Transcripts For CNNW At This Hour With Kate Bolduan 20171227

Palm beach, near plrg plrg. So abby, the size of this proposed plan is going to be critical. Never mind how its actually done. What are you doing from white house officials about it . Thats right, danna. The 200 billion is well short of what the president promised during the campaign when he told his supporters he would support a 1 trillion infrastructure bill. Now, ironically, thats probably the size of a bill that some democrats would be more willing to support. Theyre saying that the 200 billion is simply not enough. The white house says that number is a floor, not a ceiling for how much theyre willing to spend. And theyre hoping that that 200 billion will spur state and local money to the tune of 800 billion, as well. At the same time, the president is also going to have a hard time getting democrats in an Election Year to want to support him after nine months of trading barbs back and forth. Earlier in the year, the white house had made some overtures to unions who were also very supportive of Infrastructure Spending in general. Its unclear where that outreach has gone. White house Officials Say more meetings are planned for january and the president is planning on hitting the road to talk about this infrastructure bill and sell it during the state of the Union Address later in january. And abby, you mentioned something thats really critical, the whole notion of whether he can get bipartisan support on this, because, there are a lot of republicans in congress who want nothing to do with this kind of infrastructure bill. So to get anything done, he would have to get bipartisan support. The democrats have found themselves, they think, pretty successful in being the party of no against donald trump. Do you think something this important, policy wise, might change that . Reporter thats a really good point, dana. The republicans now have an even slimmer majority in the senate. They have only 51 votes. The president is going to need at least nine democrats to get onboard with an infrastructure plan. And as you mentioned, a lot of republicans do not believe that Infrastructure Spending, especially deficit spending on infrastructure, is something that they ought to be doing. Its going to be very difficult for republicans and for democrats to sell cooperating with the president on a proposal like this in 2018. A really, really big midterm Election Year that democrats are hoping will determine control of the house or the senate next year. Abby phillip, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Now to new developments in the russia investigation. As some republicans continue to accuse Justice Department officials of political bias against donald trump and favoritism towards Hillary Clinton. They may soon get some answers about controversial antitrump Text Messages exchanged between two fbi employees during the campaign. Today is the deadline for the Deputy Attorney general to respond to a request for more details from the Senate Judiciary committee. Weve seen republicans, including the president seize on these texts, as evidence of political bias within the investigation and within the department of the fbi. And democrats, though, say that they are confident that this investigation is still going strong. Im very concerned that the doj and the fbi are, whether you want to call it deep state or what, are off the rails. I dont want to discredit them. I want to see the directors of those agencies purge it. Say, weve got a lot of great agents and lawyers here, those are the people i want the American People to see and know a lot of great work is being done, not the deep state. Im worried about anyone in the position that the president is in, trying to take down the very institutions that we hold dear. I dont think the Mueller Investigation is anywhere near being completed. And so, i think we will just wait and see on that regard. As for the house intelligence committee. I think theres a very significant effort underway by the majority to try to shut it down. Joining me now is republican congressman will hurd of texas. He serves on the house intelligence committee. Thank you so much for joining me. Lets start with the deadline today to turn over more information about antitrump texts. What is your expectation . Do you think congress will get anything to put those texts in context . We should. When you have congress doing its role on oversight, the administration should respond in a timely fashion. The department of justice hasnt always done that on these current investigations and i hope they hit this deadline today. Congressman, before you were elected to congress, you worked for the cia for nine years. You know the culture of that agency and presumably you have a good sense of the fbi, as well. Do you think that the fbi is filled with liberals who wanted to elect Hillary Clinton . [ laughs ] i dont know about that, but i will say this. In my almost decade serving in the Intelligence Community, i had the awesome opportunity to serve shoulder to shoulder with a lot of real patriots in the fbi. And so, i have full trust in the bureau. But one of the things that we should be doing in congress is fulfilling our oversight role and making sure that the right trade craft is being used. This is something that we have to make sure and ensure that the people that are Law Enforcement, are federal Law Enforcement, and our intelligence communities are protecting, that they can trust that these institutions are doing things the way theyre supposed to be doing. And i think this is an important part of our role. But i firmly believe that the men and women that are out there chas chasing bad guys and putting men and women in jail, theyre not paying attention to whats going on up in the beltway. Theyre doing their job and keeping us safe. No question. And they should be commended. Its probably hard for them to ignore whats going on in the beltway with the president of the United States tweets to his millions of follow eers over th christmas holiday, attacking the agency that they work for. One example, he called the fbi tainted yesterday. Do you think those tweets are helpful or a good idea . He called the fbi what . I didnt hear that. Tainted. Yeah, you probably cant see it on the screen, but he called it tainted. Well, again, the we have to ensure that the Political Leadership of these organizations are operating with the same level of focus and discipline that the rank and file are doing throughout the field offices around the country and those that are operating overseas but do you think that the fbi is tainted . I dont. I dont. But, again, our work is to make sure that theyre doing things the way theyre supposed to be doing. And you know, if uncorroborated information was being used in investigations, thats a thats a serious allegation, something that needs to be looked at. And thats why these committees are, you know, both in the house and in the senate, are going to move forward in a methodical fashion, in a deliberate fashion, to make sure that we have answers and get it to the American People. And so, thats something that i know im committed to and my colleagues are committed to doing, as well. And