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Trump Team Holding First Daily Briefing; Syrian Air Force Bombs Aleppo for Third Straight Day; New CNN Book Captures Wild 2016 Election; Model Kate Upton Not Happy With Verlander Snub; Hines Ward Named Hall of Fame Semifinalist; Vin Scully's Surprised Reaction; Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 17, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Right now Donald Trump's transition team is holding their first of what's going to be a daily press briefing. CNN along with other media outlets right now on a conference call with the president-elect's team. We are told reporters will be able to ask questions on the call.

So let's talk about that and more. With me now is David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst and former presidential adviser to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.

So these daily press briefings, it's like a big conference call. And I guess the people leading the call will be Trump's communications person, Jason Miller, and Sean Spicer from the RNC. Kind of unusual, right?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It is unusual but I must say I welcome it. I think it's a good idea that the press has and others have, a chance to ask questions of the Trump team. It's been wrapped in mystery now that Mr. Trump has been sort of in the tower now for a number of days for the most part and -- as you know, Carol, there are conflicts between the press and the Trump team about access to him sending a pool along with him when he goes out to dinner or flies to Washington, whatever it may be.

[10:35:03] And there's been a sense of resistance, of keeping the press at bay and just using Twitter to go after various media outlets. So I think it's healthy that they actually opened this up. Maybe Mr. Trump himself will be on some of those calls.

COSTELLO: Yes. You never know. We've been surprised before.

GERGEN: You never know.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: That's right.

GERGEN: But the more transparent it is the better. There are so many questions now surrounding this transition, who is going to be doing what, what the policies are, all sorts of issues that are very, very sensitive. So listen, we have to welcome greater access, greater transparency.

COSTELLO: Speaking of that, Laura Ingraham is the conservative radio show talk host, she's in line to become press secretary. Right? She appeared on one of the morning shows this morning and she talked about what kind of press secretary that Mr. Trump wants. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOW HOST: One thing that is going to be important I would imagine for the Trump folks is to have a very transparent and practical approach to the press. I think the press has a lot of work to do to build back its own credibility and I think for Donald Trump, I think he wants someone who knows the issues, who is going to try to explain them to the American people and keep people updated. I don't think it's all that complicated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So just in case viewers don't understand the press secretary is the liaison between the president and the press. But what do you think about what Laura Ingraham said?

GERGEN: Well, I think what she had to say was noncontroversial, especially about sort of being the link between and that sort of thing and the transparency. Laura Ingraham herself of course is highly controversial. She's very conservative. She's tough-minded. She's outspoken. And she has a lot of followers, I imagine especially among Mr. Trump's own voters. So -- but it was an interesting choice, you know, because she is a -- she has taken very strong stance on a number of issues in her own writings and her radio show and that sort of thing. So she brings to it a lot of past controversies that she'll be sorting out and as you know, Carol, she's combative.

She doesn't suffer fools gladly. She can be tough. It's an unusual choice but I must say, it's consistent with the way Donald Trump has responded to the press in which he's often been very combative, very prickly. And so he'll have -- I think the two of them will get along well. And if she becomes the press secretary I would imagine she will have a lot of access to him which is extremely important for the success of the press secretary.

Look, a lot of Americans are going to welcome Laura Ingraham. A lot of Americans are going to say whoa, you're really putting her in as press secretary? But I think as Hillary Clinton has said, you've got to give people a chance. And the president deserves that. The president has a right and it's a tradition the president can ask those he wants to sort of near him.

COSTELLO: Well, Mike Pence --

GERGEN: And the public can make their decisions after. Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. Mike Pence, he just met with the GOP leadership. They gave him a standing ovation.

GERGEN: Sure. Right.

COSTELLO: It seems that Republicans have really come together and, you know, during the primary, everybody was saying oh, the Republicans, the party is being ripped apart. So are they all one big happy family or were we wrong during the primary?

GERGEN: Oh, I don't think we're looking at one big happy family. Less than 24 hours ago, the press had stories about the freedom caucus in the House of Representatives which is on issue after issue has made clear, these are members of -- Republican members of the House, fairly significant portion of them, who made clear they disagree with Donald Trump on a series of issues on policies. So, you know, they disagreed with him, for example, on infrastructure which is central.

