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Trump: Possible Cabinet Announcements Today; "Hamilton" to Pence: Please Uphold our American Values; Priebus Reacts to Trump's Kids Involved with Transition; Trump Facing Conflict of Interest Questions; Chuck Schumer to Work with Trump; Obama and Putin Meet in Peru; Alec Baldwin as Trump Returns to "SNL". Aired 2-3p ET

Aired November 20, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Donald Trump is in the midst of another busy day. The President-elect once again holding high level meetings at the tower and his golf course in Bedminster in New Jersey Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence started the day today by attending a service at a nearby Presbyterian Church.

Trump has meetings scheduled with at least a dozen people today as he looks for candidates to fill his cabinet. The names include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Trump also telling reporters there maybe some announcements today. Trump tweeting about one of the top names being considered for secretary of defense saying, "General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis who is being considered for the secretary of defense was very impressive yesterday, a true general's general."

Let's bring in CNN's Phil Mattingly who is covering Trump's meeting. So, Phil, what more can you tell us about all that's going on?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you noted, another marathon day of meetings and a lot of crucial meetings here, potential cabinet (placement). One interesting element was kind of take a look back at yesterday, Fred, you mentioned retired General James Mattis, absolutely a contender for secretary of state; you saw Donald Trump tweeted about it this morning.

Transition advisers have told me the same thing, keep a close eye. Donald Trump is very intrigued by the resume. And he should be considered a if not the leading contender for that position. But other big meeting on the (docket) yesterday was of Mitt Romney, obviously a ardent opposer of Donald Trump throughout the campaign.

We all wanted to know what happened inside that meeting, hour and 20 minute meeting, well, Mike Pence gave us a view this morning, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: To be able to have the opportunity to help lead this transition effort to be sitting shoulder to shoulder with our president-elect as he's talking to men and women of extraordinary backgrounds and capabilities and that putting this administration together, building the agenda, being there when he's talking to leaders around the world has been deeply inspiring.

And I think every American would be inspired by the leadership that our president-elect has shown from literally hours after this election was called.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Mitt Romney as a possible secretary of state is that right?

PENCE: That's absolutely right, John. And I know the President-elect was very grateful that Governor Mitt Romney came here to New Jersey yesterday. We spent the better part of an hour together with him. And then I know that the two of them actually had some private time together.

I would tell you that it was not only a cordial meeting but also as a very substantive meeting. And I can say that Governor Romney is under active and serious consideration to serve as secretary of state of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And Fred, that's been the big question over the course of the last couple days, could Governor Romney actually be under consideration? Would he want to serve in a Trump administration? Would Donald Trump after what we've seen over the last 15 months want Mitt Romney in his administration? A lot of people wondering is this a head fake or are they just trying to send a message to Republicans that they're welcoming?

Mike Pence saying very clearly Mitt Romney is in contention for secretary of state. So that's something to keep a very close eye on. Also worth noting some of the big meetings today. Some of the big noteworthies, another potential secretary of state pick, Rudy Giuliani.

Obviously, the former New York mayor, one of the closest confidantes and advisors to Donald Trump throughout the campaign. He's already arrived in Bedminster ,should be walking in for his meeting here in a couple minutes. That's somebody to keep a very close eye on.

And another big meeting that I think we're all keen to see how it happens, Chris Christie was originally running the transition team, was one of the first major endorsements for Donald Trump but very clearly when he talked to Trump advisers has fallen out of favor with the Trump team over the course of the last couple of weeks.

Donald Trump was asked last night if what happened with bridgegate, the closure of the George Washington Bridge and the convictions of two of Chris Christie's top advisers would leave Chris Christie out of the possibility of a cabinet position. Donald Trump paused and then said we like Chris very much. So not exactly digging in anywhere one way or another on that one, Fred. But another meeting that we're watching very closely.

Chris Christie has seemed like he's out of the loop and out of contention for positions of late but he will meet with Donald Trump one on one today, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And is it being made clear what the possible position of consideration would be?

