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Trump Makes Two New Hires for White House Staff; Source: Petraeus, Kelly, Corker Considered for Secretary of State; School Bus Driver Worked Amazon Overnight Shift; "Brady Bunch" Legend Florence Henderson Dies; Missing Jogger Found Alive Wearing Restraints. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 25, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:11] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna, thank you so much, my friend. Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. Here's what we have for you.

Moments ago, we learned of two more people who will be helping Donald Trump when he is sworn in as our nation's 45th president here in just about over nearly two months. His national security adviser, retired General Michael Flynn tweeted, quoted, "So proud and honored to have K.T. McFarland as part of our national security team. She will help us make America great again."

The Trump team just announced in a statement McFarland will become deputy national security adviser. And that same statement reveals that a long-time beltway insider, lawyer Don McGahn is going to be assistant to the President and White House counsels.

Let's go first to Ryan Nobles, who is near Trump's estate down there in Florida, where the President-elect and his family are spending their Thanksgiving weekend. A couple names breaking in the last couple of minutes. Tell us about McGahn and McFarland.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NEWSOURCE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke. Both of these appointments aren't really that big of a surprise. These are names that have been floated as potential staff member for Donald Trump for some time. Let's talk about K.T. McFarland first.

She is somebody that has a lot of experience in Republican administrations, both in foreign policy and national security. She served in the Ford administration. And underneath Caspar -- I'm sorry, she served under Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in the Reagan administration. But in the Nixon and Ford administration, she served under Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Now, she does have some political experience as well. At one time, she attempted to run in the Republican primary to challenge Hillary Clinton back in 2006. She lost that primary. Sure that didn't turn out to be.

Now, onto Don McGahn, as you mentioned, he is a long-time beltway insider. He's a former FEC commissioner. He's someone that has served on the Trump campaign for some time as an election expert and election lawyer who has helped Trump navigate election law, something he doesn't have a lot of experience in. And he's expected to help Trump deal with some of those issues when he comes to Washington.

Now, these are the final two appointments that we're expecting here this weekend. Trump and his family will head back to New York on Sunday. But when he gets back to New York, he is expected to be very busy. They will welcome eight different people to Trump Tower and he --

BALDWIN: That's right.

NOBLES: -- and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with that group. Among them will be David Clarke who is the sheriff of Milwaukee County. He is being rumored as a potential Secretary of Homeland Security. He could be a potentially controversial pick. He is African-American. And he is a Democrat but he is a Trump supporter. He spoke at the Republican National Convention, and he's been very critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.

So that's the latest from here in West Palm Beach. Brooke, we'll sent it back to you.

BALDWIN: All right. Ryan, thank you so much. We're going to work through some of those faces on that board. First, let me bring in two voices, CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers and Lanhee Chen. Kirsten is a columnist for "USA Today" and Lanhee has served as public policy director for Mitt Romney. So thank you for joining me on this holiday Friday, too.

And, Kirsten, let me just begin with you here with the news of K.T. McFarland. As Ryan pointed out, an aide to, you know, three separate Republican White Houses. Also had been a Fox News analyst. And so I want to go to you as a former Foxer, what do you know about her? And do you also think, as has been reported, that Trump is really going to go through the Fox roster for picks?

KIRSTEN POWERS, COLUMNIST, USA TODAY: Well, I'm sure -- you know, he certainly likes to watch a lot of Fox, though I think he watches a lot of CNN as well based on how often he talks about us, and so I'm sure he got to know her there.

She's somebody who's worked in multiple Republican administrations. You know, she was a speech writer to Caspar Weinberger. I think she was head of Public Affairs in the Defense Department in the Reagan administration. So she is somebody who's definitely been around for a while.

And I think she's very much part of the sort of mainstream Republican establishment, and so that's what makes it interesting, is that he, you know, is choosing people, it seems, that don't necessarily share his world view. I put her very much more of a Mitt Romney type of world view in terms of foreign policy. She's certainly not -- I've never heard her criticize the Iraq war the way that, for example, Donald Trump has.

