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Trump: I'm Working Hard, Even on Thanksgiving; Trump, Obama Call For Unity This Thanksgiving; Report: Trump Has Only Attended 2 Intel Briefings; Man Charged with Murder in Black Teen's Death. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 24, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:22] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar. It is 12:00 p.m. in Chicago, 1:00 p.m. right here in Washington, 9:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

To our viewers in the United States, a very happy Thanksgiving. And for our viewers watching from around the world, thank you for joining us.

Up first, Donald Trump tweets that he's, quote, "working hard, even on Thanksgiving."

One of those tasks he is working on he says is bringing the country together. The president-elect as well as President Obama each made a plea for unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: We've just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw. And tensions just don't heal overnight. It doesn't go quickly, unfortunately.

But we have before us the chance now to make history together, to bring real chance to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a country, we just emerged from a noisy passionate and sometimes divisive campaign season. Thanksgiving reminds us that no matter our differences, we're still one people, part of something bigger than ourselves. We are communities that move forward together. We're neighbors. We look out for one another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Trump transition team says don't expect any announcements today. They are taking a day off of those announcements.

Meanwhile, supporters and critics are reacting to the president- elect's most recent cabinet choices. Critics questioning South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's lack of

foreign policy experience. Haley is Trump's choice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and supporters are pointing to her executive experience as governor.

Teachers unions are sounding the alarm over Donald Trump's choice for education secretary. They point to Betsy DeVos' support for charter schools and voucher programs. But Trump calls DeVos, quote, "a brilliant and passionate education advocate."

We're also following a report that President-elect Donald Trump has received just two classified intelligence briefings since the election. "The Washington Post" says analysts have been available for daily briefings but Donald Trump has only made time for two of them.

The president-elect and his family are spending Thanksgiving in his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. There's no official meeting he has on his schedule. But the Trump team says internal staff discussions are ongoing even today.

CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll joining us live from Palm Beach with the latest on this transition.

Jason, give us an idea of what we can expect in the days ahead.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you say, today, not expecting any announcements, Brianna, but tomorrow, they're scheduled to have a meeting at 10:30 in the morning. That transition call should take place where they go over some of the candidate's cabinet, some of those who are up for cabinet positions who should be interviewed on Monday. Again, that call expected to happen at 10:30 tomorrow.

But, Brianna, look, we still could hear about some announcements tomorrow. I mean, you heard from Ben Carson who's up for HUD secretary who basically said an offer is on the table. Also perhaps, we'll hear something about commerce secretaries. You know, Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor, is up for that particular position.

So, there is some thought that we might hear something about one or two of these positions tomorrow. But officially, the only thing that's on the books for tomorrow is that 10:30 a.m. transitional call where they're going to be going over schedules for Monday -- Brianna.

KEILAR: The president-elect not taking a break from Twitter. He was tweeting about jobs. Tell us about this, Jason.

CARROLL: Right. Right. Talking about keeping jobs in the United States.

As you know throughout the campaign, he was very critical of one particular company. A lot of companies but one in particular, Carrier air conditioning. He basically used them as an example, saying if you're going to take jobs, move them overseas to a place like Mexico, I'm going to impose a 35 percent tax on your imports when you try to bring them back in the United States. Well, here's what he said this morning. He wrote out a tweet saying, "I'm working hard even on Thanksgiving trying to get Carrier air conditioning company to stay in the U.S., Indiana. Making progress. Will know soon."

And also this morning, Brianna, Carrier air conditioning released a statement as well saying, "Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce, though, at this time" -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Jason Carroll in Florida, thank you so much.

So, which staff or cabinet position will president-elect Donald Trump fill next? Let's discuss that and more with our panel.

We have Kristen Powers, she's a CNN political analyst and columnist for "USA Today." Maria Cardona is a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist. Lauren Fox is a political reporter for "Talking Points Memo". And Doug Heye is a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist.

I'm going to -- this is interesting to me, whether some people have said that Donald Trump is taking some credit that he doesn't deserve when it comes to talking to businesses, but I'm stuck by the fact that he's calling them and that there's this outreach. And I wonder if that's telling us anything about what we should -- what kind of president we should expect him to be.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, I think even for somebody who wasn't a supporter of his, something that a lot of people would look at and welcome. It's a very hands-on approach to a problem I think a lot of people are concerned about in the United States.

Now, we need to know what they're actually saying to each other, right, but we don't want him strong-arming people. But if he is reaching out and figuring out how can we work together to keep jobs in the United States, I think that's good thing.

