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Will Trump Consider More Diverse Cabinet?; After Clinton Loss, Dems Begin Soul-Searching; Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell; Wall Street's Top Cop To Step Down; Trump Speaks With Putin On Future Of U.S.-Russia Ties; Sharp Disagreements Plague Trump Transition. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 15, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": All I care about is who he puts in and who will be advancing his agenda, and what we can learn from that. That is -- I think that it's almost silly to think that -- I mean -- and he -- and also it's silly because we know from the makeup of the names that have been floated that already there are people being considered -- black, white, straight, gay, male, female. So, to have this kind of focus after we already know that there is that diversity is particularly odd.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Beyond Dr. Ben Carson, who else, black, is he considering?

HEMINGWAY: I'm not -- I'm not -- I don't want to speculate on this. I want to wait and see who he is putting forward and then we can talk about those people and the views that they have, and that would be far more interesting and important for -- you know, I think we should be a little more serious at this time about the significance of a Trump administration and those ideas.

CAMEROTA: OK. Symone, should we wait until after they are named and announced to talk about them?

SYMONE SANDERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I agree with Mollie on one thing. It's that we should be serious about what Mr. Trump is doing and planning to do with his administration. And I really do believe that representation matters.

I think Planned Parenthood has this hashtag going on Twitter right now that says #WeWontGoBack. And we cannot go back to a time where women, where people of color are shut out of positions of power. I think it does matter if there is a substantial amount of women in his cabinet. Women make up 50 percent of the population and in Congress, we're only 17 percent of elected officials. That is a problem.

People of color -- one person of color isn't going to cut it. One LGBTQ person isn't going to cut it.

CAMEROTA: Right.

SANDERS: We have -- we have to demand more from a Trump administration. CAMEROTA: What about what Mollie is saying, basically, and that's the conservation viewpoint which is that this is all gender politics. It matters what they stand for. It doesn't matter if they're male or female, gay or straight, black or white.

SANDERS: Well, what they stand for -- and I do believe, you know, encompasses their background. You know, who they are, where they grew up. People of color, a lot of times, have different perspectives. Women have different perspectives and I think that matters. And again, we cannot go back to a time where women and people of color are shut out from the people's house -- the highest house, the highest office of the land, and that is the White House.

CAMEROTA: Mollie, I mean, there is a feeling that we've come far as a country where lots of different types of people are now representative -- represented. And that if it were to be an all-white or a predominantly male cabinet that somehow they wouldn't be representative of the country.

HEMINGWAY: I think there is very legitimate concern about making sure that there is some diversity in the cabinet and having different perspectives. And, particularly, as a female conservative, I notice that a lot of times the viewpoint of women on T.V. is almost uniformly liberal, therefore not representing the vast landscape of women in this country who don't all share the same sort of lockstep liberal views.

CAMEROTA: Well, this cabinet --

HEMINGWAY: I get that this is important.

CAMEROTA: -- will certainly not be that. I mean, this cabinet would certainly be conservative women. But, I just want to make sure that we're on the same page that you do want -- well, I'll just ask you. I mean, do you want a woman's voice represented at the highest levels?

HEMINGWAY: See, the -- I would -- I would -- the only thing that matters is what their views are, and what their agenda is, and what they're going to put forward. That is the only thing that could possibly matter. And you can have women who do a very poor job of representing women's views and you can have men who do a very good job. And also, women aren't all the same. We have different views about all sorts of things and important issues.

SANDERS: Which is why we need to be represented. Mollie is absolutely right. Women are not all the same which is why we need to be represented. People of color -- black people are not all the same, which is why we need to be represented in an administration.

You know, whatever people think about President Obama, he has made it his duty to make sure that his administration is representative of America. That means it's black, it's white, it's Latino, it's Native American, it's women, it's gay, straight, it's transgender, different religious backgrounds. That is what makes America.

And there have been many tests of Mr. Trump already and, you know, he -- in my opinion, he has failed at naming his chief strategist, which has alienated not only people of color and some Democrats, this has alienated people in the Republican Party. And so, now you have the opportunity to fill a cabinet with people that look like America.

I think representation matters. The 100 Black Men always what they see is what they'll be and we need to see women in the administration. We need to see black people, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans in the administration. That matters, and Mollie, it's OK to say that it does.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Mollie.