And Carol, I think what we may see emerging is very, very unusual alliances. Major story today, for example, that Senate Democrats are looking at ways they can align themselves with Donald Trump on issues that Republicans may disagree with him on. Now wouldn't that be interesting? To have those kind of shifting alliances. So I think we are into uncharted territory. We don't know where this is going. You know, there are many of us who are skeptical and watch this transition unfold with some, what are they doing? You know, why Mr. Bannon?

But I do think -- I think he deserves a moment to get his team in place and then people can make their judgments. But it's his choice who his team is going to be. That's what goes with the territory.

COSTELLO: That's right. David Gergen, thanks as always.

GERGEN: OK, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. You're welcome. OK. Let's head to Berlin now.

[10:40:01] Thirty minutes from now President Obama and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be holding a press conference. This is the second leg of Obama's last trip as president, at least overseas. We'll be taking this live when it begins.

At least 21 people are dead after the Syrian air force continued its bombing of rebel-held Aleppo for a third straight day. More than 40 air strikes targeted the city. Trapping people beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings. The bombings come after nearly three weeks of a relative lull in attacks.

CNN's Will Ripley is following the story. He's live in Turkey. Hi, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Since this bombing campaign by the Syrian regime has resumed, just in east Aleppo, more than 100 people have died, dozens more have been injured. The only remaining pediatric hospital along with another major hospital and blood bank were hit, affecting the ability to service literally tens of thousands of patients and deliver hundreds of babies and deliver hundreds of bags of blood every single month. And then you have these heartbreaking videos emerging of children clutching their backpacks, walking through the rubble of destroyed buildings because dozens and dozens of barrel bombs are being dropped on neighborhoods where civilians live, where they work, where children go to school.

Children have died just in the last few days. And during the most recent bombing campaign where it lasted for a month, there was one week, Carol, when 96 children were killed in a single week. 500 people killed in that month alone. And residents fear that this renewed assault will lead to numbers just like that. Three days more than 100 deaths, ground troops being threatened to surround the rebel- held area of east Aleppo, essentially not allowing any food or medicine in, starving people out as the bombing campaign continues.

All of this happening with the support of Russia which has a flotilla of warships off the Syrian coast. And the world is distracted by the U.S. presidential transition. I have been talking to people living in east Aleppo who say they feel the world has abandoned them. A man whose wife is seven months pregnant and his doctor doesn't have any prenatal vitamins to prescribe her. She's malnourished because the markets and the pharmacies are empty as well. $20 for one can of baby formula, Carol, and that's in addition to the bombs raining down.

COSTELLO: So awful. Will Ripley reporting live from Turkey. I'll be right back.

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[10:46:39] COSTELLO: Many, many words have been used to describe the 2016 election but one word in particular keeps coming up. That would be unprecedented. From the first major party female candidate to the rise and ultimate victory of a political outsider, it was a race like no other, right? But well before the first debate and all the controversies, CNN journalists began writing. Now two years later, that book, what they were writing is complete. It's called "Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything."

CNN's David Chalian joins me now to tell us about it. Hi, David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hi, Carol. How are you.

COSTELLO: So I hear the book is fantastic.

CHALIAN: It's really good. I mean, this has been a project, just imagine how special a project this is for journalists, sort of wall yourself off as much as you can from the day-to-day chasing the headlines to capture the behind-the-scenes real story of the entire campaign and then to put that out right after the election. It's well worth the read.

COSTELLO: So give us a little hint at a most exciting chapter.

CHALIAN: Well, you remember back in the primary season when the walls were sort of coming in around Marco Rubio. Things were not going well. It was right before our CNN Miami debate, Republican primary debate that Jake Tapper moderated, and Mike Lee, the senator from Utah, who was a close confidant of Ted Cruz, was sort of sent as an emissary to find out if Marco Rubio would be willing to join a ticket with Ted Cruz, join forces, and that way stop Donald Trump.

And when I say -- I mean he bought the plane ticket, he was already confirmed to meet with Marco Rubio in Florida. This was a couple of days before that Miami debate since they were going to be down there. And at the last minute, Senator Rubio canceled the meeting. He said I just can't do it, I can't bow out before the Florida primary. I'm a Florida senator and I can't do it. But they were a meeting away from perhaps altering the entire dynamic of the race.

If Cruz and Rubio were to join forces, if that was able to stop the Trump momentum at that point we could have been talking about an entirely different election.

