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Obama Holds News Conference With German Leader; Trump to Meet with Japanese Prime Minister; Governor Haley A Candidate for Secretary of State; Trump Team: No Arbitrary Timetable On Announcements; Trump Team: No Lobbying For 5 Years After Exit. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired November 17, 2016 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:02] BARACK OBAMA, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: -- and people would come to me with all kinds of political problems and policy problems and international problems and my team would be getting discouraged and depressed. And I would say to them "I have to be optimistic" because the odds of somebody named Barack Obama being president of the United States were very low. And the fact that in my lifetime I have seen such enormous positive change in the United States and around the world tells me that -- that although history does not travel in a straight line, it moves in the direction of justice. And freedom. And a better life for people.
But we have to fight for it. We have to work for it. What makes me cautiously optimistic about my successor and the shift from campaign mode to governance is there's something about the solemn responsibilities of that office. The extraordinary demands that are placed on the United States, not just by its own people but by people around the world. That forces you to focus. That demands seriousness. And if you're not serious about the job, then you probably won't be there very long because it will expose problems.
Even when you're doing a good job, even when you are attentive, there's so many things that come across your desk that people are going to question you, and you're going to have opponents, and you're going to have critics, and you figure that out pretty fast when you're sitting there. And I think the president-elect is going to see fairly quickly that the demands and responsibilities of a U.S. president are not ones that you can treat casually. And that in a big complex diverse country, the only way that you can be successful is by listening and reaching out, and working with a wide variety of people. And so it is my hope that that is what will happen and I'm going to do everything I can over the next two months to help assure that that happens.
It is absolutely true that Chancellor Merkel is going to have significant responsibilities. Has had extraordinary burdens that she's had to carry. If she chooses to continue, you're right, she will have big burdens. I wish I could be there to lighten her load somewhat but she's tough. And I have -- I know what it means to carry burdens because the fact of the matter is that if there are problems around the world, the first question people ask is why isn't Washington doing something about it? This is why it's so important not to discount or take for granted the importance of the Transatlantic Alliance. And this is probably the best place for me to end.
In international forum, in G20s, in G7s, and the United Nations, the United States and Germany are not always perfectly aligned. America and Europe, they're not always perfectly aligned. But, the voice that speaks out on behalf of some dissident who is jailed halfway around the world.
[12:35:02] The voice who is expressing concern about some child in an African village who doesn't have clean drinking water or is subject to some terrible disease. The voice that insists on rules and norms governing international affairs. The voice that helps to steer the world away from war wherever possible. That's our voice more often than not. And we're not always successful. But if that voice is absent, or if that voice is divided, we will be living in a meaner, harsher, more troubled world. And we have to remember that. And whoever is the U.S. president, and whoever is the chancellor of Germany, and whoever is the leader of other European nations and other democracies around the world, they, they need to recognize that.
There are going to be forces that argue for cynicism or looking the other way with somebody else's problems that are not going to champion people who are vulnerable, because sometimes that's politically convenient. And if we don't have a strong transatlantic alliance that's standing up for those things we will be giving to our children a worst world. We will go backwards instead of forward. So whoever the U.S. president is, whoever the chancellor of Germany is, we need to remember that. And our citizenry who decide who our presidents and chancellors are need to remember that.
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): It is after all a very good thing if after eight years of cooperation the President of the United States says that this is a cooperation based on friendship that we cooperated well. I feel that this is a very good, a very positive message and indeed encouragement for me. Now, secondly, I fortunately know very many people, and there are many, many more that I don't know and many politicians who stand up for the same values of democracy, of liberal societies, of open societies, of respect for the dignity of man.
And I feel that we are in a community of people here who stand up for these values, who try to maintain them, and wherever they are not yet respected, stand up for people's rights to enjoy them as well. And this is worth every effort. And -- but I think we're gratified to know that there are many, many people who are -- feel committed to this goal. Thank you very much.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama in Germany with Angela Merkel. And what probably is going to be the last press conference we would expect that they would ever be sharing the stage together. You are live right now in the CNN Newsroom, I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington. I'm joined now by some of our experts here, Elise Labott and Gloria Borger. We also have Michelle Kosinski there traveling with the President as well.
Let's talk a little bit Michelle about what you saw in terms of a different tone. Was there anything different that you saw from President Obama that we haven't heard from other recent appearances after the election that he's spoken about Donald Trump and his expectations?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's interesting because this is now the third time we've heard President Obama take questions. So, what it's all amounted to is kind of this now more in-depth postmortem of what led to the election outcome. And what he never gets into is the Democratic side. What he thinks could have been better? What went wrong? I mean, during one of these appearances he was asked, do you think that your policies contributed to it?
