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New Day Sunday

New Evacuations As California Fires Rage; President Trump Record Robocall for Moore; Violent Protests Near U.S. Embassy in Lebanon; Interview with Democratic Congressman John Delaney of Maryland; ; NYT Gives Glimpse Inside the President's Daily Routine; Stabbing Attack at Central Bus Station in Jerusalem; Army Tops Navy in Snowy Rivalry Classic. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired December 10, 2017 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:00:00] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT. We thank you for your service.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Coy.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Next hour starts right now.

(MUSIC)

GALLAGHER: Good morning, everyone. I'm Dianne Gallagher, in for Christi Paul this Sunday morning.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.

We start with breaking news and new mandatory evacuation. Six wildfires are smoldering across southern California.

GALLAGHER: Yes, this critical weather conditions are threatening to make those fires even worse now.

CNN correspondent Paul Vercammen live in Ventura, California.

And, Paul, we have some updates. What are you seeing on the ground there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Let me try to get this in perspective for you, Dianne and Victor, because I know a lot of people are alarmed and seeing on social media out of Santa Barbara County. Here's what happened -- there have been some new mandatory evacuations on the extreme east side of Carpentaria from what we can tell. We don't you for a second to think that, all of a sudden, we've got a massive evacuation in the suburban area.

If you look behind me, I'm in Ventura, California, right now. This is one of those apartment buildings that was ravaged by fire. And you can see that palm fronds and what not are falling as we speak, the fear that the fire would spread to other areas.

Back to where these evacuations are. Far inland in the back country, the fire is burning on the Santa Barbara County and Ventura County line. So, that's why you're hearing this eastern part of Carpentaria for the evacuations.

Right here, this is the worst of all these fires burning. This is Ventura. This is the Thomas Fire.

This was once an apartment complex. Now if you look behind me you can tell where the rooms were. It's been reduce to do complete rubble, just challenging beyond belief.

The reason there are these evacuations, you can kind of see the particulate in the air and why I'm wearing my goggles. Fire can smolder for a while and winds can kick up like they are now. Next thing you know, fire is being driven by this wind. So the good news is most of the flanks of this fire, has slowly been sewn up but with this devastating win and red flag warning, everybody in pins and needles right now, in both counties, Santa Barbara and Ventura, hoping for the best.

Back to you now, Dianne, Victor.

GALLAGHER: Paul Vercammen in California, thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His name is Jones and he is their total puppet and everybody knows it. He will never, ever vote for us. So, get out and vote for Roy Moore.

DOUG JONES (D), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: We know that Roy Moore would be a disaster for business in the state and it has been a disaster for the face of Alabama already and we don't need that any more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We deserve to have a senator whose character and integrity and veracity is not questioned on day one.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: If he were to be elected, I think he immediately would have an issue with the ethics committee which they would take up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does not represent my morals, but he does represent my interests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Two days left now until the big election in Alabama. Each candidate has the surrogates out across the state, trying to get the votes out. But there's only one that has the support of the White House.

GALLAGHER: Oh, yes. President Donald Trump has just recorded a robocall for Roy Moore after fully endorsing him at a rally Friday night. Now, Moore is fighting accusations that he molested a 14-year- old girl, sexually assaulted a 16-year-old and pursued other teen girls when he was in his 30s. Moore has denied those allegations but we haven't seen Moore at a public event since Tuesday when he tried to strongly link his campaign to the president. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY MOORE (R), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: This Senate race is the only Senate race going. It's the first Senate race since Donald Trump was elected. And it means something special. It means that we are going to see if the people of Alabama will support the president and support his agenda in Washington by electing somebody that's not part of the establishment there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: His opponent, the Democrat in the race, Doug Jones, his campaign has a similar pitch: Don't just vote for the candidate. Vote to send a message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: A lot of people now are saying that this is election about where Alabama, who do we want to be in the 21st century? I'm not sure I agree with that. I think that the question is not who do we want to be, but who are we? That's the question. Who are we as we give this election to the face of the nation and people look from all over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining us now live from Mobile, Alabama, CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, we saw the tweets from the president. There was a rally on Friday in Pensacola.

