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Report: Trump, We Have Foolish Trade Not Free Trade; Source Says Giuliani Not in Running for Sec'y Of State; Woman Targeted by Trump Tweet Speaks Out; Dems Threaten Shutdown Over Miners' Health Care. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 09, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: And back and it just doesn't work, folks. And defend, we're going to defend every last American job. You know, they did a big report, how come Trump won by so much? Remember there was no way he gets to 270, right? The electoral college. Which is amazing because you have to go to all these states and it was an amazing experience but there's no way I get to 270. And I'm saying, wow, in fact I went to the state of Maine four times because I needed one because I was at 269, I needed one.

Until the election came and then boy did we blast by that 270, right? We blasted. 306. 306. And I guess they did a recount in Wisconsin and after I think 70 percent or 80 percent somebody -- I think we picked up 32 votes. All these millions and millions of votes I think we picked up about 30. And if a company wants to fire their workers, leave our country and then ship their products back in there will be consequences, including a very, very substantial tax. Look, there's no tax, there's no tax.

These reporters, these guys, they're business reporters -- the one thing we have done, we have exposed the credibility of the press. They have the lowest credibility of anybody. And our popularity -- I say "our" because this is a movement that we're all in this together. But we're shooting up, we're like a rocket ship, right? Maybe because I don't like $4.2 billion aircraft. Somebody said how much is that going to cost? $4.2 billion. I said $4.2 billion? I think we'll do it for a little bit less, don't you agree? Like maybe billions less, okay?

But yes, we're going very rapidly up because it's common sense. We don't want companies to leave our country, go to another country and sell their product where they left. Now we have all unemployment, people, they had jobs for 32 years. Carrier is a great example, and Carrier, we did a great job with Carrier but they announced a year and a half ago they already have a plant built. Think of what you can do if they haven't started or said anything yet. They're not going to leave because we're going to put up a very high tax and if they want to build their plant outside of this country that's fine.

But if they think they're going to sell their product back into the country and have no tax, that's not going to happen anymore, folks. Now they may leave a state, maybe they're having a hard time with their employees. That's possible and they may leave but they'll leave for another state. They're not leaving for another country very easily and if they do they're going to have a very, very substantial tariff or tax to pay that's it.

And you know what's going to happen? They're going to say "we like Louisiana very much, we're not leaving." all right. I don't say 100 percent of the time but I'll tell you what, pretty close to that number it's going to be pretty close. And we have -- we lost 70,000 factories in this country. We have so many companies right -- although I think probably if I would have said a couple months ago we have so many companies negotiating to leave I don't think they're negotiating so fast right now.

I've heard that and you see what's happening with the stock market and a lot of things. Because they understand, we know what we're doing, we're not going to let this happen, we can't let it happen. Our country is being drained of its jobs and it's good jobs and they're going to other countries, just not going to happen, on the military we will rebuild our badly depleted military and ensure that our service members have equipment and training, technology and resources, everything they need to get --

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, he will be the 45th President of the United States, President-elect Trump there, very comfortable in front of crowds in Baton Rouge. He there's for a specific reason, to help stump and pad the Republican majority in Congress because he wants the Republican running for Senate, the runoff is tomorrow, John Kennedy, to win, he's obviously speaking to his crowd, enjoying himself, taking off the winter coat, tossing off the "make America great again" hat and he loves this.

He hasn't touched on the news of the day from the Obama administration that they're ordering a review dating back to 2008 on potential tampering from Russia in this election so let's begin with what we've been hearing with Michael Smerconish, he's with me, host of CNN's "Smerconish." Listening to him, you can tell he love this. He's on prompter, he's off prompter, he's winging it, he knows his audience, what did you hear?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN, HOST: I heard what we've heard for the last year and a half. I don't mean it as a slight toward the President- elect but I don't hear anything new here. I share your assessment which is that he feeds off the crowd. It probably does his psyche well to get out of Trump tower and do that which he's enjoyed for much, Brooke, he intends to continue with these efforts as President to mobilize his base. He did make a passing reference to the fact that he doesn't need your vote anymore, "I'll need your vote in four years." My hunch is that he will not wait four years to be back out on the trail, that this will be a constant during the Trump presidency.

BALDWIN: I believe your hunch is correct. That's what Dana Bash and her sources have been telling her as well. We've also been learning today, credit to Jim Sciutto, about how Mr. Trump has not been taking as many PDBs, Presidential daily briefings, as past President-elects, we know Mike Pence is taking five or six a week, he's taking about one, some folks within the intel community are worried, are you worried or does he have 42 more days until he puts his hand on the bible and then smooth sailing?

