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Trump Appoints Jared Kushner as Senior Presidential Advisor; Nine Trump Nominees Begin Confirmation Hearings; Jane Sanders Talks Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Democrats; Trump Responds to Meryl Steep Speaking Against Trump at Golden Globes; Officers Emotional after Officer Killed in Orlando. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 09, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:33:07] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have a transition-of-power alert. CNN can confirm that Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will be named senior advisor to the president in the White House. Kushner played a major role advising Donald Trump during the campaign. The move comes ahead of President-elect Trump's news conference in New York City on Wednesday. He is expected to make it clear that his daughter, Ivanka, Kushner's wife, will not be running the company, his own company.

The president-elect said nine cabinet picks, meanwhile, head to (AUDIO PROBLEM) -- could be rather intense. We're watching that very, very closely right now. The hearings are scheduled to begin tomorrow.

Let's discuss with our panel, all of us right now.

Dana, I want to start with you.

Dana Bash is with us.

Dana, let's talk about the Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. He is very popular among his colleagues. Even though a lot of them disagree with him, he is very well liked. This is sort of like a club, the U.S. Senate, as you know.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: It's going to be really hard for some of these Senators who, even if they disagree with him, are going to vote against this confirmation.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I think, a lot of Democrats will feel bad about it. But at the end of the day, their differences on policy will cause -- I would say, probably fair to say, most Democrats to vote against him, despite the fact that many of them genuinely like him, because they have gotten to know him. Jeff Sessions has been in the Senate now for 20 years.

But what a strange twist of fate. The fact that Jeff Sessions is now coming before this very same committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, that rejected him 30 years ago, when he was nominated by President Reagan to be on the federal bench. Then 10 years later, he was elected to the Senate, sat on that very committee, on the other side, so he was on the dais for about 20 years. He wasn't on this Judiciary Committee the whole time. Now he is going to be back in the witness chair and he is going to be asking the same committee again to confirm him for a different role.

I'm told that he has been working very, very hard on his prep. Even this past weekend, he was not too far behind us in his office building -- office in the Russell Building -- working on prep with his team doing what they call murder boards, which is just constant, one after another, question, question, question, answer, answer, answer. He hopes he is going to be ready.

[13:35:29] BLITZER: What about Rex Tillerson who has been nominated to become the secretary of state?

ED O'KEEFE, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, a less known entity on Capitol Hill. And he has been doing the rounds as well. One of the folks that's been making more than 60 visits to Senators in recent days. I think the issue for Tillerson will be both his personal financial history, which has not been reviewed by the ethics office, but also getting some sense of his understanding of the world. Obviously, as executive at ExxonMobil with the reach that they've had across the globe, he'll have a good understanding of a lot of the geopolitical concerns that an oil company would have to be aware of. But if they try to drill him down on various aspects of the Trump administration's policies on the Middle East, on Russia, of course, and other parts of the world. There he may get tripped up. You talk to Senators in both parties, notably John McCain, Lindsey Graham, on the Republican side, and virtually every Democrat. They say he needs to explain to us more clearly what was his relationship with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government and what will it be should he become the nation's top diplomat?

BLITZER: A lot of Senators say he has done a good job in private, off-the-record meetings, one-on-one meetings, but we'll see how he does in an open session.

What about James Mattis, Molly? He has been nominated to become the defense secretary.

MOLLY BALL, POLITICAL WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: There's a couple of interesting things about Mattis. On the one hand, Mattis faces a higher bar because he does need the waiver because he is -- has recently been a general, in order to serve as secretary. And so, Democrats, if they wanted to, would have a little bit more power to potentially keep him out if they wanted to. On the other hand, Mattis has a lot of Democratic friends. He is one of the better liked nominees on the entire slate of people that Trump has nominated among Democrats. He is someone who has advised policy makers and is seen as a potential stabilizing force within the Trump administration. So ironically, even though he's someone that Democrats might have a little bit more say over, they seem less inclined to make an issue of his nomination.

BASH: I totally agree with you. If you look at the eight nominees that Senator Schumer, the Democratic leader, put out that they were going to potentially slow-walk, Mattis was not on that list. And that was not an accident. The fact of the matter is for lots of reasons. One, because personally I think that they find him more acceptable than others, but also because of that, and because the Defense Department and sort of the person who is going to be in charge of, you know, the civilian side of troops is so politically dicey, that's probably going to be one that's going to have an easier ride.

BLITZER: At the Golden Globes awards last night, Meryl Streep had a few words and, clearly, she was referring to the president-elect of the United States when she said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERYL STEEP, ACTRESS: And this instinct to humiliate when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence insights violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Donald Trump tweeted this morning reacting to that, "Among others things, she's an overrated actress."

(CROSSTALK)

O'KEEFE: If you had told me, Wolf --

BLITZER: Go ahead.

O'KEEFE: -- You and I would be discussing Meryl Streep while overlooking the U.S. capital, I would not have guessed that.

