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Trump Calls for National Healing and Unity; Trump Aide: Getting "Deluge" of Anti-Romney Comments; Report: Trump Skips Most Daily Intel Briefings; Jill Stein Seeks Election Recount in Three States; White Man Charged with Murder of Black Teen. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 24, 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] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: -- Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna, thank you so much. Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

We begin with Donald Trump. He is calling on the nation to heal divisions this holiday. But as the President-elect looks to move forward, a million dollar effort is under way to take a hard look back. The money is to fund a recount of votes in these three battleground states -- you see them here -- due to a possibility of hacking with some of these machines. However, there is no evidence of tampering.

We're going to get into all those details here in just a second, but first to the President-elect's Thanksgiving. Trump is not taking a break, quoting his tweet today, "I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier Air Conditioning Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). Making progress -- will know soon." Meantime, Trump issued a personal message of hope in this YouTube video posted by his transition team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are very blessed to call this nation our home. And that's what America is, it is our home. It's where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams. It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jason Carroll working double duty for us on this holiday. He is there in Palm Beach at Mar-a-Lago where we know the Trumps are spending their Thanksgiving. So, Jason, we know that Trump isn't the only one on Twitter today. Tell me about what Kellyanne Conway has said.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, she's weighing in on the whole issue of who might end up being Secretary of State, offering up her opinion. As you know, Mitt Romney is the leading candidate here, one of the leading candidates. Former New York City Rudy Giuliani being the other. Romney, very critical of Trump throughout the campaign. Some of Romney's critics say he was too critical of Donald Trump, at one point saying of Donald Trump that a Trump presidency would turn into trickle down racism.

Kellyanne Conway, tweeting about Romney being up for the Secretary of State position, saying the following, quote, "Receiving a deluge of social media and private communication regarding Romney. Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as Secretary of State." This is what Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, tweeted just a little earlier today.

She also sent a follow-up tweet, Brooke, basically explaining what it takes in terms of loyalty to be Secretary of State. As you know, Romney and Trump as well as Mike Pence met just last weekend in New Jersey. Pence calling it a warm and substantive exchange. Romney himself saying it was a far-reaching conversation. Maybe we'll hear something about this next week.

At this point, we're hearing that Mitt Romney is sort of mulling over the idea of being Secretary of State, checking in with his advisers, some of his family members, but not expecting to hear anything on this front at least until next week. Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. So maybe because the President-elect has been so, so busy and knee-deep in this transition and picking Cabinet members, perhaps that explains this "Washington Post" piece where they talk about how, you know, the President-elect has only taken two, you know, of these intelligence briefings whereas his Vice President-elect has opted in every day. Do we know why Trump hasn't, daily?

CARROLL: You know, I would not be able to venture a guess nor would I want to venture a guess with something like that. The "Washington post," yes, reporting, at this point, that the President-elect has taken two of these security briefings versus Mike Pence, the Vice President-elect, who has done one of these briefings just about every single day.

But we should also point out that the "Post" article does say that, in the past, there have been presidents who, while they've taken of these security briefings than Donald Trump up unto this point, the "Washington Post" points out that it's not unprecedented.

BALDWIN: Right.

CARROLL: But in terms of a reason why, once again, Brooke, I would not be able to venture a guess at this point.

BALDWIN: OK. Jason Carroll, thank you so much.

Let's dig a little deeper here. I have Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst who is also a columnist for the "Washington Post." And Ryan Williams is with us today, a former spokesman for Mitt Romney. So, fellows, happy Thanksgiving.

JOSH ROGIN, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Happy Thanksgiving. BALDWIN: Thanks for working with me today.

RYAN WILLIAMS, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY FOR MITT ROMNEY: Happy thanksgiving.

BALDWIN: Josh Rogin, on the "Washington Post" piece on the daily intel briefings, you know -- and Jason is right to point out other presidents past have chosen to take these intel briefings daily, others had not in that beginning time -- how unusual is this for Trump to have only taken two?

[14:04:56] ROGIN: I think what's most troubling about the report is that it fits a pattern of Donald Trump sort of casting doubt on the products of the U.S. intelligence community. Just remember, during the campaign, he also asserted that the intelligence officials who were briefing him weren't giving him their honest opinions with really no evidence.

This also is sort of unprecedented because we have a president with no political or government experience, right? So, you know, he has a higher curve to climb. I wouldn't hit the panic button just yet. He's got a lot of time to study up, but let's hope, as he gets closer to taking the oath of office, that he starts to study this stuff because it's important.