MATTINGLY: I think the big question we've all had right now is that there's no position being floated. Obviously, a lot of people were considering that Governor Christie would be an ideal slot or ideal pick for attorney general. Obviously, former U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, good legal background and then coming in and being a governor with a lot of focus on legal issues, well, Donald Trump already selected his attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions.

So now that's off the table. Look, there's no question the internal dynamics right now between Chris Christie, allies of Governor Christie and the president-elect and the president-elect's allies is not positive. We've seen it play out in the press.

[14:05:06] We've been told about it from advisers on both sides. There are some issues there.

And the big question now is, is this a meeting just to hash out those issues, is this a meeting that could result in a position for Governor Christie and the administration or is this kind of a putting an end to a relationship that was very productive for president-elect Trump throughout the campaign, maybe isn't so anymore, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Phil Mattingly, thank you so much from Bedminster, New Jersey at Trump's golf course there. Thank you so much.

So the controversy involving the hit Broadway Musical 'Hamilton' is now entering a second day. President-elect Donald Trump continuing to take shots at that hit show. Early this morning, Trump tweeted this saying the cast and producers of 'Hamilton' which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior.

The show's cast members delivering a message from the stage to Vice President-elect Mike Pence as he was leaving the show Friday night. The actor, Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Vice President Aaron Burr thanking Pence for attending and then said, "We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

Mike Pence was asked this morning if he thought he deserved an apology, the apology that Trump is demanding. Pence said that he was not offended. For more on that, our Rachel Crane is joining us live from New York. So give us an idea of what people are saying there today in addition to Trump tweeting that.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, Mike Pence might've not have been offended but the person that was, President-elect Donald Trump. Despite the fact that he is a very busy man setting his political agenda, selecting his cabinet, still found time to tweet about this controversy, not once, not twice, but four times, even calling it harassment.

Now Mike Pence this morning saying that he was not offended by the message that was delivered Friday night and saying that he very clearly heard it, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: Well, first off, I took my daughter and her cousins to the show Friday night. And John, if you haven't seen it yet, it's a great show. I'm a history buff and my hats off to the cast and to the extraordinary team that brought 'Hamilton' to the public. We really enjoyed being there.

Yes, I heard the remarks that were made at the end and, you know, what I can tell you, I wasn't offended by what was said. I will leave to others whether it was the appropriate venue to say it.

But I want to assure people who were disappointed in the election results, people are feeling anxious about this time in the life of our nation that President-elect Donald Trump meant exactly what he said on election night that he is going to be the president of all the people of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: Now, Fred, the message that was delivered Friday night here at the Richard Rodgers theater by Brandon Dixon has been viewed on Facebook more than 14 million times. There's been a lot of chatter about this ongoing controversy on social media, even the #boycotthamilton trending on Twitter.

The irony of course though is that this show is sold out through August of 2017 and there is a long line of people lined up, some even standing at the night out here trying to get tickets. So they are welcoming anybody who is willing to boycott and give them their tickets, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rachel Crane, thank you very much in New York.

So while many are condemning Trump's reaction to the 'Hamilton' message, others have agreed that it was not the time or place to make such a statement. Rocker Steve Van Zandt is the guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's band and he tweeted this. A guy comes to a Broadway show for a relaxing night out, instead he gets a lecture from the stage, not a level playing field, it's bullying. You don't single out an audience member and embarrassed him from the stage. A terrible precedent to set.

Van Zandt went on to say, "Any sane person" would disagree with the policies of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. But he also disagreed with how the cast message was delivered.

All right. Let's bring in our political panel, Errol Lewis, CNN political commentator and political anchor for Spectrum News, good to see you. And Alice Stewart, CONN political commentator and Republican strategist and former communications director for Ted Cruz, good to see you as well.

All right. So, good to see both of you on this lovely Sunday. So Errol, you first, you know, will there likely be more of this kind of express sentiment in unusual venues?

