was part of secretary kerry's negotiating team during the 2013-2014 final status talks. he's now at the center for a new american security. gentlemen, i want to ask you boitd, ilan goldenberg, i want to start with you, what's your reaction to kerry's speech today? >> i think it would be a more meaningful speech perhaps two years ago, and at the it of the day, it's a swan song at the very end, but there are still some very valuable things in it. kerry led what was only the third time ever that we've had final status negotiations between israelis and palestinians over the entire course of the history of the conflict. so i think he had things the add. i think it was important in the context of the incoming administration that, you know, openly questioning whether or not we'll continue to actually support this two-state solution given who they have nominated to be the next amb

let's discuss with james jeffrey. he is a former ambassador to iran and turkey.e and hillary mann leverett is here. she represented the u.s. in u.n. security council deliberations. i'm so glad to have both of you on. let's get right to t. benjamin netanyahu is suspending working ties with 12 nations that voted for the u.n. resolution condemning israeli settlements. ironically that doesn't include the u.s. which abstained. what kind of message do you think he is trying to send here? this is for you, hillary? >> well, i think he's trying to divert attention to how profoundly isolated this vote in the security council shows israel to be on the world stage, both the depth and breadth of israel's isolation. netanyahu, i think, is trying to double down on his policies to show that israel actually is in the driver's seat, it's controlling its own policies, but what the u.n. security council vote shows us is how profoundly isolated they are and how dependent israel is on its relationship with the united states and with incoming trump administration which i think for all

ambassador and former deputy national security adviser james jeffrey.ially since trump appears to be keeping his business intact and in the family. >> if you do not divest yourself of all foreign holdings and for that matter domestic holdings, put them in true blind trusts, you open yourself up obviously to these kind of questions. >> reporter: questions that will dog the trump administration every time a decision is made concerning any country where a trump tower a trump project, a trump golf course has been built. ambassador jeffrey says it will be up to trump to prove he is putting america and not his business first. and up to the rest of us to make sure. >> essentially a president can do what he or she wants to do, can have the assets, have the relationships and it's up to the american people, the media and congress in the end to pass judgment. >> that was cnn's drew griffin reporting. trump's business partners accused of crime say the accusations are politically motivated. for example, trump's business partner in turkey believes he's being targeted

potential problem that concerns former ambassador and former can deputy national security adviser james jeffrey, especially since trump appears to be keeping his business intact and in the family. >> if you do not tdivest yoursef of all foreign or domestic holdings, you open yourself up obviously to these kind of questions. >> reporter: questions that will dog the trump administration everyone time a decision is made concerning any country, a trump tower, the trump project or trump golf course. it will be up to trump to prove he is putting america and not his interest first. and up to the rest of us to make sure. >> essentially a president can do what he or she wants to do, can have the assets, can have the relationships and it's up to the american people, the media and congress in the end to pass judgment. >> drew griffin, thank you so much. this week donald trump postponed a scheduled news conference that he was set to have to talk about how he would be untieing himself from his businesses before he takes office. he did tweet that he will do it before he's inaugurated. back with me now, ryan

. >> so, joining me now is ambassador james jeffrey, former ambassador to iraq and turkey, former nationalecurity adviser. thank you for being with us, ambassador. let's talk about putvladimir pu and what could have motivated putin to take such aggressive action. two spy agencies starting in 2015, then 2016 the fsb and the gru, then both going after democratic national committee material, and then specific material to john podesta in the clinton campaign, and then the putin decision, which was the most aggressive decision, to turn it over to wikileaks and put it all over there. we're not suggesting it affected the outcome of the election. that's something donald trump seems to be seizing on. we're talking about interfering with the democratic process, creating disruption. >> andrea, thank you for having me. i met recently twice with senior advisers to putin and in the bush administration i was in meetings with putin. two things are in play here. one is he really does want to overturn the existing post-cold war order that the united states and our friends have set up around the world of col

james jeffreys, former u.s. ambassador to iraq and turkey aben eric schmidt is a writer who focuses on terrorism and national security. from what we learned in just the last 24 hours, there's a question 'whether or not german investigators may have botched part of this. because of what we knew, what erin mcloughlin just laid out for us, what they knew of this suspect, anis amri, before monday. was it botched? >> it sounds like there was definitely a huge mistake. it's not clear if a judge made this mistake. he was held in an immigration court. there was an issue about who he actually was and whether they had correct identification for him. he was released. i don't know if law enforcement, the police bear blame for that as well as the judge but that was in august and he was out of custody. there's new reports from the "new york times" might know more about this, in the "times" he was also known to american officials, he had looked up online how to create sploexplos and other things. >> eric, some of the reporting

i want to bring in james jeffrey. he's a former u.s. ambassador to iraq, that was during the obama administration. he also served in the bush administration as well. george w. bush. mr. ambassador, good to see you sir, thanks for being with me. what are we likely to hear from the outgoing secretary of state here next hour? >> we will hear almost nothing of substance. just a reiteration of what has been standing u.s. policy over the past 20 years. this speech is an exercise in ego, nothing more. what is significant is the u.n. vote because that represents a dramatic and problematic change in u.s. policy towards the israeli/palestinian problem. >> let's talk about that. because that continues to be a major point of contention. the white house insisting that this is not a sharp departure from previous policy. but many, including yourself, say it obviously is. explain how it is. >> certainly. there's no doubt that u.s. policy has long been that the israeli settlements in palestinian territories and in jerusalem are not helpful for the peace

