we all look to the white house all the time to see what's going on in the white house. they are trend setters at the white house. the first time they served arctic char at a state dinner, about 30,000 pounds imported into the united states, after the year was up, 300,000 pounds were imported, so you set the trend and you can set styles. diplomats. laura bush and hillary clinton went around the world as ambassadors and diplomats for the united states. policy advocate. every first lady picks a flat form she wants. whether it's rios lynn carter with mental health and you could name a variety of others. she is also a steward of the house as is the president. they take care of the house. right? >> absolutely. >> to leave anytime a better place, not a better place ch they want to make improvements to it and every president and first laid does that ch a style icon. we look to her to be a trend setter. i don't trendy, but to showcase what the best of america is. >> didn't turn off my phone? >> that's one of the first ladies calling her. >> oh, my gosh. >> coming here, my cab did

experience in his self-published memoir "the white house chandeliers." >> how did you get to the white house? >> guest: well when i think back i was in the military police so i went to number 14 precinct and talk to the sergeant about being in the police. i had to take a test and they said i passed the test but they weren't hiring any blacks. so that didn't work and then i went to the fire department and i had to sign a sheet of paper that was longer than your leg tt wait to join the fire department today knew i had to wait and i couldn't wait that long so i went back and i was telling my dad and he said well you are going to have to wait on them to call you and we were waiting you were going to have to find a job do h so if you save a lot of money. you have picked up a few bad habits so you are going to have to get yourself together. i said yes, sir. i want -- i went to a restaurant and they wanted to -- me to be a busboy. it's a little more than washing dishes at home you know that i started working in the kitchen washing the washing of pots and pans and whatnot and witnessed people

it is not a top-down effort from the white house. a lot of the initiatives live outside of the white house. >> i would say that supporting other women does not have to be part of them. -- does not have to be partisan. i have had some disappointing expenses. i have been surprised at the number of republican women who have been held to me throughout my career. when i got the spoke source in flowerset reno sent me could nicole wallace cannot be more kind and generous. i had a great conversation with mary matalin about what to do with my life. i would say that is important to remember. we are human beings. we can treat each other like that, even in washington. i would say, one of the things we saw from the election is certainly that sexism is alive and well. i think that is something that people in their 20's sometimes have not addressed yet. you may not have experience sexism because everybody is coming to the same pipeline of jobs. if you are a that assistant, you will present in my full of it and realize that is still more that needs t

he was going outside of the white house. he was going directly to the people. so every president tries to do it. what's important to remember is if you're covering the white house you have a group of reporters there, it helps our democracy, it helps public understanding of what the president is doing, what his staff is engaged in when you have a press corps that's well briefed, that understand what is they're thinking strategically, substantively and can communicate that and challenge them bush once said to me, he said "gregory, we have a symbiotic relationship." and by that it was not that we scratch each other's back but that he -- there was a role for the press to play that was good for him. >> he recognized that. >> like you're saying, even as he fought to not have us interrupt their flow and reach people directly. >> david is right but you have to add in the extra layer for this president. the fact that the -- the his store irk pitch th sto -- historic nature. they knew they had to control the narrative for better or for worse for us, for communication to t

the best practices for pay equity. that will be housed outside of the white house. it's on us. many of the first ladies initiatives are housed outside of the white house. that's how it is sustainable and that's how you build momentum and it shouldn't depend on who's in the white house if we've done our job right. >> on that point you are familiar with the white house, the council on women and girls, a big part of that is you placed folks to consider women as they make policy. again, something that the president early on in his first term through an executive action. so give me your best 30-second elevator pitch as to why the next administration should keep this. >> it's really important that you have a hope of government approach to ensure that every young girl has a fair shot. it is enough just to have an isolated office in the white house. what we've done is to empower people and agency, many of who are career workers who will be the long again after we leave to see it's the response which a look at everything they do through a gender lens. and that's the way you actually can

the tree in the house. that is in the blue room. room youate dining will spot the official white house gingerbread house. guys, when you see it everything on it is something you can eat. our pastry chefs have worked very hard to make this house possible. it is beautiful. they got the replica of the new white house garden with bo, sunny, and lots of cool stuff. the trees in that room, there are 56 lego gingerbread houses representing every state and territory in america. and then somewhere around the house we have supersized replicas of bow and sunny, guarding their presence. because we don't let them have their presence. i'm just kidding, they get presents. they are fine. altogether the folks who come to these halls over the next few weeks will see about -- how many ornaments do you think are in this house? 100. >> six. mrs. obama: 6, 10, 100? [laughter] 9000? , it's 70,000ou ornaments. i was pretty shocked at that. so, we can't wait. that is a lot of ornaments. we can't wait to start welcoming people into their white house this holiday season. who createdone these stunning displays, our volunteers, the f

