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Conflicting Global Reaction to Fidel Castro's Death; Miami's Little Havana Celebrates Castro's Death; The Future of U.S.-Cuba Relations; Clinton Campaign Backs Recount Efforts; Protecting Donald Trump; Trump Skips Intelligence Briefings. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 26, 2016 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:01] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Pamela Brown in for Poppy Harlow on this Saturday and right now we are witnessing a conflicting global fallout of the death of Cuba's Fidel Castro. For some, it's grief for the loss of a revolutionary hero, but for others it's celebration for the death of a ruthless dictator. In Cuba with flags at half staff, Castro's death at the age of 90 marks the start of nine days of mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Cuban people is feeling sad because of the loss of our commander-in-chief, Fidel Castro Ruz. And we wish him, wherever he is, that he is blessed and us Cubans love him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The Havana streets were quiet as people found out the leader who toppled a dictator, installed a communist government, and ruled over the island nation for nearly five decades, has died. And in Miami's Little Havana, a different scene.

Cuban exiles who escaped his regime dancing and singing on the streets, popping champagne corks and waving the Cuban flag. For them, they remember a ruthless tyrant who reneged on his promise of democracy, imprisoned and executed tens of thousands of opponents, and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. CNN's Ed Lavandera joins me now from Little Havana in Miami.

You've been talking to the people there on the ground celebrating. Behind you, what kind of things are you hearing from them, what stories?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well this is a cause for celebration here in the heart of Little Havana. This is -- we're standing in the middle of Calle Ocho -- Calle Ocho which is Southwest Eighth Street. This has long been that heartbeat of Little Havana, this is the Versailles restaurant, just after midnight as people started hearing the news that Fidel Castro had died, they flooded the streets here. This has been a decades-long gathering spot where Cuban exiles and Cuban immigrants have gathered to debate politics and argue and debate the future of Cuba and that sort of thing. So it's no surprise that they would flock out to here. I want to bring Roberto Fabricio. Roberto, let me set you up here a little bit. You left Cuba in the early '60s part of what was known as the Peter Pan Program which was essentially children, Cuban children whose parents put them in --

ROBERTO FABRICIO: Planes.

LAVANDERA: -- on planes, they left Cuba by themselves. You spent three years without your parents, right?

FABRICIO: That's right three years and like, you know, a U.S. Catholic church had a program, eventually came to be known as Pedro Pan and which it took on almost 15,000 underage, you know, children waiting for their parents.

LAVANDERA: Roberto also later on went to work at the Miami Herald as a reporter and a part of the editorial team there. You interviewed Fidel Castro many years later in the 1970s, wrote a book about the revolution. So having said all of that, your experience, when you see what's happening here today, what goes through your mind?

FABRICIO: Well, this is not unexpected. The level of emotion is gigantic. Many people here have their relatives buried in Cuba. Many people here have lost loved ones on the ground, on other, you know, non-political issues they just stayed behind. So, you know, there is really one country separated by water and a political system. So the fact that the guy who founded that political system is now gone lifts a huge emotional burden from their children and it's a source of joy.

I mean, from a religious point of view, no one should be happy that another human being is dead, but the fact is, how did we feel when Saddam Hussein was gone? So if you put it in terms of very personal terms, they feel as joyful as the Iraqi people were when we killed Saddam Hussein.

LAVANDERA: Gracias, Roberto, it a very typical kind of feeling and emotion that we've heard repeatedly here throughout the day.

BROWN: Ed Lavandera, thank you very much and we'll check back in with you soon. Under Castro's rule, the US and Cuba had a strained relationship that's only recently started to normalize. Going back to 1960, not long after Fidel Castro took power, the U.S. launched a trade embargo against the island nation. In 1961, there was the Bay of Pigs Invasion, a failed U.S. attempt to overthrow Castro.

And then tensions increased in 1962 with the Cuban missile crisis and the resulting nuclear standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In 1980, some 125,000 Cubans fled to Florida in what came to be known as the Mariel Boatlift. And then, in 2002, tensions remained high during the Bush Administration with the opening of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Castro did live long enough to see President Obama push for a historic thaw in relations between Cuba and United States, including the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana last year. A trade embargo which requires congressional approval to be lifted remains against the island. And President Obama released a statement in response to Castro's death saying, "We know that this moment fills Cubans and Cuba and in the United States with powerful emotions recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and the world around him."

