between president elect donald trump and taiwan's president was just a small trick by taiwan. trump tweeted the president of taiwan called me, in caps, today to wish me congratulations on winning the presidency. interesting to say how the u.s. sells taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment, but i should not accept a con g these are photos released of that call that broke a decades long diplomatic tradition. the u.s. and taiwan are friendly but it's an unofficial relationship because china considers taiwan an outlaw province. >>> philippine president rodrigo duterte says donald trump told him the philippines is going about their controversial fight the philippine leader and president elect talking on the phone. the u.s. has raised concerns about the philippines' handling of drug dealers which has included alleged government executions without allowing people to go to court. >>> the governor's race in virginia already firing up and could get some national attention. four republicans are in the race. prince william county board chair cory gillespie and frank wagner and ro

china believes that taiwan is part of their country and taiwan believes they're a sovereign nation. so as you can imagine, the first phone call between a president-elect and a taiwan leader since 1979. china issuing a formal complaint today in part saying we urge the relative parties to the u.s. to abide to the commitment to the one china policy and to handle taiwan issues with caution and care to avoid unnecessarily interfering with the overall situation of china-u.n. relations. taiwanese leader called to offer her congratulations and the issue here is that taiwan is playing up this phone call as a potential major signal that the u.s. may kboboost the support o free and sovereign taiwan. they said the two spoke for roughly 10 minutes, about establishing a closer cooperative relationship. and the news agency said that trump referred to the taiwan president. interesting how the u.s. sells taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment, but i should not accept a con congratulatory call. donald trump's senior advisor kellyanne conway said that the -- praising trump for reaffirming ou

taiwan sees itself as its own country. china says taiwan is not its own country. china says taiwan is part of china. we decided in the 1970s, to recognize one china, just one chinese government with its capital in beijing, that was a change for us. we changed course after decades through great diplomatic pain and achievement, we made the decision to acknowledge that the chinese government is the one and only chinese government. we do not maintain separate diplomatic relations with taiwan any more. not since the 1970s. but today donald trump called and spoke with the president of taiwan. and then released this statement, announcing the call as one of his calls with world leaders today. if you don't follow this stuff, a call to taiwan, a call between the president-elect of the united states and the president of taiwan, it may not seem like the biggest deal in the world. hey, it's just one phone call, why is this a big deal. this is something we don't do as a country. this is something we haven't done on push, very carefully for decades. this is the first time a pres

does not formally recognize taiwan as an independent state. chinese officials fear this phone call may have signaled otherwise. trump and his team are downplaying that call, that it had any further implications. cnn's ryan nobles joining me right now from outside the trump tower. ryan, any more detail about the sequence of events and how it all unfolded? >> fredricka, president-elect trump tweeted yesterday he just accepted a call from the president of taiwan and accepted her congratulations of her recent win and he also congratulated her, trying to downplay the idea this is any kind of indication of perhaps a shift in policy by the incoming trump administration. this was simply pleasantries between two foreign leaders. it obviously has raised some concerns in washington and in the foreign policy community that perhaps the president-elect is not aware of all the information that goes into this relationship between taiwan and china and the rest of the world. it is leading some to ask whether or not the president-elect is experienced enough to h

protocol on taiwan. and it risks infuriating china with one china policy which claims that taiwan is part of china. trump tweeted after. interesting how the u.s. sells taiwan billions of dollars on military equipment but i should not accept a congratulatory call. china released this statement, we urge the revolution side of the u.s. to adhere to the one china policy abide by the pledges in the three joint china-u.s. communiques and handle issues related to taiwan carefully and properly. >>> democrats are asking president obama to declassify intelligence after new information specifically to help donald trump win. cnn's jim sciutto has details now. >> christi, we are learning there's new information that russia's election-related hacking is believed to have been intended to help spear the election to donald trump. democrats now want president obama to make this information public. >> reporter: democratic senators are pressing the obama administration to more forthrightly state that russia's meddling in th