BALDWIN: I remember one of the sources quoted in the piece -- and I want to say it was a Hillary Clinton supporter -- saying, essentially, he has a lot of catching up to do. That said, let's take half a step back, Josh. Let me just stay with you. What kind of intelligence and information would he be getting in these briefings?

ROGIN: Right. So first of all, the threat assessments, OK? He talks about what are the threats to the United States, what groups are planning attacks, what do we know about those attacks, you know. Then he should be getting briefed on what are U.S. operations abroad, all right? You know, we're doing a lot of stuff all over the world, human operations, satellites, cyber operations. He should start to learn what that is.

Third of all, it's intercepted communications from world leaders, OK? We've got a lot of information on what other countries are saying and doing and thinking about us. I mean, it's really important to know that stuff if you're making decisions about how to deal with those countries. So that's all the stuff in the briefings.

And then fourth, general news. What is our intelligence community collecting about what's happening in these countries so that we can get an accurate picture of that on the ground? Some of that, you can make up with open source information; most of it, you can't. Either way, what's the down side? You might as well take the briefing, you know. It's not that much time out of your day. Just sit through it. Who knows? You might learn something.

BALDWIN: Well, at least we know Pence is taking them daily. Ryan, let me just pivot to your former boss and Governor Romney, the fact that he is seriously considering, is really thinking this through on this Thanksgiving holiday, we understand, over whether he wants to take the Secretary of State job or not.

We talked about -- Jason Carroll was talking about, you know, Kellyanne Conway tweeting about some of the pushback, you know, the Trump team is getting, including from some, you know, Trump loyalists but also hardline supporters, not thrilled that they're considering Governor Romney. Why do you think she vocalized that?

WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know, you know, what the reason was behind her tweet. I am actually very encouraged to see that Donald Trump has reached out to someone like Governor Romney who was a big critic during the campaign but is someone who has a lot to offer as a statesman, as a leader in the Party, someone who, perhaps, would be a good fit for his administration.

I don't know if he's going to offer him the job. I'm sure he's considering other people, but I'm just encouraged that he actually reached out. It shows that he's willing to look beyond his inner circle as we've seen with the pick of Nikki Haley as the next United Nations Ambassador, and I think that it's reassuring some people that he's not just going to stick to the team of people who helped him win the election. He's looking for the best and brightest beyond his inner core of supporters.

BALDWIN: On Governor Romney, though, let's say he were to say yes. You know, when you look back at, let's say, Russia where Governor Romney has said the U.S. is too soft on Russia, and then you see the criticisms that Trump is too, you know, buddy-buddy with Putin. How would it work when they couldn't be farther apart on a key issue such as that?

WILLIAMS: Well, Governor Romney has been vocal about Russia in the past. He was right four years ago when he said that they are our number one geopolitical foe. He was mocked for that by Obama at the time, but he was correct. We'd have to see how it'd work out in the administration, but, you know, it's clear the President sets our foreign policy. The Secretary of State runs the State Department, provides advice and counsel to the President, but at the end of the day, the President does decide what the course of action is on foreign policy.

And, you know, we'll see where Donald Trump is on this issue once he becomes President. He said some things during the campaign about reaching out to Russia, that was his desire, but look, you know, Hillary Clinton went over to Russia with a reset button and that didn't work out. She changed her opinion on that after dealing with the Russians. President Bush, early in his term, said he'd look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and thought he could trust him. Well, that changed after he actually dealt with him for a number years.

So we'll see where President Trump is after he takes office and has had the chance to deal with this issue. But at the end of the day, the President sets the foreign policy agenda in this country.

BALDWIN: Yes, yes. Josh, back over to you. You know, one of the biggest headlines and it's really sort of actually mind-boggling to keep tabs on the list of potential growing conflicts of interest with the Trump administration and a Trump business. You know, we talked about the Japanese Prime Minister meeting with Trump and also his daughter. We talked about the phone call with Argentine President and potential properties in Buenos Aires, you know, with Ivanka Trump on the phone. There was the Indian businessmen meeting in New York with Ivanka and Eric and Donald Trump.

What more do you know about these maybe blurry lines and will anyone cry foul?

ROGIN: Yes. I would add to that the fact that he admitted on the record to "The New York Times" that he talked to Nigel Farage, the guy who is pushing to be the U.K ambassador to the U.S., about keeping wind farms away from his Scottish golf course so they won't obstruct the view.

[14:10:06] BALDWIN: That's right.

ROGIN: Right?

BALDWIN: Right.