[07:05:00] And now, the president is coming in again into Alabama to support Roy Moore again.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Certainly, all of that on behalf of the president, but not much on behalf of Roy Moore. He has essentially disappeared from the campaign trail in these last few days, which is odd, considering what a high stakes, highly contested election this is that is taking place in just a matter of days at this point. And in Roy Moore, the last month, since those sexual assault allegations were first made against him, which he denies, his only done ten or so public events which is certainly not the typically for a candidate in a race like this.

One of his surrogates was asked during a press conference this week, where is Roy Moore? And they said he is out campaigning but if he is, Victor, it certainly is not in the public eye.

Now, we know that he will hold a rally tomorrow night in Alabama with that former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon just like he did on Tuesday as we just showed a clip of Roy Moore at that event. So, the first time we're going to lay eyes on him again since Tuesday. Now, he will do an interview with a local outlet this morning, but that's all we've heard from Roy Moore since then.

Now, Doug Jones, his Democratic opponent, on the other hand is campaigning throughout the state and we know that he has several lawmakers coming into the state to campaign on his behalf, including Senator Cory Booker. So, it should be interesting the last few days just before voters go to the poll on Tuesday.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So, we saw up on that graphic we just put up, the president on Roy Moore's side there in getting out the vote here on the trail. Now, that is figurative in the sense that the president hasn't physically been in Alabama but his voice will be at the other end of the phone when the Alabama voters pick up the phone over the next couple of days, right? Tell us what we know.

COLLINS: Yes, that's right. The White House has confirmed that the president has recorded a robocall on Roy Moore's behalf that will start being dialed into homes starting today. And part of that call, he hits his Democratic opponent Doug Jones, saying that if Alabama elects a liberal Democrat, Doug Jones, all of our progress will be stopped full. Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass our Make America Great Again agenda.

So, Victor and Dianne, maybe not much from Roy Moore these last few days, but certainly a lot on behalf of the president.

BLACKWELL: Yes, if his campaign says he has been out over the last five days, there are plenty of reporters across the state who would have noticed him at one of these events.

Kaitlan Collins there for us, thank you so much.

GALLAGHER: All right. To discuss, I want to bring in Kyle Feldscher, the breaking news editor for "The Washington Examiner", and Sarah Westwood, White House correspondent for "The Washington Examiner."

All right, y'all, Doug Jones is courting the black vote. Cory Booker and John Lewis are all campaign for him. So, what's the deal here? Where's the disconnect? Why do you think the black voters maybe aren't inclined to get out and vote for Jones with the problem right now, Kyle?

KYLE FELDSCHER, BREAKING NEWS EDITOR, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, it just kind of seems like this is a problem Democrats have on a regular basis. There is always this kind of initial movement where they might try to -- this is something you solve with Hillary Clinton. They try to maybe bring in moderate Republicans when there is a controversial Republican candidate such as Roy Moore or with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump.

And then maybe they don't see the level of enthusiasm they want there. So, instead of trying to court new voters, they try to firm up traditional base support such as black voters. And this might be something that Doug Jones might have seen here in recent weeks as the polling has skewed back to Roy Moore after, you know, there was a few good weeks for Doug Jones there. And maybe that's what he is trying to do now, is trying to firm up this traditional base of Democratic support in the state.

GALLAGHER: Yes. But, I mean, Kyle, he cannot win without the black vote there in Alabama. I mean, it's just really not mathematically possible for him so he needs them to get out the vote. You did mention, though, trying to court these moderate Republicans and stuff.

Sarah, is it impossible for Doug Jones? Because, I mean, it seems like beyond the accusations for Roy Moore, it comes down to one major issue and that's abortion in Alabama.

SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Look, one of the reasons why Roy Moore was so popular in the primaries to begin with because he is known in the state, a household name for his evangelical activism on the bench. That's why he came popular in Alabama, that's why he had so much appeal to voters. So, it's not surprising then that the abortion issue has loomed large over the entire contest.

