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Trump Dines With Potential Cabinet Pick Romney; Trump: "I'll Be Leaving My Great Business"; Michigan Elector: I'm Getting Death Threats. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 30, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


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[12:31:48] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: As a candidate Donald Trump rarely missed the chance to bash Wall Street but as President-elect he's tap the second generation Wall Street Mogul for the all-important job of treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, would also be third -- the treasury secretary since the Clinton years to come from Goldman Sachs. My panel cannot wait to weigh in on this another Trump transition news. We have Gloria Borger, Eric Bradner, and Jake Sherman, who is Congressional Reporter for Politico. OK, so you look at these announcements, Jake, what do you think of -- Donald Trump is bringing in sort of those in his philosophy on business to try to create jobs?

JAKE SHERMAN, POLITICO: He talked about draining the swamp. I think he meant draining the swamp in New York.

KEILAR: A different swamp.

SHERMAN: And not only is it Mnuchin a treasury, we reported this afternoon that Gary Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, might be the director of OMD, so he is loading his administration kind of brazenly and because he campaigned directly against this with Insiders and not just because of their qualifications, because they're all eminently qualified people, but if you measure it up to what he said, it doesn't come close to matching.

KEILAR: Also and on the generals, too. Because they're either a lot who are seriously in the mix or have positions. A lot of Wall Street in general is represented here. I want a change of subject. Now I want to talk about Mitt Romney. Because I just think this is so fascinating where the secretary of state race, if you will, is, because he had dinner last night. A very public dinner. Our Jim Acosta managed to sit just three tables far from them. Live tweeted the whole things with the interesting stuff, but I think we have a picture of it actually, if we can pull that up. But you had Romney commenting on what happened and this is what he said.

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MITT ROMNEY, 2012 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's not easy winning. I know that myself. He did something I tried to do and was unsuccessful in. He won the general election and he continues with a message of inclusion and bringing people together, and his vision is something which obviously connected with the American people in a very powerful way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: How was that not groveling from a man who called Donald Trump a con man?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think a crow might have been on the dinner menu last night.

KEILAR: He had lamb chops but I think you might be right.

BORGER: Yeah, But I think -- Romney was trying to walk a fine line. And he didn't go back to what he had said during the campaign, which was that Donald Trump was a con man and that if he were in charge we should all be very worried about our lives. What he did and he tried to thread the needle, and everybody knew what he was doing, was to look forward and say, oh, I was very encouraged by his speech on election night, and the more I get to know him, the more comfortable I feel. This is just a facade. Let's rip it off. OK? We understand these guys are never going to be great friends. Romney didn't have a lot of respect. But I believe that he wants this job.

KEILAR: Oh, he clearly wants it.

BORGER: Because he wants to do the job for the country. Not necessarily because he wants to work for Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Yeah, that's an argument that you have many publicans vacant ...

BORGER: Yeah.

KEILAR: ... but he is arguing -- he was commending Donald Trump for inclusivity the day after Donald Trump tweets about how some folks should go to jail if they burn the flag.

[12:35:06] ERIC BRADNER: Yeah, it's quite a departure from a phony and a fraud, right?

KEILAR: Yes.

BRADNER: At this point, if the secretary of state does not go to Romney, Trump is going to look very vengeful, I mean this is a second meeting, second sort of interview with Romney, really sort of putting him out there. And Romney would be, we were talking about it earlier, would be humiliated. It would be sort of astounding from both directions, if it didn't work out at this point.

KEILAR: Yeah.

SHERMAN: And maybe what why there's such skepticism in Romney world, the people that are I talked to say it's a 30 percent chance that they think he'll get chosen, which I think seems a little low given the circumstances, and just given Romney's qualifications. The state department is a massive institution with employees all around the globe. Rudy Giuliani has had a pretty celebrated career but has not run an organization of that magnitude and that's important.

BORGER: And that's why Romney folks, who, by the way, have gone sort of dark at least to me, after last night.

KEILAR: They're in a holding pattern, right?

BORGER: Very dark. Don't forget, Romney ran bank capital. Romney is incredibly organized, detail-oriented, knows how to run big things and fix big things. Look at the Olympics that he ran. And his qualifications are kind of obvious, cares about foreign policy. He just happens to disagree with Donald Trump on most everything, so the question that I have including Russia. So the question I have is -- is this a signal that Donald Trump is willing to out source foreign policy? I don't know the answer to that question.

BRADNER: Well, he already tapped South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for U.N. Ambassador So that sort of indicates that this is an area that Trump is willing to sort of bring in some of his, if not enemies, at least critics to try to get ...

KEILAR: It's really fascinating. Jake, Eric, Gloria, we'll leave it there. But we'll be back. You'll be back, Jake. It is sad, but it's going to be happy ahead when you're back. Thank you so much to all of you.