ROGIN: And then he also said to "The New York Times," "The President can't have a conflict of interest." So that's the President-elect's interpretation of the law. So it's not just the fact that he hasn't separated his business interests from his political work as President- elect, it's that he doesn't seem to see a need to in the future. He plans to just call himself exempt, and that's troubling because, you know, there are -- and the campaign's defense has been, oh, well, it's all public. Everybody knows Donald Trump is a businessman, so it's all out in the open.

But the fact is that most of it is not out in the open, and it will be somewhat impossible for the public, much less the media, to figure out when he's blurring the lines between his business interests and the national interest. And there's no plan, that I've seen or that anyone's seen, about how he intends to make sure, reassure us, beyond just "take my word for it," that he's not going to use his office for personal profit.

BALDWIN: All right. Josh and Ryan, thank you both so much.

ROGIN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Enjoy your turkey dinners.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

ROGIN: You too.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, after a group of scientists, computer scientists, raises concerns about the election results, a former candidate wants a recount in three states, and she just raised millions to get to do it. You'll hear from Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate.

Also, this is really a troubling story out of West Virginia today. This White man accused of murdering a Black teenager after they got in some sort of argument. Police say the suspect is showing no remorse, even calling the victim a piece of trash. We have that story for you out of West Virginia.

And the bombing inside Syria escalates. A group makes a video with a message for the world. Hear what they are asking on this Thanksgiving Day. Thank you so much for being with me, I'm Brooke Baldwin and this is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:42] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. Happy Thanksgiving. In the 15 days since Donald Trump was elected President, there have been many, many calls for a recount. But today, Green Party nominee Jill Stein announced she will officially file for one. Jill Stein raised more than $2 million in less than 24 hours just to pay for a recount in these three key Rust Belt states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Stein's campaign says that they have received, quote/unquote, "very troubling reports of possible voting security breaches." You know Trump won Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan, by the way, is still too close to call. But Trump is ahead of Clinton by more than 10,000 votes there along with his decisive Electoral College lead.

Jill Stein talked to CNN today. She emphasized that the purpose of the recount is not to help Hillary Clinton or change the outcome of the election, but she feels it is her moral obligation to verify the results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. JILL STEIN (GPUS), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There were lots of hacks taking place around this election, hacks into voter databases, into Party databases, into individual e-mail accounts. And what we also know, unfortunately, is that the equipment that we use, much of it is not just open to hacks, it basically invites hacks and malfeasance, tampering, human error, et cetera. Some of the voting machines in use in Wisconsin, for example, have actually been prohibited in the state of California because they've basically been proven to be wide open to tampering.

So what we're saying is, you know, not that, you know, that hacking or fraud has necessarily taken place. I don't think we have evidence of that. But I think it's only natural and it's good for Americans to be reassured that our votes are counted, especially after such a divisive and bitter election where 80 percent of Americans, according to a "New York Times" poll, basically said they were disgusted with this election. They didn't like the candidates that we were limited to. They were screaming for open debates and other choices.

It was a very bitter election where so many people were voting against their worst fear rather than for the candidate that they wanted. I think this is a very positive step. And the fact that it has basically funded itself overnight reflects the incredible hunger out there among the American people to actually start doing something positive and to start creating an election system that we can believe in.

I think it was pretty clear during the campaign, because I was asked this question all the time, that I do not favor one candidate over another. You know, to my mind, there are problems with our system that have basically produced two candidates that were the most distrusted and disliked in our history. But what I think all Americans can agree on, and what I consider worthy of working for right now, is creating a voting system that we can trust, and there are glaring red flags right now about this voting system.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Is this worth your time, do you think? All this money? I mean, when there's no evidence and given how difficult it would be to hack into these systems.

STEIN: You know, we should not have a voting system in which we have to prove that there's been fraud or tampering in order to have confidence. You know, in my mind, the American people are begging for a system that we can believe in. There is widespread cynicism and disgust with our basic institutions, from the Supreme Court to the presidency to the press, you name it. You know, we are off the charts right now in lack of trust for our basic institutions.

And for us to be able to trust our votes and know that our votes count and that they're accurate is just a basic principle of democracy. What we do know is that these machines have been proven in the laboratory of computer scientists and the scientists who look at election security. What we know is that many of these machines are wide open and vulnerable. So many of them get programmed with similar information cards and, yes, they may not be on the internet, but they could program with basic cards that could be tampered at the county level.

BROWN: I'm just curious. If Hillary Clinton had won the election, would you still be doing this? Would you still be pursuing this recount?

[14:20:10] STEIN: What I was asked, you know, throughout the election was, if there are concerns about the voting systems and the integrity of the vote, will you challenge? And my answer to that has always been yes. The Green Party has stepped up to the plate before in 2004. We challenged the vote in Ohio where there was really rather staggering evidence of vote tampering, and in fact, some of the election officials who oversaw that actually wound up serving time in jail for that very fact.