congressman, these attacks from the president against the fbi really seem to have ramped up, bigtime, after it became clear that michael fl flynn was cooperating with the fbi and special counsels investigation. It looks like the president is worried. What do you think . You know, thats one assessment of that. I dont have any opinion whats your assessment . On whether this has changed over time. I havent looked. My goal is to make sure were being deliberate and following the facts wherever we may. One of the things they wish we were talking a little bit more about is how do you counter disinformation . Look, its very clear that the whole reason it started was russian influence in our elections. And it was clear, and we saw that with the information revealed by the number of social Media Companies that have testified openly over the last couple of weeks and months. But we havent had enough conversation of, how do we have a strategy to counter disinformation . We know its happening, we know how they did it. But how are we going to be prepared in the future when the russians try to do this, to stop it from happening . Thats an important point. Do you feel that the white house needs to be more aggressive, and by more aggressive, i guess, i mean, aggressive at all, in raising this issue, to make sure that that kind of interference from a country like russia doesnt happen again . Well, i know there are many conversations happening at the National Security council, which is the entity that drives the strategy. This is, this is a tricky issue. Its part of covert action. And its very clear from the National Security act of 1957 that the cia was responsible for covert action. But the cia cant do things in the United States of america, in english language. So this is going to have to cause and require a change in how the Intelligence Community and federal Law Enforcement operates. And so this is, this is a complicated issue that i know folks in the National Security council are focusing on. This is something us in congress, we should be talking about, as well. And i think, you and your colleagues, you know, having conversations about how do we, you know, what should we be doing in the future is a valuable part of this whole strategy. Because those in the media are going to play an Important Role in making sure that we can ensure the integrity of our elections. No question about that. Lets talk, congressman, about the year ahead and what congress and the white house can get done. First and foremost, lets talk about immigration. Your texas district, it runs along the mexico border. The d. R. E. A. M. Ers are going to lose Legal Protections by march if congress or the president , if either of them doesnt act. Will you support any bipartisan deal to give d. R. E. A. M. Ers legal status if its coupled with Border Security . Of course. This, to me, you know, the issue of daca and d. R. E. A. M. Ers is real simple. These are a million young men and women that have only known the United States of america. 97 of them are in school or are working. 5 of them are entrepreneurs. These are people that are contributing to our culture, to our history, to our economy. And we can fix this. And for those that want to make sure that Border Security is involved, one of the problems that its 2017 and our border is not secure. We do not have operational control of our border. And the reason is, is that were not looking at all 2,000 miles of our southern border at the same time. And the only way to do that is by leveraging technology and manpower. And i think thats something that can be done in the span of a year or two. And so i think youre clearly for youre clearly for allowing the d. R. E. A. M. Ers to stay legally. But a lot of your republican colleagues, as you well know, thats amnesty and they are going to fight you and the president tooth and nail. Do you think that thats going to cause a problem, looking ahead to the 2018 election . I think the number of folks that are against this are actually smaller than most folks realize. I think having a donald trump in office who has shown a commitment to securing our border and wanting to solve this problem, i think thats a real opportunity for some of my colleagues that may be on the fence on this issue, in order to in order to get on the right side, in my opinion. And so this is something thats going to be important. And its the possibility of getting addressed, as early as middle of january. But we need to address the uncertainty and again, for me, these are young men and women that are contributing to this great place we call america. And lets make sure they continue to belie able to do th. Before i let you go, congressman, cnn is learning that the president wants to make a new infrastructure plan an important piece of his state of the Union Address january 30th. Its going to propose spending at least 200 billion on Infrastructure Projects over the next decade and sort of. Is that something that you believe that you and your republican colleagues will get onboard with . The devil, of course, is in the details. But there is a lot of work that needs to be done on infrastructure. I know in earlier segments, you were talking about the 200 billion not being big enough. But i think thats something that can be leveraged with state and local and even some private dollars. And i think we have an example of a framework of that already. Its the north American Development bank. The north American Development bank leverages federal dollars from the u. S. And dollars from the government of mexico to do Infrastructure Projects along the border. Ive seen them impact my communities by helping with sewage, creating sewage projects, to, you know, clean water projects, as well. We had kids in my district that couldnt drink the water, because there was too much arsenic in it. So i think that is an example of how we can leverage federal dollars for this. But one of the things i want to make sure is when we think about infrastructure, we have to think about the rural parts of the country, as well. I represent 29 counties, two time zones. It takes 10 1 2 hours to drive from one corner of my district to the other. And in some parts, theres more cows than people. But we have to make sure thaef hi they have highspeed Internet Access and that infrastructure will be able to help benefit the rural communities, as well. Congressman, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, as you drive all those miles and miles along your district on this holiday week. Appreciate it. Well, thank you. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and i wish you a happy new year. You too. Thank you. And coming up, hours into an overseas flight, a jet is forced to turn back after the crew discovers one passenger isnt supposed to be onboard. What happened . Stay with us. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Armless bowling. Ahhhhhhhh you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. After a year filled with partisan fights over obamacare and tax cuts, political leaders say they want to try to, wait for it, gauge in bipartisanship. The white house says the first Big Initiative of the new year will be a major push on infrastructure and the president says hes optimistic. Infrastructure is by the easiest, people want it, republicans and democrats. Were going to have tremendous democrat support on infrastructure, as you know. I could have started with infrastructure. I actually wanted to save the easy one for the one down the road. So could infrastructure be the kumbaya moment in washington weve all been waiting for . Joining me now to discuss, political white house reporter, eliana johnson, cnns Political National writer, Juana Summers and phil mattingly. Phil, is infrastructure really the easy one . The president is right that democrats and republicans both want to do this. Theyve wanted to do this for years and years. This was always the white whale. Not years and years, but this was always kind of the white wha whale. Everyone agrees that everything needs to be fixed. How you do it is a huge issue. The president s idea, whether he starts with a 200 billion fund and tries to lever it up to 1 trillion with state and local spending, private investment, as well, thats not enough for a lot of democrats. Thats already too much for a lot of conservatives in his conference. Infrastructure is always something that on the top line everyone agrees to but on the details becomes extraordinarily difficult. Its worth noting, the white house has been on the hill working with democrats on this for a couple of months. Thats interesting. It be new democrats. Other people have been on the hill reportedly working with them behind the scenes on this. The question is, can they bring those democrats, perhaps some redstate democrats who were up in 2017 along while they bring conservatives along who dont want any type of major spending initiative. If they can bridge that gap, its certainly possible. Is it easy . No, not at all. Youre exactly right, the notion of fixing the countrys roads and privileges, as you just heard from congressman hurd, the fact that a lot of areas still dont have highspeed internet, which is mind boggling and terrible, that is kind of a nobrainer. The president s right. That idea is easy. But then the devil is in the details, right, juana, when you talk about how are you going to get that money out to the local cities and states and so forth. Is it going to be federal spending . Is it going to be tax credits, which is probably what a lot more of the republicans want. Thats going to be a hard kind of, you know, compromise to make. Absolutely. The devils in the details. And you think to phils point, its also in the timing. Were barreling very quickly towards 2017. It is an Election Year and its an unpopular position for the democrats to work with the sitting president in many of these districts across the country. The idea that haes going to se a lot of democrats get onboard, im a little skeptical. I think the timing is a little off and this is going to be something a little difficult to do in a Election Year<\/a> to want to support him after nine months of trading barbs back and forth. Earlier in the year, the white house had made some overtures to unions who were also very supportive of Infrastructure Spending<\/a> in general. Its unclear where that outreach has gone. White house Officials Say<\/a> more meetings are planned for january and the president is planning on hitting the road to talk about this infrastructure bill and sell it during the state of the Union Address<\/a> later in january. And abby, you mentioned something thats really critical, the whole notion of whether he can get bipartisan support on this, because, there are a lot of republicans in congress who want nothing to do with this kind of infrastructure bill. So to get anything done, he would have to get bipartisan support. The democrats have found themselves, they think, pretty successful in being the party of no against donald trump. Do you think something this important, policy wise, might change that . Reporter thats a really good point, dana. The republicans now have an even slimmer majority in the senate. They have only 51 votes. The president is going to need at least nine democrats to get onboard with an infrastructure plan. And as you mentioned, a lot of republicans do not believe that Infrastructure Spending<\/a>, especially deficit spending on infrastructure, is something that they ought to be doing. Its going to be very difficult for republicans and for democrats to sell cooperating with the president on a proposal like this in 2018. A really, really big midterm Election Year<\/a> that democrats are hoping will determine control of the house or the senate next year. Abby phillip, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Now to new developments in the russia investigation. As some republicans continue to accuse Justice Department<\/a> officials of political bias against donald trump and favoritism towards Hillary Clinton<\/a>. They may soon get some answers about controversial antitrump Text Messages<\/a> exchanged between two fbi employees during the campaign. Today is the deadline for the Deputy Attorney<\/a> general to respond to a request for more details from the Senate Judiciary<\/a> committee. Weve seen republicans, including the president seize on these texts, as evidence of political bias within the investigation and within the department of the fbi. And democrats, though, say that they are confident that this investigation is still going strong. Im very concerned that the doj and the fbi are, whether you want to call it deep state or what, are off the rails. I dont want to discredit them. I want to see the directors of those agencies purge it. Say, weve got a lot of great agents and lawyers here, those are the people i want the American People<\/a> to see and know a lot of great work is being done, not the deep state. Im worried about anyone in the position that the president is in, trying to take down the very institutions that we hold dear. I dont think the Mueller Investigation<\/a> is anywhere near being completed. And so, i think we will just wait and see on that regard. As for the house intelligence committee. I think theres a very significant effort underway by the majority to try to shut it down. Joining me now is republican congressman will hurd of texas. He serves on the house intelligence committee. Thank you so much for joining me. Lets start with the deadline today to turn over more information about antitrump texts. What is your expectation . Do you think congress will get anything to put those texts in context . We should. When you have congress doing its role on oversight, the administration should respond in a timely fashion. The department of justice hasnt always done that on these current investigations and i hope they hit this deadline today. Congressman, before you were elected to congress, you worked for the cia for nine years. You know the culture of that agency and presumably you have a good sense of the fbi, as well. Do you think that the fbi is filled with liberals who wanted to elect Hillary Clinton<\/a> . [ laughs ] i dont know about that, but i will say this. In my almost decade serving in the Intelligence Community<\/a>, i had the awesome opportunity to serve shoulder to shoulder with a lot of real patriots in the fbi. And so, i have full trust in the bureau. But