All. We need to quit playing games. We need to take care of the daca kids. The president seems to have made clear he wants to use the wall as leverage. Nothing is going to happen unless it has the president s support. Announcer this is new day with chris cuomo and alisyn cam camerota. Chris is off, john berman is here. Happy new year. Lets get to it. There is more protests and bloodshed on the streets of iran. President trump is tweeting his support for the iranian people quoting, its time for change in iran. Now the iranian leader is blaming the uprising on his enemies. Infrastructure bill, plan for the nations d. R. E. A. M. Ers that needs to be hammered out by congress. Cnn covering every angle of this, starting with joe johns live at the white house this morning. Good morning, joe. Reporter good morning, john. The president back here at the white house after the long holiday break. His administration and congressional leaders now confronting many of the domestic issues they had to postpone in order to hit the road in december. However, it is the International Issues that have been dominating the president s twitter feed so far this year. President trump returning to washington with a large legislative to do list and a range of International Issues on his plate. Everybody is going to love whats happening with our country. Were taking this big, beautiful ship and were slowly turning it around. I would like to do it faster. Reporter mr. Trump weighing in multiple times over the holiday on the deadly antigovernment protests in iran. Saying that iran is failing at every level and calling for change after warning the u. S. Is watching very closely for human rights violations. Its not enough to watch. President trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the iranian people. You just cant tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. Reporter irans ambassador to the uk calling the tweets offensive in an instagram posting monday night. As for kim jonguns new years threat that the Nuclear Button is always hon his desk, President Trump saying only this. Well see. Well see. Reporter the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warning that the u. S. Is closer to a nuclear war with north korea than ever before. I dont see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point. Reporter the Trump Administrations relationship with pakistan also strained, heading into the new year. Mr. Trump accusing pakistan of lying and deceiving the United States in his first tweet of the year and again alleging that the countrys leaders have given safe haven to terrorists. We have been paying pakistan billions and billions of dollars. At the same time, they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. Reporter National SecurityCouncil Spokesman later saying the u. S. Will continue to withhold 255 million of military aid from the country. Pakistan responding by summoning the u. S. Ambassador for a meeting and promising to respond shortly to let the world know the truth. All this as the administration confronts a number of legislative deadlines back here in the u. S. The first, a january 19th deadline to pass a spending bill and avert a Government Shutdown that could cost billions. One issue that will be front and center, protection for socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers brought to the country illegally as children. The president insisting there will not be a deal on daca without funding for a wall, a nonstarter for democrats. Will you give anything to the president on border wall funding in order to get a daca deal done . Because he says its no. Reporter democrats have shown openness to work with the president on infrastructure issues, infrastructure, by the way, is likely to be part of the conversation when the president meets today with the labor secretary as well as the Vice President for lunch. Today, the press secretary holds the first News Conference in a couple of weeks, foreign polishes are expected to be front and center. Alisyn . Joe, thank you very much for that. Meanwhile, irans Supreme Leader is blaming the countrys enemies for stirring this unrest as the death toll continues to rise in the protest. Nick paton wal nick pat Nick Paton Walsh is there. Reporter above the presidency of iran as the countrys Supreme Leader was clear to blame, quote, the enemies waiting for an opportunity for a flaw through which they can enter, he said in a statement today, going on to blame those who have money for fomenting this unrest. I paraphrase. Iranian officials blame for fomenting these protests. The government of iran and the president Hassan Rouhani has expressed sympathy with these protesters, these unrests which sprang from nowhere some believe. Sadly the focus less being on how widespread geographically and numerous these protesters are and more on the increasing death toll. The rise from 12 to 21, the nine dead overnight, thats mostly focused on one area. Not widespread bloodshed, but a concern that were hearing stronger rhetoric from iran and Security Forces who perhaps now see the time to implement more traditional, oppressive measures that we certainly saw in the 2009 protests. The question really being, how do you negotiate calming down of protests that doesnt have a leadership, doesnt have a figure head you can talk to . Thats one major concern. The worlds eyes certainly on iran here, Foreign Policy having done very well in the past year or so. Domestically, though, this say real sign of the challenges they face. Alisyn, john . Thank you for setting that p up. Lets