, specifically on trade policy. so, for example, trade violations against china in front of the world trade organization, labelling china a currency manipulator. these are moves the campaign believes will play as overtures to companies here in the united states who feel exploited by chinese trade practices. it's also a way, i'm told, by a senior aide familiar with the crafting of this speech to drive a wedge, the campaign believes, between hillary clinton and union workers. blue-collar working class voters, the very people trump needs in places like pennsylvania in order to have a shot at beating hillary clinton come the fall. polling shows he is fairly neck in neck with her in pennsylvania according to the new q poll out last week. he then heads to ohio, his first stop in the key battleground in eight weeks since he became the presumptive republican nominee. for context, hillary clinton has been in ohio three times in the last three weeks. it's interesting when you look at the stage behind me, it's different staging than what we've seen from trump before. normally he has big rallies forhe

a phone call between prid-elect donald trump and taiwan's newly elected president. china's foreign minister calling this a "little trick played by taiwan." their government issues a formal complaint with the united states. nbc's kelly o'donnell with the latest from the trump transition team. you've watched responses, not only from that initial tweet, excuse me, not only from that initial statement, but then also tweets thereafter. kelly, do we no if president-elect trump was aware of the sensitive along the way of this from the beginning and now to today? >> reporter: according to his top adviser, formerly campaign manager kellyanne conway says the president is properly and fully briefed about the series of phone calls he's had with foreign leaders, dozens of them in the weeks since elected. there have been a few that present some diplomatic challenge, and many on the outside looking at this who say that the trump team or donald trump himself did not fully appreciate how significant this would be. a ten-minute phone call with the new president of taiwan, which is, of course, an isl

brought up her comments. so that was fascinating. and what we sfraw from trump wa no comment on china, no comment on russia. it seems he's still celebrating his victory and willing to pick a few fights. from the water canon salute at the airport, to a greeting from southern bells, donald trump relished his last rally of 2016. he also did something unexpected. trump disputed a widely publicized comment from the first lady. >> michelle obama said yesterday that there is no hope. >> referring to this interview with oprah winfrey. >> see, now we're feeling what not having hope feels like. >> the alabama crowd booed, and trump appeared stung by the criticism. >> i'm telling you, we have tremendous hope. >> then claimed mrs. obama just misspoke. >> i honestly believe she meant that statement in a different way than it came out. >> while the obamas vacation in hawaii, the trumps will spend the holidays in palm beach. still unresolved, how the president-elect will separate himself from his business interests, from spokeswoman hope hicks, said in a statement, under no circumstances has mr. tru

trump boldly challenge decades of tensions with china or get punked by taiwan? the u.s. does not conduct formal diplomacy with taiwan that. was part of a carefully arranged deal struck by the nixon administration and maintained since the 1970s. donald trump says he took a congratulatory call from the taiwanese president which chinese view as a ploy by taiwan to lure the president-elect into a diplomatic breach. china's foreign minister even dubbing it a little trick. trump immediately dug in on the issue saying the u.s. sells military equipment to taiwan so he ought to be able to talk a phone call. trump's response raises the question of who he's just doubling down on a kind of improvisational or accidental foreign policy. while the long-term diplomatic problem from the call is unclear, we've got this covered from all angles. we'll start at the white house. what is their view? will it be possible to ascertain whether donald trump is disrupting things on purpose or fumbling his way into a huge diplomatic change? >> that depends how good your sourcing is up there in trump tower in

playing out in mainland china. some reaction overnight already, and joining us overseas is janice. walk us through the chinese government reaction to the diplomatic faux pas to say the least? >> reporter: this is ringing alarm bells in beijing. they expected there would be a status quo in u.s. china relations and no change in the relationship with washington. also they expected it would be status quo with taiwan. we should not for get in the phone call today, trump congratulated her on her win and that's not such a subtle detail. china long regarded taiwan as a provence, so to have a leader congratulate a so-called leader is seen as a tpraufrontier, and there's thinking going on in beijing. >> do you think there's a chance that the chinese government in beijing will write this off as a possible diplomatic faux pas because of the transition in president-elect trump getting his feet underneath him so to speak on the foreign policy or will the explanation about the phone call be enough to calm the tensions? >> reporter: there's going to be increased tensions and explanation from washington

when global growth rates were weak already, this doesn't help. when we attend the g20 summit in china later this year, one of the major topics, which is something i've continually advocated for during the 7 1/2 years i've been president is we all have to look at what we can do to boost global demand. whether it's the united states adopting a more robust budget for infrastructure improvements and fixing water systems in flint, michigan, or repairing airports that are not as efficient as they should be, or rebuilding our power grid so that it can take advantage of clean energy. whether it's germany, a country with a surplus doing more in terms of spending or europe as a whole lifting some of the austerity constraints placed on them, whether it's china shifting to more consumer based as opposed to trying to export its way out of problems. there are going to be a whole host of measures that all of us can take to fortify the global economy. and that should be a top priority of ours. with respect to the actual brexit negotiations, my main message to david cameron, angela merkel and others i

