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Top Aide: Trump White House Won't Investigate Clinton; Driver Charged in Chattanooga School Bus Crash; Wall Street Poised to Extend Rally. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 22, 2016 - 09:15   ET

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

[09:00:03] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And it can be very useful in what they're trying to do.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Obviously, bring the police together with the people in the community. Everybody's trying to do that, so good for Donnell.

CUOMO: And everybody likes a nice, tight cut.

CAMEROTA: OK.

CUOMO: Time for NEWSROOM with Carol Costello. Big fan of the barber shop. I saw her getting her hair cut there and a shave just the other day.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, yes, I did get a shave. See? It's very smooth and nice now.

CUOMO: Warm towel. Beautiful face.

COSTELLO: Get out. You guys have a nice day. NEWSROOM starts now.

CAMEROTA: You, too.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. We do begin with breaking news this morning. Donald Trump's senior adviser announces a huge reversal, announces the President-elect will not pursue an investigation into Hillary Clinton. That's despite months of candidate Trump mocking crooked Hillary and reveling in his supporters' chants of "Lock her up."

CNN's Jason Carroll outside the transition headquarters of Trump Tower. He joins us with more. Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. This is something that Trump has been pushing throughout much of his campaign, and that "Lock her up, lock her up" really became a rallying cry at nearly every rally that, at least, I attended over the past few months. This is something that Trump first mentioned, I believe, it was back in June at a rally in California where he mentioned this notion of Hillary Clinton having to go to jail. Then at a rally in August is when he started to mention about this idea of putting forth a special prosecutor to send her to jail, at least in his words.

I can't impress upon you enough how many of Trump's supporters that we spoke to said this was one of the reasons why they really gravitated towards Donald Trump. But now his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, says that the President-elect has had a change of heart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: I think when the President-elect, who's also the head of your Party now, Joe, tells you before he's even inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone, and content to the members.

And I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that a majority of Americans don't find her to be honest or trustworthy. But if Donald Trump can help her heal, then perhaps that's a good thing. Look, I think he's thinking of many different things as he prepares to become the President of the United States, and things that sound like the campaign aren't among them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Now, Carol, I know I mentioned that I've heard Donald Trump say this many, many times at so many of his rallies. I want you now to listen to some of the examples. These are just some of the examples that we found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States.

She is a crooked one, there's no question.

Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time for her many crimes against our nation, our people, our democracy. Likely concluding in a criminal trial.

CROWD: Lock her up. Lock her up. Lock her up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So once again a huge rallying cry for so many of Trump's supporters. Trump did release a video outlining what he does plan to do in his next 100 days of office. Some of the things that he mentioned, pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP. Also, a five-year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists after leaving the administration. Some of the things not listed on the video that he put out, again, no mention of that special prosecutor to go after Hillary Clinton. No mention of the wall or repealing and replacing Obamacare. It doesn't mean some of those things are not going to happen, just simply not mentioned in the video.

All these while speculation continues to swirl over who is going to make up his cabinet. Just this morning, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani entered Trump Tower. Trump also tweeting this morning, Carol, saying that great meetings are going to be happening here at Trump Tower for some of the people who might be running this country, he says, for the next eight years. Carol.

COSTELLO: What? He said for the next eight years? Isn't that a little premature?

CARROLL: Two terms, eight years. That's what he says.

COSTELLO: All right. Jason Carroll reporting live from Trump Tower. So let's talk about that and more. I'm joined by CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter; CNN political analyst and former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, David Gergen. And also joining me, NPR lead political reporter, Domenico Montanaro. Welcome to all of you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: David, I want to start with you. Donald Trump says he will no longer move forward with prosecuting Hillary Clinton. What do you make of it?

[09:04:54] DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think we should salute him. I think it's a wise gesture and it's the right gesture. She's been beaten up a lot, and I think it would have been seen as vindictive to go after her with a special prosecutor, especially after a thorough investigation saying there's nothing here on which to prosecute. But, you know, we spent a lot of time recently, Carol, knocking Donald Trump in one way or another. On this one, I think he got it right, and we ought to say so.