And the fact that Doug Jones has not been able to pick off more voters from Roy Moore, given how much turmoil the Moore campaign is just shows the importance of candidate selection. There have been some exciting candidates for Democrats in red states over the past few years. You had Jason Kander in Missouri, you had Jon Ossoff in Georgia, both of them got pretty surprisingly within striking distance of Republican candidates in red states, but Doug Jones is not an exciting guy to a lot of Democrats. He's not exciting to progressives. You don't see a lot of people campaigning for Doug Jones. You see them campaigning against Roy Moore.

So, it might teach Democrats a lesson to pay more attention to who they put in these races, even if victory is a really distant possibility at the outset.

[07:10:03] GALLAGHER: But do you think in a state like Alabama, even if they are exciting and young and progressive and give a great speech and they are fun to listen to and be around, if they are for abortion rights, can somebody like that win in a statewide election in Alabama?

FELDSCHER: You know, it seems tough. It's really -- in Alabama, you see this with Roy Moore. Maybe one of the reasons he is not on the campaign trail right now is because they want people to see the "R" next to his name on the ballot, not necessarily his name. And they know that the Republican Party stands against abortion and is, you know, for the pro-life cause.

And if you don't have Roy Moore on the campaign trail saying controversial things, maybe he will forget about him and know that this is what the Republican Party stands for and we know that is what the Democratic Party stands for, they're for abortion or whatever. So, we're not going to vote for that candidate and maybe that's the reasoning we don't see too much of Roy Moore right now.

GALLAGHER: You know, it's funny, Sarah, Kyle sort of ushered me into this next question because for somebody who didn't have the president's endorsement in the primary and for someone who the president was slow to get on board with, up until really the past week here, they seem to be pretty close right now -- at least in words. They want to be associated with one another because it seems like they can use the other one's popularity to their own benefit here. WESTWOOD: Right. Roy Moore's voters are Trump voters and vice versa.

Roy Moore recognizes that embracing the president. It can maybe watch away some of his sins in the eyes of some of those voters.

And President Trump loves to back winners. He was a little bit disappointed when he felt like he received bad advice and was led into backing Senator Strange. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. So, you only saw him get on board with the Moore campaign once the polling showed, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Moore is likely going to win on Tuesday.

That's why you see President Trump getting in so late. He has been given enough confidence now he is backing a winner and so from President Trump's perspective, this might make up for the fact that he did take some heat for backing a loser in the Alabama primary.

GALLAGHER: Excellent point, Sarah. President Trump loves winners. Sara and Kyle Feldscher, thank you so much for waking up early on a Sunday.

All right. And you can watch "STATE OF THE UNION" with CNN's Jake Tapper. Republican Senator Richard Shelby from Alabama, Congressman Adam Schiff, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will be on the show. That is "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper at 9:00 a.m. Eastern today.

BLACKWELL: This morning, there is violent protest near a U.S. embassy in Lebanon, as the president's controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel strokes some religious divisions. CNN will take you there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:54] GALLAGHER: All right. We have more breaking news this morning. Tear gas, water cannons, hundreds of angry protesters you can see there, violent demonstrations erupting outside of the U.S. embassy.

BLACKWELL: So, the crowds are reacting to President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israeli.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is there among the crowds, near the U.S. embassy there in northern Beirut.

Ben, to you, is there any way for you, and it may be difficult to quantify the protesters, how many are there and what are you seeing right now?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK. There were more than a thousand protesters but within last hour, Lebanese security forces dispersed them. They basically charged outside of this gate right here that was blocking the entrance to the road that leads to the American embassy. It's important, Victor, to keep in mind that the embassy is a good mile away from here. So, at no point were there -- was the embassy in any danger. But the protesters did manage to rip this gate down, which they are now moving away. But there were also, in addition to the more than thousand protesters, there were well over a hundred, probably more like 200 Lebanese police and other security forces there to stop them from getting anywhere near the embassy.

Now, for the most part, despite those dramatic pictures, the protest was peaceful and, in fact, some of the organizers were trying to very hard to dissuade the young men who were throwing rocks and plastic bottles and sticks but they essentially failed. Certainly at the end when the demonstrators started to disperse, those who stayed behind started to throw a lot of rocks and other objects in the direction of the police.

