President elect for that matter has spoken directly with the leader of taiwan since 1979. Since then, america has adhered to the one china policy where they asked taiwan part of china. Ash carter recently called the region consequential. Our team of reporter standing by for the latest on this. Lets begin with cnns Jessica Schneider live at trump tower in new york. Good morning to you, jessica. Good morning to you, martin. Yes, it is the phone call that has bucked nearly 40 years of protocol. President elect trump insisting that tenminute call was initiated by the president of taiwan. But nevertheless, the backlash is already apparent. China reached out to the white house yesterday. And now a spokesman for the chinese forge ministry is releasing a statement saying i must point out that there is only one china in the world and taiwan is a part of that chinese territory. The peoples republic of china is in the sole legal government that represents china and that is an intentionally recognize kt fap the one china principle is the Political Foundation of china u. S. Relations. Now donald trump is on the defensive. In fact, last night after all of this hoopla, he did tweet out this. He said, interesting how the u. S. Sells taiwan billions of dollars of military quilt but i should not accept a congratulatory call. Kellyanne conway saying this. I cant comment beyond what was said. I wont do that. This is the president elect and hell be president of the United States imminently now. Hes well aware of what u. S. Policy has been. Reporter so Donald TrumpsTransition Team backing this call, defending this call. But many lawmakers, former ambassadors, a lot of people saying this bucks tradition. This bucks protocol. And this could pose a dangerous threat to the u. S. Martin and christi. Thank you very much. We get more on chinas reaction, steven yang joining us live from beijing. Give us some context, steven, because we did hear from china overnight. And part of what came specifically from their Foreign Ministry spokesman there. Really stuck out. I think to both of us. Stuck out to both of us. What did you take from what they said . Talk to us about the context they said. Christi, i have to say the ministrys statement is relatively measured. I think the reason is that china like many other governments is still trying to find out the true meaning of this phone call. Was it just a blunder in trumps inexperience with Foreign Policy or was it something more major signaling a policy shift by the incoming white house. I think its going to take them some time to find out. Interestingly chinas president xi jinping met yesterday. Mr. Xi told mr. Kissinger it is critically important for both sides to correctly understand each others strategic intentions. And i think mr. Xi must be wondering what mr. Trumps intentions are by having this phone call. And he is also probably the one doing this trump is somebody he can trust and work with in the next four years. Christi. Well, part of the article, the statement that stuck out to me was, when they wrote, i must point out that there is only one china in the world and taiwan is an inseparable part of the territory. The peoples republic of china is the sole part that recognizes china and that is a recognized fact. The fact that hes trying to remind not just this incoming administration, but the world, look, this is how it is. And this phone call doesnt change anything . Thats right. The one china policy as the chinese Foreign Ministry has put it is the cornerstone of this diplomatic relationship. But both sides have been deliberately less ambiguous in terms of how they interpret the policy. Thats why u. S. Is able to maintain relations with taiwan and able to defend itself against china. And at the end of the day, china is still trying to give the trump team the benefit of the doubt. Thats why theyre putting it on taiwan. Mr. Xi realizes that this relationship with beijing is too important. No scale or importance without cooperation from the two sides. Thats why, you so, we are talking about the South China Sea territorial disputes, and the thats why theyre trying to walk a very fine line here, christi. Steven jiang, we appreciate it. When is a phone call not really a phone call and something more . Lets talk about this with eugene caught and lauren fox. Eugene, trump tweeted out that the president called him. Of course, you dont just call donald trump on the fly. This had to be coordinated. Do you think this is deliberate, a policy change that were seeing on the part of the Trump Administration . I think what happened, if is it true that the taiwanese government called donald trump first they perhaps painted a patient of how critical donald trump was throughout his campaign, promising to put tariffs on china. Accusing china of being a manipulate of its currency. And perhaps hoping that there was an opportunity for improved relationship with the United States, especially in the area of trade. And we saw yesterday that one of trumps advisers on chinese issues say they definitely think theres a way to have warmer relationships with taiwan without compromising its relationship with beijing. So, i think taiwan, perhaps, wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. Lauren, we know trump took a hard line on china during the campaign. In fact. Heres an example. We cant continue to allow china to rape our country. And thats what theyre doing. Its the greatest theft in the history of the world. So, after making a very strong Statement Like that lauren. He follows up with a phone call that he gets from taiwan. Up know, what kind of relations can we expect then between the u. S. And Trump Administration . I think we dont know. At the moment. Thats sort of where were at. And i think the one thing that we might see moving forward is that maybe some of the stuff that donald trump said on the campaign