before i let you go, mattis is leaving and so is mcgurk.ou expect because this is such a reversal there on to be more high-level departures because of this syria policy? >> it may not be the syria policy you, but to the extent that this sort of recklessness and the tweets and everything going on with the white house right now is sort of this last week, as i would call it. the person i'm looking at right now is gina haskell, the cia director. we are starting to hear reports that the president's reaction to the khashoggi killing and undermining the cia's assessment that clearly the royal family and the saudi prince was a targeted assassination, i would look to members of the intelligence community getting some sort of support by what mattis and mcgurk are doing so what i'm looking out for in the next couple of weeks. >> good to have you, juliette kayyem. >> thank you. >>> we continue to following breaking news this hour. new video of that deadly tsunami in indonesia overnight. hundreds are dead. the latest developments is next. ever since dar

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a summer eleventh mcgurk knew everyone in the region and he reportedly told colleagues this week the president's new policy on syria would make it impossible for him to continue in his post. already both congressional democrats and republicans have called trump's syria decision dangerous and deplored jim madison's departure from the pentagon now those who had been fighting alongside the americans are looking to these legislators to try to change the white house's mind dear senator lindsey graham south carolina kurds in syria appreciate your strong opposition on the wrongfulness of trumps you know a lot of old decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting i so now certainly as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be us forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. brett mcgurk spain instrumental in shaping washington's policy in northern syria he was appointed as the u.s. envoy for the global coaliti

mcgurk saying isis is not defeated.e best case, worse case scenario for what happens when the u.s. leaves there? >> i can give you the worst case, the fight against isis will slow down. it's going to have to. we know that erdogan has designs on moving forces east of the euphrates to the iraqi border. he said he is going to do that. i don't know that the president has talked him out of that, maybe that's a part of the deal why we are going to leave. but if the turks move in anyway against northern syria, we're going to see what happened the last time they did this. the sdf, syrian democratic forces, mostly made up of the kurds, who the turks believe are a bunch of terrorists are going to stop fighting isis, they're the primary force on the ground against isis, they are effectism. they will stop fighting isis, they will redeploy to their home areas to defend what they believe their family and their territory. the fight against isis will take the back burner. we can continue artillery and air. we will not be able to move o

the person, brett mcgurk worked as a u.s.pecial envoy to the international coalition fighting isis. >> he was in iraq and had just finished briefing partners that the u.s. would stay in syria when he learned president trump had reversed course. his resignation on friday came just one day after u.s. defense secretary james mattis quit over the same thing. >> and this tweet from the u.s. president claiming not to know his own envoy. he belittled mcgurk as a obama holdover and quote grand stander who is going to leave the administration soon any way. >> joining me now is political analyst peter matthews a frequent guest of our program. peter, thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, natalie. >> all right. it's the holidays. happy holidays to you. i don't know how much happy holidays is going around washington because this is the first time in 40 years the government will have been closed three times in one year. and now congress says, well, we'll take it up after christmas. what do you think of the impasse and who is to

mcgurk's defeat-isis coalition. tom, mcgurk was scheduled to retire in february. he's now moved that up. still no word who will replace general mattis as defense secretary, leaving the trump administration with two large holes in the global fight against terror. tom. >> lana, thank you. >>> we want to turn now to weather, the fresh round of storms threatening to slam of the nation just in time for the holiday. here, just off the coast of connecticut. several storm systems taking aim on the pacific northwest, bringing heavy rain and mountain snow. abc's rob marciano joins us now. there's a lot going on with the weather across the country. walk us through the next couple of days. >> as you mentioned, they're lined up in the pacific. another storm already coming into the pacific northwest tonight. i-5, very wet. i-84 as well. another one coming in on monday. but look at this jetstream, a little disturbance coming into the east. monday, christmas eve, around i-90 north might see enough snow there to create a bit of a coating christmas eve. then, the western storm gets

he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible the president doesn't know the envoy representing the u.s. to the coalition for the last two years good >> that's easy because the president will the secretary of state and secretary of defense. >> pentagon sources tell fox news to expect more continuous resignations in response to president trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria. >> julian turner, washington, thanks. fox news alert at least 220 people killed after a tsunami strikes indonesia without warning. waves smashed on the beaches last night ripping houses and hotels from their foundation in a matter of seconds. officials layman a volcanic eruption and undersea landslide for the disaster. jeff paul is live in los angeles with the latest. hi, jeff. >> hi, mike. as high as 65 as they crashed onto the island full of people celebrating the holiday weekend. the number dead likely to rise as many of the same unrest to cruise unable to get to all the devastated areas to search. >> i was sleeping. it