Now in terms of what people were saying, there was anger at the United States. Some demonstrators, one person making a speech actually thanked President Trump for his decision on Jerusalem because it allowed all of the Arabs and Muslims who have been divided on so many issues so agree on one issue and that, of course, is the status of the city of Jerusalem -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ben Wedeman for us there in northern Beirut, thanks so much.

GALLAGHER: All right. Two days left, just two Senate candidates. The Alabama Senate race looking like it might be close all the way up until the finish. We're going to take a look at who is doing last- minute campaigning and who isn't, next.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the popular actor and comedian is boycotting the radio network, giving another voice, another platform to Steve Bannon. More on this controversy over the show that's coming back, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:24:15] GALLAGHER: Welcome back. I'm Diane Gallagher, in for Christi Paul this Sunday.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.

GALLAGHER: So, just two more days before Alabama voters go to the polls, the Senate candidates are close and some of them are out campaigning. Republican Roy Moore has the president rooting for him. President Trump even recorded a robocall for Moore's campaign despite allegations, of course, of child molestation against Moore, those which he has denied.

BLACKWELL: And this weekend, Democrat Doug Jones is working hard to get out the African-American voters. He's got Senator Cory Booker, Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights icon, rooting for him as well.

Let me bring in Democratic Congressman John Delaney of Maryland. He has already announced, already, announced for a run for president for 2020.

Congressman Delaney, good morning to you.

[07:25:00] Good to have you back.

REP. JOHN DELANEY (D), MARYLAND: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, let me put here on the screen, something you tweeted. I want to start with this Alabama race and put it into the context of what you've tweeted here. Just a couple of hours ago, just on Saturday, we should move the DNC headquarters out of the D.C. and get it closer to the people. Party focus should be advancing new ideas and making the case in the states and districts we need to win. Priority should be connecting with voters, not insiders.

Well, the state that Democrats need to win on Tuesday is Alabama. The issue that connects with many of those voters is life and the right to life there in Alabama.

So, let me ask you this way. Should the DNC, would you back a Democrat in a race, in a state where the Democrat -- the demographics, rather, called for a pro-life candidate?

DELANEY: So, I don't think we can have a single litmus test around every single candidate. There a lot of things as Democrats we obviously agree on. That doesn't mean there is everything we agree on. I think our party platform should fully support women's reproductive freedom, but does that mean I don't have tolerance for people within our party who individually have a different view? Of course, not.

So, you know, I think if we want to be a successful party, if we want to be a big tent party, if we want to be a governing party, we have to be tolerant that some of our candidates will have slightly different views on particular parts of our platform, but that doesn't mean I think we should compromise our platform. I think the platform of the Democratic Party should be firmly supportive of women's reproductive freedom, and if we have a candidate we think could be successful whose values align with us on overwhelming majority of issues, I think we should welcome that person into the party.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, let me just narrow it down to a yes or no if I can. I gave you some time there to kind of expand the answer. But we saw that President Trump directed the RNC to support Roy Moore, despite the allegations he has denied. If you were president, would you call in or ask the DNC to support a pro-life candidate in a state where he has a viable chance of winning?

DELANEY: Yes.

BLACKWELL: OK.

DELANEY: A good Democrat running, of course, I would support them.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, let's move on to funding and DACA. The government has funding through December 22nd. We saw the big four in the meeting with the president.

DELANEY: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Talking about how to move forward and negotiations still questionable over DACA, the 800,000 or so undocumented people came into this country who came here as children.

Nancy Pelosi has said that Congress will not go home. They will not go home without a deal on DACA. Paul Ryan has said this has to be separate legislation.

Would you vote for any spending bill that would not call for a solution, a fix for DACA recipients?

DELANEY: So, you know, it's hard to answer that in isolation, right, because I'm not sure what else is in the spending bill. There's a lot of priorities we have for Democrats.

BLACKWELL: Is that a requirement for you?