ERROL LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR/SPECTRUM NEWS POLITICAL ANCHOR: I would think so. In part because, look, the very respectful, in my opinion, comments offered from the stage by the cast members at 'Hamilton' is part of a reaction that many people have that is perfectly rational from their point of view.

[14:10:01] If you're talking about people in the arts who have a very big LGBTQ commitment and portion of their community that's active that feels threatened because of laws that Mike Pence among others have actively proposed and are talking about putting forward that's going affect their lifestyle, they feel in someways that there is a real emergency here on a number of issues, immigration and so forth. And that it would be remiss that they would be sort of advocating their responsibility as political or even cultural leaders if they didn't at least say something.

And so I think people are going try and feel their way through this. But you know, it's not as if they just took it upon themselves to inject politics where it had never occurred before. You've got Mike Pence and some others who have been fighting a political and indeed a cultural war for a number of years now. And so there's going to be a reaction.

WHITFIELD: Alice, isn't this free speech? Do you believe Trump and Pence are taking these kinds of sentiments into consideration or considering this only noise that at least, you know, Trump is now believing deserves an apology?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think more than anything, Pence said that he was not offended by the comments. And I think we should take that at face value.

Look, I think the way the cast member spoke to him was very respectful. I think in his view he had a right to have his opinion and exercise his free speech. It was not in any way shape or form what he said or how he said it but where he said it. This should not have been done at a stage where Pence brought his daughter and her cousins for a leisurely night out in New York, where they spent quite a bit of money to see a play.

But clearly it hit a tone with Donald Trump. And he is outraged about it. But more than anything, I think people need to take a big, deep breath. And keep in mind what Donald Trump said that he wants to be the president for all of America, for everyone in this country, Republican, Democrats, male, female, black, white, gay, straight, everyone, take a breath.

And as Hillary Clinton said, come with an open mind, give him the opportunity to show that he wants to represent all Americans. And then if that doesn't turn out to be the case, then you can certainly speak out. But I think that everyone needs to give him the benefit of the doubt.

WHITFIELD: OK. So Errol, as Donald Trump and Mike Pence make considerations for their transition, are these sentiments going to an anyway impact or influence decisions that will be made as it pertains to appointments or nominations?

LEWIS: I have to say, I mean honestly, after 15 months that we recorded and commented on every last bit of it, insults, petty, childish insults, crude, obscene taunts that came out of the mouth of the now president-elect, for him now to sort of start tweeting about where there should be a safe space and everybody should be respectful and quiet and so forth, maybe he makes the distinction, I guess, being on the winning side that you can say whatever you want, you know, however false and crude and obscene and childish it might be during the campaign but then the day after the campaign is over, everybody has to be quiet and respectful.

I don't think it's going to really work that way. And I think we're going to have find our way back to some kind of new equilibrium because having seen a campaign where there was sort of a record in unprecedented level of this kind of rough and crude talk, maybe he's trained the public that that's the way politics gets talked about and maybe that's where we're going to have to be for a little while.

WHITFIELD: Just quick, what do you Alice, what is appropriate? If not this stage or if not on, you know, a public street, as long as people are, you know, being civil, you know, and they're expressing themselves what considered the appropriate place or not appropriate place?

STEWART: I think certainly, I agree 100 percent with what Errol said with regard to some of the comments that were made by Donald Trump, they were not appropriate for the political arena by any shape or form.

I was Ted Cruz's communications director. We were the biggest, largest probably recipient of disparaging comments. But at the same, moving forward, I think people have to realize he is entering into a new office, a new phase. And as many people have said the office of the presidency is very sobering. And we kind of got a takeaway from that after his meeting with the President Barack Obama where there's a new tone and a new demeanor what we're seeing with Donald Trump.