President-elect Trump first responded to the news on Twitter writing simply "Fidel Castro is dead!" He later released this statement, saying, "Fidel Castro's legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. It is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured far too long and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve."

I want to bring in my panel now to discuss, historian and Princeton University Professor, Julian Zelizer, and CNN political analyst and columnist for the Washington Post, Josh Rogin. Thank you both for coming. I'm really curious to hear what you have to say.

Josh, to you first, what was your reaction to the tweet from Donald Trump and then that carefully crafted statement?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well I think the tweet was below expectations of what you would want from a president-elect, because it didn't really have any nuance to speak of and didn't tell us anything about what Donald Trump thought about the situation. I think the statement corrected a lot of that, and it placed Donald Trump firmly on the side of those in Washington and there are many in both parties who will always view Fidel Castro as not much more than a brutal dictator who repressed the people of Cuba, prevented them from achieving basic human rights, and kept them in what they see as an oppressive form of government for his entire reign.

And President Obama took a very different tack, right, he decided to stay markedly neutral about whether or not Castro will be remembered as a hero or a villain.

BROWN: He really chose his words carefully.

ROGIN: Yes, but I think the truth lies somewhere in between. It's hard to think about the reign of Fidel Castro without mentioning some of the more harsh policies and the repression and the subjugation of people's basic rights, at the same time you have to acknowledge that his impact on that country and other countries that Cuba involved itself in over the last 50 years will be significant and long-lasting.

BROWN: Julian, Fidel Castro famously once said that history will absolve him. How do you think history will look back on him?

JULIAN ZELIZER, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well, I don't think it will absolve him. I think there're many people who feel differently about his regime, that it wasn't a source of virtue and it wasn't a source of liberation, but it was a source of repression, and I think that part of his record combined with the alliance with the Soviet Union will forever be part of the discussion.

There are others though who see parts of the legacy as being about racial justice and liberation from external countries that will also be part of the record. With all subjects like this, there will be a level of ambiguity in terms of how people evaluate him.

BROWN: And Josh, going back to Donald Trump, during the campaign, he criticized the thawing of diplomatic relations with Cuba in the past. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of the concessions that Barack Obama has granted to cast a regime were done through executive order which means the next president can reverse them, and that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands, not my demands, our demands. You know what the demands are. Those demands will include religious and political freedom for the Cuban people and the freeing of political prisoners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Josh, what might U.S.-Cuban relations look like under President Trump?

ROGIN: Right. Well, it's too soon to say, actually. I mean listen, Trump is right on the facts. He can reverse President Obama's historic opening of Cuba and normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, but he's -- what he wants in exchange for not doing that is simply not going to happen. Fifty years of a trade embargo and isolating Cuba did not produce political and social reforms that they were intended.

So the question any incoming Trump Administration is going to have to ask itself is, what do we get by undoing the Cuba opening? Does that really advance not only the freedom and rights of the Cuban people, but also American interests in Cuba and the interests of Cuban- Americans in making connections back with the country that they came from?

So I think what's going to definitely happen is, first, he's going to have to appoint a Secretary of State and then somebody to run Cuba policy, and then all of those people are going to get in a room and they're going to take a hard look at this, and I don't think we can base our predictions on what he said on the campaign trail. That's what any sort of hawkish Republican would say on the campaign trail. At the same time, there's not going to be any more opening of Cuba. There's no way that Congress or the Trump Administration is going to proceed to actually lift the embargo, which is something that at least had a chance if Trump had not been elected.

ZELIZER: I mean this is.

BROWN: Julian -- go ahead, go ahead.

ZELIZER: Well this is a case where it's very easy for President Trump to undo one of President Obama's decisions through executive power, but at the same time, this is also a case where he is going to find a lot of pressure, there's a lot of people in the business community who don't want to go back to the Cold War policies. There's many experts on foreign policy who will remind you that the embargo didn't work, and there's even within the Republican Party a lot of pressure to move to a new post-Cold War era of Cuban relations. So this is the exact kind of case where Trump has a lot of authority to reverse course from Obama, but it will not be as easy as some of his supporters suspect.

BROWN: All right. Well we will have to wait and see what happens. Julian Zelizer and Josh Rogin, thank you.

