jim mattis.entagon. >> those guys are the last one's whispering in donald trump's ear. clearly that is how he acts. >> we're going take a brief break. live picture as we're awaiting donald trump just a couple of moments away from this big rally where he'll be speaking to voters across the country. and more breaking news. we're going to texas. protesters gathering on the campus of the texas a&m. there is a white supremacist speaking there tonight and protesters gathers en masse. sathis holiday season,or christmas. people have a lot to say about the chevy red tag sales event. dream truck right here. a tv. great. wow! please santa. please, please, please, please, please! santa i want to go fast. woooo! that sounds like christmas. it's the chevy red tag sales event. now through december 12th, get 0% financing for 72 months on remaining 2016 chevy models. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. >>> standing by for donald trump. president elect speaking at a rally. his pick for secretary of defense

he recently said general mattis feels differently. what does general mattis do?e's obviously a military man. he follows a chain of command. if president trump were to order him to water board, would he do it? >> well as the commander in chief you also have a set of advisors around you. i think general mattis will be a terrific advisor and give the president the right advice at the right time. >> so you don't think that order will come. >> well if you had a decision of whether water boarding and the city of new york city was in jeopardy and you knew an individual had information that would save the city, i think -- certainly i would. i would use any means available to save new york. but those decisions are yet to be unfolded. i think general mattis gave the correct response, in his experience he hasn't seen it used effectively. we've heard reports of water boarding being used 200 plus times. that clearly is not effective. we need a leader and a policy behind it, a warrior that doesn't want to go to war but if he's tasked to go to war we're going to go war to win.

military has done more reading than mattis has. he has a famous letter he wrote about the importance of reading before you head into battle. it went viral. it's been a big deal. you described the potential obstacle of the exemption in the correct terms. it's not really an obstacle. if it's a hurdle, it's a one-foot high hurdle. john mccain has indicated he's willing to do. they're looking at language that would do the exemption. i'm told they are not looking at it because they've been instructed to do so by the trump campaign, but everybody understands this is in effect donald trump's choice. >> one of the reasons we think that maybe the transition is very quiet on all of this is because they love the story of the carrier story today which we're going to talk about in the next panel, but what does this choice say about president elect donald trump in your mind? >> the transition needs to stop making so much progress clearly because they're stopping on really good news and they're making so much fast progress on picking these nomine

talking so much about general mattis.t he can sit down with general mattis and get a talking by general mattis, change his views on torture. you'd be critical on trump about that, but clearly something of an open mind. >> i was told by somebody familiar buy their conversation, what impressed trump about mattis, straightforward answers to his questions and when they disagreed on torture, mattis' point, not only don't i agree with it, but i don't think i'd ever have to use it. when they disagree, he said, i disagree. and if you have a good reason for disagreeing, trump will listen to you. there isn't any sense you can't disagree with him, as long as you can make a strong argument. >> and there's been a remarkable amount of sort of republican party and republican intelligence made in the last few weeks, whether with regard to the education department, mnuchin and suddenly resumes will pour into the transition office. anyone who's a military mind in republican circles sees that, goes, that's the kind of defense secretary i wa

he said general mattis.no, i mean, he said, who is the officer of the day. he said general mattis. and here comes the brigadier general and he has his sword and the commandant said what are you doing here? he said, a young lieutenant was on duty today and he has a wife and children and i thought it important he have christmas with his family. that's the find skinned of man he is. independent, strong and will be good for the country. >> woodruff: we're off to some high praise here. let's talk about something else donald trump did this week. that is, the first public speech he made since the election, he went to indianapolis, and announced a deal that he's cut with the carrier corporation, air conditioners, furnaces, to save a thousand jobs, not all the jobs that were going to mexico, but a lot of them. what kind of precedent does this set? what do we make of it? >> i agree with sarah palin on this one. she wrote an op-ed today where she called it crony capitalism and source of corruption and i think that's tr

almost daring congress to try to block the waiver that mattis needs.etails ahead on "early start." >>> oh, if he didn't get that waiver, there would be a lot of angry people. >> the president-elect of the united states warning congress that he wants that waiver for his nominee to run the defense department or there will be angry people he says. >>> plans for the new air force one jet, up in the air. >> the president of the united states the national security address as commander in chief, messages seemingly meant for donald trump without ever mentioning him by name. good morning, welcome back to "early start." i'm george howell. >> i'm alison kosik. it's 30 minutes past the hour. president-elect donald trump is warning congress about blocking his pick for secretary of state. trump introduced his nominee for defense secretary, and he noted that retired general james mattis, he's going to need a special waiver to take office. and almost dared congress not to give it to him. cnn's sunlen serfaty has the latest from north carolina. >> good morning, preside

