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Pence in Charge of Trump Transition Team; Political Infighting and ObamaCare Changes; Getting Ready for the White House; Kremlin Hopes "Lousy" Relations with U.S. May Improve; ISIS Killing Civilians in Mosul. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired November 12, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Trump's transition: (INAUDIBLE) the president-elect shakes things up (INAUDIBLE) team.
Meanwhile thousands are still taking to the streets to protest his victory.
Plus another grim report from Mosul. ISIS continues to execute innocent civilians.
I'm Cyril Vanier and you are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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VANIER: Protests across the U.S. for three straight days. Demonstrators have marched and chanted against the election of Donald Trump. And it's not having any noticeable effect on the president- elect, who is moving ahead with his transition team.
On Friday, Trump put vice president-elect Mike Pence in charge of the transition.
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VANIER (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) Portland, Oregon, at the moment in (INAUDIBLE) time ago things were heating up. Police ordered protesters to disperse after reports that some had begun throwing objects at officers.
But most of the other protests across the country have been peaceful. Thousands of people turned out in Atlanta, Miami, San Diego, Boston, to name but a few cities, where protests have taken place.
Trump's transition team is moving forward despite these protests and there were several developments on Friday, among them hints of a compromise on ObamaCare. Jim Acosta explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just days after the election, a shakeup inside the Trump transition team. Vice president-elect Mike Pence has taken over Trump's transition efforts, bumping New Jersey Governor Chris Christie down to vice chairman, along with Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, Newt Gingrich and Dr. Ben Carson.
Sources say the move comes after infighting inside the transition over whether the team should hire previously anti-Trump Republicans, the so-called never-Trumpers, not to mention the still unfolding Bridgegate scandal in New Jersey.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you.
ACOSTA: Another surprise for the new administration comes one day after Donald Trump met with President Obama. Following his conversation with the president, Trump is now open to keeping some portions of ObamaCare, something he vowed to repeal during the campaign.
Trump told "The Wall Street Journal": "Either ObamaCare will be amended or repealed and replaced."
But the incoming administration is facing a more pressing concern, continued protests against the president-elect flaring up across the country.
REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Look, I everyone needs to just take a deep breath.
ACOSTA: RNC Chair Reince Priebus urged calm after the president-elect himself ratcheted up the tension, returning to Twitter to complain: "Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters incited by the media are protesting. Very unfair;" a gripe he walked back, later tweeting: "Love the fact that the small group of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud."
But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says Trump must do more than just tweet. "If this going to be a time of healing," Reid says in a statement, "we must first put the responsibility for healing where it belongs, at the feet of Donald Trump, a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate."
Priebus, who helped persuade Trump to stop tweeting at the end of the campaign and now a front-runner for White House chief of staff, agreed demonstrators have a right to protest.
PRIEBUS: I understand the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, but this election's over now. And we have a president-elect who has done everything he can do over the last 48 hours to say, let's bring people together.
ACOSTA: CNN has learned Priebus and former campaign chairman Steven Bannon are the leading candidates for the powerful chief of staff position, with a source telling CNN that signs are pointing to Priebus.
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VANIER: I'm joined by Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
Larry, tell me about transition dos and don'ts and how Donald Trump is doing so far.
LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Essentially, Trump is just getting into the meat of this. And so are many of his people. Yes, he's had a transition planning committee for some time. It's provided for by the federal government.
But let's just say that we weren't the only ones shocked by the Trump victory. The Trump high command, the Republican National Committee and Trump himself actually expected to lose. And they had spent far more time on their concession statement than in writing a victory statement.
VANIER: OK. But does that matter?
OK, he is taken by surprise and might have been taken by surprise, does it really matter in the way he conducts his transition?
Maybe he is one, two, three days late in the way he starts it but now he is in the thick of it.
SABATO: I think it matters a great deal. Donald Trump has never spent a day in public office, appointed or elected. So this is all new to him.
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And I think the visit to the White House with President Obama sobered him up in a way.
Now the transition committee has had a major change already. The person who was in charge, New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, is no longer in charge. He was clearly demoted from chairman to vice chairman.
And the new vice president-elect has been pointed to head up the transition committee, Mike Pence. In a way, that's a good thing because --
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VANIER: And that shows some political savvy, doesn't it?
SABATO: Well, it shows that he recognizes that there are so many things to do and that the transition chair has to work closely with the leaders of Congress. And it takes somebody like Mike Pence, who actually served 10 years in Congress, to accomplish it.