this is taiwan. and that region over there, the geopolitical, delicate diplomatic dance that we do in that part of the world is very serious. not recognizing taiwan officially as being its own independent state, not -- even calling it taiwan makes a difference. they call it the republic of china. china -- beijing is very sensitive to how the united states recognizes taiwan because as far as china's concerned, they're still part of their empire. so we know that there are many issues going on in the south china sea, in the taiwan straits. we know that there's disputes over islands there. the scarborough shoal, the senkaku islands, what's happening with the philippines. it's than simple for donald trump to pick up the phone and say, oh, that's great, thank you, president of taiwan. this is china -- >> certain critics are saying he really hasn't been well versed on what is at stake before taking a phone call or even in other cases it may have been initiating a phone call. but the bottom line is that ther

and taiwan are friendly but unofficial relationship was china considers taiwan an outlaw province. the u.s. and taiwan are friendly but unofficial relationship because china considers taiwan an outlaw province. you can bet that phone call will be a topic on "meet the press." vice president elect mike pence with a preview for us. >>> "saturday night live" taking shots of donald trump's love for tweeting. >> add more fire. the cold open of the show featured alec baldwin as donald trump repeatedly losing focus at a security briefing and retweeting. >> i'm sorry. you know i love to tweet. see my new profile picture, skull with big guns through the head and the word infidel above it. >> that's psycho. >> oh, i just got retweeted. you're only going to attract psychos. >> i just got retweeted. >> by who? >> oops i did it again. >> trufr immediately took to twit to criticize the sketch. just tried watching "saturday night live," unwatchable. totally biased, not funny, and the baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. sad. >>> it was a packed show, had third time. it was revisiting hi

a "small trick by taiwan." in a break with nearly 4-decades >>> a short time ago, the china foreign minister called it a small trick by taiwan in a break with for decades of us policy, the president-elect spoke with the president of taiwan by phone and that moved struck a a nerve with beijing. >> it is believed no us president or president-elect has spoken directly with the leader of taiwan since the united states severed ties in 1979 and the transition team said so that they talked about the close ties between taiwan and the united states and he congratulated president-elect trump as picked - - for his victory. the us broke formal relations with taiwan in 1979 as part of the washington one china policy. >> the notion that the united states in the incoming - - might be supporting a pro- independent agenda. >> mr. trump has ignored briefing opportunities before speaking with world leaders. the white house says united state - - united states difference are willing to offer him advice. >>> and the us cells taiwan

good to be here. >> let me start with foreign policy and the issue with taiwan. does the president-elect intend to break with one china policy? >> i think the conversation that happened this week with the president of taiwan was a courtesy call. she reached out to the president-elect and he took the call from the democratically elected leader of taiwan, one of more than 50 telephone calls the president-elect has taken from world leaders in the midst of historic case of cabinet appointments and senior appointments and even traveling and saving 1,000 jobs in the state of indiana. it's the kind of approach you will see him bring to challenges at home and abroad. >> this was an intentional challenge to the foreign policy establishment a little built, u.s.-china diplomatic establishment? >> this was a courtesy call from the democratically elected leader from taiwan called to congratulate him. >> nothing new should be read into it? >> i don't think so. i honestly think that what world leaderses are finding, those that have reached out to the president-elect, those i ta

president or president-elect has spoken to a leader in taiwan. that was until yesterday when president eect donald trump accepted a congratulations call from the taiwan leader. china has filed a formal complaint and urging the u.s. to handle the issue cautiously and properly. brian is live in trump tower. hi, brian. >> reporter: good evening, the most sensitive topic is not trade, but it is taiwan when is comes to u.s./china relation. it is an issue 60 years in a making and no president or president-elect call canned a taiwan leader since 1979. and that call rattled a complicated relationship with china. and china filing the formal complaint through the foreign minister. we urge the relevant parties in the u.s. to a boyd by the commitment to one china policy. and avoid unnecessary interfering of the u.s. relation says. the taiwanez leader call canned to offer congratulations and spoke between the ties of taiwan and the united states. it is it a potential major signal. taiwan refers to historic conversation and the two spoke for roughly ten minute