He didn't even answer that question really. What he wanted to get into here was kind a combination of what we've heard so far. Partly optimism, talking about being optimistic and wanting to keep the close ties with other countries, the foundations at the very least of some of his policies and ways been worked on. But also his kind of dark view of the forces at work here. And he talked about people looking for simplistic solutions. He talked about politicians offering simplistic solutions and answers to tough questions.
[12:40:03] He talked about using a tax, absolutism, nationalism, a lack of compromise. Kind of on the one side offering a dark warning of where those impulses can go unless you stick to the core Democratic values. He also talked about Donald Trump specifically. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: He ran a extraordinarily unconventional campaign and it resulted in the biggest political upset in perhaps modern political history, American history. And that means that he now has to transition to governance. And what I said to him was that, what may work in generating enthusiasm or passion during elections maybe different than what will work in terms of unifying the country and gaining the trust even of those who didn't support him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: I think what comes glaringly out of all of these press conferences is that there are big question marks here. That President Obama can really offer very little in the way of reassurance to other world leaders. Other than saying, you know, America's democratic foundation is strong. The relationships with these other nations are strong. But he can't offer them clarity on how any part of his policies will continue moving forward, with the exception of NATO. He did say that Donald Trump expressed a commitment to the organization. Brianna?
KEILAR: Yeah, that's right. He seemed to be trying to reassure Europe on NATO despite of course what Donald Trump was campaigning on. All right, I want to talk to Gloria about social media, because this is a President who has used social media so often. And it's been his vehicle to go around the media. This is something he and his White House would love to do. And yet he was talking -- let's listen to this, he was talking about the negative aspects of this in this past election. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If we are not serious about facts, and what's true and what's not, and particularly in an age of social media where so many people are getting their information and sound bites and snippets off their phones, if we can't discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems. If people, whether they are conservative or liberal, left or right, are unwilling to compromise and engage in the democratic process. And are taking absolutist views and demonizing opponents, then democracy will break down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: It is so interesting Gloria, to hear him issue this warning.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, you know -- and he is, he is talking about the way we get our news in this country and how we don't know what to believe anymore.
KEILAR: Saying some of it is fake, right?
BORGER: And some of it is, some of it is fake. And I think he's also in a way talking to Donald Trump about that, who likes -- who has in the past liked to re-tweet things without giving it that much thought. And I think what he's saying is you can't Google -- you can't Google your way to any serious opinions. And I think he's talking to the country when he says that. And I think he's talking to the president- elect about that. When he uses the word, "This job demands seriousness and if you're not serious about the job, you probably won't be there very long." And I think it's part of a larger explanation that he gave to Donald Trump himself it seems to me, and that he's, that he's saying to the country.
KEILAR: I think it sounds like he also may be trying to reassure people who have concerns about Donald Trump. Just that the gravity of disposition, the gravity of being president of the United States is something entirely different than being out there campaigning and going for sort of the message and going for riling people up or drawing people in.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He said the demands placed on the U.S., not just to the country but on the world forces you to focus, demand serious, and as Gloria said, you won't be there very long. And I think what he was trying to say to reassure people from his meeting with Donald Trump that he gets it. That he is trying to -- and even, you know, when you heard President Obama and Donald Trump after that meeting, you could see how sobered he was, Donald Trump. And how -- you could see that a little bit as he gets more understanding of what the job entails of some of the dangers out there, some of the threats that the U.S is facing that perhaps this is -- even this short meeting changed his world view slightly.
[12:45:09] And I think as we see his cabinet picks and such, I think that was a good question, how that will shape what he thinks his kind of world view on foreign policy. KEILAR: David Gergen is with us. And David, you worked with multiple presidents, so you should know as you hear President Obama saying this that the gravity of the office is something that is going to -- what he's basically saying is bring Donald Trump to confront reality, to understand how serious of a position he is in. Is that true? I mean have you seen that happen?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not often. I think the President has been expressing hope more than optimism. What really fascinated me about this press conference today was that it was just about eight years ago that Barack Obama was launched on to the international stage by this massive rally in Berlin in his favor, over 2 million people showed up and it was dramatic. It really helped him get his -- yeah, getting the presidency and here now he's come back to Berlin to make his valedictory conversation or talk to the Europeans. And one had a very, very strong sense today that this was also a valedictory to an old politics that in which the President of the United States worked closely with the chancellor of Germany. They were the two most powerful leaders of the western world, they share so many values from the past, they did agree on most big issues.