with china? >>> bitter end, the campaign squabbling over who won and why. we'll bring you the latest. >>> behind the numbers. is the carrier deal all that it's cracked up to be? i'll ask a former economist who advised president obama. >>> and sarah palin reportedly looking to join the trump administration, but now she's openly criticizing one of the president-elect's first big moves. >>> new reaction from the president-elect's controversial on his controversial call with the president of taiwan. the call was captured in minutes released by the taiwanese government last night. ckellyan reporters. >> this is the pinellas count-- president-elect, he'll be president of the united states imminently now. and he either will disclose or not disclose the full contents of the conversation. he's well aware of what u.s. policy has been. >> trump fired back at critics saying interesting how the u.s. sells taiwan millions in military equipment but i should not accept a congratulatory call. trump's phone call with the taiwanese president was among several he had with world leaders yesterday

argue this is a courtesy call and then reaffirm a one china policy. but it seems like a big waste to do this. if mike and donald talked about it for ten minutes in the advance, would you skip daniel control. >> i would argue it's effective. you get your cake and eat it too. you get to rile up the -- your base and you get to all the red meat and that unhappiness, yeah, we are riling up china. but you get to say, there's -- we didn't mean this. we're not stating new policy here. we're just -- we're doing what anybody would do. we're taking calls from leaders. >> let me push you on that. is it riling up the base? is there a big hunger to reassert bilateral relations with taiwan as a separate island nation? is that something that trump voters have been talking a lot about? we missed it? >> maybe not taiwan. certainly china. trump has spent the majority of his campaign talking about how china was swindling the united states and how he was going to renegotiate our deals with china. one thing that absolutely riles china up is when you talk to taiwan. to some degree, he is fulfilling a big c

the east coast. >>> halfway around the globe, president obama arrives in china and pledges america's support in a landmark battle plan against climate change. >>> and on the campaign trail, donald trump again tries to appeal to african-americans. this time he's going to church. we begin with the severe weather across the south. tropical storm hermine is barreling up the east coast. it began as a hurricane when it slammed into the south. florida governor rick scott said the damage from this hurricane may be difficult to face now, but florida is resilient. we have rebuilt before and we will rebuild again. let's go to msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider who's joining me on all of this. the big question, how bad is this going to get? >> it's going to get worse for a different part of the country. improvement for florida as the storm pulls away. right now we're getting really heavy rain along coastal virginia, delaware and maryland and just coming into cape may, new jersey, and we'll see that in atlanta city as well. the location is ten miles north-northwest of oregon inlet north so this

they want to make sure the message is clear that the current u.s. policy has not changed toward china. and by extension toward taiwan, which means the u.s. formally recognizes only the people's republic of china. we have an informal and business relationship with taiwan. but this is a very sensitive issue. we have to remember how sort of contentious the u.s./china relationship is to begin with. so they are not wanting to talk about this. the chinese foreign minister has said they let it be known, they were not pleased with this call. the white house isn't commenting on this. it's been a while since a phone call could stir this kind of international turmoil. but it does suggest a couple different scenarios. either donald trump intentionally wanted to sort of rattle the international norms by making this call or receiving this call, which was a range. these are scheduled calls. >> that's a good point staffers bring up. >> yes. and clearly, taiwan wants to highlight this, because it elevates their status in the world. to be seen as on equal footing with a future president. so there are m

and move to politics. china has issued a formal complaint with the united states over president-elect donald trump's phone call with the newly aletted leader of taiwan. the chinese foreign minister characterizing the call as a, quote, little trick. kelly o'donnell joins me with the latest from the tmp transition team. what are you hearing there? >> i can tell you there is concern about how this may play from those who are in the diplomatic circles, but there is more of a confident approach from those who are allies of donald trump saying this is a way to show with the kind of call he had with the president of taiwan something no american leader has done in almost four decades because we don't have formal relations with taiwan, only with the people's republic of china. they say donald trump is showing he is a different kind of leader and a place like china, which has complicated interests with the u.s., should maybe be put on notice without going too far. kellyanne conway says there was no intention to stir up diplomatic noise here but the new president planning to have calls wit

nervous. take a look at what he had to say about china. >> we cannot continue to allow china to rig our country. that's what they are doing. it is the greatest steps of history of the world. a lot of men and women who think that's offensive on all sort of levels. on foreign policy experts, to talk about china this way, we rarely even start. >> you cannot manage to alienate one of the largest and most important countries in the world and simultaneously to further alienate one of the largest and most important voting blocks. there are still 30% yet to come. i think, you know, a word like "ra "rape" is a powerful word and sort of talking of the holocaust of its subject matter and not use in other context. >> people who are victims does not need this analogy. over the weekend, china denied an important call to the u.s. aircraft carrier which is unheard of in military terms and diplomatic terms. we got a difficult situation with china. and then chris and ruth, and this is heidi cruz in indiana this weekend. ted is an immigrant, he's hispanic, we can unify this party. >> another ted cruz

china between nixon in '72 and we've heard donald trump for the better part of almost a year now rail against china, the manipulation of the currency, trade stuff as well. how do you reconcile those two things? >> well, donald trump gave one serious national security speech at the center for the national interest that henry kissinger chairs in an honorary capacity and in that speech he took russia and china and despite problems said we need to make a deal with them. so all of the railing on currency, and i don't want to say donald trump is a china hugger. this notion of engaging enemies or engaging someone like china and trying to get a better deal has been embedded in a lot of what donald trump said and just like kissinger, you know, says you have to deal with friends and you have to deal with enemies, he has to deal with candidates he likes and he doesn't like. and that's why they're meeting but i think a lot of people are pretending that henry kissinger represents an embrace of all these countries in the world and that is not true thinking in foreign policy. it's to engage rivals.