HEMINGWAY: If the media really are concerned about diversity I think that they can look in inward, particularly after this kind of election where they so misread everything that was happening and start putting in newsrooms people who don't share all of their same views. Start putting in newsrooms people who do represent different parts of the country and who don't disdain and mock different people who aren't like New Yorkers and people in Washington, D.C. If they really, honestly care about --

CAMEROTA: Then how do you --

HEMINGWAY: -- diversity, that would be a good place to start.

CAMEROTA: Mollie, how did the media mock people who don't live in New York?

HEMINGWAY: Did you pay attention during this entire election season?

CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Mollie. I'm waiting for an example. How did we mock people who don't live here?

HEMINGWAY: I mean, the entire tenor of this conversation was that there was no explanation for supporting Trump other than you were a racist and a bigot. I mean, that was repeated over and over again. There was never an effort to actually understand --

[07:35:00] CAMEROTA: Not on this show, Mollie. Not on this show. We never called anybody a racist and I did a dozen panels with Trump supporters where I traveled to meet with them, they traveled here. We had our finger on the pulse of Trump supporters. I talked to scores of them and represented how they felt and broadcast that. So, maybe you're not watching our show and that's fine, but I refuse to say that the media was racist during this.

HEMINGWAY: OK.

SANDERS: And, Alisyn, it sounds like she's more concerned about diversity in the media than diversity in the Trump administration and that, in essence, is a problem. Yes, we need diversity and sentiment in the media as well, but I absolutely believe it is OK to require, to request, and to demand that the people's house -- that the Trump administration look like America.

CAMEROTA: OK, fair enough, fair enough. More diversity everywhere. Thank you very much, ladies, for this debate. What is your take? You can tweet us @NewDay or post your comments on facebook.com/NewDay -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, on the other side of the ball you've got the losers, the Democrats, in shock, still. How will party leaders respond to the Trump presidency? What is the lesson for the party -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to compete everywhere. We have to show up everywhere. We have to work at a grassroots level. I believe that we have better ideas but I also believe that good ideas don't matter if people don't hear them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was President Obama calling on his party to do some soul-searching after Donald Trump's upset win one week ago today. What direction will the Democrats take?

[07:40:00] Here to weigh in is the woman who says she tried to warn Democrats how voters were really feeling. Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Congresswoman, good morning.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: Good morning, Alisyn. Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: How did you try to warn fellow Democrats about what voters were feeling?

DINGELL: Well, I think the reason anybody that didn't talk to me over the last 18 months -- I even said it the last time we were on the show -- where a lot of the media were assuming Michigan's going to be fine. That Michigan was competitive. And we weren't connecting with working men and women. Certainly not what I saw in the state of Michigan, and I wasn't in the other states and was missing. We weren't connecting with working men and women across this country.

CAMEROTA: And why was that? Why weren't Democrats connecting better?

DINGELL: I think people took it for granted. We have to be a voice for those that have no voice and cultural issues are important. But we have also been the people that have fought for working men and women. And the fact that -- they don't want a lot. They just want to make enough money to live in a safe neighborhood, put food on the table, to be able to have health insurance, go to the doctor when they need to, afford their medicine, and educate their kids. And for too many Americans, that's beyond them.

And they don't believe anybody's fighting for them right now. They think the system's rigged and they heard in Donald Trump, somebody caring. They knew -- they're tired of partisan bickering. They wanted to shake things up. They don't agree with a lot of things he's said but they thought that he understood better what was impacting them every single day.

CAMEROTA: But again, I mean, how did Democrats miss that? Do you think they just took it for granted that white working-class people would always be with them?

DINGELL: I think too many people did take it for granted. I think a lot of people have missed the fact -- OK, the economy is doing better. I mean, President Obama and President Bush, by the way -- both of them -- saved the auto industry. But saving the auto industry didn't translate down to the individual worker because they're not making as much money. Their purchasing power is less.

And I think one thing a lot of people miss is how frightened people are about their pensions. About whether their pensions are going to be there. I have a whole group of teamsters -- which are throughout the Midwest again, not just in my district -- whose pensions have been cut 60 to 70 percent. They put their own money into those pensions for a lifetime and they're not there. That fear, that anxiety, that insecurity is in their hearts and their souls.

