leon panetta, to you first, yo reaction when you learned secretary mattis resigned.t >> i thoughts a day for the nation to lose an outstanding defense secretary l o is well experienced with regards to natiocurity policy and also believed in the basicrinciples of leadership, of strength, of our alliances of understanding who ourad rsaries are, principles that i think have served this country well sincworld war ii. to lose that experience, to lose somebody with those principles, i think, increases the danger in this country o not having the ability to de o with a lotf tairng points in the world meday, and that concerns because i think it puts our nation at risk. woodruff: richard haass, do you agree it puts the nation at risk? >> well, it's certainly a major loss. he was experienced, hwas sober. he represented, essentially, traditional foreign policy. i'll admit my bias, i think it served this country extraordinarily well for three-quarters of a century, so witht him there, it can't be good. but i also tell you, judy, i wasn't surprised th lt heeft. clearly he calculated quite a while

dependability, and that might be the greatt consequence of the last few days. >> woodruff: so leon panettacretary panetta, i mean, what could be done, i mean, givene what wearing from you and from richard haass and a number of others, is there anything that can be done to eithere correct urse the country is on under this president's foreign policy or to modify it or to some way -- in some way keep there happening what i hear you two decribing as real danger down the road? >> well, for all the reasons richard described is why i think our nation is at risk right now. there was some comfort in having jim mattis, th secretary of defense, having john kelly as chief of staff, mike pompeo secretary of state, of having so stability within the oval office that could at least operate as check with this president. i think the only key here is going to be whether or not he's willing to appoint somebody as secretary of defense who believes in the principles that jim mattis espoused in his letter and that he was about and recognizing that that person would probably face the same kind of situation but at

leon panetta joins us now.u. >> nice to be with you. >> neil: i know nigel hamilton wrote of you, that to be a great leader, a modern president has to have a great chief of the staff. in leon panetta, bill clinton got the enforcer he deserved. that came in 1994 when bill clinton wanted to restore order to all over the map, pizza at 1:00 a.m. and people undisciplined. he needed that. there you came. the pizza reference has nothing to do with your italian heritage. so i want to get your sense of the type of person that would have to come in and do the same for donald trump. >> well, neil, i think the most important thing is that there really has to be a relationship between the president and whoever he selects as chief of staff. it's very important that there be a relationship of trust where the chief of staff trusts the president and the president trusts the chief of staff. also that the president is willing to empower the chief of staff not only to implement a strong chain of command within the staff but also t

allies and and former defense secretary leon panetta joins us next.: with everything that is going on in washington, we want to get perspective from someone who worked in this town since the the nixon administration. lee on leon panetta was bill clinton's chief of staff and served as cia director and defense secretary under president barack obama. welcome to "fox news sunday." >> nice to be with you, chris. chris: you lived through the uproar over vietnam. you lived over the crisis of watergate. how much trouble is the trump presidency in right now? >> well, it is one of those moments, if you're in the white house where you really have to look at the situation and try to do what you can to try to provide a little better stability for the country. there is, there is just, too much chaos, too many crises going on. i think it is very upsetting for the country, for our economy, for the world. i just think that, i think this is moment where the president really has to focus on what steps need to be taken in order to provide a little better stability for th

we talk exclusively to leon panetta about who might >>> i think that president trump really thinks that he could be his own chief of staff. >> right now at 6:00, we talk to leon panetta about who might fill the same divorce.ne wake f butte county. why critics say it is too little too late. >>> a bomb threat at facebook headquarters in menlo park. the threat was called into the new york police department, the nypd notified the menlo park police department. you are seeing activity from down below. it is building 29 which is a converted warehouse. evacuations are under way. this is causing a huge backup on 101. you can see it here, this is at 1 101 and marsh road. expect major delays. we are going to keep a close eye on this story. we'll bring you more updates throughout this news cast. >>> he comes the drones and the inspectors. pg&e will be inspecting