let's bring in james jeffrey, u.s. ambassador to iraq in 2010-2012.h have long resumes related to supremacy work. can a man who runs an oil company run the state department? >> we're going to have to wait and see. one thing that is clear is that the state department is not an oil company. the responsibilities and requirements for success as a diplomat are quite different than one would look at for a top oil official or top business man. so without knowing very much about mr. tillerson, i think we'll have to wait and see whether he has the right -- whether he has the right makeup to be a successful diplomat. >> you have some doubts. what about you? >> well, first, i served as adviser to exxon. i'm not completely unbiased. i absolutely think that somebody with this background can be a fine secretary of state. we don't take our secretary of state from the ranks of diplomacy for better or for worse. we take them from the military, from politics, law, business and academia. and the people who do best are the people who have the trust in the president and t

ambassador to russia alexander vershbow and james jeffrey, former ambassador to turkey and iraq as wellational security advisor. ambassador jeffrey, let me begin with you, do you think these sanctions were justified? >> certainly the sanctions on russia were justified by every account we've had from the intelligence community and lots of other evidence that people who know how the russians work have documented, yes. they definitely -- was justified. >> do you think they should remain in place under a trump administration? >> well, it's a one-shot thing. what happens is when you throw out diplomats, new ones will come in and replace them. two offsite houses may go away, but the russians are find ways to compensate. this is a one-time thing, but a pretty dramatic one. >> ambassador vershbow, put this in perspective for us. how significant is this in terms of the long relationship between russia and the united states? >> this is quite a significant move by the administration. and i agree that it's totally justified. because the russians have based on the evidence we have and i think the in

. >> i have spoken with jeffrey often and he remained supportive >> james is no longer welcome in this building if he is granted relief. a third man, 29-year-old max gemma, son of the ex- mayor was arrested earlier this month after turning himself into police in connection to the same murder. pled not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering the investigation. the victim was laid to rest in his hometown last month. >> still i am excited to share a holiday story about a family who is carrying out your vision of blue friday thinking the men in women in uniform who make a selfless sacrifice to protect all us. >> we just want to say thank you to the cops and the police and law-enforcement everywhere. >> they are notorious for doing a grandiose christmas lights display but this year they turned their home and to attribute for police and they thought it was a great time to do so given all the tension between the community and pleased that we see throughout the country. their messages all lives matter. >> all lives matter to our people. this is our way of saying thank you to the police

james marks. basil smikle, jeffrey lord. basil. trump already has three generals. he's interviewing more. too much? >> it looks like it initially. as a friend of my said to me today he said he feels like we're in ancient rome or something. because he didn't understand why there was this emphasis on the military background in the cabinet. but look on the one hand it seems freudian for donald trump to say i'm smarter than the generals and then hires all of these generals. i think he's just attracted to the skill set. obviously if you are in the military you get to that rank, you are an incredible manager and you know how to work with a lot of different moving parts. i think the concern some voters have are going to be can they understand the politics. and the constituencies. >> you served with these generals. >> flynn, mattis all these guys. >> and you think it is a good thing to have roman style, world war ii style military leadership? >> that is what basil's buddy said, i haven't met. no, but the point is, let's be frank. that is where the experience lies. over the course of the last 16 y

louis fed president, james bullard, changed his outlook because of the recent rise in bond yields and now says there is a need for an additional hike next year. jeffreyacker said the central bank will likely need to increase rates at a faster pace than its current outlook would suggest. >>> it was a promise donald trump made on the campaign trail. the u.s. should rip up the north american free trade agreement known as nafta. he also talked about slapping a 35% tax on mexican-made vehicles imported into the u.s. and now as phil lebeau reports, we're getting some fresh analysis on how much that would drive up auto costs and possibly hurt the auto economy. >> reporter: mexican auto plants are running at a record pace. since 2009, the number of cars and trucks built south of the border has soared, and will soon top 4 million. with almost half of those being shipped up to the u.s. that bothers donald trump. and he wants automakers to build more in the u.s. even threatening to slap a 35% tax on mexican-made vehicles. what would happen if the president-elect did that? the center for automotive research estimates the cost of the average vehicle built in mexi

presidents as former cia director james woolsey has said, presidents take these briefings in different fashions. president clinton -- >> yes, but they take them, jeffreylinton did not do them in person. he read them and -- >> he still took -- jeffrey, he still took the information on a daily basis. do you understand? what your president is saying is he's not even going to take the information. >> let's let jeffrey finish. >> sally, if i am going to tell you the sun is hot, do i need to tell you tomorrow? or the next day? or the next day? or the next day? >> again, the glibness -- only in trump's world, the glibness with which you are taking -- you're supposed to be the party that's strong on national security. you're supposed to be the party that's tough on these things. it was the republicans who bashed president obama for not being tough enough on putin. >> i am going to enjoy the next four years as much as you enjoyed the last eight. >> come on. >> i'm going to end it there. jeffrey around -- >> merry christmas, carol. >> still to come in the "newsroom," the long shot planned to block donald trump from ever taking the presidency. what a slew of ele

jeffrey. >> went off to found revolution messaging which helped develop the digital engine of the bernie sanders' campaign. on my left which have nate, the james b. mclachey professor at stanford law school on the machine of democracy, fund raising, campaign finance, and has looked at the impact of digital technology on that. let me start there because nate, you just helped to organize a similar discussion of this year's campaign, particularly the role of digital technology out on the other coast in silicon valley in the heart of the beast. we heard that mentioned this morning. let me ask you -- i'll ask each of you to pick this up in succession. how technology -- give us an overview how technology was used in the 2016 campaign, set a baseline for the discussion here, and what was new this year? 2004 was the year e-mail, what was 2016? and lastly, how is it that the campaign that was widely perceived as the much more digitally sophisticated campaign bringing in the expertise of obama 2008 and 2012 didn't prevail as technology and other things. let me start with you for that overview. then i'll ask you, scott and joe to start of look at that fr