one of the things that we should be doing in congress is fulfilling our oversight role and making sure that the right trade craft is being used. This is something that we have to make sure and ensure that the people that are Law Enforcement<\/a>, are federal Law Enforcement<\/a>, and our intelligence communities are protecting, that they can trust that these institutions are doing things the way theyre supposed to be doing. And i think this is an important part of our role. But i firmly believe that the men and women that are out there chas chasing bad guys and putting men and women in jail, theyre not paying attention to whats going on up in the beltway. Theyre doing their job and keeping us safe. No question. And they should be commended. Its probably hard for them to ignore whats going on in the beltway with the president of the United States<\/a> tweets to his millions of follow eers over th christmas holiday, attacking the agency that they work for. One example, he called the fbi tainted yesterday. Do you think those tweets are helpful or a good idea . He called the fbi what . I didnt hear that. Tainted. Yeah, you probably cant see it on the screen, but he called it tainted. Well, again, the we have to ensure that the Political Leadership<\/a> of these organizations are operating with the same level of focus and discipline that the rank and file are doing throughout the field offices around the country and those that are operating overseas but do you think that the fbi is tainted . I dont. I dont. But, again, our work is to make sure that theyre doing things the way theyre supposed to be doing. And you know, if uncorroborated information was being used in investigations, thats a thats a serious allegation, something that needs to be looked at. And thats why these committees are, you know, both in the house and in the senate, are going to move forward in a methodical fashion, in a deliberate fashion, to make sure that we have answers and get it to the American People<\/a>. And so, thats something that i know im committed to and my colleagues are committed to doing, as well. And congressman, these attacks from the president against the fbi really seem to have ramped up, bigtime, after it became clear that michael fl flynn was cooperating with the fbi and special counsels investigation. It looks like the president is worried. What do you think . You know, thats one assessment of that. I dont have any opinion whats your assessment . On whether this has changed over time. I havent looked. My goal is to make sure were being deliberate and following the facts wherever we may. One of the things they wish we were talking a little bit more about is how do you counter disinformation . Look, its very clear that the whole reason it started was russian influence in our elections. And it was clear, and we saw that with the information revealed by the number of social Media Companies<\/a> that have testified openly over the last couple of weeks and months. But we havent had enough conversation of, how do we have a strategy to counter disinformation . We know its happening, we know how they did it. But how are we going to be prepared in the future when the russians try to do this, to stop it from happening . Thats an important point. Do you feel that the white house needs to be more aggressive, and by more aggressive, i guess, i mean, aggressive at all, in raising this issue, to make sure that that kind of interference from a country like russia doesnt happen again . Well, i know there are many conversations happening at the National Security<\/a> council, which is the entity that drives the strategy. This is, this is a tricky issue. Its part of covert action. And its very clear from the National Security<\/a> act of 1957 that the cia was responsible for covert action. But the cia cant do things in the United States<\/a> of america, in english language. So this is going to have to cause and require a change in how the Intelligence Community<\/a> and federal Law Enforcement<\/a> operates. And so this is, this is a complicated issue that i know folks in the National Security<\/a> council are focusing on. This is something us in congress, we should be talking about, as well. And i think, you and your colleagues, you know, having conversations about how do we, you know, what should we be doing in the future is a valuable part of this whole strategy. Because those in the media are going to play an Important Role<\/a> in making sure that we can ensure the integrity of our elections. No question about that. Lets talk, congressman, about the year ahead and what congress and the white house can get done. First and foremost, lets talk about immigration. Your texas district, it runs along the mexico border. The d. R. E. A. M. Ers are going to lose Legal Protections<\/a> by march if congress or the president , if either of them doesnt act. Will you support any bipartisan deal to give d. R. E. A. M. Ers legal status if its coupled with Border Security<\/a> . Of course. This, to me, you know, the issue of daca and d. R. E. A. M. Ers is real simple. These are a million young men and women that have only known the United States<\/a> of america. 97 of them are in school or are working. 5 of them are entrepreneurs. These are people that are contributing to our culture, to our history, to our economy. And we can fix this. And for those that want to make sure that Border Security<\/a> is involved, one of the problems that its 2017 and our border is not secure. We do not have operational control of our border. And the reason is, is that were not looking at all 2,000 miles of our southern border at the same time. And the only way to do that is by leveraging technology and manpower. And i think thats something that can be done in the span of a year or two. And so i think youre clearly for youre clearly for allowing the d. R. E. A. M. Ers to stay legally. But a lot of your republican colleagues, as you well know, thats amnesty and they are going to fight you and the president tooth and nail. Do you think that thats going to cause a problem, looking ahead to the 2018 election . I think the number of folks that are against this are actually smaller than most folks realize. I think having a donald trump in office who has shown a commitment to securing our border and wanting to solve this problem, i think thats a real opportunity for some of my colleagues that may be on the fence on this issue, in order to in order to get on the right side, in my opinion. And so this is something thats going to be important. And its the possibility of getting addressed, as early as middle of january. But we need to address the uncertainty and again, for me, these are young men and women that are contributing to this great place we call america. And lets make sure they continue to belie able to do th. Before i let you go, congressman, cnn is learning that the president wants to make a new infrastructure plan an important piece of his state of the Union Address<\/a> january 30th. Its going to propose spending at least 200 billion on Infrastructure Projects<\/a> over the next decade and sort of. Is that something that you believe that you and your republican colleagues will get onboard with . The devil, of