katty: leon panetta, formerf ch staff to president bill clinton, thanks for joining us from california mr. panetta: good to be with you. laura: you are watching "bbc world news america." t still to come ight's "time" magazine puts the focus on journalists with the latest person of the year issue. we will hear about two men in myanmar who are in jail for their work. the father of the murdered british backpacker has visited the place where her body was found on the outskirts of the city of oakland. he took part in a traditional maori blessin ceremony alongside grace's uncle and a members of the new zealand police force. police are searching the area for more evidence will hear his hywel griffith with this report from auckland. hywel: memorial for grace on the banks in new zealand's south island, backpackers joining local people for the first of several vigils. among them was joshua, a friend of grace's brother, who planned to meet with a 22-year-old during her travels. grace disappeared on december 1. what started as a missing person's inquiry became a murder investigation. the 26-year-o

and then with leon panetta in that role to help with government. trump has not figured it out. and right now and then headed to the exit that is falling apart between trump and kelly. it is a watershed moment and for those moderates or any to ride a different narrative. and then for trump to reach out to find his own equivalent of james baker the third or a leon panetta somebody with gravitas and then to tell trump what he doesn't want to hear. one is that trump has no desire to have that type of person but if he is smart that mike pompeo seems to be able to tell trump stuff that he does not like. and in my mind i have been very critical of kelly as you know, and then to have white house chief of staff. . >> you cannot go into a room with vladimir putin for two and a half hours there stuff you cannot do. nobody's in a position to tell donald trump those hard truths. he desperately needs that kind of person and james a-letter baker the third and social security reform is the third rail. don't touch it you will be electrocuted. try cutting taxes but not interested to have that sh

leon panetta joins me, ahead. ♪ ♪ this holiday season, families near you need your help.edcross.org now to donate. he said i have at least ten, 12, 12 people that want it badly. i'm in no rush. a lot of people want it. joining me, leon panetta. thank you for being with us. do you believe him when he says that? >> i think when it comes to appointing a chief of staff, you won't just that you will a name out of a hat. if they're going to appoint someone to be chief to the president and someone who can perform the role of chief of staff, it has to be someone that the president trusts and that person can trust the president. i don't care how many want this job. it won't work. we've been talking about it from the beginning of this white house. and you have raised red flags that have all proved to be accurate. steve bannon made point that the white house has known about this change for months and now they're having this, in his words, audition call in the middle of the time the democrats are, again, in his words gearing up to take the president down. is this something they shoul

white hou >> then we'll get perspective from a washington veteran, former secretary of defense leon panetta. and is president trump opening himself up to possible 2020 challenge, we talk with ohio republicanr governor john kasic. and we'll ask our sunday panel about new splits on capitol hill. now on fox news sunday. >> hello, from fox news in washington. we're in to day two of a partial government shut down with no end in s sight, that is part of a turbulent week in washington even by president trump standards. shutdown's main sticg point, funding for president trump's border wall. the financial markets rattled by uncertainty over the shutdown, trade tensions with china and rising interest rates. then there is the fallout from mr. trump's decision to pull troops out of syria and that lead defensee secretary james mattis to resign. fter members scurried home late yesterday when it became clear there was no prospect of a deal before christmas. late saturday leaders of both chambers decided to adjourn until thursday. the day had begun with only faint hope of finding common ground on a deal to

we'll get perspective from a washington veteran, former secretary of defense leon panetta. is president trump opening himself up to a possible 2020 challenge? we'll talk with ohio's republican governor john kasich, a frequent trump critic. plus we'll ask our sunday panel about new splits between the president and the gop on capitol hill. all right now on "fox news sunday." ♪ hello again from fox news in washington. we are in to day two of a partial government shutdown with no end in sight but that is just part of a turbulent week in washington even by trump standards. the shutdown's main sticking point, funding for president trump's border wall. the financial markets rattled by uncertainty over the shutdown, trade tensions with china and rising interest rates. then there is the fallout from mr. trump's decision to pull troops out of syria and afghanistan, that led defense secretary james mattis to resign. in a moment we'll speak with the president's new chief of staff, mick mulvaney but first let's get the latest from doug mckelway here in washington. doug. reporter: good m

