Good morning, everyone. Its thursday, december 20th. Im Ayman Mohyeldin alongside Yasmin Vossoughian. We begin with the president s decision to announce that he was ordering the withdrawal of all u. S. Ground forces from syria within 30 days, writing, we have defeated isis in syria, my only reason for being there during the trump presidency. That was followed up with another tweet including a video which was shot by a government camera without any press being present. Weve been fighting for a long time in syria. Ive been president for almost two years and weve really stepped it up and we have won against isis. Weve beaten them and weve beaten them badly. Weve taken back the land and now its time for our troops to come back home. These are great heros of the world because they fought for us. But theyve killed isis, who hurts the world. Weve proud to have done it. Thats the president s claim, that isis is totally defeated. It actually does not appear to be backed by evidence on the ground. Just last week President Trumps special envoy to syria told reporters at the state department that it would be, quote, reckless to simply declid declare victory and leave. He also stated there was months of fighting left. We are now down to the last 1 of the physical territory. Were prepared to maintain the stabilization effort in iraq and syria. This will take a period of years. That will take some time. We also have other interests in syria. But the military mission is the enduring defeat of isis. We know that once the physical space is defeated, we cant just pick up and leave, so were prepared to make sure we do all we can to ensure this is enduring. I think americans will remain on the ground until after the physical defeat of the caliphate. The president s announcement came days after President Trump had a phone call with turkeys president erdogan. That call came a day after the turkish president vowed to launch a military operation and remove the u. S. Allied Kurdish Forces if necessary. Also yesterday the state department approve add 3. 5 billion arms sale to turkey including 140 missiles. Turkey has also agreed to buy Russian Missile systems. In that video the commander in chief who never served himself and has not visited any of americas troops fighting in an active combat zone has this to say about one of his reasons for the withdrawal. I get for saddened when i have to write letters or call parents or wives or husbands of soldiers who have been killed fighting for our country. Its great honor. We cherish them but its heartbreaking. Theres no question about it, its heartbreaking. Ill tell you theyre up there looking down on us and theres nobody happier for more proud of their families to put them in a position where theyve done such good for so many people. So our boys, our young women, our men, theyre all coming back and theyre coming back now. We won and thats the way we want it and thats the way they want it. So there are at least two major backers of President Trumps decision, the Russian Embassy in the United States tweeting its support of the commander in chiefs withdrawal. The Foreign Ministry called it a, quote, milestone story that could lead to a real prospect for a political solution. And turkeys u. S. Mission retweeted four u. S. Quotes on it. Its interesting, this development yesterday to say the least. Because we see this chasm happening in washington, d. C. , theres really no plan for whats going to take place after the withdrawal of the troops. And then theres this concern of the power vacuum for russia and iran to fill. Thats the Central Point in all this. Weve seen in the past that terrorism, instability, chaos, they all thrive in a vacuum. One of the things that the u. S. Has had by having a foothold inside syria is a little bit of stability and kind of keeping everyone in check not allowing russia, iran and turkey to just run amok. With the u. S. Out plus the fact that we didnt have a significant troop presence there, only 2,000 or so on the ground. But the strength of the u. S. Military is not in its size, in its ability to project power. By being able to project large amounts of power, theyre able to keep everyone at bay. I wonder what Bashar Al Assad is thinking right now because iran and russia are supporters of assad. Over the past couple of months, hes become more emboldened. He feels hes won the war in syria and likely were going to see him expand his footprint over the territorial control of the country. If there was any opposition, its likely that the Syrian Government will go after those small pockets of resistance with the backing of iran and russia. A lot of analysis i see in this is that President Trump is more in line with obama on this than ever before because it sealed like proseal seemed like president obama had the same thought process that we shouldnt really have troops on the ground in syria. Lets bring in heidi priszyba przybyla. Some of the biggest congressional backlash to President Trumps withdrawal is coming from within his own party. Air force veteran Adam Kinsinger tweeted that trumps claim that isis has been defeated is simply untrue. That video is very disturbing. For the president to point to the sky and say they want this, the