mattis opposes waterboarding, trump telling "the new york times" that during a meeting mattis told himineffective. >> i said what do you think of waterboarding? he said i've never found it to be useful. he said i've always found give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and i do better with that than i do with torture. >> reporter: mattis is a marine's marine. a voracious readerer and debt cade t dedicated thinker. >> he carried around a library of 10,000 books and he's read most of them. >> reporter: in 2005 he came understand fire for remarks in a panel discussion which seemed to make light of killing in combat. mattis' nomination, would, however, face an immediate and significant legislative hurdle. the federal law requires the pentagon be led by either civilian or military veteran who has been out of uniform for at least seven years. mattis has been out of uniform for three years. congress would have to give him a waiver. christi. >> we want to talk about it with mark hurtling. thank you for being with us. >> good morning to you. >> the praise that this pick has brought fo

you are seeing bipartisan support for a mattis choice. schiff's words were it's nice to see donald trump has picked an adult in the cabinet. they look at him as someone who is a wise man, certainly has the respect of the people inside the pentagon. but also i have been hearing that many see him as a counterbalance to general flynn as national security adviser. as you know, there are reservations even inside the military to some of flynn's positions and his public comments. they see mattis as a much more for lack of a better term, mild or moderate or even level-headed influence and they see that as a nice balance. >> general clark, what about that? one of the most complicated relationships in any administration is that between the national security adviser and the defense secretary. you will have two i don't want to say headstrong but i will say headstrong former generals in those positions. you know both. what's that relationship going to be like? >> well, i think both men are going to work to make it a good relationship but i'm very comf

general james mattis. he does face one legal hurdle. marine general james mattis has only been retired for three years. congress will have to waive a law requiring military officers to have been retired for seven years before they can take power of the pentagon. there has been a similar exemptions when george c. marshall was secretary of defense in 1950. kirsten gillibrand of the senate armed services committee is vowing to oppose the waiver saying civilian control of the military is a fundamental principle of american democracy. i will not vote for an exception to the rule. ben carden is the top democrat on the foreign relations committee. thank you very much. thanks for being with us. first of all your initial reaction to general mattis's nomination and to what senator gillibrand said. >> andrea, good to be with you. as you pointed out, general mattis is well respected for his military service. i think that's shared by both democrats and republicans. this is a very important law about the civilian control of the military. it's not gra

mattis and the policy. on the persona, he prefers warrior monk. he travels with a volume, a library of some 6,000 volumes. he served in iraq and afghanistan. doesn't really like the mad dog moniker. on the policy, which i think could be more important. he's very hawkish on iran. that's where he clashed with the obama administration. he's also shown his ability to bend trump's opinion, at least on torture. convincing trump he can get more done with a couple packs of cigarettes and beers than he can through water boarding. ali, i'm going to give you a quote. so many choices of quotes. do you want the athenian quote or the spartan quote? the war quote or the knowledge one? >> let's take the knowledge one since we have his nickname as mad dog. let's hear the knowledge. >> the most important six inches in a battlefield is the space between your ears. >> very interesting. he's been out of the military for just three years. the law requires him -- requires any military person to be out for ten years before taking

trump and general mattis because they don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but i think general mattis can bring the right counsel to bear to make the right decisions. >> let's play some of what the general had to say tonight. >> thank you for the opportunity. i am grateful for the opportunity to return to our troops, their families, the civilians of the department of defense because i know how committed they are and devoted they are to the defense of our country, the defense of our constitution. and with our allies strengthened, with our country strengthened, i look forward to being the civilian leader so long as the congress gives me the waiver and the senate votes to consent. thank you very much. [ cheers and applause ] >> also wise not to try to, you know, kind of outtalk the president-elect when you're sharing a stage with him. for viewers who were wondering, the whole notion somebody should be out of the military for seven years, that's basically goes to the whole notion of civilian oversight of the military. >> which is critical in our tradition. you know, when george washington