ROGIN: Thank you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

BROWN: And coming up right here in the NEWSROOM, the Clinton campaign gets on board the push for a recount. So what does Donald Trump think about all of this? Well, he's now speaking out. And palace intrigue around the Trump transition, Trump's own advisers divided over who he should pick for secretary of state. Will it be Romney, Giuliani or someone else? Our panel lays in.

Plus securing Trump Tower, new details about the amount of money it will cost to protect the president-elect at one of the world's best known addresses.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, the Hillary Clinton campaign now said it's on board with the push for a recount in three key states that contributed to Clinton's loss on Election Day. They'll be joining Green Party candidate Jill Stein who has raised millions of dollars to have votes recounted in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan after reports of voting discrepancies. The Clinton campaign did note it had no evidence of hacked voting systems but that it was taking part in the recount effort to "ensure that it is fair to all sides."

So what's Donald Trump saying about all of this? CNN's Ryan Nobles is at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and Ryan, we now have a statement from the president-elect, a pretty scathing statement against Jill Stein, right?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORESPONDENT: Yeah, that's exactly right, Pam. Probably not a surprise if Donald Trump is not impressed with this effort by Jill Stein and the role that Clinton campaign is playing in it. Trump called the effort ridiculous and he released a lengthy statement, as you said, blistering the idea of encouraging a recount.

Trump said in part "This recount is just a way for Jill Stein who received less than 1 percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the ballot in many states to fill her coffers with money." He goes on to say, "This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already conceded and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused." And Trump and many of his aides say that for so long during this campaign, it was the Clinton team that was accusing him of not being prepared to accept the results of the election and now the roles are reversed, and it is the Clinton team who is joining in with Jill Stein in this effort.

Right now, it is only Wisconsin that is being discussed. She's filed the paperwork for support in Wisconsin, but as you've reported today, Pam, Jill Stein seriously considering challenges in Michigan and Pennsylvania as well. The Trump team says that they're prepared for this and they are taking it seriously, but they think the entire thing is not worth the effort. Pam?

BROWN: Yes, the Trump team clearly not happy with this effort. Ryan Nobles, thank you very much for that. And Jill Stein is defending the vote recount effort. I talked to her last hour shortly after Trump released that scathing statement and here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL STEIN, GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDDIATE: He may be creating his own facts here and he's been known to do sometimes in the past and I think, you know, he himself said that it was a rigged election unless he won it. Point to drive home here is that having a secure elections process benefits us all, and I invite everyone, I invite Donald Trump's campaign, Hillary's campaign. We've had calls out to Gary Johnson's campaign. This should be a nonpartisan people-powered effort to ensure that we can rely on the integrity and the security of our votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining me now to discuss, Scottie Nell Hughes, political editor at RightAlerts.com. She supported Trump throughout the election. Also with us, A. Scott Bolden, former chairman of the Washington D.C. Democratic Party, he supported Hillary Clinton. Scottie Nell, you've heard what Jill Stein had to say, should this be a nonpartisan effort especially for a candidate who insisted that the system is rigged?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely it should be a nonpartisan effort, if there was actually a problem there, if there was actual real evidence to show that the Russians or anybody else hacked into the voting machines, or actually the vote collectors were somehow tampered with.

There is none of that evidence that is showing and they can talk about well, we showed rigged elections within the hacking of emails, that has nothing to do with the actual voting day and the votes that were counted. So sure, if there was actual evidence showing those things and I find it funny that she's only questioning states where Mr. Trump won. Why aren't we questioning the states that Hillary Clinton might have won, I mean granted there's not as many of them as Trump won 30 out of 50 states. But still, why are we just looking at states that Trump won?

BROWN: And A Scott -- go ahead.

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, HILLARY SUPPORTER: Well hold up. Well, Pamela, those are the three states where Donald Trump won by a total of $100,000 but -- I'm sorry, not $100,000, 100,000 votes. But let's be real clear, we don't know what the evidence is and the law allows this recount, and so Jill Stein and there's another petitioner who has asked for a recount is perfectly within their right to do so. We know this was a hacked election process where databases hacked and emails hacked. And so the real question here for Wisconsin who has accepted the petition, agreed to recount, possibly even an audit on the processes and procedures and is just following the law.

And all Hillary Clinton has done is said, "Listen, we support that for accuracy purposes. We'll be at the table." Now watch this, Pamela, Donald Trump will be at the table too, because he's got a vested interest and the law allows him to be there and the law allows this recount in all three states.