what's going on in the white house. we want to know. at role starts the minute she comes down off the inaugural platform and walks into the white house. why? because as gary mentioned, there are likely a houseful of family and friends who are staying there. there's a dinner there and as we had the next day, 6,000 people come through the white house on a variety of events. but i think the next role is both a role for the president and the first lady. they are stewards of the house. and as i mentioned a minute ago, they want to leave the house with the imprint of the things they were important to add to the house. they also work a lot with with the white house historical association to make sure this happens. for example, mrs. obama just restored the old family dining room. hillary clinton restored and worked with a committee for the preservation of the white house, the blue room. the house gets wear and tear and a lot of things have to be taken care of. but in due time, the first lady takes on a really, really more public historic platfor

the meeting and handouts. we had an issue with that with this white house where the obama white house was relying too much on putting out official photos instead of allowing the pool or in particular still photographers and we were successfully got that process to change. the way you do that is through having community within the press corps and the decision not to use the handout. we tried that with the photo from the trump meeting and it worked partially. the washington press corps in the white house press corps was respectful of that decision not to use it but we didn't do i think a good enough job of getting that message across to our colleagues. the press there is more accustomed to using their own photos. once he gets out, it's out. the way i would wrap up that issue is the media and our news organizations we do have some power there and our power is staying unified, saying no we won't use those handouts and this has happened with the obama administration. the white house says we will let in just a few people from the pool if the whole pool says that we are not going in, we don't accept it if our colleagues an

stays at the white house? >> absolutely. just like lost big is. speaking of that we had to sign papers of finances and everything you can think of the tax papers everything so anytime they wanted to dated go into police records -- pull your records as a security check. >> host: started to work their with richard nixon do remember the first time you saw him in the of whitehouse >> cancer. he did not come down like the other presidents it would be around 6:00 the was a good while before i saw him like 8:00 or 9:00. i was working in the flour room and he came not of the main residence and shut the door then you go when to another set of doors into the oval office. so he came through one day i said good morning mr. president he did not even notice my belt buckle. but we got along good because he was a nice president. one thing he believed he wanted the names of the children and how old they were ending a christmastime he would send presents to everybody all of my children . expensive gas. robots and all kinds of s

house possible. it is beautiful. it has a replica of the new whiteouse garden and bo and sonny and lots of cool stuff. the trees in that room, there are 56 lego gingerbread houses, representing every single state and territory in america. and somewhere in the house we have supersized replicas of bo and sonny guarding their presents because we don't let them have their presents. [laughter] i'm just kidding. they get to have them. people who come through these halls over the next few weeks will see about -- how many ornaments do you think are in this house? six? [laughter] 10? [laughter] a hundred? getting closer. 9000? let me tell you. it is 70,000 ornaments. i was pretty shocked at that. so we can't wait. that's a lot of ornaments. but we can't wait to start welcoming people into their white house this holiday season. and to everyone who created these stunning displays, all our volunteers, all the folks who helped make this happen, i want to -- i want to once again say thank you. you did a phenomenal job once again in turning this house into a magica

carl: we've actually had two bachelors in the white house and four widowers in the white house. do you think today particularly, with the kind of emotional strength it takes to be president of the united states, to cope with all these problems, on a world scale, do you think somebody who is unmarried has that same sense of balance, or would serve less effectively without having a spouse? ms. reagan: i don't think you can have a sense of balance in anything unless you are married. i mean, to me, that is it. carl: do you think that first ladies should be more formally included in some advisory teams? i know during the 1984 campaign, the -- that you would occasionally join others. ms. reagan: well, there was the one debate that was just terrible, awful, terrible, and i died, and so did my husband, and i knew what had happened. they had thrown so many facts and figures at him that his mind was just -- and i said to them afterwards, leave it alone. he knows what he wants to say. leave him alone. and they did and he was fine. carl: so that kind of a personal influence can have a polit

in his memoir, the white house chandeliers. >> outage you you get to the white house?ul >> when he first got back i was a military police so i went to number 14 precinct and talk to sergeant about being a police.rt and i had to take a test and they set i passed the test on they were not hiring any blacks. so that didn't work. and then i went to the fire department and i had to sign a sheet of paper that was to wait to join the fire department. i knew knew right away i can't wait this long. so i went back in the still my dad he said well, you're going to have to wait on them to call you and while you're waiting you're going to have to find a job.ave to f you are saving a lot of money in you picked up a few bad habits so you're going to have to get yourself together. so i said yes, sir. so i went to work at a restaurant in the northwest. they wanted me to be the busboy which i have never known a thing about being a busboy other than wash and desist home. so i started washing the pots in the pants and when people finished eating i would go outsh and pick at the dishes wit

