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Donald Trump Reportedly Asked for Security Clearance for Children; Trump's Appointment of Steve Bannon to Staff Draws Criticism; Trump Faces Potential Conflicts Of Interest; Obama Urges Americans To Give Trump A Chance; Battle Brewing For DNC Leadership. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 15, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- security posts drawing sharp internal disagreements.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FMR. TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I think you'll hear some additional appointments.

SERFATY: Btu today inside Trump Tower, Trump and vice president-elect Mike Pence are hunkering down, reviewing a list of contenders. The positions to be possibly nailed down as early as today include secretaries of state, education, commerce, and treasury.

GLENN BECK, CONSERVATIVE RADIO SHOW HOST: He's a nightmare and he's the chief advisor to the president of the United States now.

SERFATY: This as the appointment of Steve Bannon as Trump's chief strategist continues to draw sharp rebuke. Critics citing his close ties to the alt-right movement known for white nationalism and anti- Semitism.

CONWAY: I was very consistent. Bannon has been the general of this campaign, and frankly, people should look at the full resume. I'm personally offended that you think I would manage a campaign where that would be one of the going philosophies. It was not.

SERFATY: And new concerns over conflict of interest are emerging, with Trump considering seeking top security clearance for his adult children and son-in-law according to a transition team source.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be in New York and we'll take care of the business.

SERFATY: No paperwork has been filed, but the children could have access to secure communications technology, travel schedules, and Secret Service procedures.

Meanwhile, Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin speaking by phone, the two men discussing the need for joint efforts in the fight against common enemy number one, international terrorism and extremism. All of this as deep domestic divisions remain. Anti-Trump demonstrators protesting across the country for the sixth straight day. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And a Trump transition advisor says it is possible that there could be some cabinet level appointments coming out today once they have made their picks, but it is very clear today, Chris, as Trump is huddling with Mike Pence at Trump tower that the final decisions haven't yet been made.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It's very early, my friend. This is just getting started.

So as his successor staffs a new White House, President Obama begins his final international trip as president of the United States. Greece, Germany, Peru on the agenda. And one of the things we hear the president's going to try to do is assuage allies who may be concerned about a Trump presidency. The president is expected to speak within the hour. If it comes on our clock, we will cover it.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski will give us the heads up. She is traveling with the president in Greece. Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHTIE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris. Remember the word "rattled" is what President Obama used over the past year repeatedly to describe world leaders over the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency. Well, now a much different horizon than he expected as he's making this final trip as his sun sets. And he still feels like he needs to reassure allies, it just now has to be in a much different way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI President Obama touches down on his final foreign trip in Athens. First at home while the incoming Trump team feverishly prepares to run America, the outgoing president addressed the press and world after what he didn't think could happen did.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And that's why ensuring a smooth transition is so important. It's not something that the constitution explicitly requires, but it is one of those norms that are vital to a functioning democracy.

KOSINSKI: That sounded like both reassurance as well as a dig, almost a warning as he's asked point blank, are you concerned about a Trump presidency?

OBAMA: He is coming to this office with fewer set hard and fast policy prescriptions than a lot of other presidents might be arriving with. I don't think he is ideological. I think ultimately he's pragmatic in that way, and that can serve him well. Do I have concerns? Absolutely. Of course I've got concerns. One of the things I advised him to do was to make sure that before he commits to certain courses of action he's really dug in and thought through how various issues play themselves out.

KOSINSKI: He said in his meeting with the president-elect last week, Donald Trump did express a commitment to NATO despite his rhetoric on the trail, and is now rethinking what parts of Obamacare he might preserve.

OBAMA: I think it's important for us to let him make his decisions, and I think the American people will judge.

KOSINSKI: Wanting to put some optimism there, even as a still shell shocked party picks up the pieces. The president saying reflection will be healthy for Democrats and for Donald Trump.

OBAMA: There are going to be certain serve him well unless recognizes them and corrects them. And if things get worse, then the American people will figure that out pretty quick. And if things get better, then more power to him, and I'll be the first to congratulate him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:05:11] KOSINSKI: So the president wants to walk a line here. He still wants to get his points across, saying things like campaigning is not governing, sound bites are not policies. He did say he believes Donald Trump is sincere in wanting to make America better, but he said he needs to reach out to certain groups like minorities and women. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michelle, you've given us a lot to talk about, so let's bring in our panel be. We have CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein, and CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord. Gentlemen, great to have you all here.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Ali.

CAMEROTA: Good morning. In terms of who we know will and does have president-elect Trump's ear. So we have Reince Priebus of the establishment wing, we have Steve Bannon of the alt right, white nationalist wing and we have Jared Kushner of the family wing. How are these power plays going to play out?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You missed one person. We have Barack Obama also, whose ear, indeed, Donald Trump is attuned to as well. And I think we saw that in the meeting. The people I've talked to say there's no question that the president had a real effect, a stunning effect on Trump during that meeting in terms of imparting the seriousness and the weight of the presidency and what is expected of him in terms of being the president of all the people that is very different than the campaign.