like she supported china's entrance into the world trade organization. we've lost nearly one-third of our manufacturing jobs since these two hillary-backed agreements were signed, among the worst we've ever done, among the most destructive agreements we've ever signed. our trade deficit with china soared 40% during hillary clinton's time as secretary of state. a disgraceful performance for which she should not be congratulated but rather scorned. then she left china -- so true. [ applause ] then she left china, and what happened is billions and billions of dollars in our intellectual property, and china has taken it and it's a crime which is continuously going on and it's going on right now. they are stealing billions and billions of dollars of our intellectual property. hillary clinton gave china millions of jobs, our best jobs, and effectively let china completely rebuild itself. in return, hillary clinton got rich. the book "clinton cash" by peter shweitzer documents how bill and hillary used the state department to enrich their family in america's and at america's expense. she

, and that's what is causing the fuss because of the complicated u.s. and china connection and it all kicked off when donald trump answered his phone. a seemingly ordinary press release reveal add land mine. something no white house has done in 35 years, talk to the president of taiwan, and the u.s. only formerly recognizes the people's republic of china, and not the sighland. >> the wrong message could be received, so he should be fully briefed by the state department before those communications. >> top trump adviser, kellyanne conway, balked at the criticism. >> president-elect trump is fully briefed and knowledgeable about the issues regardless of who is on the other end of the phone. >> trump reacted in all caps on twitter. the president of taiwan called me. and in another he owe owe opined. >> he is having private conversations, and giving a read out here and there about them and not trying to make policy or waves. >> trump also took heat from sarah palin, who has sought a place in his administration, and he criticized to use state tax breaks to keep jobs in the u.s. and he noted

tells the associated press it is considering jon huntsman, former ambassador to china and 2012 presidential candidate, for secretary of state. huntsman was among trump's critics during the campaign and called for him to drop out in the wake of the tape, showing him making lewd comments about women. let's bring in kelly o'donnell reporting from trump tower on this sunday for us. good morning to you. what is on the president-elect's schedule for today? >> well, we expect it is going to be quiet in terps ms of a puc schedule. we think they'll remain inside trump tower according to aides and there is much more to do, whether he's doing some of that behind the scenes or taking a bit of a quiet day, we don't know for sure. there are some of those big high profile jobs in the cabinet, still to be filled. but over the weekend, there was time for a little something extra. and the president-elect was in party mode. >> donald trump attended a villains and heroes themed costume party saturday at the long island home of hedge fund manager and trump backer robert mercer. aides said trump wen

russia and china often work against us. beijing dumps cheap steel in our markets. that hurts american workers. moscow has taken aggressive military action in ukraine right on nato's doorstep. now, i've gone toe to toe with russia and china and many other different leaders around the world. so i know we have to be able to both stand our ground and find common ground when we can. that's why i worked with russia to reduce nuclear stockpiles and with china to increase pressure on north korea. it's how our diplomats negotiated the landmark agreement on climate change, which trump now wants to rip up. [ applause ] the key was never forgetting who we were dealing w. not friends or allies, but countries that share some common interests with us amid many disagreements. donald doesn't see the complexity. he wants to start a trade war with china. and i understand a lot of americans have concerns about our trade agreements. i do, too. but a trade war is something very different. we went down that road in the 1930s. it made the great depression longer and more painful. combine that with his commen

the other chunk belongs to some of the variations, china or india or japan. i think that's a very different world. one of the reasons why you don't have -- you have a manageable relationship with china now is because you have trade with him. it's enormous, it's mutually beneficial, both sides to want maintain that relationship. if you didn't, it would be like the soviet union during the cold war when you will edge in line of scrimmageable trade and had to find ways to work together but it's much harder. now the tpp doesn't include china, although some people think it does, but the tpp points a direction towards the world, towards your whole organization of your society and if you acceptability in the wrong direction, maybe in the next 50 years some time you will turn around, but it'll cost you many years and the world will have to pay quite a high price. >> my name is lee in singapore, good afternoon president obama and prime minister lee, i have two questions, the first is just a follow-up to the tpp. i mean a lot has been said, everyone knows what's at stake, but whalz the futur