so what they did was, he said i want to go back to the white house. and one of the secret service guys noticed that he had some blood running out of his nose pick and they told him, mr. president, we are not taking you back to the white house. he said we're taking you to george washington hospital. they took him to george washington hospital and the examined him come with examination, you know, being present, this examination you could get. they found out he had a little bullet somewhere in his lungs. and they told him that he is going to have to have surgery. .. >> what was it like in the white house while all this was going on? >> everybody was scared to death . like i said, it was not one happy family. everybody knew everybody. everybody concentrated on doing things for the president but whatever the president wanted, he got it. we were right there. he got everything he needed, everybody was right there doing whatever he needed . when patricia got married in the rose garden and i tell you, we went wild but anyway, let me get back to this story. anyw

we all look to the white house all the time to see what's going on in the white house. trendsetters at the white house. the first time they served arctic char at a state dinner, that was about 30,000 pounds imported into the united states, after the year was up, 300,000 pounds were imported, so you set the trend and you can set styles. diplomats. laura bush and hillary clinton went around the world as ambassadors and diplomats for the united states. policy advocate. every first lady picks a platform that she wants, whether it is rosalynn carter with mental health, and a variety of others. she is also a steward of the house, as is the president. they take care of the house. right? >> absolutely. >> they want to leave it in a better place -- not a better place, they want to make improvements to it, and every president and first lady does that. she is a style icon. we look to her to be a trendsetter. and i do not mean trendy, but to showcase what the best of america is. [phone ringing] >> i hope that's not my phone. my god. [laughter] >> am i the one that didn't turn off m

that is, focus on the white house. e is a tendency in every transition to focus on the big shiny objects, the big cabinet posts. those are absolutely critically important. but it causes president elects and their senior team to neglect the construction of the white house staff, which actually is the group that will help drive the really critical presidential priorities. the government that elaine described so well in her set of remarks, was pretty resilient. some would say impervious. but it is very capable of running itself, at least on a steady state, without substantial political leadership. it is only on those issues where the president really wants to take the country in a particular direction, especially a new direction, where the presidential leadership counts a lot. typically that comes from the white house. they do not have to be big public figures. the people the president brings in the white house, and empowers to drive the initiatives, are the key appointments early on in a presidency. i think those especial

back to the white house momentarily. the arrival of the japanese ambassador ambassadors, visitors from the east during president buchanan's presidency. harriet lane there in the blue dress. the japanese ambassadors. those giant wonderful lights outside the white house that were taken out during the roosevelt rehab in 1902. the japanese were immensely popular in washington. people were driven mad by them. women gathered outside their window. they stayed at the willard hotel and became hysterical and huge crowds followed them wherever they went. they were sort of difficult to grasp the amount of excitement they caused both in washington and later on in new york. one of the things that i return to a great deal in my work is building. and this is the library for the hall of the american people. this is the library of congress on the east front, in front of the dome of the capitol. i'm interested in building methods. sort of kids are interested, too. i guess being an artisan, because i build my works, i'm interested in process

the trump white house. ll sorts of extensions of power in the national security space. so we are talking about the authority to kill overseas without a trial. that happened during the obama administration and we are talking about the records and wiretapping. we are talking about waging war overseas without congressional authorization acongressionalautg right now with the obama administration relying on the al qaeda authorization with the use of military force, not a new one that authorizes them to fight a war against isis. so we have all sorts of expansion and not much of that has been covered or plaintiff to buy all that many sources and i think that we will start to see a lot more coverage about the same authorities. it's the vast majority of not sounding the alarm on the national security issues that have been. congress have chosen not to pass. it could have, but it's not been able to reach an agreement on how long that will be and who would be targeted in such a war. the actors that play and whether it c

the white house is sharply calling out president-elect donald trump on the issue. for the second day in a row. the white house press secretary josh earnest criticizing trump for questioning u.s. intelligence on russian hacking. a source tells cnn trump is concerned but think the white house might be using the issue to delegitimize his victory. while some are talking about imposing russian sanctions. >>> former congressman jack kingston says trump does not have to abide by president obama's foreign policy. >>> we're covering that and much more this hour with our guests including the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee, senator diane feinstein and our correspondents and expert analysts are also standing by. let's begin with russia's cyberattacks on the election. barbara starr is working the story at the pentagon for us. first we want to go to cnn chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. you are learning new information from your sources. >> tonight the u.s. intelligence community has growing confidence based on new intelligence that russian presi