BALDWIN: So that's one name we have, Lanhee. The other name, Don McGahn, to serve as assistant to the President and White House counsel, which could be particularly interesting with this President- elect because he will serve as essentially what? Will that be the legal line between Trump the businessman and Trump the President?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER PUBLIC POLICY DIRECTOR FOR MITT ROMNEY: Right. Well, you know, Don McGahn comes to the position with great experience. I think he's a great pick, obviously helped Mr. Trump tremendously during the campaign, has experience as a business lawyer having been at a large private law firm in Washington, D.C.

[14:05:08] And he's a known commodity amongst many Republicans in Washington and around the country, so I think it's a great pick. I think both picks are, you know, very positive and I think will be regarded very well by many Republicans as well as folks, you know, around country.

BALDWIN: All right. Lanhee, hanging on the first bit of your answer, when I was actually just getting some information here, so let me throw a few names at you. Thank you. A few new names. This is what we're getting from a Trump transition source, that in addition to the Rudy Giuliani potential pick and Governor Romney, your former boss, we now have three names.

We'd already heard about General David Petraeus as one potential dark horse candidate, since there's such friction between the Rudy/Romney idea. But now we also have the names, General John Kelly, and we had heard this before but Senator Bob Corker.

Kirsten, do you think that these three names could change the equation here?

POWERS: Well, yes. It's sort of fascinating to watch this. It seemed that, you know, by all reports, that we have, you know, Rudy Giuliani making it very clear this was a job that he wanted. And can think of few people other than, perhaps, Newt Gingrich who are out there as much really putting themselves on the line for Donald Trump during the election.

So it's kind of interesting that he is really being forced to sort of make a case for himself and seems to be, at least, falling a little out of favor if these reports are true. You know, if it seems that because of the pushback that's happening because of Romney, which we've seen Kellyanne Conway tweeting about, now maybe they're feeling like they have to look at these other people.

BALDWIN: I think that is one of the most fascinating pieces of this. Listen, I am all for transparency, but with the Kellyanne Conway tweets, as you've talked about, where she was talking about betrayal and loyalists and vocalizing her, you know, criticism of a potential Mitt Romney pick, you have -- you know, Mike Huckabee is taking to T.V. and essentially saying, well, hey, only if, you know, Governor Romney is willing to, and I'm paraphrasing, you know, apologize for his comments about Trump should we even really consider him.

And now that we're getting the leaks about these other names, Lanhee, is this a bit bizarre?

CHEN: Well, you know, look, I think that there's going to be a lot of noise. This is a very important job, Brooke. You know, we all know Secretary of State is an important job, America's chief diplomat, and so it's natural that we would hear a lot of conversation. I think that, at the end of the day, you know, only one opinion matters and that's Donald Trump, the President-elect's opinion.

BALDWIN: Right.

CHEN: And so everyone's got their opinions, who they like, who they don't like, maybe they have personal grudges, who knows what it is? But so far, at least, the President-elect has made, I think, some pretty good decisions, and I think he's done well to consider lots of different folks for Secretary of State, including Governor Romney.

And some of the names you mentioned are folks with distinguished military careers and great experience in foreign policy. So I think this process will continue and go forward, but, you know, I think it's easy to get stuck in some of the other dialogue but, really, the only opinion that matters is Donald Trump's and we'll see what he says when he makes his pick.

BALDWIN: You know, it is -- with Kirsten, that the friction that's so out there between those who believe -- it's almost like the Trump Tower versus Washington, D.C., those who want the Rudy Giuliani versus the Mitt Romney, and General Petraeus could truly emerge as a very viable third option. But how do you think that will go over considering his conviction, a misdemeanor but just given his history?

POWERS: You mean, given Trump's history with his positions on foreign policy?

BALDWIN: Petraeus' past.

POWERS: Oh, Petraeus' history.

BALDWIN: Yes.

POWERS: I don't think Donald Trump cares about things like that. You know, I think that, I mean --

BALDWIN: What about the rest of the folks that matter? I guess, ultimately, it's Trump who decides.

