ron brownstein, thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> she performed for four presidents, and she willing for trump, though. why broadway star, jennifer holliday, is backing out of his inauguration. to lose weight? contrave is an fda-approved weight-loss medicine that may help adults who are overweight or struggle with obesity lose weight and keep it off. contrave is believed to work on two areas of the brain: your hunger center... (woman) i'm so hungry. (avo) to reduce hunger. and your reward system... (woman) ice cream. french fries. (avo) to help control cravings. across three long-term studies, contrave patients lost approximately 2-4x more weight than with diet and exercise alone. contrave is not for everyone. one ingredient in contrave may increase suicidal thoughts or actions in some children, teens, and young adults within the first few months. other serious side effects include seizures, increase in blood pressure or heart rate, liver damage, manic episodes, glaucoma and allergic reactions. do not take with opioids. reduce hunger, help control cravings. contrave. the #1 prescr

for more on this, i'm joined by cnn senior analyst ron brownstein in l.a.ew year. >> happy new year. >> anybody watching? >> i think so. so, how will donald trump be further convinced that the intel that everyone has relied upon so far is intel that he could trust? >> it's not clear that he can be convinced. this is just an extraordinary situation that grows more remarkable by the day where you have an overwhelming consensus of the intelligence community that russia was behind the hacks. a broad consensus in the intelligent community. you have the president-elect time after time, week after week essentially refusing to accept that conclusion and continuing to cast doubt on it. you can see how this is an inconvenient conclusion for him. that he views it as a slap of legitimacy of his election and in a forward looking way, it's also a complication for his desire to radically reset relations with russia. but what he is doing is creating enormous incentive both for the obama administration to put out as much information as it can before he leaves office underli

ron brownstein and april ryan, that's after the break.nly at&t offers you all your live channels and dvr on your devices, data-free. it's entertainment. your way. i won this 55 inch tv for less than $30 on dealdash.com. visit dealdash.com for great deals. and start bidding today! >>> donald trump, we will get to this shot in a moment. donald trump reluctant to blame russian authorities for the cyber attacks, tweeting there was no evidence that the hacks effected the election results. here to discuss that and more, ron brownstein, cnn senior political analyst and senior editor of "the atlantic." and april ryan, white house correspondent for american urban radio negotiatiotworks. i want to say we are waiting for florida governor rick scott to come out and talk about the shooting in florida, if i have to jump in, forgive me. we want to get the comments on live. i want to start with you, april, and this statement from donald trump both on twitter and from the transition that there was no evidence that the hacking potentially effected the outc

. >> joining me right now, nic robertson and ron brownstein. good to see both of you. , ron, let me go to you because i think mr. kingston was kind of underscoring there's been a flurry of activity. donald trump promised he would get to business. he has. 14 and counting now, maybe 16 executive orders. americans won't just judge on this flurry of executive order action but they're also going to judge on the consequences or benefits of these executive orders. how much is at stake, so to speak, ron, is there for the president in all of these orders? >> i think the dynamic of the trump presidency is being set right here and on the streets in america. you know, when representative kingston said he's not waiting for consensus, that's putting it mildly. you have a series of actions in which the administration has signaled that it was good advice to take them literally and seriously during the campaign in which they signaled they intend to do exactly what they said during the campaign even though many said that it was a metaphor and americans resist him every step of the way. i

let's get the bottom line with cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein.t do you make of 54 house democrats saying they will sit this out? >> it's easy to imagine another politician we respond by saying, john lewis is an american hero, i think he's wrong. i intend to prove i will be the president for everyone in the united states. that would have been another possible response. donald trump did not go that route. i think it's very revealing of the situation he finds himself. as you've been responding in the polls, he is arriving for his inauguration with, by far, in all likelihood, the lowest approval rating for an incoming president ever, the highest disapproval rating by far ever. it's not really agenda. he has not put forward a vast amount of agenda. it's this relentless truck lens and blij blij rans, accusing the criticizer of being failed and lawed, that has alienated and worried a lot of americans. even on election day, roughly a quarter of his voters said they didn't believe he had the temperament to be president. for some of those voters, his style

. >> ron brownstein, abby makes a good point. i think more than a dozen obama nominees were sworn in on inauguration day, and a dozen more -- half a dozen more were sworn in within a week or two right afterwards. the republicans moved pretty quickly in allowing that confirmation process to go forward, and they're asking why won't the democrats do the same thing right now. is this democratic strategy that schumer enunciated, chuck schumer, the incoming democratic leader in the senate, is it smart? >> first of all, the record is mixed on the republican side. elizabeth warren is a senator because republicans refused to confirm any appointee to run the consumer protections board because they didn't like the underlying dodd/frank law in which it was created. she ran for the senate after they blocked her with filibuster. same thing with merrick garland who never got a hearing in the last year of the obama presidency. there is plenty of dirt under the fingernails on both sides. the democrats have limited leverage. the question is from t