. eastern on nbc and msnbc hosted by matt lauer. now to china where president obama's attending his final g20 summit. and get news he met with russian president slat mir putin this morning. the discussion came as tensions between the u.s. and russia reached some new heights. as president obama prepares for a press conference set to take place in just a couple of hours, as well, joining us from china is nbc's ron allen on the road with the president. ron, good day to you. or rather afternoon. anything you can tell us about the president's pull aside with putin? >> well, richard, it was a constructive meeting. u.s. officials are saying it lasted about 90 minutes, a bit longer than expected. but the bottom line is there was no concrete deal, no concrete agreement on syria, and that was the main topic of conversation. there have been frantic efforts here the past couple of days by staff to try and put this meeting together. it wasn't scheduled for the agenda. this is an economic summit and this was a meeting for informally on the sidelines as it's called. the president said that he approached

comes to foreign policy. >> we talked more about china and russia and you know, i will tell you what is interestin interesting -- i met my counter partner last week, the week before last. you know the fact that he's challenging some of the -- [ inaudible ] >> he thinks a little bit differently about the u.s. anyway, we had a good conversations about those types of things and other foreign policy issues. [ inaudible ] >> my guess is they are, i don't know this, they are way prompt on those conversations right now. >> it is a meeting and get to know you kind of thing. >> for what i am understanding, you are the highest republican leader to actually visit donald trump. it is certainly setting off some vice presidential roots. why would you up here if it was just for a high hello. >> i was up here last month. i am in new york a good deal and you know, i think it is certainly worthwhile to sit down and get to know trump in a little bit different way and we did that today. >> again, i said this when this all came out a couple weeks ago, i have no reason what so ever to believe that i am being

there to the people's republic of china, no immediate plan for the president-elect to have communication with them. they, of course, lodged a complaint with the united states government because in their view and the u.s. agrees, there's only one china. taiwan would be part of china, not a separate -- even though it's a self-governing island, not to have leader to leader calls. there were feathers ruffled. the vice-president-elect can try to package that in a way or minimize it or argue that the outreach to cuba was also something of note. but they're going to try to move part this. i think their aides say it was a call. everyone says this was a break in nearly four decades of protocol. >> nixon administration. >> exactly. whether you intended it or not, it did get people's attention. they have some concerns about what it means in terms of other countries knowing where the united states stands, how t united states will follow these norms or not. again, it was described as a courtesy call. we will see if that is a policy change down the line, if there's any repercussions. >> kelly o'donnel

basement? you watch too many movies. who? a small business in china. a business? they work nine to five. they take lunch hours. like a job? like a job. we tracked them. how did we do that? we have some new guys defending our network. new guys? well, they're not that new. they've been defending things for a long time. [ digital typewriting ] it's not just security. it's defense. bae systems. ato speed up your car insurance search.r ways here's the latest. (fast sound effects) problem is, we haven't figured out how to reverse it. for now, just log on to compare.com... plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. choose the lowest and hit purchase. now... if you'll excuse me, i'm late for an important function. compare.com. saving humanity from high insurance rates. >>> a lockdown across campus and concerns for ucla students and their family and loved ones. nbc is joining me now, scotty, with new development of this case. >> reporter: that's right andrea, this story is developing as we speak. we are still trying to sort out and we are getting more information of the car and inclu

crippling aspect of donald trump plan, wage a trade war with china and mexico. it's going to drive american businesses out of business, and it's going to drive us into a recession. his plan to increase tariffs from china, exports coming into america on mexican exports coming -- >> ali, challenge him or -- >> hold on, peter. >> absolutely crippling. we have to talk about taxes and we have to talk about -- >> let me ask you -- >> in an honest manner. >> a lobbyist, not an economist. >> 2% gdp growth. >> no, we're not. >> right now. at this moment. >> well, last year we had 1.5%. >> i'm talking about right now. peter, okay. regardless -- >> call it what want. >> call it -- >> call it 1.5 and should get the -- >> give you this. 1.5. donald trump said he can take it to 4. a speech recently, 5 or 6. that is not possible. more likelihood of growing an afro than that is of happening. >> sure. let me address that. 1947 to 2001 grew at -- >> right after the end of the world war. >> no, no. 1947 to 2001, ali. that's five and a half decades. >> very high -- >> come on. let me have my moment he

to provoke china, to be unsettling to the diplomatic community. mike pence tried to say, hey, nothing to see here. let's watch that clip from "meet the press." >> chuck, this was a courtesy call. the democratically elected president of taiwan called to congratulate the president-elect and as a gracious man -- >> nothing new should be read into it? >> well, i -- i -- i don't think so. >> one of the things that makes this interesting, richard, is typically when a new president is in this phase of preparing a government, the current state department which is filled with career employees, not political employees, would provide a briefing dossiers on world leaders, would be able to give some essential talking points to know what some of the trouble spots might be, to make that available, and secretary of state john kerry says the trump team has not reached out in any way to his office or to those career diplomats to look for that kind of help. now, the trump folks will say he's getting briefing and intelligence and other kinds of input from people in their universe, some of the pe

the statement like her own personal hedge fund. hillary clinton gave china millions of jobs, our best jobs and effectively let china completely rebuild itself. in return, hillary clinton got rich. hillary clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the united states. >> hillary clinton meanwhile on capitol hill meeting with democratic leaders prescribing to the sit-in. we'll hear clinton's first response when she talks to supporters in raleigh, north carolina. some analysis on how both presidential campaigns have ratcheted up their al attacks. nbc's katy tur has been covering the trump campaign since the very beginning. this was an all-out assault on hillary clinton. did it land, katy? >> it was supposed to be a full frontal assault. for those who wanted to hear it, it certainly did land. there are a number of independents and soft democrats, vulnerable democrats who do not like hillary clinton. the campaign hopes they'll be able to convince them to come to donald trump's side with a speech like this, painting him as more about the people than the politi