trail he really does plan to implement. And maybe one of those is the relationship with china. The stance that he will take against china. And maybe one of the signals that hes sending is that he took this historic phone call, something that hasnt been done over the last four decades. I think theres a lot to be seen here. And i think theres some discussion of whether or not this is a mistake. Whether he didnt understand what he was doing. Or whether or not this was very intentional. And its possible given his Campaign Rhetoric that thats exactly what happened. Eugene, it seems to have pushed back tweeting, quote, interesting how the u. S. Can sell taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment, but i should not accept a congratulatory call. So, eugene, the u. S. Does have an economic relationship with taiwan. What do you think of all of this . I think trumps tweet exemplifies the one china policy. In fact, its really open to interpretation by multiple countries. At its core, it recognizes there is just one china. But how one responds to that china varies depending on the democracy that were speaking of. And how the u. S. Has responded to this while not having communication with the leaders of taiwan, certainly, weve been at communication with the country economically when it comes to trade. Eugene scott, lauren fox, thank you for joining us this morning. We werent supposed to find out until next week but heres how the crowd at Donald Trumps victory rally heard the news broken in front of them. We are going to appoint mad dog matis as our secretary of defense. S. Ooh boy. But, youve got hum. So you can set this. And if she drives like this, you can tell her to drive more like this. Because youll get this. You can even set boundaries for so if she should be here, but instead goes here, here, or here. Youll know. So dont worry, mom. Because you put this, in here. Hum by verizon. The technology designed to make your car smarter, safer and more connected. Put some smarts in your car. Thats why this control enthusiast rents from national. Where i can skip the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. On average, four out of every five rentals at national is a free upgrade. Getting a fullsize and paying for a midsize . Whoa, oh, whoa, whoa, lovin every minute of it. As the boys from loverboy so eloquently noted. Im lovin every minute of it. Go national. Go like a pro. After president elect trump confirmed his surprise announcement of james mattis, ash carter weighed in on trumps selection to replace him. He said that general mattis, he tolds him in the highest regard. Mattis has also been endorsed by former secretary of defense robert gates. He met with trump yesterday at trump tower. I told him, i thought his selection of general mattis for the secretary of defense was terrific. Very supportive. Cnns jim sciutto says there are a few differences in opinions between trump and his defense secretary. Listen. Christi and martin, were hearing a lot of positive reaction to the nomination of mattis, this from both democrats and republicans, but also people in uniform. Some of whom were skeptical of trump. We are going to appoint mad dog mattis as our secretary of defense. Reporter mad dog, the nickname general james mattis earned leading u. S. Marines in the battle of the iraq war as Donald Trumps pick for secretary. Hes the closest thing to general George Patton that we have and its about time. Reporter mattis, 44 years of service in the marine corps and key commands in both afghanistan and iraq where he led troops in the 2003 invasion and later for the battle of fallujah. The u. S. Military is quite capable of giving them their longest day. Reporter mattis has been critical of the obama administration. Next president is going to inherit a mess. Reporter like trump, mattis is hawkish on iran. Iranian regime in my mind is the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the middle east. Reporter still, trump and mattis disagree son several key Foreign Policy challenges. Trump has praised russia. Wouldnt it be nice if we actually did get along with russia . Reporter mattis sees russia and putin as a threat. Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all of the rules and the west will try to follow the rules. Reporter trump is in danger of bringing back waterboarding. Mattis opposes waterboarding, trump telling the New York Times that during a meeting mattis told him its ineffective. I said what do you think of waterboarding . He said ive never found it to be useful. He said ive always found give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and i do better with that than i do with torture. Reporter mattis is a marines marine. A voracious readerer and debt cade t dedicated thinker. He carried around a library of 10,000 books and hes read most of them. Reporter in 2005 he came understand fire for remarks in a Panel Discussion which seemed to make light of killing in combat. Mattis nomination, would, however, face an immediate and significant legislative hurdle. The federal law requires the pentagon be led by either civilian or military veteran who has been out of uniform for at least seven years. Mattis has been out of uniform for three years. Congress would have to give him a waiver. Christi. We want to talk about it with mark hurtling. Thank you for being with us. Good morning to you. The praise that this pick has brought forth, but how do you see it as somebody who is in the military, how do you see mattis influencing Trumps Administration . Very positively, christi. He is a very mature and informed strategic thinker. Hes not only a great tactical commander, but is this an individual who is professional across the board. You know, he has the nickname of mad dog that everybody is touting. But thats something that the press gave him. I think he would be much more comfortable with