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Top National Security Picks By President-Elect Announced; Trump Team Defends Sessions Nomination; Trump and Romney's Weekend Meeting; ISIS and the New Administration; Pompeo Nominated for CIA Director. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 18, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, the Trump transition shifts into overdrive. President-elect Donald Trump's team announcing his picks to fill some key national security positions.

He's nominating the Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo for CIA director. Retired General Michael Flynn is Trump's choice to be his national security adviser. Vice President-elect Mike Pence says the transition process is on track.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Making great progress. Great working with the president-elect. He's a man of action. We've got a great number of men and women, great qualifications coming forward to serve this new administration. And I'm just humbled to be a part of it.

Our agency teams have begun to arrive at agencies in Washington, D.C. this morning. We're beginning what we're very confident will be a smooth transition that will serve to move this country forward and make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All three of Donald Trump's national security picks are conservatives. Mike Flynn, though, is registered as a Democrat. Sessions and Flynn were early Trump supporters. Pompeo initially backed Marco Rubio but got onboard with Trump much later in the race.

Our Senior Political Commentator David Axelrod, and former Obama adviser in the White House, responded to Trump's choices. Donald Trump is sticking with those who brought him to the dance but to many America it will seem a monstrous ball. That's from David Axelrod.

All three of Trump's national security picks have accepted his call to serve. But how much political baggage do they bring along with them? Lieutenant General Michael Flynn does have to be confirmed -- does not have to be confirmed, I should say, by the Senate. He's a White House appointee.

But Senator Sessions and Congressman Pompeo will come under scrutiny by the Senate. They will both require Senate confirmation.

Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is joining us from outside Trump Tower in New York City. Sunlen, we know Senator Sessions was denied a federal judgeship way back in the 1980s. What can you tell us about that and about the Senator's resume?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That was only 1986 when he was denied that federal judgeship, Wolf. And he was only 39 years old at the time. But he was dogged by allegations and even testimony from those who work with him that said he had repeatedly made racially charged statements.

Now, Sessions denied that at the time. But, clearly, some of those comments in -- comments from those who worked with him coming back to haunt him now. The Trump team seems very ready to push back on these allegations. On a conference call with reporters today, aides say that they looked at his entire record.

The fact that in the time since he has served decades on Capitol Hill in the Senate, and the fact that he voted for things like the extension of the Civil Rights Act. He even voted for the nation's first African-American attorney general, Eric Holder.

It also can't be overstated how loyal Senator Sessions has been to Trump over the course of this campaign. He was his very first Senate endorsement and really stuck by his side, Wolf, throughout the campaign.

BLITZER: He certainly has. We also know that Congressman Pompeo of Kansas wanted the House Benghazi Select Committee to take a tougher stand on Hillary Clinton. He's also a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Tell us a little bit more about this congressman?

SERFATY: He is a third-term congressman from Kansas. He is known as a stalwart conservative. In fact, he came into the House in a Tea Party wave of 2010. He does serve on the House Select Intelligence Committee.

And, notably, during the primary, he supported Donald Trump's opponent, Senator Marco Rubio. And had few critical things to say over the course of the primary against Donald Trump. But, of course, came onboard later in the election -- Wolf.

BLITZER: He also graduated number one in his class at West Point and went on to be editor of the "Harvard Law Review." Obviously a very intelligent guy.

Lieutenant General Flynn was a top advisor to the president-elect throughout the campaign, as you know. He certainly became a very high-profile surrogate but he does have a history of some controversial comments. Fill us in on those.

SERFATY: He does. And some of those are surfacing now. Many of which are allegations that he was stoking Islamophobia and some of the things he said in the past. And his past record checkered as well.

In 2014, he was fired by the Obama White House. He says, at the time, that it was because he was critical of the administration. But U.S. officials, you know, criticizing more his management style at the time.

[13:05:00] Also, he's been accused of mishandling classified grainformation. He has denied doing that. But U.S. officials certainly open to scrutiny for his handling of that information.

