Outside baghdad. The president spending three hours on the ground meeting with some of the 5,200 troops that are currently serving in iraq. He also met with the u. S. Ambassador to iraq as well as commanders on the ground. Asked if he was concerned about flying into a war zone, the president said, absolutely. I had concerns for the institution of the presidency, not for myself personally. I have concerns for the first lady, i will tell you. But if you would have seen what we had to go through with the darkened plane with windows closed, no lights on whatsoever anywhere, pitch black, ive never seen italy. Ive been in many airplanes, all types and shapes and sizes. Ive never seen anything like it. Were coming in and i know all the things that were surrounding us for safety. Defense secretary james mattis ordered to leave his post by january 1st two months earlier than planned after clashing with the president over his announcement last week to pull all u. S. Troops out of syria. His resignation, of course, after that. Jessica dean is live from the white house. How did this trip come about . Reporter good evening, kate. We are hearing bits and pieces. The president saying today in a iraq that three or four weeks ago they started planning trip. They had to cancel he said a couple for security reasons because people were finding out about them, he said. We do know that they left washington under the cover of darkness, flew overnight to iraq. You heard the president talking about some of those security measures. The first lady, of course, accompanying him on this trip. Earlier today here at the white house people did start to notice it was very quiet here, also no tweeting from the president. That was another indication to some people that maybe there was something going on. Once the president landed there in iraq, reporters who were traveling with him did ask him why come specifically here, and his answer was he had talked about the country as a private citizen before he became president and he really more than anything wanted to pay his respects to the men and women there who are serving our nation overseas, especially during this holiday season. So it was important for him, he said, to get there and to do that in person. Now, also while he was there, he talked about iraq and our strategy there, someone asked him if he planned on pulling out the troops there, he said there were no plans for that. In fact, he said that iraq could act as a base because he has decided to withdraw all the troops from syria, that it could act as base if america needed to go back into syria. And then he went back and double downed on that decision saying people are going to come around to his way of thinking and that the u. S. Cannot be the worlds policeman, kate jessica, thank you so much. Were going to discuss this right now. David gergen, cory shocky who has known secretary mattis for a decade. Great to see you all thank you so much for being here. David, the president faced a lot of criticism for not visiting troops until now in a combat zone, since becoming commander in chief, obviously. One part of that criticism was that hes making these policy decisions without seeing it firsthand. So does this trip quiet that criticism . I think it will quiet some of it, not all. Some of the critics will carp that he only stayed on the ground three hours. But overall i think the president deserves credit for going. Weve been hammering him almost every night on various things. When he does something right, we should say so. This is very much a tradition for president s, it goes all the way back to lincoln who liked to visit the battlefield. Especially since the vietnam war, kate, when american troops have been in action overseas, president s dogo and its expected of them to go. Its a good thing President Trump did go. John, how important do you see this visit today . I think it is important. I agree with david its important to go, especially at the holidays. Its not just for the troops, its for their families back home who are missing them. Im waiting to see what he said at al assad specifically to the troops because my worry is when he tends to get around military audiences, he tends to politicize his rhetoric in an inappropriate way. So im waiting to see what he actually said. But i was glad to see he went. Im sorry he had to be goaded into it. Im sorry he didnt talk to leaders. This was an opportunity to see it from their new perspective. The new Prime Minister is not convinced that isis is defeated as his predecessor was. They are conducting about a strike or two per week on isis targets in iraq. So there was a lot of ground that he could have covered with iraqi leaders and im sorry that didnt happen. I want to ask you more about that but just a second. Cory, while the president was on the ground he said this. This is sticking out to a lot of people. Jessica dean was noting it earlier. He said the United States cant continue to be the policeman of the world. We are spread all over the world, were in countries most people havent even heard of. Frankly, its ridiculous. If youre serving in the military, your stationed anywhere in the world and you hear that from the commander in chief, what does that do . Well, it suggests how little the president understands about the importance of working with allies far distance from our own shores in order to protect our security. At school makes clear how little he understands about the experience of the men and women in harms way and their families and how they think about these problems. I agree with john and i agree with david that its important that the president went, but a lot of what he said when he was there was problematic. You wouldnt realize any country but the United States was fighting isis to hear the president. Theres 74 countries involved in the coalition to defeat isis, and the president didnt have a single thing to say about anybody else whose young men and women are in harms