Coming up, the long list of generals that could end up in President- elect Trump's Administration, one of them could be up against Romney for the secretary of state job. We're discussing that, next.

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[12:41:34] KEILAR: Meantime, back at Trump Tower, the secretary of state sweepstakes now down to four finalists, all of this happening after President-elect Trump's dinner meeting with Mitt Romney and following their sit down, Romney spoke to the press and he took a stunning 180. He lavished praise on Trump, the man he once called a fraud. Joining us now to discuss, a CNN Political Commentator and Former Communications Director for Senator Ted Cruz, Alice Stewart, and also with us, is CNN Political Commentator Paul Begala. So you saw that meeting, but what I want to talk about, Alice, is this idea that David Petraeus a general, is up for this job as well. There are a lot of generals in the mix here.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. And it shows that there is a strong commitment to bringing on qualified leaders with experience to this role, and he's getting clearly the best of the best. The only thing that has been confirmed by the transition team is that the top, there's four people in the running for this SOS position. Two they have confirmed would be Giuliani and Mitt Romney and the others were still not exactly certain who they would be, but joining the team that's already in place with Jeff Sessions leading the legal front, K.T. McFarland, Michael Flynn.

KEILAR: Yeah, but what about there being so many generals? STEWART: I think it's good to have people with experience that understand this real threat we have with ISIS and that aren't afraid to stand up and do everything that needs to be done to fight. It look, we have Flynn who was actually pushed out of the Obama administration for calling ISIS for the danger that it is and recognizing the consequences if we fail to act on this. And these generals have real- world experiences and understand the dangers we faced abroad and I think that is valuable experience in that position and clearly Donald Trump recognizes and values what they bring to the table.

KEILAR: I should say the Obama administration would argue that it was a management issues. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between what you said and that. Paul Begala, what do you think about this? If there are so many -- certainly I think folks in the pentagon might be encouraged by this, because they felt shut out here recently, when it comes to foreign policy and being heard by President Obama. But what are your concerns, or do you even have any that there could be such a representation by former top brass?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's certainly better than having people with no experience. I think Alice makes a really good point. Famously during the campaign, Donald Trump said I know more about ISIS than the generals do, right? And the super pac that I advised ran that clip thousands of times, because our focused group showed people were really troubled by that. They thought it was nuts that a reality T.V. star talking knew more about war fighting than the generals. So I think it's a very good thing that Donald Trumps is looking at generals.

The particular concern about General Petraeus is I guess you could do anything when the president-elect, but he excoriated Hillary Clinton for mishandling e-mails in a case that even the Republican FBI Director who tilted the election for Trump said, no reasonable prosecutor to possibly bring a case against Hillary. Clearly a mistake is clearly not a crime. Petraeus, clearly was guilty of a crime, and he pled guilty to it. The crime of handing over knowingly purposely handing over classified information to his biographer and then lying to the FBI about it. He's paid his debt to society. If the president wants him to serve, and the Congress -- the senate ought to vote on confirmation, but it's awfully hypocritical, for the guy who was sitting, want to lock Hillary up for something it was nowhere near a crime to now be considering somebody who plainly did commit a crime of classified information.

[12:45:10] KEILAR: And what would a confirmation here, and look like as well, that's also a question. I want to talk to you Alice, about this decision we're hearing about Donald Trump, that he is going to be having an announcement in the middle of December, sort of a going out of business announcement that he's going to be getting out of the family business. Is it really possible, do you think it's going to assuage concerns, certainly his children are taking over, and it doesn't seem as if he'll divest all of his I guess the benefits that he could receive through the business?

STEWART: Look, I think it's good that he did put a timeline on it, to let people know there are things are in the work. Look, I mean he didn't run a popsicle stand. This is a multibillion dollar international corporation that he has to work on severing ties to, and letting folks know that the legal team is in the works with handling the transition work, and the documents necessary need to turnover the power of this enterprise to the kids.

I think it's important, and they made it quite clear they will outline every detail and answer all the questions associated with that on the 15th. And clearly, he paid a lot of money to run for president and lost a lot of money, and he made it quite clear that his priority right now is running the people's house, priority on the people's business and not his personal business. And I think we're going to see that come December 15th with all of these questions being answered, and it's good, because this does need to be put to rest so we can look forward to January and the inauguration.

KEILAR: Real quick, Paul, before I let you go. I mean voters may be OK obviously, they elected Donald Trump, but it doesn't mean this isn't going to be a giant headache as he is in the White House?