you cannot quit, i'm you. >> brett mcgurk was supposed to leave and the president said, mcgurk, who io not know. >> he is the leader of the anti-isis coalition. he has been knitting together the more than 70 countries that was united with the united states to fight isis. so, he is a president ial envoy. while the president may not actually know who he is, he claims, that underscores that perhaps the president was not involved in the details. if it's not someone that he knew and didn't care about. well, he seemed to care enough to tweet that it didn't matter to him. which only drew more attention to the story that this diplomat, who was hired by the bush administration, i should point out, was resigning in principal because of his syria policy. the second high level u.s. official to do so in the past week. >> all right, margaret, thank you. >> overseas a desperate search for survivors is under way in indonesia. a ever a massive sue gnocchi th -- after a massive tsunami killed 200 people, and 800 injured and dozens missing. the waves struck two of the more populated islands. we have the

. >> his name brett mcgurk.s a senior dip mat serving as the president's own representative to the international coalition battling isis, a big job. >> but here is the thing, on twitter, mr. trump claimed that he did not know his own envoy. then he belittled mcgurk as an obama holdover on his way out. more now. >> reporter: u.s. envoy in charge of the fight against isis has resigned. brett measuring gurk told secretary pompeo on friday night that he would be leaving his post on december 31st. mcgurk was expected to leave in february to take up a post at stanford university, but his decision to leave early came on the heels of president trump's sudden announcement that he would be withdrawing all troops from syria. now, mcgurk just days earlier was talking to reporters about the new u.s. policy to stay in syria, not only to defeat the remnants of isis but also to counter iran. in fact, mcgurk was in the region meeting with coalition partners to discuss this policy and was sitting with iraqi leaders talking about

withdraw troops from syria this time america's envoy to the global coalition against i saw brett mcgurk has quit in his resignation letter he said i saw we're on the run in syria but not yet defeated as the president has said mcgurk follows defense secretary jim mattis out the door he quit on thursday telling president trump he had a right to have a secretary of defense whose views were more aligned with his a trance decision this week to pull around two hundred two thousand soldiers out of syria has rattled the s.d.f. a kurdish led force american troops had been supporting they too say the war against isis has not ended before more on this let's cross live now to john hendren in washington so john yet another high profile departure for president. yet another self-inflicted wound another fratricidal blow to this administration at a time when it could hardly afford it less the government shutdown beginning at midnight on saturday just hours ago local time and now the president has his second major defection brett mcgurk was one of the few holdovers from the obama administration he'd been

what can you tell us about brett mcgurk? >> we're talking about one of the u.s.st accomplished dip malomats and bt mcgurk has been working on issues related to iraq in the region for decades. he's been the envoy dealing with the 60-plus member coalition on isis for about five years now, and largely had been successful, but you know, you just remember in recent days the president had said that, you know, isis, the u.s. would stay and remain in syria to defeat those remnants of isis and also to counter iran, and brett mcgurk was talking to state department correspondents just a few days ago, and then went off to the region to brief partners about this policy assuring members of the coalition u.s. partners in iraq and syria, like the kurds, that the u.s. was going to stay. in fact, he was in iraq meeting with senior leaders when president trump tweeted that he was pulling out of syria. so according to sources familiar with his thinking, his colleagues, you know, brett mcgurk felt his credibility, his integrity was on the line. he could not defend this policy let alo

brett mcgurk told of his decision last night. mcgurk was set to leave his position early next year but will now depart at the end of this month after splitting with the president over syria just days after he defended the u.s. mission there. >> it would be reckless if we were to say, anyone who has looked at a conflict like this would agree with that. >> mcgurk's departure follows that of secretary james mattis who handed in his resignation on thursday. that's a day of the president's syria announcement. that announcement was reportedly sparked by a phone conversation between the president and his turkish counter part, according to "the washington post." joining me now, crihristopher hill, and michael alan, former special assistant to george w. bush and staff director for the house intelligence committee. and vivian salama, during the rise and fall of isis. ambassador hill, let's start with you on this. who is brett mcgurk and what are we lose something. >> well, you're losing a lot there. he's quite a dedicated public servant. h

