Quote, is representing something very different. Lets discuss this with bob baer, security analyst, used to be a cia agent, and david drucker, a cnn political analyst. David, if i could begin with you here. The Turkish Foreign minister says that trump is turning a blind eye to the hard facts here, to the murder, and the ties to saudi leadership to this murder. Do you agree . I dont know if hes turning a blind eye. Hes clearly making a strategic sdgz based on the u. S. Position in the middle east and what he presumably would think is in the best interest of u. S. National security. I think the problem for the president , jim, is he keeps describing this in domestic economic terms. So instead of saying look, i reviewed all of the evidence. I understand what the saudis did was wrong, and there are going to be consequences. Nonetheless, we need to preserve our alliance with them for reasons x, y, and z. The president simply dismisses the intelligence, doubts whether or not its accurate, and then talks about jobs. Jobs from arms deals with saudi arabia, oil prices from saudi arabia. And i think thats where the president s actually undermining his own leverage and the case that he could make that even though the saudis are not always good actors, and even though in this case they acted egregiously and even though there could be consequences in the congress, never mind from the white house, he none the less believes the u. S. Position is best served by maintaining the alliance. Even with consequences. I think if the president did that, we would be having a very different discussion about this. Bob baer, your ears must have perked up yesterday when the president in as david is saying once again doubted a high confidence assessment from the u. S. Intelligence community. He said the cia did not have a conclusion. They had feelings about this. Is that how the cia does its work . It expresses feelings about a National Security issue like this one . Jim, no. They are sure that Mohammed Bin Salman was behind this. They know saudi arabia. More than that, theyre looking at the metadata, intercepts, a lot of information were not seeing. And they have come to a conclusion that he ordered this. No one has denied that. Its come out in the press, multiple sources. For the president to say a feeling, its just, you know, thats not what the cia does. It doesnt do that at all. I think the president s in a corner at this point. But his problem, though, jim, is he cant differentiate between saudi arabia and the crown prince. The crown prince is way beyond the pale in his foreign policy. Arresting the lebanese prime minister, beating him up, and so on and so on. And i think for the benefit of our relations with saudi arabia, we should be using our leverage to get rid of the crown prince. David drucker, how much does it concern you that were back to where we were with russian interference in the u. S. Election . A high confidence assessment that russia and that putin directed it. And the president for months undermining that assessment, raising questions where there were not questions, because that information he found inconvenient or uncomfortable. Here, you have another case where the president is ignoring and undermining and raising questions again where there are not questions. Are you concerned that this is a president who politicizes intelligence to his own interests here with an effect on the credibility of those agencies which are essential to u. S. National security . Right, i think the issue here, jim, is how flippantly the president publicly dismisses the Intelligence Community and its work product. Look, president s, their job is to examine intelligence, ask questions. Sometimes decide that theyre not going to act in accordance with the intelligence. Sometimes they dont believe the intelligence. They have issues with it, and they send the intel analysts back to give him more facts. And we have seen over the years there are occasional intelligence failures. I dont think the issue is so much with the president having a problem with it or not necessarily trusting it or not necessarily acting in a way people would want him to act based on intelligence. As you brought up the issue of russian interference, the issue is the president so publicly dismissing it, and acting as though the work product is not dependable. The problem there is when the president is going to need to make a case to act against a foreign adversary is going to go to either an ally or an adversary and say look, there are things we know youre doing. We need you to cut it out or there will be consequences. It makes it easier for people around the world to say you dont trust your intelligence agencies. Im here to tell you you shouldnt trust them, this is wrong, and i dont think i need to Pay Attention to your warnings because you dont seem to trust them. Why should we . The Saudi Foreign minister already parroted back the president s doubts about the cia assessment, doing exactly what youre saying there. Bob, we are in a different situation because you have democrats taking over the house. That gives democrats powerful chairmanships of committees. And we have adam schiff now who will be the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee saying among the things he wants the committee to investigate is whether Trump Organization has financial ties in saudi arabia that is influencing the president s decision here. How impactful could an investigation like that be . Oh, jim, its going to be huge. I have already gotten emails this morning from Congress Asking who should they put in front of committees. Theyre going to come after this president with a hatchet, the democrats. Theyre going to uncover a lot of Financial Connections that go back years. I