he don't even know that the white house was 90 years old. but he said yes. churchill was brought the brandy for breakfast. he drank his way through the white house. he was a very popular guest to the. he was there with advisers. he was trying to guide the american military and industrial forces into war. we were not nearly prepared. we didn't have enough planes. we do not have enough tanks. we didn't have enough of anything. we weren't even prepared to give up our industry. -- gear up our industry. he brought a former canadian who was a feisty guy. he was good when talking straight to the americans and told them do you know that the russians lost 3000 tanks in one battle against the germans? the germans lost nearly as many? how long will it take you to build 3000 tanks? this bug of the americans. cars,topped production of refrigerators and air conditioners and began building tanks and planes. manyritish were losing so summaries. churchill pointed out that we had to build or than one chip a day to replace what the germans were sinking. i did not even count the

that is, focus on the white house. e is a tendency in every transition to focus on the big shiny objects, the big cabinet posts. those are absolutely critically important. but it causes president elects and their senior team to neglect the construction of the white house staff, which actually is the group that will help drive the really critical presidential priorities. the government that elaine described so well in her set of remarks, was pretty resilient. some would say impervious. but it is very capable of running itself, at least on a steady state, without substantial political leadership. it is only on those issues where the president really wants to take the country in a particular direction, especially a new direction, where the presidential leadership counts a lot. typically that comes from the white house. they do not have to be big public figures. the people the president brings in the white house, and empowers to drive the initiatives, are the key appointments early on in a presidency. i think those especial

>> host: higher did you get to the white house could. >> a when i first and got back and led to the number four precinct talk to the sergeant about being the police and had to take a test case set past but they were not hiring blacks. so that did not work with so low then went to the fire department and i had to sign a sheet of paper work that was longer than your name to join the fire department. so i knew bride away and i could not read that so i told my dad he said you have to tell them to call you a do have to find a job. you have been in germany so you have to get yourself together. so i went to work with the restaurant up in the northwest and they want me to be the busboy the that was no more than just washing dishes so i started and when people would finish eating i would pick up their dishes so i did not really know and i thought it was for me so i started to pick up some of it to put it in the trade to take a back. but then they were hollering because there was no tips. one of the girls said pick up some tips so they called me and said you're not supposed to you just pick up the d

typically that comes from the white house. they don't have to be big public figures, but the folks with the president brings in the white house and empowers to drive those initiatives are key appointment early on in the presidency. i think especially those who are less familiar with government have a tendency to neglect that aspect of the early part of the transition. >> one of my favorite tories in doing the oral history for bush 43 and we've done every president's oral history from jimmy carter, really starting with the administration of gerald ford in carrying on through and we are coming to the end of the bush 43 project and those are so confidential that this is in the public record. one of my favorite stories and it not the election for president electra getting that he's a media impresario and that is bush 43 invited ted kennedy and his family within the first few weeks of the administration down to watch the film 13 days about the cuban missile crisis. so here's that ted kennedy but president george w. bush, watching a

the white house, the obama white house now saying that there are at least 35 russian officials operating in the united states who are considered persona non-grata, are being asked to leaf and we understand through the state department and other sources they have 72 hours to leave. there are installations in maryland and new york being shut down. we have reaction coming from the obama white house and in support of u.s. intelligence saying russia did influence u.s. elections. we'll have much more on this conversation. we'll take a short break for now. we'll be right back. >>> a welcome back, i'm fredricka whitfield. more on our breaking news, the obama white house making strong statements with russian cyber hacking threatening to deport or ask for the departure of 35 russian operatives. i have a fantastic panel of people joining us is, general spider marks with us now. general marks. this is what's being revealed in a lengthy four-paragraph statement from the white house but a lot of information we don't know in terms of what where the action -- what the action the white house is going to

here is donald trump back on july 27th and the white house today. s that are missing. >> the defense from the trump campaign is that he was joking. i don't think anybody at the white house thinks it's funny that an adversary of the united states engaged in malicious cyber activity to destabilize our democracy. that's not a joke. >> laura, his rhetoric from the podium has increased over the last couple of days on this very issue. >> think how heart warming that meeting between obama and trump was in the oval and they have been talking regularly. probably complementary trump was of obama and this is what he gets for it the back of the hand. pretty obvious that trump made that off hand comment in the summer. i don't think he was really telling vladimir putin to hack the u.s. commuters computers. that's not what he would do. it doesn't surprise me at all that josh earnest, obama's press secretary speaking for the president would be another agent provocateur trying to just like with the entire russia story delegitimize the trump victory. the trump victory