mcgurk joins james mattis who also resigned this week.he president said he gave him a second chance after obama fired him. joining us is a foreign correspondent for "the new york times." thank you for being here with me. let me start with you. this is significant for a couple of reasons. one, this was the top official in charge of fighting isis. >> it is. >> and number two, it could be an indication of things to come. talk about the significance of the departure. >> so brett mcgurk served three administrations two republican. he was kept on after obama left specifically because he was considered so valuable to the fight against isis. this is the person, a human being, who went all over iraq and syria and cobbled together this mosaic of a coalition that ended up fighting isis for us. keep in mind it's not american troops that are actually fighting isis, but it's the kurds, the iraqis. it's the local partners that are doing this. >> and to really get inside his decision, he's basically saying, i could no longer guarantee our allies that we

mcgurk is the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter isis.cgurk's resignation follows defense secretary james mattis's stunning resignation on thursday, that resignation shocking washington and stunning u.s. allies. with me now is arwa damon, cnn's international correspondent. what are u.s. allies saying? >> they're reeling, as you can imagine, because up until that moment, where president trump tweeted that he was withdrawing all u.s. forces from syria, everyone thought that america's strategy, a strategy that they had just recently also had emphasized to them by brett mcgurk himself, was to stay the course in syria, until isis was completely eradicated to. train up adequately the local forces there. and to continue to add a buffer to iran's influence. and now, none of that is anything remotely close to what america's strategy or should i say trump strategy seems to be in syria. and then you also have to look at america's adversaries in the region. i mean who is welcoming this? the syrian regime, the iranians, and the russians. turkey's posi

if we have the brett mcgurk sound, i would like to play it now.kay, well, we don't have it, but this is exactly what they were concerned about, a premature withdrawal. so when you have all of this going on and the president makes a decision to go, can you at all take it out of that context? do we look at this, mac, and just say, okay, the president has made a decision as presidents have beforehand, there are troops who are serving abroad in harm's way, we're going to go there for the holidays and let them know that we appreciate them, or do you have to look at it in a political context, as well? >> i think you have to look at it in a broader context. politics is part of that. but chris, the most sacred responsibility of any president of the united states is commander in chief, to keep the american people safe and we entrust that responsibility to the brave men and women who dedicate their lives and their careers to doing just that. so this needs to be a consistency in the policy, and certainly, secretary mattis was highly respected, as was special

just days beforehand, mcgurk had stood at the state department podium to guarantee u.s. commitment to the fight saying, "while isis inhabited just 1% of the territory they once held, the group still maintains a dangerous level of influence and it would be reckless to withdraw now." >> i think it's fair to say americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeat is enduring. >> reporter: now, mcgurk had planned to leave the state department in february but he accelerated his departure in protest. he has been the glueled holding together the more than six-countries against isis. and this increases the level of concern that the president puts u.s. national security at risk. glig displi margaret, thank you. police arrested a british man and woman for flying a series of drones near a runway at the second busiest airport in england. the incident forced gatwick airport to close for nearly 36 hours on wednesday. passengers are still experiencing delays today. police are searching a house in cr

in a tweet that he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible that the president does not know the envoy that has been representing the u.s. for the coalition for the last two years? >> the president is dealing with the secretary of state and secretary of defense. despite what people think, the white house is in grand central station. >> reporter: people say to expect more and continuous resignations over the decision to withdraw troops from syria. jillian turner, fox news. >>> israel's prime minister says the decision to withdraw troops from syria will not affect israeli policy. benjamin netanyahu said that the u.s. withdrawal will not affect israel's efforts to counter iranian aggression in syria. israel was caught offguard by the abrupt move to withdrawal the roughly 2000 u.s. troops from syria in the coming weeks. israel routinely strikes iranian targets inside syria and is currently conducting an operation against the lebanese military group hezbollah which is a proxy of iran. >>> now to the deadly tsunami in indonesia. c

yes ok so mcgurk was also there to ensure it's fortune met in two thousand and seven no idea where he was working on the status of forces agreement were good is is is good at getting in front of somebody and telling that person what they want to hear the problem is other people are listening if you simply talk to that network that you talk about it's long been time to leave his post was supposed to leave at the beginning the time and inspiration disposed to leave last summer he was now supposed to leave two weeks from now so now he's resigning to head to head of the syria issue citing the president snarkily troops out of syria is the reason and it's just it's just not the case as to that drawdown of u.s. forces from syria very specifically just that specific. kariya first for the next minute or so. ah there are potentially all that negative consequences to this because there have been for example a couple of low level terror incidents in europe in the last year the genesis of those have been traced right back to rocca which as you and i both know was a is eisel emotional hot land that