course, is in the details. But there is a lot of work that needs to be done on infrastructure. I know in earlier segments, you were talking about the 200 billion not being big enough. But i think thats something that can be leveraged with state and local and even some private dollars. And i think we have an example of a framework of that already. Its the north American Development<\/a> bank. The north American Development<\/a> bank leverages federal dollars from the u. S. And dollars from the government of mexico to do Infrastructure Projects<\/a> along the border. Ive seen them impact my communities by helping with sewage, creating sewage projects, to, you know, clean water projects, as well. We had kids in my district that couldnt drink the water, because there was too much arsenic in it. So i think that is an example of how we can leverage federal dollars for this. But one of the things i want to make sure is when we think about infrastructure, we have to think about the rural parts of the country, as well. I represent 29 counties, two time zones. It takes 10 1 2 hours to drive from one corner of my district to the other. And in some parts, theres more cows than people. But we have to make sure thaef hi they have highspeed Internet Access<\/a> and that infrastructure will be able to help benefit the rural communities, as well. Congressman, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, as you drive all those miles and miles along your district on this holiday week. Appreciate it. Well, thank you. I hope you had a Merry Christmas<\/a> and i wish you a happy new year. You too. Thank you. And coming up, hours into an overseas flight, a jet is forced to turn back after the crew discovers one passenger isnt supposed to be onboard. What happened . Stay with us. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Armless bowling. Ahhhhhhhh you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. After a year filled with partisan fights over obamacare and tax cuts, political leaders say they want to try to, wait for it, gauge in bipartisanship. The white house says the first Big Initiative<\/a> of the new year will be a major push on infrastructure and the president says hes optimistic. Infrastructure is by the easiest, people want it, republicans and democrats. Were going to have tremendous democrat support on infrastructure, as you know. I could have started with infrastructure. I actually wanted to save the easy one for the one down the road. So could infrastructure be the kumbaya moment in washington weve all been waiting for . Joining me now to discuss, political white house reporter, eliana johnson, cnns Political National<\/a> writer, Juana Summers<\/a> and phil mattingly. Phil, is infrastructure really the easy one . The president is right that democrats and republicans both want to do this. Theyve wanted to do this for years and years. This was always the white whale. Not years and years, but this was always kind of the white wha whale. Everyone agrees that everything needs to be fixed. How you do it is a huge issue. The president s idea, whether he starts with a 200 billion fund and tries to lever it up to 1 trillion with state and local spending, private investment, as well, thats not enough for a lot of democrats. Thats already too much for a lot of conservatives in his conference. Infrastructure is always something that on the top line everyone agrees to but on the details becomes extraordinarily difficult. Its worth noting, the white house has been on the hill working with democrats on this for a couple of months. Thats interesting. It be new democrats. Other people have been on the hill reportedly working with them behind the scenes on this. The question is, can they bring those democrats, perhaps some redstate democrats who were up in 2017 along while they bring conservatives along who dont want any type of major spending initiative. If they can bridge that gap, its certainly possible. Is it easy . No, not at all. Youre exactly right, the notion of fixing the countrys roads and privileges, as you just heard from congressman hurd, the fact that a lot of areas still dont have highspeed internet, which is mind boggling and terrible, that is kind of a nobrainer. The president s right. That idea is easy. But then the devil is in the details, right, juana, when you talk about how are you going to get that money out to the local cities and states and so forth. Is it going to be federal spending . Is it going to be tax credits, which is probably what a lot more of the republicans want. Thats going to be a hard kind of, you know, compromise to make. Absolutely. The devils in the details. And you think to phils point, its also in the timing. Were barreling very quickly towards 2017. It is an Election Year<\/a> and its an unpopular position for the democrats to work with the sitting president in many of these districts across the country. The idea that haes going to se a lot of democrats get onboard, im a little skeptical. I think the timing is a little off and this is going to be something a little difficult to do in a Election Year<\/a> where democrats think they have a shot to give republicans a run for their money in both chambers. The partisanship has been very deep on both side of the aisle. Democrats feel that they have been quite successful in following what the republican playbook was when president obama was in the white house, which is no, no, no, no, no, no, were not going to work with you. They didnt have much of an opportunity, because the big heavy lift was obamacare, which they were never going to vote to repeal and the tax reform which ended up having obamacare, part of the repeal of the individual mandate nit. But this is different. The question is whether Democratic Leaders<\/a> are going to want to hold their rank and file or whether theyll let them go, particularly those who are in tough reelection battles in red districts and red states to come back and say, look, i can work with the republican president , because that will play well back home. You know, i question how well that would play back home with democrats when the energy in the Democratic Base<\/a> is really on an antitrump platform. I think it will be hard for democrats to cross the aisle, for Many Democrats<\/a> to cross the aisle. Republicans are really between a rock and a hard place, because its not only that they have a slim margin in the senate now, its increased from 5248 to 5149 with the loss in alabama. But its also the things theyre working on. Theyre working on infrastructure and entitlement reform, those are things that divide the republican party. If theyre going to get anything done in 2018, they need democratic cooperation. I think a much more challenging legislative agenda, if you thought 2017 was challenging, 2018 will be much more charging for the gop. Lets take a listen to what the Republican Leaders<\/a> in the house and senate, paul ryan, the House Speaker<\/a> and Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>, the Senate Majority<\/a> leader are talking about. Its not infrastructure, its one or two other things. So will Congress Take<\/a> up entitlement spending next year . Yes, we will. And bob and i actually see a lot of these things