And I do think people like the cast member at 'Hamilton' that they have comments and concerns, find the appropriate whether it is using social media, whether it is asking for a private meeting, whether it is having an event catered specifically around this. But I think just the way he handled this with Mike Pence may not have been the best way to do it.

But without a doubt, he made his message known, he made it quite clear and people are talking about it. But I think the Trump administration will welcome opinions from all (inaudible) because they do plan to represent all Americans.

[14:15:00] WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to talk more, lady and gentleman, Errol and Alice. And of course, you're seeing right there, they're in Bedminster, New Jersey, Donald Trump walking in the door. And again, this is a very busy day for Donald Trump. And many as he consider to his transition team and considerations for nominees and appointments.

All right. We're going to take a short break. Straight ahead, we will discuss the president-elect's possible conflicts of interests as it pertains to his business. More from his White House chief of staff, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. We know it's been a busy day for our President-elect Donald Trump at Bedminster golf club. Right now, you're seeing a pictures of American investor, Wilbur Ross, arriving for a meeting, still unclear what jobs he may be considered for or whether he is playing the role of adviser but you see right there, he was once Trump's economic policy adviser that we know.

But right now, just seeing a nice picture op of the three of them on the doorstep there in Bedminster, New Jersey, upon arrival at Donald Trump's golf course. More on those discussions and other discussions that Donald Trump is having throughout the day, coming up.

Meantime, the topic of pay to play practices became a familiar theme during the campaign season. First, it dogged Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: Now more e-mails have come to light today that seemed to provide direct evidence that favors were done by state department officials for foreign donors to the Clinton foundation. You know, that's the old pay to play system the American people are sick and tired of. And Donald Trump and I are going to bring it to a crashing end n Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:11] WHITFIELD: All right. That was before victory. Now it's Donald Trump who is facing questions about how he will separate his duties as president from his obligations to the more than 500 businesses that he controls. CNN's Jake Tapper asked incoming White House Reince Priebus about that on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about that, about leading this country without distraction. Last week I had questions for Rudy Giuliani a top Trump advisor about potential conflicts of interest that the president will face if he does not put all of his assets into a blind trust.

Now I was told by Mr. Giuliani not to worry because the adult Trump children will run the business and they will stay out of government. But since then Mr. Trump met with the prime minister of Japan and his daughter, Ivanka, one of the people running his businesses was there.

In addition, the "Washington Post" reported that the Trump hotel in D.C. is pushing itself on to foreign diplomats. And we also learned that the president-elect met with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump branded luxury apartment complex south of Mumbai.

All of this in the last week. As White House chief of staff, you're supposed to look out for any political or ethical minefields. Is this seriously the position of the Trump transition team that this is not a huge caldron of potential conflicts of interest?

REINCE PRIEBUS, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: No. I think, look, Donald Trump has been very clear from the beginning that his family is very important to him. And I think that while it's unique, it certainly compliant with the law. And obviously we will comply with all of those laws and we will have our White House council review all of these things and we will have every I dotted and every T crossed.

And I can assure the American people that there wouldn't be any wrongdoing or any sort of undue influence over any decision making. The truth of the matter is and I can just tell you this even from the four days or our five days or so that I've been in a different role, Donald Trump makes the decisions in this operation and while there are meetings that take place, it's Donald Trump that makes these decisions and nothing should be further from the truth.

And so I can assure you and everyone out there that all of these things will be followed and they will be done properly.

TAPPER: During the campaign, you put out a statement saying that the Clinton foundation represents a, "Pay to play culture that would be on full display should Hillary Clinton be elected president."

Are you at all concern that Mr. Trump now could be depicted as somebody engaged in pay to play politics?

PRIEBUS: No, not at all, Jake. I mean we've been at this for a few days. I mean this ridiculous. Let's just kind of take a deep breath. Let's look at what's going on. He made the call to bring all Americans together. He then met with many, many people from all walks of life: Safra Catz, General Mattis, Ted Cruz, Mitt Romney, the list goes on and on.