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a summer eleventh mcgurk knew everyone in the region and he reportedly told colleagues this week the president's new policy on syria would make it impossible for him to continue in his post. already both congressional democrats and republicans have called trump's syria decision dangerous and deployed jim madison's departure from the pentagon now those who had been fighting alongside the americans are looking to these legislators to try to change the white house's mind dear senator lindsey graham south carolina kurds in syria appreciate your strong opposition on the wrongfulness of trumps unilateral decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting eisold now certain as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be u.s. forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington staying with washington the us government remains partially shut down after politicians failed to break an impasse on the budget spending the stando

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.e military commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. let's get some of the day's other news. the main opposition party in sudan says 22 people have been killed in four days of protests over a rise in the cost of bread. the leader of the opposition condemned what they had been the armed repression of the demonstrations. the protests had been muted on saturday after the authorities closed universities and shut down mobile internet services. a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in the somali capital, mogadishu. the explosion happened less that 400 metres from the presidential palace. the militant islamist group al sha bab says it was behind the killings. hundreds of people in m

sources told cnn that mcgurk was frustrated over the president's sudden and announcement. foreign-policy leaders from president trump's own party say they do not lay mcgurk for leaving. >> i would not be surprised if they have not had a meeting. he was leaving in february but as mattis just did, one of the greatest patriots i have ever met, in my public service, general mattis, as mattis did, he followed suit and left and he did the right thing. >> mcgurk revealed his etary ja would retire in february. mattis is assignation letter says his views were not aligned with the presidents. today president trump tweeted that deputy defense secretary patrick shanahan would resume mattis's responsibilities on january 1. >>> israel's prime minister said today president trump's decision to withdraw troops from syria will not affect israeli policy. i minister benjamin says the withdrawal will not affect israel's efforts to counter iranian aggression in syria. israel like others was caught offguard by the president abrupt move to withdraw all of the roughly 2000 u.s. forces from syria i

leave the role it drifts here culls mcgurk the architect of dangerous and short sighted policies in iraq and syria he's probably referencing the group's work with the george w. bush administration he was an early advocate for the surge in iraq in two thousand and seven now in an e-mail to his colleagues mcgurk said trump's decision to pull troops out of syria came as a shock and left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered i worked this week to help manage some of the fallout but i ultimately concluded that i could not carry out these new instructions and maintain my integrity. now let us know what you think about this latest high profile departure from the trump national security team you can get in touch with us as always on twitter using the hash tag it's a news group thank you for that andrew and the impact of president trumps decision is being felt on the ground in syria al jazeera is in a harder has this report from the techie syrian border. turkish military reinforcements are being sent deep into syria to the front lines north of the city of mumba

president trump tweeted last night: "mcgurk, who i do not know." should we understand this statement by a president who is more than 700 days into his term? >> brett mcgurk is washington's leader of the anti-isis coalition. he has been the person knitting together the more than 70 countries who have been united with the united states to fight isis. so, he's a presidential envoy. while the president may not actually know who he is, he claims, that actually underscores that perhaps the president wasn't involved in the details. if this isn't someone he knew and didn't care about, well, he seemed to care enough to tweet that it didn't matter to him, which only drew more attention to the story that this diplomat who was hired by the bush administration, i should point out, was resigning in principle because of his syria policy, the second high level u.s. official to do so in the past week. >> quijano: alright, margaret brennan, margaret thank you. >>> overseas, a desperate search for survivors is underway in indonesia after a massive tsunami that killed

against isis has quit over president donald trump's sudden decision to pull troops from syria brett mcgurk departure follows the resignation of defense secretary james mattis who had opposed withdrawing from syria and cutting the u.s. presence in afghanistan a partial shutdown of the federal us federal government has began after politicians failed to end their dark deadlock over spending trump refused to back down on funding for his border war forcing the congress to adjourn without a budget deal. the head of the u.n. team tasked with monitoring a cease fire in the city of data has arrived in yemen on friday the security council vote to send observers to oversee the truce between the rebels and the saudi and iraq backed yemeni government. at least ten people have been killed in sudan in protests against the rising cost of food and fuel schools and universities are closed in the least five states cities of bata and get out of the state to right now under emergency rule inflation is at seventy percent among the highest in the world. at the head of the sudan opposition party and maddy says th