. here's what's happening. the u.s./china standoff over a drone seems to be intensifying. >>> donald trump takes to twitter over the drone situation. we'll tell you what he has tweeted this morning and how it fits into the incident. >>> plus -- >> what i can tell you is that the intelligence that i've seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the russians carried out this hack. >> blame it on the russians. president obama talks about hacking and the election. reaction from the former head of the senate intel committee ahead. >>> wintry blast. battling cold and snow across the country. where is it headed next. >>> donald trump dipping a toe into international waters this morning, calling china's seizure of a u.s. navy drone undid he say presented. but last night in florida, trump describing what he felt as he watched the returns come in on november 8th. >> as they tell all of us for months, you cannot break the blue. so what happens is -- not only did we break it, we shattered the hell out of it, right? the map is bloody, so red, so beautiful. remember the map? when they

out of china from overnight. this morning president obama announced a climate change deal between the u.s. and china ahead of the g-20 summit. the president emphasized the potential impact of that agreement. >> together the u.s. and china represent about 40% of global emissions, so today we are moving the world significantly closer to the goal that we have set. that means full implementation of this agreement will help delay some of the worst consequences of climate change and pave the way for more progress in the coming years. >> joining us live now from china is nbc's ron allen. he's traveling there with the president. ron, good to have you with us. let's talk about two important things. one, this is the last trip for president obama to asia, but more importantly this deal that he's announcing regarding climate change, also a big priority for president obama throughout his administration. how important is this deal for the administration, ron? >> certainly a legacy issue for him, for president obama, who strongly believes that climate change is one of the biggest threats to mank

all. i'm going to take in so much money from china and other places -- look, we have a trade deficit with china of 400 billion a year. i can't believe it. >> in that first speech to congress you'll lay out your first 100-day agenda. >> i want to take care of our veterans. i want to fix our health care system. i want to create borders so we have a country because right now we don't have a country. we have borders where people walk across and do whatever they want to do and they have babies and babies become citizens and we have to take care of them. >> you want some sort of government system on health care. you don't like the system in there now. that i understand. >> not single payer. first of all, i have a massive company. thousands of employees in many different states. you have artificial lines around each state. the insurance company take care of the politicians so they don't want to get rid of those lines. if you got rid of those lines would you have great private insurance and it would take care of most people. unbelievable thing. in addition to that, you can do the savings sit

and china were all part of the process, and that would be devastating for that to happen and he could decide not to move forward. but the more realistic way in which the treaty could be sabotage san diego to not to tend it. i have talked to john kerry about a regular process, the requirements of the treaty are so complex there are a lot of compliance questions on both sides and a lot of problem solving behind the scenes that you and i don't see. he has a staff member assigned to deal with that. if you don't tend that relationship, there could be misunderstandings and missteps and you have folks in iran wanting to see the deal undone from their side and you could accuse the other party of not complying and use that for a justification to with draw. i think it would have devastating on circumstances for american's credibility in the world. >> the idea that focusing less on arms control and more on the economic opportunities or sanctions that could be levered against iran, do you agree that they focus more on one. >> you didn't fall into the notion there was a good side and bad arr

nafta. second, china's entry into the world trade organization. nafta was the worst trade deal in the history, like the history of this country and china's entrance into the world trade organization has enabled the greatest job theft in the history of our country. it was bill clinton who signed nafta. people don't remember. in 1993. and hillary clinton who supported it and the havoc that it wreaked after he left office was unbelievable. it was also bill clinton who lobbied for china's disastrous entry into the world trade organization and hillary clinton who backed that terrible, terrible agreement. then as secretary of state, hillary clinton stood by idly while china cheated on its currency, added another trillion dollars to our trade deficits and stole hundreds of billions of dollars in our intellectual property. [ applause ] and i've been talking about china for many years. and you know what? nobody listened but they're listening now that i can tell you [ applause ] the city of pittsburgh and the state of pennsylvania have lost one-third of their manufacturing jobs since the clinto

talked about via twitter, china taking a u.s. navy drone, an underwater drone, a glider is the term for it. and raising the stakes there. this is a couple weeks after trump himself received a phone call of congratulationses from the taiwanese president, something that broke decades of protocol in the u.s./china relationship, where china sees only one china, meaning taiwan is not a separatenty. so trump is using that as a way to communicate on issues that matter to him. and programs ratcheting some of the tension or laying some ground work with his future relationship with china. there is only one president at a time, so he is still the president in waiting. we're here in an open-air stadium in mobile, alabama, where several hundred people are already here. it's a slow process to get them through security. there has been southern music, southern kind of country/rock band playing for the last hour sore so. this is the last of the calendar year of these thank you tours where he is reliving the campaign, talking about things he wants to do going forward. and in many ways, just having fun wi