What we saw in the campaign and we're still going to see in this presidency are a different set of rules. Trump rules. And that's what Bannon represents. Bannon brought him to the table. Bannon is very much like Trump's old, closest advisor, the really awful Roy Cohn, the liar, a slanderer, someone who slashes and burns. We're going to see that in Bannon.

And yet we have the institutional presidency that Obama has tried to convince Trump has to be respected. But when you set up a situation with no blind trust for a financial empire like this, it is a prima facie case of insider trading. And that's what we now see in front of us. And there is an immediate task, it seems to me, for those who oppose this kind of thing. And Hillary Clinton would never have been permitted to do this with Chelsea Clinton even being head of the foundation. So there's inherent tensions.

CUOMO: You lay it all out the right way, Carl. However, it's not as simple as it would have been with Chelsea Clinton, right, because, Jeffrey how would you put something like this in a blind --

CAMEROTA: You mean Jeffrey Toobin?

CUOMO: I'm sorry. Toobin. Law first and politics. I'll come to you second, Jeffrey Lord.

LORD: A lot of Jeffreys.

CUOMO: A blind trust is very hard to do if you can't make it blind, which means if the kids are running the company it's not a blind trust. That would mean you would have to remove the kids from the company, and that would mean that you would remove the soul of the company. So is that the right way -- is that the only solution here that should satisfy?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think there is going to be -- I mean, just since you asked about the law, there is no law that says a president has to put his holdings in a blind trust. It has been the custom ever since blind trusts were --

CUOMO: Like with the taxes, it's a custom, and we heard from Trump's team that they probably won't do what presidents do right now, which is show their taxes every year.

TOOBIN: Exactly. I think Donald Trump is playing by his own rules. He got elected president by not releasing his taxes, by running his business while he was running for president. I think the family is going to run the business and too bad. If you have complaints, vote for somebody else.

CUOMO: But Jeffrey Lord, how do you see it?

LORD: Well, first of all, I think we have people in the private sector that serve in various administrations on things like presidential intelligence advisory boards. To the best of my knowledge, they get security clearings, classifications, but they also continue on with their private sector work and nobody seems to blink about this. So I'm not really sure this is as big a problem as it's being made out to be.

In terms of the company, this is the first time, let's be candid here, that we've had somebody go directly from the private sector into the White Househ. So we are going to have to figure out how this goes. And --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LORD: -- the last thing is with the arrangement here of Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, and Jared Kushner, if that's what it turns out to be, this is very much like Ronald Reagan's famous troika of Jim Baker, Ed Meese, who was the Steve Bannon figure, very controversial and very conservative, and Michael Deaver, who was like a son to the Reagans and was sort of the translator of the Reagans to the outside world and the inside world of the White House.

[08:10:04] So I see a lot of similarities there. That worked extremely weld for Ronald Reagan and I think this could work well for Donald Trump.

TOOBIN: And could I just push back on Carl's idea that Barack Obama is a big influence here. I'm a great believer that campaign promises are made to be kept, and I think President Trump is going to keep his campaign promises. I think we're going to see millions of deportations. I think we are going to see Obamacare overturned. We are going to see a massive tax cut. I mean, this is, you know, why he ran for president. I'm sure he was affected by his meeting with President Obama, but, you know, he is -- he was elected to do certain things, and he's going to do them.

BERNSTEIN: I don't disagree with you. I think, indeed, his general themes. But I think Obama had an effect on him about the importance of the institutional presidency and certain things you do for all the people. Is Donald Trump going to change his stripes? Where the president was right I think is about Trump having a pragmatic aspect and not being an ideologue. But is he going to appoint the kind of people to the Supreme Court he said? Absolutely. Is he going to be a slash and burn president as we're seeing with Steve Bannon? Absolutely. But I think there also is a tug toward some traditional aspects history and the seriousness and history of the presidency that Trump was affected by. He ain't going to change his stripes, no.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Jeffrey Lord.

LORD: If I could agree with Carl on this. This is something I've been trying to say throughout the entire campaign. The Trump organization and the formal name of his business, could not possibly exist unless Donald Trump himself were a very good, very thoughtful executive. And I think that's what we're beginning to see here in his role of president-elect.

BERNSTEIN: Let me say one thing. I'm very pleased that Jeffrey agrees with me here except for one thing. The nature of his business is almost and in many cases semi-criminal. That is what we know about the Trump -- semi, I said . What we know from the lawsuits --

CUOMO: Semi is a legal distinction?