SMERCONISH: I'm a bit concerned.

BALDWIN: You are.

SMERCONISH: I'm concerned because he's the first President that we've elected who has neither any past governmental experience or any military experience so common sense would dictate, you'd think, that he'd be the one erring on the side of more briefings than his predecessors. I'm concerned at this stage, I'll be alarmed come January 20 if that pace hasn't increased.

BALDWIN: Concerned now, potential for alarmed. What about the news of the day as we know he's been picking cabinet picks and we're following this so closely and now the news for the secretary of state post, apparently, a man by the name of Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil. He's now added to the list of potentials for this job and now we know hard line loyalists, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, he's out. What does that tell you?

SMERCONISH: The surprise for me, Brooke, is that the two individuals -- I'll put Mayor Giuliani together with Governor Christie because the two individuals who lent credibility to Donald Trump at a time when he needed it, who were willing to jump on board when others, myself included, thought there was no way that this ship was going to sail, they're the two odd individuals out. And that cabinet has been constituted to the tune of about three quarters of the members and the idea that both Governor Christie and Mayor Giuliani are not yet on that team in a formal role, I think that is a big surprise.

BALDWIN: Michael Smerconish, as always, thank you so much. We will watch for you, tomorrow 9:00 a.m. right here on CNN. Thank you my friend. Back in a flash.

[15:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One young woman is speaking out about what happens when Donald Trump targets you on twitter. It started with this moment a year ago, when this New Hampshire student stood up in front of Donald Trump at a forum and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN BATCHELDER, STUDENT: I want to get paid the same as a man and I think you understand that,

so if you become President, will a woman make the same as a man and do I get to choose what I do with my body?

TRUMP: You're going to make the same if you do as good a job. You're going to make the same if you do as good a job and I happen to be pro- life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, after that exchange, the very next morning then- candidate Trump tweeted "the arrogant young woman who questioned me in such a nasty fashion was a Jeb staffer. How can he beat Russia and China?" What followed for the student was months of bullying and harassment by Trump supporters and beyond. She is now a year later speaking out on TV for the first time. She joins me now, she is Lauren Batchelder, thank you so much for coming on.

BATCHELDER: Thank you so much for having me.

BALDWIN: So, I know a year later there has been some positivity, but what was the ugliest of the ugly you heard on line?

BATCHELDER: I think the worst day was when someone said my address and they said they were coming and they were going to rape me, I never expected that that would ever happen.

BALDWIN: Wow. Just taking a minute to take that in.

BATCHELDER: Yes.

BALDWIN: And so did you -- how did you that make you feel?

BATCHELDER: It made me really angry because to me they were just trying to objectify me, so what I did is I decided that I was going to prove them wrong. I joined rugby, I decided I was going to graduate in three years and it made me angry.

BALDWIN: Quickly back to the Trump tweet where he said you were a Jeb staffer, that you were there on purpose. To be crystal clear, you weren't.

BATCHELDER: Oh, my gosh, no.

BALDWIN: Oh, my gosh know because ultimately you voted for Hillary Clinton, right?

BATCHELDER: Yes, I am a liberal, I had volunteered for the campaign because I think it's important to volunteer for people that you don't necessarily agree with. Mr. Bush is a nice guy but ultimately, I am a Democrat so I would never go in there with a planted question.

BALDWIN: Just wanted to clarify that for people watching for everyone. Now back to a year later and the fact that despite the nastiness you have faced on line -- and it's nasty all the way around, I can vouch for that myself as a woman -- why are you coming out now and talking about that?

BATCHELDER: I think that it's been a year so people have had some time to cool down. I mean, the "Washington Post" reached out to me and after Megyn Kelly told her story, which is very similar to mine, I felt that I could come forward now.

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: We've heard from now President-elect Trump how he talks about -- listen, he has a powerful platform on twitter, 17 million followers, he says it's a great and efficient way to get news out and quickly, he plans to continue use social media. What would you like to tell the next President about the power of his words online? BATCHELDER: I think words have actions, I mean you have to be so

careful. I wear a t-shirt that says "what would Lincoln do?" and he needs to think about what the greatest Presidents would do if they had twittered, you can't just tweet what you think for the moment, you have to think of the big picture.

BALDWIN: You would agree it's a powerful medium. Do you still tweet?

BATCHELDER: I do. I have protected most of my tweets but I've seen the bad side of twitter and I know that President-elect Trump can use it to make the world a better place and I urge them to do that.

BALDWIN: Lauren Batchelder, good luck for speaking up.