COSTELLO: I thought something that Kellyanne Conway said interesting about the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton, Domenico. She said that Donald Trump would help Hillary Clinton heal. "If this helps her heal, then all the better." What exactly does that mean?

DOMENICO MONTANARO, LEAD EDITOR FOR POLITICS AND DIGITAL AUDIENCE, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Well, I mean, I think that Donald Trump believes that, given that he won the Electoral College, that he should have a kind of mandate to try to run the country and get some of his policy agenda through. You know, being able to say that he's not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton is one way in which he can try to say to all of those folks who didn't vote for him that he's, at least, trying to move the ball forward.

Remember, Donald Trump, at this point, is 1.7 million popular votes behind Hillary Clinton. So we are in this precarious situation where the President-elect won the Electoral College clearly but lost the popular vote. So he needs to do something to reach out to those voters who didn't vote for him.

COSTELLO: So, Brian, I'm really into semantics here, but "help her heal." Either that means he thinks Hillary Clinton is so devastated by this loss that she needs this time to heal without the threat of prosecution hanging over her head, or Donald Trump, does he mean, help her supporters heal because they clearly are grieving?

STELTER: Right. The word "heal," it is not the kind of word you normally would hear. It's a very personal phrase. He's portraying this in very personal terms. But it would help if we heard from the President-elect directly on this. We're hearing from Kellyanne Conway about it, his senior adviser, but Trump has not held a press conference in the two weeks since he's been elected. That's highly unusual compared to past President-elects.

It would help if we heard from him directly. And it would help if he reached out more directly to those Clinton supporters. Let's remember, she continues to rack up votes. She's not just beating him in the popular vote, she's beating him by more than 1.5 million. It's going to get above 2 million. He could do a lot more than he's done so far to reach out to those voters as well as to Clinton herself.

COSTELLO: So, David, even if Donald Trump said he's not going to move forward with appointing a special prosecutor, that doesn't mean lawmakers won't investigate Hillary Clinton, does it?

GERGEN: I'm so glad you went there. Absolutely. And there have been indications from House Republicans, for example, Jason Chaffetz, that he has got enough things to investigate for the next eight years, if we want to put it that way, that they can continue to pursue this on the Hill. I think the next shoe to drop might well be the Trump folks passing word to members of Congress, especially Republicans, they'd prefer not to go through hearing on her.

You know, you may want to have hearings on James Comey on the FBI and that sort of thing, but not to have hearings which are set up like the Benghazi hearings, you know, to put her through the grill or put her on a grill. I think that's the spirit of what Mr. Trump has said or his spokesperson has said.

COSTELLO: So, Domenico --

GERGEN: And the healing, I think, is all about her.

COSTELLO: Is all about her, right, that she's so devastated by this loss that she needs this time to heal which, I guess, you can look at two ways, right? It's like is he -- because, let's face it, she's a woman. And that just sounds sexist on some level, right? On the other hand, it's sounds humane.

STELTER: I mean, the first time I heard that quote, I wondered if he would have said that about a man. I just have to make -- Carol, that's the first thing that came to my mind. Would he actually have said that if that it had been a male politician he had beaten?

COSTELLO: Right. And maybe it's just because I'm a woman, Domenico, and I'm reading too much in it, I don't know.

STELTER: No, I don't think you are.

MONTANARO: Well, I mean if -- I think that there are a lot of --

GERGEN: Well, Carol, I'm not sure gender applies here.

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

GERGEN: Let me just one --

MONTANARO: I think that, you know --

GERGEN: Go ahead, please.

MONTANARO: People will interpret things however they will interpret it, you know. But I do think that what's really important actually for us to look at, when you look at the investigations that would have taken place, it would have been a permanent investigation of Hillary Clinton had she become President. There's no doubt about that. Instead, now what we have is a President-elect who's trying to figure out a way, if at all, to separate himself from some of his business conflicts.

