Holiday Weather Outlook; Eagles Soar in Playoff Race; North Korea to Abandon Negotiations.
AVLON: It's looking like a blue Christmas for the Cowboys as their playoff hopes dwindle with a loss to the Eagles. Andy Scholes here with more in the "Bleacher Report." Andy.</s>ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. Not a Merry Christmas for Cowboys fans. You know, Dallas could have won the NFC East yesterday, but they just had another classic Cowboys meltdown. Just really didn't show up for this huge game in Philadelphia. The shorthanded Eagles, meanwhile, seizing the day, jumped on Dallas early, scoring the game's first 10 point. The Cowboys failing to score a touchdown. In this one, Ezekiel Elliott carried the ball just 13 times as the Eagles would win 17- 9. Philly can now win the NFC East with a win over the Giants on Sunday. The Cowboys now need the Eagles to lose that game and then beat the Redskins if they hope to get into the playoffs. All right, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, meanwhile, putting a beat down on the Bears on Sunday night football. Mahomes throwing two touchdowns in the 26-3 win. And after this TD to Travis Kelce, Mahomes kind of trolling Bears fans, counting how many players on his fingers were taken over him in the 2017 draft. Bears fans, of course, never going to forget. They took quarterback Mitch Trubisky second. Mahomes then went 10 with Deshaun Watson being picked 12th. All right, finally, Christmas coming early for one lucky Bucks fan last night. Check out Giannis Antetokounmpo giving away his shoes after the game to a young fan. Her face, just priceless. She starts crying, she was so happy. Giannis then picked her up and then took a picture with her. Tell you what, guys, good luck to Santa Claus trying to top Santa Giannis this year because that present right there, pretty, pretty cool.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>AVLON: Yes, if you get that reaction under the tree, you've done well.</s>CAMEROTA: Andy, thank you.</s>SCHOLES: Absolutely. Yes.</s>AVLON: Thanks, Andy.</s>SCHOLES: All right.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, now, developing overnight, new details about the Christmas gift that North Korea is warning the U.S. about. CNN has learned that North Korea is planning to abandon negotiations with Washington. Instead, adopting a hard line policy and taking denuclearization off the table. Joining us now is Gordon Chang, a columnist for "The Daily Beast." Gordon, what's the -- what's the -- well, let me just read the -- let me read the statement about the Christmas gift. Here's what they said. It is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will select to get. That's from the vice minister of the North Korean foreign ministry. What does that mean?</s>GORDON G. CHANG, COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, my record of predictions is less than 50 percent. I tend to think -- with that warning, I tend to think the North Koreans aren't going to do anything really serious, at least for another couple months. And the reason is, they need some time to digest all the information they got from those two rocket engine tests this month. So it's going to take them time to actually launch an intercontinental ballistic missile or do something else. But, you know, they're great at misdirection, they fool us all the time and I'm betting about 10 percent on predictions.</s>CAMEROTA: Glad we booked you. No, I'm just kidding, you are -- you are always a great voice to have on here because the messages out of the administration are confusing. And so John Bolton, former national security adviser, has just given overnight an interview to "Axios," and he sees real warning signs ahead. Here are some of the things that John Bolton is saying. He says, OK, Bolton does not think the administration really means it when President Trump and top officials vow to stop North Korea from having deliverable nuclear weapons or it would be pursuing a different course. So, Bolton doesn't think that President Trump is serious about stopping the nuclear weapons.</s>CHANG: That's a really interesting comment about bluffing the North Koreans. In a sense he's right. I wouldn't have used that term. You know, President Trump, out of the Ottawa (ph) G-7 in June of last year told us what he's going to do. He said he was going to give Kim a, quote/unquote one-time shot to do the right thing. Now, Kim has had more than a one-time shot. And so Trump's policy is failing now. Now, Trump can turn it around if he start supplying pressure, but the president has shown no indication he's doing that. And that's the reason why Bolton has gone after him.</s>CAMEROTA: John Bolton, to your point, said this in this "Axios" interview yesterday. The idea that we are somehow exerting maximum pressure on North Korea is just unfortunately not true. He went on to say, we are now nearly three years into the Trump administration with no visible progress towards getting North Korea to make the strategic decision to stop pursuing deliverable nuclear weapons. Was President Trump duped by Kim Jong-un into thinking that they were friends?