The point is, what Americans should see from President-elect Trump is someone who by deed and action, from the moment he was declared the winner, he was on a mission to bring everybody together. That to me is what we should be celebrating. I think people should be encouraged by what they see. And I think it's a really positive sign for the future of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So let's talk about Trump's possible conflicts of interest with our panel of experts right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:16] WHITFIELD: All right. Before the break, we heard incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus pushback against what some have called possible conflicts of interest for President-elect Donald Trump as he takes office and as it pertains to his 500 or so businesses.

The red flag surround the more than 500 businesses that Trump has stake in. Trump has said that he will cede all control to his children but does that go far enough?

To talk more about this, I'm joined by CNN political commentators, Mike Shields and Errol Lewis. All right. So gentlemen, already heard Reince Priebus, you know, comment that Donald Trump has pledged to represent and bring all Americans together. And this, while he is president-elect, already there have been meetings involving Japanese leaders, an Indian leaders as it relates to his business and even his daughter, Ivanka.

So Errol, you know, is there already a conflict or is the microscope on he and his businesses and the children after he sworn in and so right now there is no conflict?

LEWIS: No, no, no. Right now there is an absolute conflict. And that's not just his daughter going on a national interview and, you know, sort of hawking at $10,000 bracelet along the way and it's not just a question of Indian businessmen putting out pictures on Instagram with the president-elect.

I mean this is something that is very serious because we do not know the extent of his business dealings. He deliberately obscured that and kept the public from discovering it. So we know for example that he has along somewhere within the Trump organization and perhaps to him personally from the Bank of China. That is an absolute conflict for somebody who has to now negotiate with China.

We have no idea what is going on there. And, you know, for Reince Priebus to say, well, all the laws are being followed. Well, the reality is, Fredrick, conflict of interest laws don't apply to the president in the same way that they do to the rest of us. So the law is not the answer there. It's really custom and tradition in the sense of propriety and of disclosure so that we can all know what is going on.

The founding fathers and probably anybody else who's ever looked at this never contemplated that there would be a sitting president of United States nudging diplomats to stay at a hotel down the street from the White House that he personally owns. I mean this is new territory.

WHITFIELD: And that being the new Trump International Hotel there on Pennsylvania Avenue, the old post office building there in Washington. So Mike, do you see a conflict already? MIKE SHIELDS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Fist of all, the

hypocrisy is almost hitting me in the face here. I think every time you have a Democrat guest on who wants to talk about any of these conflicts, you should go back and find out what they were saying about the Hillary Clinton foundation while they were supporting her for president. That was a real pay to play scheme that was set up.

This in our system, we have a president that gets elected.

[14:30:03] They don't take office the day after the election. We have a time called the transition. That's the time that we're in. We're, like, eight or nine days into it.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: OK, but you bring up the Clinton. But that does now --

SHIELDS: And that's the period -- hang on, that's the period of time --

WHITFIELD: Does that speak of hypocrisy? So the same kind of questions were being asked of Hillary Clinton as candidate and now we're talking about as president-elect, same questions.

SHIELDS: No.

WHITFIELD: You see it as very different? You don't see hypocrisy here?

SHIELDS: Of course. Of course. One was a scheme that was set up specifically to take money from foreign governments into the personal charity that was set up by the family while the person was in office. Here we have a transition where someone just got elected. They've got a period of time before they're sworn in to sort out all of these different issues.

You just heard the White House chief of staff said we're going to have counsel's office look at this and make sure it's all handled correctly. And so for the left to sort of try to use that for political gain eight days into a transition --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: But were those the questions about access, and as it pertained to Hillary Clinton, we're also now viewing the access, the question of access, Ivanka Trump sitting there, president-elect, Indian leaders, business? How is that the same or different?