BEGALA: It is the biggest story of the transition. It will be the biggest story of the Trump presidency. It may even terminate the Trump presidency prematurely. Mr. President-elect, get out of the business. By which I mean the only ethical thing to do is to sell all those assets, put the cash you make from that in a blind trust, put someone not related to you as the trustee and let he or she invest it in ways you don't know. That's the only way to keep our president from becoming embroiled in endless conflicts. Already the king of Bahrain is renting out the Trump hotel In Washington D.C. Gee, when did they decide to do that? After trump get elected. And we have important basis in Bahrain, they are an American ally, but goodness sakes alive, he's going to have ...

KEILAR: I recall donations to the Clinton foundation that came under fire from Bahraini donors, so ...

BEGALA: About which -- but wait t minute, the Clinton foundation donations go to keep poor people alive in Africa.

KEILAR: No, I hear what you're saying. I'm just saying, full circle. There's -- I know there is and I'm not exactly comparing it charitable, I'm just saying when you think of sort of the shoe bin on the other foot in some regards here that's just the point I'm making. All right, Paul Begala, Alice Stewart ...

BEGALA: Thanks Brianna.

KEILAR: ... thank you so much to both of you, really appreciate it. The election was a bitter pill to swallow for Hillary Clinton supporters. So bitter for some that they're hoping it's not a done deal and that they can sway Electoral College. I'm going to talk to an Electoral College next, who says it's gone as far as death threats.

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[12:52:06] KEILAR: In the next couple of weeks, December 19th, to be exact, electoral votes will be cast and were being selected as an official elector is a big responsibility it also comes with hardships. That is especially true for Michael Banerian, he is a college student from Michigan who cast his electoral vote for President-elect Trump and he is joining us now. Michael, thank you for taking the time out, we do appreciate this. And I understand that you received some messages, obviously some lobbying from people. You've also received threats. Tell us about this.

MICHAEL BANERIAN, MICHIGAN ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTER: Yeah. And thanks for having me, by the way. I appreciate it. Yeah, so obviously, this election cycle was pretty divisive and unfortunately, it's bled over into weeks following the election and I have just been inundated with some death threats, death wishes, generally angry messages trying to get me to change my vote to Hillary Clinton or another person and unfortunately, you know, it's gotten a little out of control.

KEILAR: But in Michigan, I mean, aren't you required by law as an elector or the body of the 16 electors are required to cast their votes in a certain way? It's not as if you have discretion here, right?

BANERIAN: Yeah that's correct. If people would just Google it, I think they'd know a little more about the process, in the state of Michigan we have laws that prevent faithless electors. And so essentially what happens, is if I tried to vote for somebody else, which to be clear I don't want to, but if I tried to, I'd just be removed and replaced by another elector, so it's a pointless endeavor.

KEILAR: What have people said to you? What are the threats?

BANERIAN: Well, I've had people talk about putting a bullet in the back of my mouth. I've had death wishes of people just saying I hope you die. Or do society a favor. Throw yourself in front of a bus. Just a lot of angry, angry messages and unfortunately I think a lot of these people don't understand that threats over the internet are threats. It's just because you're behind a keyboard doesn't mean they're not legitimate, and so I would hope people would start to realize that and also realize that, again, as electors for Michigan specifically, we don't even have the power to change our votes.

KEILAR: I want to talk to you about something that former presidential candidate Al Gore, who as you know won the popular vote in 2000, but obviously lost the Electoral College. He's defended the Electoral Colleges and institution, but now he's not doing that. This is what he said. He said "I've changed my mind on that. I do think it should be eliminated." he goes on to say that eliminating the Electoral College "Would stimulate public participation in the Democratic process like nothing else we could possibly do. Our democracy has been hacked now, it's pathetic how the system is not working today." you would make the opposite argument that actually the system is working.

BANERIAN: Yeah, it absolutely is working. And it's a same to hear him say something like that. The Electoral College is such a beautiful system. It's one of those things that makes America so unique. It ensures that people from small states have a voice in this election process. [12:55:05] You know, the state of California, the state of New York, they have large populations, and they have the power to sway these elections, and they do have a voice in this process. California has 55 electoral votes. And I think going to a national popular vote would silence so many voices across the country. So it's really disappointing to hear someone say that, especially an ex vice president.

KEILAR: Certainly some of these people in this big states look at there -- or certainly the early states in the primary system, and then some of the states in the Electoral College System that are swing states and of course, it upsets them opposite what you're saying there, Michael, but we certainly appreciate you being with us, and can I ask you quick, are you going to report to the police anything about the threats?

BANERIAN: Yes. Actually, I just had a very nice meeting with my local police department, filed a police report and we'll be doing some more things going forward with that.

KEILAR: OK, Michael, good luck with that. Thank you so much, and next, a member of the president-elect's transition team joins me to discuss his economic pics and the criticism that it's not really draining the swamp, after a break.

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