DELANEY: Is it a requirement that DACA be in the dill? I think DACA should be part of the bill. I don't think we should kick the can down the road, but I can't say whether I'd vote yes or no because I don't know the other aspects. I mean, I voted no on the spending bill this past week. DACA was not in that, that was one reason. But there are a whole bunch of other reasons why I also didn't support the bill.

BLACKWELL: OK. There's another potential issue that's coming up: the funding for the border wall. I know you don't support the --

DELANEY: No.

BLACKWELL: -- the concept of a border wall, but if there's a DACA fix, if there are other elements that you believe meet the requirements for you, would you support funding to start construction beyond just the test phase and the prototype phase to begin building the wall along the border with Mexico?

DELANEY: So I support a deal that where DACA is reinstated and, in fact, what I think we should be doing is something broader. There's a DREAMers Act in the Congress. That's where I think we should be going. DACA is effectively a subset of that.

And if you pair that with additional border security, I think that's a deal that passes the Congress. I think if you're spending money on border security, which we probably do need to spend more money on, I don't think the highest return on that investment is investing in the border wall.

BLACKWELL: OK. Now, let's talk about taxes. We know that the next phase that is starting now is the conference committee to try to reconcile the House and Senate versions. We are hearing there are some concerns from Senators Collins and Marco Rubio as well about the corporate tax rate, as well as the Affordable Care Act. The president has called for a bill to get to his desk by Christmas.

Do you expect that to happen? DELANEY: Well, listen. It's heading that way, but I'm hopeful it

gets derailed because it's a bad bill. It increases our deficits without any evidence that it will pay for itself. It disproportionately favors the wealthy and, importantly, Victor, it's not prescriptive to the problems we have in the economy right now. We have many problems in our economy right now. We have a lack of public investment in things like infrastructure, in human capital, things like that are not addressed in this tax bill. And tax reforms is an amazing opportunity to actually get to some of the issues facing our economy.

So, what I'm hoping that happens in the next week is that people realize we have an amazing opportunity with tax reform to actually do some things we need to get at. As it relates what is going on in the world and none of them are being dealt with in this tax reform legislation.

[07:30:11] And it's really being done for political reasons. I think at the end of the day most people agree the Republican Party feels like they have to do this because the president has put them in such a tough spot otherwise that they actually have to get something done no matter whether it makes sense or not.

And so much independent analysis come out about this bill about what it does to our deficit, how it's not prescriptive to the problems that we have, which is why it won't generate economic growth that it disproportionately favors wealthy Americans. I'm hoping when you hear some of these concerns that are popping up from the different members of the Senate, that will put us in a position that people say let's hit the pause button and let's try to do something that's actually more prescriptive to the economy, hopefully, on a bipartisan basis which is the way we should be doing everything, Victor, particularly if we want things to endure over time.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Democratic congressman of Maryland 6th, John Delaney -- thanks so much for being with us this morning.

DELANEY: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Dianne?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming up, the president consumes a dozen cans of Diet Coke and watches up to eight hours of TV in a single day? These are reportedly just a few of his daily habits according to this fantastic piece that goes hour-by-hour and it's going to give us a glimpse inside President Trump's routine inside the White House. We've got that coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:42] BLACKWELL: All right. Just past the bottom of the hour.

There's a new piece on "The New York Times" about President Trump's typically day. It really gives us a look hour-by-hour of what the president's day is like. GALLAGHER: Yes. So, they talk about how many Diet Cokes he drinks a

day, to how much TV he consumes, to kind of get the glimpse inside. But also how he has evolved as a president while in the White House, Victor. How he thinks and how he acts.

We want to talk about this with our political panel, Kyle Feldscher and Sarah Westwood.

First, let's talk about the one getting all of the play on social media right now. It really is interesting that the president drinks about 12 cans of Diet Coke a day, that he can watch up to eight hours of television a day, and that before he took office, he said to think of each presidential day as an episode in a TV show.

Is this concerning? Is this just sort of a look at his untraditional -- his nontraditional habits, Kyle?