SHIELDS: Well, he's not president yet. He's in a transition. They're sorting through these issues. They're going to have a counsel's office, as the chief of staff said. They're going to follow the law. They're going to set this up correctly. And you know, when you're trying to hire a secretary of state and an attorney general, those are your first orders of business. You've got time between now and the transition to sort all of these business things out. He said he's going to do it. That is exactly appropriate. And by the way, the American people elected him because he's a

businessman and not a politician. You know what you wouldn't have? If you'd hired a politician, you wouldn't have to worry about any of these things because they don't have businesses. This is a man with a business experience and because of that you have a transition period --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: OK.

SHIELDS: To sort out their businesses.

WHITFIELD: Errol, respond. How is it different?

LOUIS: Yes. The leftist on the editorial board of the "Wall Street Journal" have suggested that he liquidate all of the holdings of the Trump Organization and put them in true blind trust because what's being discussed and described as a blind trust is neither blind nor a trust.

I think the "Wall Street Journal" editorial board has it exactly right. It would be tremendously inconvenient, it might even cause the president-elect to suffer some personal financial losses, but that is the only way to make sure that it's truly in the hands of somebody who is separated from the important diplomatic and military and strategic decisions that a president has to make.

And for anybody to say anything else, if they're trying and dredge up the Clinton Foundation and some other kind of stuff is really just trying to sort of stave off yet again an important question that's been asked for over a year now that Mr. Trump has refused to answer. He said he was going to release his taxes. We're never going to see those taxes.

He was asked to disclose his business interests. We're never going to learn the full extent of those business interests. We're being asked now to wait just a little bit longer until after the inauguration. The reality is, if the question is serious, the question has to be answered now. To try and attack the Clinton Foundation is not a serious response in any way shape or form.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there. This is just the tip of the iceberg on this conversation. We know that.

Mike Shields, Errol Louis, we'll have you back. Thank you so much.

All right. Also coming up, New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has a message for Trump. Be ready to fight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:20] WHITFIELD: All right. With President-elect Trump set to take office and some Republicans in charge of the House and Senate, it's soul searching time for the Democrats as they search for a way forward. Senator Chuck Schumer, the new top Democrat in the Senate, says it will be a tenuous relationship between Congress and the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY), INCOMING MINORITY LEADER: We're not going to work with him for the sake of working with him. We're not going to oppose him just because he says something -- says something that Trump sponsors. But let me give you a couple of examples on both sides. Surprisingly on certain issues candidate Trump voiced very progressive and populist opinions. For instance, getting rid of the carried interest loophole. Changing our trade laws dramatically. A large infrastructure bill. Cleaning up the swamp in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Donald Trump tweeting compliments to the incoming minority leader this morning. Trump tweeting this, saying, quote, "I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. He is far smarter than Harry R and has the ability to get things done. Good news."

All right. Let's discuss all of this with CNN political commentator Bill Press, who is a Hillary Clinton supporter. And I also want to bring back CNN political commentator Alice Stewart.

All right. Good to see both of you. All right, so, Bill, you first. I mean, A, is this what it's going to be? We're going to get the sentiments of Donald Trump via tweet on just about anything and everything? And his compliments Chuck Schumer, does that say something about the new Democratic Party if there is such a thing in terms of relationship between Democrats and Donald Trump?

BILL PRESS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there are two questions there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PRESS: First, the future of the Democratic Party. Let's put that aside. Maybe we'll get to that in a little bit. The future of the Democratic Party, though, is related to the role of Congress now in this new administration.

You know, I'm the eternal optimist. I like the fact that they're saying good things about each other. I also think that Chuck Schumer is right. There are many issues on which I think Donald Trump and President Trump and Democrats can get together in terms of trade deals, no new trade deals, redoing some of the ones that exist. In terms of jobs, as Donald Trump has talked about spending millions and millions of dollars on infrastructure to create new jobs. He'll get the support of Democrats for that. Republicans oppose it under President Obama. The carried interest forward.