BERNSTEIN: What we know about aspects of the Trump business, paying back creditors 12, 14, 16 percent on the dollar, the lawsuits. He does not conduct business like a traditional businessman. He conducts business often like a conman. And that is also something that may be brought to this presidency and not change his stripes.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, what --

LORD: I'll put you down as doubtful. CAMEROTA: So, Jeffrey, but one of the questions that I think that

Carl is touching on that we certainly have heard from everybody here, is that if you'll recall during the long campaign, the critics and Hillary Clinton said the Clintons play by their own rules. They flout the rules. They have their own rules and that's what so upset and incensed the other side. Doesn't it sound like Donald Trump is going to be playing by his own rules if he's putting his kids a having the conflicts of interest and all of that stuff?

LORD: Ali, I think the criticism of the Clintons was they did it to enrich themselves. Donald Trump is a billionaire ten times over. He doesn't need to do anything to enrich himself.

BERNSTEIN: You're dreaming if I could -- if I could interject.

TOOBIN: Yes. Yes. You're sort of -- I don't know what, assuming the conclusion. How did he get to be a billionaire? By paying people ten cents on the dollar that he owes.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, I guess the point I if Hillary Clinton had won and if she were saying I'm going to be looking right now for top secret security clearance for Chelsea who's going to be running the Clinton Foundation, you would be up in arms.

LORD: Ali, all I can say is we've had other presidents -- think of Hillary Clinton taking over health care as first lady. Think of -- I mean --

CAMEROTA: Sure. And it bothered you.

LORD: At this -- at this moment, Ali, you can go down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Department of Justice and see a sign out front that names the building for Robert F. Kennedy who was appointed by his brother to be attorney general.

CAMEROTA: Right. Right. So that's why we have nepotism laws or thought we did.

LORD: Well, that was linden Johnson's revenge afterwards, after the fact.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LORD: My point is that presidents, and I'm not talking about legality here. I'm talking about they all bring their own style, they all bring in their own set of advisors and that's all you're going to see here. And there's nothing new about it.

BERNSTEIN: There's nothing wrong with having your family as being close advisor. Look at Hillary Clinton. Let's get that off the table. Look at Hillary Clinton. You know, go back to the Kennedys. Look at Lady Bird Johnson.

CAMEROTA: So it's OK for his kids to have top security clearance?

LORD: Eleanor Roosevelt. BERNSTEIN: Exactly. That's a different question about the security

clearances. If they're going to have the security clearances it is absolutely essential there be a blind trust. Suppose that Ivanka Trump --

CUOMO: I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you do a blind trust in his situation.

[08:15:03] Legally, I don't know how you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You somehow have a wall -- let's build a wall. Let's build a wall --

CUOMO: But his kids run the business. How could they not talk with their father?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I'm suggesting is the kids can't run the business. Let's build a wall.

CUOMO: The business is the kids. It's the image of the Trumps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then they can't do the other thing. Suppose they want to open an Ivanka boutique in Riyadh and she has information from the CIA that morning that's going to help her business selling chakis in Riyadh, this is where you have to draw the line, build the wall. This is the wall that is necessary to separate Trump --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What if that's already done?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- kids from the presidency. It's not already done, that's the problem. We've never had a situation like this and we need to build a wall.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Gentlemen, we have to leave it there. Thank you, Jeffrey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

CUOMO: Thank you men in boxes.

President Obama weighing in on the Trump presidency, plus the future of his own party. This is going to be a big deal going forward. We're going to bring in a Democratic congressman at the center of the re-design of the Democratic Party. What will that look like?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Campaigning is different than governing. I think he recognizes that. I think he's sincere in wanting to be a successful president and wanting to move this country forward.

[08:20:03]And I don't think any president ever comes in saying to himself, I want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: President Obama taking high ground calling for unity as Donald Trump prepares to assume control of the White House and calling Trump more of a pragmatist than an ideologue. So what is the path forward for Democratic leadership under a Trump administration?

Let's bring in someone at the center of that struggle, New York Democrat, chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, Representative Steve Israel. Congressman, thank you for joining us.

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Thanks for having me.

CUOMO: What do you take from the president's message? Are you ready to give the new president, the 45th president, Donald Trump, a chance?

ISRAEL: Well, look, there are some things that we should work with him on if it makes sense for the country. I'll give you an example, infrastructure. One of the reasons that the middle class feels alienated, feels that their pay check it growth is anemic is we're not building enough in this country.

And so I hope that President Trump and Democrats and Republicans can rally around a sensible infrastructure bill. But if the president- elect continues to appoint people like Bannon to the White House, these haters, we're going to fight them every step of the way. That's our obligation and we're going to fulfil that obligation.