BROWN: All right. And Scottie Nell, Trump says Jill Stein is not going to use all of this money raised on the recount effort. He accuses her of "filling her coffers." But listen to what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEIN: And for his information, this is actually all going into a dedicated and segregated account so that it can only be spent on the recount campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So your reaction, why launch a personal attack?

HUGHES: Well, it's because when you look at it, she's upped the cost of what she's trying to raise. If she was just raising the amount that she needed to pay the fees and possibly the $1 million more of attorneys, she would have raise that two days ago, but yet she's continued to up. And the reason why she's saying it's going to cost more, for lawyers and consultants, but not giving an actual bottom line, she's not giving a hard line. So imagine that, as more money is coming in, she's asking for money. That's what makes this all look a little bit conspicuous as to what's actually -- what her intentions are and then --

BROWN: And that she's saying she wants to file in other states that where she hasn't missed the deadline, but go ahead.

HUGHES: So that doesn't answer to the people that are donating money for her.

BROWN: Sir, let Scottie finish.

HUGHES: That's my question, people that are actually going in and then I have to wonder who is this if they're donating so much money to her, more than what she raised actually to run for president, what is their motivation, do they think they're just throwing their money away? She could go and appeal here in Tennessee then. Then she's just wasting dollars.

Let's put this towards a better effort, maybe reorganizing the Democratic Party so they don't suffer such a devastating loss down the road. BROWN: Go ahead A Scott.

BOLDEN: Well, Jill Stein was the Green Party first of all.

HUGHES: Well.

BOLDEN: And what difference does it make what our motive is, quite frankly? She's got a right. And here's the thing, here's the most legitimate part of Jill Stein and others' challenge for a recount, there's no -- they have no dog in the fight as far as winning that state or winning those electoral votes. This is purely about integrity and authenticity of the election process, because even if they find that votes were hacked or that there's a change in the outcome of the election in each of those states, Jill Stein has no way of winning. And so, that goes directly to her credibility and her commitment to voter integrity and election integrity.

BROWN: All right, before we wrap up, I want to switch gears a little bit, Scottie Nell, I want to ask you about the reported infighting over the Secretary of State position, there seems to be a divide right now over whether Trump should nominate Mitt Romney for the position. Trump loyalists are against it, but establishment figures are highly supportive of it. Where do you fall on this?

HUGHES: Well that's actually a very good debate that is happening amongst the Trump campaign. In the end, I'm going to put my faith and trust into Mr. Trump and the decision he makes, but I will say there's a legitimate concern by conservatives right now with Governor Romney being the Secretary of State, they -- whether it's Rudy Giuliani or someone else, it feels like because Mitt Romney possibly was one of his harshest critics, went personally after him, was kind of a snake in the grass, they're worried about putting him in such an important position that when times get tough, he could be probably the biggest torpedo to any success of a Trump administration.

So it will be interesting to see what kind of conversations are going on with Mr. Trump, but in the end I think we're going to end up trusting what his judgment is as long as we know that it's not being influenced by other outside factors.

BROWN: A. Scott, some democrats have actually said they want Romney to be Secretary of State, are you one of those democrats?

BOLDEN: Well, I certainly think he would legitimize that position, legitimize Trump. I tend to think that Romney, that Donald Trump needs Romney more than Romney needs Donald Trump. He is a patriot. He wants to be Secretary of State, and I think he would bring in mainline Republicans and he's someone the Democrats could support and he ought to be that person.

Rudolph Giuliani on the other hand, I'm not sure he's got any great experience whatsoever and he's downright scary to a lot of Republicans and Democrats in that position or any other position in the Trump administration.

BROWN: Well no announcement has been made for Secretary of State. It sounds like the debate continues. Scottie Nell Hughes and A Scott Bolden, thank you very much to both of you. I do appreciate it.

BOLDEN: Thank you.

HUGHES: Thank you.

BROWN: And coming up, it may end up becoming White House North, new information about the potential cost to protect Donald Trump's Fifth Avenue home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Trump Tower in the heart of Manhattan features an atrium open to the public, luxury stores, and restaurants and perhaps soon a Secret Service floor. A law enforcement official tells me the agency charged with protecting the president may rent an entire floor at Trump Tower and turn it into the 24/7 command post to protect the incoming first family.

Joining me now Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent who has guarded every living president including Barack Obama. Jonathan, thank you very much for coming on, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. We're talking about a first family that would be living in two cities with multiple homes in several states, could this pose an unprecedented challenge to the Secret Service?