Notable, though, that this position is not one that needs Senate confirmation so that might help the Trump transition team on this one -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Key appointments, indeed, by the president-elect. Sunlen, thanks very much.

Let's talk about these men, their experience, their background, what they bring to the table. Joining us, Jim Sciutto, our Chief National Security Correspondent; Peter Bergen, our National Security Analyst; David Gregory, CNN Political Analyst; and Manu Raju, our CNN Political Reporter.

Jim, what do -- what do these three appointments, these nominations, say to you?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Big picture. I think the idea of the great moderation should just be dispensed with. I mean, in each case, these are folks with some pretty right- wing positions or conservative positions.

But by any measure, Mike Flynn -- and it's not really just controversial comments about Islam. It's outright offensive. I mean, he's dismissed the whole religion as a political ideology. As well as he has very different national security views than has been standard for two parties.

He says that Russia, in his view, is not a threat, or at least is an exaggerated threat. Listen, I spent a lot of time at the Pentagon. It's not like a -- it's not a Democratic point of view to say that Russia is a growing threat. This is something you hear across the -- you know, the defense industry in the intelligence community.

So, he has -- he calls Saudi Arabia more of an enemy than an ally. He has different positions. Pompeo is getting bipartisan praise, but let's look at the positions. He wants to keep Guantanamo open. He wants to end the ban on torture. I mean, that's something, again, that both parties -- many in both parties have opposed.

And then, Sessions, listen, folks will know better his positions on civil rights. But, in the past, he's made some comments. He has -- for instance, he will say, and they said on the party call this morning, on the campaign call this morning, or rather transition call this morning, that he later voted for the Voting Rights Act.

But he has said some things that has -- that have concerned people in those communities. So, each of those are positions. It's not just, sort of, the window dressing on the positions. It's a move to the right.

BLITZER: Peter, you've spent a lot of time covering terrorism, obviously, reporting on terrorism. General Flynn played a key role in Afghanistan in fighting terrorism. He played a very significant role, didn't he?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, particularly in Iraq in the 2006-2007 period when he was the chief intelligence officer for joint special operations task.

BLITZER: Then he was an adviser to General McChrystal --

BERGEN: Yes.

BLITZER: -- in Afghanistan as well.

BERGEN: He was also in Afghanistan. But he was really -- the thing that is distinguishing from everything else we've discussed in -- over the last several days is he has a great deal of on the ground experience in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Was instrumental to the defeat of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is the parent organization of ISIS. This gives him tremendous credibility.

But, as Jim said, you know, I think he's also said a number of other things. In a book, he wrote it's extremely anti-Iran. And I want to pick up on something that Jim said that, I think, is very important. If the new director of the CIA thinks that we should, sort of, be sending people to Guantanamo, including, potentially, American citizens.

BLITZER: This is Congressman Pompeo?

BERGEN: Yes. There isn't anything really preventing that, first. And if he wants to bring torture back, there are some statutes that would prevent that. But a creative lawyer could say, hey, we're going to bring back enhanced interrogations that literally (ph) amount to torture. And then, we're back to 2002.

BLITZER: During the campaign, Donald Trump, repeatedly, said he favors waterboarding. He thinks there's nothing wrong with that. Go ahead, if you're going to get vital information that will save American lives. The president-elect of the United States, as a campaigner, said that. So, if Pompeo believes that, he's in line with Donald Trump.

BERGEN: Yes. I think there is legislation that would prevent some of this, on the torture side. But much of what the Obama administration has done is by executive order, in terms of what they've done since after George W. Bush. Executive orders can be overturned.

BLITZER: An executive order could be signed by one president and then undone by the new president. A new executive order rescinding that, that can be done and it happens all the time.

What's your analysis, David?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: A couple of things. These are conservative hardliners. It's a real validation of the promise of Trump to really stick it in the eye of the Republican establishment. To go hard at the idea of a crackdown on immigration. To go hard at ISIS in a way that is increasingly retro, at Peter has written, so authoritatively, about over the years.