POWERS: Yes. Yes. I mean, I think it is ultimately, you know, Donald Trump who will decide who he's comfortable with. And I think that he is -- I think we've all seen him be very unorthodox in how he handles things during the election and even now, he's handling things in a very different way. I mean, the fact that you have a campaign manager out there tweeting, basically disagreeing with the candidate --

BALDWIN: Yes.

POWERS: I mean, I've never seen anything like that in my life. You know, I mean, it's --

BALDWIN: So public. POWERS: Imagine David Axelrod tweeting out disagreeing, basically,

you know, letting it be known that he doesn't like somebody that Barack Obama is talking to. So this is a very unorthodox process and, obviously, he must be comfortable with it because, you know, this is what's going on and he doesn't seem to -- you know, Kellyanne Conway doesn't seem to have fallen out of favor for doing this.

BALDWIN: But given General Petraeus' -- I mean, he has a phenomenal resume but, Lanhee, I mean, when you consider the Republicans and how their heads were exploding over, you know, Hillary Clinton and her use of the private e-mail server and, again, you look at General Petraeus' past, it will be interesting to see to how Republicans react to him.

CHEN: Yes. I think the reaction, though, Brooke, will be, you know, it's a difference of scope and of the extent of the information that was conveyed. As I understand it, I think General Petraeus passed the information to someone who had a security clearance. But, you know, not litigating that side, look, David Petraeus has had a brilliant resume.

[14:10:01] He's had a great career serving this country in a variety of senior military roles. He clearly understands the world. So I think most Republicans are going to be supportive if the President- elect ends up going in that direction. But at this point, really, you know, there's going to be a lot of speculation. I think that's what this process is all about. And we'll see where he ends up, but the names that have been tossed out there are all, you know, pretty good names.

BALDWIN: OK. Lanhee and Kirsten, thank you so much. We'll loop back to this.

I want to get on to some breaking news here, a bit of news involving the heartbreaking school bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee earlier this week. Six children have died. The driver has since been charged, but we're now learning that he had apparently worked a second job at Amazon on the overnight shift before this drive. It was his last shift, we're told. It was overnight last Saturday.

So with that news, Danny Cevallos has been seated next to me, our legal analyst. And so, I mean, I'm learning this as everyone else is. So he was up all night working at Amazon and then hopped behind the wheel, driving 36 kids the next day. This is two day later.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Very interesting. It's sort of an area of the law that's undeveloped. I mean, we have rules about, say, police officers who moonlight or take jobs, but that's really more about potential abuse of the office.

There really is not a lot of regulation in private industry as to whether or not someone who has one job, two jobs, three jobs. And there really isn't a lot of -- there isn't a way to really check how much sleep somebody had the night before if you, as a private company, don't have control or access or information about where they were the 12 hours preceding their shift. So it's an interesting legal area of liability here. BALDWIN: So I'm crystal clear, so if we're talking a Saturday night

overnight shift, so he would have gotten off work Sunday morning. He would have had Sunday. And then he drove those kids, it was Monday.

CEVALLOS: That's right. And the amazing thing about driving while excessively tired, it's the kind of thing that we can't measure the same way we can measure DUI or DUID, drugs or alcohol or other influencing substances.

BALDWIN: Right.

CEVALLOS: When you're just tired, you're tired. And all of us should get enough sleep before we drive, but there really isn't a very good way for police to measure that when they make a car stop, and they can look at you and tell that, oh, maybe this person shouldn't be on the road. But we don't really have chemical tests that say this person is too sleepy to drive, so it's an area that is unregulated largely because there' no real way for private companies to regulate this.

BALDWIN: I understand, but you would like to think that, if he was working a second job, that he would have communicated that to the school system or this private school bus company. But I guess that's all yet to be determined. Danny, thank you so much for that.

Coming up next. 2016 claims another legend. America's mom, Florence Henderson, has died. Hear what her "Brady Bunch" co-stars are saying today and where she was just days before her death.

Plus, weeks ago, a mom goes missing. She's out on a jog. Now she shows up alive on the side of the road in restraints. Details ahead.