>> reporter: when i first met leon panetta, i was a rookie reporter. when he left congress, he went to be the office of management and budget. and then tapped by the president in becoming the chief of staff. >> the most important part is having a good relationship with the president. and secondly, the president has to accept some of the discipline that has to be imposed by the chief of staff. >> reporter: leon panetta, says the difference today is that trust is missing. >> i think president trump really believes that he can be his own chief of staff. when you are a staff person, it makes it difficult to work for somebody who has no use for what you are doing or the advice you are giving. >> reporter: says panetta, if the president wants to get things in the two years, there needs to be a change. >> if he is a bully and dealing with people the way he dealt with him as a new york developer, things are going to be tough. >> reporter: have the president listen. >> that's the most important thing about being chief of staff. and if they can't find somebody w

it is -- you just heard leon panetta. it is -- this is now becoming something we are hearing again and again and again. are you worried? >> well, it's been a terrible week for donald trump, no question about it. i can't speak to syria and the foreign policy issues because that's not my expertise. but look, i mean, when you talk about the wheels coming off, we've got the strongest economy we've had in 20 years, notwithstanding -- >> why'd the market go down 1,700 points in the past 5 trading days? >> because of this catastrophic decision by the fed which, by the way, trump was right about this. he called out the fed back in september. remember, he said this was a mistake and he was right. now if anybody should be resigning -- if anyone should resign from office, it should be the chairman of the federal reserve, who made an -- even while he was talking and the stock market went down by 600 points, it was a real disaster. now, look, the real economy remains really strong. i mean, we still have 7 million more jobs than people

weapon systems then teresa made announces a delay in the house of commons on the racks that vote leon panetta former cia director join former trumper administration national security advisor mcmaster to discuss the role of the us military around the world and global hotspots. >>host: this week on "the communicators" we want to introduce you to author of the government accountability office report on weapon system cybersecurity, christina chaplain. what is the overarching find in your report dealing with weapons and cybersecurity? >> we look at weapons in the development process and what we found is many are vulnerable to be hacked there very vulnerable to cyberattacks in general as they try to penetrate it was relatively easy to do so. a lot of the time it was physical like password management with patch updating and things like that. it is a grim situation they are taking a lot of action recognizing there is a problem but there is a long road ahead of them but the cyberhygiene to take it seriously. >>host: the senate armed services committee requested this report. >>host: both senator reid a

we'll get the latest and hear from leone panetta, coming up. with advil liqui-gels, what stiff joints? what bad back? advil is... relief that's fast. strength that lasts. you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels. this is big! t-mobile is offering the awesome iphone xr, with an unlimited plan, for just $40 bucks a month. unlimited. with the new iphone xr?! yeah! iphone xr included. for $40 bucks?! that is big. >>> if you ever used to think of the oval office as a dignified place, today the reality of what it's become became clear. today the oval office was used as a backdrop, like the fake board on the set of "the apprentice." one of participants even questioned the president's manhood. the whole thing started when the president called cameras into the oval office during a meeting with house minority leader nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. he called the cameras in. it wasn't that they were accidentally there, and it was planned. the vice president was there, too. you wouldn't really know it, because he sat silently staring down at his hands

say hello to the former secretary of defense, leon panetta. [applause] >> former national security advisor, h.r. mcmaster. [applause] >> former cia director mike morrell. thank you for being here today. please go ahead and have a seat. we will get a picture. get together. we have to do this. it is mandatory. [laughter] have to make sure i follow the rules, especially in reagan's house. america's newsroom at 9:00 to noon, fox news channel, we take all viewers. you can tweet that if you want. one of the things i love about not guy is that his parents only immigrated from italy to the united states, but they did not choose acronyms like the morel family or cincinnati, they chose monterey, california. a walnut farm. you know what i call that? good research. well done. , as a fellowl buckeye, welcome. we can debate the northern ohio/southern ohio aspect later. general mcmasters has a new book coming out set for release in 2020. my query is whether that is before or after november 3, 2020. >> it is before, but it is not what you think it is about. >

took bill clinton a year and a half to figure out needed leon panetta in that role to help him govern. trump has not figured that out. and i think that right now is kind of what john kelly presumably headed toward the exit, this is a bad marriage now is really falling apart. between trump and kelly. it's i think a watershed moment for this presidency. i think it's an opportunity for the moderates if there are any in this white house to try to write a different narrative. it's an opportunity for trump to reach out and find his own equivalent of a james baker the third or leon panetta, someone with gravitas and experience, somebody who's grounded enough to walk into the oval office, close the door and tell trump what he doesn't want to hear.now, there are a couple of obvious problems. one is that trump probably has no desire to hear, to have that sort of person. but if you were smart, he would try to find him. mike pompeo is a guy we seem to be able to tell from the that he doesn't like. there may be people who could actually perform the job. and in my mind, one of the reasons that i've