mattis has not commented.e have reached out to mattis and the trump transition team, have not heard a response. . it's important to point out that there is no evidence that anybody died as a result of the length of time they are left in the field but many of the green berets have said they felled betrayed by mattis. >> ken, thanks very much. to be clear as you mentioned, general mattis has not responded or talked about that. i'm going on breaking news. judge talking to the jury in south carolina killing case, the shooting death of an unarmed black man. listen. >> our heart does want to have to tell the scott family that the man that killed their son, brother, and father, is innocent. but with the choices, i cannot and will not change my mind. that came not from the foreperson but from a juror. the foreperson then wrote, it's just one juror that has the issues. then the foreperson wrote, need to leave. that juror needs to leave. he is having issues. thank you. sorry for all of the notes. what says the state? [

mattis, tell us why this is big. and tell us why donald trump said the secretary of state pick is coming out next week. >> the general mattis pick is huge. this was him wanting to show he's going to be able to run the national security of the country that this general buys into that notion. that's one. secoretary of state, huge. he brought up the ceo of exxon. >> we'll learn more about him because he's a stronger choice. if you have never heard his name. >> he has extensive global relationships with vladimir putin from his -- >> democratic ties as well. >> democratic ties as well. but a strong conservative on climate change working with democrats, no doubt. but mitt romney is not out of the running. he said mitt romney is still very much in the running. and he said, we have really come a long way in our relationship. >> no mention of rudy giuliani. >> i wonder if he'll decide in the next week. >> i think he wants that third leg done. the national security adviser, defense secretary, i think he wants to get that in th

mattis has only been retired for three years. congress would have to vote to give him a waiver. >> let's talk about trump's decision to nominate general mattis as secretary of defense. joining me is cnn global affairs analyst aaron david miller, who in the past has served at the u.s. state department as an adviser to republican and democratic secretaries of state. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> okay, typically the defense secretary is a civilian position. you know, is there any concern in your view of appointing a general such as mattis who was just out of the uniform in the last three years to take over that role? >> i mean, it's unprecedented since george marshall. in this case, i think the issue is not whether or not he's a general. the question is does he have the temperament, the experience, the judgment to create a role for himself as a key adviser to the president-elect. will he push back when necessary? will he advocate truth to power? i don't know the man. everybody that i do know who knows him and who i respect

what do we know about general mattis "mad dog" mattis and what legal hurdles lie ahead.etired lieutenant general mark hertling. it says a person may not be appointed secretary of defense aft within seven years after relief from active duty. why does this exist in the code? why this law? >> it has to do with our tradition of civilian control of the military, john. that's an important concept. when you're taking orders from someone, they should be in your chain of command, but also give an informed approach. that's the civilian control. george washington established that as part of his concept of how the military should be run. the excuse of pulling military commanders away from any civilian department is critically important. but, as you know, it's been overlooked in the part of general george marshall during world war ii after he was the chief of the staff of army for the entire period of the war he became first secretary of state. took another year off and then became secretary of defense. there is precedent for this. >> there could end up being quite a few generals in

and his announcement for jim mattis yesterday in cincinnati was masterful the way he did it now, mattis he has a lot of power inside the republican party. he is well-known. he was a strong pick and so there is a message in the way this is being released. i suspect trump is not releasing the names in the order that he knows them. but is he releasing them sort of from the po bottom up as he building the suspense and support. this is shomanship. >> if it's shomanship it's pretty good shomanship because he has gotten the nation's attention. ambassador clark and ambassador soderburg thank you for joining us tonight. >> my pleasure. >> carrier job. critics claim major government overreach into private business. we'll take a hard look at that moments away. ♪ p is for privileges. o is for ordinarily i wouldn't. l is for layers of luxury. a is for alll the way back. r is for read my mind. and i... can't see a thing. s... see you in the morning. polaris, from united. my dad called them up and asked for "the jennifer garner card" which is such a dad thing to do. after he gave his name the woman fr

general mattis has been known to do that. he's also very much of an intelligence soldier/scholar. a reflectionary. he carries around a copy of marcus aurelius' meditations with him. he's much more of a leader than general patton was, truthfully. >> lieutenant kerncolonel, you there's the tough-talking general mattis and then the general mattis you know and love. explain the difference for us. >> the dichotomy is a mile wide. we all knew him by his call sign, chaos. i know general mattis will be a very deliberate, very thoughtful, very caring leader for those he led. the reason the marines loved him, he's a person of character. second, he's a savant at the art of war. third, he took care of the marines and soldiers and airmen that he led at all stages of his career. the moniker mad dog doesn't fit with the general mattis i know. the person that served with him always knew him by chaos. >> you know michael flynn is trump's nsa adviser. are they two very different sort of men and different sort of leaders? >> well, they are cert