china. we have a lot of power over china. people don't realize that. >>> and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. donald trump publicly snubbed by the last two republican presidents is courting some of the most prominent public policy advisers. today huddling with former nixon and ford secretary of state dr. henry kissinger, the biggest name in the foreign policy establishment joining me now is nbc's hallie jackson and katy tur both outside trump tower. news from the trump campaign? >> reporter: absolutely, andrea. i've confirmed with the campaign the vp hopefuls will have to submit their tax returns as part of vetting for their potential, their political, financial and tra strategic vetting. donald trump still has not released his tax returns. they maintain trump will not release his own tax returns until after the audit is finished, although it is interesting considering that they will be requiring the vice presidential picks to submit theirs regardless. also, when it comes to how they're going to choose a potential vp pick, there is a framework in place, but ther

there if as and when they need them. by the way, china is not the only thing that the japanese are concerned about. they have got north korea going, so it's timely for the president to go there, but i think it's really important that you talk about, certainly behind closed doors, about something other than nuclear weapons. >> and i think that in the case of north korea that receives a lot of its assistance, aid and support precisely from china, the fact is that the dictator there has been erratic, as i guess the whole family tends to be, but the concern must be that the president has to be addressing this issue with japanese leadership. >> yeah, and i think -- and abe himself is not interested whatsoever in any of these symbolic gestures of the time we saw on the video, the president's -- his view is that the president's mission there is to sit down and speak seriously behind closed doors about what kind of guarantees the united states is going to give the japanese people. and to the extent that we don't do that, we're making a big mistake. i think john kerry's visit there was, my

have policies in place as soon as he walks in the door to say this is how i am going to deal with china differently, and this is how i am going to deal with russia and nuclear arms, and he is setting himself up to make big decisions, and people are going to have high expectations for what he could get done. >> do you think there could be strategy behind trump's twitter diplomacy, and is there a strategy at play here and who stands to gain from things he is doing right now? >> i think donald trump's strategy is he's -- as a reporter i know i am constantly wanting to have press conferenc conferences, and answer questions, and he is saying i can go to the millions of supporters i have and explain to them what i am doing. that doesn't bode well for journalist and the press that will want to press him on a lot of the issues. >> and how about world leaders who see the tweets and think, what does this mean? good to see you, and happy holidays. >> happy holidays. >>> and then one person that says trump has the mentality of a 5-year-old, and what prompted that, next. something wrong? so when it

hope? >> reporter: also this morning, donald trump is tweeting about an issue with china, one of the most delicate relationships the u.s. has and he tweets china steals the drone in waters and rips it out of water and takes it to china and this is referring to the seizure of american property of a drone that occurred yesterday and there's a lot of concern from u.s. officials about it. china is saying its working appropriately to return it and the u.s. officials are saying it was inappropriate and clearly marked as u.s. property and it's one of the most serious interactions between the u.s. and china in a number of years, and trump earlier had that conversation with the president of taiwan, something that was breaking protocol with china, so there are these sensitive issues, and he's using twitter to make comments about it as this situation is still unfolding. betty? >> thank you so much. >>> and hans nichols is at the white house with the president's reaction to allegations of russian hacking and the election. hans, this was the longest news conference of his presidency, and much of

issues seriously about the nature of the u.s. relationship with china, are worried, because the call readout, as it's described in sort of washington terms, talks about the fact that he and the taiwanese president talked about their common interests in the economy and that kind of thing. now in china, the foreign minister today reacted strongly. at the same time, the chinese are showing a bit of a measured response in putting the blame on taiwan, and not necessarily aiming their criticism at donald trump himself, which is also notable, because they'll have to deal with him as president in just a matter of weeks. they're calling it a small trick, which is probably a translation issue with the taiwanese. and saying it -- it is a concern if this, in any way, changes the nature of the relationship between the u.s. and china. now, trump senior advisers say he did not intend to set off any diplomatic shock waves. it is not a change in policy. the white house is reaffirming that the one china policy, which means that internationally, the u.s. and most other countries recognize that there is

interference in the presidential election. >>> china has agreed to return a stolen u.s. navy research drone taken from international waters last week. trump waded in on twitter saying china should "keep the drone." >>> and dangerous winter weather continues to cause problems across the country. snow and record cold temperatures make for treacherous travel. we start this hour with president-elect donald trump who is spending the holidays at his mar-a-lago estate amid growing concern about his views on u.s. intelligence. specifically, trump has yet to publicly accept the cia and fbi's assessment that russia meddled in the presidential election. take a look at this. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds that 55% of americans are bothered by reports of russia's interference. 37% believe that interference helped trump win. incoming white house chief of staff reince priebus today outlined the conditions on which the president-elect might consider accepting the intelligence findings. >> i think he would accept the conclusion if these intelligence professionals would get together, p