very similarly. We have to address entitlements. Otherwise, we cant really get a handle on our future debt. I think the democrats are not going to be interested in entitlement reform. So i would not expect to see that on the agenda. And what the democrats are willing to do is important, because in the senate, with rare exceptions, like the tax bill, we have to have democratic involvement. So, is this just classic paul ryan, just made a career out of understandably wanting to fix the entitlement system and Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> coming in as a practical realist . Leif it to the majority leader to bring his patented anvil, quietly, calmly, perhaps understated on to the head of the grander ambitions of perhaps his colleagues in the house. Look, when you talk to Senate Republicans<\/a> who are deeply involved in this process and are looking forward to whats coming next, they understand, 5149 is a very slim majority. They understand that they swung for the fences twice through a proposal, through proposals where they could only they only needed a majority vote. Theyre not going to do that again. Theyre not going to use that mechanism again. And because of that, they need at least nine democrats to do anything they want to do. There are not nine democrats that exist, regardless of how President Trump<\/a> did in ten specific democratic states, that are going to help them overhaul medicaid. That are going to help them do major changes to food stamps. That are going to help them touch medicare in any way, shape, or form. And because of that, when you talk to the Senate Majority<\/a> leader and some of his top aides, they recognize, were going to have to look for other alternatives here. But theres no question about it. This has been the speakers grand ambition. Tax reform, clearly one of his grand ambitions. But since the power points that we all watched with the slides and when he was budget chairman, this is something that he wants to do. If you want to get him on an extended riff during a press conference, start asking him about this stuff and nine minutes later, hell finish his answer. And hes right. Theres no way to fix the debt and the deficit without dealing with entitlement. The question, again, is how you get there. The election of donald trump also showed that the Republican Base<\/a> is far more, you know, conflicted about entitlement reform. And far more, you know theyre far more the president promised not to touch entitlements. And theyre not with paul ryan. Theyre with donald trump on this. And so i think it will be a real challenge for republicans to go it alone on that. I want to show our viewers the todo list that kocongress d the president have just in january lan. This is mustpass stuff for the most part. Spending bill. Thats definitely must pass. They kicked the can to january. C. H. I. P. Reauthorization. Thats the health plan for needy children. That is a must plan. Disaster relief, same thing. Daca Border Security<\/a>, the deadline is technically march, but, you know, youre hearing a lot of talk about trying to get a deal for the d. R. E. A. M. Ers before that. And then, of course, its, phil, as you know, obamacare fixes that were promised to republicans like Susan Collins<\/a>, as part of the tax reform bill. Thats a hefty agenda. Its an incredibly lengthy list. And i think its a lengthy list that comes so far, as yao seen the Trump Administration<\/a> only having one really morequist legislative victory so far. I think it will be interesting to see what strategy members of leadership take. Are they going to work with this president to achieve some of these things on this todo list, or do they end up working around him in spite of of conflicts and priorities there . I would note two things. One, these are things that have to get done. They cant punt them anymore. They continue to punt. They cant kick the can anymore. The Senate Majority<\/a> leader wanted this all wrapped up. These are things where conservative republicans are going to have to essentially eat it on some level, particularly on the daca fix. But we look at the grand what 2018 will mean, what this will all mean for the elections. Nothing matters until they get that todo list done. And i will point out, the obamacare fixes, the zander mal murray fix, the majority leader knows that has to get done. That was a broken promise. Susan collins was very disappointed with what happened there. We talk about a 5149 majority, you need Susan Collins<\/a> on everything. Its time to deliver for Susan Collins<\/a>. And i think keep a very close eye on that. Because House Republicans<\/a> dont want it. Somehow, some way the House Majority<\/a> leader will faind a wa to finagle that in. In the next panel, well talk about how Susan Collins<\/a> is the most powerful person in washington. Thank you, all. What a great discussion. We learned a lot. New this morning, president obama sitting down for an interview with prince harry. And the former president gave a notsosubtle swipe at the current president s use of social media. Thats next. Whoooo. When it comes to travel, i sweat the details. Late checkout. Downalternative pillows. And of course, price. Tripadvisor helps you book a. Hotel without breaking a sweat. Because we now instantly. Search over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Dont sweat your booking. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Give a little bit give a little bit. Hello. Give a little bit. Of your love to me oh, haha. Theres so much that we need to share so send a smile and show that you care ill give a little bit of my love to you a prince and a president may seem like an unlikely duo for a radio interview, but you know what, the British Royal<\/a> prince harry and former president obama, theyre not unlikely when you listen to them at all. The two recently met to discuss a few different topics, including life after the oval office and social media etiquette, alluding to obamas take on President Trump<\/a>s twitter use. The question, i think, really has to do with how do we harness this technology that allows a multiplicity of voices, allows a diversity of views, but doesnt lead to a balkanization of our society, but rather continues to promote ways of finding common ground. And im not sure government can legislate that, but what i do believe is that all of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the internet. One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be just cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases. Cnn correspondent melissa bell joins me now to go over the interview highlights. And melissa, that was, you know, more serious part of the discussion. But they got into a whole range of topics. It was an extraordinary interview, dana, 14 minutes, and largely a politicsfree zone, which doesnt mean that much of american politics wasnt alluded to, in a sense. There was almost more freedom to read into it so much more perhaps than you might have, if the former president had been asked specifically about his successor. So you have the sense of an interview in which the questions had been carefully prepared, in which barack obama had decided no t not to speak about his successor. And