a controversial one, general james mattis. and it's interesting because mattis is going to need a waiver from congress because the retired general hasn't been out of uniform long enough. but i want you to listen to what donald trump said and then we'll talk about it. >> okay. >> he'll get that waiver, right? he's going to get that. oh, if he didn't get that waiver, there will be a lot of angry people. such a popular choice. >> so, he's almost daring congress, you know, hey, wait a minute, don't block this. what kind of strategy is this? it almost feels a little like -- should i say bullying? >> yeah, i think we do know that there is support format its among the civilian base. the reality is there's some concern about the number of generals trump has tapped to be in his cabinet. we should ask difficult questions about that, whether or not they will waive the rule and allow him to serve remains to be seen. >> i want to get into the topic of ambiguity. the question of whether or not donald trump told his stock or not. there's amb

introduce general mattis and general mattis will speak and then donald trump will be taking the stage for his extended remarks to votes. and as he walks up to the stage relishing his moment. this is something donald trump truly, truly enjoys and let's hand it off now to anderson as donald trump begins his speech in fayetteville. >>> and good evening. donald trump tonight in fayetteville north carolina, the second stop on his thank you tour what's bill agonize a thank you tory. he's been running out alate and just about to begin speaking. let's listen in. >> thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> so the weather was really bad. really bad. and they said, you know, these are great people in north carolina. they won't mind. no, but they said they won't mind, sir, if you canceled and made it another time. and i said, what? and they said we have a big crowd but they won't mind just because the weather was so terrible. so i said you got to be kidding. so we've been driving for two hours. we landed at -- like a long ways. but there was no way that we weren't showing up tonight. that i can tell

what would matty do? matty wasn't any good at this. people stopped coming. the magic rat-- two hammers before m mty-- he was real good at this. give him back the smokes. i smoked them. give me the radio. now you're even. thank you. that was great. you mighghbe better than the magic rat. go ahead. i want you to kill meat, man. you got to getetim off my back. you want me to kill him? figure it out. i can't do that, man. you're on your own. you got to help me. please, i'll do anything. hammer, please! ( door slams ) the man in "c" building wants to meet with you about the new deal. when tomorrow. i don't get this part. why, at this point, doesn't he just go after another whale? see, he's the man's man. he's saying, i will not let you beat me. i will not let you make my life mean nothing. but he dies. you saying you got to die? no, that's why it's tragedy. you don't have to get swallowed up by the whale. ahah was a great man, a bad dude but he didn't know when to stop. i can live without that whale on my back. yippee! yahoo! get along, little dodoies, get along.

we weren't want it to be mattis.nk it's fair to say at least here in the pentagon he would be very warmly received. they feel he is so knowledgeable and he has walked the walk in combat. he is one of them. he has commanded troops in combat. he has buried troops in cemeteries all over this country in these years of war. he knows about all of this having served in iraq and in the middle east during many different tours. so the feeling is this is a guy who knows. this is not a politician or some sort of, you know, university geek coming to run their shop. he is one of them. he knows them. i think it is fair to say he will get a very warm reception far beyond the marine corps which it is very fair to say absolutely adores him. >> no question. not an arm chair general. he saw his share sadly of blood shed. barbara starr, thanks very much. please stay with us. joining me now is congressman adam schiff of california, ranking member of the house intelligence committee. certainly an enormous amount of experience with the defe

so i think general mattis c.s.i.t up in the speech, how much will we collect and other adversaries in the region. yeah. i think he's looking for with the congress. host: rich from belleville, michigan, independent caller. hi, rich. caller: how's it going? host: doing fine. ahead. caller: just want to mirror your general on whether mattis will keep us up as an oil military to e our the nvading somalia for oil-rich indian ocean, are we that up or use as the general earlier, want to to as war department, as you refer to it as the defense but we really haven't used it as defense dmpt years.0 so, you know, what do you think he will do about that? for calling, rich. guest: i think it is appropriate name to be the defense department. when you do i would say probably duty of folks in active today who dispute the fact we the 't acted in defense in nation. after 9/11, we acted that way. after the 2004 -- we went indian ocean basin to escue people and mediva c patients, that showed goodwill, as well. ost: something else you wro