please join me in welcoming secretary leon panetta. [applause] >> dr. radley i turn it over to you. secretary panetta we can see. secretary panetta: good evening. fmr v.p. cheney: we are getting good at this. secretary panetta: we can do it on stage together or across different places in the country. we hope to have secretary panetta with us in another chair on the stage with some travel statistical glitches stranded him in california. he is in his office in monterey. the staff here in the community foundation who worked all day long to make sure that we had this hook up so that secretary panetta could join us this evening. i also want to thank the murtha foundation and a their commitment to sharing the legacy of john murtha and sharing the values of citizenship, engagement and making a difference. was a regular. i'm used to standing in class and when i talk in this casual living room setting, it is a little unusual for me. but he was committed to instilling in young people a commitment to public service and we are always got to have them in class. it is fitting that we welcome tonig

leon panetta was bill clinton's chief of staff and cia director and defense secretary after barack obamaary panetta joins us from california and welcome back to "fox news sunday" ." >> nice to be with you. >> chris: you lived through the uproar over vietnam, you lived to over the crisis of watergate, how much trouble is the term presidency in right no now? >> it is one of those moments if you're in the white house, you really have to look at the situation and try to do what you can to try to provide a little better stability for the countr country. there's too much gray chaos, cs going on pretty upsetting for the country and economy. i just think this is a moment where the president really has to focus on what steps need to be taken in order to provide a little bit of stability for the country. >> chris: when you look at the broad picture, the free fall in the markets, the government shutdown, the real disarray and now resignations when it comes to national security, have you ever seen this particular type of combination on all these different fronts? >> as you know, i've been in politic

say hello to the former secretary of defense, director of the cia, leon panetta. [applause] former national security advisor, retired lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster. [applause] director mike morell. gentlemen, thank you for being here today. we are going to get a quick picture. it was mandatory. 1, 2, 3. [laughter] to make sure that i follow the rules especially when i am in reagan's house. tweet that if you want. one of theys -- things i love about this guy right here is that his parents not only immigrated from italy to the united states but they did not choose akron or cincinnati but they chose monterey, california and a walnut farm. do you know what i call that? good research. well done. [laughter] ell as actor mor fellow buckeye, welcome and to general mcmaster, he has a new look out called "battlegrounds." before ors is that after november 3, 2020. lt. gen. mcmaster: it is before but it is not what you think it is about. bill: you could sell more books. lt. gen. mcmaster: some people told me that. bill: the first time i was here was for the passing of rona

next, former cia directors leon panetta and former trump administration advisor h.r.aster discuss how the u.s. can remain the preeminent military powerth

. >> and our chris wallace also talked to former white house chief of staff leon panetta who is alsof the president. let's take a listen to what he had to say on this. >> if you are in the white house where you really have to look at the situation and try to do what you can to try to provide a little better stability for the country there is just too much chaos. too many crises going on. chaos and crises going on. a lot of people resigning, of course, mattis, mcgurk. we hear there are other resignations from the defense department coming. what advice would you give president trump? and let me ask you, do you think the white house is in a state of crisis and chaos? >> well, white houses are also in the state of angst and so i'm not surprised that there is angst there. i do feel that the new chief of staff's first job is to reestablish a little bit of the stability that was there a few months ago when general kelly seemed to have things under control. i think there will be a little bit more turnover. there always is at the two year mark. but, frankly, people have to understand with all

he was director of public affairs at cia and a spokesperson for cia, prominently during the leon panetta years as director. he then went with director panetta over to the department of defense where he served as the assistant to the secretary for public affairs. many of you probably remember him appearing on television as the pentagon press secretary. please welcome george. [applause] >> our next panel member is the former acting general counsel of cia it's chief legal officer -- its chief legal officer through probably one of the most turbulent periods in our recent national history. he served as the chief legal officer for much of the time, from 2001 through about 2009. so you can all go through your historical rolodex in your mind and think about all the thicks that happened between -- the things that happened between 01 and 09. john was making the legal recommendations to the director of cia and leading staff of lawyers that made recommendations to the officers of the agency as they took on, you know, edgy operations in support of the defense of our country. so please, john, is is al