KEILAR: Let's talk about -- sorry, go ahead, Maria.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: What I was going to say is yes, it certainly would be a good thing. You know what? He could actually start by leading by example. Are his products going to be, now, made in the U.S.? We know his ties, his shirts, his suits, so much of the products that he owns are made across -- are made overseas, in India, in China, South America, et cetera.

We haven't heard a peep about that, nothing. So, for a president- elect to start talking to companies, I think it's great, but a leader leads by example,

KEILAR: How do you convince people to keep jobs in the country when you, Lauren, is fueling jobs overseas?

LAUREN FOX, POLITICAL REPORTER, TALKING POINTS MEMO: Well, it's certainly a difficult task. As we've seen from Donald Trump, his rhetoric is his campaign, is his sort of presence in the country and how he plans to lead.

I think that, you know, he is very publicly sort of trying to negotiate these things. And his supporters don't necessarily know that he's got all these business interests overseas. I think that is something that has been a little bit unclear for people who voted for him.

So, I think it's sort of up to people who are reporters and in the media to sort of remind Americans that yes, he might be discussing these things overseas with other businesses and trying to negotiate jobs in the United States, but he has his own business interests abroad. I think that's very important.

KEILAR: Right now, he's very busy figuring out his cabinet, figuring out his top advisers in the White House. So, when you look, Doug, at the people he has picked and we see now, Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Betsy DeVos. I know, there -- unions are upset about Betsy DeVos, can we talk about this, but is it really a surprise that he picked a charter school advocate? I mean --

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, he picked somebody who fits his vision for education. That shouldn't be a surprise.

Obviously, Democrats are going to be critical because they don't like those policies.

KEILAR: Of course, yes.

HEYE: But I also find it pretty startling that Donald Trump initially was being criticized for having an all white male cabinet. OK, fine. So, he names two women, including Nikki Haley, who's of Indian- American descent, her parents were immigrants from India. And now they're being criticized as unqualified.

It seems he can't win, he can't lose, because his critics are always going to be here regardless of what he does. I don't think there's a better pick that he can make than Nikki Haley.

KEILAR: OK. Answer that, why not -- what's the problem there?

CARDONA: I think Nikki Haley is a great pick and I do welcome diversity both in terms of gender as well as --

KEILAR: Why do you think she's a great pick?

CARDONA: Because first of all, it does represent something that is different from what we, you know, what we had seen thus far like you said. It was all old white men up until now. So, I do think that's great.

Nikki Haley was also a huge critic of his. So, I think the fact he is naming her also demonstrates that he is open to, you know, people who had been really vocal critics. We'll see if the Mitt Romney pick goes through for secretary of state.

But I'm not going to criticize him for the Nikki Haley pick in terms of her not having enough experience. I think that her being governor, you know, will give her the kind of experience that you need, will give her the kind of knowledge. She's a smart woman. And I think that she will do a great job as U.N. ambassador.

I think there's so much more to be critical of this president-elect in both how he has done his business thus far and his policies and his leadership style, that I'm just -- I mean, that's not one I think I would focus on.

FOX: It shows a lot that he's broadening his circle. That he's bringing somebody in who was critical of him. And I think that's really the key area.

CARDONA: That's a good thing.

FOX: Yes.

KEILAR: You guys are going to stay with me. We're going to see a lot of each other this Thanksgiving, which I'm so thankful for for the next hour.

CARDONA: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: So stick around.

Donald Trump is supposed to get daily intel briefings. That's pretty usual for a president-elect at this point. These are designed to bring him up to speed on global developments, on security threats.

But "The Washington Post" is reporting he's only received two since winning the election.

Joining me now to discuss is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes.

Tom, the report says that Trump's team argues he's been immersed in the work of forming his administration and he has made filling key national security posts his top priority. But others have interpreted this limited engagement with the intel community as indifference from a president-elect who has no real foreign policy national security experience -- stuff that he really needs to get up to White House in January.

[13:10:08] What's your opinion?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Hi, Brianna.

Well, I think, first of all, to call that indifference is a little bit extreme when one of the very first positions he names is his national security adviser, General Flynn. So I think that it does show a concern for national security and for the issues, and I think at this point, this couple of weeks after the election, I think it's much ado about nothing.

There is no rule or standard law that these briefings take place on a daily basis. I talked to people involved in these briefings. They last about two hours. But they include a wide range of agencies, CIA, FBI, NSA, director of national intelligence, often someone from the Pentagon.