envoy to the anti-isis coalition brett mcgurk also resigned in protest. 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

according to two state department officials, we are learning that mcgurk informed secretary of state mike pompeo of his decision friday evening. now brett mcgurk was already planning to leave his position early next year but will now depart at the end of this month, just 11 days ago with a warning -- >> nobody working on these issues day to day is complacent. nobody is declaring a mission accomplishment. defeating a fiscal caliphate is a long-term campaign. >> that's another departure after the departure of james mattis. the president is standing by his decision tweeting this morning "when i became president, isis was going wild and now isis is largely defeated and other local countries, including turkey, should be able to take care of whatever remains. we're coming home. >> joining us michael mcfaul, ambassador to russia. ambassador, with brett mcgurk, and we're just learning today of his resignation that he evidently turned in friday night, what is the impact here? he was, in effect, the head prn -- person in battling isis. >> the effect is bad. the effect is bad for american natio

now it's careful to note that mcgurk was scheduled to leave in february. he was going in march to take up a position at stanford university, has a young child, was looking to have a life after government for a while. but really one of the best and brightest of the u.s. administration security team felt that he could no longer implement the president's policy on syria. i'm also told that the resignation of defense secretary mattis in large part because of the -- >> elise, i'm sorry, i've got to interrupt you. we're going to talk more on this departure of brett mcgurk, special envoy, his resignation, but let's go to capitol hill senate majority leader mitch mcconnell talking about this ongoing government shutdown and what they're working on to propose a bill. >> understanding that no further votes will occur until the president and senate democrats have reached an agreement to resolve this. let me say that again. we've pushed the pause button until the president from whom we will need a signature and senate does democrats from whom we will need votes reach a

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. as we were hearing earlier, the top white house official in the fight against the islamic state group has quit over president trump's decision to pull us troops from syria. in brett mcgurk‘s resignation letter, leaked to the media, he said the militants were on the run but not yet defeated. it comes just a day after the us defence secretary, jim mattis, handed in his resignation, with the syria withdrawal thought to be a bone of contention there too. earlier i spoke with kamran bokhari, director of strategy and programmes at the centre for global policy based in washington, dc. i began by asking why brett mcgurk made the gesture of resignation when he was

. >> reporter: overnight president trump reacting to the resignation of brett mcgurk. after the top u.s. envoy to the global coalition to defeat isis said he could not carry out the president's orders to withdraw from syria and, quote, maintain my integrity. the president hitting back in a flurry of tweets, calling mcgurk a grand-standing and downplaying his resignation as a nothing event. president trump said if anyone else made st critics of the syria decision are actually alice of the president. >> this decision is a disaster. on multiple were tsat leave w. >> reporter: mcgurk's announcement comes on the heels of the resignation of secretary of defense james mattis who in his resignation letter wrote we cannot protect our interests without maintaining strong alliances, the example mattis specifically mentioned, mcgurk's defeat isis coalition. >> as the u.s. pulls out, there will be other players in the region who will rush in to fill the void, syria, saudi arabia, russia, iran. all of these countries will have a vested interest in moving in. when the u.s. moves out.

eisel said he is resigning effective december thirty first mcgurk was one of the few holdovers from the obama administration back since two thousand and fifteen he was to have retired in february but apparently disagreed with the trumpet ministrations policy of pulling two thousand troops out of syria that was announced by the president in a tweet in the past few days and that also prompted defense secretary james mattis to resign so the president seems to be having some defections here and disagreement over his policy in syria the president apparently realized that this was something of a sticking point for many people so he put out a tweet defending that decision saying quote on syria we were originally going to be there for three months and that was seven years ago we never left when i became president isis was going wild now isis is largely defeated and other local countries including turkey should be able to easily take care of whatever remains we are coming home the president said ending that tweet but if there is one thing that history has shown it is that i sold or before it

