. >> joining us is steve clemmons, editor at large.ure, what's your reaction of what's been developing today, the u.s., rather orchestrated the --. it should be noted the administration denies that it plays that role. that said, i would argue it doesn't matter. it's been very clear that the president and john kerry and others in the administration have been very, very distressed by the ongoing expansion of israelis settlements on the west bank and other occupied territories. i think it was not a surprise to any of us that the president would send a parting shot, at least in the notion to kind of remind folks that in the eight years that he's been at this, there's been little to no movement on this. one has to remember at the beginning of the administration, netanyahu was sworn in six weeks after president obama was sworn in. they have been hat this for years and years and years. the settlement problem has quadrupled in that period of time. where does he go from here? what role does donald trump play? >> prime minister netanyahu is enga

let's bring in steve clemmons. great to have you this morning. >> good morning. >> were you surprised by the tone of secretary kerry's speech? >> no. i happened to have a number of occasions to sit down with secretary kerry and talk to him about his feelings regarding the peace process and his frustration with it. he has been carrying this speech with in his mind for the last few years. this was an important pungsation point for him. it was not a new thing. i think he has been working behind the scenes for a long time trying to get a big spotlight on what was going on in israel and palestine. this was his last opportunity to do it. >> a new op-ed recounts a number of international conflicts that took place. including syria, libya and iran. it points out this end of term emphasis on the israel-palestinian conflict. big picture, is this what president obama and john kerry should be focusing on right now? >> i think they have been trying to focus on the entire picture of this. i think in part what happened with the pr

>> steve clemmons, as well as robert wiseman, he was giving his expertise in "the new york times" reporting about exxon, saying, i'm going to read what you say, the chances that tillerson will view russia with exxonmobil dna are close to 100%. i'll tell you, anything close to 100% sounds to me like an exaggeration or an overstatement. you don't know. i don't think you could prove what he would do in the future as secretary of state. but why don't you explain to us the evidence you have about why you're so concerned. >> well, it's not about him personally, or even whether he's going to act in good faith. this is a guy who spent his entire career with exxon. he's the ceo of exxon. he's made his reputation on the deal in russia, and it's unreasonable to expect that he can suddenly discard that, forget the whole history, forget all the arguments he's made, not be influenced by his old relationships, and his new job as secretary of state. >> steve, what do you think? >> i think steve call said it best. and i think some people have been getting rex tillerson wrong. but rex tillerson can preside o