KYLE FELDSCHER, BREAKING NEWS EDITOR, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It really is. Your point it's a nontraditional habits. I mean, this isn't a man who made his career off of being his own publicist and being -- you know, getting his name out there. And he was an entertainer on TV before, you know, he really entered the world of politics.

So, to see that he would think of the world -- or think of the presidency as a TV show is kind of keeping in line with the fact that he was the host of "The Apprentice." he kind of saw his life in that way.

GALLAGHER: Yes. But, Kyle, is it really fair to the American people to be just kind, you know, paws in the Trump show, to just sort of be these background characters in a show starring Donald Trump?

FELDSCHER: Well, I think a lot of people knew what they were voting for when they voted for this guy. I mean, he had run his campaign in the same way he is running his presidency. He was a constant from one movement to the next and people seem to like that. I'm not sure if -- he won the Electoral College and obviously didn't win the popular vote and has really, really low for a first-year president approval ratings.

But, nonetheless, this is something that the American people -- this is not a flaw. This is -- or something that was unexpected. This is part of the package with Donald Trump. I think people expected this when they voted for him.

GALLAGHER: You know, Sarah, this is a part of this piece here that seems to sort of show a bit of at least some sort of evolution of thought. His adviser said that when Trump came into office that he thought being president would be like ruling by fiat and cutting back room deals and now that he's learning that maybe the presidency doesn't work that way. If you're a Republican, perhaps you're encouraged to hearing that, you know, he needs to, quote, woo and not whack leaders of his own party to get things done.

SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Right. That one of the most fascinating aspects to the story to me was to show that someone who is over the age of 70, someone often described as being inflexible in his ways is actually changing the way he views the job of the presidency. There were some descriptions of some run-ins he had with Republican lawmakers earlier this year over the summer that he tried to boss them around, that he tried to dictate commands to them as if they were his employees. And he learned that that is not the way Washington works.

Sort of explains some of the public animus we saw over the summer when his legislative agenda was stalling, when we saw that he was feuding with Republican lawmakers behind the scenes. We know that he was learning how the presidency interacts with Congress. Now that he sort of has the rhythm down a little bit more thoroughly, we are seeing that his agenda is moving through Congress and maybe that evolution of thought is explaining why he is being more successful now.

GALLAGHER: All right. Kyle Feldscher, Sarah Westwood, I think a lot of people might still be a little concerned about the president's health with those 12 Diet Cokes a day and potentially eight hours of television. Thank you so much for joining us today.

BLACKWELL: All right. Some backlash now from people who disagree with chief strategist Steve Bannon, at least the former chief strategist of the White House. We'll tell you who is protesting his return to Sirius XM by refusing to give the radio network an interview.

(MUSIC)

All right. Now, in this week's "Staying Well." hot bath. Sound good, right? A sauna. Even better. But this could really be good for you.

Here are the health benefits in "Staying Well".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:40:00] DON BENEDICT, BACK PAIN SUFFERER: I've had three back surgeries and the last one didn't do so well. I come to this springs in Idaho City three times a week. Hot water makes me feel so much better. The depression seems to leave too.

DR. DAVID BURKE, CHAIRMAN, EMORY REHABILITATION MEDICINE: When you step into a hot bath and your core temperature goes up, a number of things happen that help with pain. You relax the muscles and that takes the tension off the nerves that run through the muscles. Hot baths expand the blood vessels to allow the healing properties within the blood to be delivered.

D. BENEDICT: I was on six different OxyContin and 14 pills a day. Not only did I drop the pills in numbers, I dropped the medication in potency.

BURKE: If you do this three times a week, we know your risk of cardiovascular disease, your risk of heart attack, of stroke goes down in emersion in hot water or steam. There are people that have cardiovascular conditions where they should check with their physicians before they engage in any treatment. SUSAN BENEDICT, DON'S WIFE: He gets in the corner there and I can see

in his face that he is totally calm. It impacts us in every way possible.

D. BENEDICT: What I'm trying to do is get back some quality of life that I enjoy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:54] GALLAGHER: All right. We have some breaking news out of Jerusalem where there has been a stabbing at a central bus station.