brett mcgurk is the us special envoy to the global coalition fighting the so—called islamic state groupignation letter, he made clear his concern is that the presidentposmac claims that ifa being defeated were premature. 0nly a week ago, he raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. the point is that military commitment doesn't end. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on that. no timeline. washington is preparing for a short christmas break. goodwill is in short supply. with the government shut down, this seems a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. it was the biggest factor in his decision to go. earlier, i spoke to andrew tabler, from the washington institute for near east policy. i asked him about what effect that departure would have. mister mcgurk was quite controversial in the us system because he aligns the united states with the democratic forces, an offshoot of the pkk, which is the archenemy of turkey and is designated as a terrorist organisation. it was a bit like playing with fire, but it was a strateg

for all of the sympathizers out there brett mcgurk obama appointees loading up airplanes in $1.8 billion in cash and sending it to iran as part of the horrific iran nuclear deal, now terminated approved by quote little bob corker.

mcgurk saying he could no longer serve the president in this policy against syria.se lavin, cnn. >>> let's bring in julian zeleny and siraj hasmi. thank you both for joining us. first, i'm going to start with siraj. let's remind our viewers what the president tweeted. so president trump is essentially admitting to not knowing the guy leading the fight against isis after declaring they were defeated. stop me if i'm wrong here, but shouldn't they have been having these conversations? should not there be briefings that would have him know who mcgrk um mcgurk was? >> quite possibly. it should give americans pause when russian president vladimir putin and iranian ayatollah. it cannot be understated. it's possible he might be inflating his own significance but he did get turkey on board with basically trying to stave off defeating the kurds and the kurds were absolutely integral and critical in defeating isis. they lost upwards of 10,000 troops in fighting isis. the fact that president trump doesn't know who mcgurk is not a good sign but he is the commander in chief and i

the president says in a tweet, he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible that the president doesn't know the envoy who has been representing the u.s. to the coalition for the last two years? >> oh i think that is easy. the because the president is dealing with the secretary of state, secretary of defense. despite what people think the white house is not grand central station. not anybody in the administration gets to see the president. the president getting briefing by general dunford. chris: here is the question, if he went against the recommendations of mattis, mcgurk, dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs. apparently pompeo or bolton, who he is listening to? >> the president listens to a bunch of different people that. >> is the national security team. >> including people who live here and ordinary americans the people he promised when he ran for office he was going to lead. we recognize this is unpopular within the beltway. we recognize it is unpopular with the defense department. it is very popular with ordinary american pe, the

mcgurk was embarrassed. that's why he's resigning early. that's one of the things that keeps happening with this administration. so i think trump should look at history about. if you look at caligula who was a roman emperor back in the day, he was crazy, he was having war against the sea, making all of these like ridiculous policy maneuvers. but when he started to insult people and when he started to insult the military personally, changing the watch words, making them like get seashells as treasure, when he started insulting people he got himself into real trouble. that's what trump is is doing with the military he's insulting them. >> we went back to harding last segment and now caligula. >> you can't find an example of a defense secretary resigning in protest so this is a remarkable week indeed. >>> and coming up, as if a failing economy and a government shutdown weren't enough of a year end gift it's looking like nancy pelosi and robert mueller may give president trump a rocky start to 2019. we'll look at that when we come back. that wh

diplomat in the global coalition against eisold brett mcgurk has quit over trump surprise decision to pull troops out of syria it comes hot on the heels of the resignation of the u.s. defense secretary james mattis who strongly opposed the syrian decision a state department correspondent rose jordan as more u.s. president daal trump made two major foreign policy decisions this week he said he's pulling seven thousand u.s. troops out of afghanistan and trump is pulling out all two thousand u.s. service personnel from northeast syria a decision he's been defending on twitter on syria we were originally going to be there for three months and that was seven years ago we never left when i became president isis was going wild now isis is largely defeated and other local countries including turkey should be able to easily take care of whatever remains we are coming home. defense secretary jim mattis quit in protest on thursday on saturday it was revealed that a top u.s. diplomat in charge of coordinating the fight against eisold is also quitting the military mission is enduring defeat of isi