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policy issue, donald trump is avoiding discussion of russia, but being willing to tweet about china after there was an incident in the south china sea, a chinese vessel confiscated, seized, u.s. property, and underwater drone. that's a bit of a skirmish. trump acknowledges it's u.s. policy and they'll give it back. donald trump saying they were stealing it. it wasn't hesitant to weigh in on china but nothing on russia, and we're not expecting that today in mobile. >>> thank you, for more reaction joined by a national reporter for the "new york times" and an msnbc contributor. also a former chair of the missouri republican party and co-author of a book "the conservative case for trump." start with you. we know trump questioned the intelligence on russia. does that concern you? >> no. i think what we've heard from him -- by the way i disagree with kelly. if conclusive evidence he'll look at it, acknowledge it then. what we're seeing amongst the people, mobile, alabama is an scamp, out in st. louis, missoumont missouri, people are seeing people put in the cabinet, jobs saved. president

leaders at the g20 summit in china. the meeting described by the president as, quote, blunt and business-like. as questions still swirl about russia's alleged interference in the presidential election here. >>> and post tropical storm hermine still churning in the waters at beaches from eastern new york up through massachusetts. this holiday weekend. officials warning that the waves from the storm could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. we have a couple live reports for you on that storm. good morning, again, i'm tamron hall, coming live from our msnbc headquarters in new york. we are now 64 days until the election, and just a cuff couple weeks away from some voters casting their early vote. hillary clinton hit the campaign trail in her new plane last hour. that plane carrying the message, stronger together on the side. clinton meeting with union leaders this afternoon in ohio and illinois. her top surrogates also out in full swing today in pennsylvania, ohio, michigan and new hampshire. >>> bernie sanders is set to speak any moment now at the afl-cio labor

you, when trump has been quiet about russia, has tweeted about china and the drone telling them to keep it is there an expectation that donald trump would usher in a stronger u.s. presence overseas, even though there's been -- he has been critical of that approach saying that we need to put america first? >> yeah. i don't know that he is going to go in that direction. i think it's more along the lines of what president obama has done. donald trump has really put forth a more protectionist policy whether it comes to u.s. foreign policy throughout the campaign. i think it would be in keeping with what obama has done even though he criticized him. >> beth, i want your reaction on reince priebus who is talking when his boss would accept the intel on the russian hack. >> i think he would accept the conclusion if these intelligence professionals would get together, put out a report, show the american people that they are actually on the same page as opposed to third parties through "the washington post." we haven't heard from clapper. we haven't heard from comey. look, i think that these

. >> we have been listening to president barack obama speaking in china. there discussing the turbulent politics. good morning to you. i'm in world headquarters in new york. i want to bring in robert as well coreene john pierre. i would like to say, not a lot of domestic news which is to be expected. he did touch on the tpp which has been an issue at home. he did also touch on the controversy about collin kaepernick. your thoughts? >> he looked very relaxed and very presidential. there is a lot he wants to get done still. i thought it was really interesting because that was president obama, not candidate obama. also, the base is not with the president. they believe, as you know, that this is a job-killing type of bill. they think it is a good thing for the country. obviously it reminds me a lot of nafta where it was against president clinton but republicans were for this trade deal because of breaking down barriers. i thought it was very sub substantiative. the question is whether or not the american people here at home are paying attention. >> your thoughts coreene? >> yeah, i agree wi

chamber. don't know them too well. why would they complain when all i'm saying is this. that if china doesn't make this horrendous deal that we have with them, which is sort of a nondeal. it's only a one-way, one-sided deal, i want to renegotiate a deal. i want to terminate the deal and do a good deal. and that's all i want. i want to bring jobs back to our country. i want to bring money back to our country. i want to get rid of the deficit and start paying off debt. and they're against it. they're saying, how can donald do that. and how can he jeopardize free trade? if you have, think of this. if you have a country where you have a deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars a year forever, it's going to go on forever. it's going to get worse. then they say we're going to lose a trade war? we're already using the trade war, folks. we lost the trade war. nothing worse can happen than what is happening right now. we're getting killed. and then you question the chamber. i'm not going to say we'll never deal with china. when china devalues its currency -- they are at 7% gdp. 7%. we're at

. >>> a drone incident in international waters. what message is china trying to send the u.s. after seizing an american underwater device? >>> wintry blast. battling bit cold and snow across large parts of the country. where is it headed next? >>> we begin with politics. donald trump touched down in orlando last night for the second-to-last stop on his post-election thank you tour. when the crowd broke out in a familiar chant, the president-elect responded in a new way -- >> lock her up! lock her up! >> that's so terrible. here's what i noticed -- four weeks ago just prior to -- and always prior to, you people were vicious, violent, screaming, where's the wall, we want the wall. in now you're laid-back, cool, mellow, right? you're basking in the glory of victory. and we're already getting to work. >> meanwhile in new york, hillary clinton held an election postmortem with donors and explained what went wrong with her campaign with an assist from statistics expert nate silver. >> take it from nate silver who's pointed out that swing state voters made their decisions in the final days,