So I would hope, even with Obamacare, I think they could come together on fixing some things but keeping those parts of it that work. So I would hope that that's where they focus in the beginning of the administration. And I hope they don't prove us wrong. WHITFIELD: So, Alice, do you see that this might be a microcosm of

what's to come? You know, Chuck Schumer has a decent relationship, he said it's a good relationship. Donald Trump says they have a good relationship, and that perhaps with the influence that Chuck Schumer may have with the rest of the Democratic Party or many others within the Democratic Party that this shows there may be hope in terms of Dems working with Donald Trump and vice versa?

STEWART: I think so, Fred. I think we're looking at two men that want to negotiate and work on deals where they can find common ground. I think Schumer made a great point also this morning where he was really the first high ranking Democrat I've seen that actually acknowledged their loss was attributed in large part to the fact they weren't able to articulate the message on the economy to working class Americans and show that they understand what they're going through, and Washington is broken and needs to be fixed. And so that's a good first step. I think also finding common grounds with infrastructure spending and renegotiating trade deals is a good place to start.

[14:35:05] But where we're going to see the real battles in January and start moving forward is when we're talking about the Supreme Court issues and some tax cuts that would be high on the priority for the new administration. That's where we're going to see the real battle. And clearly Chuck Schumer made it quite clear that they're not going to give up lightly on issues they feel strongly about.

WHITFIELD: Speaker Nancy --

PRESS: But can I say --

WHITFIELD: Yes, go ahead.

PRESS: One other quick thing is, I think what you will not see is Democrats will not oppose everything that President Trump puts forward simply because it comes from President Trump the way Mitch McConnell and Republicans did under President Obama. I think the American people have had enough of that kind of blind opposition to everything.

WHITFIELD: In contrast to that, that was virtually a pledge at the start of President Obama's presidency.

PRESS: Yes. Yes.

WHITFIELD: That we want this president to fail. And you're saying you are not seeing that in Democrats --

PRESS: No. Democrats will oppose where they believe it's really important and necessary. They will work together with the new president where they believe his ideas are good for the American people.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alice Stewart, Bill Press, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

PRESS: All right, thanks, Fred. See you. WHITFIELD: All right. We've got breaking news now we want to get to

you. An officer shot and killed in San Antonio, Texas. Officials say he was conducting a traffic stop when he was shot. And they believe he was targeted. According to police, the officer was writing a ticket when the suspect pulled up behind him and apparently, according to this initial reporting, the officer was shot in the head.

And then whoever the suspect was, this is just some of the information we're getting, then reached into the car and then shot again. I hope I got that information right. The police are now searching for that shooter. Again some of this information very preliminary, we're getting just a bit of the reporting. And that's what we're able to bring to you thus far. When we get more details, more cohesive detail we'll be able to bring that to you.

So again, a police officer shot and killed during a traffic stop there in San Antonio, Texas. More when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:50] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. This morning President Obama met with Russian president Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the first APEC meeting. They appeared to have a very casual conversation just before going into the summit.

CNN's Athena Jones is in Lima, Peru. So Athena, what do we know about the conversation between Presidents Barack Obama and Putin?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. That's right. The conversation was brief. It was casual. Those were the exact words a White House aide used to -- to me to describe the conversation. We have more from a read-out put up by the White House. We know that they only chatted for about four minutes.

It is not uncommon for these two presidents, these two leaders to not have the formal bilateral meeting where you sit down and talk for an hour, but to instead have these informal pull asides on the margin of summits. They have done several times.

We know that the two leaders discussed Ukraine and Syria. On the matter of Syria, President Obama talked about the need for Secretary of State Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov to continue talking, continue trying to negotiate and pursue initiatives together with the broader international community to try to reduce the violence taking place in Syria and to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.