and taiwan. we understand an adviser to the trump transition, steven yates, is in taiwan. he helped facilitate the call. yates is a form adviser to dick cheney. he's known to be very pro-taiwan. we're told the obama administration was not told of the call until after it happened. and also -- already the chinese are chiming in, you know, speaking to a taiwanese leader is something no american president or president-elect has done for nearly 40 years because the u.s. has no diplomatic relations with taiwan since 1979, respecting the so-called one-china policy. china considers taiwan part of its territory. chinese state media already calling the exchange an unprecedented break in that policy and that beijing opposes any contact between washington and taipei. this is sure to cause initial diplomatic uproar with china even before president-elect trump takes office. the former diplomats note that many incoming republican administrations have sought to elevate taiwan over china. president reagan invited a taiwanese delegation to his inaugural ball. president george w. bush also i

doesn't recognize taiwan as its own nation. u.s. views taiwan as part of china. doesn't support taiwan independence. u.s. president hasn't apparently spoke on the a leader of taiwan since 1979. i think there is a tweet from the democratic senator chris murphy saying these are major pivots in foreign policy without any plan. that is how wars start. does -- i mean -- this does signal some sort of a shift in the president elect's, you know, strategy vis-a-vis china or taiwan? >> well it sounds like senator murphy's tweet is pretty incendiary and does not signal much of a shift from what seems to be the documented democratic response to the election results. this is how wars are starting and it is a major policy shift because you get a phone call. that is pretty negative and presumptives you. >> auous. >> a this has been long-standing u.s. policy towards china not to recognize taiwan. >> right. again i can't discuss anything beyond what's been publicly said. and this is the commander in chief and will be president of the united states and he either will or will not d

in taiwan they were pretty excited about this, were they not? >> they think they should govern themselves. i know that's a radical proposition, but they have been accomplishing it. they have been showing democracy in action. beyond that it is in the strategic interest of the united states to keep taiwan as a functioning separate state. when we think of the one policy they won wonder if it is a violation of that. it does not indicate how the status of taiwan and china will be resolved anymore than when the united states recognized both east and west germany it didn't imply the final out come of the two germanys merging. i think what we have done is consistent with american interest and it is the something the people -- it is something the people want and get used to it. >> why has the press be frothing so much about this issue? some of these hysterical tweets i can't believe them. >> it was fun watching rachel madow's head almost explode. and we are on the press miss -- precipice of world war three because of it. it was the first chance to make p

from taiwan. many american products go to taiwan from the u.s. we've had an incredible relationship with taiwan. that since the revolution of china. when you know, there was the group that fled and created a separate republican of china. the people's republic. i don't know what the big fuss u is about other than it's a real test of donald trump is going to lead the american people or whether he's going to do what a lot of administrations have done and that's let the chinese dictate to an american president what we will and won't do. i think it is increde whether i bly refreshing to see a u.s. president say america will do what it dog own wants to and deal with it. >> very interesting. i want to move on to the transition. we are hoping to hear who president-elect trump will be choosing as secretary of state by next week. i know that you and others are not really thrilled that mitt romney is still in the running. why do you think donald trump is giving him serious consideration even though he is one of the leaders of the never trump movement? >> we

and taiwan. the u.s. sells arms to taiwan. it's never been simple between the u.s., taiwan and china. however in china it is based on the recognition. recognition of the beijing, as china as china. a one china policy. you recognize china as the seat at the u.n. security council. you recognize china beijing as the seat of government of china and taiwan something different. to have the us head of state call the taiwanese head of state, there is a reason that hasn't happened for 40 years. because those communications between the heads of state should be between the head of the chinese state and the u.s. state. this is not just a disruption of protocol. it is something that has enormous diplomatic and political meaning, certainly to china. i'll tell you tonight it is a 100% certain there are heads spinning in beijing. >> it is in essence truly incredible that this is happening tonight. jim, thank you. i want to go to ivan watson now. our senior correspondent based in hong kong, actually here in new york tonight. and we're awaiting