something that he was called as a four star the warrior monk. He is a student of military history and strategy. He has commanded in all parts of the globe. And he knows the world. So, i believe as a military a former military guy, i would tell you that this is the right kind of person to have inside the National Security console as a key voice to balance some of the thoughts that mr. Trump has laid out. I was just going to ask you, we heard from jim, russia, waters boarding, would issues in particular that there are disagreement on between president elect trump and mattis. How does mattis deal with a situation like that, where there say difference in the thought process, and what can happen Going Forward . Well, typically, the numbers of the National Security council and the primaries committee. The main group of people that surround the president when hes analyzing different courses of action, mattis and whoever will be the secretary of state will probably be the two key voices. The alpha dogs in the room. So the influence that hes going to be able to give in these kind of deliberations, but also in terms of telling mr. Trump, here are here is what the department of defense and the military forces can do. Heres what they shouldnt do. And here are the courses of actions if youre asking me for options, that were looking at. So those are very important things. He will give mr. Trump a vision of the feesable and viable plans that mr. Trump is asking him to execute, all in accordance with military and civilian ethos and the law. I read what one said of mattis originally in the strategy and then pick up by the federalist. He wrote to marine the finest of our tribal elders. The rest of the world, very soon, will know how truly gifted he is. Our friends and allies will be happy he is our new secretary of war. Our enemies will soon wish he werent. What would you say being in that position, with only three years as we know, jim talked about how congress has to pass this to make it happen. To people who might have some concern about the safety of our troops and the missions that they will be on and how aggressive the military may be in those missions . Yeah, well, the first thing i would tell him is the civilian control of the military is a process that general mattis and all the rest of us believe in. Thats the subnationch competent military to the ends of overall policy. So when youre talking about National Security policy, joe mattis, now mr. Mattis will give the influence of one of Foreign Policy and thats the military. But id also say, im personally happy about the fact that mr. Trump has selected a retired general, because he will go into the pentagon and understand the culture. And bring out the fact that of all the people who are war fighters the people who have actually seen combat, and general mattis has to a large degree, they are the ones least wanting to go to combat. So they offer the same approach saying, hey, look, we dont want to put americas sons and daughters in harms way if we dont have to. Thats why i think general mattis will be a seasoned and mature voice in the room. Perhaps other individuals who are going after courses of actions that are not feasible or viable. Lieutenant general mark hertling, always good to have your voice here with us. Thank you. Thank you, christi. As firefighters continue to battle the wildfires in tennessee, some residents have had their opportunity to get their first look at their homes. And whats left. 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. 25 minutes past the hour. For the First Time Since destructive wildfires swept through tennessee this week, theres some residents who are getting a chance to get back home. And for many, take a look at what theyre seeing. Its all thats left. A fireplace there. The wildfires around gatlinburg damaged hundreds of structures, destroyed there, too. At least 13 people have died here. That number could rise as well as firefighters are still searching through that rubble. Dozens of people are living and trying to find positives amid destruction. Its maybe something that everybody needed. I was talking to a woman while i was in church last night. I asked them why, why did this happen . And her and i both pretty much at the same time said because it brought everybody together from all walks of life. Were all in the same situation right now. What a thoughtful response. To donate to wildfire victims or find other ways that you can help because they do need it. Head to cnn. Com impact. And thank you. A student is in custody after a university of Southern California professor was killed on campus. The student attacked the professor with a knife yesterday. The suspect was arrested at the scene. University spokesperson says the professor was targeted and theres no threat to the campus as a whole. A vigil is plan for that professor on monday. Donald trump did save 800 carrier jobs. He at least prevented them from moving to mexico. But then another company, rexnord in process of closing shop. Well tell you what trump is saying, next. The first survivor of alzheimers disease is out there. And the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. You could spend the next few days weeding through w2s, pay stubs and Bank Statements to refinance your home. Or you could push that button. Sfx rocket launching. Cockpit sounds. Skip the bank, skip the paperwork, and go completely online. Securely share your financial info and confidently get an accurate mortgage solution in minutes. Lift the burden of getting a home loan with Rocket Mortgage by quicken loans. whisper rocket well, were here on saturday morning waiting for you. Good morning, im christi paul. And now youre here so we can begin. Im Martin Savidge in for victor blackwell. Donald trump set to have a quiet day. He took a call from taiwans president of the United States. Thats the first