discuss it with john avlon and a. B. Stoddard. Great to have both of you. A. B. , interesting to hear how President Trump has decided to handle this and interesting to hear how people in prez president obamas National Security council coming out with support of President Trump tweeting that he stands with the im paraphrasing, but hes thinking of the iranian people here and how repressed theyve been. Right. I think its pretty much concluded, mostly privately but now publicly by many who were in the Obama Administration that president obamas efforts to Warm Communications with the regime to lay the groundwork for the Iran Nuclear Deal did not allow him, diminished his ability to take an opportunity with the revolution june of 2009 with those protesters, protest ing ahmadinejads election. Were at a point where theres obviously lots of criticism of the iran deal here. President trump is poised to perhaps withdraw from it early in this year and then, of course, in the streets of iran, the people are saying that the deal that president rouhani drew up with our government has failed to give them the Economic Relief that he sold it to do. And so it really is its an interesting moment that everyone is praising President Trumps response. But he has to follow through not only in sort of intervening with social media platforms and staying with these protests in order to take advantage of an opportunity. And you have senator Lindsey Graham and former ambassador to the u. N. John bolton saying its time for a regime change in iran. It gets complicated, clearly, john avlon. Its one thing to make the statements on twitter, which is further than president obama did, that is something, but what next here is complicated particularly when the Supreme Leader of iran is already out there saying these protests are backed by irans enemies, including the United States. Of course and thats the typical move. One reason that president obama was restrained, too restrained, is that if he played an active role on behalf of the protesters, their legitimacy would be undercut and they would be called puppets of the United States and that rhetoric. Were seeing that today. It is important to give courage, confidence, solidarity to folks in this environment. As Lindsey Graham pointed out, tweets are not enough. You need a plan of action. We do have a new statement from the president on twitter that came out literally seconds ago. The people of iran are finally acting against a brutal and corrupt iranian regime. All the money that president obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism, and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The United States is watching. Interesting, i think, on one level. To the extent theres strategy behind trumps tweets and the Foreign Policy ones there often are. Theyre trying to say that money in the deal ended up fueling a clubtocracy, meant to fuel between the protesters and the regime. The wording and the tone is different and the amount of information and background in there is different than when he, for instance, goes after, say, the media or Something Like that. So, whats the strategy . Whats the plan after these tweets . Well, thats the big question. I mean, he was tweeting about pakistan. Most people, democrat or republican, who have worked in administrations and dealt with that country that we are supposed to treat as an ally, have been very frustrated by that same relationship. Weve when would military aid from them before. That sounds like something he will follow through on. Its unclear what exactly hes going to do. He has a travel ban that blocks iranians from coming here. Social media platforms i mentioned because thats something that the Obama Administration did to an extent. If he really pushed that, that would be a powerful measure of support for the protesters and for sort of resistance to the regime there. And it would be very crippling for their efforts to crack this down. So its going to be its going to be something to watch in the days and weeks to come, especially what he does, whether or not he officially withdrawals from the iran deal is another big question. International events have a way of overwhelming a white house, and iran could become the issue of the month. But you have congress coming back over the next ten days. Yeah. A legislative agenda that includes just about everything. You know, what do you think will be the most complicated issue facing the white house and congress in the coming days . As you point out, American History is full of examples, president s whose domestic agendas are overwhelmed. That said, congress is coming. Nonoptional deadlines coming up, to stop a fix from a Government Shutdown january 19th. Over two weeks to do that. Then most urge enter, can they do a grand bargain on immigration that involves a fix for the d. R. E. A. M. Ers . Probably too much for democrats to up hold. In this new spirit of bipartisanship that Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump are talking about, given the fact that they need it with 51 republicans and 49 democrats is infrastructure reform. This is something that should be a great opportunity for both parties. Both parties support it. The president has unique credibility. Will democrats want to give the Trump Administration a win and whats the political cost to that . Thats the one that the president would be wisest to front load. Those are two good ones to watch, obviously, a. B. , as they unfold. Lets deal with daca, the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Democrats wont pay for the