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 the relief for hundreds of workers but slammed the plan as special interest crony capitalism. >> reporter: trump and palin have been friends but the trump transition team does not say she has been considered for the va secretary, and she has said she is interested in the job, and it's important to note as you know so well, ayman, diplomatic relationships are measured in words and tone and a phone call may seem like no big deal but in diplomatic circles it speaks volumes, and they want to be recognized on the world stage. >> let's go to the other side of the world to beijing to see how this story is playing out in mainland china. how is china responding to the ne

against taiwan. it's unclear how that kind of consequence benefits the people of taiwan. >> i have been involved in this relationship for a lot of years. this is the first time i have ever seen a real business person who understands leverage and understands a fair deal and a level playing field. >> john huntsman perhaps applying for secretary of state as he gets ready for his own interview. he is on a long list, expanding list. we will get into that. the phone call between the president-elect and the president of taiwan, a congratulatory call, prompted this reaction. donald trump on twitter kind of reacting to china's reaction. now there are multiple stories that this was a planned shift. and all this hubbub is about nothing. let's bring in our panel. jonah goldburg, maura and laura ingram. there was a ton of reaction over the weekend. >> there was. i will say as someone who thinks i have no problem with sending this signal, messing with china, starting out strong and all the rest. the problem is, if

some republicans who are a little bit more hawkish on taiwan and want to support taiwan more vis-a-vis china are now saying, this is actually great. why shouldn't he be talking to the taiwanese leader? >> i don't think that's what happened. i think he took the call without knowing the diplomatic niceties. that can be very dangerous. he needs an experienced secretary of state. >> kellyanne conway saying, that is not the case. he was fully briefed. >> ryan, thank you. tom, we appreciate it. >>> it was supposed to be a holiday gathering among co-workers. it turned out to be one of the most tragic events in our country's history. a year after the horror, we look back at the man who helped stop the two san bernardino terrorists. you will not want to miss this. . >>> emotions were high yesterday at a memorial service marking one year since the deadly terrorist attack in san bernardino, california. a bell tolled 14 times for the victims as people bowed their heads in silence. we have the harrowing story of the lead officer who hunted down the husband and wife shooting suspects. the terrorists

needs to rethink i taiwan. >> our policy right now is not sustainable. what we're doing is undermining a friend of free society to help an author therrien state that attacks our values. taiwan is strategically important. >> reporter: trump's former campaign manager kelly ann conway declined to answer questions about the phone call. >> the president-elect spent most of his day at trump tower. he still needs to pick half his cabinet including his nominee for secretary of state. court case for statewide recount of pennsylvania's presidential election ballot. green party presidential candidate jill stein has spearhead adrecount effort in pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. president-elect donald trump narrowly won over hillary clinton in those states. >>> we're switching gears now and it is going to be a chilly and dry finish to the weekend. howard bernstein says there's some chances for showers next week. >> yeah, in fact they could be here by watching a weak system. you think it's cold now, by friday, saturday, it's going to be the coldest year of the s

recognized the people's republic of china instead of taiwan. the two have had a complicated relationship since 1949 when communists took power and china's former leaders fled to the island. since tsai was elected in january, relations have stalled because the cornell grawrkt who also studied in london, has not endorsed the one-china principle. it's a pivot from his predecessor and caused beijing to suspend contact with taiwan in june. ironically, former secretary of state henry kissinger was here in beijing to meet with china's president xi jinping when the call between trump and tsai took place. kissinger is the architect of the one-china policy and has recently consulted with president-elect trump. reena. >> ninan: in west texas a bus carrying high school cheerleaders crashed. several girls remain in the hospital. the cheerleaders were returning to the town of ira anne after their football team won a play-off game. the cause of the wreck is under investigation. a male student is under arrest for the fatal stabbing of a psychology professor at

china views taiwan as a threat and could destabilize an already fraught relationship. trump had a choice, downplay the call or declare he's taking u.s./china relations in a different direction and he seemed to indicate the former. "the president of taiwan called me today to wish me congratulations on winning the presidency. thank you." >> so this was an intentional sort of challenge to the foreign policy establishment, to the u.s./chinese diplomatic establishment? >> no, chuck. this was a courtesy call. they called to congratulate the president-elect. >> so courtesy call, not a change in policy? >> exactly. >> the chinese government took a similar approach. its foreign minister saying, "this is only a little trick put up by taiwan. i don't think the u.s. government will change the one china policy." but negative coverage of the call seems to have gotten under trump's skin as it so often seems to and yesterday he followed up with a couple of tweets striking a very different tone. "did china ask us if it was okay to devalue their currency, heavily tax our products going