mean, essentially russia and saudi arabia floated, you know, trump property empire in its bad times. A lot of investments from the royal family. Current ones i dont know, but thats certainly going to go on, these hearings, for the next two years. You can count on it. Bob and david, thanks very much. Now to Cnns Kaitlan Collins in West Palm Beach with the president , where i believe the president is golfing this morning. Any reaction from the southern white house to the schiff report about this line of investigation . This is certainly a president who has bristled when his businesses have come under the investigative spotlight. Reporter yeah, they havent said anything yet, jim. We do presume the president is on the golf course right now because he arrived there with reporters earlier, and its near 80 degrees here in West Palm Beach, florida. Very sunny, a cloudless day. A prime day for golf for the president , but expect him to potentially tweet about it. Thats how hes been responding to most things while hes been here, except for that brief interaction with reporters yesterday during that phone call with military leaders. And that was the same day that the president essentially rebuffed the cias assessment that the crown prince did order the killing of jamal khashoggi, saying they merely had feelings on the matter, not that they concluded that the crown prince had ordered it. Thats just not the case. Actually, the cia doesnt offer conclusions. They instead offer intelligence assessments, and based on our sources, the cia has assessed it was mbs who ordered the killing. But from what we have seen from President Trump so far, he has signaled hes not going to hold the Saudi Crown Prince responsible. We do expect to see him respond to this because adam schiff is someone hes described as a thorn in his side. You might remember what name he used in place of schiff in a tweet just a few days ago. This morning, the president tweeted about something else, about the possibility of bipartisanship, particularly on a border wall funding, et cetera. But last night, he was still really after one of his new targets here of late, that is the ninth Circuit Court of appeals. Yeah, thats right. The president has a bone to pick with the ninth Circuit Court. Hes been talking about it nonstop for the last few days. Even during a military call with those members on thanksgiving, when he told a commander in afghanistan he was complaining that the court is a thorn in his side. So another thorn in his side, alongside adam schiff as well. Its something were seeing the president continue to talk about, even today, calling for republicans and democrats to come together, to pass what he says is a Border Security package. He wants the Border Security package to include funding for his wall. Yesterday, he threatened to shut down the government over a spending fight if the spending package doesnt include funding for the wall. So thats something the president has been focusing in on while hes here, tweeting not only about the ninth Circuit Court repeatedly and getting into the fight with the chief justice of the Supreme Court. So well be waiting to see if the president sets his sight on adam schiff next. We know youll be on top of it. Thanks very much. An american missionary is killed by tribes people on a Remote Island. Authorities say the missionary should not have been there in the first place. And is there something to hide . The release of a new government report on Climate Change is moved up to today. Critics say most people wont be paying attention. Was that intentional . Applebees bigger, bolder grill combos are back. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Your insurance rates skyrocket you could fix it with a pen. How about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead . For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Chief justice publicly abrades the president for attacking the federal courts, but it happened and its only prompting more attacks from the president. With me, Scott Jennings and robby mook. Thanks to both of you for coming on. So scott, when you see this back and forth, which the president has continued, particularly over the courts and we even saw that in the call with the soldiers yesterday on the thanksgiving holiday, are you comfortable with that . You know, i think the president is not unlike previous president s who have had frustrations with the courts. Ill take you back to ancient history, 2012, when president barack obama preemptively berated the Supreme Court as they considered obamacare. Some of the things obama said at the time flew in the face of the m marberry v. Madison president. I think its not the first president to have problems with the Supreme Court justis. He should also tell the American People wants going on with the ninth circuit, which is democrats are slow walking his ability to put more conservative judges on that particular circuit. Robby mook, your response . Fair criticism . Theres a lot to respond to. First of all, i dont think anyone in the Republican Party are in a position to talk about slow walking judges. It was impossible for barack obama to get his judges approved by the republicans late in his administration. But look, i think scotts painting over a few things here. Of course, president s have advocated for what they believe. Thats their right under the constitution. You know, and we want our president s to be vocal. But barack obama, no other president beerated the court in this way, implying that the judges because they were appointed by a certain president , are ruling one way or another. The president is undermining the entire system by doing that, undermining the constitution he swore to protect and defend. And look, its also a dumb