leon panetta went on to be the secretary. people started to ask questions. is it going to help me or hurt me? that's a question that would not have been asked. the 36-year-old ambitious republican operative and nobody doubts his political skill who said no, thanks. i think this might hurt my repetition more than it will help it. that says something about how the president treated his chiefs of staff and they emerged as diminished figures. that's more of a statement on the president than them. >> mark meadows may be chairman if he stays and the republicans take back the house. who knows what you will be doing in two more years. >> the president set them up and considered them obstacles or competitors. he shot holes in them. >> never the boss's responsibility. it's striking. up next for us, an overabundance of bread crumbs and the latest revelations and what they mean for the president. a quick update on another case. this is the case of the accused russian spy. she reached a plea deal with prosecutors. she is accused of trying to infiltrate the campaign to ad

former secretary of defense and ci net - - cia leon panetta. general hr mcmaster. former

kennedy: and that person's name was leon panetta. >> that person's name he asked me to keep it anonymouskennedy: that's fine. so what do you take away as a staff member of one of the bush white houses, of how both of these men treated their staff? >> well, i think that's probably the most important part in terms of leaders. so now generation x, now we're like heading into the point, where are the leaders. kennedy: yes, i know. >> you have to help. you have to reach down and help. you have to make them a part of it. be a really good listener and make it look like you care. it's not that hard. and a little note here and there, even if it's an e-mail, it makes a big difference i'm grateful that i had a chance to know them. i told my husband, without the bushes, there could be no me. i wouldn't be here. they gave me a lot of opportunity and i try not to take it for granted. kennedy: thank you so much for sharing your insight. i know that every show has wanted a piece of your perspective which is so incredibly rare given what this family has plishedz a accomplis. a. and the fact that that you

i think he did the right thing, unlike leon panetta and bob yates. when he could no longer support the president's policies he resigned, that is an honorable thing to do rather than staying, supporting bad policies and get out and write a book and salvage your own reputation. mattis did the right thing. shannon: a lot of people respect him for stepping up and saying he needed to say. if we don't see you, happy new year. >> glad to be with you. shannon: superlatives for the stock market going from the worst christmas eve trading day every to a couple days later the dow jones industrial average posting its biggest single day point gain ever. one of the lesser-known factors was a report from bloomberg news that the trump administration is kickstarting trade talks with china sending a high-level delegation to beijing on january 7th. christina joins us with more. >> reporter: you saw traders happy today, because of a rally compared to the worst ever plunge on monday. the dow closed up 1086 points, the largest single day point increase in history. you saw

leon panetta, talking with bill clinton when he got the job, they had their differences but it was aboutiscipline, a shepherding process to keep them on focus. some presidents recoil at that. >> yes. it's well known that president trump is something of an iconoclast when it comes to the model of a chief executive because he is a businessman, so he is accustomed very much of being the man in charge. i want to echo my friend robyn's praise of general kelly, who was incredible in public service. >> neil: if he's such a remarkable guy, why is he leaving? >> this is the kind of job that can grind very hard on anyone. especially -- >> neil: he didn't volunteer to leave. by all understanding, the president placed amount. >> do you know what, neil? i don't have a place on that. at the white house christmas party, general kelly was there, he was happily mingling with everyone. seem to be continual there. i agree with robyn and i agree with you that whoever chooses this job does need to be able to work closely with those who are closest to the president and be able to collaboratively challenge the

neil: that is no easy task, coming from leon panetta served as bill clinton's chief of staff.ck in 1994, bill clinton's administration seemed to be tumbling, going nowhere fast, clinton reached out to the former house budget committee chief, i need guidance and discipline here. we're all over the map. we don't have a cogent message. leon panetta instilled that discipline, made sure all appointments everything were handled through him. he had dust-ups with bill clinton that we might point out he did leave beef the whole monica lewinsky thing that would ohio cure later. point he is was a very strong chief of staff, whatever the politics. left or right you need someone like that. dick cheney served that role for gerald ford. no fool head of the staff, making sure president just came in after the richard nixon resignation, would instill discipline for the white house. for a couple years he did. let's get the read on all of that, even the christie name that came up, because that gets bandied about a lot with charlie gasparino. what do you think? >> he was a very good chief of staff