policy towards taiwan. that i think is something we're only going to learn when he becomes president. but i think it's very interesting. donald trump if you think about it, he built his political career and his campaign on breaking norms and conventions of politics. it worked very well in the domestic political context. the question is he going to pursue that approach as president. i think this incident is clearly a sign that when you do that on the international stage, on delicate issues of diplomacy and relations with other countries and the framework of american foreign policy you could lead yourself into areas you perhaps do not want to go and create crises that could perhaps be detrimental to the early months of trump administration. >> all right. gordon, let me bring you in here, his call, donald trump's dual the philippines leader, this is the same man, of course, who insulted president obama, forced him to cancel a permanent meeting he had. is this a snub now to obama? >> i don't think so. i think t

proposal kahl on taiwan. after spending much of the campaign trashing china threatening tariffs, calling it a currently manipulator. this is perceived as a challenge to beijing, where the leadership expected the status quo in washington. officially, they're saying that china will not tolerate any country that expects official relations with taiwan. beijing was also expecting the status quo with taiwan. they criticized the call as being petty. this comes as sensitive time as beijing is pushing towards reunification. we can't overlook grating tsai on her leadership. it's not something acknowledgeed by beijing and considered an affront. whether trump knew the ramifications of the phone call still are unclear, but if it signals a major shift in u.s. policy, then it will also bring a major rift in u.s./china relations between trump's presidency even gets started. richard? >> janice, thank you. from beijing with that report for us. >>> i now want to bring in two ranking members here from congress. we have californi

and taiwan is democratic china. we have a responsibility to defend our democratic allies and to support our democratic allies, which i think we haven't done as much in the last eight years. so i used to live in taiwan and i lived in china. i was quite glad to see this, whether it was a misstep or not, this sort of expression of support for a democratic china. >> i hate to be rude. >> but? >> i know you. >> we have one president at a time in our country. if you want to change the policy, you're more than welcome to do so when you're the president of the united states. this is radically disruptive. also, the idea of a trade war with china might sound great to people in manhattan and people in the think tanks -- hold on a second. this is a dangerous game we're beginning to play. and you are talking about now a radical realignment. now russia is our friend, though they have been disrupting us politically with all their cyberattacks, and china is going to be our opponent, though they have been an economic partner. i just

of course, he said it benefited taiwan. they certainly benefit from peace and stability in this strait. to upend that, could potentially threaten taiwan and other u.s. allies in the region. >> there would be other steps that would be provocative. but taking a call for real or under the guise of simply being a courtesy, i think that's a good way to say he knows taiwan is a good actor, and taiwan, at least in trade, is a bad actor. . those are what's destabilizing everyone's feelings about asia, and rather than send another fleet to the region, he's been able to tell china that they better reconsider that tools like diplomacy, a good ambassador to china, forcing china back to living up to things they've already agreed to in trade, i think all of that is important. but that doesn't start until after donald trump is sworn in. >> if you had your way, you would stop the tweeting, right? >> you know, i didn't get elected. i didn't run. but if i had run, i probably wouldn't have been smart enough, aggressive enough to tweet as ofte

this lie that taiwan is a part of china, that the president of taiwan isn't the president of taiwan. there are other lies that sort of stem from this, that trade, for example, is going to improve the behavior of china when we know the opposite. in the last decade, china has gotten worse toward its own people and has robbed us blind, stealing jobs from the united states and stealing intellectual property left and right. >> so this woman, who is a president, i want to point out, just because we can, she was elected, right? >> that's right. >> she's a sitting leader of another country. >> right, exactly. and the first woman elected in asia who is not related or married or the daughter of a previous president. really a watershed for taiwan. also the third time taiwan has had a change in parties in peaceful democratic elections, and proof that chinese, ethnic chinese everywhere are, you know, qualified for democracy. so this is kind of a big deal. >> you know, maybe it's not on par, but it did pop into my head today as i was reading what you wrote. i look back before the iran deal that pr

