Page 677 - James News Today

If rex tillerson is confirmed by the senate to be secretary of state, hell be one of the trump administrations most powerful and most visible officials. i want to bring in new zoou distance maloney, senior fellow at brookings institution who was a middle east advisor to exxonmobile. and a fraternity brother of tillerson. thank you so much for unioning us here. james, im starting with you first. you knee rex tillerson, you were fraternity brothers, what was he like? >> oh wow. what a great guy. l...

Of the united states. he thinks we are pushing everybody around. he thinks we are lecturing russia how to do its business, which we do and we do it around the world with different results. look at the middle east. look at the mess the middle east has become in the last 12 years. but i will say this, you have to get your priorities straight. you get your national interests lined up and if your national interests are china, isis and iran, you want to have an open channel of communication with russ...

Americas interests first. >> youre saying that, but james, are they excited about vladimir putin -- vladimir putin excited about donald trump and rex tillerson because he thinks he can take advantage of them or good negotiating partner, where does the excitement in moscow come from in your viewpoint? >> comes from the fact that donald trump is most openly prokremlin president, the president elect, presidential candidate in modern history. this is a president who attacks nato. when do you hear at...

Baltic countries. it defies believes that somehow republicans are reluctant to review russian tactics or ignore them. >> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. the trump team dismissing the conclusion while nominate secretary of state with close ties. senior fellow at the atlantic counsel, james, fellow with the foreign policy initiative. gentlemen, nice to see you, good morning. >> good morning. >> ariel, first to you, we seem to have the first two opposing ideas, one is russia is somebody tha...

I think i dont want ep director or labor secretary as a conservative to be what barack obama would want there. but we do seem to be going awfully far in the other direction. there needs to be balance. >> well see what happens. >> its not just there. jeff sessions at ag is a total difference from loretta lynch. >> i think thats a good thing. >> thats my point. >> as a conservative, im glad conservatives are getting some of these positions. i dont see a whole lot of mainstream moderate types in th...

Either thes abo its about what is good for the country. >> and meanwhile nbc news reported that trump will appoint john kelly to head the department of homeland security. that is a big appointment. and the general will join another retired general, james mad dog mattis who has been tapped as defense department chief. national security adviser also a retired general, michael flynn of course. "new york times" tweeted one person close to trump transition noting all the military folks said its begin...

A big appointment. the general will join another retired general, james "mad dog" mattis who has been tapped as defense department chief. trumps national security adviser is also a retired general, michael flynn, of course. "the new york times" maggie habarman tweeted that it already looks like "seven days of may," when the generals take over in the 1960s novel. hallie jackson joins us from that dangerous spot on the corner of fifth avenue. let me ask you about this interesting mix, generals and...

During the campaign, was still in contention. >> is he still under consideration? >> yes, he is. >> does he have a chance to become secretary of state? >> yes, he does. ive spoken to him a lot. wee come a long way together. weve had some tremendous difficulty together. and now i think weve come a long way. but the answer is yes, he does. >> so this isnt about some case of stringing him along as revenge being a dish best served cold for the comments he made during the campaign? >> no, its not abo...

The new pentagon chief hes going to put on parade tonight? >> reporter: yeah, the show is james mattis, james "mad dog" mattis. were in fayetteville. home to ft. bragg. a huge military veterans presence here. it is very intentional that drrp will be appearing with his defense pick. you talk about the razzle-dazzle and the art of making an announcement. it was only a few nights ago, his first stop on the thank you tour in cincinnati that he surprised the entire arena by basically prematurely anno...

40 past the hour. joining us now, kristen welker covering the trump transition. trump has more meetings scheduled today. any names? >> pat mccrory outgoing governor of north carolina. of course he just conceded. the big event, president-elect donald trump is going to attend a fund-raising breakfast. one of the first for his transition team. but the big news at trump tower is that the president-elect just announced as "times" person of the year. his schedule light i anticipate because hell spend ...