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He continued today online with falsehoods about the border wall and on camera with this. A Cabinet Meeting notable for how few actual confirmed cabinet members were in the room. To his left, the acting defense secretary. To his right, the acting interior secretary. Thats in addition to the acting attorney general, the acting chief of staff, and acting epa administrator. Thats a lot of acting, considering they arent on a stage or in a movie, they are in real life. Oh, and speaking of movies, did you notice what was on the president s desk . Its a movietype poster of the president with the words sanctions are coming november 4th, apparently riffing on the first game of thrones episode and the idea that winter is coming. But whats weird is given its prominent placement is that the president didnt say anything about it during all his riffing. He didnt mention anything about the poster. Sad. The president did have a lot to say on other topics, a good deal of it factually questionable, some of it flatout false, and all of it a pretty good preview of what enjoy the ride could actually mean in the coming year. So were going to start our keeping em honest segment right now by going through point by point what the president said today, starting with his broadside against his former secretary of defense. He might have been inspired by something he mentioned at the top, a stanley attacking general mccrystal. He said, general, in quotes, got fired by a dog like obama. Last assignment, a total bust, known for big, dumb mouth, hillary lover. That was yesterday. And today the president attacked his former defense secretary, retired fourstar general, james mattis. But whats he done for me . How has he done in afghanistan . Not too good. Not too good. Im not happy with what hes done in afghanistan. And i shouldnt be happy. But he was very happy, he was very thankful, when i got him 700 billion and then the following year, 716 billion. So i wish him well. I hope he does well. But as you know, president obama fired him and essentially, so did i. Keeping em honest, if essentially fired means did not fire, what the president said would be true. It doesnt mean that, however. General mattis resigned in protest of the president s policies and even released a letter detailing their differences. Now, there was a long, proud tradition of that in the military and in u. S. Government service, but you dont see it much anymore, because people these days want to stay as close to power, as long as they possibly can. But mattis resigned. And his Resignation Letter is polite, but very clear about the president s actions. Now, because of that letter, the president got angry and moved up mattis departure date, essentially shoving mouth in door. That is what you get for Loyal Service to this president. So, enjoy the ride. Another thing that happened today was also unusual, not something you hear every day, an american president doing really what no american president has done until now, endorsing this soviet invasion of afghanistan and asking for a new russian presence there. Russia used to be the soviet union. Afghanistan made it russia. Because they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan, russia. So, you take a look at other countries. Pakistan is there. They should be fighting. But russia should be fighting. The reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going into russia. They were right to be there. But why isnt russia there, why isnt india there, why isnt pakistan there . Why are we there . And were 6,000 miles away. Okay, so theres a lot to unpack. Keeping em honest, we were there and are there because of 9 11, because the taliban gave safe haven to al qaida. You can argue about whether the United States should still be there and the coalition should still be there, what impact thats been, what weve had what impact its had. But its pretty clear why we went there. As for the claim the soviet unions adventure in afghanistan was because of terrorism, thats not true. It was an effort to grow the soviet empire. And its unclear why an american president would welcome any n russian intervention anywhere, as he did so today. Hows the ride so far . Is it enjoyable. The president also wrote off the people of syria today, because he seemed to say that the country has nothing to offer in the way of loot. So syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. And besides that, i dont want were talking about sand and death. Thats what were talking about. Were not talking about, you know, vast wealth. Were talking about sand and death. No vast wealth. In the past, as you know, the president has talked about taking the oil, as he says, from iraq, as in plundering iraqs oil. He also has a habit of equating longtime allies to shopkeepers paying for protection. He did it again today, while at the same time claiming that european leaders really, really like him. I think my relationship i will tell you, with the leaders of europe is very good. A lot of them dont even understand how they got away with it for so many years. Ill say to angela and ill say to many of the other leaders, im friends with all of them, ill say, how did this ever happen . And they sort of go like, i cant believe it either. They cant believe it you know why, because there are president s and other people within administrations in the past that allowed them to get away. Like, some of them would say, no, they never asked us to pay. Now, keeping em honest, alliances such as nato are not payforprotection schemes. This is not hiring a certain cement contractor with ties to the mob so you dont get any Union Problems on your construction site. You can google that one. With our allies, to be sure, there are legitimate disagreements over how much member nations spend on their own defense. On their own defense. Nato is not like a golf