the best practices for pay equity. and so that will be housed outside of the white house. it's on us, many of the first ladity's to initiatives -- lady's initiatives are housed outside the white house. it shouldn't depend on who's in the white house if we've done our job right. >> on that point, we're familiar with the white house, the council on women and girls. a big part of that is you placed folks in the agencies as point people to consider women as they make policy. again, it's manager that we, you -- it's something that the president did early on in his first term through an executive action. is so give me your best 30-second elevator pitch as to why the next administration should keep this. >> well, it's really important that you have a whole-of-government approach to insuring that every young girl gets a fair hot. and it isn't enough just to have an isolated office in the white house. what we've done is to empower people in the agencies, many of who are career workers who will be there long again after we leave to see it as their respondent to look at everything the

so, i wrote an article about the kinds of authorities that the white house, the obama white house will soon be transferring to the trump white house. all sorts of expansions of power in the national security space, so we're talking things like the authority to kill an american citizen that's overseas without a trial. that happened during the obama administration. we're talking about secret courts on wiretapping. that happened under the obama administration. we're talking about waging war overseas without congressional authorization. this is happening right now with the obama administration relying on the al qaeda authorization for the use of military force, not a new one that authorizes them to fight a war against isis. so, we have all sorts of expansion over the last eight years. not much of that has been -- it hasn't been covered or pointed to by all that many sources. and i think we'll start to see a lot more coverage about the same authorities being used under a trump administration, with the exception of the aclu and, you know, certain news outlets, the vast majority of the press

pamela, the white house and the president-elect are at odds here debating a fact. the fact is the issue of russian hacking was discussed, clearly, before the election. >> that's right. in fact, today the white house pointed out that point, jake, that close trump supporters were even calling out russia as the culprit and the hackster in the campaign even before the joint statement outing russia. tensions are clearly reaching a boiling point over the issue. today the white house is squaring off against president-elect trump over the intelligence community assessment that russian conducted unprecedented cyber hacks on american political operatives and organizations during the presidential election. >> it might be time to not attack the intelligence community but actually be supportive of a thorough, transparent, rigorous, non-political investigation into what exactly happened. >> the terse response comes after trump tweeted today, if russia or some other entity was hacking, why did the white house wait so long to act? why did they only complain after hillary lost? whit

the meeting and handouts. we had an issue with that with this white house where the obama white house was relying too much on putting out official photos instead of allowing the pool or in particular still photographers. we successfully got that practice to change. the way you do that is through having some unity within the press corps and the decision not to use the handout. we tried that with the abi photo from the trump meeting and it worked partially. the washington press corps in the white house press corps was respectful of that decision not to use it but we didn't do i , think a good enough job of getting that message across to becauseeagues in japan the press there is more accustomed to using those photos. once it gets out it's out. ,so everyone can use it. the way i would wrap up that issue is the media and our news organizations we do have some , power there and our power is staying unified, saying no we won't use those handout photos. and this has happened with the obama administration. if the white house says we will let in just a few people from the pool, if the whole pool says we are not going in, we d

the white house press corps is not immune. resident-elect trump's chief of staff, reince priebus, suggesting that something could shift when it comes to daily press briefings and more. >> the point of all of this conversation is that the traditions while some of them are great, i think it's time to revisit a lot of these things that have been done in the white house and i can assure you that change is going to happen. >> change is going to happen. so let's talk about that. with me, cnn national correspondent, suzanne malveaux and bill carter, cnn media analyst. i want to start with you. you spent ten years as a white house correspondent. reince priebus is talking about these press briefings with the president's spokesman. just tell our viewers what those press briefings are meant to be for. who they benefit. >> sure. this changes because what reince priebus is talking about, it's not actually up to the obama administration in terms of how this goes, but you know, it's set in a way so you have assigned seats for each of the corr

i'm often asked what's it like to work in the white house. what's it like to have walk-in privileges into the oval office and stand in front of the same desk used by franklin roosevelt during world war ii when he worked with winston churchill, the same desk used by jfk, the same desk used by ronald reagan. what is it like to stand in front of the desk and advise the president whpresident who he sht to the supreme court, was it like to stand on the evening of the porch 9/11 and watch as marine one brings president bush back at the end of the day. what is it like to be involved in discussions of the situation room on the most controversial issues as an american citizen there was no greater privilege and i can't imagine a greater thrill than being there for the birth of a child to served in that capacity. at the white house is the most recognizable 18 acres in the world and people come from all over the world to catch a glimpse. why is it so important and special, because the most powerful person in the world is making decisions every day. myself