president cant speak for fallen american soldiers. Im not sure the fallen american sie soldiers want us to declare victory against a foe we havent defeated yet. The decision to withdraw an american presence in syria is a colossal, in my mind, mistake, a grave error thats going to have significant repercussions in the years and months to come. I dont know who advised that this decision be made, but its a terrible mistake and unfortunately i think were going to pay a price for it if its not reversed. Ive seen the president tweet. In my view, isis is not defeated in syria and iraq. I was there just a few months ago. If we do in fact withdraw, the biggest winners are going to be iran, isis, assad. If youre tired of fighting radical islam, i understand it. Theyre not tired of fighting you. If you dont get that, youre making a huge mistake. 2200 troops is a very small footprint. Its an insurance policy against isis coming back. I want to defend the nation against threats and i want allies. And what youve done if we withdraw, youre going to make it harder to find allies. In a statement senator ben sasse writes, today were leaving. The president s generals have no idea where this weak decision came from. They believe the highflying winners today are iran, isis and hezbollah. A lot of American Allies will be slaughtered if this retreat is implemented. Is this more of the president s strategy of going it alone without input from the military or allies . How would you try to explain the strategic decision that the president took here . What is driving him to have made this decision if everyone that weve kind of surveyed, whethsas was not a good idea . The backlash was pretty swift last night. We got early indications there was no consultation from the state department, the pentagon or critically, like you said, our allies. Early indications were that this was a unilateral decision made between President Trump and the leader of turkey amid that arms deal. Weve got no timeline. White house reporters spoke on background with white house officials. They were given no details about this as if it were a well thought out strategy. Most importantly, as you mentioned, our allies on the ground this comes as turkish leader erdogan has made clear that there is an offensive coming. Our allies could be slaughtered. What is the message to local troops that we need to be fighting with on the ground and other places like yemen . A quick programming note. Adam kinzinger joins morning joe later this morning. Lawmakers in the house could take up a shortterm spending bill to keep the government running today. That would punt the battle over President Trumps border wall demands into next year. Funding the government until february in order to avoid a partial shutdown ahead of tomorrows midnight, deadline. The bill must also be signed by President Trump. The spending measure does not include 5 billion for the border wall that the president demanded from congress. That battle now shifts to the new congress, featuring a democratic majority in the house that will have the power to stop any wall funding from being approved. During a meeting with republican lawmakers yesterday, Vice President pence would not firmly say that the president absolutely back the continuing resolution but that President Trump would be open to sign it. Yesterday the white house also disputed claims the president is softening his demands for border wall funding. People who voted for him and want the wall and went to the polls to vote for the wall, they want to know how hes going to do this and why he seems to be softening his stance this morning. The president is not softening his stance. He has a responsibility to keep the government moving forward and he has a responsibility to get border security. If he could do it by himself, he would have done it already. The wall street journal has uncovered two sworn statements from President Trump where he claims to have a deep understanding of Campaign Finance laws, which could be critical if investigators pursue him. Trump signed a fourpage affidavit in june of 2000 outlining his familiarity with laws governing corporate contributions. In 1988 trump testified, i have gone through federal campaigns and frankly its the best thing that ever happened to me because youre limited to 1,000 contribution. In recent years President Trump turned his understanding into parts of his stump speech. I give republicans, democrats. They call. I used to have a sentence. Its sort of funny. Senators call. I say dont bother coming in, senator. Youre allowed to give like 2,000. They come in, you go see them. The greatest thing that ever happened is Campaign Finance haweha laws. So regardless, President Trumps attorney Rudy Giuliani has argued that the president had limited understanding of Campaign Finance laws. In fact, giuliani contends in an interwed that whether or not the president had detailed knowledge of Campaign Finance law, the hush money payments for which Michael Cohen was charged didnt actually break the law. Still ahead, markets tumble after the Federal Reserve raises Interest Rates for a fourth time. Were going to tell you how stocks are doing this morning. Legal action is taken against facebook