club. There are no dues. There are no green fees. The president , we should add, also said things today that are not untrue and not necessarily outlandish. He raised questions that other president s might not, certainly, but even when he just did that, there was often something else, an iffy claim, an exaggeration or boast thrown in. Take a look. We have an area that i brought up with our generals four or five weeks ago, where taliban is here, isis is here, and theyre fighting each other. I said, why dont you let them fight . Why are we getting in the middle of it . I said, let em fight theyre both our enemies. Let em fight. Sir, we want to do it they go in and they end up fighting both of them. Its the craziest thing ive ever seen. I think i would have been a good general, but who knows . Who knows . This is not a new claim. The president has often said he knows more than the generals or our generals as i said, or my generals. Whats new is how many of his generals he has actually driven away or insulted. Whats new is how the consequences of the things he says and does are beginning to be felt, whether its the shortage of people to run crucial cabinet departments, or the sagging stock market or hard times from farmers and manufacturers caught in a trade war that the president has said again and again are easy to win. And even now, he shows no sign of recognizing that what he said today can come back and bite him tomorrow. Enjoy the ride. So, theres that and theres the shutdown. We have breaking news on that, as well. Today, the president invited lawmakers to the situation room, presumably to work out a deal to reopen the government. Maybe it was just a photo op. The president hope to fund the wall he once said mexico would pay for. Tonight, cnn has more reporting on how the president may see a possible deal with democrats who control the house starting tomorrow. Cnns Kaitlan Collins joins us now with that. So what did and what didnt happen in this meeting in the situation room today . Well, anderson, where to start . This meeting already had an air of drama to it, because it was held in the swaituation room, which white house officials was so they could communicate what a big crisis they believe is happening on the border. But they didnt need to hold it there to have some drama. Because there was already plenty in the room. As soon as this meeting got started, when the Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen was supposed to be giving this briefing on whats happening on the border, but nancy pelosi interrupted her and said that the democrats wanted to lay out their plan to reopen the government. Thats when Chuck Schumer started with his plan, telling the president , proposing essentially that the president sign after they could pass these six Bipartisan Senate bills. And then over the next 30 days or so, they could negotiate the dhr dhs funding then. Thats an idea he pressed the president on several times, three times, in fact, according to what an aide in the room or an aide familiar with the meeting told us latter on. And the president eventually responded, quote, i would look foolish if i did that. Now, i talked to a white house official who was in that meeting, as well, and talked about what was going on, and they essentially said that when Chuck Schumer proposed that, they said, well, okay. If we do agree to that, the president does sign this bill and we move forward over the next 30 days to negotiate what were going to do to keep dhs funded for the long haul, will you come up off your hard line of only funding 1. 3 billion for Border Security . Now, the democrats did not signal that they would, so the white house essentially said, what would be the point in us agreeing for the president to sign these six Bipartisan Senate bills if youre not going to come out any higher on that funding . So essentially, what were left at is an impasse. There was a deadlock and they did not come to any agreement during that meeting. Okay, so do we know how long is the white house prepared to let the shutdown go on for . Reporter well, things have changed. When the government initially shut down partially, white house aides felt confident they could clear things up in a couple of days, but they did fear the longer it went on, the worse it would look for them. And now here we are, in its third week of this shutdown. 12 days now. And white house officials do not feel that there is an end in sight, especially after that meeting today, which they didnt expect a lot of progress and for them to waltz out of there with some grand plan to reopen the government. But they say that things could be worse now between the white house and democrats than they were when we started this 12 days ago. All right. Kaitlan collins, appreciate it. Earlier tonight, i spoke with a lawmaker who was not in the situation room this afternoon, but might influence the outcome. Bernie sanders, heres the full interview. Senator sanders, the president says hes not budging. The democrats say theyre not budging. So where do things go from here . Well, i think the American People are going to have to stand up and tell donald trump that when he told us several weeks ago that he wanted to shut down the government, that he was wrong. And that right now, we have 800,000 federal employees not getting paid. When trump tells us hes concerned about national security, you got people in our airports, on tsa, you got people in the federal bureau of investigations. The fbi, who are not being paid. This is an outrage. And i think that while trump told the American People he wanted this shutdown, i think he has got to understand that is not in the best interests of this country. And what we have got to do is pass what unanimously passed the u. S. Senate, every republican supported it. And that is an extension of the government, at least until february, to give us a time to work out a