And the secret service reportedly wants to alter Trump Tower now that Donald Trump has been elected. Find out what they are asking Trump to do. This is interesting. Stay with me. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:17] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. She was a small town gal from Indiana, became Broadway star, talk show host, "Dancing with the Stars," and, of course, we knew her and loved her as Carol Brady. Florence Henderson, forever known as T.V.'s lovable mom from the '70s sitcom has passed away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's a story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold like their mother.

FLORENCE HENDERSON, ACTRESS: I want to be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you. I want to be loved by you alone. Boop boop bi doo. I want to be just by you, just you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Her talent manager says that Henderson died from heart failure overnight. She was 82 years young. Some of the "Brady Bunch" family tweeting condolences today. Maureen McCormick who played the oldest daughter, Marcia, posting, "You are in my heart forever." Henderson's talent manager said that the family is just absolutely in a state of shock. Apparently, Florence Henderson had not been ill.

With me, someone who actually got to share a desk with her and some time with her, journalist Jodi Applegate. She and Florence Henderson co-hosted "Later Today" over on NBC.

So nice of you to come through and I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend. And it's like she was everybody's mom but you actually got to share oxygen and space with her. What was she like?

JODI APPLEGATE, CO-HOST "LATER TODAY" WITH FLORENCE HENDERSON: And a dressing room.

BALDWIN: And a dressing room.

APPLEGATE: She was maternal.

BALDWIN: Yes. She really was.

APPLEGATE: And that might sound hokey, but I lost my own mother when I was very young.

BALDWIN: Oh.

APPLEGATE: And when you're in a T.V. setting, you know, people are gypsies. They move from all over --

BALDWIN: Yes.

APPLEGATE: -- and you're just work, work, work. But she had the ability to make everyone feel like no matter, whether the ages even made sense, like she would have been -- she was actually about the right age to be my mother, but she gave us advice on what to wear and what to eat and eat protein in the morning because we were doing a morning show. And, you know, don't eat these muffins they're putting on the table. I'll bring in this rolled turkey in this baggy.

BALDWIN: Right.

APPLEGATE: I mean she was like everybody's --

BALDWIN: She really was like that. When the cameras were on and off, she was authentic and consistent. What about -- you know, just in reading so much about her today, how she grew up in this small town in Indiana. You know, she had a tough upbringing. There was a line in an article I wrote about how she would have to sing at the age of eight just for groceries, goes on to become like the star on the stage. Would she sing? I mean, did she talk about her love of music?

APPLEGATE: Yes, she did. And I grew up in an era when I watched her on "The Brady Bunch." Maybe it was in syndication by the time I watched it.

BALDWIN: Yes, me too.

APPLEGATE: But I didn't realize that she had been a star for years before that on Broadway when she was a teenager.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

APPLEGATE: And then she was on the "Today" back when they had a "Today" girl in the '50s who would do the light stories.

BALDWIN: Right. Right.

[14:20:00] APPLEGATE: So she had like several show business lifetimes, if you want to view it that way. And I remember once, we were out in Pasadena at this big event where, when they roll out, you know, T.V. shows, they invite all the critics and so they have this big to do. But afterwards, she and I and this other woman we worked with all said, "You know what, let's go to the spa."

BALDWIN: Why not?

APPLEGATE: So we got a little Champagne and we were in our towels and we're sitting around at the spa and it's off the record, and she is telling us stories about Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra because she knew all those people.

BALDWIN: Get out of here. Get out of here.

APPLEGATE: She was almost like a time traveler in the sense that they were contemporaries of hers, but then at a different point in her career, I was kind of sort of, I mean, obviously, not on her level of fame and everything.

BALDWIN: Yes.

APPLEGATE: But I was proud to call myself a contemporary of hers. So to be --

BALDWIN: Sure. Sure. You were co-hosts.

APPLEGATE: And she appreciated everything that came her way because she had to sing for her supper, and she still worked hard right until -- I mean she was still doing carpet commercials, singing gigs. She would sign every autograph. She would stay for hours, sign every 8 x 10 glossy, answer every fan letter, because to her it was a real -- to be a celebrity, it's not like the modern form of celebrity. It was like every single fan deserved personal attention.