COSTELLO: Who was going to be at the top of the ticket?

CHALIAN: Well, I think in that case it was Ted Cruz. He was ahead at that point.

COSTELLO: Senator Mike Lee, right?

CHALIAN: Right. And Mike Lee was working out the deal. So the option was to put Marco Rubio on as sort of the number two on the ticket. You remember later on Ted Cruz actually put Carly Fiorina on his ticket.

COSTELLO: Yes, yes. So my, how things have changed because now, what, Ted Cruz actually visited Donald Trump to talk about maybe a position somewhere in his -- right?

CHALIAN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes? And --

CHALIAN: He's on we're told a long short list or a short long list of attorney general.

COSTELLO: For attorney general, right?

CHALIAN: Yes. And Marco Rubio re-elected to the United States Senate. Remember, at the time I'm talking about back in March, Marco Rubio said he was going to retire from the United States Senate after he bowed out of the presidential race so he and Ted Cruz are now both part of a coalition of Republican senators that Donald Trump is going to need to get his agenda passed.

COSTELLO: It's going to be fascinating. David Chalian, thanks so much for stopping by.

CHALIAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: And be sure to check out CNN's book, "Unprecedented." It goes on sale on December 6th but you can preorder your copy today at CNN.com/book.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Kate Upton is standing by her man and mine, Justin Verlander. Find out why Kate is super ticked off at baseball writers.

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[10:53:42] COSTELLO: Major League Baseball announcing this year's Cy Young Award winners and Justin Verlander's fiancee Kate Upton is not happy with the voters.

Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol. Yes, not happy be a little bit of an understatement. You know, as you said, Kate Upton, engaged to Tigers' ace Justin Verlander. And she went on an epic Twitter rant after Verlander came in second to the Red Sox's Rick Porcello for the American League Cy Young Award.

Now Verlander, he had more first place votes but Porcello edged him out because he got more second and third place votes, giving him more points in the system they used. Now Upton tweeting, "Verlander had the majority of first place votes and two writers didn't have him on their ballot? Can you pick more out of touch people to vote, MLB?" She went on to tweet, "Sorry, Rick, but you didn't get any first place votes. You didn't win. #byeFelicia. MLB, keep up with the times and fire those writers." Now she also had another tweet as well but it's not TV friendly. If you want to see that go to her Twitter feed.

Congratulations to CNN's own Hines Ward. He was named one of the semifinalists for the Hall of Fame Class of 2017. This is Hines' first year of eligibility. The 2017 class can be selected on the day before the Super Bowl. Between four to eight players slash coaches will get in.

All right. Finally before President Obama leaves office, he's going to be handing out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 21 people.

[10:55:02] The Medal of Freedom is the country's highest civilian honor. And legendary Dodgers broadcast Vin Scully made the list. And press secretary and true Dodger fan Josh Earnest called him to break the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And he gives to just a handful of people. And this year he's going to give it to you.

VIN SCULLY, DODGERS BROADCASTER: Oh, my gosh. No.

EARNEST: Yes. So you --

SCULLY: Are you sure?

EARNEST: Yes. Well -- SCULLY: I'm just an old baseball announcer. I'm rather overwhelmed

and humbled. Thank you so much, Josh.

EARNEST: It's my pleasure. Take care.

SCULLY: Bye for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And Carol, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also going to be honored next week at the White House.

COSTELLO: That's so awesome. Andy Scholes, thanks for brightening our day. We always appreciate it.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" after a break.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman.

We have our eyes on Berlin this morning. Any minute now, President Obama will hold a joint news conference with the leader he calls his closest international partner. The German chancellor Angela Merkel. This of course is the president's final overseas trip as president. He has faced repeated questions at home and abroad on this journey about President-elect Donald Trump. And it will be fascinating to hear what he has to say this morning while he's standing next to the German chancellor. Merkel has been criticized in the past by Donald Trump.

BOLDUAN: We're going to take you to Berlin when that joint news conference begins. We could learn a lot. But right now let's focus on the Trump transition. And for that, let's -- joining us right now is Republican senator of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, who of course ran against Donald Trump in the GOP primary.

Senator, it is great to have you. Let's get to it.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: And lost. And lost.

BOLDUAN: And lost. I think that goes without --

(END)