SABATO: And just briefly, Larry, are there any pitfalls, things that Donald Trump absolutely needs to avoid?
SABATO: Well, it would be helpful if somebody took his iPhone away from him again so he couldn't access Twitter in the middle of the night. He briefly got into trouble criticizing the protesters and the media who were reacting to his election. Clearly somebody got from his staff got to him or his family got to him and he cleaned it up with a second tweet in the morning.
But it would really be helpful if, as president, he decided not to use Twitter so often.
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VANIER: One of the most critical positions any new president must fill is White House chief of staff. That person holds enormous power from how the White House runs down to who gets to see the president. CNN's Dana Bash takes a closer look at the man now believed to be in line for the job.
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DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Election Night the person Donald Trump praised more than anyone else was Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I tell you, Reince is really a star and he is the hardest working guy.
And in a certain way, I did this -- Reince come up here.
Where is Reince?
Get over here, Reince. Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, it's about the time you did this, Reince.
BASH: Even surrendering his victory speech microphone to Priebus.
TRUMP: Amazing guy. Our partnership with the RNC is so important to the success and what we've done.
BASH: It is true that the RNC had more influence over Trump's campaign than any in recent history. Priebus started to build ground operations and voter files in key states three years ago, which Trump used and benefited from, big-time.
REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: We spent the last four years building a nationwide ground game.
BASH: In the last few months of Trump's campaign, Priebus personally played an outsized role, from helping lead debate prep to traveling extensively to help keep Trump focused and disciplined.
PRIEBUS: We're so honored to be working with Donald Trump. BASH: Those pushing for Priebus say he's the ideal chief of staff for several reasons. He can organize the White House and be a good gatekeeper, crucial traits for that job.
And they point to the relationships he has with Republicans, who run Capitol Hill, especially House Speaker Paul Ryan, a longtime close friend from Wisconsin. Priebus even brokered their first meeting this spring.
BASH: Do you feel like a couple's therapist?
PRIEBUS: No, you know what, you wouldn't say that if you're in the room.
BASH: But those very bonds Priebus has with GOP leaders give Trump pause. They didn't want Trump to be president and though Priebus often acted as a go-between during the campaign, which ultimately helped Trump, sources close to the president-elect say he isn't 100 percent sure Priebus is loyal.
TRUMP: When you're a star, they let you do it.
BASH: Especially since, as party chair, Priebus had to publicly criticize Trump more than once when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out he said, quote, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner, ever.
Another contender for chief of staff, Steve Bannon, was always a steadfast Trump loyalist. He came from Breitbart, a conservative publication that spends as much time attacking establishment Republicans as Democrats.
STEVE BANNON, BREITBART: What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party and get those guys, you know, heeding, too and if we have to, we'll take it over.
BASH: Bannon became Trump's chief executive officer during the third campaign shake up and sources say immediately had the candidate's ear. In fact, Bannon too began traveling with Trump extensively in the waning weeks of the campaign.
Although he sometimes fed Trump's worst instincts, sources say he also had enough credibility with the candidate to convince him not to send damaging tweets or retaliate against critics in a way that will distract from his core message.
For that reason, even if Bannon is not chief of staff, Trump sources say to expect in some capacity, he will be around a Trump White House -- Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
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VANIER: Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump --
[03:10:00] VANIER: -- vowed to do away with ObamaCare -- or most of it, at least. Well, Trump now says that he may keep some parts of the Affordable Care Act intact.
The president-elect told "The Wall Street Journal" that he is now reconsidering his previous stance following his meeting with Mr. Obama on Thursday that you see right now. In an interview with the CBS News show, "60 Minutes," he detailed what provisions of the law might stay in.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask you about ObamaCare, which you say you're going to repeal and replace.
When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that?
TRUMP: Also with the children living with their parents for an extended period. We're going to --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that?
TRUMP: Very much try and keep that (INAUDIBLE).
Adds cost but it's very much something we're going to try and keep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's going to be a period, if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people --
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TRUMP: We're going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine. That's what I do. I do a good job. You know, I mean, I know how to do this stuff. We're going to repeal it and replace it.
And we're not going to have like a two-day period and we're not going to have a two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. And we'll know. And it will be great health care for much less money.
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VANIER: The threat of a repeal of ObamaCare sent more than 100,000 Americans rushing to buy health insurance on Wednesday, the day after the U.S. election. That's the biggest turnout so far during this year's signup period.