So we have not shied away from, I think, what the American people are clamoring for. You know, we did not have to work to raise that money. We basically let it be known, we put out a press release, we put up a website, and that money is raising itself because the American people really want to take a step forward. They want to do something positive. We want an election system that we can believe in.

BROWN: Very quickly. The filing deadline is tomorrow for Wisconsin. Are you going to be filing?

STEIN: Absolutely, we are. And now, you know, we clearly have the funds to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Jill Stein, thank you so much.

Next, we're going to take a minute away from politics and tell you about this disturbing story out of West Virginia today. This jailhouse interview of this White man accused of killing a Black teenager after an argument, why police say the suspect is showing absolutely no remorse. Would this be considered a hate crime?

Plus, new details today about the school bus crash that killed six children now. Investigators say the driver made an unusual move before the wreck there in Chattanooga.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:15] BALDWIN: Shooting in West Virginia is raising all kinds of questions about whether race played a factor in this deadly encounter. The suspect here is a 62-year-old White man by the name of William Pulliam. He is sitting in jail, as I speak, charged with first degree murder. He has confessed to shooting 15-year-old James Means. Pulliam says race had nothing to do with it, that he feared for his life after an argument. The mother of this slain teen says she's going to let investigators figure this one out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAFIA ADKINS, JAMES MEANS' MOTHER: My son is in a safer place now and we all love him. We know that justice is going to succeed in this matter. We're just not going to put it in our hands. We're going to let the law put in their hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Ryan Young. He's our CNN national correspondent following this one for us. And so fill in the blanks for me. I mean, how did this argument escalate so quickly?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, you know, this is a tough story. Any time you see a mom sitting there having to talk about the fact that her 15-year-old son is no longer here --

BALDWIN: Yes.

YOUNG: -- you can understand how difficult this is for them. But the details of the story are something that we all are still trying to nail down. This is what we know so far. We know that 60-year-old man was going to a dollar store. He says he encountered three teens, and there was some sort of exchange of words, an argument of sorts. And then he says that the 15-year-old produced a gun and was waving it around.

He says he got away from them, went to the dollar store, and on the way back to wherever he was going, he decided to cross the street to avoid the teenagers that he just had a little bit of beef with. And that's when he says that James Means walked across the street and encountered him once again. And when that gun was reproduced, that's when he pulled his gun and opened fire. And in fact, this man, William Pulliam, gave an interview inside the jailhouse after being charged with murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM PULLIAM, ARRESTED FOR KILLING A BLACK TEENAGER: I don't like it. I mean, believe me, I didn't want to kill anybody. But, you know, they're not going to kill me. I felt my life was in danger. I'm sorry but -- I mean, I'm 62 years old. I'm not going to take a bunch of punks beating me up. I don't care if they're White or Black, nobody's going to do me like that. It doesn't make a difference he's Black. My God, everybody I live around over there is Black. I get along with all of them, ask them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now, Brooke, something else that makes this a little difficult to even understand all the details coming out of this, in the police report, there's a statement that's made that police say that William Pulliam made, and that was, "The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street." He now denies making that comment, but you can see how this would kind of cloud the situation.

Now, here's one of the comments that, of course, we've been trying to figure out, one of the details that we're trying to figure out. Did the teenager have a gun?

BALDWIN: Right.

YOUNG: We made the phone call to the police department to ask them, was a gun present? That is something that we have not gotten an answer to just yet. This man is saying he shot the teen in self- defense. Something else that's a little troubling? After shooting the teen, he went home, had dinner before police arrived to arrest him.

BALDWIN: Wow. Just quickly, why do you think police haven't said whether or not they found a gun on this young man?

YOUNG: Well, to give them a fair shot, we started calling them this morning. It's Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure. You know, obviously, probably a small police department. Hopefully we'll get details back on this one.

BALDWIN: OK.

YOUNG: But obviously, this case is escalating and moving fast, but we want to give them, obviously, a chance to make that phone call back to us --

BALDWIN: To respond, right.

YOUNG: -- to figure out if that teen had a gun. Absolutely. BALDWIN: All right. Ryan, thank you so much. You know, a lot of

people who knew James Means say his death hit especially hard because the 15-year-old was trying to give back, really be a part of his community. Mourners held a candlelight vigil for him last night. A lot of them talked about his participation with this local nonprofit. He was part of this group called Dream Chasers. It's a group of teenagers who work on communication skills, and career development looking ahead to their futures.