mattis is a different situation. i like most american patriots are concerned about the idea of someone who was just this recently in the military being secretary of defense. >> why? what is your fear? >> it's just like lobbyists. when you had presidents try to pass laws. once you leave congress you can't come in and lobby 15 minutes later. i think it's fine for him to have some time as a civilian and be a civilian leader before he comes back and he's in charge in the military. that's the only reason why. we have lots of great generals. >> that's why they wrote into law. when you're talking about civilian control and the framers of the constitution, the main thing they wrote is that congress should be the ones to declare war, which we have seem to given up on a long time ago. civilian control was most important to us, we would have done things differently over the last 50 years. it's complexion, as it were. in its makeup. can we put that up on the board there. we're not in it, they are. first of all, donald trump is w

okay. >> and mattis is going to have to have one heck of a job. >> so general mattis is in afghanistanent obama draws down. and mattis objects to that drawing down? he didn't want to remove those troops from afghanistan? >> well, when you are going to fight, you have got to fight to win. if you draw the troops down so much. what you become is a defensive posture. you're not heavy enough to take taliban and go on offense. nor are you heavy enough if one of our troops gets hurt. bring them out with our honts. you need support and logistics footprint of moving the needle is significant. we continuously draw the troops down in numbers. even though all the military commanders are saying we need more on the front line. >> all right. but that goes against president obama wanting to end all these wars, bring back the u.s. military presence over there because his party wants that. they don't want to be in iraq and afghanistan. how bad was the friction between mattis and obama? was it personal? did it get nasty? >> well, you know, as a four star. either you move up or out. and having a four star

here is mattis in his own words. >> you must keep improving. if you make that decision that you must improve, if you look at every week in the marine corps as your last week of peace and you must be beneficiary at the end of this week as a war fighter, you will push yourself on the three mile run and accept no skulls excuses. you'll push yourself on 21 pushups. you'll push yourself to read the commandant as reading list. you'll push yourself you keep your spirit um when things are going tough. >> those who know him described him as a skilled, focused and deliberate leader. in 2013, he told "usa today" -- there was always a sense we had to put things into words that would touch our troops' hearts, not just their heads. i'm also joined by retired major general spider marks. welcome to both of you, thanks, carol. >> thanks, carol. >> general marks, mr. trump sell mattis is the closest thing to patton we can get. you see is he like george patton? >> i would say there are some extreme similarities here, primarily because what patton -- you know, the

he will introduce mattis.ttle while and hand it back to donald trump. not expecting any other announcements tonight, tucker but we weren't expecting any last week in cincinnati. the one thing we are hearing in the next 24 to 48 hours. iowa governor bran stat may be named ambassador to china. he, of course, has had a lot of dealings to china agriculture. very good friends of the president of china. those are a couple reasons why donald trump is probably just about settled on him and we'll find out about that in the next couple days, i'm sure. tucker? >> amazing. john roberts at the scene in fayetteville. thanks a lot, john. we're still waiting for the motorcade to arrive at the arena and we will be right back because we think it's almost there. stay tuned. ♪ >>> the motorcade has arrived at the arena in fayetteville, donald trump is mounting the stage right now. we're going to go to live coverage. thanks for joining us tonight. ♪ [cheers and applause] [i'm proud to be an american] american. [ >> and i gladly st

. >> we are going to appoint mad dog mattis. as our secretary of defense. amy: it kept the conversation going throughout the day. >> a well-read person. >> knowing mattis i thought he would be a great choice. >> retired control says he work under general mattis for >> he is a great leader. people will find it fulfilling experience. >> he described the retired general as a credible, well-spoken and a thoughtful leader. >> i know he is a hard worker. he will make a difference for the citizens. >> some argue he hasn't been out of the military long enough. >> if you make an exception here. there is a lo made. >> he hasn't been out of the military for seven years, mattis would need a waiver from congress. the nicknames that follow mattis is something he saw firsthand and a reputation that will be a good fit as secretary of defense. >> he relishes that role. warrior monk. he thinks of himself that way. warrior and the monk. he thinks the background might be missing is more time in the pentagon. he needs a deputy to help run smoothly.