Coming up, a top aide to Russia's Vladimir Putin says relations between his boss and President Obama are lousy.
So does he think that will change under President Trump?
The answer -- coming up next.
Plus: casualties are mounting in Iraq's battle against ISIS in Mosul. A look at one hospital flooded with victims -- ahead.
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VANIER: World leaders are reacting to a Trump presidency. Let's give you a view of what European leaders have been saying.
French president Francois Hollande spoke with Donald Trump by phone on Friday. A spokeswoman told CNN they expressed their willingness to work together.
German chancellor Angela Merkel also telephoned Trump and congratulated him on his victory.
And British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is telling European leaders to, quote, "snap out of the doom and gloom" over Trump's win.
Meanwhile, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said his boss and Donald Trump had a number of things in common, including protecting their country's prosperity and national interests. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells CNN that both men are ready to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia.
He says ties between the Kremlin and the Obama administration right now are, quote, "very lousy." Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to congratulate Trump on his win. CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins us now live from Moscow.
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VANIER: Matthew, both countries, the U.S. and Russia, are on at odds on key foreign policy issues, most notably Syria at the moment.
What's the likelihood that the relations between Moscow and Washington will improve under a Trump presidency?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's, of course, possible. There's been lots of positive remarks made by Donald Trump throughout his campaign for the U.S. presidency that he would look again, for instance, he said, at recognizing Crimea, which is a strategic peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
He has spoken about the possibility of working together with Russia in Syria to eliminate Islamic State and other jihadist groups.
But of course while that sounds good in theory, in practice it will be very difficult. On the Syria issue, of course, if Russia chooses to align itself -- or the United States chooses to align itself with Russia, that would be a huge backturn in policy and would potentially alienate other key allies, not least of which is Turkey and the Gulf states.
In Ukraine, if Trump decides to recognize Crimea, that's not only going to upset the Ukrainians but it's also going to upset the European Union, which is very cautious and very concerned about Russian expansion into Eastern Europe.
And so, look, it sounds good in theory. In practice, it is going to be very, very difficult because even though both of these leaders prioritize their own country's national interests, those interests are not necessarily mutual -- Cyril.
VANIER: And I was going to ask you, Matthew, in fact, Donald Trump is going to be President of the U.S. He's going to have to defend American interests.
Is there room for him to generally improve relations with Moscow within that remit?
CHANCE: Well, the hope is that, yes, because relations, as Dmitry Peskov told Christiane Amanpour yesterday, in her interview on CNN, relations are lousy at the moment. And they are getting worse, as well. They have been under President Obama. We have seen an escalation in the rhetoric. We have seen people being -- we're talking about a new Cold War even between Russia and the United States.
And that's immensely dangerous because these countries are nuclear superpowers still. They have thousands of weapons effectively that can be pointed at each other. And the potential for catastrophic escalation is very real.
And so, in that sense, a new president that is willing to draw a line under that and kind of approach the old dogmas in a different way is something that is potentially very positive indeed. But as we've said, it will be very complicated indeed. The problems between these two countries are not going to simply disappear.
VANIER: All right, Matthew Chance reporting on the likelihood of relations between Moscow and Washington warming under a Trump presidency. Thank you very much.
A fundamental part of Donald Trump's campaign was his promise to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and he is not backing down on that. In fact, he says that border security will be a priority during his first days in office. Ed Lavandera has more now on the reaction in Mexico.
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TRUMP: We're going to build a great wall.
The wall just got 10 feet higher.
Maybe someday they're going to call it the Trump Wall. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The border between the United States and Mexico stretches nearly 2,000 miles; nearly 700 miles of it is already covered with some form of border wall or steel fencing. But Donald Trump wants more.
TRUMP: On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall.
MICHAEL DEAR, CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNER: Well, of course it can be done --
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Professor Michael Dear is an expert in city and regional planning and the author of the book, "Why Walls don't Work."
DEAR: A large concrete structure which might be 25 feet high would be very intensive in terms of resources and money.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In fact, CNN has surveyed a number of civil engineers, architects and academics about what may be most feasible. The wall would mostly likely need to be made of precast cement wall panels, 25 feet tall, 10 feet wide, eight inches thick, requiring 339 million cubic feet of concrete.
The panels would be held together by 5 billion pounds of reinforced steel with an estimated cost of at least $10.5 billion and possibly much more.