But here, what became -- what was so starkly clear was we're entering a new age when the new president of the United States has sharply different views from the chancellor of Germany on a whole range of issues starting with climate change, with trade, with the European Union and the unity of the European Union, on Russia, on Iran, on Syria, on all of those issues. Mrs. -- Chancellor Merkel has very, very different views and is going to have collision with the United States over them and they have to do a lot of sorting out. But we are entering a new age and I think Barack Obama and Chancellor Merkel both recognized this today and almost in many ways were saying goodbye to an old chapter of -- an earlier chapter in our relationship. We start a new chapter now. Let's hope for the best.
KEILAR: So David, when you say you feel like on this other thing he's expressing hope more than optimism which I think is an important clarification there, when he's trying to reassure, when he's trying to reassure Europe that Donald Trump basically didn't mean what he said about NATO when he was campaigning is that the same thing, in your estimation is that -- is that President Obama feeling like he can really say, actually it's going to be different, don't panic, or is that him expressing hope in maybe not anything that is possibly based in fact about that?
GERGEN: I think that President Obama would very much like to see Donald Trump become, you know, more like a traditional American president. But I think in his heart of hearts he has -- he has as much uncertainty about that as all the rest of us do, we're not sure where this is going. I do think, it's extraordinary, we've never seen this before that I can remember. When an outgoing president would serve as the best ambassador to the rest of the world for an incoming president, normally it's someone representing the incoming president who's making the rounds in Europe and, you know, saying we're going to get along and let's try to figure out where we are common ground.
I think President Obama is making every effort he can to hand over the power, the reins of power in as good as shape as he possibly can because I think he is fearful of what may be coming. I think he's trying to do the best he can to hold things together and try to express that hope, and try to coax Donald Trump into being more like the president he would like to see. But I think he's like, you know, you've just have to know that somewhere in him there's fear about what's coming and now he's trying to do the best he can to hold things together.
BORGER: Well, I think he made that really clear actually today when he spoke about Russia. And he said, you know, I -- my hope is just simply not take a real politic approach and suggest we just cut some deals with Russia without considerating -- considering our values in international norms. And I think Angela Merkel felt the same way and that is clearly a fault line.
LABOTT: You know, you've seen Angela Merkel really straddle this balance. A lot of the world leaders are just kind of saying, look forward to the new relationship with Donald Trump. No, Angela Merkel is taking it upon herself to send a warning to this president-elect. We want to work with you. We want good cooperation. But it has to be based on the shared values that we have for liberal open societies where a community of people. She's saying to Donald Trump, are you part of this community? I've heard what you've said about building a wall against Mexico. I've seen the racism that's been tinged in your campaign and I'm very concerned about it.
[12:50:09] We want to be your friend, the U.S. and Germany have this great alliance, but we want to see you turn course from the election. She ended by saying we're done with the election, we're done with the campaign, now it's time to get to work. And that's the message that she's sending to Donald Trump.
KEILAR: It's so much uncertainty and we've seen that ...
GERGEN: Let me add one other thing, Brianna.
KEILAR: Yeah.
GERGEN: Yeah. If I may add one other point. It's really important to understand that even as this transition is underway, the Russians and the Syrians are trying to take advantage of the transition by pounding, you know, Aleppo and by pounding other sites. Russian bombing has stepped up since Donald Trump talked to Putin. And just, the Financial Times, a huge headline, the American press didn't pay much attention, hours after they had a conversation the Russians stepped up their bombing in Syria. And that has to be a concern that the Russians are going to try to make this a done deal in which Assad is going to stay in power and Assad may see Trump as sort of quite ally as the President is reporting now, that big things are taking place even during the transition.
KEILAR: So much change. David Gergen, thank you so much. Gloria Borger, Elise Labott, thank you so much for lending your insight in this discussion.
And we've been talking about the transition. The revolving doors at Trump Tower will be kept very busy today. They're with the pack of experts and cabinet post candidates filing into the president-elect's headquarters. We have live pictures inside of Trump Tower where South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley arrive a short time ago to meet with Donald Trump. The governor, as you will recall has been very outspoken, very critical of Donald Trump in the past. Reportedly though, she's being considered for secretary of state.
Meantime, Donald Trump is also preparing for his first face-to-face with a sitting foreign leader since being elected. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in New York, he's going to meet later with the president-elect. Joining us now is CNN Sunlen Serfaty who is live outside of Trump Tower. She's monitoring all of these comings and goings, a bit of a fly on the wall there. Sunlen, what's going on?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, well, there certainly has been a parade of people here at Trump Tower today, many of whom could go on to claim some of these top posts and positions within the Trump administration. Earlier this morning we saw General Michael Flynn, go in. He of course, is one of the top contenders for national security advisor, Rudy Giuliani also seen here today. He spent about an hour inside. Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser saying that he is the leading contender for a number of positions.