. >> former cia directors leon panetta and michael morell and former national security advisor h.r.cmaster discuss how the u.s. can maintain its military power in the world and how to deal with global hotspots. this is about an hour and 10 minutes. [applause] bill: great to be here. we have a terrific panel. no pressure. to engage youhope over the next hour and 10 minutes. say hello to the former secretary of defense,

cia director, former white house chief of staff, former defense secretary, longtime congressman, leon panetta. right after seeing what unfolded in the oval office this afternoon. how to govern, also the concern of a bipartisan group of 44 former u.s. senators. so many faces we had to put them up on a wall. as we first reported last night, the group came together to write an op-ped for the "washington post" warning that the nation is endering a dangerous period. "we're at an inflection point in which the foundational principles of our democracy and national security interests are at stake and the rule of law and the ability of of our institutions to function freely and independently must be upheld." one of the co-signers of the piece, he served the people of connecticut as did his father before him, former democratic senator chris dodd. senator, tell us how this came about. i understand you are one of the drafters. >> well, brian, it's nice to be with you. >> thank you for being on here. >> speaking with chuck hagel, a good friend of mine, a former republican member of the senate. we were havi

i think at some point i told leon panetta, who was the chief of staff, i said, i'm allowing the broadcasto have full access to the briefing now because they used to have limits on it. he said, eh, that's fine. nobody thought it was a big deal. >> until there was a sex scandal. >> would it be improper for the president of the united states to have had a sexual relationship with this woman? >> mike mccurry has apologized to every one of his successors for being the press secretary who agreed to have the press briefing broadcast live. >> it laid the groundwork for what we have today, forever changing the questions. >> we started seeing repetition of people asking the same question because they wanted to be on camera asking the question for purposes of their own network broadcast. >> what do you mean by an improper relationship? >> i'm not going to parse the statement. >> one more stab at this. >> why are these allegations outrageous? >> changing the answers. >> you've tried now i think a dozen different ways to get me to amplify the statement. i'm clearly not going to do it. >> the press sec

here's former defense secretary leon panetta on why he finds the situation so concerning. >> if you're in the white house where you really have to look at the situation and try to do what with you can to try to provide a little better stability for the country. there's just too much chaos, too many crises going on. i've been in politics over 50 years in a number of positions, and working under nine presidents, i've never seen a situation like this. jon: gillian turner has more. >> reporter: the latest member of president trump's national security team to resign in protest over the decision to withdraw american troops from the ongoing syrian civil war is brett mcgurk. foreign policy leaders from president trump's own party say they don't blame him for leaving. >> i would not be surprised if they have not had a immediating. he was leaving -- meeting. he was leaving in february, but as mattis just did, one of the greats patriots i've ever met in my public service, general mattis. but as mattis did, he followed suit and left. and, you know, he did the right thing. >> reporter: mcgurk's one

i think he did exactly the right thing, unlike leon panetta and bob gates when he could no longer support the president's policies, he resigned. that's the honorable thing to do, rather than stay with it, support bad policies, and then get out and write a book and try to salvage her own reputation. >> shannon: or write anonymous pieces for "the new york times." 11 people respect him for stepping up and say what he felt he needed to say. general, thank you for joining us. if we don't see you, happy new year. >> happy new year. glad to be with you. >> shannon: it's an era of superlatives for the stock market going from the worst christmas eve trading day ever, just a couple days later, the dow jones industrial average posting its biggest single day-point game ever. one of the lesser notice factors reportedly driving the move was a report from "bloomberg news" that the trump administration is kickstarting trade talks with china. reportedly sending a high-level delegation to beijing on januar. kristina partsinevelos joins us. >> what a day here on the new york stock exchange floor. you saw tr

former secretary of defense and ci net - - cia leon panetta. general hr mcmaster. former cia director mike morel. have a seat we will get a picture real quick. it is mandatory. [laughter] make sure i follow the rules especially in reagan's house. america's newsroom fox news channel we take all viewers you can tweak that if you want. i have always loved this guy that his parents not only immigrated from italy to the united states that they chose monterey california on a walnut farm. [laughter] i call that good research. well done. and director as a fellow buckeye welcome we can talk about ohio later and the general has a book coming out 2020 my questions before or after november 3rd quick. >> before but not what you think it is about. [laughter] >> you can sell more books. some people told me that. [laughter] >> i have been at the reagan library twice in my life the first time was with the passing of ronald reagan the second was the passing of george herbert walker bush we were talking earlier today and 41 stood up to saddam hussein first august 1990 but 20 years la