way. Yeah, and i know in conversations you had i was in afghanistan last week and all the conversations i had about any of the fight was about with our afghan partners and nato partners. John, about the meeting, not meeting that was scheduled between trump and the iraqi Prime Minister, its canceled not we dont entirely know why. It turned into something of a phone call. But the reason offered according to the iraqis was that it was due to heres what the statement said. A variation of views. Why wasnt this ironed out ahead of time and how big of a deal is this . I worked for two years at the state department, i cant figure that diplo speak out. I do think it was a missed opportunity for the two to get together and talk because iraq very much still is in this fight. Cory is right. It isnt just about iraq, there are 74 countries involved in this coalition and his decision to pull out really caught everybody off guard. Remember, kate, that there was just parliamentary elections in iraq about a third of the parliament now are aligned with the shiia minority and are not in favor of americancontinued presence in iraq. So the new Prime Minister has his hands full and it would have been good for both men to sit down and work out how theyre going to go forward with iraqs now changing perspective in the war. David, President Trump criticized president obama for withdrawing troops too quickly from iraq. That concept led to now a very famous line, let me play it for you. Isis is honoring president obama. Hes the founder of isis. Hes the founder of isis. Hes the founder. You hear that today in this kind of new perspective of is it called irony but goes to iraq has hes announcing that hes pulling out troops . Its a huge irony this trip is taking place when hes engulfed in controversy to withdraw troops over the objections of his highest commanders that led to the mattis resignation. I mean, the bigger irony in some ways is that we have a president in trump who lauds the troops but cant get along with the generals. Hes appointed four generals to major positions in his administration in the inner circle. All four have left you should very difficult circumstances with him criticizing and diminishing them, whether its mattis or kelly or mcmaster or flynn. Those people won lava glory when they were in uniform, came to serve the president , boom, they got hit by him. Now hes going to salute the troops. Somehow those two things dont fit together very well. Cory, i was struck. He likes people falling in line. The alternative, clearly not so much. I was struck in talking about mattis resignation and the defense secretary was working at the pentagon during christmas. A lot of people say thats what mattis does, this even after the president decided to push him out two months earlier than he planned with his resignation. Youve known him for more than a decade. What do you think of his leaving like this . Well, i think it was principled both in outlining his disagreements with the president s worldview about the value of americas alliances and the importance of americas alliances for our security. I also think it was important that secretary mattis and his Resignation Letter emphasized that the president has a right to a cabinet that supports his views and wants to carry out his policies. That kind of discipline is such a striking contrast to the reckless indiscipline of President Trump. For example, today in iraq making really partisan political statements in front of serving troops deployed overseas, blaming the democrats for the formative shutdown, claiming that troops hadnt gotten a pay raise in ten years, which is not true, and several other mischaracterizations. Its bad for the president to do stuff like that. Another mischaracterization is when he said weve knocked out isis and knocked them out silly. You can talk to a lot of journeys on the ground who will tell you the contrary right now. Thank you very much. Next, reaction to trumps iraq visit. What is the pentagon say tonight. The stock market way, way up today as Government Shutdown drags on. Plus, how does an eightyearold migrant boy diagnosed with a cold and a fever die in u. S. Custody . Their demands for an investigation tonight. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. Were the tenneys and were usaa members for life. Call usaa to start saving on insurance today. myth back with our breaking news. President trumps first visit to a combat zone. The president and first lady visiting troops in iraq today just days after facing bipartisan criticism for announcing orders to pull all u. S. Troops out of syria. The president faced questions about this today while he was on the ground. Listen. Do you have any plans to pull forces out of iraq as well . No plans at all, no. In fact, we could use this as a base if we wanted to do something in syria. Is that true . Barbara starr is outfront at the pentagon. How do you expect pentagon officials are going to react to that idea . At least it gives them some ability to try and still prosecute isis targets inside syria, but it will be difficult because think of it this way. Back in 2014, 2015, the u. S. Was conducting some air strikes from iraq into syria. But at that time isis was a major force understood they were convoys on the ground, they were moving into areas where they could readily be targeted. Isis is hunkered down, mixed with civilian population, very tough to find the targets and prosecute them. Not impossible, but tough. You need to be able to go after those very limited targets is intelligence on the ground, realtime intelligence on the ground to do an air strike or Ground Combat mission, and thats what will be missing. There will not be u. S. Troops on the ground under the president s orders. I think the military will want to have the capability to be in iraq and strike into syria, but its going to be something thats going to be very tough for them to do. Losing those precise capabilities very quickly