JONATHAN WACKROW, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Absolutely. I mean, what you're looking at is from the presidential protection detail that is charged with the protection of the president, splitting that detail really into multiple locations causes logistical problems, it causes, you know, a division of assets, manpower. So the Secret Service is facing a significant challenge by the fact that, you know, you may have a part of the detail located in New York and part of the detail located in Washington D.C.

BROWN: I'm just curious, as we look at Trump Tower there on Fifth Avenue, you know, what kind of an extra challenge that poses. I was talking to an agent yesterday who basically was saying, "Look, business as usual for Secret Service. Every time there is an election, we have to figure out a new game plan to defend the president-elect and his family." What's different here is that Trump Tower is right there on Fifth Avenue in a bustling area of the busiest city in the world, all these people coming in and out." What kind of a challenge does that pose?

WACKROW: Well the challenge is monumental. I mean you're in the heart of New York City, there are millions of people that surround Trump Tower. The job of actually securing that building and providing a safe and secure environment for Donald Trump and his family is something that the Secret Service is very used to, so actually providing the security isn't going to be the challenge. The big thing here is the impact to New York City as a whole and the surrounding community. That's what's really going to be affected by this construct of being in New York City.

BROWN: And there's an expectation that Donald Trump will sort of go back and forth to Trump Tower, as we know Melania, the future first lady and their son Barron will be staying there at least through his school year next spring. Is this frustrating at all to Secret Service agents? Do they just wish the future first family would live and stay in the White House?

WACKROW: You know, listen, from a Secret Service standpoint, we wish that all of our protectees would stay in one location, we could build a great big wall around them, but that's not realistic. People have to live their lives and in this case the future first lady, you know, wishes to live in New York City. So the Secret Service doesn't dictate where our protectees live. We build a protective methodology around them to provide that safe and secure environment.

So in this instance, she and her son, Barron, are going to live in New York City. We're going to build a protective environment around them and then the president is going to be joining them whenever he wishes.

BROWN: I'm just curious because as I reported, it would be a $1.5 million a year for one of those floors, we don't know what kind of deal might be worked out, but if Barron and Melania were not staying there permanently through next spring and that President Trump might just every now and then go to Trump Tower, would that same security apparatus need to be in place or not?

WACKROW: Absolutely. And I think that the reports that the Secret Service is actually taking up an entire floor may be a little bit misconstrued. I've never seen the Secret Service take up an entire floor of any place. What's going to happen though is they are going to secure all of the floors around where the protectees are and that's part of our standard methodology.

So we'll take, you know, multiple floors above, multiple floors below wherever our protectees reside, whether it's in a hotel, in a private residence or here at Trump Tower. What they will do, however, is they will build out a command center and that's where I think that we're talking about is a unified command center to run our protective operations jointly with the NYPD. Again, we want to have this unified, you know, security protocol put into place, we want to provide the utmost highest level of security for the incoming president, but also reduce the impact of these security measures to the people of New York City.

BROWN: Just for context before we let you go, again, you know, you have $1 million a day, not necessarily out of the Secret Service coffers, but going to protect the family in New York City, as I pointed $1.5 million for a floor, what's interesting is that that money would essentially be going to Trump's company since, you know, basically they're the landlord of Trump's tower, how unusual is that situation where you have the Secret Service essentially paying the president-elect's company?

WACKROW: Well listen, this is something that's very common to the Secret Service, you know. We pay rent at the ranch in Crawford Texas, they rent at Chappaqua. Once you go into a protectee's life in a permanent structure and build these command centers, it's not uncommon for the Secret Service to pay rent. So this isn't something that's new. You just haven't seen it in a while since President Obama hasn't travelled that much or didn't have a residence really outside of Washington D.C. that he went to, but this is actually a very common structure.

BROWN: And with Joe Biden, I know the Secret Service rented a cottage next to his house in Delaware because he liked to go back a lot on the weekends. Jonathan Wackrow, thank you for coming on and sharing context and perspective, we appreciate it.

WACKROW: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

BROWN: Emotional reaction from around the world at the news of Fidel Castro's death. Up next we'll talk to a U.S. Congressman from Florida who has an unusual connection to the late Cuban leader.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Fidel Castro's death is very personal for my next guest. Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart once had an unusual connection to Castro. His aunt was Castro's first wife. Congressman Mario Diaz- Balart joins me now on the phone. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us, really looking forward to hearing your perspective on this.