longer understanding. You know, Mitch Mcconnell reiterated today that he wont put the continuing resolution, that the House Democrats plan to pass tomorrow up for a vote, because the president said he wont sign it. Is it at possible that there could be enough republican support in the senate to override a president ial veto . Well, i dont know the answer to that one, but i do think, and this is a very profound point, that the republicans in the senate and i know all of them, you got a lot of decent people there, they have got to understand that the senate is an independent part of the United States government. They dont work for President Trump. They work for the American People and their constituents. And we need senators, republican senators, to stand up to this president and tell him that he cannot always get his way. He cannot simply shut down the United States government and cause a lot of suffering to a lot of people. I was i went through tsa today in burlington, vermont. And i know this is true all over this country. Youve got a lot of workers who dont make a lot of money. That i have got to pay their mortgages, theyve got to pay their chooild care. They are asking why this government is shut down and why they are not being paid. And i ask and i beg my republican colleagues, stand up to trump, do the right thing for this country. But as you know, this is now the Republican Party is the party of donald trump now. Its his party. And there are a lot of there are some republican senators who are going to, you know, who are living in fear of facing a primary challenge if they go against the president. You know, anderson, i do know a lot of what you just said is true, but thats not what american democracy is supposed to be about. You know, when youve got a president , every american remembers that. He sat down with schumer and he sat down with pelosi a few weeks ago and he said, you can blame me. Im proud to shut down the United States government. And that there are not honest republicans in the senate saying, mr. President , thats not the way we should do business. So youre raising the right question, but in a democratic society, in our form of government, the Republican Party should not be trump is the leader, but he is not the dictator of that party. And we should have members standing up and representing their constituents, and not just the whimsical approach that this president consistently takes. The president told senator schumer today that according to our reporting, that he would look foolish if he backed down. Is he right about this . This is something that he vigorously campaigned on and promises were made. This is what drives the American People crazy. 800,000 workers today, including the fbi, including the tsa, including very decent people who are trying to support their families. They go to work every day. Imagine the feeling that they have. They go to work and theyre not being paid. Theyre being humiliated. And you have a president who is much more interested in his own ego, in what people will think than in terms of these 800,000 workers. And the millions of people in this country who access those services. So i think its time for the president to grow up and to listen to the needs of the American People, and not just his own ego. Your soontobe Republican Senate in the colleague, mitt romney, im sure youre aware, he wrote a pretty tough critique of the president in the washington post, which was published last night. And about that today, the president said that he hopes romney is going to be a team player. Do you believe he will be . Do you believe hes going to stand up to the president , as you have encouraged other republicans to do, to be kind of a republican foil to some of his policies . Well, look, you know, the nature of american politics is, when you have a democratic president , democrats generally follow that precedent. But, you know, i was im a great you know, somebody who has a lot of respect and appreciation for barack obama. But when i thought he was wrong, i opposed him. Others did, as well. And what we need, whether its romney or any other republican, youve got a lot of smart people, to say, mr. President , we are part of your team. I dont want to tell the Republican Party how to operate. Theyd do well enough without me. But to say to the president , look, were all part of the team. But youre not the dictator. You cannot simply tell us what to do and we are supposed to collapse in support. And by the way, this president changes his mind every single day. He lies a whole lot of times. So i think it is terribly important as we enter the new year for republicans in the house and the senate to say, sorry, mr. President , we cannot be with you in every instance. Lastly, i want to ask you about an article published in the New York Times. In it are allegations describing episodes of Sexual Harassment and demeaning treatment as well as pay disparity in your 2016 campaign. Were you aware of those allegations in the campaign if you do run in 2020, how can you ensure Something Like that doesnt happen again . Good good question. And the answer is, anderson, im very proud of the campaign we ran in 2016. We started at 4 in the polls, we wound up winning 22 states, 13 million votes. I think we changed the nature of political discourse in this country, raising issues that are now kind of mainstream, which were then considered extreme and fringe. But when our campaign grew from, i think we started with three or four paid employees, and over a period of a few months, as the campaign exploded, we went up to i think 1,200 employees. And im not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right in terms of human resources, in terms of addressing the needs that im hearing from now that women felt disrespected, that there was Sexual Harassment which was not dealt with as effectively as possible. What i will tell you