as it struggles to secure users privacy. The United StatesPostal Service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. With one notable exception. [narrator] meet sharks newest robot vacuum. It powerfully cleans from floors to carpets, even pet hair, with ease, and now for cleaning surfaces above the floor, it comes with a built in shark handheld. One dock, two sharks. The shark ion robot cleaning system. Tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. With tremfya®, you can get clearer. And stay clearer. In fact, most patients who saw 90 clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. Tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. Tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. Before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. Ask your doctor about tremfya®. Tremfya®. Because you deserve to stay clearer. Janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. And the army taught me a lot about commitment. Which i apply to my life and my work. At comcast were commited to delivering the best experience possible, by being on time everytime. And if we are ever late, well give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. My name is antonio and im a technician at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Welcome back. Stock futures here in the u. S. Are signaling another tough day ahead for wall street after the Federal Reserve once again raised Interest Rates. The fed announced yesterday that as the market had expected, it was raising its benchmark rate a quarter of a point, marking the fourth increase this year and the ninth since three years ago. The fed says it is now projecting two more rate hikes next year, down from the prior forecast of three. That move comes as President Trump continues to hammer the central bank over its rate hikes. The markets face waves of volatility including all three indexes here in the u. S. Sufficienting big losses after the decision yesterday. The dow, s p 500 and nasdaq all hit new lows for 2018 with the dow giving up a 381point gain and closing 351 points lower. Not good news before the holidays. Facebook stock was down 7 as it got hit with its first major legal action for failing to protect user data. The attorney general is suing the social network for violating Consumer Protection laws. The lawsuit comes nine months after a whistle blower outed facebook for allowing Cambridge Analytica for harvesting the data of 80 million users. The ftc is investigating facebook, but it is unclear where that probe now stands. In fact, the company says it is reviewing the complaint brought by d. C. Officials and looks forward to discussions with attorneys general in d. C. And elsewhere. You think we figure out everything that facebook has been doing and more and more stuff comes out. Hopefully we have another game today. With bill karins . What have you got . No pressure. Any fun games . You guys liked that yesterday, huh . Yasmin wants to be right. Thats always fun. Rare, but fun. Oh. This huge rainstorm in the southeast. The rain and thunderstorms continue in areas of central and north florida. This is our big rainstorm weve been talking about for days. We have 71 Million People under flash flood watches. Weve just had so much rain lately. We could see some isolated flash flooding. Thats the concern. As far as the Severe Weather goes, if were going to get any damaging storms today, most likely Central Florida could get a couple tornados out of this. It will sweep down toward south florida late tonight. As far as the rainfall goes 13 inches. As far as the wind go this is why we were saying if you have friday morning air travel, look at these wind gusts. Not only do we have the heavy rain but we have really strong winds. Thats why i dont expect a lot of flights to get off the ground. Saturday and sunday look fine. If you can change your flight, now is the time. Always fun to call any airline to change your flight. You make it sound so easy, bill. Seven hours later and 150 with two kids. Ill take it. New signs that Robert Mueller is moving in on roger stone. This time the news is not coming from roger stone. E news is not g from roger stone pirate girl ahoy excited squeal, giggling panting gotcha man ah girl nooooooooooooo man nooooo girl nooooo. vo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker, and is two times more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. man and pirate girl ahoy laughing vo bounty, the quicker picker upper. So shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, corded and cordfree. And fearlessly devours piles. What does help for heart the beat goes on. It looks like emily cooking dinner for ten. The beat goes on. It looks like jonathan on a date with his wife. Ladiladi. Entresto is a Heart Failure medicine that helps your heart. So you can keep on doing what you love. 