CUOMO: And the push back is, well, every political administration has people from different stripes in it. This is no different. The left just doesn't like Bannon because he represents the right. Just like you have alt-right, you have alt-left, no big deal. What do you see here is such a big deal?

ISRAEL: Chris, this is not a stripe. This is a fringe. Mr. Bannon has presided over a media platform that uses words like renegade Jew, that vilifies women. This is not just somebody who has a diversity of opinion, this is somebody whose opinions are virulent. We're going to oppose those opinions and continue to stand up to them.

CUOMO: All right. And then you have the problems in house. Deal with trump, we talked about that. Now we have to do with what you do with your own party. Listen to what Bernie Sanders said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (D), VERMONT: There needs to be a profound change in the way the Democratic Party does business. It is not good enough they're being liberal elite. I come from the white working class and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party cannot talk to the people from where I came from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Are you deeply humiliated? Are you going to have your party get back to its roots?

ISRAEL: Well, here's what we have to do. We need a middle class mind meld as Democrats. We have to understand why it is that the party of the middle class lost so many middle class voters, and that means several things.

Number one, we've got to listen to middle class and working class voters who are buffeted by unique convergence of economic and social pressures. Number two, we've got to tap into those anxieties constructively or else Republicans are going to do it destructively.

Number three, we have to do some research. We have to do some data. But you know, we've always looked at polls. My favorite saying in the military is take your eyes off the radar and look out the window. We've got to look out the window.

We have to feel those pressures and come up with a blueprint for rebuilding the middle class in this country and the working class, and if we do that we're going to have a very good cycle in 2018.

The president's party loses seats in the next general election. I think we're positioned strongly, but we've got to tap into those anxieties and understand them and give voice to them.

CUOMO: Change comes from the top. Who do you think should be the top of your party?

ISRAEL: More important than who is at the top of the party, who leads the party is where we're going. And quite bluntly, I think we need to have a family conversation. I think we need to sit around the table and not dwell on who's sitting at the head of the table, but have a conversation on what are we going to do to tap into those middle class and working class anxieties? What is our blue print for middle class --

CUOMO: Right. No, I heard you, Congressman. With all due respect though, the message emanates from that figure at the head especially in your party. That's why it's a fundamental question. Are you just not comfortable giving an answer to it? Do you not know yet?

ISRAEL: Well, first of all, every day somebody else jumps into this race. Just today Jamie Harrison from South Carolina announced that he's running. I think we have an obligation to let everybody who wants to run express their priorities and their values, but I'm not hung up on who has the title of chairman of the DNC.

I'm hung up on why did we lose middle class voters and working class voters? That should be our priority and so we should take a pause, take a deep breath, do some deep thinking, figure out where this party is going, how to tap into those anxieties. One more thing, Chris.

CUOMO: Go ahead, please, please.

ISRAEL: We're so hung up on our failures. Why don't we look at the successes? Let's take a look at Congressman Rick Nolan in a district in Minnesota where Trump won by double digits but Democrat Rick Nolan won.

Let's take a look at Governor Bullock in Montana where Trump did very, very well, but a Democratic governor did well. Let's not just dwell on where we fell short, but what kind of Democrats are doing well and how do we replicate that success.

[08:25:00]CUOMO: Right. But you know, Congressman, you have to look at what just happened. Donald trump beat your candidate by tapping into middle class angst, working class angst. You used to own that. I was raised by a guy who couldn't talk about that enough.

And the feeling from people like him, may he rest in peace, Bernie Sanders is in there now, is that you guys drifted too far to the outside and took on too many of the cultural battles and forgot about the economic struggles of the people in the heart of this country, do you agree with that?

ISRAEL: Look, for me it's the middle class economy, number one. Middle class economy number two. Middle class economy number three.

CUOMO: That's not where your party was. Your party fought the culture wars more than it fought the economic wars.

ISRAEL: And we need to -- look if you are an African-American whose paycheck growth is anemic in Detroit and you're a white guy in Levittown whose paycheck growth is anemic as well. The issue isn't what color you are, what background you're from. The issue is you have anemic paycheck growth.

This party has always prospered by tapping into that, with constructive solutions to that paycheck growth. We've got to return to that. We've got to grow the middle class.

When we tap into the middle class, when the middle class thinks we care about them and that we have solutions for them, we win elections, which is why I think we need that middle class mind meld.

CUOMO: You have to figure out how you got there to figure out where you go from there. It will be interesting to see what revelations you all come up with. Congressman, thank you very much.

ISRAEL: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: What do you think? Some of you out there must be Democrats still. What do you think about your party, why it lost and what will happen going forward? Tweet us @newday. Post your comment on facebook.com/newday -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, we're going to take a look back at the career of journalist, Gwen Ifill, the historic moments and how she brought down barriers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)