CAMEROTA: You say that you wereinfuriated -- is the word that you used -- when the Hillary Clinton campaign basically glossed over or skipped Michigan. That now appears to be a major tactical error. Did you try to sound the alarm when it was happening?

DINGELL: Well, let's be clear that that was the primary that -- when I was infuriated, and everybody knows -- anybody who knows me knows that I am not quiet if I'm concerned about something. I express my -- as I said then and I said to the Clinton people. Bernie was in my district 10 times and the last -- I got a visit from President Clinton the weekend before the election in a grocery store.

But -- and I do -- they were there at the end. They came in the weekend before. I saw Hillary on Friday and the president on Sunday, and President Obama on Monday. But -- and it wasn't just my state. I didn't realize that he hadn't been -- or she hadn't been to Wisconsin. I think it was something -- we forgot the base. We forgot that we've got to be out there showing working men and women that we understand their issues. That we're going to fight for them. We're going to fight to keep that pension safe.

And we're not showing them that we understand their health care has gone up, their prescription drug costs have gone up. We weren't talking enough about bread and butter issues that impact working men and women across this country.

CAMEROTA: So now that voters have shown they don't trust the Democrats to deal with those issues, what's the way forward for Democrats?

DINGELL: Well, I think we've got to -- I mean, it was in this election that -- I'm not -- I'm going to say that I would not use the words that they don't trust Democrats. I think they wanted to shake it up. They were tired of all of this bickering and I don't think they had a lot of confidence in either of the establishment parties. They viewed Donald Trump as change. I think we've got to work on the -- trade is another issue, by the way, that he totally tapped into them on. We've got to show them that we hear what they're worried about. We've got to figure out how we're going to show them we're fighting on the issues, just like you've been protecting Social Security and Medicare. Now we're hearing they want to privatize Medicare. We've got to be the voice that fights that and make sure it never happens.

CAMEROTA: Last, Congresswoman, do you support Keith Ellison to lead the DNC?

DINGELL: I love Keith Ellison. He is my dear friend and he is -- I just heard of another candidate this morning. I have learned that I'm going to see what the full field is. I'm in the process of listening to everybody. I want to make sure that we're all going to come together and pick somebody that's going to unify us.

CAMEROTA: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

DINGELL: Thank you. It's good seeing you.

CAMEROTA: Making first contact, President-elect Trump and Vladimir Putin have now spoken. What does this mean for the future of NATO and for American's national security and this relationship? All of that is next.

[07:45:10] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: It's time for CNN Money Now. Stocks are soaring once again. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is in our money center. Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. The Dow's record run pushing to new highs this morning. Dow futures are up after closing at an all-time high yesterday. Stock markets in Europe are rising. Shares in Asia closing mixed overnight. Folks, this is what they're Trumponomics. They think they're going to spend a lot of money on infrastructure and that's helping tax cuts -- that's helping the market.

Wall Street's top cop is stepping down before Donald Trump takes office. Mary Jo White says she will leave her post as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her term was not slated to end until June of 2019. You know, she didn't give a reason for stepping down. Her exit means the SEC will become even more shorthanded. Just two of its five commissioner seats are filled. Gridlock in Washington preventing the Senate from confirming Obama's two nominees.

[07:50:00] White also faced some criticism last month from Sen. Elizabeth Warren. She wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to remove White. Said the SEC wasn't doing enough to police corporate donations to candidates -- Chris.

CUOMO: One of many problems. Christine, thank you very much. President-elect Donald Trump not shy about criticizing the U.S. military, the Iran nuclear deal, and even NATO during the campaign. Now that he's president-elect he has the power to change some of his words into actions. So what will he do?

Joining us now is Phil Mudd, CNN counterterrorism analyst, former CIA counterterrorism official. And, Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, CNN military analyst and former Army commanding general. Gentlemen, thank you for being with us. Mr. Mudd --

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.

CUOMO: -- clearance for the kids. What's your concern?

MUDD: I don't have a key concern right now. I think it's odd. I have not seen anything like this before. But, let's change the conversation for a second, Chris.

CUOMO: No. Answer my question.