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With a range of sizes for all body types, depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. Welcome back. Time now for sports. We begin with some college hoops. An upset in raleigh, north carolina. Not unc. This is nc state downing number 7 auburn last night. Markel johnson had a career high 27 points. Lets move to the pro courts. In houston where the rockets set a new nba record with 26 threepointers. Last nights 136118 win over the wizards. James harden had six of them. Michael carterwilliams hit 26 with only about 20 seconds to play. Finally chiefs rookie Quarterback Patrick Mahomes received his first pro bowl selection on tuesday. Now hes got his first high profile endorsement deal. Take a look. Im disturbed but im not really sure why yet. That video from the Company Announcing mahomes joining hunts kechup, with the line who would you rather have passing you the kechup . The quarterback revealed his affinity for the condiment. It was a retro commercial. Didnt really know where it was going. It was like rocky meets i have no idea. Still ahead, President Trump whos getting blasted by members of his own party this morning. S. What happened to you . I got beat up because i was different. You cant keep on running away from your problems. So, i created a world where i can heal. Welcome to marwen. The only way youre going to get better, is if you face those jerks who beat you up. Im not really sure how to do this. We got your back. We always have your back. I have my art and i have my friends. I have hope and thats something they cant take away from me. Hell yeah. Unpredictable crohns symptoms following you . For adults with moderately to severely active crohns disease, stelara® works differently. Studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. Some serious infections require hospitalization. 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And while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. [laughter] whoo. [crash] and your cutrate insurance might not pay for this. So get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. Mayhem is everywhere. So get an allstate agent. Are you in good hands . Welcome back, everybody. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside Ayman Mohyeldin. It is the bottom of the hour. In a surprising announcement, the Trump Administration has revealed it is withdrawing u. S. Troops from syria with President Trump declaring that isis has been defeated in that country. Despite the president s claim, pockets of fighters remain there and the move has left many in congress and the pentagon quite literally caught off guard. Richard engel has more. Reporter its one of the most secretive and most successful military campaigns in modern history, the u. S. Led fight against isis in syria. And the white house says its over, mission accomplished. President trump releasing this white houseproduced video on twitter. We have won against isis. So our boys, our young women, our men, theyre all coming back and theyre coming back now. We won and thats the way we want it and thats the way they want it. Reporter u. S. Forces have beaten isis far back. U. S. Officials say the group has lost 99 of its territory with more than 60,000 fighters killed. When are the roughly 2,000 u. S. Forces in syria coming home . Its unclear. The pentagon issued a statement saying the campaign against isis is not over, but is transitioning to a new phase, but gave no specifics. We were on the front lines in syria last spring with u. S. And kurdish troops after they took back the isis capital raqqah. This is the main square in the center of raqqah today. Isis used this place for public beheadings, even crucifixions. U. S. Commanders told us repeatedly, unless isis is completely defeated and it is not yet the group could return. If trump withdraws from syria and they do come back, like i think they will, hell be one of the reasons they came back. Reporter what happens to our partners, the kurds . The commander told us an aamerican abandonment would be a betrayal. A u. S. Official told nbc news this decision came quickly in the last 24 hours, quote, right from the top. Now the u. S. Military is scrambling to figure out how to implement it with grave concerns about isis and our allies. Meanwhile the chairman of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee bob corker told reporters yesterday that the white house cancelled a longplanned meeting with President Trump while the senator was sitting in the look waiting for him. Senator corker held nothing back when discussing trumps syria withdrawal. Honestly, this makes what obama did in iraq its replicating that, but in many ways its even worse, because here were in a situation where were very close in the Euphrates River valley to finishing clearing out. Its a terrible thing for our nation. Its a terrible thing for the allies weve been working with. Its hard to imagine that any president would wake up and make this kind of zwidecision with t little communication, with this little preparation. My understanding is were beginning to move out right now. Entirely . Yes, entirely. Ive never seen a decision like this since ive been here in 12 years where nothing is communicated in advance and all of a sudden this type of Massive Decision takes place. Its obviously a political decision. President trumps attorney was forced to walk back a statement that the president did not sign a letter of intent to build a tower in moscow during the 2016 election campaign. The letter proposed a development that would be