i could say government of taiwan -- government on taiwan, china would go nuts. and then he tweeted, don't misrepresent what i'm saying, so long as trump called knowing it would change the status quo, i'm fine with it. i hope it was by design. so he tweeted the chinese president called him. he's sort of saying similarly what you're saying. as long as he knows that maybe he's changing protocol or policy, he's fine with it. but he said he couldn't even refer to them as a government, couldn't even refer to them. >> this is the number one issue for china. and so if you're changing a four decades old policy, let's be sure that you understand what you're doing. you'd want to brief your allies. the united states for the last four decades has asked and ensured that its allies follow the same policy as it does. so britain, france, germany don't do this. now, if you're going to go out and do this and they quietly will now start making secret deals with china, that's not a great deal for the american people. then we've gone out on a limb and left open this space where every

she had a choice the president of taiwan. she could have called the current president after what china did. she didn't. she called the incoming president. >> first democratically elected female national leader in chinese history,thousand years. -- seven thousand years. sandra: more and more state and local governments vowing to defy president-elect trump's proposal to deport illegal immigrants, some cases using taxpayer dollars. is this right way to go? should he strip their federal funding as punishment? when are they leaving? grilled cheese and campbell's tomato soup go together like grandchildren and chaos. made for real, real life. [ that's a good thing, eligible for medicare? but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free deci

saying that taiwan is part of china. they don't actively support it, but they acknowledge the presence of that policy being in place. i think that trump is trying to send a signal to china saying i know you want to exert your power and influence and dominance in asia, but we have to be in discussion and talking and not only just back away from not being able to just reach out to the taiwanese government. >> how did he respond to "guess what, there is a new sheriff in town, friends?" i think stability and predictability are the name of the game. you want your allies to know where you stand if. >> we know where he stands on stability and predict ability. >>> jill stein is taking her push for a recount in pennsylvania to a federal court in is in an effort to retally votes. signs said voters need to know whether or not the election was compromise. rick, tell us the rest of the story. >> melissa, this morning the news conference was also billed as a rally. authorities have scheduled a recount in michigan starting at moon toda

and taiwan since 1979. trump also taking to twitter this weekend to threaten any business that leaves our country. warning of a whopping 35% tax on products shipped back into the country as, quote, retribution. trump tweeting he would keep jobs in the country by lowering taxes for companies and slashing regulations. all this playing out as the president-elect is widening his list of contenders to be secretary of state. a process starting to look more like a reality show. >> other candidates for secretary of state and other cabinet positions. >> reporter: former republican governor of utah jon huntsman, president barack obama's first ambassador to china, now in the running. and disgraced former general david petraeus making a public case for the top post. >> five years ago i made a serious mistake. i acknowledged it. i apologized for it. >> arguing that his guilty plea for revealing classified information to his former mistress should not disqualify him from serving as secretary of state. >> i paid a very he

taiwan is a self-governing democratic island but china considers taiwan part of china awesome those years ago china made the united states decide if you beck friends with china or friends with taiwan but not with both because we think tie one is -- taiwan is ours, sis china. president jimmy carter chose china. it's called the one china policy and that's how it's been since then, no exception. we sell them arms but no communication, or there wasn't until now. as you remember, trump spent the campaign accusing china of manipulating its currency, and taking advantage of american businesses. and he repeatedly threatened to take a harder line toward beijing and its behavior in the east and south china seas. but the u.s. relationship with the chinese is very complicated because we really need the chinese for issues including the north korean nuclear program. so he has ecenter intentionally sent a message or has accidently caused what could become a big problem. general griffin is here. >> reporter: for the first time china flew a pair of nuclear capable bomber around taiwan on november 26th. le

ties with taiwan. and i think i have a pretty good take on them and china. i've been to china over 50 times. and as the chairman of the asia-pacific subcommittee on foreign affairs, i think i have a pretty good read on what motivates them. i think this is no -- or this is nothing but a tempest in a teapot. >> if it's not a tempest in a teapot, i want to ask you about the long-standing one china policy that we've heard so much about in the last few days. do you see any risk or danger in trump's actions? >> no, i don't see any risk in the decades' old one china policy. i think trump is trying to get into a position of strength in negotiating with china. the -- i heard one of the pundits this morning, one of the former ambassadors say, you know, it's a decades' old policy f it ain't broke, don't fix it. the next analyst came on and raised appropriate points. what you do you mean, ain't broke? they haven't lifted a finger in stopping china from their nuclear ambitions, they haven't done anything to come to