When your aunt married Castro, how did your family react to that?

REP. MARIO DIAZ-BALART (R), FLORIDA: Well that was in the mid-'40s, way before I was born. It's something way, way, way in the past. They were married for a few years and then divorced, and it didn't take long for I think everybody to realize that what the world and Cuba experienced was a despot, a tyrant, a murderer, a dictator, a person who has separated millions of families, who has actually been responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, and by the way for the death and the torture of many Americans as well, and a major sponsor of terrorism particularly in this hemisphere but around the world.

Very few people in history I think the word despot or the word murderer or dictator, does that word apply better than to this person who has recently just passed away.

BROWN: And I know it was many, many years ago they were married as you pointed out, but did your aunt every talk to you much about Castro and if so what did she say?

DIAZ-BALART: No, we don't have much of a relationship with our aunt. She's still alive, she lives in Spain, so we don't have much of a relationship with her. And, you know, it's really interesting. It's not unusual to have Cuban families that are divided by this experience of almost 60 years of, again, of a dictatorship created and headed by Fidel Castro, again, one of the most bloodthirsty tyrants of this century, frankly.

BROWN: So just to be clear, was your aunt after -- you know, she was married to him, did she continue to support him, because we've seen sort of this dichotomy of emotions, some people celebrating his death and other people mourning his death, and it's really fascinating to see that play out.

DIAZ-BALART: It is fascinating, but again, I will tell you that to me it's rather strange that anybody could celebrate the life of a person who, again, was a dictator for close to six decades, who murdered and who tortured, who has a record of again, of not only of corruption and murder and blood, but also of terrorism. So, you know, I see even some heads of state who are saying, mourning his loss.

It's frankly hard to believe that anybody could mourn the loss of a person who has a very distinct record, a clear record of being one of the most savage, bloodthirsty murderers, tyrants that this world has ever seen, clearly by the way the most savage dictatorship that we've ever seen in the Americas in the history of this hemisphere.

So some may have this false image of what Fidel Castro was, but the history speaks for itself. He was a person who asked for a first -- for a nuclear strike against United States. This is a person who shot down two American airplanes, civilian airplanes in international air space. This is a dictatorship that today still harbors about 80 fugitives from U.S. law including murderers and terrorists.

That's the legacy of Fidel Castro. That is what the Cuban people have had to suffer for close to 60 years, and for anybody to kind of like romanticize that frankly just doesn't -- is clueless of the situation that the Cuban people have had to suffer for, again, a 60- year-old dictatorship that unfortunately as you know still persist today.

BROWN: Let me ask you quickly, how do you think Trump might approach U.S.-Cuban relation?

DIAZ-BALART: You know, Mr. Trump has been very clear that he is going to reverse the unilateral concessions that President Obama has gifted the Castro regime, which is the right thing to do. The fact that President Obama has gone out of his way to give concession after concession by the way specifically to the Castro family's monopolies while asking nothing in return has proven to be disastrous for the Cuban people. We've seen an increase in repression and an increase in political arrests, more political arrests by the way in the last two years than in the last 20 years. The beatings against particularly the -- for example the ladies in white, the opposition leaders has escalated, the number of Cubans leaving the island has increased dramatically.

It has been catastrophic for the Cuban people and it has been catastrophic by the way for the national security interests of the United States as well. It's a terrorist regime, it is a narco- trafficking regime, it is an anti-American regime and what we saw now is that the brains of that regime has died, but that regime is still there. And so I congratulate Mr. Trump and Vice President-Elect Mr. Pence for their attitude, their steadfast position of saying that we're going to bring back, take back all those unilateral concessions that have done nothing but to enrich the Castro dictatorship and done nothing to help the Cuban people. Actually this has been very detrimental to the Cuban people. BROWN: Clearly, this is something you are passionate about. Congressman, thank you so much for coming on the show, sharing your thoughts in the wake of Fidel Castro's death.

DIAZ-BALART: Great. Thank you so very much.

BROWN: And President Elect Donald Trump is working on his cabinet this weekend, we're told that there is one important thing he is not doing every day. Coming up, a new report of the intelligence briefings he's decided to skip on a nar-daily basis. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM and we will be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There are just 55 days left until the inauguration and a new report says president elect, Donald Trump is choosing to skip most of the daily intelligence briefings that have been prepared for him since his election victory.

