john nixon to you first. russia took an unpredictable route. the predictable route would have been this tit for tat, perhaps matching sanctions, expelling people. what's your interpretation of why vladimir putin took this route? >> why should he not take this route? all he has to do is wait 20 days then he has a new president of the united states to deal with and a president whom, for all intense and purposes, he's probably going to get alo pg with great. >> and so david in your view is the public message, one that's very different than internally what may be taking place in russia as it pertains to vladimir putin? >> let's be clear, putin is trying to come across as magnanimous, reasonable, moderate, but he authorized the hacking in the united states. so president obama, what he did yesterday was simply to retaliate for the russian hacking. had putin responded to obama's measures yesterday he would have been escalating this situation not retaliating for it so i think putin has certainly orchestrated this response today. what the foreign minist

it is written by john nixon, the cia analyst who interrogated saddam hussein after his capture 13 years. nixon reveals that much of what the cia believed they knew about saddam hussein at the time of the invasion was wrong. during his interrogation, hussein revealed that by 2003 he had largely turned over power to his aides so he could concentrate on writing a novel. there was no program of weapons of m mass destructction. amy: saddam hussein was also deeply critical of al qaeda and other islamist groups inspired by wahhabism. in fact, hussein told nixon that he felt the united states and iraq were natural allies in the fight against extremism. during the interrogation, saddam hussein also had a warning for the united states about iraq. he said -- "you are going to fail. you are going to find that it is not so easy to govern iraq. you are going to fail in iraq because you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the arab mind." well joining us now is , former cia analyst john nixon, author of the new book, "debriefing the president: the interrogation of saddam hu

former cia analyst john nixon is here, an author of the new book "debriefing the president.he interrogation of saddam hussein." thank you for telling you story. >> i'm well. how about yourself? >> tell us about that. how did this all begin? >> well i was asked to come out to baghdad and to work on helping find saddam hussein and when we found him i was asked to identify him and i subsequently spent several weeks debriefing him afterwards. >> and you say this is still a man many of us don't understand. what did you learn about him during the interrogation process in. >> debriefing him produced a lot of surprises. first and foremost was that at the very end of his reign he had become largely detached from running the government. he was really busy writing novels at the time and he was not the master manipulator that we thought he was. >> so you get called to iraq and get called out to actually id him. what was that like? >> fascinating. i was looking for certain tribal markings that he had on his hands and wrist area. and i was also looking for a bullet wound that he suffered

they can help each other, if they work together. >> john nixon, thanks very much. >> thanks.cinating book. >> thank you. >> coming up, debbie reynolds, carrie fisher wit eer and broke. type 2 diabetes. listen up. we're not professional athletes... but that doesn't mean we're giving up. i'm in this for me. for me. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes, lowering a1c by up to 1.2 points. do not take if allergic to farxiga. if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking and seek medical help right away. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine, or pain while you urinate. farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and kidney problems. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have signs of k

cia analyst john nixon has written a book detailing that encounter called "debriefing the president: the interrogation of saddam hussein." he joins us now. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> you had the rare opportunity to spend time with the iraqi dictator when he was at the lowest point in his life, disheveled after u.s. forces found him in that hole in the ground where he was hiding. you spent months with him and had many conversations. did you find him to be defiant or humbled by the events that led to his capture. >> he was really both. in the beginning he was defiant. but over time he was also a little bit humbled. he had to adjust himself to his new surroundings. he was able to adjust himself very quickly. he was a man of many surprises. >> i found it very interesting in your book that you talk about the opportunities that you had to spar with him over his brutal methods, debated history and leadership. did you find him at all to be a man with intellect, or was he simply consumed with having power? >> he was a man who didn't have a deep intellect, but he

martha: new book coming out this month that reveals startling details about saddam hussein, john nixonptured in 2003, he found hussein to be clueless even thinking 9/141 -- 9/11 would bring america and iraq closer. pretty interesting revelations in this book. >> they are, martha. one of the biggest quotes, saddam was busy writing novels in 2003. he turned day-to-day operations to lieutenants. cia had evidence to that effect before the invasion, but it was never relayed to policymakers after the war. nixon also said saddam told him this, you were going to fail, you were going to find that it's not so easy to govern iraq. when i told him why i was curious, he replied, you were going to fail in iraq because he did not know the language or history and the arab mind. he complaint about cuts an bruises, pretty hard to take when you think about the brutality against his own people. par mar fascinating, looks like a great read, thanks, caroline. bill: shirtless vladimir putin, who doesn't want to say that, right, martha. latest edition of saturday night light. >> since it is christmas after al