a water shed for taiwan. also the third time taiwan has had a change in parties in peaceful democrat. >> elections and proof that ethnic chinese are qualified for democracy so this is kind of a big deal. >> can i -- i always still want to ask this and maybe it is not on par, but it did pop into my head as i was reading what you wrote. and i look back before the iran deal that president obama did that still has side qualities to it that we don't know really what it says but we are starting to learn, before the deal didn't he and the leaders of iran exchange letters back and forth that the american people did not know about. is that commensurate in any way with just taking calls before your exactly in office? >> well, that is exactly right. the president has negotiated directly with very significant thugs in his top aides have reached out to norcans to cubans to, to venezuela and he gave a handshake to hugo chavez, so that is okay but taking a courtesy call that emerged from this democratically elected ally cau

china believes taiwan is a territory of theirs. taiwan believes they are a sovereign nation. today china's government filed a formal complaint saying we urge the u.s. to abide to the commitment of the one china policy and to handle issues with caution and care to avoid unnecessarily interfering with a overall situation of china-u.s. relations. the trump transition team said tsai innicalled. but this phone call is being played up in taiwan that the u.s. may boost its support of a free and sovereign taiwan. they said the two spoke roughly ten minutes about establishing a closer cooperative relationship. mr. trump tweeted last night the president of taiwan called me yesterday to congratulate me on winning the presidency. thank you. interesting how taiwan sells billions of the dollars in military equipment but i should not accept a congratulatory phone call. another republican senator tom cotton says that he actually stands with trump and appreciates the reaffirming of our commitment to the only democracy on chinese soil. >> as you note some say it is a strong message to beijing.

he goes after taiwan. after he goes after taiwan, after he goes after the companies that are leaving america, taking jobs, going across the border, saying we're going to put a 35% tax on you, that really always takes the headline. the fact we worry about saturday night live is because we talk about it. >> you are right about that. but i think save the tweets for that. i think that's well within his right, whether you agree with te tariffs or threatening companies. that's effective. for his millions upon millions of followers, that sends out a powerful message. this sort of stuff -- by the way, i think it's fair game for all these comics and others who want to get under his skin to try to do this. hoping -- hoping he is going to tweet. it's great publicity for them. don't feed the beast. >> when you have jill stein -- talk about saturday night live. jill stein with the recount of the whiners. we're going to do a recount. >> in other words -- >> donald trump is not the president. >> you are okay with it? >>

it's not only about taiwan though taiwan is the most important. they could militarize these islands on the south china seas and declare they will be controlling the air space and sea waters. they could get more aggressive on cyber. so this elbow throwing, this is the new normal. charles: four years and eight years is a long time for this tough talk to go back and forth. do you foresee a worse case scenario? >> city was lucky enough to spends time on whitby island. i sat down the admiral. he was center clear. charles: we have to wrap it up. another worst case scenario, we are not going to a war with china. the worst case scenario is they will do cyber or affect us with trade. charles: the dowsets another record. chris stuart says don't believe everything you hear and read about russia and our election. charles: a trums transition source telling fox news trump is delaying an announcement on severing his business ties until january. he had scheduled a news conference to address this on thursday. charles: big short-term gains and a pullback from marke

taiwan since the end of the civil war in 1949, both maintained there was only one china and that taiwan was part of it and china claimed this is a core interest, meaning they're willing to fight if taiwan makes moves towards independence. so our policy, our non-provocation of beijing along these lines has been essential to stability across the taiwan straits that has benefitted the people of taiwan. >> you know better than anyone how this threatens to have an impact on the world, the global economy in addition to these two big economies that we face, ours and china. with that said, military provocations, a number of analysts who noted yesterday with something like this that could potentially escalate, would the united states be prepared to use its military if this goes beyond where it is now which is a form of complaint and is it always a possibility? >> it's a possibility but a great many steps away. it's somewhat encouraging that beijing has chosen to take a low key response to this. they stated that trump is still the president-elect and this is not an official u.s. action so rather

american policy on taiwan has been unsustainable. we have been undermining a free society helping an authoritarian state that attacks our values. at the same time we're working against our geo political ininterei interest to maintain peace and stability. china has been trying to dismembering his neighbors and proliferating nuclear technology to the north koreans. something has got to change. taiwan is an important ally and we've got to recognize that. i'm not saying that trump's policy is going to work. i'm saying our current approach is certainly guaranteed to fail. it's produced bad outcomes in the last few years. >> this is the true definition of whether or not you're politically correct. steven, democratic congressman chris murphy tweeted this. foreign policy consistency is a means, not an end. it's not sacred. thus, it's trump's right to shift policy allegiances, strategy and what has happened in the last 48 hours is not a shift, it's major pivots in foreign policy without any plan. that's how wars start. steven, do you think it