This is much more in keeping with the grand vision of Osama Bin Laden which is to draw the west into this civilization struggle. And it sounds like they want to do that with ISIS.

There's another point that I think is important. Particularly his national security advisor, your job in that role is to be the primary adviser to the president on world affairs and national security.

But you also have to factor in all the other elements of the national security team. Military, intelligence, diplomatic. And that process has got to work well for a good result, a good decision to be made.

[13:10:00] And that's seems to be a big area of his vulnerabilities. Temperament, how he works with other people. As well as, I've talked to senior military officials who complement on his judgment, his work in intelligence, but also think that he will appeal -- Mike Flynn will appeal to Trump's darker impulses.

BLITZER: Mike Flynn, Manu, he does not need Senate confirmation. He's going to be the White House national security adviser. White House appointees don't need confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

The other two do. Let's talk about Congressman Pompeo. Do you anticipate any problems in the U.S. Senate getting him confirmed?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: At this point, no. The one reason why, that Republicans can confirm any executive branch nominee by a party line vote. They do not need to get 60 votes which would require Democratic support, because Democrats did away with the filibuster for executive branch nominees in 2013. So, potentially, that move --

BLITZER: You need a simple majority.

RAJU: -- could come back to bite them. It would be the simple majority.

BLITZER: And they have 52 Republicans in the new Senate, compared to 48 Democrats.

RAJU: Exactly. And what you're hearing now from Democrats is -- you're not really hearing outright criticism of Mike Pompeo. You're hearing caution. They're saying that they will review his record. They will -- they will vet him and then they will cast a judgment, based on the vetting process. And that's similar to what you're hearing also about Jeff Sessions,

too. Democrats obviously know Jeff Sessions very well, him being a member of that body. Typically, senators look very favorable of their own members when they're nominated to cabinet-level positions.

Still, he will face criticism for folks on the left over his record on civil rights, over his hard-line stances on immigration. He was a leading opponent of immigration reform. And you'll hear a lot of concern from the left. But is that enough to stop him? Almost certainly not, unless some new controversy emerges.

BLITZER: But he's pretty much in line with the president-elect on immigration, for example. Their views are pretty much in tandem?

RAJU: Yes, that's right. And that's one reason why that Donald Trump certainly chose him. And one reason why that Jeff Sessions was one of the first people to endorse Donald Trump. He supports the wall along the southern border. He believes that there should be stricter immigration controls. Clearly, that will help him -- that will help him with the presidential-elect.

GREGORY: I just -- the signaling here is interesting, especially no immigration. I fully expect a president Trump to move on building a wall. But my hunch is he doesn't want to do something as divisive as to immediately start deporting people from this country. He may want to pursue that policy. It may take time.

My sense, he wants to focus on really good politics which is repealing Obamacare, Supreme Court nominee, tax policy, regulation. That, to me, is where he probably wants to direct his energies first.

BLITZER: Yes. He did say in a "60 MINUTES" interview, though, that --

GREGORY: Yes.

BLITZER: -- immigration is one of his three top priorities. And he did say there are 2 million or 3 million illegal undocumented immigrants here in the United States who are criminals, gang leaders, --

GREGORY: Right, he did say that.

BLITZER: -- rapists or whatever. And he wants to start getting rid of them ASAP.

GREGORY: Yes.

BLITZER: All right, everybody stand by. We're going to have a lot more to assess.