known as trump moscow signed by donald trump himself, who on that same day appeared center stage in the third Republican Debate just three months before the iowa caucuses. Rudy giuliani told cnn there was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it. Yesterday he told the new york daily news, i dont think i said nobody signed it. Giuliani went onto tell the daily news of course trump signed it and it was a bull expletive letter because that was the end of it. Court filings in the indictment of Michael Cohen claim that discussions about the project continues for another eighth months, nearly up to the 2016 republican convention. A new report from Robert Muellers Office Appears to indication more action could be just around the corner. For those details, lets bring in heidi przybyla. People familiar with the request tell the Washington Post that the special counsels office has asked the House Intelligence Committee on friday for an official transcript of Trump Advisor Roger stones testimony, a potential sign that prosecutors could be moving to charge him with a crime. It is the first time mueller has formally asked the committee to turn over material from the panel and its investigation of russian interference of the 2018 campaign, according to post sources. The move also suggests that the special counsel could soon finalize his monthslong investigation of stone and whether the political operative had advanced knowledge of stolen emails, offering insight into those in President Trumps inner orbit knew. As you see here, the squeeze on additional people within Donald Trumps inner circle in addition to Michael Cohen and general flynn. Let me ask you about this focus now that is coming out of the Mueller Investigation on roger stone. Does that suggest that action is imminent . How does this fit in with previous patterns of mueller and why it would be significant to look at any potential action taken against roger stone . The special counsel has hrd had an informal transcript of stones testimony before congress. In order to proceed with charges, he would need to obtain an official copy. Thats what hes done here. We do know that he is looking at whether those in trumps inner circle would have perjured themselves in congress. Were told we could know the answer in weeks. I suspect that Robert Mueller already knows the absolute to so many questions he perhaps wants to seek from the transcript. Youre also wondering if roger stone knows this to be imminent. Hes certainly been talking that way in the last couple of weeks. You look at what happened with Michael Cohen, who didnt necessarily fully cooperate with the southern district. He gets three years. You see what took place with Michael Flynn just the other day who did in fact cooperate but was basically sent back and said your heathring is going to be delayed because you need to cooperate even further. So roger stones testimony will, i think, set a precedent, because youve got other people here who may have perjured themselves as well. If you talk to folks on capitol hill, they say for instance trump juniors testimony. Steve bannon was hauled before the panel as well. I think this definitely will be an indication. And what weve seen here really is that the special counsel postelection is moving at light speed in terms of tightening his grip on charges against those in the inner circle. The question is what have they told the special counsel about President Trump . It really was curious the other night when Rudy Giuliani was on television and he was asked whether roger stone tipped off President Trump about wikileaks. He had a very curious long pause on that before he said he really just didnt know. Thank you. House Speaker Paul Ryan has delivered his farewell address to congress. In his speech, ryan urged his fellow lawmakers to a more civil tone in the nations discourse and encouraged them to tackle some of the countrys most difficult problems despite divisive politics. If we do these three things, make progress on poverty, fix our immigration system and confront this debt crisis, we can make this another Great Century for our country. Look, i recognize that these challenges are ones we havent made much progress on in recent years, but i am confident we still have it in us to solve them. I leave here as convinced i was at the start that we face no challenge that can be over come by putting pen to paper on good sound policy, by addressing head on the problems of the day. The state of politics, though, is another question. Frankly, thats one i dont have an answer for. Today too often genuine disagreement quickly gives way to intense distrust. We spend far more time trying to convict one another than we do trying to develop our own convictions. Being against someone has more currency than being for anything. Still ahead, after decades of trying, the Senate Finally takes toox masteps to make lync federal hate crime. And bill karins back with a look at your Holiday Travel forecast. H a look at your Holiday Travel forecast daddy diaper duty. I cant say its the highlight of fatherhood. But id rather be here with my little man than not be here because of migraine. I have three words for migraine. I am here. Aimovig, a preventive treatment for migraine in adults, reduces the number of monthly migraine days. For some, that number can be cut in half or more. The most common side effects are pain, redness or swelling at the injection site and constipation. Talk to your doctor about aimovig. And be there more. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. So shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, corded and cordfree. Welcome back, everyone. The Senate Unanimously approved legislation making lynching a federal hate crime after nearly 100 years of failed attempts to pass a bill. The Bipartisan Legislation could punish those found guilty with a sentence of up to life in prison. Harris thanked her fellow senators for passing the bill yesterday, tweeting lynching is a dark and despicable aspect of our nations history. We must acknowledge that fact lest we repeat it. Tim scott said, quote, i am glad the Senate Passed this important bill today and i am hopeful that the house will do the same and send it to the president for his signature as soon as possible. Lets take a turn here and get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Two concerns today, severe storms and the risk of some flash flooding. Were not talking anything about ice and snow. Its just too warm. Heres the Severe Weather threat for today. This is very typical of el nino winters. Thats what were in right now. Severe weather can happen in fl florida in these situations. This area of orange is the greatest risk of tornados. On top of that, we have 71 million under flash flood watches. That just means theres the potential for it. That goes all the way through the northeast as we go through tomorrow. This morning it is raining about just as hard as youll see in sarasota up through tampa, it will start arriving in orlando shortly. This is a huge storm as advertised, a lot of travel impacts. The most significant will be in atlanta all the way through orlando, miami maybe late tomorrow. Once we get through saturday, we clear it out. Fridays the bad day in the northeast. By the time we get to sunday, a little bit of mix in ohio christmas eve. I dont see any issues for everyone of the rockies after we get past friday. Donning a santa claus hat, former president obama made a surprise visit to a Childrens Hospital in washington, d. C. Yesterday. I just want to say thank you to all of you guys. I got a chance to talk to some of the wonderful kids and their families at a time that obviously is tough folks. Thats pretty incredible. Heartwarming moment. He spent time with the families of the kid who are spending the holidays in the hospital, which is not easy to do at all, handing out gifts he and his staff had collected. He also recorded a holiday message on the hospitals tv system for the patients he was not able to visit. It was his first visit to the hospital since leaving office. Pretty cool. A beautiful moment this Holiday Season. Its always interesting, i have to say, to see former president s kind of in their casual sweater. Looked pretty dapper. Still ahead, facebook tries to do damage control in the wake of its latest scandal over user data. Stocks do a 180. Details on the stories driving your business day ahead. Driving your business day ahead. [narrator] the typical vacuum head has its limitations, so shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, corded and cordfree. And fearlessly devours piles. With my bladder leakage, the products ive tried just didnt fit right. They were too loose. Its getting in the way of our camping trips. But with a range of sizes, depend fitflex is made for me. With a range of sizes for all body types, depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. pirate girl ahoy gotcha girl nooooooooooooo man nooooo vo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker, and is two times more absorbent. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. Welcome back, everybody. Markets revolting and fell to record lows after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell r day might be on the horizon, as well. Lets break all this down. Juliana is joining us live from london. Good morning to you. Quite a day ahead, or it could be, feasibly. How is powell defending his decision, considering what took place . Well, it was, indeed, a tough day for markets yesterday, a tough day inet asia overnight a a tough day again today here in europe. Jerome powell did, indeed, raise Interest Rates, but dialed back expectations for more rises next year, but not to the extent the market wast hoping for. In his defense, powell has said while conditions have worsened, they have noten changed enough change the fundamental jo look. They will continue to monitor financialue and Global Economic developments. But he stopped short of offer any more concrete support of language and that is what has driven this ripple through markets. People are concerned about Global Growth next year. Were always following the tech giants closely. Theres been some fallout for facebook as that Company Continues to attempt alleged data access agreements that werent enough to contain investor and user concerns. Whats the latest on that front with facebook . Well, facebook under fire yet again. It feelsr like