MUDD: We have key advisers --

CUOMO: What are the issues?

MUDD: Well, will you be quiet? The big ugly -- you need to be quiet, son. I'll give you an education if you give me a moment.

CUOMO: All right, all right, go ahead, go ahead.

MUDD: Here's the -- here's the deal. The president-elect has key advisers who've helped him during the campaign. In this case, those advisers happen to be his kids and his son-in-law. They go to the intelligence community and say I want these advisers with me during a national security briefing.

What's the intelligence community supposed to say? We're going to decide who gets in the room and who doesn't? I think they're going to have to go along and give these kids -- or these young people -- some security clearances because they don't tell the president who he can bring in the room.

CUOMO: General, do you see how I bring people onto the show to educate others, even when they're personally abusive of me? Do you see the dedication to my craft?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You're a consensus builder, Chris. You're a consensus builder.

CUOMO: Thank you. Thank you very much, sir, and your opinion, I actually respect. General, let me ask you another thing that has popped up. President-elect Donald Trump speaking on the phone with Vladimir Putin, saying that it would be good to normalize relations with a country that is a known malefactor and is believed to have just hacked emails to influence the U.S. election. Positives and negatives of this development? HERTLING: Well, the positives are is he's trying to build consensus, like you are with Phil Mudd, regarding friendships and engagements and relationships. That's always a good thing. But remember, Mrs. Clinton got slammed for this a few years ago when she had the reset button.

The bad side of this, Chris, is NATO is very concerned about all of this. The 26 of 28 countries of NATO are in Europe and many of them are feeling the ill effects of Russia. We're talking Poland, Ukraine, especially. Some of the Baltic countries. And so all of those things are critically important and you mix that with Mr. Trump's former statements about what he's going to do with NATO, not looking for the return on the investment of what we do there but, basically, just a money downline, that's very disconcerting.

And NATO does a lot of things. Counterpiracy, cyberwarfare, intelligence sharing. All those things are important.

CUOMO: Phil Mudd, what are you hearing from the brothers and sisters in the intelligence community? Donald Trump had been outwardly negative towards the status of intelligence gathering in the United States during the campaign. Does that matter to them or are they just about the job?

MUDD: I would say both, Chris. Most of them are just about the job. You're trained to go in the office and say whoever the American people elect, we support them. That said, in the coming weeks there will be some critical points that they focus on, namely what is the interaction with intelligence officials and President Trump -- or President-elect Trump -- now that he is presumably getting frequent, or maybe even daily, intelligence briefings? How do they treat them in the room? What kind of questions is he asking?

And, in particular, the key question. Who gets assigned to be the director of national intelligence and the CIA director? If those people turn out to be political hacks who aren't respected by the intelligence community, that's a problem. If they're pros, I think the intel guys will sign up.

CUOMO: A more definite impact of the words used during the campaign influencing the perspectives now during the administration may be acutely felt by you, General, when you head to Ukraine. There's so many sensitivities at play right there -- there right now -- especially where is Russia is involved seeing how it's been in a negative insurgency there for well over a year. What do you -- what are you getting from people about what they're worried about based on what they've heard?

HERTLING: Yes, I've had a lot of input from people in Europe, Chris. As you know, that was my last assignment. I'm going to Ukraine at the end of this month and the government and military officials are very concerned about Mr. Trump. But I think as the president said yesterday, that will pan out. You know, he's making all these appointments -- the various appointments to the government agencies. You've been talking about that the last couple of days. The Defense Department is a key one. But what I'd suggest is there's

not only the Secretary of Defense he has to appoint, but there are 250 -- about -- 250 to 300 sub-deputies and undersecretariesin the Defense Department and all of them, to use a business analogy, have a market orientation. That's going to shift radically when Mr. Trump comes on board, many people think.

[07:55:00] So, if you're talking about it from a business perspective, he's talking about a major corporation, the Defense Department, which is going to change market orientation and, at the same time, fire 250 of their executives unless he asks some of them to come on. That's going to be somewhat significant and it causes some concern among the various nations of the world.

CUOMO: And then you've got the difference between talk and what happens when he's --

HERTLING: Right.