And I think that there's a lot there that the media need to focus on in figuring out, you know, how is this President going to try to separate himself? You know, there had been talk of a potential blind trust. This isn't how a blind trust actually works, if his children are going to be running it. And a lot of people would see a back doorway to influence the President if his children are both advising him and running his businesses.

And I would posit that if Chelsea Clinton had been on the board of the Clinton Foundation still, that there would have been all kinds of outrage about Chelsea Clinton being a potential back door to influence Hillary Clinton as President. And I think that would have been warranted as well.

And I do think Donald Trump and his team need to think about that seriously for the kind of ethics and the of President that they're putting forward to say that he's not going to be profiting off his presidency.

[09:10:02] COSTELLO: OK. And you wanted to put a button on the gender thing, David.

GERGEN: Yes, Carol. I was just trying to remember back to the time when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and he did that to a very significant degree because the Nixon case was becoming a huge distraction for his own presidency, for the Ford presidency. But there was also a spirit of the man has suffered a lot, and we need to let him heal. I don't think the word is, in this case, gender determined.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Brian Stelter, David Gergen, Domenico Montanaro, thanks to all of you.

MONTANARO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right. More breaking news to tell you about this morning in regard to that horrific school bus crash that killed at least five children in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Police arresting the bus driver. They charged him with vehicular homicide. The investigator's focus, reckless speed. CNN's Martin Savidge live in Chattanooga. He has more for us. Good morning.

OK. Martin, are you there? We're having a little technical difficulties. We're going to get back to Martin after a break. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:24] COSTELLO: All right. We're going to head back out live to Chattanooga, Tennessee. There was a horrific school bus accident. Five young children were killed. The driver charged with vehicular homicide.

What's the latest, Martin Savidge?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

There are 12 students still hospitalized, six in intensive care. We want it show you video that's come in from the scene of where this horrific accident occurred. Authorities have begun moving the school bus that was involved lifting it from the scene. It had remained on site throughout the rest of the day and all through the nighttime hours.

As you can imagine, this is a very deep and serious investigation that is underway. So it is only in the daylight that we have begun to see that they are moving the bus.

Meanwhile, the focus right now is on how fast that bus was going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Flipping on its side, careening into a tree, so fast, its frame crumbling on impact. This is the image of a horrific school bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing at least five students and injuring 23.

STUDENT: He wasn't paying attention. He was going real fast.

SAVIDGE: The bus driver, 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, arrested late Monday and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving.

CHIEF FRED FLETCHER, CHATTANOOGA POLICE DEPT.: Certainly, speed is being investigated very, very strongly as a factor in this crash.

SAVIDGE: A witness living near the crash said she heard a big boom just before 3:30 p.m., and that the impact was so strong it knocked her power out.

SUPT. KIRK KELLY, HAMILTON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: This has been a great tragedy for us. We have suffered a great loss.

SAVIDGE: As emergency officials raced to the scene, so did frantic parents. The fire department working for hours to remove the 37 elementary school students on board, trapped inside. Meanwhile, hundreds of residents from the community lining up to donate blood at a local blood bank to help the injured. Their parents hoping they can take their child home soon.

FLETCHER: We are working diligently to ensure that all of the other children who have received care at the hospitals or may have been transported to other locations are reunited successfully with their families.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And, Carol, the mother of Johnthony Walker, he is the school bus driver, issued a statement speaking to CNN. She said in part, quote, "A word of comfort to whom it may be concerned, I being the mother of Johnthony Walker, would love to say, in my heart, love is going out for all of those that were in harm's way of God's will, sending out mine and our condolences to every family that God touched yesterday in this horrible accident and I am asking for compassion for my son, Johnthony Walker."

Again, he's been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Martin Savidge, reporting live from Chattanooga, Tennessee, this morning.