every week ther is a new negative headline around this company. This time, the negativity came following a New York Times investigation that revealed facebook shared even more than previously thought amounts of data with companies they called partners. This included spotify, and included access to private messages. Facebook has admitted they did allow Certain Companies access, but they said a lot of this was done within the data permission. Basically saying they have not done anything outside the bounds of what people permitted them to do withle their data. Bottom line, regulators say we need more transparency. Facebook saying well try to do better and shareholders saying were notre happy. Explains why i guess netflix knows what you want to watch next, right . I love this show, watch it. All right. Ju i ana, thank you. Coming up, axios lass a look has a look at this mornings one big thick. And more on President Trumps decision. Plus, chris coons joins the conversation along with Adam Kinzinger who says the president s claims onys isis ar simply not true. A busy morning joe just moments away. A busy morning jo moments away causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. I couldnt catch my breath. It was the last song of the night. It felt like my heart was skipping beats. They said i had afib. Whats afib . 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Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. To help protect yourself from a stroke. tand in your garage,son a brand new john deere. Thats not a mirage. With 60 months financing at 0 , say happy holidays to money well spent. If additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. Now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. New john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. See your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. New year, new deere. Welcome back, everybody. Joining us from washington with a look at axios a. M. , editor and chief nick johnson. Talk to us about axios one big thing today. Trumps lame duck debacle. President trump hasnt had a great six weeks since the midterms. A lot of errors that have anchored republicans and emboldened markets. And markets. Most recently yesterday the president s sudden announcement that he was withdrawing troops from syria saying isis had been defeated was followed by swift condemnation. Marco rubio mockingly retweeted the russian governments approval of the move. Lindsey graham said it was an obamalike mistake. On the hill, republicans are furious about trump caving on the 5 billion for the wall. The internet headlines were trump caves, pelosi victory. His allies on the house are calling i on minimum to veto this bill. Same on the shutdown issue saying he would take credit. Call it the trump shutdown. Democrats loved the sound of that 3 that. Finally, the ongoing efforts on the chief of staff. President trump didnt get who he wanted. A bunch of people said no made it seem like no one wanted the job. In the end, Mick Mulvaney took it on an accountiting position. We should have had a scroll going while you were talking. Glad i republmembered it all. With all the challenges trump will be facing next year, will things get worse before they get better . I think thats very fair to say. All of these last six months are, like you said, before democrats get control of the house, there are stacks of letters and subpoenas on top of democratic lawmakers desks that will go into the mail demanding documents, commanding meetings, calling folks before congress and i think its going to get worse before it gets better for the president at this point. Nick, while we have you, i want to talk about this facebook story. User data being shared once again. Could next year be the year that we see some regulation on a company like facebook . I think it continues to pile upandup. Mark zuckerberg likes to have a new years resolution every year. For this year, it was fix facebook. And this is the year that he found out facebook couldnt be fixed. A lot of the problems are intractable. Uber went through a similar period before, they ended up switching ceos. There is no sign on doing that and that means the pressure will increase a lot. Theres one thing that republicans and democrats agree on and thats the dangers of big tech. Thanks, nick. And we will be reading axios a. M. In just a bit. You, too, can sign up for the newsletter. That does it for us on this thursday morning. Morning joe starts right now. He has a responsibility to get border security. If he could do it by himself, he would have done it already. Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why i alone can fix it. If he could do it by himself, he would have done it all right. I alone can fix it. The. The white house says the president needs help from congress for his border wall. But when it comes to war policy in syria, the president seems perfectly content to go it alone. Ellel we i know more about isis than the generals do. No, actually, you dont. The consequences will be pretty devastating. We have mike barnacle, steve ratner, heidi prisbella, David Ignatius and retired four Star Navy Admiral james devritis. Were going to get to syria in one minute, but rupert