CUOMO: -- actually president, you know. NATO was something that was a very big point of inflammation for Donald Trump. He was being provocative about it and then, after meeting with President Obama, the president came away, Phil Mudd, with the idea that Donald Trump understands the importance of NATO. Do you think there will be a lot of that going forward, that what he said may not reflect what he does during his administration?

MUDD: Absolutely. If you look at key areas -- for example, the Iran nuclear deal -- it's going to be difficult dealing with the Europeans, the Chinese, and the Russians to wiggle off the hook of that deal. If you look at our engagements in NATO.

The key area I would expect to see possible change in those, Chris, is in Syria. There is something the president-elect can do immediately when he's in office and that is do you decide to stand down in support of the Syrian opposition and work with Russia to come to some sort of solution to the civil war there? I think there's a chance that executive action there by the president could flip U.S. policy on its head as soon as he takes office.

Some of these other areas, as I mentioned, NATO and Iran, I think reality is going to trump, as it were, the fiction of the campaign and he's going to move less than what he's talked about.

CUOMO: Wow, what do you make of that notion of the United States disengaging with the rebels and working with the Russians and Syria? Do you see that as possible and do you see that as positive?

HERTLING: Well, it's going to be tough. I kind of disagree with my brother, Phil, on this one because what you're talking about is there's one thing between policy decisions that you say hey, we're going to shift the way we look at things. But there's a lot of folks on the ground, Chris, who have been fighting this for a very long time. Getting that word down to the bullet -- you know, the trigger pullers and the bullet launchers, that's a whole lot different situations. But, yes, I kind of agree that there is the potential for advances in

many areas of foreign policy. But again, you know -- President Obama said yesterday this is like an aircraft or an ocean liner, and not a speed boat. Mr. Trump has to figure out that you've got to look at long-term strategy and all the alliances, not just one at a time. You know, Winston Churchill once said the only thing worse than alliance is not having an alliance. And there's a lot of interconnections between these different countries.

CUOMO: It's also one thing when you're on the outside criticizing the status quo. It's another thing when you own the status quo.

HERTLING: Right.

CUOMO: Phil Mudd, thank you very much. General Hertling, thank you --

MUDD: Thank you.

CUOMO: -- for balancing Phil Mudd.

We're following a lot of news. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I think it's important for us to let him make his decisions.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Loyalty is very important to him. He's loyal to people, they're loyal to him.

CAMEROTA: A knife fight over key appointments to the cabinet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reality is that Steven Bannon has led one of the major racist websites.

MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: This is all about achieving President-elect Trump's agenda.

OBAMA: Good ideas don't matter if people don't hear them.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: I am deeply humiliated. There needs to be a profound change in the way the Democratic Party does business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Got anything good there that you're reading?

CUOMO: Yes. I am reading about what we're seeing happen now within whether or not this is real infighting within Trump or this is the media saying --

CAMEROTA: Oh, that's good.

CUOMO: -- there's infighting. Two very different things.

CAMEROTA: We're going to get to that right away. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, November 15th, 8:00 in the East.

Up first, the fight -- or so-called fight -- to fill the cabinet. Sources tell us two factions. The ultraconservatives and the establishment Republicans are clashing over these key cabinet posts. So this morning, Vice President-elect Mike Pence will be heading to Trump Tower in New York to speed things along.

CUOMO: Meanwhile, interesting developments with President Obama. He's going on this foreign tour, right? He's going to Greece, Germany, Peru. Now, after his meeting with Donald Trump he's going to have his first news conference after that. What will be his message? What will he do to try to reassure Americans and foreign allies about what Donald Trump will be as president?

CNN has every angle covered. Let's start with Sunlen Serfaty -- Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Chris. Well, a Trump transition official describing the meeting today between Donald Trump and Mike Pence as serious, given that they are nearing some final decisions over some top cabinet positions.

But inside the broader transition team there is already an internal struggle over these big decisions between the more traditional Republicans on his team, like Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, the two power centers in Trump's world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: The battle for appointments to President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet being called a knife fight and buffoonery according to sources within his transition team, with potential picks for West Wing and key national security posts drawing sharp internal disagreements.

CONWAY: I think this week you'll hear some additional appointments.

SERFATY: But today, inside Trump Tower, Trump and Vice President- elect Mike Pence are hunkering down, reviewing a list of contenders.