All right. On to politics now. Horrific, hateful and disgusting, three words that come to mind when you listen to the racism and anti- Semitism, that was on full display in our nation's capital, inside the Ronald Regan building over the weekend. A video now surfacing from a white nationalist conference celebrating the victory of Donald Trump, 200 white supremacists hailing Trump with Nazi salutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SPENCER, NATIONAL POLICY INSTITUTE: We were not meant to beg for moral validation from some of the most despicable creatures to ever populate the planet.

Hail Trump. Hail our people. Hail our victory.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It happened on Saturday. And after this meeting ended, it just got worst. Protesters were outside. The two white nationalists from that conference waded in to the crowd and they were asking protesters if they were, quote, "ashamed to be white."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you a self-hating white person?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm not (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So you hate your white identity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. As you can see, it turned violent after that. Two people were sent to the hospital.

The Trump camp did respond two days later with this statement. It reads in part, quote, "President-elect Trump has continued to denounce racism of any kind and he was elected because he will be a leader for every American. To think otherwise is a complete misrepresentation of the movement that united Americans from all backgrounds", end quote.

So, let's talk about this. With me now is John Phillips, he's a CNN political commentator, talk radio host and he supported Donald Trump through the campaign. And Tharon Johnson, a former south regional director for Obama 2012. He supported Hillary Clinton, through the campaign.

Welcome to both of you.

So, John, I want to start with you.

[09:20:02] Why did it take two days for the Trump camp to release that statement?

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I've never heard of this guy, Robert Spencer, until this week. Fortunately, we live in a country where there are so few members of the Klan that are left, they can't even keep linens and things in business.

These guys are a freak show that could barely get 200 people to show up. They're a fringe element. Donald Trump has denounced racists involved in American politics going as far back as the year 2000 when he separated himself from the reform party because of David Duke's involvement and other people's involvement.

And I think it's unfair to judge a candidate or judge a politician based on the fringe people that may or may not support them. I remember scratching my head going back in the 2000s when other networks kept playing video of the New Black Panther Party and saying, why won't Obama denounce them? Why won't Obama go after them?

There was like four of them and they spent more time on TV than you and me, Carol. I think they're going to get bigger after pensions than both of us combined.

COSTELLO: Tharon, do you agree?

THARON JOHNSON, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: I totally disagree with everything Mr. Phillips just said.

Listen, Carol, this is very disturbing. It's disturbing to me not only as an African-American but point blank as an American. You know, President Obama and others have access to give Donald Trump a chance, but when you have this alt right movement which is nothing more than a neo-Nazi movement at a conference basically, you know, giving Nazi salutes and the president-elect who, by the way, after the election said that he wanted to be a president for everyone, and, yes, he sent out this very weak and baseless statement saying that he denounces racism.

The bottom line is, Mr. Phillips, we don't want him to denounce racism. That's nothing that he should do. But we want him to denounce the alt-right movement. For you to come on this show and try to give it some comparison to the Black Panther Party and more importantly try to legitimize it and normalize is just quite insulting.

I mean, this is not a political conservative group like the Tea Party. This is a full comprehensive, full-fledged hate group. These are people who sat there and listened to Mr. Spencer's remarks and they basically saluted him by giving Nazi salutes. I mean, this is something that's so disturbing and at a time when folks are calling for our country to heal and come together, you have these protests outside and these people are basically fighting one another. So, I think --

COSTELLO: Here's the other thing, John. I think some critics might say that Donald Trump came down harder on the cast of "Hamilton" than he came down on this group.

PHILLIPS: These people are horrible people and I, frankly, am glad that he's not giving them a larger platform. Instead of giving them a larger platform, what was Donald Trump doing over the weekend? He was meeting with Elaine Chao, he was meeting with Tulsi Gabbard. He was meeting with Michelle Rhee. He was meeting with other people, Rick Grenell, a openly gay man who could become the ambassador of the United Nations.