. >>> former cia interrogator john nixon claims that saddam hussein complained of bumps and bruises duringinal years that saddam was in power he was more concerned about writing novels than governing. he was put to death in 2006 for crimes against humanity. >>> a veterans body left to decompose in a virginia hospital left -- va hospital left there for nine hours after he died. the report pointing out the blatant lack of respect of that deceased veteran who died while in hospice care. this is the latest. >>> a real life scrooge stirring up a christmas carole controversy. the customer leaving this note in the back of a receipt in st. augustine. writing, quote, christmas music was offensive. consider playing holiday music or less religious themed. he joined ainsley earlier to explain how people are responding. >> i've never seen so much encouragement. our facebook feed, our emails from the restaurant, everything, people are like please keep it up. thank for taking a stand. >> the restaurant will keep playing those festive tunes. it's called michael's tasting room. check it out. >> that's a go

joining us now, former cia analyst john nixon.rnment following his capture in iraq. john is the author of the new book "debriefing the president, the interrogation of saddam hussein." it's great to meet you. we were all reading this last night. an extraordinary book. you can't put it down. let's talk about the context first. this is a man you had been studying for a long time waiting for this moment to have him captured. the news comes across to you that they have saddam hussein. you say holy smok it's saddam hussein. what was your first interaction with him? you walk in the room and there he is? >> yes. all of a sudden the door opened and he was sitting there. i was brought out to identify him. you know, i was looking for certain things like tribal tattoos and a scar but to be honest with you, the second i laid eyes on him i knew it was him. i had been watching videotape of him and pictures of him for years. he was just sitting there. the funny thing is he was sort of like he was holding court. he almost acted as though they came

you don't have nixon to kick around any more. john again and you know what happened eight years later. [applause] i didn't say that trying again always brought us good things, just that it works for a lot of people. also trying again made my career possible. >> on the abc newsmagazine 2020 with hugh downs. john: i became a minor celebrity by working on 2020. you should have seen that for show. >> robert hughes is not exactly a household name. john: that for show was so bad about fired the host the next day but then abc tried again and succeeded. i worked there for 28 years but i failed because i couldn't convince abc to keep letting me do more reports like this one. >> stop kidding yourself about your child's school. we will teach you a thing or two about being a student in america and how we cheat our kids. john: my abc boss said we don't want her back. that's libertarian propaganda. we want stories on things like enlargement so i left. a failure? i wouldn't say that but no said kirk thomas on twitter and answer to our question about

what richard nixon did, he did the honorable classy thing, no recount, i am not putting the country through this. johnkennedy won the election. you would think at the very least that barack obama and harry reid should follow the example of richard nixon. i mean, it is pathetic. donald trump won. it is not going to change, the electoral college is going to vote him in. all of the recounts, two of them so far, michigan and i believe wisconsin say that he's won. it's over. they should work with him or rebuild the democratic party to try to win the base that they lost. they lost the white working class voter, they're mad about it. they lost them because they ignored that segment of the population for many years, not just the last 8 years. this has been going on in the democratic party where they sold out, for example, west virginia coal miners in favor of new york environmentalists. they paid the price big time now. they lost. >> you know, we talked a lot about wall streeters, not monolithically republican, say let them keep talking about it, let them keep shifting the blame, they'll never get their act t