is that when i ran for reelection in 2018 in vermont, we put forward the strongest set of principles in terms of mandatory training, in terms of women, if they felt harassed, having an independent firm that they can go to. And i think thats kind of the Gold Standard for what we should be doing. So i certainly apologize to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately. And of course, if i run, we will do better next time. And just to be clear, you seem to kit that you did not know at the time about the allegation allegations . Is that correct . Yes , i was a little bit bus running around the country trying to make the case. Senator sanders, appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. We should note, we invited someone from the white house tonight to talk about the shutdown. They never responded to our invitation. A lot more ahead tonight, including what House Democrats plan to do when they take control tomorrow. And later, mitt romneys broadside against the leader of his own party. What he told jake tapper about keeping the president honest and what another republican told me. Youll hear from senator jeff flake ahead on 360. dealing with Psoriatic Arthritis pain was so frustrating. My skin. It was embarrassing. My joints. They hurt. The pain and swelling. The tenderness. The psoriasis. Tina i had to find something that worked on all of this. I found cosentyx. Now, watch me. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are getting real relief with cosentyx. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of Psoriatic Arthritis. It even helps stop further joint damage. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. 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President trump says hell let the government stay closed as long as it takes to get a budget deal that pays for his border wall. And the breaking news underscores it. The president telling lawmakers he cant accept the democrats offer to reopen the government because he, and im quoting here, would look foolish if i did that. Meantime, hundreds of thousands of breadwinners are either furloughed or working without pay. Before the break, we heard from the white house. I want to check in now with Cnns Phil Mattingly at the capital. Phil, youre talking to lawmakers and staffers who were in the meeting with the president today. Is there any sense at all that theres a way out of this, at this point . The short answer, anderson, to be blunt, is no. And i think the reality here on capitol hill has not changed that much over the course of the last couple of days. And that is that both sides are extremely dug in. Both sides, at least from the president s perspective and from democrats perspective believe that they have the political winning hand, that their bases are behind them, that their rank and file is behind them. And at this moment, nobody is willing to blink. Now, keep in mind, there are staffers here on capitol hill in both chambers, on both sides of the aisle that have gone through many of these fiscal crisis before and have many ways to the lead thread the needle and get themselves out of them if their leaders will allow them to do that. And the reality here is frankly the leadership level is not at that point. And its unclear right now when they will reach that point. As one republican official told me earlier tonight, someone whos been through multiple fights, the biggest thing we need right now is time. Because at this moment, nobody is willing to break. So if no deal is in the works, what exactly happens next . Reporter what youre going to see tomorrow, youre going to see the first legislative action that weve seen over the course of this 12day shutdown. House democrats in the new majority will take votes on something to reopen the government. But the reality on that is Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has made clear hes not going to move forward on that. Interesting enough, even though the meeting today, it was made very clear it was not successful in any way, shape, or form, people here on capitol hill are saying, its something. At some point, you need something to give. At least people are starting to talk to one another. The president has invited lawmakers back on friday after the leadership elections tomorrow in the house. Perhaps that will shake something loose. But when you talk to staffers, the biggest thing they say right now is there needs to be blowback. When are you going to see blowback . Everyones pointing to the same day, anderson, january 11th. Thats when the bulk of those workers who are furloughed or working without pay right now will start missing paychecks. In the past, that has been the trigger that brings lawmakers to the table. Saying, the pain is a lot, its time to figure out a solution here. Obviously, january 11th is not just a couple of days away, thats almost a week and a half away at this point. And that is the timeline they keep hearing. Were not talking about days right now. Given how dug in everybody is, given the political incentives right now that seem to align with lawmakers going further from one another as opposed to coming back together, were talking about weeks and as i noted earlier, theres no clear end, no clear deal in sight, no Clear Pathway out of a shutdown thats about to stretch into its second week, anderson. All right, phil mattingly, appreciate you there. Joining us now is former rnc chief of staff, mike shields, republican congressman charlie dent, and Julie Hirschfield davis, Congressional Correspondent with the New York Times. Mi mike, is fthe president right . Will he look foolish if he takes the democrats deal . I think these are all a big negotiation and these negotiations are public. These are public fights. So how each party looks really, really parmatters. This isnt about appropriations funding with, the dollar amount, whether we got steel slats or