Coming up, a closer look at the man nominated to be the next attorney general of the United States. What does Jeff Sessions past reveal about his ability to lead the U.S. Justice Department in the years ahead? Plus, Mitt Romney ready -- he's getting ready for a weekend chat with the President-elect Donald Trump. Is Romney gaining for a job or is Trump just looking for some advice? Much more on that. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

[13:13:20]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:06] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The NAACP coming out strongly against President-elect Trump's nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general of the United States saying, and I'm quoting now, "Senator Sessions as attorney general is deeply troubling and supports an old, ugly history where civil rights were not regarded as core American values." The ACLU also denouncing Sessions' nomination tweeting this picture and the bottom of it says, quote, "sued by the ACLU? Not yet." Trump's transition team is defending the nomination

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MILLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM (voice-over): You know, when Senator Sessions was U.S. attorney, he filed a number of desegregation lawsuits in Alabama and he also voted in favor of the 30-year extension of the Civil Rights Act. He also voted to confirm Attorney General Eric Holder and even spearheaded the effort toward giving the - awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks. So we feel very confident that Senator Sessions has the background and the support to receive confirmation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're back with the panel.

Manu, you cover The Hill. I assume all the Republicans, I'm sure, will vote to confirm Sessions. He's pretty well liked within the caucus. So the question is, Democrats. I suspect a whole bunch of Democrats will confirm him as well.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. It's very hard for senators to vote against a fellow senator, even if they disagree with them on the record. And you'll have a number of senators who believe the president should have his own appointment, even if they disagree with him on the merits. But that doesn't mean they're not going to put up a fight or try to make their political points, particularly on issues of immigration. We discussed Senator Sessions very tough stand that he's took against comprehensive immigration reform, against undocumented immigrants, try to make their point in that regard. But - and you'll going to probably see a contentious immigration - confirmation hearing go through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Dianne Feinstein now who's going to be the top Democrat on that committee clearly is going to have - probably have some very tough questions. But there is that personal friendship, Chuck Schumer, the incoming Democratic leader, noting that he's friends with Jeff Sessions. That they worked out together in the Senate gym. So things like that may come in -

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That should settle everything.

RAJU: That should settle everything. But, you know, as we noted before, their - Republicans have enough votes to confirm him. And Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, I am told, told Sessions that directly on a phone call saying, I'm going to push your nomination through the Senate.

BLITZER: I'm interested, David, your thoughts. Tomorrow, the president-elect will meet with Mitt Romney and there's been some suspicion, some suggestions maybe Mitt Romney could emerge as a potential secretary of state. I'm sure Mitt Romney would have no trouble getting confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He's very well liked. But what are your thoughts about this meeting, given the exchanges that these two men had during a very, very bitter campaign?

[13:20:04] GREGORY: Look, I - I would be shocked if Mitt Romney agreed to serve. But, former Governor Romney has a tremendous sense of duty and I think if asked would certainly consider it.

This was really heated between the two of them in the campaign. It kind of goes beyond the normal, you know, disagreements in campaigns. Mitt Romney said, look, this guy should not be president, should not be our nominee. But I think you've got to give Trump credit here. I mean for those people who say, you know, look, he's terrible, he's not meeting with people, he's meeting with all these people who appeal to his darker impulses, good for him if he's reaching out to political enemies to say, what's your advice, I want to hear what you have to say.

BLITZER: Listen to what Sean Spicer, Jim, had to say about this meeting tomorrow between the president-elect and Mitt Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE (voice-over): These conversations start off as just that, a conversation to discuss people's ideas and thoughts and get their opinions. And then sometimes the president-elect will think that they might be good for a job or several jobs and that process continues. The conversation with Mitt Romney is just that, an opportunity to hear his ideas and his thoughts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Now, a lot of us remember the words exchanged back in 2007, 2008 between then Senator Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. There were some ugly exchanges, albeit not as bad as it was between Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. But the president - once he became the president, he asked Hillary Clinton, part of a team of rivals, if you will, to go ahead and be his secretary of state.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, he did. But let's be honest, it got more personal in this campaign.