Trump supporters say they can't wait to see the beginning of the border wall construction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wall will get built and Mexico's going to pay for that wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he will try to build a wall and I think he will try to secure our borders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If people want to come into the country, they should do it legally.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): But in Mexico, the idea of a wall is often shrugged off as a bump in the road north.
Jose Torres Hernandez says he has illegally crossed into the U.S. many times to find work picking fruits and vegetables. He says a wall might make crossing over a little harder but immigrants like him would --
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): -- always find a way to find work to feed their families.
And Armando Flores Gutierrez says he has crossed the border 25 times, starting when he was just 16, to work farm fields all over the U.S. He says keeping people like him out of the country will only hurt the U.S.
He says if he tries to remove all of the Mexicans in the United States, Donald Trump will realize what a huge mistake that is and how much the U.S. economy depends on Mexican immigrants -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Mexico City.
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VANIER: As the battle for Mosul rages on in Iraq, there are more reports that ISIS is executing civilians. The U.N. said Friday that the terror group killed at least 60 civilians in the city this week. Some of the victims' bodies were hung at intersections with notes, accusing them of collaborating with Iraqi forces.
Witnesses tell CNN that some were killed just for owning cellphones. News of the atrocities comes as anti-ISIS forces pushed into the Kaodicea (ph) and al-Bakraoui neighborhoods in Eastern Mosul. And these images from the Iraqi defense ministry appear to show civilians cheering Iraqi forces on as they advance into Mosul.
ISIS is losing ground but Iraqi gains come at a cost. Fierce fighting with the terror group has put both civilians and Iraqi troops in harm's way. From near Mosul, our Michael Holmes has a look at a hospital rushing to save lives. A warning, though, this report contains graphic images.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST (voice-over): Casualties of war: the weapon, an ISIS favorite, the car bomb.
The triage room is full. And yet the ambulances keep coming. The doctors and medics have to decide who is closer to death and one operating theater at this hospital 40 kilometers from Mosul.
This man has shrapnel wounds, stitched up. He will live.
They have two other brand-new operating theaters here but not the equipment need to use them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need equipment. But as soon as possible. We have only this with two beds.
HOLMES: Outside are two other Iraqi soldiers from the same unit that has been hit. This man wounded by a car bomb days earlier. Their will to return to the fight undiminished.
He says he is ready to fight again and not just in Mosul but everywhere they are. They are dangerous to the world.
This hospital isn't used to this. Once a small-town clinic, now dealing with combat casualties. And it's the only non-ISIS held hospital in the entire province.
On this day, more than a dozen wounded soldiers brought in; 70 arrived in the last week.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is helping with advice, equipment and staff but they and the hospital workers fear a flood not of soldiers but of civilians caught in the crossfire. At the moment, unable to get out wounded or not.
It would be hard to find a better example of what this war is doing to civilians. This family was in a house hit by a shell. These two men were injured but it got worse. His sisters, age 16 and 27, were both killed.
UINIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe more patients won't get access to health care. That is my biggest concern. I think right now, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
HOLMES (voiced-over): Later we see the soldier again, outside, emotional. He knows some of the new wounded and learned two good friends could be dead -- . Michael Holmes, CNN, Al-Shekhan (ph), Northern Iraq.
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VANIER: The Taliban are claiming responsibility for an attack on the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. At least four people are dead, 14 more are wounded. NATO says an explosive device was detonated at Bagram airfield early in the morning. A local official says the people killed were foreign citizens but their nationalities are as yet unknown.
In South Korea now, thousands of protesters are demanding again that the president resign. It is one of the largest anti-government protests in about three decades. You are seeing the latest pictures out of the South Korea capital, Seoul.
President Park Geun-hye has apologized twice already for sharing state documents with a long-time friend and that confidante has been arrested. She's accused of using her connection with the president for personal gain.
Two aides have also been accused in the influence-peddling scandal. And Park has reshuffled her cabinet. But despite all this, her approval rating remains at an all-time low. And you see the mobilization there on the streets of Seoul.
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VANIER: Tens of thousands of people there. La Nina -- and you are going to tell us what that is in a moment. La Nina has finally arrived and its effects could be far-reaching across the planet. None other than Derek Van Dam, our meteorologist, has joined us to explain what that means.
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VANIER: And that was all courtesy of Derek Van Dam from the International CNN Weather Center, thank you very much. Thank you for watching. I'm Cyril Vanier. Next up on CNN, "POLITICAL
MANN," but first I will be back with your headlines. Stay with us.
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