concrete slats. These are about priorities. I used to work for Newt Gingrich and, you know, we had a Government Shutdown that lasted 27 days. That was a case where president clinton said, youre not spending enough, and im not going to sign your appropriations bill until you fund it to the level i want. And thats precisely what President Trump is doing and hes communicating that. And so, hes whoever loses this is going to look bad, right . And so thats a public fight, a public negotiation, and a Public Communications effort more than anything. Theyre pretty far apart today. You had the democrats go to the white house today, they couldnt even listen to a briefing by secretary nielsen without interrupting or stating their talking points, the white house that has hair talking points. This is a talking points public fight. Congressman dent, how do you see it . If the president doesnt shut down, is it republicans in congress who will end up looking like the foolish ones . Well, right now, i think the president ought to take the deal that nancy pelosi is offering. I would actually take that deal. Separate out these six bills. They should fund the department of interior, agriculture, the irs, that has nothing to do with Border Security. Take care of that and confine the fight to the Homeland Security appropriations bill, and then once the government has reopened, i would just have a serious negotiation between the house and the senate and the president on this 5 billion for Border Security. And if i were the democrats, i would simply demand that you take care of the dreamers, the tps population, i would also maybe insist on a mueller protection bill and force the president to make a decision. But this can be easily resolved. Republicans are not doing well in this fight, in my view. Look, the president owns this shutdown. He pretty much admitted as much. So, really, right now, the answer is getting the government reopened. And i recommended doing just what the democrats proposed before christmas. This is an easy way out. Julie, how hard is it for Congressional Republicans in the white house who says the president will accept a certain deal, only for the president to then say he wont, sometimes just hours later . Well, i think thats been a challenge for both sides. And certainly, senator mcconnell lived through that a couple of weeks ago, when Senate Republicans were assured by Vice President mike pence that, you know, the president was going to be behind a deal to have a stopgap spending bill and basically punt this fight until february. And so the Senate Passed that legislation and then hours later, the president indicated that he wouldnt sign that bill. And thats how we got to where we are now. And so, i think that does make it very difficult for them. And that is, i think, why senator mcconnell is in the position that he stated this evening, which is, hes not going to be in the position of putting a bill on the floor that is not going to pass, or that cannot get signed by the president , because if he does that, then he presents the president with kind of an unwinnable situation there. Where he has to either decide to veto a bill to reopen the government or cave on a fight that he clearly does not want to back down on. Mike, the president this morning said that, im quoting welcome Mexico Mexico is paying for the wall and much of the wall has been fully renovated or built. Thats just not the case. I mean, why say things which are demonstrably and provably not true . I dont know. My advice is not to keep bringing up the mexico funding part of this. It just keeps coming back and hurting him. But look, where the president is on this in the shortterm a shortterm battle versus a longterm war. And going back to my example of the bill clinton Newt Gingrich fight, we, republicans lost that fight in the shortterm, but in the longterm, bill clinton signed a balanced budget. He signed republican bills on the funding levels that we wanted on things like medicare. I think the president is trying to establish going into 2020 that hes serious about Border Security and the democrats arent. And the rest of these things that he comes out in tweets or details that were goings to focus on now, hes trying to set up a longerterm difference between the two parties here. Congressman dent, is that something you think he could win in setting that up, that kind of longterm fight . Boy, ill tell you what. The party that makes the policy demand in these funding fights usually ends up owning the shutdown. I dont see an easy way out right now. There should be an easy way out, but what can happen now is senator mcconnell is going to be under tremendous pressure from some of his own members. Say members like susan collins, thom tillis, cory gardner, joni ernst, senators who are going to be up for election and so mcconnell has to make a decision. Do i support the president in his position or do i help my most vulnerable members in this election cycle, who certainly are not going to want a prolonged shutdown . And if im mcconnell, i have to be more answerable, i think, to my members, who elect me as majority leader. So i think this is a i think the Senate Republicans are going to be in a really tough spot here over the coming over the coming days, the longer this thing drags on. Julie, the president has made it clear, he wont accept anything less than 5 billion for his wall. Has he set himself up so that anything less than that will look like hes lost the battle . Or to mikes point, this is a public negotiation and if he accepts less, its all part of the deal. I think he has in a lot of ways painted himself into a corner here. He continues to come back to this 5 billion figure. He even shot down the 2. 5 billion proposal that mike pence floated with democrats a couple of weeks ago right before the shutdown took effect and said, no, no, no, 2. 5 is not enough. It has to be 5. 