So, you have a number of people and they have a limited time to speak. And secondly, he's months away, at least two months away, from decision-making authority on any issue.

So, I would expect the closer it gets to Inauguration Day, he'll probably step up the briefings and make sure he knows more about what's going on.

And remember, at this point, if something terrible was to happen to the president, it's not going to fall in Donald Trump's lap, it's going to be Joe Biden that runs the country until January 20th.

So, I think there's a little bit of overdue -- or overworked criticism here in this case.

KEILAR: So, you don't think there's a problem that he doesn't see it as a priority to receive a daily briefing that clearly mike pence feels is a priority?

FUENTES: Well, he has Mike Pence getting these briefings. For him as the final decision-maker in the cabinet positions, I don't see it as a problem. I don't characterize it as indifference.

If there was something urgent, certainly they would -- the briefers would contact him and contact Pence and say, all right, we have something we want to tell you. But he's two months away from being in a position to make any decision on any topic. And for a lot of the global issues that are brought up, in these briefings at this point, not a lot changes from one day to the next. If it does, they're certainly in a position to get a hold of him and say --

KEILAR: Why doesn't the president get a briefing every day then? If nothing's really changing --

FUENTES: No, no --

KEILAR: If nothing's really changing --

FUENTES: I am saying if nothing really changes, that will affect Donald Trump at this point as president-elect, if something does, they can let him know. We have something urgent to talk to you about. The president on the other hand is the decision-maker in chief.

And secondly, I'd like to, you know, an editorial comment about some briefings. We've had situations with the last two presidents where they've received briefings and ignored information that they didn't want to hear, whether it was George W. Bush before 9/11 saying when he was briefed, received the presidential daily brief about Bin Laden determined to attack on U.S. soil, what did he do? In the case of President Obama, some of the information that he received, especially the rise of ISIS, he then ignored that and referred to them as the jayvee team. So, even being the president and even getting a daily presidential brief doesn't necessarily mean it's going to lead to a decision at that time.

KEILAR: All right. Tom Fuentes, thank you so much for your insight on that. And happy Thanksgiving to you, sir.

FUENTES: Happy Thanksgiving, Brianna.

KEILAR: Ahead, less than a month ago, was Donald Trump warning that the election results would be rigged, now it's Jill Stein's campaign armed with $2 million pushing for a vote recount and the election outcome may make for an awkward Thanksgiving dinner this year. But fear not, Wolf Blitzer is here to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Millions --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nowhere near a million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary should be --

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: If we could just --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She won the popular vote --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Mrs. Douglas, Uncle Lou, if we can just please get back to the original question. Could someone please pass the salt?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:53] KEILAR: A senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump is taking issue with Clinton supporters who refuse to accept the outcome of the election. Earlier today, Kellyanne Conway tweeted, "Look who can't accept the election results." This was along with a link to the story Hillary supporters called for vote recount in battleground states.

Voting security experts reportedly alerted Hillary Clinton's campaign to the possibility of hacks in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. President-elect Donald Trump won Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Michigan, still too close to call.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein is spearheading an effort for a recount in those states. In less than 24 hours, she has raised nearly $3 million to cover filing fees.

And earlier on CNN, she explained why she is pushing this point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JILL STEIN, GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we know is that 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's bring back our panel now.

I want to talk to you about this, Maria, as a Hillary Clinton supporter.

CARDONA: Uh-huh.

KEILAR: It seems like there are a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters, people close to the former campaign, who aren't really -- they aren't really taking this incredibly seriously. Even though when you talk to Democratic supporters, they want the Electoral College to intervene. They want the recount. They're convinced that this is not legitimate.

But what are people saying?

CARDONA: Well, I think those core supporters are still reeling. I mean, we're all still reeling. I'm still reeling from the results. And it is tough to accept, there's no question about that.

But I think that the people who are really looking at this, and this includes the Hillary Clinton campaign, and frankly what the computer scientists have said, said look, you know, it is possible but it's highly unlikely that any of this really happened. Even if it did, it's highly unlikely it would change any of the real results.

[13:20:01] I think what Clinton supporters are frustrated about is that she is about to, if she hasn't already, go over the $2 million -- 2 million vote threshold of winning the popular vote.

KEILAR: She beat him by a lot of votes.

CARDONA: She beat him by a lot of votes and so --

KEILAR: In the popular vote.

CARDONA: In the popular vote.

So I think what Clinton supporters -- they're kind of acting out their frustration. And I think that that is natural and is normal after this kind of divisive campaign. I would not suggest that they really believe anything is going to change here. I think the Clinton -- that's where the Clinton campaign is.