little girl teddy bear and a boy and it's a nod to the love that ronnie and nancy brought to the white house the decorations. a lot of fun >> now you have these white christmas stockings you were saying, white stockings today, we consider them to be retro. at one time, they were new and fashionable >> i was happy to design these. i want these, basically, we have these historical pictures really national treasures. and some of them show the kennedy family celebrating christmas morning. in the background are their stockings hung by the a little hap hazard and they were white and had pom-pom is on them. these stockings were inspired by the kennedy family stockings which were really popular. >> tell me about the ornaments, each has a different story. bring me one or two of them. >> what you need to know is each first lady puts her own imprints on the white house christmas decoration. it was jackie who said we need to do that. we need to put thought into it. her first theme was the nut cracker. we have a couple really fun nut cracker ornaments and this particular nut cracker is holding the pt 109

atnow on c-span, christmas the white house. we will show you the official white house christmas tree on arrival, followed by a look at this year's holiday decorations. then, first lady michelle obama's talks to military families from the east room and joins the children for christmas craft. after that, a look at the first family at the national christmas tree lighting ceremony on the national mall. all of these events took place just after thanksgiving. ♪ 's great. should we accept it? >> yes. mrs. obama: i think we're good. these are our replacement kids. [laughter] this is what happens when you get teenagers. one is asleep -- these two are up. [laughter] it's what we got now. good job, guys. christmas begins. the holidays start. we're ready -- our last one. we're excited about it. congratulations to our award winners here. thank you, guys. all right, our work here is done. >> that was easy. mrs. obama: it's easy. the easiest part of the holiday season. all right, you guys. happy holidays. happy thanksgiving. we'll see you arou

suzanne malveaux, reporting live from the white house. donald trump's refusal to assess blame that russia meddled in the election is sparking a gloves-off battle with the white house, what the administration tried to avoid. press secretary josh earnest and trump locked in a war of words over whether trump knew the attacks were benefiting him. the battle spilling over into trump's home turf, twitter. sara murray follows that part of the story. good morning. >> reporter: look, president obama wanted this sort of peaceful orderly transition of power but a rift is emerging because of russia. now we are seeing the president-elect trading barbs with the white house press secretary. take a listen. >> although this foolish guy, josh earnest, i don't know if he's talking to president obama. you know, having the right press secretary is so important because he is so bad, the way he delivers a message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. >> it's just a fact, you all have it on tape, that the republican nominee for president was encou

that will be housed outside of the white house. it is on adam housleyed outside of the white house. many of the first lady's initiatives are housed outside of white house. that is how it is sustainable and build momentum. it shouldn't depend who is in the white house if we've done our job right. >> on that point, you are familiar with the white house, the council on women and girls, the big part of that you placed folks in the agencies as point people to consider women as they make policy. again it is something that we knew that the president did early on in first term through executive action. give me your best 30-second "elevator pitch," why the next administration should keep this? >> it is really important that you have a whole of government approach to insuring that every young girl gets a fair shot. it isn't enough to have just an isolated office in the white house. what we've done is to empower people in the agencies, many of who are career workers who will be there long again after we leave to see it as their responsibility to look at everything they do through a gender lens.

the white house correspondents association that deals with that, not the white house. about not giving a daily press briefing. what are your expectations, lisa, as someone who covered this, about access? >> first, clarifying what he said. the assigned seating which you and i have both benefited from being in the first row with our organizations, was started in 1982. and it was something that the administration asked the media to do because they didn't want to be seen as playing favorites. they didn't want to be rewarding -- or being seen as rewarding certain public blaati with better seats and therefore better access. you want to make sure there's a level playing field. >> now we argue amongst ourselves about it. >> the duties switched to the white house correspondents association. you know, i think the issue here is you can debate the value of the daily briefing. but it's not as if -- it doesn't seem as if they're going to replace the daily briefing with something else. what we've seen from this transition is this is an operation that's very hard to get even basic inf

she's probably just going to be working outside the white house. k she's saying don't work or don't be a working person. by the way, i know kellyanne to be a dogged negotiator. i don't think she's sending a message. >> it's a personal decision. >> i think what she's doing, there are a lot of men who wouldn't take jobs at that time because of their families either. >> yeah. mel -- >> less men, to be clear. >> mel, you say this is a smart move because she will have more power and flexibility outside the white house. explain that. >> yeah, don. both of you already hit on some very important points and i don't think is a story necessarily about her putting her kids first. i think this is a story about her putting her entire life and business decisions first. let's think about it. choice a, become an employee of the government and work for the white house? choice b, remain an independent contractor with your own business where you have the power, you have the leverage and you negotiate what your salary is without any kind of conflict of interest. there i