6, so every sort of offramp that even people inside the white house and republicans on capitol hill and certainly democrats have offered, he keeps refusing to take. So i think, sure, he could decide that hes going to come down from that number and have a negotiation of the kind that congressman dent was talking about, but theres no indication that hes willing to do that. And his comment in the meeting today that he would look foolish if he were to accept a package of bills to reopen most of the government while continuing to negotiate on these other issues really gives you the sense that he is not going to change that position. Thats where he is. Yeah. Julie hirschfield davis, appreciate it. Mike shields and charlie dent, as well. Up next, is mitt romney positioning himself to take over the role of jeff flake as one of the most vocal republican critics of President Trump in the senate . Well talk to jeff flake, what does he think of romneys eyebr eyebrowraising oped and his remarks on the president today. What the departing arizona senator says next, he joins me. When president elect trump was forming his cabinet, mitt romney auditioned for the job of secretary of state. When he didnt get it, he ran for the senate, readily accepting the president s endorsement. Now as romney prepares to be sworn in, hes making something very clear and very public. Hes not happy with the president s leadership, trashing his character and inability to rise to the, quote, mantle of the office, in an oped that a lot of people have been talking about today. This certainly did not go unnoticed by President Trump. I think people are very upset with what he did. He hasnt even gotten to office yet. He hasnt even gotten to office. And he was very happy when i endorsed him. And so i dont know what changed. With mitt, i hope hes a team player, but if hes not, thats okay, too. Jake tapper got an exclusive today with the incoming senator, who expounded on his concerns. I work with the president , as i would, frankly, with any president , which is on those areas where im in agreement, well be able to work together. Where i disagree, well point that out. But in matters that relate to the divisiveness thats been part of our political environment, ill speak out if i feel the need to. The charlottesville response by the president was something that gave me great concern. The support for roy moore in the senate race was something that i was very, very concerned about. His attack on the media. I wrote an entire piece about that. So ive laid out time and again places where i disagree with the president. And i think its very important for a president to demonstrate the qualities of integrity and honesty, forthrightness, empathy, and respect for the institutions of our democratic republic. I think those are all parts of the job. Well, you know, after he was elected president , it was very much my hope that he would rise to the occasion, rise to the mantle of the office. After all, becoming president of the United States is quite an evaluation for anybody. And he had said during the campaign that he could be extraordinarily president ial. When i hear that, i think of washington and lincoln and jefferson and roosevelt and kennedy and eisenhower and i think of those qualities. And i think that while he spoke of that and while that was my hope, i dont think hes followed through on that front. Outgoing senator jeff flake was caught up in the midst of all of this. The president s remarks that he hopes romney wont be another flake. I spoke to senator flake earlier. Senator flake, first of all, whats your reaction to the president injecting you into the situation between him and senatorelect romney, using it as an opportunity to insult you before you leave the senate . I wasnt surprised by the tweet, but anyway, i thought it was a great oped that was written. I think it said things that need to continually be said. And so i applaud mitt romney for saying that. Do you think its wise that senatorelect romney chose to kind of throw down a preemptive gauntlet before hes even sworn in . Hes been strongly criticized by the president s allies, including his own niece who, as you know, is head of the rnc. Well, i heard the interview that mitt romney gave and he said that he wanted to basically tell the voters of utah and the people he represents what hes going to do when he gets here. And i think laying that out in an oped before you start is a good time to do that. So i think it was a good thing. One of the things he said in the oped was, and im quoting, he said the president has not risen to the mantle of the office. At this point, do you believe that the president can actually rise to that standard . Its been two years. Is it even possible . Theres always ophope. A lot of us werent supportive of him during the campaign, we hoped that he would rise to the occasion. And he did appoint some good people initially. There were some good policies that came from that. But in terms of the character issues that mitt romney spoke of, we really havent seen much gain there. And it does make a difference around the world, in how the world views us. And, you know, basically, the president does exhibit kind of the character of the nation. And as mitt romney said, i think weve fallen short in that regard. Are any of your colleagues concerned that there may be a vacuum for a republicans or elder statesmen in the senate, someone seek to become a voice of you know, taking a moral high ground. Certainly, senator john mccain was certainly probably the most prominent voice in that regard, who would challenge the president. You, yourself, have criticized the president. Im wondering, theres not you havent had a lot of company in doing what youve been doing, aside from mitt romney, do you see that changing . Well, i think you will have some that come out in the next two years. Certainly, Lamar Alexander is