CNN's Ian Lee is live in Jerusalem.

And, Ian, you were there at the scene. What can you tell us? What more is happening?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the attack, we are told, took place right behind me in this area. We are told that an assailant tried to stab a security guard. The guard was injured, severely injured. He's been taken to a hospital. This is according to the Israeli emergency services.

We're told that the person has been arrested and taken in for questioning.

But this area was locked down until really recently. You can see people are now going back. This is the central bus terminal. So, from here, people travel all over the country and that is where this attack took place, but this is part of the heightened tensions that (AUDIO GAP)

We do know the motive behind this attack. We do not know who carried out this attack, but there is that tension right now in Jerusalem that has everyone on edge and we are waiting for the police to figure out what the motives were behind this attack.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ian Lee for us there in Jerusalem, getting us the latest -- Ian, thanks so much.

GALLAGHER: Actor and comedian Seth Rogan is boycotting Sirius XM Radio after the network announced that former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is returning to host his old radio show that he had, "Breitbart News Daily".

BLACKWELL: Rogan has cancelled all of his schedule appearances on the network next week for his new movie in protest.

Here to discuss is host of Sirius XM, Dean Obeidallah show, CNN contributor Dean Obeidallah.

Dean, good morning to you.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, SIRIUSXM HOST, "THE DEAN OBEIDALLAH SHOW": Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, let's start here. You don't like Steve Bannon. You don't like what he says, how he says it or what he wants America to be. That's a given based on what we know about you and your politics.

But how is this dramatically different than Rush Limbaugh who's been on the radio for decades and Sean Hannity who's been on for years, other conservative thought leaders, Republicans who are on the air that you happen to disagree with?

OBEIDALLAH: Sure. Well, I mean, my philosophy if is there speech you don't like the answer is not suppressed speech, it is to fight for more speech. I think the best response to speech you don't like is more speech. So, to me, I defend the right of those who I disagree with and those I consider vile like Steve Bannon, frankly, to have the platform to speak.

Seth Rogan is hilarious. I wish Seth Rogan would come on my show and trash Steve Bannon on my show nightly when I do the same thing there.

But, you know, Steve Bannon is unique character. Let's be blunt about this. It's not typical left versus right. This is a man who turned "Breitbart" into really a platform bragging for the alt-right, which is synonymous with white nationalism. And I'm a Muslim and I've written about it a lot. Steve Bannon has turned Breitbart number one place for anti-Muslim bigots, people who listed by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center and anti-Muslim bigots to write articles to demonize me and my community.

Yet, at the same time in this country you want to defeat Steve Bannon and Donald Trump in that rhetoric? It's the game of all, and my show is on a channel. The number one priority of my show is defeating Steve Bannon and Donald Trump in that rhetoric, and drive it back to the fringes of American society.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let me read for you a tweet that came out from former Governor Howard Dean who tweeted this to Sirius XM. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I will renew my subscription.

So, again, we just said that you have your own show. Your message to Governor Dean who, I imagine, your politics would overlap with, canceling his subscription. That can't be good for you.

OBEIDALLAH: No, it's not good for all of us involved who really want to be involved in this speech. And I understand, Governor Dean I have a great deal of respect. I wish he would come on my show as well frankly. I have countless elected officials, former elected officials who digress.

I'm in unique position.

[07:50:00] I'm on the Sirius XM progress channel. We are a group of progressive channel.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

OBEIDALLAH: I'm not kidding when I say my number one priority is elect Democrats, to help defeat Bannon and Trump and that policy.

So, leaving us is not the right thing. To defeat them, we need more people. So those people really want to effectively defeat Steve Bannon? It is not leaving Sirius XM or any platform trying to defeat him, but it's engaging with us, getting involved.

And I really hope people take a second, but I respect their views. Believe me, I get it. I'm -- it is complex feelings I have as well, but I believe them.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

All right. Dean Obeidallah, we got a lot of breaking news coming in from Lebanon and from Israel this morning, I hate to cut it short, but thank you so much for being with us this morning.

OBEIDALLAH: Sure.