not just marines who love general mattis but i asked the top u.s.ommander in afghanistan what he thought the army four star and former ranger. >> he's a soldier's soldier. a marine's marine, and i first met him in afghanistan. we were in tough fight in 2006, and he is a very inspirational leader. >> there will now be two marines leading the pentagon if congress approves. mattis, a former marine four star, and the current chairman of the joint chiefs, general joe dunford, is also a marine help served under mattis during the invasion in iraq in 2003. when dunford was a colonel. >> tell us about the nick name, "mad dog"? >> it's a term of endearment from former -- from his young marines who served under him during the second battle of fallujah. how they referred to him behind his back because the lord his colorful patton-like quotes. his good friends and colleagues don't call him that and prefer his raid you cal -- call sign, chaos. marines say they would follow him anywhere. >> you go into afghanistan and it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. it'

i don't think they're going to oppose mattis substantively. it's a question of whether they're going to get behind this principal. i would love to hear democrats fight about this. >> an articulation of what the stakes are. >> i would love to hear democrats talk about why it's important that we don't have the military as a potential source of a hunta in this country. and why we don't, i believe that the founders really structurally disinclined us toward war when they set up this country. part of that was giving the military to a civilian leader who could use then the military as one of -- only one of the tools that he or she had for solving the nation's problems. if the military is hived off from that decision process, then every problem looks like a nail, and that hammer is all well suited for every one of them. >> since we're talking about military solutions, i want to also talk about the possibly slow moving diplomatic crisis that was initiated today? >> a new war with china? >> yeah, so, okay, we have -- china has a one china policy, in whi

but, you know, general mattis, i think is, a brilliant pick for some reasons.ut, you know, very much an outside the box kind of pick. and somebody who is laser focused on what the purpose of the u.s. military is. and i think that if the republicans can sort of make it a fight about that, that it will behoove them very much going forward. >> a.b., there are quite a few democratic senators who are up for re-election in 2018 in states that donald trump won this year in 2016. we can even see that on the screen. there is quite a few of them. some more vulnerable than others, perhaps do you think that the democrats are going to make a real move to obstruct any of these generals or perhaps the nominee for attorney general, jeff sessions? >> i think that they, general mattis is such a popular pick and i don't think he is outside the box. i think he is exactly inside the box. and what people, they're reassured by this pick. he knows exactly what needs to be donti kind of moment of realignment in the pentagon and our mission in the middle east and donald trump's world vi

jim mattis, general mattis looks at the world without rose-colored glasses.t history. he understands context. i think you would see rational, wise policies he recommended to our new commander-in-chief. bill: thank you, ralph peters in washington, d.c. martha: a campaign clash at a post-election event. top aides not mincing words when they sat down and talked at university forum yesterday. >> tie would rather lose than win the way you guys did. >> no you wouldn't, respectfully. how exactly did we win. go for it, jen. oh no, that looks gross whoa, twhat is that? try it. you gotta try it, it's terrible. i don't wanna try it if it's terrible. it's like mango chutney and burnt hair. no thank you, i have a very sensitive palate. just try it! guys, i think we should hurry up. if you taste something bad, you want someone else to try it. it's what you do. i can't get the taste out of my mouth! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. shhh! dog, dog, dog. this is todd hardy. a fitness buff, youth baseball coac

and will defer to mattis.tis being in the cabinet there to counterbalance any other voices that concern you. >> and bob gates is walking in the door. >> great that bob gates went in there, talking to general flynn. again, you want to assure me, get waub gates in there. >> that was a guy trump was critical of. >> just a tad bit. >> again, look and see what trump's been doing. nikki haley bashes him. she's u.n. secretary. mitt romney bashes him, he's a finalist for secretary of state. bob gates bashes him. he's talking to bob gates. >> this is the short memory you're talking about that politicians need to have. >> what bill clinton said, the best trait you can have as a president is a very short memory. donald trump showing at least this week that for some political rivals he has a very short memory. >> still ahead on "morning joe." >> democrats and republicans who have both said the movement of this plant is evidence of how damaging free trade is to the u.s. economy. well, so the question is, are you going to b

called mattis the real deal.obal affairs correspondent. but sergeant first and foremost thank you so much for your service to this country and, please, just tell me about your experience with general mattis. >> well, first of all, thank you for having me on, i'm honored to be able to speak on behalf of general mattis. my experience that the marine corps, he instilled a leader's leader mentality. never did he separate enlisted from commission. never broke down ranks for us. always pushes on to us be polite, to be professional but to have a plan to kill everybody we meet and as harsh as that sounds, it was true, we had to, especially when we in iraq for the initial push then fallujah and then my third tour into fallujah as well. we always had to have that plan "b" just in case because they didn't give us forewarning that something was going to come down, the enemy, that is, so we -- it was something we learned to live by and, you know, he always motivated us and pushed us to be brilliant at the basics, everybody ha