BATCHELDER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, businesses in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, reopen hoping to get back to the new normal after devastating wildfires ripped through that area. The story of a volunteer fire captain who went beyond the call of duty to help a family who didn't know that their home had been destroyed.

[15:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: When all those wildfires ripped through parts of Tennessee recently hundreds of families watched their neighborhoods just go up in flames. Not knowing if they would have a home at all. But for at least one family in Gatlinburg, a volunteer fire captain gave them some peace of mind. CNN tells the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMY WILLIAMS, GATLINBURG RESIDENT: It looks like it just went to the edge right through there. But it didn't go any further. Now look at that fire line. Just across. Now, this has gotten so hot. You know it had to be so hot that it has blistered the wood.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amy Williams assumed she would never see her family retreat again.

WILLIAMS: This entire mountain was on fire. Everything.

SANDOVAL: She and her husband Doug were nearly 100 miles north in Bristol, Tennessee when they saw a photo of their property on social media. It was taken during the deadly wildfire outbreak in their state.

DOUG WILLIAMS, GATLINBURG RESIDENT: All the images we saw, it really looked bad. I mean, it looked like there's no way for this house to survive.

SANDOVAL: Not knowing the fate of their home the Williams couple shared their story with a local TV station while a fire captain from Tennessee happened to catch that story.

JERRY REDMOND, FIRE CAPTAIN, TENNESSEE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT.: The homeowner was stating she didn't know whether it was still standing.

SANDOVAL: Jerry Redmond and his volunteer crew knew they had the answer they were hoping to hear. Their retreat on Holly Ridge Road was still standing. He caught proof in this picture. That's the Williams' home standing tall on the scorched hillside. Redmond made a call to Williams.

REDMOND: She would have had to go a couple more days of excruciating thoughts of is her family home still going to be there, and we were able to answer her question.

SANDOVAL: Williams and her husband are heartbroken for their neighbors but grateful for the volunteers who never gave up.

DOUG WILLIAMS: It's unbelievable that there are people in this world that will do that. Free.

AMY WILLIAMS: When they were tired they just kept going.

SANDOVAL: The Williams plan to have the volunteers back at that house to thank them personally.

AMY WILLIAMS: These people are miracle workers.

SANDOVAL: They are among the hundreds of men and women who charged up the Smokey Mountains determined to save who and what they could. CNN, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How awesome is that? Coming up next, on politics, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is out for the secretary of state job. We'll get more of that and a live interview with former homeland security director Michael Chertoff.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The threat of another government shutdown is looming if Democrats and Republicans cannot agree. An issue here, the Miner's Protection Act, would extend an expiring health insurance for retired coal miners and their spouses. West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin leading that negotiation so to Capitol Hill we go to our senior political reporter. Where are we? Midnight is fast approaching.

MANU RAJU, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: There are negotiations happening behind the scenes right now on both sides. Expecting some sort of resolution. We don't know what that is yet. And time is winding down. Democrats are demanding that the health care provision be extended for the miners, retired miners and their spouses for a year. In the bill, there's a four-month extension and they're not satisfied which is why they're threatening a government shutdown. I had a chance to talk to one of the leaders of the effort and I asked him are you concerned about a political backlash if you dig in? Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But you guys criticize Republicans relentlessly in 2013 when they shut the government down over Obamacare. Are you risking the same backlash?

SHERROD BROWN, SENATOR, OHIO: We want to see this done. All we're saying, we have all kinds of differences on some of these in the bill, but nobody is saying shut the government down. We're just saying don't go home yet. Don't leave for the holidays. And enjoy our holidays while these mine worker retirees are worried about whether they're going to have insurance three weeks from now.

RAJU: But the end result is a shutdown.

BROWN: The end result if Mitch McConnell calls for a shutdown but nobody wants to do that on our side. Every shutdown we have had you have reported it, has been a Republican shutdown. That's just sort of fact. And that's sort of what everybody understands. It's not our side that wants to shut anything down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Well, the problem for that argument though is that the house has passed a bill that includes that four-month extension for the miners' health insurance program and Democrats voted with Republicans to pass that bill.

Now it's up to Senate Democrats to join with their Republicans and pass this tonight or risk a shutdown because the deadline is tonight and the house is gone for the year. There really may not be any other choice and right now Democrats are uncertain whether they have enough support to block it, which is one reason why those negotiations are happening behind the scenes.

BALDWIN: Quickly, 20 seconds, Senator Manchin has a date at Trump tower Monday does he not?

RAJU: Manchin has told me they have not discussed jobs yet but that could come up, possibly the energy department. He's up for reelection in 2018 and if he decides to take a job with the administration that could help Republicans get a seat in the Senate, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will send it to Jake Tapper.