and yet, eisenhower couldn't get his vp nixon elected john kennedy won, barack obama couldn't get his secretary of state hillary clinton elected. he got donald trump. but it's a fascinating eight years of obama. i think he will get fairly high marks for being able to run the white house as well as he did. >> mark, your thoughts? >> again, i think president obama, first you say he's 95% successful among african-americans popularity ratings, that is impressive but that is his base. the question is how does the broader american public see him. in some ways he's normalized the idea of a black president, normalized the idea of a black family in the white house. that does have extraordinary psychological value. i never want to understate that. to some extent he's made enormous inroads but again, for me, it's not just about representation. it's about policy. on the one hand, he's been extraordinary and in other ways, history will be really the thing that tells us who and what barack obama is and was to every day people but especially the vulnerable. >> have to leave it there. thanks to beth

nixon white house. do you buy the idea that donald trump is implementing his own version of what is known as the madman theory? >> absolutely. and john, please understand. it didn't start with nixon. it goes back a long way. macc machiavelli 500 years ago -- and i do think donald trump embraced the theory. he talks regularly of henry kissinger and kissinger often talks about this of a way of controlling events. i would say couple of words of caution about when it's used. in the nixon case it was in the context of a well-thought through strategy that nixon and henry kissinger advised and they constantly talked through together about that. and the secondarily, nixon used it sparingly to tell penaople, don't try to corner me. they didn't use it widely. you do want to make sure your friends know you are a reliable ally. that you are not erratic. and you want some of your enemies to know you are pretty constant in what you are trying to pursue but if you try to corner us, watch out. >> it is a much more complicated situation right now. it is not the united states very communism. it is not biep lar. there are so many actors at so many time

john f. kennedy's opponent in the 1960s election became president in 1969 and nixon dubiously made sure he didn'tdo john f. kennedy policy so your first policy, going off the gold standard and raising the capital gains tax rates and goes this regulation and spending so here's an interpretive passage that we write about the 1960s and 70s, the assassination we right of november 1963 provided an enormous short-term boost to tax cuts passed in 1964. it was fatal to it in the long term. the assassination was so shocking that the opponents of kennedy's legislative agenda had to submit on at least one path kennedy goal out of due respect for the leader, the obvious choice was the tax cut. once that was enacted all leverage was lost on blocking civil rights, kennedy's other big initiative. in the long term however, kennedy passed in 1963 deprived the tax cut of its principal exponent articulator and enforcer. the cerebral tone that kennedy brought to the question of the tax cut , you heard about it in the new york speech, kennedy's commitment to thinking through the real economic effects of the tax cuts

john kelly, he admires his appearance. to them, they embody what trump sees in a trump secretary of state. >> you know who's like this? you know who's like this? nixon was in love with john connelly, because he looked like secretary of the treasury. you're laughing at me! you think i'm off something here? >> no! >> this is a television guy. >> he looks like a television guy. who looks like -- romney, huntsman. >> they look the part. anyway, let's talk about something. we all like uncle joe. joe biden said he's going to run for president in 2020. >> we all love joe biden, but this seems unlikely to me. >> i mean, 2020, he'll be 78 years old. that's got to be the person ever running for -- >> he'll just be beating the house leadership at the turn. because they're all older than him. clyburn's older than him, pelosi's older than him. they're all older than biden. >> really? >> don't argue with me. i just checked it, because they were taking heat in this case. 77, 76, 78. it's unbelievable. >> the democrats have to eventually move on to a new generation. >> when would that be? >> this might be the moment. >> maybe after a huge bruising loss. >> i don't

my film would have, it was about, i would indict richard nixon, jonathan, others who led -- john mitchelland others who led the major attack against my organization in 1969. when i researched and found the watergate tapes. nixon used to record all of his telephone calls and all of that. boom.boom, you remember that? i found it in the voice of richard m. nixon. [imitating president nixon] now, j. edgar, you have to move on the black panthers. that was in the voice of the president of the united states. he was giving directions to j edgar hoover to get rid of and move on these black panthers. that year, my black panther officers were attacked all over this country. in the beginning of that year, nixon was up on national television saying that by the end of the year, we will be rid of these black panthers. this is a concerted effort. when nixon was elected, he had to meet with j edgar hoover. in the first week or so of december was the first time that j edgar hoover was on national television, the black panthers are the threat to the security of america. the black panthers, the only reason t