yet with all that extra freedom, you really got a sense and a reminder of the very different styles that the former president brought to the american presidency, compared to his successor. And well give you an example. At one point, the former president was asked about how free he felt, what had been liberating about leaving the oval office. He gave the very specific examples of the hurricanes that hit the United States<\/a> over the course of 2017. Houston, he mentioned, florida, and of course, puerto rico, pointing out that it was no longer his responsibility to see to the essential help that the americans needed in the aftermath of such catastrophes. He now had the leisure, the freedom, the time to concentrate on the fundamental causes that is climate change, that is causing these sorts of weather incidences. A fascinating interview, although the name donald trump wasnt mentioned a single time. It wasnt mentioned, but that social media clip, it was very clear who president obama was talking about. Im sure youll agree. And so many, you know, fun facts that we go from the lightning round that prince harry put in there. They seem pretty chummy. And so everybody is wondering, will the obamas make the invite list for prince harry and american actress, Meghan Markles<\/a> muchanticipated wedding . What do you think . That was the other interesting thing. He said, although this interview was recorded back in september, it was now one man who had been in the public eye over the course of two american administrations being interviewed by another man who had been in the public eye, of course, all his life, prince harry, third in line to the british throne. But all the more since his announcement to the engagement of Meghan Markle<\/a>. The british really do have meghan fever. It is on the front page of all the british newspapers, dayin, day out adds we approach that day, may 19th, with a number of questions still unresolved, in particular, how the guest list will look, which is why prips harry was asked mr. The obamas would be invited. We share the same kind of mindset and outlook on the charitable factor, on foundations, and mainly on the youth of today. The young people of this world are incredibly inspirational. Well enough to invite him to your wedding . Well, i dont know i dont know about that. Thats we havent put the invites or the guest list together yet, so who knows whether hes going to be invited or not. I wouldnt want to ruin that surprise. And so even over that question, of Meghan Markle<\/a> and prince harrys wedding, the specter of donald trump hung heavy. The fact is that the current american president has yet to make a visit to the united kingdom. Will the obamas be invited to this wedding when the current american president has yet to undertake a visit that was, of course, offered the invitation was extended just after his inauguration, but with all the controversies and the fuss over the course of the last few months, its unclear if or when its going to happen. Melissa bell, thank you so much for bringing us our favorite story of the day. Appreciate it. And coming up, a new jab from the kremlin at the u. S. Military in syria. This time accusing the u. S. Of training former isis fighters in an effort to destabilize the region. You do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company<\/a> raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual<\/a> wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you\u2122. Liberty mutual insurance. And lead them in conquest empires will fall as you claim your place in valhalla play vikings war of clans if yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment<\/a> hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. This condition has not been reported with entyvio. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. Welcome back. Russia says this morning that it has made decisive stroke against isis terrorists inside syria, yet moscow claims theres one big problem. A top russian general says the United States<\/a> is harboring former isis fighters and retraining them to keep syria on the brink of collapse. Cnns Fred Pleitgen<\/a> is live in moscow. Fred, the big question is, has the kremlin provided any evidence to back up this charge that the u. S. Is training former isis fighters . Hi, dayna. This comes from the chief of staff of the russian military. He didnt offer much in the way of evidence. He said there were satellite images and other intelligence that the russians say that they do have. Hour, didnt make any of that available or public. But it is quite a stark claim. And it certainly plays into a pattern weve been seeing over the past days and weeks of the russians becoming more hostile towards the u. S. In syria, specifically in that part of syria. The southeast of the country, near deir ezzor in the desert near iraq and near jordan, as well. The u. S. Has one outpost left there, where it is actually training some fighters, they say, and the u. S. Has made this clear in the past couple of days, they say this is to prevent any sort of remnants of isis who might be in that region from coming back. And the u. S. Says it will continue to have that presence there. The russians have offered some quite hostile words towards al of this. They have said, lacook, thereso reason for the russians to have any presence there or anywhere else in syria. So you can feel after how the u. S. And russia have had their claims to certain parts of syria, how they have supported groups to fight isis there, that compact really seems to be falling apart and the russians are becoming a lot more hostile to the u. S. Presence there in syria, which certainly has to be quite troubling for some officials in the Trump Administration<\/a>, dana. I would assume so. Thank you so much for that report, Fred Pleitgen<\/a>. And i want to add Kimberly Dozier<\/a> to this conversation. She is cnns Global Affairs<\/a> analyst and the executive editor of cyber brief. Thank you so much for joining me. Whats your sense . What is your sense of what the russians well, first of all, do you think that theres any truth to it . Of course not. But this is straight out of general grassamofs playbook. You muddy the waters by pugt out disinformation about your adversary to make the people who are undecided in the middle doubt what the United States<\/a> is doing there, especially at this crucial stage. A lot of the isis fighters have either taken off their uniforms and melted back into the population or theyve left. And the population left behind has a decision to make. Do they stay in the loosely governed area that is controlled by u. S. Backed forces, do they give in to assads forces . Theyre being menaced by iranian and russian proxy forces in between. So when you put this out there, that the u. S. And anyone working with the u. S. Isnt to be trusted, because allegedly theyre still working with isis, that helps win in this information war. Right. And that is that is really the key. Now, putins envoy, you mentioned excuse me, not the general, you mentioned putins envoy to syria says that the u. S. Has no reason to be there. Part of the information war . Part of the information war. And also, part of trying to minimize