. >> joining us now is ron brownstein, cnn's senior political analyst. n, i'd like you to look ahead to this week. donald trump has repeated many times that he considered monday, this monday as his first real day of work. so one of the first orders of business for him is he is going to be meeting on monday. the leaders of congress from both parties, republicans and democrats. now this is going to be an important meeting. what has he got to say to them to sort of pave the way for good relationship with him going forward? >> i think the first point is the first 72 hours of the trump presidency has shown us that just as the campaign and the transition, there is going to be very little about this presidency that fits in the normal parameters. we see so many extraordinary things happen already. and it's going to be a tumultuous ride. the question for donald trump as he works through congress, think about donald trump's agenda and the republican congressional agenda as two diagrams as where they overlap and there are places where they overlap, repealing obamaca

ron brownstein, william hoagland, thanks so much for joining me this morning. >>> next week is a big week on cnn. monday night at 9:00, senator bernie sanders will sit down with chris cuomo for a town hall to discuss the democratic strategy during the trump campaign. questions from a live audience ahead of the inauguration, next thursday night town hall with paul ryan. >>> as they face attacks from their next commander-in-chief, top intelligence officials are testifying on capitol hill. we're moments away in the opening bell. let's head to the new york stock exchange and talk with alisyn kosik. >> good morning, glad to see you as well. there is a one-day sale at macy's today, all the stock you want at about 10% off. that's how much shares are down after the company announced it will layoff 10,000 employees and close 68 stores this year. that leaves 660 locations left of macy's across the u.s. retail experts say macy's may have to cut deeper for a serious turn-around. the department store is going this because macy's struggled against companies like h andm. plus holiday sales are weak

california talk radio host ethan berman, national committee man sean steel, and political analyst ron brownstein. ron, first up, that was a blistering statement put out by the white house. >> it is. look, it is not shocking that a president would dismiss an acting attorney general from the previous administration who refuses to support one of his initiatives in court. it is surprising to see the kind of language that was applied here. the word betrayal is an extraordinary word from the white house about a -- a public official in the government. and it is indicative of the way that the lines are deepening so quickly around this administration on the same day that the president can -- attacked john mccain and lindsey graham and chuck schumer. we are seeing very sharp lines being drawn in every possible direction around this administration. only eight or nine days after the inauguration. >> reporter: >> okay, sean and ethan, our legal analyst mark geragos says the president was well within his rights to fire sally yates, acting attorney general, but added this -- >> well, yes. he's within his right

. >> already, cnn, ron brownstein. >> thank you very much for your insights >> thank you for watchingu are joining us here on cnn. >> george h.w. bush is feeling much better and could be out of intensive care in a day. the 92-year-old was hospitalized in houston, texas stemming from pneumonia. >> his wife was admitted for bronc bronchitist. she chose to stay one more night and stayed close to her husband. >>> still to come here on cnn newsroom. >> things could get messy between the u.s. and beijing if president trump uses taiwan has a bargaining chip in trade talks. we'll be back in a moment. the newly advanced gle can see in your blind spot. onboard cameras and radar detect danger all around you. driver assist systems pull you back into your lane if drifting. and will even help you brake, if necessary. it makes driving less of a production. lease the gle350 for $579 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. the world is full of surprising moments. they're everywhere. and as a marriot rewards member, i can embrace them all. the new marriott portfo

ron brownstein joining us now. let's talk about obama.s 5 1/2 days left as yesterday. >> yeah. >> do you expect any surprises? what might he do? >> you know, he's been using every hour as we have often seen in presidents, especially when we see a switch of parties at the end of the eight years. by the way, president obama joins a long list since world war ii, and ronald reagan is the only two-term president succeeded by a successor from his party, and we often are in this situation, and president obama is clearly intent on using every hour to engrave as much of his agenda as he can and we will see donald trump move aggressively of what is not firmly nailed down in a sense. >> and president obama ended a long-standing policy allowing cubans to become permanent residents, and slashed federally issued mortgage insurance premiums and got the type of bumble bee listed on the endangered list. we know trump, too, can overturn some of these. do you expect that to happen across the spectrum? will some be left in place? >> absolutely. i think peopl