KEILAR: So, is this just an exercise of frustration or are there bigger ramifications?

POWERS: Well, it's fine for a supporter to feel that way it, it's not okay for Jill Stein to be doing what she's doing, because what she's doing is what Democrats were criticizing Donald Trump for doing during the campaign, which is undermining people's trust in the election. And so, because there really isn't any evidence that there was hacking that took place, the onus is really on the people making the accusations, right? Like you have to really have serious information suggesting it happened to start saying this because people aren't going to trust our outcomes of our elections.

HEYE: If you go back to the Clinton impeachment, Democrats coined a term that became an organization called Move On. Donald Trump won fair and square. It's time for us to move on, go through this transition.

And the other thing I'd say is, not only coincidentally they're looking at states that would be advantageous for Clinton, but watch where the $3 million goes. If there's no recount in these states, where that money goes and what Jill Stein does with it is going to be very important.

KEILAR: I find it so interesting that Jill Stein is doing this. To what you said, it's a little bit rich. When you really dig into it, there are a lot of questions. You brought it up -- if this is even really a thing.

CARDONA: Yeah.

KEILAR: There are experts who look at this and they say there's no there there. This isn't real. And it seems like there are many -- doesn't it define this election in a way? It's people who believe what they want to believe --

FOX: If you're in your own bubble and if this is really happening --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I mean, it's the reason why oxford dictionary declared the word of the year post-truth,

CARDONA: Yes, absolutely.

FOX: I think this is really about Jill Stein and Democratic base supporters wanting to act out. I don't think we see any significant changes here. I want to be really careful that we are very accurate in how we report this, because there really is no evidence. And we want to make sure American voters feel like their voting system is fair.

CARDONA: But I will say this. You know, to the frustration and concern of Clinton supporters, part of their issue moving forward on this is the fact that they believe very strongly, as lm sure everybody does, that every single vote counts, right? And so, they want to make sure if there really is an issue here and if legally there is a recount that can be had, then let's do it.

But I also believe that it is a way for them to talk about a lot of the issues that took place this election. For example in Wisconsin, where 300,000 voters were turned away because of voter ID laws, but there are ways to deal with that that is not this.

KEILAR: All right. Friends, stay with me. We have much more ahead, all of us.

And happening now, authorities in West Virginia, they're looking into whether the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old African-American was a hate crime. We'll have the latest briefing after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:43] KEILAR: Federal authorities are being asked to review whether the shooting death of a black teen in West Virginia can be considered a hate crime. This is according to our affiliate WCHS.

Police say this deadly shooting happened on Monday night when William Pulliam and 15-year-old James Means got into a verbal altercation on a street. According to investigators, Pulliam shot Means twice and has shown zero remorse since, telling officers at one point, quote, "The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street."

Pulliam denies ever saying that. He claims that means pulled out a gun and that's when he fired in self-defense.

CNN's Ryan Young has been following this story.

And, Ryan, tell us. Do we know -- that's really the question, was Means armed? Do we know this?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, that's the question we're still trying to answer at this point. Of course, it's Thanksgiving, so we've called the police department, tried to nail down some of the details here. We haven't received a call back just yet.

But according to this man, William Pulliam, he's saying that we he encountered this teen, that he did have a weapon and, in fact, he went to a Dollar General, and after going to that store, even went on the other side of the street to avoid this teen. He says he then approached him again waving a gun and that's when he opened fire.

In fact, he did a jailhouse interview and talked about why he shot the teen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM PULLIAM, CHARGED WITH FIRST DEGREE MURDER: 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. Don't care if he's white or black. Nobody is going to do like me that. It doesn't make any difference if he's black. My God, everybody who live around here is black. I get along with all of them, ask them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So, Brianna, conversation really different here if you believe his details about the story.

He's contending that he was going to the store we he encountered the three teens and then, of course, he got into that altercation with 15- year-old James Means and then he left and went to that Dollar Store and on the way back he said he saw that gun again. Now, of course, the details about this and whether or not the kid had a gun, that's something we're still trying to figure out. That obviously will shed a different light on the story.

Now, Means was not supposed to have a gun, I mean, not Means, but Pulliam was not supposed to have a gun. He was charged with domestic abuse charges in 2013 he pled guilty to. So, the fact he had a gun and went home and had dinner after the shooting had also made some people shake their heads obviously with him being able to eat after shooting this teen.

KEILAR: It certainly does.