wall. Republicans wont go along with protecting the d. R. E. A. M. Ers if you dont pay for the wall. Where does that leave everyone . Thats not entirely true. Thats the president s position. What he talked about with democrats months ago did not involve a wall. Then his new tweet over the holidays was demand for a wall. Immigration and lottery system and on and on, these sort of dealbreaking positions that are going to really throw more sort of gasoline on the fire of this already heated debate. I dont think it will be solved in january. I think they have until march 5th and it will be pushed off because its so contentious. Republicans have been work iingn many different measures. Langford and hatch, on their own working, some working with democrats. None of these involve a wall. They involve strict Border Security and visa reforms. The idea of a wall, when republicans in border states like texas and arizona support it and conservative fiscal hawks are mad about tax cuts and the steep debts theyre building up on their republican government watch, its really hard to imagine that thats going to be something that hes going to get funding for. But hes really thrown a huge wrench into what was already going to be a rollick iing january. Following a rollicking february. Unusual relationship with pakistan, thats next. I tried hard to quit smoking. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. When your stomach is all, oh yeah but your brain says, yeeeah. No. Well, no longer does watching what you eat mean being deprived of deliciousness. Introducing new roasted turkey and stuffing delights from marie callenders. Tender turkey in a white wine sauce with sweet potato and cranberry stuffing, all for only 260 calories. Because eating well calls for marie callenders® delights™. Just moments ago we got a new statement from President Trump about the protests in iran. He did so while slamming his predecessor, president obama. This is the statement. People of iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt iranian regime. All the money that president obama foolishly gave them went to terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The u. S. Is watching. Joining us now, john kirby, cnn analyst, former Pentagon Press secretary, state Department Spokesperson during the Obama Administration. Admiral if, we can get your reaction from this new statement from President Trump that really does two, if not three things, expressing support for the protesters in iran, the second thing, critical once again of the Iran Nuclear Deal struck by the Obama Administration. Theres a lot there, john. Look, i agree with the president that we need to support the peaceful protests in iran. Its important for the United States to have a voice here, and not be afraid to come out in defense of peaceful protests and decry the violence against those protesting the regime. That said, i think its a mistake for him to try to conflate whats going on there with the iran deal itself. I cant speak for the protesters themselves and the degree to which they have a problem with the iran deal. President obama didnt foolishly give the iranians any money. Sanctions relief brought them to the table and it was sanctions relief they earned as a result of getting rid of nuclear capabilities. This wasnt money given to the iranians in any kind of fashion. By the way it wasnt just president obama at the negotiating table. It was five or six other parties as well. There may be some irony here, which may in some ways, you know, voice support for the nuclear deal. Maybe the president s right. And maybe the Iran Nuclear Deal is an impetus for these protests because president rouhani did promise that Economic Conditions would get better and theyre not. People are protesting because hes not delivering on what was promised. That part is true, john. Youre right. There seems to be some feeling by some of the protesters that theyve not seen the economic windfalls they were expecting to see as a result of that and that their country continues to foment terrorism around the world and foreign interventions that are not as popular back home with the demographic as i think the hardliners would have preferred them to be. Weve seen ayatollah khomeni come out to suggest that these protests are being fuel bid enemies of iran, outside agitators, as it were. Is there a risk that President Trump, his statements in some ways gives the regime a weapon here to act out against the protesters . Yeah. I think that yes, i think thats yes. And that was a concern i had yesterday when i saw him get so virulent in his tweets. Its important for us to come out and defend the protesters right to do this, do this safely and have a vote in human rights around the world. But i think he has been inserting us into the conversation probably in ways that have not been helpful. Now, that said, john, i mean, it was probably likely going to be the iranian regimes pursuit of a foreign enemy or interventionist as well to blame even without his tweet. I dont know that he caused it. He certainly is not helping to stem it. No. Todays statement may be more measured, using some more diplomatic type speech. If i can i want to get your reaction to other statements of the president , particularly on pakistan. Let me read you something that the president wrote on the new year about pakistan. United states has foolishly given pakistan 43 billion in aid and theyve given us nothing but lies and deceit. We hunt in afghanistan with little help. No more and, of course, the white house has been leaking that perhaps the white ho