business-like conversation with russian president vladimir putin at the g20 summit in china today. no word if they spoke about the election, but mr. obama did say this -- >> we've had problems with cyber intrusions from russia in the past, from other countries in the past. what we cannot do is have a situation in which suddenly this becomes the wild, wild west. >> more on the president's comments coming up, but first to the campaign trail and the road warriors, nbc's katy tur and kristen welker, let's start with ka katy, she's live outside trump tower. and donald trump in cleveland, in ohio, not taking the day off. >> reporter: no, he's not. and it's pretty traditional to campaign on labor day afterall, this is what we like to call the final sprint until election day. you just saw him a knew moments ago at a round table with union leaders and union workers in cleveland. he's now heading to a state fair in youngstown, unclear what time he'll get there, unclear what he'll do, whether or not he's going to walk around and talk to folks. we'll find out and see. the campaign is feeling good

report. 1.2% growth. right? 1.2%. if that ever happened in china, they would have a revolution. they get to 7% or 8%, and they start devaluing their krens and they start taking more business out of the united states. and we allow it to happen, because we have people at the top that are not smart, number one. and are probably controlled by people that want it to happen. but they're not smart people. so china starts devaluing. and i have nothing against china. i like china. i have leases with china, biggest bank in the world is a tenant of mine, one of my buildings in new york. sell condos to the chinese, the bank of america building in san francisco, i own that with a great partner. and i got that through china, indirectly and directly. so i've had great relation -- i've made a fortune with china. but they don't respect us. they don't respect our country, they don't respect our country. they don't respect our president, they don't like our president. putin doesn't like our president. wouldn't it be nice if we could get along with russia? wouldn't that be a decent thing? wouldn't that

a mention, other than tweets on china and the drone saying they should keep it. should we be hearing more? >> perhaps. what this investigation among republicans especially is going to be led on capitol hill, it will be a specter of sorts when trump becomes president of the united states early next year. congressional republicans have a different view of russia. trump's foreign policy is being guided right now by general flynn, the retired general who will be his national security adviser who takes a similar view on russia as the president-elect, not as hostile, more open to having conversations. >> we have donald trump at this last thank you tour rally. couldn't that have been the perfect venue for him to make that address, to address it even in the slightest way? >> i'm not here to judge how he writes his speeches. i would say the thank you tour has been in particular about congratulating his campaign, congratulating himself, going to state ez has ws he won. he's not been extending his hand to states that voted against him. this was about rousing trump's base, getting the conservati

power over china. people don't realize that. they are extracting vast billions dollars out of our country. billions. and we have tremendous power over china. china can solve that problem with one meeting or one phone call. >> how would they do it? >> because they have tremendous power over thaurk. >> north korea has nukes. >> i know that. so does china. >> you said you would talk to kim. >> i would speak to him. i have no problem with speaking to him. >> let's bring in bill richardson former governor of new mexico and former ambassador the u.n. and an msnbc contributor. always good to see you bill. let's get down this idea of a sit down with kim jong-un. it's basically been laughed off by policy experts but could there be some value to it? it is really so ridiculous? >> it's not a good idea. first of all, kim jong-un doesn't meet with foreign leaders. if you're dennis rodman maybe you'll get a meeting with him. secondly the problem is this. you don't have a face to face meeting with kim jong-un and reward bad behavior. here's a guy that's shooting off missiles, detonating nuclear

that hasn't been one to be challenged. i think that it's sort of a nixon goes to china moment. if you had a group very committed to taiwan and that was the frame to begin to try to think about that strategic class or that blob around taiwan when china normalization happened is something that would be seen to be a necessary step. again, i wish ben hadn't said the word blob. but lots of people have written about the strategic class in washington and how impervious it is to being impacted by counternarratives and counterrealities. >> jennifer ruben writes in the "washington post," the washington used corrupt members of the press to spres misinformati misinformation, democrats calling for him to appear before the house oversight committee. >> it's completely impossible to predict. they may call ben forward and i think they'd find nothing in the end. jennifer ruben's piece is a little hyperbole. she often raises these things. i don't want to discount the notion that we shouldn't be paying attention to these issues. the notion that ben roads created a fake schick shun about iran and thrust

to china, go back to your [ bleep ] country. >> in response to that incident, this "new york times" investigative reporter wrote an open letter. he asked the lady why she had to use a racist attack, one that ignored asians being american for the last 200 years. his story went viral after being posted on "the new york times" website and then the paper's front page. and there was also this -- a recent story about chinese-american voters, a fox news reporter going to new york's chinatown to get opinions on china policy in the election. >> do you know karate? >> yeah, i know. >> am i supposed to bow to say hello? can you take care of north korea for us? >> after that aired, the reporter jesse waters tweeted my man on the street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek and i regret if anyone found offense. asian-american civil rights leader says those characterizations are like going to harlem and asking people if they can take care of trifl in somalia or going to a jewish american community and talking about being frugal. the response to these incidents, "the new york times"