BLITZER: It certainly did. Yes. SCIUTTO: Romney outright said, he's not qualified to be president. It's interesting. Early on, talking to the transition team, I was told that never Trumpers were not out of the game. That the transition team would consider them, unless it got personal. That, you know, there was a limit to this kind of openness, big tent. But it got pretty personal. And there he is. And what, you know, was it Disraeli who said, finality is not the language of politics, right? I mean this is - you know, it's a sense of duty from Romney. Trump seeing the political benefits of it. If he's not actually expanding that list of potential candidates, to look to see - to be that he is, that has some benefit there.

GREGORY: And, look, he - the big danger here is that he gets in a position where he gets b team players. People who are kind of down the chain. He doesn't want that.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GREGORY: And Mitt Romney's got great business relationships. Got other relationships. It's something to think about.

BLITZER: You know, Peter, if you're ISIS, if you're Abu Bakr al Baghdadi right now and his top team over there in Raqqa, in Mosul, and you're looking at what's happening here with the president-elect, the people he's nominating for key national security positions, all tough, hard-liners, what goes through your mind?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right now they're doing exactly what they did before any of this, which is they're running for their lives. I mean the United States has killed 36 leaders of ISIS in the Mosul area in the last several months. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has disappeared. He's only appeared once in an audio tape recently. I mean he's basically - he's still believed to be in charge, but he's, you know, on the run and Mosul is probably going to fall before the next president takes office. So all this rhetoric about, you know, we're - ISIS is winning and we're going to really take it to them. Well, we have been taking it to them and central command has imposed - we've killed 45,000 fighters in ISIS just in the last couple of years. So the group is under tremendous - it doesn't matter whether President Obama is in charge or President Trump, you know, the military operation is moving forward.

BLITZER: It's not a done deal yet. There's still a lot of work to liberate Mosul and then, of course, move on to Raqqa. This is going to be a long-term proposition.

BERGEN: But Mosul is likely to fall in the next several weeks. I mean -

BLITZER: The next several weeks you think?

BERGEN: Yes. And Raqqa, you know, that's probably, you know, that's a year-long enterprise. But, I mean, ISIS is, you know, they're in the process of losing the thing they hold most dear, which is the geographical caliphate.

BLITZER: Yes, that's what they want, their caliphate.

All right, guys, stick around.

He's a ranking member - the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. After the break, Congressman Adam Schiff, he's standing by to join us to talk more about the national security picks. Does he favor them? Oppose them? We'll be right back.

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[13:28:28] BLITZER: Donald Trump's choices for a slate of key national security posts today already drawing some fire from some Democrats. Trump is nominating Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama to be the next attorney general of the United States. He's also nominating Congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas to become the next CIA director. He also picked retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn for national security adviser at the White House.

Joining us now is Congressman Adam Schiff. He's a Democrat from California, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Thanks very much for joining us.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Great to be with you.

BLITZER: Let's talk about your House colleague, Mike Pompeo, first, to be the next CIA director. As the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, you have to deal with the CIA all of the time. Is he qualified?

SCHIFF: He's very well qualified. He's a solid pick. A very smart guy. Hard working. He can be partisan. We've certainly had our differences over Benghazi. But I'm confident he'll put that aside. The CIA role is a role of supplying the best intelligence to the administration and the Congress. And I know he'll play a very good role and do a very good job.

BLITZER: So you don't think among Democrats he's going to be all that controversial? He'll, you know, slide through the confirmation in the Senate?

SCHIFF: Yo know, I would think so. There will certainly be apprehension about the very vocal role in Benghazi. He was among just a couple of members to file a dissenting report to even the majority report, not feeling the majority report was strong enough. But he's a very talented guy. I think he will do his homework. He'll do the very best to manage the agency well. I have a lot of confidence in his abilities and -

BLITZER: Yes, I've spoken with other Democrats who agree, he's well liked, conservative, but intelligence, number one in his class at West Point, went on to become the editor of "The Harvard Law Review," so he's obviously pretty intelligent. So I suspect he's not going to have any trouble -

[13:30:10] SCHIFF: He's very intelligent. I spoke with him today to congratulate him and I'm very confident he'll do --