a real defender of the institution of the senate. I expect that hell stand up when he thinks that the institution is being threatened. And i think others will stand up, as well, as we go further, as people, and in my concern, not just on the policy side or the character or how our nation is viewed, but just if you just dismiss all of that and just talk politics, at some point here soon, republicans are going to have to decide whether or not they want to be tethered to the president politically. And thats going to be, you know, whats really going to be interesting in the coming months, because if you look at the midterms, the senate was very difficult for republicans to lose, but losing 40 seats in the house and looking at where we are in terms of the suburbs, in terms of women and minorities, you know, were in for a rough ride in 2020, if we dont make some changes. But theres also senators like lindsey graham, who was one very critical of the president , has now been defending him on whole host of matters. Hes up for reelection in 2020, worried about a farright primary challenge in South Carolina and there are others as well, who i assume are just afraid of alienating the president and the president s hardcore supporters. Well, this is very much the president s party, when you look at the base and look at those who vote in republican primaries. I think that is clear. That wont always be the case, but it certainly is now. And so somebody who wants to run for reelection two years from now has to decide, you know, where they are. Sometimes, you may be fine in a primary, but you simply cant win a general. So its going to be a difficult, very difficult political scenario out there for people to try to navigate. When do you expect to decide whether or not youre going to mount a campaign for the 2020 republican nomination . Well, like i said, i hope that somebody does run. Im been consistent in saying that. I know that there are others far more willing than i am, to do that. But i do hope that somebody runs to remind republicans what it means to be conservative and to remind the country what it means to be decent, as well. Because there is not a future for a party that simply governs on anger and resentment. It can only go so far. Senator flake, appreciate your time. Thank you. You bet. Thanks. Well, tonight, theres in evidence that President Trump isnt exactly a thank you for your service kind of guy when it comes to some retired generals. Ahead, his new attacks on some of our top military minds, including the man at his side for the last two years. Would the president have done any better . Hear what he says, next. Its time for our lowest prices of the season on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. Its the final days of the lowest prices of the season. The queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only 1299. Ends sunday. [deep breath] i receive travel rewards. I visualize travel rewards. Going new places going out for a bite going anytime. Rewarded learn more at the explorer card dot com. Well, on this, his first full day as president as trumps acting defense secretary, up with can only imagine what Patrick Shanahan must have thought sitting next to the commander in chief at todays Cabinet Meeting. The one where the president falsely suggested that what happened to the man that proceeded shanahan for the last two years, jim mattis. I wish him well, i hope he does well. But as you know, president obama fired him and essentially, so did i. Essentially, he didnt. Mattis resigned. As we mentioned earlier, just not true. I want to bring in our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. So barbara, just to be clear, the president did not, in fact, fire mattis, essentially or otherwise. Mattis resigned. Well, thats absolutely right, anderson. Look, the president did force him to leave two months earlier than he had wanted to, but the day mattis went to the white house to talk to the president , he had a Resignation Letter written out in hand, and we know that there were copies even waiting back here at the pentagon to distribute to reporters. He went to resign and he did that. And the reason he did it was for many reasons, but over the weeks and months prior, the secretary began to feel that the president simply was not listening to any of his advice and that he could no longer be effective. He resigned. Mattis isnt the only general that the president has been going after in recent days. Thats right. General stan mccrystal, everyone will remember, he, indeed, was fired by president obama from his command in afghanistan for remarks he made to the news media. And general mccrystal, over the weekend, hes retired, hes a private citizen, he can say what he likes in this country, he questioned mr. Trumps morality and ability to tell the truth. The president lashing out at mcchrystal, saying in a tweet that he had been fired by obama, fired like a dog. That led to admiral william mccraven, also four star, also retired, also a critic of President Trump coming out and defending general mcchrystal, saying trashing there is no other way to put it on twitter general mccrystal, general mcraven and retired general james mattis, all three of them. It remains to be seen. These are the most respected military leaders of a generation. How will this play in the rank and file . Its also weird he said the thing about how he met so many good looking generals who are applying for jobs. That theyre better looking than tom cruise. I dont know what to say about that. You know, good looking is in the eye of the beholder. Im not sure its interesting that thats like a criteria, as if its like yeah. Casting for a movie or tv show as opposed to actual combat. He is a reality show person. I suspect he thinks he thinks he wants generals who look like generals. You want generals who know what theyre doing, who know when they send Young Americans into battle, possibly, unfortunately to their death, that they know what theyre doing. They know what the risks are. And those young people have everything in hand to stay alive through combat. Barbara starr, thanks very much. Sure. Well, the president s remarkable revision is history on mattis came after one of the president s first tweets of the new year as we touched on earlier, trashing general and as he put it, he put that in quotes, Stanley Mccrystal who by the way commanded u. S. Forces in afghanistan. 