he calls the white house. [laughter] he wasn't calling the white house like hey, come spring out of jail. he wanted to let me know i needed to hire the dog walker because henne was going to be at home by himself all day. i was in the oval office and carlton carroll was the assistant who picked up the phone and he said well, which are likely to a drug? no, not a good idea. i was in the oval and there was a period in the meeting that was quite and a check my blackberry. not good manners in a meeting i checked my blackberry and i see a message from that says peter called. he said that you might want to get the dog walker to come today, this morning, and probably in the afternoon. and i thought, that jerk has been arrested. [laughter] >> i knew that he would end up in jail. he spent anytime day turkey almost had to stay the night because he was getting so late anything. finally when he saw the judge, the judge apologized and said you should've never been to. peter said he held up his legs and said well, i found an

you're the president of the white house correspondents association. ve you been in touch about this? >> we're definitely in touch. one thing i wanted to do is correct some factual errors. mr. priebus mentioned or suggested it was the obama white house that had assigned seats in the briefing room. and that's just not the case. people who worked at the white house know those seats have been assigned since 1981. >> 1993 when i was cnn's white house correspondent i had an assigned seat there during the clinton administration. david gregory, you had an assigned seat as well. >> yes, so that's been white house tradition for the years, many decades. and there are other traditions. yes, the trump administration has the right to make some changes if it wants to. every administration that comes in makes a few changes here or there. there are reasons for an lt of the press core's traditions. the idea of a daily briefing is not just for the press, it's an opportunity for the white house to get out its message and it's our opportunity to ask questions about the new

athena jones is live at the white house watching all this. the white house reacted. they were not mincing words with this one but there are new details about what exactly happened with that questionnaire going to the energy department. what are you picking up? >> reporter: right. a few developments this morning. we have heard from press secretary josh earnest saying look, this looks like an attempt to maybe target career civil servants just for doing the job they are supposed to do. we have heard from the energy department, a union representative there talking about employees being concerned about keeping their jobs, and being able to pursue the science with he said independence and integrity. and we have a letter from two members of congress, i have it right here, they isn't a letter to vice president-elect mike pence who of course is heading up or leading the trump transition team, asking for a lot of information about this memo, this questionnaire. they are saying they are concerned this is creating an idealogical litmus test for civil servants to keep their jobs

we would look at our jewish-american citizens ask them if the white house gave an edict with things thatd with the history there, there certainly would be outrage. americans can get outraged. the question i have is, what is the white house doing to respond? >> describing the feelings of veterans as bitter. they might have -- using that word, bitter, as -- earnings clinging to their guns and religion? >> not if a more serious issue of war and having their friends killed and family members killed and dying for their country and sacrificing. they're not it per this is bigger thing that that. it is sacrificing for their country and they describe in superficial terms about it being bitter. >> ending the administration very much the way they started it. >> right. >> another thing, not to get into this, because i love the fact that japan is wonderful ally and everything, let's not forget history. pearl harbor started a war. hiroshima ended a war. and, you know we can quibble about a lot of things but i know which one of those acts i would never apologize for. meghan: amen. threw that mic, charl

you will see a 3d replica of the white house on your phone. sort of like pokemon go. you can see official state visits or marine one take off from the lawn. you can download it at white house.gov. >> because it's popular. >> you won't see the norwegian foreign minister playing with it. >> good point. >> the most followed celebrities in 2016. >> this is a surprise. >> i thought the initials would be kk. selena gomez has 103 million liked celebrity posts as well. they report gomez has some 200,000 fans and followers, every single day. herhelth. it's good to see a bit of positivity. >> it's truly nice to add that. very nice. >>> attention to new parents, we have the most popular baby names of 2016. that's good news for people expecting children. the top girl's names are sophia. number one on the spot. sflmpblts . >> spreesed by around of those? >> not at all. i know one of two in my daughter's class, too. you are getting ideas? you are expecting a girl in march. >> some names that could make it to the final list. >>> all right, just ahead, house speaker paul ryan on his r