joining me here now in los angeles, california talk radio house, ethan, and john steele, ron brownstein, and mark garyus. i want to start with mark. sally united states refused to enforce the laws of the president. was well within his rights to fire her. >> well, yes. he's within his rights to fire her, but for all of those who keep calling her an obama holdover, remember, yes, she was appointed by obama, but so was the gentleman who is now the acting attorney general. they're both obama appointees, and she was asked by the trump administration to act as the acting attorney general until such time as sessions either gets confirmed or not confirmed. the president's got the ability to fire an ag, but ironically, it's taken donald trump only ten days to match what richard nixon took years to do, which is fire an attorney general who wouldn't do what you wanted them to do. now, you have to understand something. the part of the press release that was put out there today by the administration was that they had cleared this with the office of legal counsel at the department of justice. the pro

we'll bring back christine, and also ron brownstein, and patricia murphy is also here. christine, i want to go back to you for just a second. mr. trump, president trump said this morning that he plans to cut 75% of regulations, right? he said that he'll provide massive tax breaks to companies if they build factories within the united states. and he also said that if companies move their factories to other countries, he will fine them, in essence, by imposing tariffs on their products. so in the end, when all is said and done, if all of that is accomplished, and that's a big "if," right, what will that mean to american taxpayers? >> i think a lot of people are concerned there could be higher prices for american consumers, especially if you get into a situation where different countries are slapping 35% tariffs on different goods. that's one thing. the other part of it is in this discussion about tax reform, if you take the companies' share of what they put into the national treasury, if you cut that dramatically, who fills that in? where does that money come from? what y

joining us, ron brownstein, senior political analyst for cnn and senior editor for "the atlantic."great to have you with us. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. >> you see sean spicer talking about that, you hear president-elect trump talking over the weekend. he continues to refuse to say that he believes russia hacked into the u.s. election system. he said he'd have a statement later this week, he knows things we don't know. the question from a political standpoint sf we're talking about the bottom line here, ron, is what is the political risk and the political consequences for president-elect and ultimately president trump here? >> first, let's start with large sections of that conversation seemed to exist in some other reality. yes, we are waiting for a final report with final details and specifics, at least what they feel comfortable releasing publicly. but already on october 7, 2016, the department of homeland security and director of national intelligence issued a joint statement in which they said, quote, the u.s. intelligence community is confident that the russian gover

. >> ron brownstein, some of the criticisms the republicans are getting is they've been railing againstmacare for seven years. they're going to repeal and replace, but now they're in a majority, the white house, the house, the senate. they're going to repeal it, but where is the plan? where is the legislative plan to put forward and vote on a replacement right away? >> there has never been a full-scale plan that would cover anything like the 20 million people covered under obamacare. there are some hints of a plan and bert way document paul ryan put out, price the hhs secretary has put out, but none of them are scored as covering anywhere near the people who have gained coverage under obamacare. it is important to note that not all of those 20 million are democrats. in my column tomorrow morning i point out if you look at the five rust belt states that tipped the election, michigan, ohio, wisconsin, iowa, pennsylvania, in all of those states a majority of the people who gained coverage under obamacare were non-college whites, the same voters at the absolute core of the trump coalition.

ron brownstein, the trump administration also facing criticism for supposedly suppressing dissent withinhe administration. as you know, the white house press secretary sean spicer said to federal employees, especially those at the state department who are complaining, you should get with the program or go. the acting attorney general, sally yates, was fired, as you know. are they threatening the independence of these career officials, these independent agencies, if you will? >> i think the short answer is yes. i mean, look, if you think about the amount of whiplash we are going through, the last time we went from a democratic president to a republican president, we went from a relatively centrist bill clinton to a george w. bush who started off quite centrist himself. the distance, the degree of turn radius was not as jarring. today we're going from an obama presidency that was more liberal than bill clinton's to a trump presidency that is not only more conservative, but more confrontational and more determined to break the crockery in many different directions. i think what we're seeing

round brownstein, cnn senior political analyst. okay. so let's talk about this snafu. ron, we know that donald trump is a counterpuncher and if someone maligns him in any way, he's going to strike back. shouldn't americans and lawmakers, by the way, get used to that? >> when you're president of the united states, every day somebody is unhappy about something you do, whether at home or abroad. it goes with the territory. and if the president is going to engage in basically combat with everyone who ever disagrees with him at home and abroad, you are in for just an unprecedented, rocky ride. your list at the beginning of all the different ways that donald trump, you know, has kind of been engaged in confrontations just over this weekend, the idea that there's going to be anything different in the presidency than there was in the campaign, then there has been in the transition, seems to be increasingly implausible. and this is the world. i think it does have consequences, both at home and abroad in terms of the ability of institutions to function. but it is the world we're hea