9 attack came after he suggested the president is dishonest and immoral. He defended retired mcraven who led the osama bin lauden raid who was scolded by President Trump. If the president feels he needs better military perspective in the white house, he seems content just looking in the mirror. I think i would have been a good general, but who knows. Well, who knows. The world will never know, general trump, in part, because the president never set foot in a combat theater until last week with his trip to iraq. The closest he came in his teen years was the military academy which is a prep school. His parents sent them there to straighten out his behavior apparently. The president s hot and cold relationship with the air force, they look at the questions of what kept him out of vietnam. The vietnam war was a disaster for our country. Reporter when donald trump was 22, all that stood between the future president and the vietnam war draft was a diagnosis for something called a bone spur. It became an issue for trump during the 2016 campaign. What . Trump claimed bone spurs, calcium buildups in his heel kept him from serving in vietnam. Keep in mind trump had already received four deferments for education. This 5th one for a medical reason, the bone spur came in the fall of 1968, only after trump had finished college and classified as 1 a or unrestricted military service. Meanwhile, the president couldnt remember which heel had the alleged painful spur. Which foot did you have the bone spur in . Youll look it up in the records. Its in the records. Reporter his campaign tried to clear things up, releasing a statement claiming it was not one heel, but both heels that had bone spurs. Trumps explanations about why he didnt serve had long been a topic of inquiry. In 2015, he was asked about it on abc. I had a minor medical deferment for feet for a bone spur of the foot, which was minor. Reporter and for his 2015 biography on trump, author michael dee antonio asked trump about the bone spurs. He says trump took off his shoes in an attempt to provide proof. On the back of my feet, which at the time prevented from walking long distances. Reporter so you couldnt march . So i would be it would be very difficult to march long distances. Very healthy, but in the back in fact, its here. You can see it on both feet. I have spurs. Reporter de antonio says he never actually saw the spurs. Yet in 2016, trump described the spurs to the New York Times as minor and temporary. The times also quoted trump as saying, i had a doctor that gave me a letter, a very strong letter on the heels. In that interview, trump was short on detail. He couldnt remember the doctors name who had diagnosed his heel spurs. That doctor, the New York Times just recently reported, was podiatrist larry bronstein, who rented office space from trumps father fred trump. The doctors daughters told the times that trumps diagnosis was a favor to the family in exchange for preferential treatment. The paper also reports dr. Bronstein benefitted from lower rents, according to another doctor who worked with him. No documentation was provided to back up these accounts. I always felt a little guilty, and i was always like other people frankly that didnt serve. I have people that served, i have friends that served. Theyre very proud of it. Some are no longer with us. Reporter randi kaye, cnn, new york. A reminder dont miss full circle, our daily enter arctive cast on facebook. You get to vote on some of the stories we cover. Watch it week nights 6 25 eastern on facebook. Com slrk Anderson Cooper full circle. The gop senator who endorsed him. Will mitt romney become the new face of the republican socalled resistance to President Trump in washington . Were going to trace some of their complicated history and a lot more to come from cnns exclusive interview with romney today. Its a fascinating interview. Jake tapper did it. Stay with us. Wenit gave me a leafput in the names almost right away. First. Within a few days, i went from knowing almost nothing to holy crow, im related to george washington. I didnt know that using ancestry would be so easy. Did you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes . Try dawn ultra. Dawn is for more than just dishes. With 3x more grease cleaning power per drop, it tackles tough grease on a variety of surfaces. Try dawn ultra. Chris cuomo is off tonight. This this hour, 360, the 2012 republican president ial candidate and the gauntlet that he laid down to the president current. Mitt romney is the Incoming Freshman senator now from utah. He heralded his arrival with an oped in the where wash most saying President Trump, im quoting, conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the marntle of the office. Heres what the president said about it in his Cabinet Meeting today. I wish mitt could be more of a team player, you know . Im surprised he did it this quickly. He was expecting something. Im surprised he did it this quickly. A short time later senator elect romney spoke with the leads jake tapper who wanted to know how far he would take any opposition to the sitting president because theres a lot to talk about later. We are first playing an extended portion of the interview. Its about three minutes. Take a look. Is there any chance you might emerge as an all ternltive to pres

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