but when it comes to confirming mattis.on't forget, because he's only been out of the military for three years, under u.s. law he needs to seek a waiver from congress to do that. the statute step ups you have to be retire -- the statute sip lates you have to be retired for 7 years before you can take over. democrats on capitol hill said the republicans are trying to streamline the process. there is a move by republicans in the house and senate to attach a rider to this week's continuing resolution to expedite the process for general mattis to get that waiver when it comes time to do it. minority house leader nancy pelosi says there needs to be a full vetting of general mattis since this is the first time in 66 years a flag officer has been appointed to run the pentagon. or maybe they will accede to the democrats' demands and wait to confirm it. donald trump is getting kudos from the military for appointing general mattis. but he tweeted out this morning he might cancel the air force's programs to replace the 737s that ferry

mad dog mattis retired marine general. he will need a waiver because he only retired by 2013 by law there has to be a 7 year gap between a military leader's retirement before they can take a civilian job like secretary of defense. on capitol hill wide support for his nomination. mr. trump talked to our own ainsley aiearhardt and went int further dep depth about what happens next week. >> they will be starting next week. we have tremendous people coming on. we give credit for having one of the greatest cabinets ever picked. people of great distinction and great success. this is what you need. when you are negotiating with people you can't have people who didn't know how to get there. we have tremendous people joining the cabinet you will be seeing all of them next week. >> remember all of the criticism, he's so far behind and the transition is a disaster. he's far, far ahead of any president democrat or republican. you can see the full interview our own ainsley earhardt top of the hour on "fox & friends." >> when i talked t

dunford, mattis was his commanding officer at one time. >> they were fighting under mad dog mattis. > the joints of chief is a military adviser. will he take orders from him? >> the relationship between the chairman and the secretary of defense is collegial. you get fights with the white house. i think i'd worried more about the national security adviser and white house. we have had national security advisers who got into some real fights with the pentagon when he said it's important to have political civilian control. that will be harder for general flynn as the national security adviser. the interesting thing to me is the way in which donald trump has reached out to skill sets that he doesn't have. >> yep. got to give him credit on that one. >> he has chosen in general mattis one of the more generally eccentric figures in washington. that's interesting. >> it is. >> well-read monkish figure. >> i do think he is going to be pentagon press conferences are going to be hip again. put that way. i know i can't wait for it. david ignatius, always a pleasure, sir. thank you. >>> tuesday's m

jon: let's talk about james mattis to be defense secretary, morgan. actually disagreed with donald trump, suggest that had -- suggested that donald trump wants to tear up the iran deal. general mattis saying it's kind of a done deal and you can't do it. how does he go about taking the job and handling iran? >> first let me say that i would march behind general mattis anywhere. he was a pick that made both sides of the aisle and specially united, the republican foreign establishment because he's such an impressive pick and distinguished background. i think it's important to note that general mattis is no dove on iran. this is a guy basically let go by the administration because he refuse today -- refused to tow a line on iran. the most important thing is not specifically what he does with the deal but does he enforce the deal, does he enforce sanctions. congress just snap back sanctions. there's no enforcement that we let iranticipate -- iran get away with everything. i think that that's not what you will see in a new trump administration, that's not t

he was highly impressed with mattis. one of the things that mattis cares a lot about is iran and the middle east. that will be something to care special attention to. >> back at the aspen security forum a few years ago in 2013, mattis was asked about iran. specifically, he was asked about his biggest concern when he was the head of central command. he said, tom, iran, iran, iran. assuming that is still one of his core concerns and he has been critical of the nuclear deal, how will he shape trump on that because donald trump and his team have walked back their threats to totally undo the iran deal since he was elected? >> that is the question. how hawkish will he be based on what he has been saying? >> the question there is, what will they actually do when congress is back in? when this is an option. they are not talking about it right now. we hear things about obamacare and tax reform. we haven't heard about iran. how much can one of those top advisers push him. it is clear, as we've been talking about, he trusts these p

i think jim mattis deserves an exception.aura: do you think he will be hawkish on russia, russia's expansionist tendencies in the eastern backyard, in syria? or will he take the softer line as donald trump seems to? mr. cohen: he serves at the pleasure of the president. one would expect he would bring his views to bear. mr. president, i think this is wrong, we are heading in the wrong direction with russia, they should be held accountable for what they've done in ukraine. what they are doing in aleppo. we should not have this new reset program with them without them being held accountable. i would hope he would bring that to the president. but ultimately he serves at the pleasure of the president so if the president says i want a different relationship, he will have to salute smartly or say, sorry, i cannot serve you. laura: from what we know of the man, do you think he would be not afraid to stand up for his views? mr. cohen: i don't think we have any worry about jim mattis not standing up for what he believes to be the righ