According to the Washington Post, an intelligence team has been prepared to brief Trump every day since the election, but he's only met with them twice. Vice-president elect Mike Pence meantime has been receiving his briefings almost every day. The President's Daily Brief or PDB not only provides a rundown of threats and security developments from all U.S. intelligence agencies but also an update on covert programs overseas and the specific sources and methods by which intelligence is collected.

Joining me now to discuss, CNN Intelligence Analyst and former CIA operative Bob Baer. Also with us, historian Julian Zelizer. Thank you both for coming on. Bob, I'm going to start with you, is there cause for concern that Trump is turning away briefers at this point?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It concerns me because he's not prepared to make foreign policy decisions.

I mean, being a businessman, he has foreign experience but he really does need the CIA at this point to explain to him crises which are on the horizon. I mean, Iraq is going from bad to worse. The Taliban has 50 percent to 70 percent of Afghanistan, there's a crisis looming with North Korea.

And he's got to get up to speed, and the people to do that is the Central Intelligence Agency, and it's just not the PDB, the briefing, it's -- he needs the experts to come in and there's a lot of covert action programs ongoing, some are working, most aren't, and he's got to catch up to speed because not very long he could be faced as I said with a very big crisis.

BROWN: And before we get to you Julian, if you would Bob kind of break it down for us. Bringing in -- bring us in to what a presidential briefing is like, how long does it take? What exactly do they go over? Is it something that he can kind of do on his own time? Bring us into it.

BAER: Well, they could -- the briefer could hand carry a PDB to the White House to the Oval Office or to Trump Tower and say, "Here it is, go ahead and read it" and waits and then takes it back at the end of the day or you could bring in specialists.

For instance, let's go to Afghanistan, what's happening on the ground, you need an Afghan expert and not just simply a briefer to explain, and often the president will ask questions and ask for follow-up briefings. So these things could go on for, you know, 10 minutes to a couple hours, it depends on the interest of the president.

I've seen some presidents actually bring in operatives. George W. Bush used to to talk about Iraq and he bring in four or five of them and go on for hours and hours, you know, exchanging, you know, questions and detailed answers.

BROWN: And let's look at the last three presidents-elect and what they did, how they handled these briefings. After his election, Obama not only got regular briefings but scheduled deep dive on key subjects like Iran's nuclear program.

George W. Bush's daily briefing was delayed because of the Florida recount but he then asked for daily briefings and then Bill Clinton got his first briefing 10 days after the election, but then received them almost every day after that. So Julian, is Trump going to be less prepared than past presidents when he takes office in January in your view?

ZELIZER: Well if this continues, certainly. He's already less prepared than many of them. This was an issue in the campaign, his lack of experience in government.

It was also just a question of how deep his interest was in the different policy issues that the nation faces. So you take both of these, you add to the mix many provocative statements he made on the campaign trail, and then a thinness in terms of these briefings will be cause for concern about how prepared he will be when the nation faces a crisis.

BROWN: But what about the argument that's made by his supporters that, "Look, he's busy right now building his cabinet and recruiting the best people to be on the frontlines to protect our country. He's still president-elect, he's not president yet."

ZELIZER: Well, the others had the same challenge, and this is part of the challenge when you make the transition, particularly when you're not going for your second term, and you need to do both, especially if you lack the expertise and don't have the kind of knowledge that some other presidents bring to the table.

So it's true that he's putting together a team and we hope it's first- rate, but this is also something he has to do with equal vigor.

BROWN: And Bob, I know you've been talking to people in the intelligence community, you still keep in touch with them, what has been the reaction to this?

BAER: Well, I asked them about this specifically and Trump is considering reorganizing the intelligence community, and that's why he brought in Pompeo, congressman, he needs support on the Hill.

As I understand it, he intends to clean house, he wants to make major changes, he thinks American intelligence has failed. General Flynn I'm sure has told him that and right now he's focusing on that rather than substantive issues. I really do believe that when he gets to Washington, D.C. there's going to be some major changes both in the military and the intelligence community, and he probably is preoccupied with that. I just hope a crisis doesn't hit the White House the first couple of months.

BROWN: All right. Bob Baer, Julian Zelizer, thank you very much. And we'll be right back with reaction to the death of Fidel Castro. Next hour, we're going to live to Miami's Little Havana where people are celebrating the death of Cuba's Fidel Castro.

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