after they pull out. Democratic senator from maryland, ben car done, he sits on the Foreign Relations committee. Kate, good to be with you. President trump is taking a lot of heat for not visiting troops since becoming commander in chief. He now is. Whats your reaction. Well wait to see exactly what he said over there because there may be concern that he may have politicized his visit. Thanking our troops for serving our country is something a president should do. Youve been highly critical along with a lot of people about trumps announcement to pull all u. S. Troops out of syria. Youre definitely not alone. Youve got even putting aside democrats and republicans, youve got defense secretary mattis, secretary of state mike pompeo, and National Security adviser john bolton who also werent on board with that. But President Trump is not changing his mind and he even went as far as to say this today. Listen to this i think that a lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking. Its not fair when we when the burden is all on us. Its time for us to start using our head. We dont want to be taken advantage anymore. He seems they dont think youll be coming around on this. What are the chances of that happening, senator . Kate, theres two major problems with the what the president did on his announcement of withdrawing from syria. Our military, our leadership believes its not wise in our fight against the terrorists against isis, we need a physical presence in order to know where they are, to make sure they dont reemerge. Hes going to against the advice of our military. Second, we have a coalition and we did this without consultation and working with the partners we have in fighting terrorism. Theres other concerns as well as to the the kurdish fighters and their safety. Theres many concerns with the way he went about making this decision and i think its only going to get more challenging as we go forward. One of those additional challenges could be looking into afghanistan. Cnns reported that the u. S. Militarys been ordered to draw plans to withdraw about half of the u. S. Troops in afghanistan. Senator Lindsey Graham told me that he fears more than anything that a draw down too big could lead to a second 9 11 coming our way, those are his words. Do you agree . I am concerned with the way the president conducts Foreign Policy including decisions on where our military should be. I agree theres not a military solution to these problems. Were going to have to find other ways to deal with them, but the way the president is going about it is not in our best National Security interests. What hes suggesting now in after the accident once again, we have a coalition, partners. Theres a lot of complications in the u. S. Not being there. Americas reliability is on the line. For all those reasons it challenges our National Security the way the president is doing it. Hes putting america at risk. I want to ask you. Youre heading back to work. Youre on the finance committee. President trump talked about the Government Shutdown while he was on the ground in iraq. He was asked if he would be okay with 2 billion for the border wall instead of 5 billion that hes demanding. Just to listen what happened. Down 5 billion . As you know, weve already built a lot more. Its a matter of negotiation, sir, would you come down from the 5 billion 2 billion . Heres the problem. We have a promise with the democrats because nancy pelosi is calling the shots, not chuck. Im not going to talk about it now but i will say this. We have been building a lot of wall. I was struck by that, senator, because he dodged the question three times and he had a very Firm Position on the 5 billion for a long time now. Do you see that as an opening . Do you think hes caving . Kate, no one knows what the president s thinking. Hes changed his mind so many different times. We had an agreement to continue Government Operations and continue our negotiations into the new year. The president signed off on that. Then he changed his mind after he heard the reaction on certain networks. Im not clear what the president s trying to achieve. I dont think the Republican Leadership in congress is clear as to what the president is trying to achieve. One thing is clear. We all want border security. Were prepared and have provided funds for border security. A wall doesnt make a great deal of sense. We know that. And the Republican Leadership knows that. We can work with the president on border security, but come january 3rd were going to have much better oversight with the house of representatives under democratic control. Well get more answers. On that exact point on the reality of this moment, you guys dont get back into session until tomorrow afternoon. At this point do you think its a guarantee that nothing is going to happen in terms of funding and the shutdown until the new congress is worn in and democrats take control of the house . The commitment made by leader mcconnell is that there will be no further votes until we have a signoff from both the democratic leader and the speaker as well as the democratic leader and the majority leader in the senate with the president out front in support of that. I think thats not likely to happen until january 3rd with the new congress in session. Its possible, but unlikely buckle up, everybody. Senator, thanks for coming in. Thank you. Outfront for us next, as President Trump quieted some criticism with his iraq visit today, he still faces questions at home about the stock market. Big questions about that. Also, this continued issue with staffing. Looking for answers, exactly how and why did a second child die while in u. S. Custody after crossing the border . Youve had quite the career. I like working. What if my Retirement Plan is i dont want to retire . Then lets not create a Retirement Plan. Lets create a plan for whats next. I like that. Get a plan thats right for you. 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