Of course a lot of attention has been paid to the relationship between the U.S. and Russia all during this election, and what the next relationship between the next president, President-elect Trump and President Putin will be. So it's interesting to see these two leaders find some time to chat on this last major trip of President Obama -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Athena Jones, thank you so much in Lima, Peru. All right. Straight ahead, Alec Baldwin returning to "SNL" for his

first appearance since the election, playing the role of President- elect Donald Trump. He got a big laugh with this Internet search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, "SNL": Google what is ISIS. Oh my, 59 million results. Siri, how do I kill ISIS?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:35] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Want to keep you updated on all the meetings taking place today with President-elect Donald Trump. A number of people being possibly under consideration for jobs. Right now you're looking at Donald Trump pointing at Wilbur Ross leaving, one of Trump's -- one of the meetings that have been roughly 15, 20 minutes. And Ross has been one of the economic advisers for Donald Trump along the way. What job might he be under consideration for? We don't know.

Also we saw images of someone else heading in, Kris Kobach, secretary of state for Kansas. He counseled Trump on immigration policy. Now Kobach also is known to be one of the craftsmen of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System which was put in place following 9/11.

So all of those meetings taking place today. Of course when we hear any news about appointments or suggestions on Cabinet members we'll bring that to you.

All right. Meantime, "Saturday Night Live" and Alec Baldwin joining forces again. Last night they parodied Trump's reliance on Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE MCKINNON, ACTOR, "SNL": President Trump, Mike Pence is here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, sir.

BALDWIN: I heard you went to see "Hamilton." How was that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was good. I got a free lecture.

BALDWIN: Heard they booed you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: I love you, Mike. You're the reason I'll never get impeached. So --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to make it hard for us to hire a special prosecutor to put Hillary in jail.

BALDWIN: Then don't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do it?

BALDWIN: Scrap it. She didn't do anything. Scrap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, being president is not going to be easy. But we'll get through it if we work hard together.

BALDWIN: Thank you, Mike. Oh, and Mike, you're going to do everything, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. The real Donald Trump has reacted to a few things in that "SNL" clip. He's also demanding that the cast of "Hamilton" apologize. And he also said that he watched parts of "Saturday Night Live" last night and saying, "This is a totally one- sided, biased show. Nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?"

Joining me now to discuss this and how the media is covering the Trump transition, CNN Money media reporter Frank Pallotta.

All right, Frank. Good to see you. So we know that Donald Trump is not letting go of his Twitter handle and his urge to tweet as yet. He's commenting on all of this. And in large part he really is making a statement, is he not, about freedom of speech, how he feels that there should be apologies for the expression of such sentiments?

FRANK PALLOTTA, CNN MONEY MEDIA REPORTER: I mean, he is. But this is the other thing that you should really notice is that this is the same man that hosted "Saturday Night Live" a year ago.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PALLOTTA: So it's kind of fun to see this kind of change in less than a year that now that he's in the spotlight as president he finds "SNL" to be unfunny and biased, and all these other things. And just last month he said they should cancel the show and that Alec Baldwin's performance stinks.

[14:55:01] While just last year he was saying, I had an amazing night at "Saturday Night Live," so this is something that you're seeing in real time which is very, very interesting. But then you also had him say equal time for us which is a way to kind of say, you know, the equal time rules that the FCC has. That happens during an election. Obviously the election is over.

WHITFIELD: During the campaign.

PALLOTTA: And Alec Baldwin this morning even told him as much on Twitter.

WHITFIELD: So is this thin-skinned or is this Donald Trump on president-elect now so take me serious, I don't want to be fodder for jokes?

PALLOTTA: I think we'll have to see. There's not enough here to really tell. It seems to be kind of thin-skinned a little bit because he is talking about something that I said, like before that a year ago he had nothing against when everyone was kind of joking with him. So I think, you know, time will tell to see where this is kind of going.

WHITFIELD: All right. Frank Pallotta, thank you so much. We're going to have much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, again. And thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Donald Trump is in the midst of another busy day. The president-elect once again holding high level meetings at this hour at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, starting their day today by attending a service at a nearby Presbyterian church. Trump has meetings scheduled with at least a dozen people today as he looks for candidates to fill his Cabinet. The names including New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.