>> i had the pleasure of interviewing leon panetta when kelly got the job.nd he said we'll see how -- it will take time to see if john kelly is successful. he will not tolerate disorderly leaking and shenanigans behind the scenes but did say if president trump decides to hell with discipline, i'm over john kelly, we'll have a problem. it's hard to know if that's where we are right now because we don't have the straight story out of the white house. there's no way john kelly is staying. looks like he got a little ahead of himself. it's a white house that's desperately needing order. john kelly has done somewhat of an effective job and some say it's just an impossible task. no one can do it. >> the role of a chief of staff and high-ranking person inside the white house, john is it changing? democrats are taking control of the house. there are going to be committees with subpoena power launching all sorts of investigations. we're talking about the possibility that maybe democrats look at one of these avenues and that will be developed from friday and move towar

leon panetta, admirable. bill perry, one of the finest people we ever had in the office. a draftee army soldier. we want civilians as a general statement running the department of defense. who in their right mind with a sense of dignity and accomplishment in life wants to step forward and join this administration? it's going to be very rough. >> general mccaffrey, thank you so much, it's such a consequential week not only for the country but for the implications for national security and foreign policy. we really appreciate your joining us to help us understand all of it. >> good to be with you, kristen. >>> i want to bring the panel back in. we talk about the ripple effects, you heard the general lay out a number of them. but we keep going back to this word of u.s. allies. what is it going to mean for the allies? what is your biggest concern when you think about these departures? >> well, we look like idiots is the problem. right? and that's a big reason why these people are resigning. right? as i think the general expertly laid out, you can make an argument for troop wi

[applause] >> we go back a long ways director of public affairs prominently during the leon panetta years to the assistant of public affairs and many of you remember him appearing on television as the pentagon press secretary. the former acting general counsel cia probably one of the most turbulent times in recent history to serve as the officer for much of the time 2001 through 2009 you can all go through your historical rolodex between 2001 and 2009 making the legal recommendations leading a staff of lawyers to the officers of the agency as they take on operations he is the author of a great book called company man 30 years of controversy in crisis if you want to know what a lawyers life is like please welcome him. >> i would like to introduce a national treasure with a long and storied career at the department of justice culminating her being assistant attorney general for national security she also had a little job to be the best chief of staff of robert mueller of the fbi. serving as the assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism now spends time educating the next generatio

leon panetta was a chief of staff who came for bill clinton. jack lew was chief of staff for president obama and then went to the treasury department and josh bolton succeeded he and he was a fantastic chief of staff. so i think he comes with the right credentials. he's very intelligent and he's smart. he gets both of it. he also was very respected on capitol hill. he knows what it means to govern. he was elected to congress and was a co-founding member of the freedom caucus. he's close with mark meadows. i think that he's a good choice for this president to be chief of staff and i hope that he decides to stay in that position. he'll come to recognize that it's a wonderful position to have but i think he is well suited to do it and i'm glad he's offered to do it on an acting basis. mark meadows and chris christie turned down the job. you hope he stays in the role but surely that's not a great starting position. >> because he works in the white house complex right now, their offices are in the eisenhower executive office building right next to t

, he was director of public affairs in the cia and spokesperson for cia prominently during the leon panetta years as director. he went with director panetta over to the department of defense where he served as assistant to the secretary of public affairs and many of you probably remember him appearing on television as the pentagon press secretary. [applause] >> next panel members former acting general counselor of cia, chief legal officer through probably one of the most turbulent periods in a recent national history, he served as chief legal officer for much of the time from 2001 through about 2000 what, john? 2009. you can go through your historical rolodex in your mind and think about what happened between 2001-2009, john was making recommendations to the director of the cia, leading a staff of lawyers who made recommendations to the officers of the agency as they took on edgy operations in support of the defense of our country. john is that steptoe and johnson and author of a great book if you haven't had a chance to read it called company man, 30 years of controversy and crisis in the