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a symbol eleventh mcgurk knew everyone in the region and he reportedly told colleagues the week the president's new policy on syria would make it impossible for him to continue in his post. already both congressional democrats and republicans have called trump's syria decision dangerous and deployed jim matta says departure from the pentagon now those who had been fighting alongside the americans are looking to these legislators to try to change the white house's mind dear senator lindsey graham south carolina kurds in syria appreciate your strong opposition on the wrongfulness of trump's unilateral decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting i so now uncertain as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be u.s. forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. the us government remains partially shut down after politicians fail to break an impasse on budget spending and it's the result of a standoff over

plus, brett mcgurk the u.s. diplomat among our allies quit. kentucky republican rand paul supports the president's decision the new number three in the house republican leadership wyoming liz cheney opposes it. we'll talk with them both. delaware democratic senator we'll talk about what happenedo it'sll comingn "face the nation." good morning, welcome to "face the nation." congress has gone home for christmas but president trump has cancelled his trip to florida and will stay at the white house as almost 400,000 federal workers are now on furlough and another 400,000 are working without pay until at least thursday. when the senate returns. some national parks and tourist sites have been affected but other government services will continue including tsa screeners and postal service. we begin today with kentucky republican senator rand paul he sits on the homeland securiro waa lot autag2n dollar debt. with this in mind, do you intend to vote for any kind of spending bill that includes billions of dollars from u.s. taxpayers without any offset? >

>> well, i've known brett mcgurk since we started working together in iraq in 2007.ed public servant. and i can only imagine that this was a very difficult decision for him. but as we talk about syria and the way forward, and admiral kirby made good points, the global coalition to defeat isis isn't just about boots on the ground, they have many musions ahead of it, like countering the extreme rhetoric that isis continues to spread online. and when you think about someone like brett mcgurk, if he had to go back and talk to the 78 other countries and organizations that still comprise that coalition, he would be in a much more difficult position today, when the u.s. is withdrawing. >> right. >> we cut off stabilization assistance that the state department was supposed to deliver. how is he going to ask other coalition members to continue the fight if we're pulling back? >> admirable kirby, is there any hope in your view of holding bashar al assad accountable for war crimes and maybe international courts? or do we just now live in a world where the genocide of a million

brett mcgurk.e has decided to step down. the president's decision has been turned into a formal directive. the executive order for syria has been signed by james mattis. cnn has learned that days before the president decided to withdrawal, he made a phone call to turkish phone call to recep tayyip erdogan. we have more from istanbul. what do we know? >> reporter: before that decision by trump was announced, we know there was a phone call between trump and his turkish counterpart recep tayyip erdogan. in that phone call, trump asked the turkish president can you handle isis. erdogan responded yes, as long as we have support from you. he said okay, we are done. turkey is going to be taking care of the isis presence in syria. this leaves the u.s. allies on the ground in syria in a lurch. turkey views that fighting force an extension of a territory group. the u.s. is leaving the troops on the ground in a tough place. mattis's resignation came after they said they would bury the members of the kurdish f

mcgurk, who was appointed by president obama and retained by mr. trump, warned earlier this month that it would be "reckless" to bring u.s. troopsi home from his departure comes just a day after defense secretary james hettis also quit over policy differences with administration. in a series of tweets today, president trump defended the decision to leave syria, saying "now isis is largely defeated and other local countries, including turkey, should be able to easily take care of whatever remains." finaial markets were rattled this week by the shutdown and news of defense secretary james mattis' resignatn. see what that means for the u.s. economy at pbs.org/newshour. for our year-end broadcasts, thought we'd let you hear from the team of producers who bring you our newshour weekend stories each weeto gain some insight into our production and journalistic process, and maybe even hear few war stories ong the way. newshour weekend's hnii srsan recently sat down with the team of chris booker, laura fong, and mori rothman.an >> sreenivall right, chris, l

which is part of the reason why mcgurk himself was resigning.being in a position where you're hearing from top administration officials, that america's strategy is one thing, only to have that completely and totally flipped on its head. on the other side of the equation, of course, there is the reaction of america's adversaries in the region, namely the syrian regime, the russians, the iranians, and they're all welcomes this decision, and that speaks for itself. >> no doubt. what exactly does the u.s. role in syria look like going forward then? >> if the americans are completely withdrawing from the military battlefield, it is really hard to see what kind of role america is actually going to have, or at least what kind of a productive role it can have. look, america a long time took itself out of the political solution equation when it came to syria. the more significant negotiations when it came to some sort of a political solution were really just being held between the turks and the russians and the iranians and now america is effectively to