there was a wonderful sentence uttered by attorney general john mitchell, who was an intimate of president richard nixonshortly after nixon took the presidency in 1969. and he said, watch what we do, not what we say. and this is, i think, words of wisdom for the trump administration. watch what they do, not what donald trump or mike pence say in tweets or speeches or, you know, talking to a local businessman. let's see what they can actually accomplish. >> and it's interesting that you cite that example because of mr. trump's pick for labor secretary, which could be mr. puzder. he owns a lot of fast food restaurants. he's a big-time ceo. this is what he told me about mr. trump back in july. >> donald trump comes in, he's very authentic. this is who i am. this is what i am. i'm a rich guy, but i understand what you want. i know what you're feeling. i know blue collar people, i know working class people. and you -- with donald trump, you never doubt that you're getting exactly what you see. >> okay. so mr. trump says he feels the same way about mr. puzder, but mr. puzder is a billionaire. he's the ceo of

nixon was conspiring to safely talk with the south vietnamese and telling them to reject any peace overture from linda and john king. johnson found out about this and did use the word treason. he was talking -- and really talking to a summit on the phone who is an ally of nixon. if you listen to johnson's white house tapes, you'll notice that he starts a lot when he talks. it will always stand out to me from that research. lbj did consider using the logan act, but they did not fully have the evidence they needed to go public with that and not the point he decided it would be very bad for the country if the new president was coming in with this hanging over his head and kept it to himself. perhaps americans would've known better what they were getting it to have that come out. but they learned eventually. >> joseph mccarthy, that era and the name ray cohen comes to mind. did you write about him? he it turns out was a big time mentor to our president elect. >> i did not. i believe he got mentioned only in passing because in this mishap chapter about the mccarthy era and have you no sense of decency, sir, the fam

nixon and general ford administration. it they were part of the president -- they were part of the president's daily briefing. up next, a discussion with cia director john brennan and james clapper about the newly released documents. the richard nixon presidential library in nexen foundation hosted this event. it is an hour and a half. >> good afternoon, everyone. on behalf of all of my colleagues, i want to welcome you to today's event titled the president's daily brief. my name is joe lambert and i am the director at the cia and i'll be your agency for today's event. events like this take a lot of work, and i want to take a second technology efforts of the cia officers who reviewed and declassified these 28,000 pages over the last year. they were assisted by a number of intelligence agencies. but one in

. >> and john dean, the former white house council to president richard nixon said that the full intelligence briefing should be available to the electors before they make their vote on the 19th of december. malcolm nance, donald trump in "time" magazine said the following about russia's intervention in the election, and this is someone who's been receiving intelligence briefings himself. he said i don't believe they interviewed, they became a laughing point. not a talking point, a laughing point, any time i do something, they say oh, russia interfered. it could be russia and it could be china and it could be some gir in his home in new jersey. when asked if he thought the conclusions of american spies were politically driven. he said i think so. malcolm, you have an incoming president of the united states essentially undermining his own intelligence agencies, essentially to defend russia, what do you make of that? >> this is just absolutely astounding, and it is disgraceful that donald trump insults the hard working tens of thousands of men and women in the u.s. intelligence community who ar

director john brennan and james clapper about the newly released documents. the richard nixon presidential library in nexen foundation hosted this event. it is an hour and a half. >> good afternoon, everyone. on behalf of all of my colleagues, i want to welcome you to today's event titled the president's daily brief. my name is joe lambert and i am the director at the cia and i'll be your agency for today's event. events like this take a lot of work, and i want to take a second technology efforts of the cia officers who reviewed and declassified these 28,000 pages over the last year. they were assisted by a number of intelligence agencies. but one in particular deserves to go thanks and that is the national security agency. we are very fortunate once again to have two people with us who know more about the president's daily brief and that is the director of the cia john brennan are and john clapper. . both the been supportive of intelligence transparency efforts. director clapper has instituted an intelligence transparency council. is like today would not happen without the su