it's the word former secretary of defense leon panetta used in evaluating the situation. quote, we're in a constant state of chaos right now in this country. all that may satisfy trump's need for attention is raising hell with the country. the post continues, panetta said the resignation of matt sis a singular moment and his later which underscores how mattis sees trump's approach as misguided puts the security of the nation right now at some degree of risk. here's what panetta means. this part that talks about allies and says one core belief i have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to our strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. while the u.s. remains an indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. joining us, aaron blake, senior political reporter for "the washington post," charlie sikes. your thoughts? >> it's always been chaos. this has always been the chaos president

leon panetta did it. walk in the office, close the door and tell the president what he doesn't want to hear. that was the thing that bush 44 valued about jim baker. now, picking up on something kristen wellinger said. trump clearly said he thinks he can be his own chief of staff. to which i would santa fe if donald trump wants to be jimmy carter he should continue to do what he is doing, namely having a chief of staff who is not empowered to tell him hard truths. it took jimmy carter frankly four years to figure it out. i mean it was only in his final year that the that carter realized he needed an empowered chief. he found jack watson who it was terrific. it was too late. this is a water shed moment for trump. he needs to get it right. if you don't get the chief of staff right you are asking for trouble. >> what does right look like? for a while it looked like john kelly with his military bearing might have been right. as we discussed many times over the last year, john kelly has done things that made pe

leon panetta went to chief of staff of george w. bush. think jack lew was budget director and then ended up as chief of staff. there is a reason budget directors get picked. mick mulvaney has a familiarity with every aspect of federal government. so for being the conductor, he's perfectly -- he's got the perfect job to learn. >> right. and it's also true that the short list wasn't all that long. so white house officials we talked to really waved us off the notion jared kushner was a serious contender. >> bossy was the front runner to me an hour ago. >> inside the west wing he was seen as a polarizing figure. he never really won jared and ivanka. which you need to be chief of staff. >> there's one director of communications. there's one political director in this white house. and they are all named donald j. trump. >> pure and simple. he is better off. this might be what he -- it's an acting chief of staff. but you know what? his office will be in the eisenhower building anyway. all right. we're going to pause here. >>> does every vote cou

a short time ago i discussed it with leon panetta, former chief of staff to president bill clinton.ton administration, i'm sure there were frictions between president clinton and republicans on capitol hill. that it ever come to that in the 0val that it ever come to that in the oval office? is not in my feelings. frankly, i served under mined residents in this country, i've never seen a residents in this country, i've never seen a president engage in a shouting match with the leadership from the congress before the press. that has simply never happened, as farasi that has simply never happened, as faras i can that has simply never happened, as far as i can remember. it's a great political fear that. we watched far as i can remember. it's a great politicalfear that. we watched it with our draws on the floor. but if matter for the country? i think it is of concern. when you have the president and leadership yelling at each other, it's an indication that those responsible for governing the country are finding it extremely difficult to do. i know the president likes that kind of approac

leon panetta served as a member of congress before he served in other positions in the government and he was an excellent chief of staff. it comes down to the confidence and trust the president will have with that person who is serving that position, and they have to have -- i'm going to say they have to have the courage to speak truthfully to each other. they have to have the courage to understand what expectations are and how they should be met and basically the president has to give a little bit of latitude to a chief of staff so that the staff doesn't all report directly to the president. if everyone reports directly to the president without the discipline of a chief of staff, the president will find that he is completely consumed by helping to make government decisions rather than making presidential decisions. the president should not make governmental decisions. the president should make presidential decision, and the chief of staff should coordinate such that people do not force the president to make decisions that are not presidential. >> fair enough, although this president

>> ronald reagan had james baker, bill clinton had leon panetta, george bush -- the second george bushep government experience. jared kushner has had some experience in these last two years, but didn't have a sufficient security clearance. we're going to make that person chief of staff? hardly. i mean it shows that i think if this is true, its only meaning that is no one who's got any credibility will take the job. >> let me play you the sound bite from earlier this week when jared kushner was asked about president trump's search for a chief of staff. watch this. >> the president will make the right choice for chief of staff when he's ready. hopefully he'll choose somebody he's got great chemistry with, a great relationship with that will help him navigate the next couple emerge to keep pushing forward. >> that was on monday. and on wednesday he interviewed for the position. when you look back at two people serving in this position prior to him, he had a marine general supposed to bring discipline and reince priebus a political operative and knew how government worked and then jared ku