strategy, frankly, on his part. I believe that the Supreme Court of the United States, that hes in a fight with right now, is going to be the one who makes the decision on whether he has to answer Robert Mueller or not. The worst thing he is do is put them in a position where if they if they rule in his favor that they look like theyre in his pocket. Hes setting that up right now. On another topic, scott, you saw the president raise again via tweet as he often does the issue of the wall. This has long been a president ial focus. And he had raised the possibility of shutting down the government if he doesnt get the money that he wants for his border wall, that has some opposition not just from democrats but even from republican lawmakers. In your shoe, would the president be willing to make a deal here to avoid a government shutdown. That is to the exchange often talked about. Give me my money for the wall, well make a deal on daca. Is that a deal the president is willing to make . I dont know if hes willing to make it, but i certainly think he should make it. I think when the Congress Goes divided in january, immigration gets a lot harder. This is one of the things that goes over the last two years that has gone undone on the president s promises to fix our immigration system. When republicans controlled all three legs of the stool, you have to ask, why couldnt he bring this to a conclusion . If they were able to pull off some massive deal, as you lay out, where you get the wall funding, you get daca, you get fixes that say the Agriculture Community wants in immigration labor issues, that would be a huge win. Is that possible in a short lame duck. I dont know. But man alive, if you could get it done, you would look like a magician. Robby, is that a deal that democrats want to make with this president . Give him the money for the wall, which you know he would treat as an enormous victory. Might even gloat a little bit on that, but is that an exchange that democrats would and should be willing to make on a daca deal. I think we can be sure whatever happens, trump will gloat about it. You know, this is going to be really interesting to watch. The freshman class of democrats coming in, which is a sizable portion of the caucus now, almost universally ran on a pledge to work across the aisle and to get results. I think that there is broad based support for immigration reform. And i think there is openness to dialogue. What i think is going to be a problem here is that the president did in fact strike a deal with Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi in the last congress that he pulled out of at the last minute. I think democrats are going to be really cautious until the very last minute about striking some deal out of fear that the president will pull out. But i think everything is on the table right now, and theres a lot of energy to do something. Scott, i wonder on the issue of matt whitaker, it remains a question. The president , you probably heard, one of the many comments he made during the call with troops was to defend matt whitaker, his standing. Lets have a listen. Matt whitaker is a highly respected man. The Justice Department respects him tremendously. I have spoken to a lot of people. And you know, the press has been nasty to matt whitaker, but i can tell you hes a highly respected, strong person. And hes doing a great job. Everybody tells me that. I just wonder, in this continued Public Defense of whitaker, whitaker here, are we seeing that whitaker is not just an acting a. G. But that he is the president s choice to lead the Justice Department long term . Well, i think hes certainly on the list. And if the president is going to go this direction, i think he should go sooner rather than later because going ahead and putting someone, whether its whitaker or some other person into the confirmation process, where youre going to have hearings, where youre going to have disclosures and transparency, that would in some ways alleviate the pressure on this situation where you have an acting who is not subject to senate confirmation. I think the president is probably considering several names. My advice to the white house would be make this a shortterm appointment. If whitaker is going to get it, do it. If its going to be somebody else, get there as quickly as you can. If they can keep the situation short term, it would be for the political best. Robby mook, how would you feel about a permanent well not permanent, but longterm attorney general who has publicly and repeatedly criticized the special counsel and would then have oversight of that special counsel, as he does now . Its not acceptable. And were seeing today, you know, this is someone who was paid by some sort of political Transparency Organization that was attacking democrats. Hes absolutely a partisan. Were also seeing, you know, he was receiving donations into his Campaign Account as early as the last two years when he wasnt running since 2014. So theres the aura of scandal around this. Clearly hes in the president s pocket in terms of how he approaches the mueller probe. I agree with scott. Get him in for confirmation. All this can get worked out in the hearings. I dont think the senate will let him out. I think hes way too damaged. I agree with scott, put your cards on the table. If you want this guy to be attorney general, just say that. Robby mook, Scott Jennings, thanks for taking the time. Happy holidays to both of you. Scott, say hi to my relatives in louisville, okay . You got it, brother. Thanks. An american missionary went to a Remote Island near india to spread the word of god. Now authorities are searching for his body. Coming up, what we have learned about the island the missionary called, quote, satans las