the u. S. Role in the u. N. Brokered peace talks, minimize the possibility of any success there. Look, russia wants bashar assad to stay in power, because assad owes his regime to them. He will give the russians the run of the area. There was already an announcement on Russian Media<\/a> that theyre establishing Permanent Military<\/a> bases in syria, which is something theyd always wanted to keep that footprint in the middle east. So they want the u. S. Out of the way. The other thing they would like to do is close tompf, because tompf is located in one of these areas that are near a lot of what they call the rat lines, the smuggling routes that go from syria to iraq that facilitate iranian proxies, russian proxies, supplies, people going in and out. Tompf provides the u. S. A place where they have personnel that can gather intelligence as well as train local forces. Lets take this conversation up to 10,000 feet. You did a little bit there. You know, syria and the conflict was so much in the news here in the u. S. , in the obama administration, when he was contemplating whether or not to send forces, you know, so on and so forth, getting a lot of pressure from republicans like john mccain and lindsay dprey g. Where do things stand big picture now . We know that obviously bashar assad is still there. Hes getting help from the russian who is want him to stay there. Well, the u. S. Presence is drawing down. And since you havent seen in the headlines many reports of an isisinspired attack in europe or the United States<\/a>, that also means the importance of the area draws down. You have the u. S. Military saying that there are fewer than a thousand fighters now in iraq and syria. Thats partly based on intelligence, partly guesstimate, and maybe partly wishful thinking. But it doesnt mean its anymore safe or peaceful or stable. Absolutely. And we know from intelligence that a lot of those isis fighters, they knew a year ago they were going to be driven out, and the top leadership and the brain trust of isis simply migranted to other parts of africa and the middle east to fight another day. Just like al qaeda and iraq did before them. So it might be off the front pages right now and on the news ba backburner, so the Trump Administration<\/a> can quietly work behind the scenes or ignore it. I know its not being ignored in the pentagon and state department, but you done see a lot of Political Capital<\/a> from the white house, from President Trump<\/a> invested in this right now. But still extremely, extremely important. Thank you so much for everything, kimberly. Its good to see you. And still ahead, call it a flight to nowhere. After hours in the air, a plane has to turn back after the crew found out someone got onboard who wasnt supposed to be there. Those details, next. Whoooo. I enjoy the fresher things in life. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest. Prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. We now instantly compare prices. From over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Go on, try something fresh. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Confusion in the skies as a plane headed to japan is forced to turn around mid flight. After crews found an unauthorized person on board. The all Nippon Airways<\/a> flight opted to make a uturn back to los angeles, essentially take ageighthour trip to nowhere. Hollywood couple singer john legend and his wife Model Chrissy Teigen<\/a> were on board for the mayhem. You see there, they shot some selfie video live tweeting the whole ordeal and teigen wrote in part, flying first for me. Four hours into an 11hour flight and we are turning around because we have a passenger who isnt supposed to be on this plane. Joining me now is aviation correspondent rene marsh. Youre learning more about why the pilot decided to turn around after fare who yofour hours in sky. That is the question. They waited some four hours into it before they decided to turn around. Everyone was wondering why not go to the destination and handle that one passenger once it got to tokyo. I did ask the airline this, and they finally got a response to me today essentially a short time ago saying that the pilot made the right decision. They went on to say that at the time during the flight, the information that the pilot in command had was that there was some sort of discrepancy with the manifest and for security concerns, they wanted to get back to l. A. X. But at this point, doesnt seem like there was anything nefarious here. Thats not the indication im getting. There was some sort of mixup where someone, perhaps they were on a different flight or supposed to be on a different flight but ended up on the wrong plane. But ive been trying to figure out, what is this administrative mixup that the airline is saying caused there. And they will not say. What does that mean . We all fly. You get on the plane. Many times the pilot says were going to, in this case, tokyo. If youre not bound for tokyo, now is the time to get off the plane. If there wasnt anything nefarious which you say there wasnt, did he wander onto the wrong jet bridge . And i dont want to speculate. As you point out, not only does the pilot often say this is where were headed but your boarding pass is scanned at the gate before you board the plane. Theres that. So heres a couple things also kind of to put this in context. All Nippon Airlines<\/a> also has a code share with united airlines. That airline can be listed. You can buy your ticket under united or you can buy it under al nippon. There was another code share with these two flights leaving at the same time from the same airport. Could it be perhaps they went to the wrong gate . Perhaps. Im speculating because the airline isnt telling us what the mixup was. I assume theyre trying to figure out the answers. I know youll get the answer once they have it. Thank you so much. Still ahead, new details on the president s first big legislative push of the new year. He would have to work across the aisle to get it done. But will democrats want to work with President Trump<\/a> . Especially in an Election Year<\/a> . Thats coming up. The day after chemo might mean a trip back to the doctors office, just for a shot. But why go back there, when you can stay home, with Neulasta Onpro<\/a> . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. In a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 , a 94 decrease. Applied the day of chemo, Neulasta Onpro<\/a> is designed to deliver neulasta the next day, so you can stay home. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients<\/a> receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to neulasta or Neupogen Filgrastim<\/a> . Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. So why go back there . If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro<\/a>. Hello, im dana bash. The president may still be","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800402.us.archive.org\/21\/items\/CNNW_20171227_160000_At_This_Hour_With_Kate_Bolduan\/CNNW_20171227_160000_At_This_Hour_With_Kate_Bolduan.thumbs\/CNNW_20171227_160000_At_This_Hour_With_Kate_Bolduan_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240617T12:35:10+00:00"}