i don't know who that person is. >> you don't know brett mcgurk? >> it was an obama appoint tee -- >> he was a rehnquist clerk. he is a life long republican. he is not an obama appoint tee. this is not a democrat. >> he's well-known within the folks that follow this topic. the fact that the president of the united states doesn't know oun't cause concern. >> i want to get into this decision to withdraw from syria. mcgurk opposed it. whether or not the president knows him. mattis opposed it. pompeo opposed. john bolton opposed it. anybody on the president's senior national security team in favor of this move? >> jon, in all fairness i've not been heavily involved in that decision. i'm not the chief of staff yet. what little i know i wouldn't tell you on this program. i apologize. >> let me ask onmostion. the president is blaming in a tweet overnight the media. he's saying that the media hit me hard over this decision. they should have praised me. this is not the media. we saw lindsey graham called it a terrible mistake. marco rubio called it a mistak

brett mcgurk submitted hesitate resignation letter to mike pompeo on saturday. hesitate decision comes less than two weeks after he defended u.s. troops on the ground in the region. >> we have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past. we know that once the physical space is defeated we can't just pick up and leave. areas we have cleared of isis, they have not returned to actually seize physical space. there's clandestine space. nobody is saying they're going to disappear. nobody's that naive. so we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas. >> we're talking about years? >> i'm not going to put a timeline on it at all. >> mcgurk joins defense secretary james mattis, who also resigned in protest this week. he was originally planning on leaving early next spring but sped up his departure to the end of this year following the president's decision. and today we're learning more about that phone call between president trump and turkish president erdogan. a senior white house official tells nbc news that in a phone c

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a summer eleventh mcgurk knew everyone in the region and he reportedly told colleagues this week the president's new policy on syria would make it impossible for him to continue in his post already both congressional democrats and republicans have called trump syria decision dangerous and deployed jim matta says departure from the pentagon now those who had been fighting alongside the americans are looking to these legislators to try to change the white house's mind dear senator lindsey graham south carolina kurds in syria appreciate your strong opposition on the wrongfulness of trump's unilateral decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting eisold now uncertain as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be u.s. forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. following trump's announcement there were reports of turkish troops being sent to the syrian border turkey certain to strike kurdish y p g targets

brett mcgurk the u.s. envoy to the global coalition of fighting i saw has resigned in apparent protest at president trump's abrupt decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria comes as turkey says it has put on hold a planned cross border offensive against kurdish held territory in northeast syria says it's awaiting the outcome of a meeting in january on the pullout and he's fifteen people have been killed in two car bomb attacks in somalia's capital mogadishu a vehicle laden with explosives was detonated at a military checkpoint near the presidential palace and other smaller attacks close by appeared to target civilians going to work. at least ten people have been killed in sudan during four days of protests against the rising cost of food and fuel demonstrators angry about high inflation which is running at around seventy percent cities about bharat good arraf and the entire white nile state an hour and emergency rule thousands of people attended the funerals of four palestinians killed by israeli forces

brett mcgurk. the special envoy for the global coalition against isis has decided to step down early. cnn has learned days before the president decided to withdrawal, he made a crucial phone call to turkish president erdogan. sources say president trump said okay, it is all yours. year done. a senior white house official said erdogan gave his word that turkey would finish off isis. the syrian kurds and alliance with the united states. turkey considers the kurds a terror group. >>> the third government shutdown of the year entering the third day and right now there is no end in sight. >> we apologize, but due to the lapse in federal funding, we are unable to take your call. once funding has been restored, our operations will resume. please call back at that time. >> that's the recording you will get if you phone the white house. 400,000 workers to work without pay. that is not all. another 400,000 are sitting at home unpaid. a number of national parks and monuments shuttered for the long holiday wee

diplomat dealing with eisel brett mcgurk quit in protest against president trump's abrupt decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria as a state department correspondent. us president donald trump made two major foreign policy decisions this week he said he's pulling seven thousand u.s. troops out of afghanistan and trump is pulling out all two thousand u.s. service personnel from northeast syria a decision he's been defending on twitter. on syria we were originally going to be there for three months and that was seven years ago we never left when i became president isis was going wild now isis is largely defeated and other local countries including turkey should be able to easily take care of whatever remains we're coming home. defense secretary jim mattis quit in protest on thursday on saturday it was revealed that a top u.s. diplomat in charge of coordinating the fight against eisold is also quit the military mission is there enduring defeat of isis we have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past so we know that once a physical space is defeated we can just pick up and leave