it's about time. >> now there is a bit of controversy surrounding general mattis. his confirmation by the senate is not guaranteed. mattis is only three years out of uniform and would also need a congressional waiver for a 1947 law that requires a seven-year waiver. >>> president-elect trump is celebrating a deal to keep thousands of jobs here in the u.s. the heating and air conditioning company carrier is getting $7 mexico. now in exchange for the tax breaks, carrier is investing $16 million in its u.s. plant. trump started tweeting about negotiations with carriers this week. >>> our transportation reporter adam tuss and the i-team have learned what metro general manager is expected to say at a house oversight hearing today. the purpose of the hearing is to find out if metro state tracks program is really working. paul lawmakers repairs are on budget and metro continues to work closely with the fta about safety standards that starts later this morning in the rayburn house office building. >>> new information on a metro derailment that happened this summer. federal

emily: general mattis is interesting.board of the very controversial blood testing company theranos. he is still on the board today. you would have to step down if he becomes secretary of defense. he also tried to get the military to use theranos technology unsuccessfully. what do you make of this? dave: i'm sure yet no idea the tests didn't work. it is a good thing that we have the fda to set the rules and to apply scrutiny as to what it is the companies are going to sell to the public. when we talk about cyber security, this is an area where we need those rules. we need these regulatory agencies like the ftc and fcc for health the cms care and the regulatory commissions. these agencies are trying to identify, promote and enforce cyber standards among companies and government agencies in order to make cyberspace safer for everybody. i'm hoping general mattis will be -- will pay more attention to the value that these agencies bring than theranos. emily: what about privacy, security? what about those issues under president

mattis will be good in terms of being spotful. there was a lot of criticism in the obama administration, were we aggressive enough and and aggressive-enough strategy. this is the question of where balance comes. rudy giuliani secretary of state is a little prospect because it's balance of having aggressive strategy but having the plans of diplomacy. a lot of people see petraeus and romney as a level-headed option in terms of secretary of state. you look at petraeus. two military people in prominent role. you had that back in the bush administration. but you know, it's a combination of being thoughtful and not unsighting additional violence or controversy around the islamic component of that but also being, you know, aggressive and thoughtful about what we need to do thoughtfully. jon: some insiders are saying that mattis might clash with general flynn who has been chosen to be national security adviser and it's no fun to be a defense secretary whos constantly feuding with the white house, do you see that as a poorr problem? >> it'

general mattis. >> joining me now is hans nicoll. there is a lot of reports out. >> this is an allegation, i should note at the top that there were never a formal investigation into general mattis' behavior. this is 15 years ago this month. let me describe the event for you, army special forces were moving through afghanistan, they came under friendly fire from the u.s. they put out a call for support for help, general mattis, his unit was about 45 minutes away from helicopter, he did not respond and ended up being an air force unit that responded about three hours away. the allegation according to this, mattis, did not respond and some how culpable. he did not speak to the author of this book and mattis did not speak to nbc news since we have asked him about this allegation. >> a lot of agreement that he's a good pick. a lot of complementary statements and not just from democrats but republicans. >> mattis has a two-step hearing process. we got to get this rule change so that he can actually served as secretary of defense because he

mattis is donald trump's choice to lead the defense department.been described as a marine's marine. cnn's jim sciutto has been hearing positive reaction from both sides of the aisle and he reports the man known as mad dog mattis doesn't necessarily agree with all of donald trump's political views. >> we are going to appoint "mad dog" mattis as our secretary of defense. >> "mad dog" the nickname general mattis earned in the bloodiest battle of the iraq war is donald trump's pick for defense secretary. >> he's our best. they say he's the closest thing to general george patton that we have and it's about time. >> mattis is a seasoned combat commander with 44 years of service in the marine corps. and key commands in both afghanistan and iraq. he led troops in the 2003 invasion and later in the battle for fallujah. >> the u.s. military is quite capable of giving enemies their longest day and worst day if ordered to do so. >> after disputes with the white house, mattis has been critical of the obama administration. >> the next president is going to inhe