</s>CHANG: Yes, well, probably. I mean that statement from Bolton is 100 percent correct because the U.S., since May of last year, has not been applying quote/unquote maximum pressure. In May we did not go after almost 36 Russian, Chinese and other front (ph) companies that the North Koreans are using. And because the North Koreans change their front companies all the time, it means we're not really enforcing sanctions. We've allowed the Chinese to run over and violate all of those rules. So, yes, Bolton's right about that. But what Trump is doing is probably trying to give Kim an opportunity to sort of create this generous atmosphere. But Trump has been much too patient.</s>CAMEROTA: But when you say maximum pressure, you mean economic sanctions. Is that what happens --</s>CHANG: Economic sanctions.</s>CAMEROTA: Pressure from the U.S. would look like?</s>CHANG: Yes. I mean basically we have -- up until May of last year, we cut off 50 percent of the international revenue to the Kims. Now the Kims are getting all that they need. Not all that they want, but all that they need. And China is openly violating those sanctions. And we're not doing anything about it. So Bolton is absolutely right, we are not enforcing sanctions. And -- and I think the American people need to have more candor out of the administration because they say, oh, yes, we're enforcing sanctions. Well, no, they're not.</s>CAMEROTA: As you will remember, what President Trump has said is that he and Kim Jong-un, quote, fell in love over their beautiful -- quote, beautiful letters. I mean what's the point of having a great pen pal if they continue to test and build their nuclear arsenal?</s>CHANG: Right. You know, the fault of the Trump administration is thinking that the United States could entice the North Koreans into good behavior. Nobody has ever been able to do that. Not the Chinese, not the Russians, not the South Koreans. We're not going to be the first. And so I think that the decision, what Trump is doing, is really strategically wrong. But, Alisyn, it mirrors what the United States did with China. In 2017, Trump's first year of the president, he gave free passes to the Chinese and Xi Jinping. March 2018, he starts to bring the hammer down on Beijing. Trump probably will do the same thing with Kim Jong-un, but, you know, right now there's no sign that the president is going to pivot to a more successful policy.</s>CAMEROTA: But, I mean, isn't that the only thing that makes sense is to reinstate the economic sanctions?</s>CHANG: Absolutely.</s>CAMEROTA: Otherwise, what has the U.S. gotten out of these meetings of President Trump going there and having this, you know, this alleged like charm offensive?</s>CHANG: Yes, we've gotten absolutely nothing because in this interim, since May of last year, the North Koreans have been making progress on both intercontinental ballistic missiles and on their nukes. They are rehabilitating their facilities, they're increasing their number of warheads, they're testing and we're doing nothing.</s>CAMEROTA: Gordon Chang, always great to have you here. Thanks so much for all the insight.</s>CHANG: Thanks, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, so the battle over the Senate impeachment trial is heating up. NEW DAY continues right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White House budget official Michael Duffey ordered the Pentagon to hold the aid and signaled the decision could be politically explosive.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing new in these e-mails about the timing truly.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If there was ever an argument that we need Mr. Duffey to come testify, this is that information.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This impeachment has been a long, dark shadow on our country.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they're doing is injecting danger into the system.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: TSA reduced the sensitivity on all walk-through metal detectors at airports across America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My biggest fear is having something happen that costs American lives. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. John Berman is off. John Avalon is here. Great to have you on this holiday week.</s>AVLON: Good morning.</s>CAMEROTA: Up first, Democrats are renewing their calls to have key Trump administration officials testify in the Senate impeachment trial. This comes after newly released e-mails show the White House Budget Office ordered that freeze on Ukraine military aid about 90 minutes after President Trump's July 25th phone call where he pressured Ukraine's new leader to investigate his own political rivals. One e-mail from the -- President Trump's budget office's appointee, Mike Duffey, asked the Pentagon to, quote, keep it quiet about the suspension of the aid because of the, quote, sensitive nature of the request. Duffey has defied the House subpoena, but Senate Democrats say this is further evidence that he should testify.</s>AVLON: Meantime, lawmakers are away for the holidays.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If there was ever an argument that we need Mr. Duffey to come testify, this is that information. This e-mail is explosive.</s>AVLON: Meantime END