john f. kennedy's popular vote er richard nixon was just under 118,000.here would have been a powerful incentive to challenge the result in many of the nations precincts. he writes the following, the 48 elections since 1824 have produced 18 presidents who received less than 50% of the popular vote. 39.9%m lincoln received in 1860. on monday, when the electors cast their votes actually making donald trump president-elect, do not blame the excellent electoral vote system that was other aspectsmany of the american system. from california, linda, the press line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have grave concerns about donald trump. on the electoral college issue whether that is good or bad. i think the popular vote speaks for itself. my biggest fear is that in looking at the cabinet choices, they are not representative of our population. the overall diversity. my biggest concern is his rhetoric. there is no discussion of the issues. it was all about things being terrific and wonderful, which does not have any substance to it. the hackin

we talk about nixon, we talk about kissinger, we talk about john quincy adams.want to invoke a name we have not yet invoked, and that of course is donald trump. one of the interesting things about grand strategy is the way in which it strikes me our discussions are often time becomes catchphrases. we like to narrow down grand strategies as a way to instruct others. and we come away with lines that are useful and not particularly deep and not often subject to analysis. the way we should evaluate a grand strategist is not by what they say, but also by what they value and subsequently accomplished. this is why i bring up trump. if one listens to what trump says, much of it, not all of it, but much of it sounds remarkably prudent and obvious, and therefore probably right upon first glance. it is only after you subsequently feel that the surface and think about it do you see the problems. from his foreign-policy address in washington, he suggested in the same speech we need to be steadfast and always upfront and reliable for our allies. he then turned around the and

john f. kennedy. somebody that he's attracted to that felt that kennedy still has credence today. and then i asked him about knowing presidents like richard nixone stories about how they got to know each other, and his relationship with jimmy carter. and even a little bit about barack obama. so i've kind of went through the galaxy of presidents. he said -- told me he's excited to sleep in the lincoln bedroom. his first night -- >> let me say about the current president because there's been some contention and now he's saying the transition is going well. >> he likes him. he likes him very much and feels that he's been helpful and that the transition couldn't be going better. staff level. and personally he seems to have been -- a bit taken with president obama's intelligence, and willingness to develop a relationship with him. on the other land, bill and hillary clinton, he feels like he's known them for a long time, there's nothing new, really, that he's going to be learning from them at this moment in time. so he made it seem like his relationship with president obama is healthy right now. >> in the context of, you know, really being a leading

at state, john bolton's name continues to be bounced around, but a new name into the mix this weekend, steven hadley, who, of course, first started working in republican administrations for nixon then worked on gerald ford's national security council. also, of course, spent a lot of time working for reagan and working for george w. bush. hadley would be, many washington insiders would absolutely love the idea of having him as rex tillerson's number two, if, in fact, tillerson is confirmed, but that certainly would be seen as a steady hand and somebody that could really help tillerson do what the trump administration wants to get done across the globe. but the word i'm hearing over the weekend is, that this is no longer going to be a decision that's going to be made solely by donald trump, that he's looking to defer to rex tillerson and basically says rex tillerson is going to be making this choice. if, in fact, that's the case, then certainly a lot of people inside suggest that pushes john bolton even further away from the number two slot over at the state department. >> those number two jobs are, obviously, huge, but mccormick and hadley, you couldn't have two names that woul

john: 1.i would make that's also quite important. this is not unprecedented for u.s. president. richard nixon had a madman theory. negotiation is about confusing your opponents and then making sure they're not really fully aware of your intentions. that could be part of this as well. david: people who have may not read richard's memoir, there was a 10% chance that he was crazy and it would make khrushchev back off. john: it is not unknown for u.s. presidents. michael: the hard part is that he has two audiences. one is plain to china and the other is playing to the u.s. base. they are the ones that he promised he would impose sections on china. how far can he go to satisfy or dissatisfy both sides? alix: who has the upper hand at the end of the day? hard onarted twitter, but who has the upper hand? michael: the chinese do not need us as mr. trump thinks they do and we don't need the chinese as much as they think we do. alix: john and michael mckee, thanks for joining us. emma chandra with our first word is. the: shinzo abe will be first sitting president to visit pearl harbor. wednesday is the 75th anniversary of