GALLAGHER: All right. It was a wild finish to the Army/Navy and our Coy Wire live in Philadelphia.

Coy, you were right in the middle of all of it, including the field rush at the end.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: The field rush was incredible. I was in the middle of it all. We're going to bring you that and some of the other sights and sounds we hear from the head coach and a star player after what was an incredible 118th Army/Navy game.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:55:44] GALLAGHER: All right. It was snowy.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

GALLAGHER: It was hard to see some of the players, it was so snowy.

But the gridiron, the game itself, incredible. The 118th edition of the Army/Navy game. It was thrilling. It added to that classic rivalry, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Apparently, Dianne is exhibited about this game.

Coy Wire has today's "Bleacher Report" in Philly.

WIRE: The daughter of an army man -- of course, she's excited for that great victory last night Army/Navy game was an instant classic.

The stage was set here in Philadelphia. A blanket of snow covered the battlefield. Last year, Navy had their 14-year win streak snapped. And Army now, they're looking to start a streak of their own.

Army wore white camouflage paying tribute to the 10th Mountain Division who battled in the Alps in World War II, the so-called can-do commandos fought an uphill battle. The entire game after Navy captured the league early, but senior quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw said, follow me.

With just five minutes to go, he pushes into the end zone. Then army climbs to glory capturing victory, the 14-13 win. They raise the commander in chief's trophy for the first time in 21 years having beaten the navy and the air force in the same season.

Now, I saw in the middle of it all afterwards. The cadets flying over the wall. I saw the tears, the hugs and all the emotion and passion that comes out of people involved with this iconic rivalry. It was a hard-fought battle and the Coach Jeff Monken says that his cadets were built for this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MONKEN, COACH, ARMY: I'm so proud of our team. What an incredible effort. The teams played an unbelievable game. When the conditions are the worst, that's when the army comes through and fights their best. They saved the best for last.

AHMAD BRADSHAW, QUARTERBACK, ARMY: We do it for the corps cadets. We do it for the army, and this is what it is all about. It was amazing.

WIRE: What message do you have for all the servicemen and women watching across our country and overseas?

BRADSHAW: Thank you for your service, we love you and I can't wait to fight alongside with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Powerful words and powerful moment.

And it was another powerful moment last night. Oklahoma's quarterback Baker Mayfield becomes the first player to go from college walk-on to walking off with a Heisman Trophy. He put together an impressive season, leading the Sooners to the college football playoffs for the second time in three years. He finished in the top four of the last two seasons. But the third time was a charm. He captures the 83rd Heisman Trophy. He thanked his family, and the people who helped make it all happen afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAKER MAYFIELD, OKLAHOMA QUARTERBACK: There were times that I had to move, you made sacrifice after sacrifice just so I could chase my dreams. I wouldn't be here without you. Love you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Congrats to Baker Mayfield, but a special congrats to the Army Black Knights for their victory. But thank you to their service to both men who will fight for us. Victor, we're going to get you here next year. You're going to be

inspired by their playing, but their passion and purpose will win your heart and mind as well.

BLACKWELL: There's a streak now. There's a streak.

GALLAGHER: There's a streak.

BLACKWELL: Two in a row.

WIRE: That's right.

BLACKWELL: All right. Coy, thanks so much.

Hey, "Saturday Night Live" was back with a twisted Christmas spirit, let's say. Opening sketch featured Santa's make believe workshop at a shopping mall for kids. Kids sat on Santa's lap and asked important questions, like making Santa's naughty list. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Will I get laser tag?

SANTA CLAUS: Well, I can certainly try.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: And can you tell me, what did Al Franken do?

SANTA CLAUS: OK, wow. Let's see, I think I can handle the blocks and the laser tag, can you shake the Al Franken thing, sugar plum?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. And in this climate, can you just call me Amy?

SANTA CLAUS: I guess you can say that Al Franken is on Santa's naughty list this year.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: And what about Roy Moore? Which list is he on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not really a list, it's more of a registry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: All right. Thank you so much for starting your Sunday morning with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next. Nia-Malika Henderson is in for John King.