He was busy meeting with these people that are going to make up the next government. I much rather have him spend his time doing that than giving these freaks a platform.

JOHNSON: Yes, but let's be fair. He spent the last 14 plus days and this weekend attacking "The New York Times." He sent out a total of nine tweets basically celebrating that he didn't want to meet with these folks.

If he would basically stop for one moment and realize the reality that he is now the president-elect. We must call on him to act presidential. But to come out with this very weak statement and more importantly, let's not forget the person who worked for this alt right neo-Nazi hate group was Steve Bannon who was going to be his closest advisor.

So, it's fair to say that one of the reasons why he will not come out and denounce them and basically ask them to recant their statements is because the person who actually led this movement, this racist bigotry movement is a person who's going to be the closest to him in the White House. I mean, there's no way that you can come on this show and spin this. This is just very, very disgusting.

COSTELLO: Last word, John. PHILLIPS: Look, these people, it's 200 people. They have zero influence over the White House. They have zero influence on Donald Trump.

JOHNSON: Steve Bannon is going to be there.

COSTELLO: He's the chief strategist. See, the thing is, John, I just want to make this clear so the audience can understand. The man who was -- is the head of that racist group that spoke in Washington say he coined the term alt right and he celebrates Breitbart and Steve Bannon as giving voice to his movement. So I think that's why some are upset with this appointment for chief strategist of Donald Trump.

PHILLIPS: Unfortunately, you can't pick your fans.

JOHNSON: Ludicrous.

COSTELLO: But you can pick your chief strategist though.

PHILLIPS: Look, he's denounced these people going back to the year 2000. I think what his critics want him to do is they want Donald Trump's name in the same headline as these people and he's just not taking the bait.

JOHNSON: No, I want him to be presidential I wt him to come out and back up the rhetoric that he said the morning after he won the election that I want to represent all people.

[09:25:02] I mean, this guy, Mr. Spencer, referred -- used terms like Latino housekeepers. He criticized African-Americans and saying we had this black political machine.

All we're asking Donald Trump to do is do what he said he was going to do. When he sits back and takes two full days to come out and really denounce who supported him and don't even really acknowledge that this is very racist and this is something that he's not going to tolerate on a Trump administration, that's the problem we have and that's why we have no faith that he's going to be president for all Americans.

COSTELLO: I have --

PHILLIPS: If he's courting those elements, then why is he meeting with Elaine Chao, why is he meeting with Michelle Rhee, why is he meeting with Tulsi Gabbard?

JOHNSON: That's a very, very symbolic that he did throughout his campaign. The same guy --

PHILLIPS: White supremacists would not do that.

COSTELLO: I've got to leave it there, guys. Thank you so much. But it is an important conversation.

John Phillips, Tharon Johnson, thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: a key American ally sends a stern message to government employees: do not talk to Donald Trump. But, first, we're minutes away from the opening bell and Wall Street looks poised to keep the rally going.

Christine Romans is here with more.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

And it is a Trump rally. Investors think Donald Trump will cut regulations, that he will cut taxes, that he will be able to push through big spending on infrastructure. And you've got stocks across the board smashing records.

Here's where we stand from yesterday. The Dow, NASDAQ, S&P 500 and Russell 2000, that's small caps stocks, all hitting record highs on the same day. Carol, that's the first time that's happened since 1999 and those smaller stocks, midcap stocks, very telling. Those investors think Donald Trump is going to roll back regulations and he has promised for every new regulation in government to cut two.

Take a look at global markets here. The markets open in a little more than three minutes in the United States. This kind of rally, 57 point rally if Dow futures hold, it puts the Dow above 19,000 for the first time in history. The S&P 500 futures also higher. London, Paris, Tokyo across the board global markets higher, Carol.

Again, cutting taxes, cutting regulation, infrastructure spending, money coming into the stock market, out of bonds. Your mortgage rates are rising, and that is the Trump effect in global markets, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine, thanks so much.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)