We know according to sources that includes Attorney General, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, and potentially Secretary of State. So too is South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who we've seen earlier going inside. She is meeting one-on-one with Donald Trump today. And according to sources is being actively considered for Secretary of State as well. And as you pointed out, it's notable since she was such a fierce Trump critic during many points of the campaign. So I think we can say the pace of these meetings, especially the high-profile candidates for some of these top posts, really picking up here today. Brianna.
KEILAR: And the first daily press briefing by the Trump team. Tell us about this.
SERFATY: Yeah, this was the first formal press briefing that a Trump transition team had. And thankfully they're turning it into a daily occurrence. And the big news today from that was that Donald Trump has called for a two-hour meeting to take place here Friday at Trump Tower with his whole transition team. Certainly, I think we can say that this phase moving in into this -- transition moving into a phase where he felt the need to get everyone together at one table in one room. And I asked the transition advisers if this is an indication that Trump potentially was inching towards making final decisions on many of these key administration posts. Here's their answer.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JASON MILLER, TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM SPOKESMAN: The focus from this administration will be to put together the absolute best team to help lead this nation forward. And when those decisions have been made by the president-elect then they will be announced. But there is not an arbitrary timetable, it's about getting it right.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SERFATY: So not tipping their hand too much there Brianna. But an aide also added to me after that, saying that this would be a good time for Donald Trump to go over some of the reflections that he had during some of those private meetings he had over the course of this week. Brianna.
KEILAR: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much. Let's talk more about all of this now with editor-in-chief of "The Hill" Bob Cusack with us now. And I want to talk to you about Nikki Haley. I am completely fascinated by what we see going on here. Now, let's listen to this. This is some of the not so nice things that they had to say about each other over this past year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT: First of all, she's very weak on illegal immigration, very weak. She's very, very weak on illegal immigration. You can't have that.
[12:55:00] GOV. NIKKI HALEY, (R) SOUTH CARILONA: We need to show that South Carolina makes presidents and that our next president will be Marco Rubio.
I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party, that's not who we want as president. We will not allow that in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Wow. Those are not some nice words. OK ...
BOB CUSACK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "THE HILL": Yeah.
KEILAR: ... so what's going on here? And, is this wound healed between them?
CUSACK: I think it is. I think it's a good sign that Trump is reaching out to people who didn't -- and I remember ...
KEILAR: Yeah.
CUSACK: ... he's got to fill 4,000 positions. So, if he just sticks to loyalists he's not going to fill ...
KEILAR: But this is a huge one. This is -- I mean, this
CUSACK: Oh this is a big one, yes.
KEILAR: ... this is Secretary of State that she's being considered for. This is basically his right-hand person on the world stage.
CUSACK: Yes. And as we saw, she was very critical of him during the primary. So -- but I do think that's part of both uniting the party and also uniting the country. And I think that's a good sign he is not holding vendettas. KEILAR: Sure. So what does that say, especially as we've just looked at this press conference going on overseas with President Obama and Angela Merkel. What does that say to let's say that she is secretary of state, even though she's just being considered. What does that say to allies? What does that say to foes of the U.S. overseas, that he is looking at someone who isn't a loyalist?
CUSACK: I think they'll probably look at it as a good sign. However, the boss is going to be Donald Trump. And whether that's on trade or ISIS or Russia, whoever fills that spot and it is a key slot at secretary of state, it's going to be very different policies than what we've seen in of John Kerry and Barack Obama.
KEILAR: OK, I want to talk about this "draining the swamp" which is something that Donald Trump run on. So they're saying that anyone vetted for a high post and the administration has to provide a termination of lobbying form and when officials leave the government they will be banned for being a lobbyist for five years.
OK, so I want to talk to you about this. How much of this is really draining the swamp? Is there any way for people to get around this? Is this going to maybe discourage people from joining or can they just basically lobby without registering as a lobbyist that it doesn't actually drain the swamp?
CUSACK: That's the key one because the registration rules as you know are kind of fuzzy.
KEILAR: Yeah.
CUSACK: However, five years is a long time. And this is done administratively. Now Barack Obama obviously also ran on an anti- lobbyist theme however did lobbyist serve in his administration? Yes, he gave a lot of weavers.
KEILAR: They were waived in.
CUSACK: Yeah, they were waived in. So will Donald Trump do that? I do think they are going to lose some people who look at that and say five years, I don't think I can do that. I need to have a livelihood in D.C.
KEILAR: Yeah, it's very lucrative business. We cannot really overstate that at all. Bob Cusack with "The Hill" editor-in-chief, thanks so much for being with us, we do appreciate it.
CUSACK: Thank you.
KEILAR: And thank you so much for watching "Newsroom". "Wolf" starts after a quick break.
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