house staff members that have spent years. >> the remainder of the folks at the white house are career staff and they will stay from president to president. many of the folks, some of these people have been here for 30, 40, 50 years. >> reporter: as we're learning a little more about what a trump white house might look like. >> change that with the trump penthouse in manhattan, which is filled with gold, from what i hear they are not going to rep i indicate that at the white house, but i'm sure they will make a few changes. >> reporter: after obama accompanies trump here. they will head off on marine one for vacation. upon their return, they will move into a rental home a few miles from the white house. >>> president obama prompted a sharp response from donald trump for a comment about the presidential race. during an interview with cnn, mr. obama said if at this ran against the, ik i could have rallied the american people to behind it. >>> japan's prime minister arrived in hawaii today to recognize the attacks on pearl river 45 years ago this month. he visited honolulu wher

so i wrote an article about the kinds of authorities that the white house, the obama white house will soon be transferring to the trump white house. also it's expansions of power in the national security space. we're talking things like the authority to kill an american citizen overseas without a trial. that happened during the obama administration. we're talking about secret courts on wiretapping. that happened during the obama administration. we're talking about waging war overseas without congressional authorization. this is happening right now with the obama administration relying on the al qaeda authorization for the use of military force. not a new one that authorizes them to fight a war against isis. so we have all sorts of expansion over the last eight years and not much of that -- it hasn't been covered or pointed to by all that many sources. and i think we'll start to see a lot more coverage about the same authorities being used under a trump administration. with the exception of the aclu and, you know, certain news outlets, the vast majority of -- of the press has not sound

we begin with chief washington correspondent james rosen at the white house ahead of mr. obama's press conference. hi, james. >> reporter: with president obama vowing to retaliate for a deliberate effort to meddle in the united states election. russian president vladimar putin unphased was on the other side of the globe in tokyo concluding talk and aimed at expanding economic ties between their country s and back in moscow a top aide challenged the president obama to document the hacking claims between the democrats and jon podesta. stop talking or produce evidence. otherwise, he added it begins to it look unseemly. in an interview, president obama referred to an assessment by the central intelligence agency that it was tilted for donald trump and the u.s. will inflict on moscow retalitory action. and the president made clear he was not suggesting that mr. trump and the kremlin were deliberately cooperating in the hacking. >> keep in mind those statements inspector the context of everyone now acting surprised by the cian assessment that this was done purposely to improve t

. >> the former speaker is here to talk obama, trump and the hypocrisy behind the white house's blame game with russia. plus rnc chief strategist sean spicer joins me live to talk about the trump white house and rumors he may be in it. then -- >> don't take off until i get off this 18 -- how many wheels do you have on this truck? >> it's been one of my favorite parts of the show all year. tonight, we look back on some of the best moments of street justice. >> what about the fact that the president's saying that mentally ill people shouldn't get a gun? >> i 100% agree. this world is a crazy world we live in. >> so get a gun. >> i don't need a gun, i got one right here, 21 ounces. >> he's got the hammer but i've got the gavel. justice starts now. >>> hello, welcome to justice. thanks for being with us tonight. what a show on deck. sean spicer from the rnc is standing by. he's also the senior communications adviser to president-elect trump's transition team. and ambassador bolton will join me as well. all through the hour, i'll share my favorite street justice moments of 2016. you won't

first hostess, we all look to the white house, almost all the time, to see what's going on in the white house. they are trendsetters at the white house. e first time they served arctic chard at a state din eric it went year was up from 30,000 pounds imported to the united states to 300,000. diplomats. laura bush and hillary clinton went around the world as ambassadors and diplomats for the united states. policy advocate. every first lady picks a platform she wants, whether it was rosalind cart we are mental health or you know, you could name a variety of others. she is also a steward of the house as is the president. they take care of the house. they want to leave it in a better place, not a better place, but they want to make improvements to it and every president and first lady does that. she's a style icon. we look to her to be a trendsetter. i don't mean trendy but to showcase what the best of america is. i hope that's not my phone. [laughter] i'm the one that didn't turn off my phone. >> that's one of the first ladies calling her. ann: oh my gosh. i had it on because coming here, m

>> well, it is certainly the case that previous white houses, especially the obama white house with the age of social media, have used twitter and other bits of social media to get their message out, but president-elect donald trump has taken that to a whole new level, and you're right to say how will the media adjust to that. so far, it's been an adjustment in terms of just reporting out those tweets when they come, and i think brian was right, too, when he talked about fact checking, and sometimes certainly the president-elect has tweeted things that are not correct and the media has for the most part tried to do its job of saying when that is the case, but it is a challenge and something that i think reporters and news organizations will be grappling with not just during the transition but in the months to come once he's working from the white house. >> he said he was going to be restrained with twitter once in the oval offers but we haven't seen that in this transition period. we've seen donald trump the same person he was in the 1980s doing deals, doing business in new york city, n