BALDWIN: Yes. She gave them everything she had in that moment. I want to play just a little bit more of the two of you over on NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Later Today" will lead the way to get your daytime going. (APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jodi can talk the talk.

APPLEGATE: We talk about the serious things that really affect people's lives, and we'll also have fun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Florence can walk the walk

HENDERSON: I just think it's the greatest thing, and I'm so excited about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It's cool because she had all these roles, but I saw a clip of her that we played earlier this morning where she, walking down the street -- and I'm curious if you experienced this -- where people would see here, they would think of Carol Brady, and they would just want to hug.

APPLEGATE: In fact, when we shot that promo, you saw some scenes in Times Square --

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

APPLEGATE: -- because they wanted all the billboards and the cross roads of the world. But she was and is recognizable because that show aired everywhere constantly, so people literally would get out of running vehicles to dodge traffic, to run up to her, and say, "Mother Brady, Mother Brady."

(LAUGHTER)

APPLEGATE: Because they had come from all the corners of the world, but they all recognized her face and she was so -- her fame was such an approachable kind of fame.

BALDWIN: Yes.

APPLEGATE: And she had a big hug for every single one of them. We were there until, like, the sun went down, like, trying to get that shot.

BALDWIN: I love that. I love that. Thank you for coming by and sharing. I really, really appreciate it.

APPLEGATE: Oh, certainly.

BALDWIN: It's so nice to meet you.

APPLEGATE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Always been such a fan. Jodi Applegate, here.

Coming up next, this stunning mystery. A mother who's been missing for three weeks suddenly shows up. She's OK. She's at the side of this road in restraints. Find out who investigators are now looking for.

Also ahead, it is the place where President-elect Trump and his family are spending the week. A landmark fancy estate down there in Palm Beach, Florida. But did you know what the builders actually had in mind when they dreamt up Mar-a-Lago? We'll take you inside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:28] BALDWIN: A missing jogger who vanished three weeks ago is back with her family. Investigators say 34-year-old Sherry Papini was found along a California highway on Thanksgiving morning. But apparently when she was found, she was bound with restraints, managed to somehow, though, flag down a passing driver.

Let's go to Paul Vercammen to try to fill in some of the blanks in this one. What happened to her? What are investigators saying?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very unusual story, Brooke. Let's start, first, with ecstatic and overjoyed. That's the reaction from Redding, California. And right now, detectives are trying to trying to piece all of these together, as you pointed out. Found on a rural road with some sort of restraints. Law enforcement officers saying they don't have a motive at this point. They're not really sure who these suspects might be. Let's go ahead and take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TOM BOSENKO, SHASTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: We learned that she was released by her captor on a rural road near I-5 in Yellow County. She was bound with restraints but was able to summon from a passing -- help from a passing motorist. We're looking for a dark-colored SUV with two Hispanic females armed with a handgun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And Papini is said to have suffered non-life threatening injuries. Let's talk a little bit about her disappearance, Brooke, because she was jogging about three weeks ago. Her husband became concerned when she did not go to daycare to pick up their toddlers. He then used that app, "Find My iPhone." He located her phone. He found the phone, her earbuds, and hair tangled in that.

And since then, they have not heard a thing from her, but they found her Thanksgiving Day, 120 miles to the South of Redding where she lives.

BALDWIN: So bizarre. Thank goodness she's OK and probably helping police try to find who these two women are. Paul Vercammen, thank you. Let's stay on this.

Let me bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Art Roderick who, also, is a former Director of the U.S. Marshals Service. So, Art, nice to see you. Where to begin? I mean, if you're hearing about the earbuds left behind, the phone, she's by the side of the road, you know, with some sort of restraints, where do investigators begin? ART RODERICK, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: It's

a very bizarre set of circumstances. And when I first looked at this case, the first thing that came was the Denise Huskins kidnapping which occurred in march of 2015 where police thought it was a hoax, and it actually turned out to be that she was kidnapped.

[14:29:55] Now, she was in their custody or in the captor's custody for three weeks, so I'm sure she's got a lot of information that she's giving to law enforcement at this particular point in time.