>> we didn't discuss taiwan. so before anybody gets upset and thinks i had something to do with it, but i think it's exactly the right thing to do. i think the president of the united states should talk to any foreign leader he thinks is in the interest of the united states to talk to. this was a courtesy call as all the dozens of calls he's taken. tsai wen is a democratically he lectded president. -- elected president. and people who have been friends to the yiewments form a decade after we have treated them shabbily from time and time again in the loss to china in the u.n., pant carter administration, and they have stood with us. it's a remarkable record. lou: when i say a great people, i mean in every sense of the word. indull -- industrious who desers you say, far better from their most important ally. i'm heartened to see the president step forward and speak to whom he pleases. >> this is a phone conversation. this doesn't necessarily mean anything in terms of policy changes. i would certainly welcome some p

that call with the leader of taiwan. as far as we know no president or president-elect has spoken with taiwan's leader in nearly four decades. why did mr. trump choose to break that precedent in well, morning after the election, we've seen the president-elect engaging the world. he's spoken to more than 50 world leaders. i've spoken to several dozen myself and he received a courtesy call from the democratically elected president of taiwan. >> that was prearranged, wasn't it. >> congratulating him. they've reached out as world leaders have and he took the call, accepted her congratulations and good wishes and it was >> did he intend to send the kind of signal it sent because the chinese government has already complained go it. how did you respond to it? >> i understand some of the controversy in the media about this but -- >> not just the media. it's with the chinese government. >> yes, of course, but i would tell you that i think -- i think the american people find it very refreshing, the energy that our president-elect

trump spoke with the democratically elected president of taiwan. this broke nearly four decades of diplomatic protocol started by jimmy carter. the chinese who not exactly clear believe they open taiwan and hated all of this. not just the chinese who are mad about it. >> president-elect of the united states of america has, in one phone call, potentially changed more than three decades of u.s. diplomatic practice. >> clearly, this is going to cause a diplomatic uproar with china. >> it took decades to develop the ground on which we talk to china and donald trump tore it up today. this conceivably is the way wars start. >> let's hope that there is actually some this. >> having lived in taiwan twice and china once there is too much hyperventilating about this one. >> striking to me that president obama would reach out to a murdering dictator in cuba and be hailed as a hero and donald trump take as courtesy call from the democratically elected president of taiwan and it becomes something of a thing in the media. >> although foreign policy geniuses on c

and taiwan since 1979. trump also taking to twitter this weekend to threaten any business that leaves our country, warning of a whopping 35% tax on products shipped back into the country as retribution. trump will keep jobs in the country by slashing regulations. all this playing out as the president-elect is widening his list of contenders to be secretary of state. a process starting to look more like a reality show. >> have additional interviews with other candidates for secretary of state and other cabinet positions. >> reporter: former republican governor of utah jon huntsman president barack obama's first ambassador now in the running and general petraeus making a public case for the top post. >> five years ago i made a serious mistake and i apologized for it. >> reporter: arguing that his guilty plea for revealing classified information to his former mistress should not disqualify hfor serving as secretary of state. >> i paid a very heavy price for it and i've learned from it. >> top adviser kellyanne

donald trump defending his controversial phone call with the president of taiwan. their conversation breaking nearly four decades of u.s. policy. lawmakers here outraged. china lodging a did the president-elect further strain the relationship between the two world powers? >>> history of violence? another case of alleged road rage emerges involving the admitted gunman who killed a former nfl player near new orleans. outrage growing over the decision to release him, without charges. >>> miracle in south dakota. a woman, pulled alive from the rubble of this collapsed building.