Look, she speaks for a lot of folks in Hollywood. And certainly, you know, if you believe the election results, a majority of Americans who voted, who do not -- you should believe the election results. I mean, the fact that the majority of Americans did not vote for Donald Trump. And it's something that I think he, as the president and the president-elect, in the next few days, still hasn't really addressed other than to suggest that people that speak out against him are unqualified or unworthy. And, you know, it's an interesting thing. I don't know whether we'll see any change in his tone and demeanor come Wednesday should he have this news conference as scheduled and get asked about it, but it's something he is going to continue to face should he not address it in some ways.

BLITZER: Donald Trump, you know you hit him, he is going to come back.

(CROSSTALK)

BALL: He is a counter puncher. He is not going to stop. And also, this is the culture war that now exists in this country, right? It's Hollywood and the elites versus Trump and the people who support him. It's a very clear cleavage. You can see it. You can see it on Twitter and in the commentary about this episode.

On the other hand, all the screaming about, you know, the out-of-touch Hollywood elites, being out of touch with regular Americans, and on the other hand, the people who feel that Trump is not legitimate, and their voices need to be heard. And I think that culture war will be the shape of the next four years.

[13:40:18] BLITZER: Good conversation, guys. Stand by, a lot more coming up.

Also, remember CNN hosts a town hall with Bernie Sanders later on tonight. We'll get a preview with his wife and adviser, Jane Sanders. That's coming up next.

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[13:45:00] BLITZER: Tonight, a special CNN town hall. Former presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, will sit down with Chris Cuomo and answer questions on a host of subjects, including how Democrats will work with the Trump administration. Taking questions from members of the town hall as well. That's at 9:00 p.m. eastern, live tonight, only here on CNN.

Joining us now, Jane Sanders, the wife of Bernie Sanders, a key member of his presidential campaign, a critically important adviser to her husband as well.

Jane, thanks very much for joining us.

JANE SANDERS, WIFE OF SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Good to be here, Wolf.

BLITZER: So how do the Democrats, from your perspective, plan to work with the Republicans and the Trump administration?

SANDERS: Unlike the Republicans, who stymied President Obama right from the beginning, that said don't work with him whether he is right or wrong, we'll work with him when he is right, and we will oppose him when he is wrong, and hold him to some of the words he used to get elected. Like saying he wouldn't cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and that he was a different kind of politician. We'll see. Hopefully, he will work on infrastructure with him. The Democrats will work with President Trump if he is serious about increasing jobs and protecting Social Security.

BLITZER: So there are some areas of agreement, infrastructure, as you point out, building new roads, bridges, airports. That's an area where Democrats and the Trump administration clearly can get along.

I know that your husband agrees with him basically on a lot of the trade issues as well.

SANDERS: Yes.

BLITZER: The assumption that China, for example, other countries, Mexico, they've been taking U.S. jobs away. You think that's going to be the focus right now, or will the focus be in areas where you totally disagree, for example, climate change?

SANDERS: Oh, yeah, climate change, we hope he will walk back some of the things he said. But infrastructure, as long as he doesn't privatize some of the roads. And in terms of trade policies, I mean, that is something that they have spoken about and, certainly, the people that voted for President-elect Trump agreed with Bernie on trade issues and with him on the trade issues, a number of the people that voted for him. So, we're finding to find common ground What better way? You put the people first, not the profits, and not politics. You put the people first, and you work together where you can, and you fight for the people when you think that he is wrong.

BLITZER: Jane, President Obama tomorrow night will give his farewell speech in Chicago. A senior Obama administration official describing the president's speech this way, and I'm quoting now, saying "This will not be a policy speech, nor will it be a contrast speech. The president's goal is to end his time in office the way he started it -- optimistic and hopeful."

Are you feeling that optimism, given the severe setbacks the Democrats suffered losing the White House, the majority and the Senate, the majority and the House?

SANDERS: I'm always an optimist, Wolf, and I think tomorrow is always a better day.

I think one of the things people voted for was change and to shake up the system, where we definitely are getting that. The question is whether or not we can work with the president-elect and ask his appointees to try to affect change that we consider best for the people: more jobs, better health care, better child care, dealing with climate change. He is a businessman. He will want to see results.

President Obama and his family, his entire family have served the country with dignity and with respect and we owe them a debt of gratitude for that. I mean, they've represented us well.

Now, you know, of course, there's policy differences with among Democrats, among Independents, among Republicans. Let's try to find common ground.

One of the things you mentioned earlier was Meryl Streep and talking about humiliation and disrespect not being the order of the day. Bernie and I run the campaigns without any of that. We absolutely stay away from any negative campaigning. That might not be politically expedient, but it's the right thing to do, and our hope is that going forward that model will continue to work for everybody.

BLITZER: Jane Sanders, thanks so much for joining us.

SANDERS: Thank you.

One other thing, Wolf. I just wanted to say, you mentioned California with Meryl Streep. One of the things the media needs to cover is the Democratic Party delegate elections. In California, there was a progressive sweep. I haven't seen it reported anywhere but online. Just a thought.

[13:50:09] BLITZER: All right. Jane, as usual, we'll continue these conversations down road.

Jane Sanders joining us from Vermont.

SANDERS: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: An important note to viewers. Don't forget CNN's town hall live tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern. Former presidential candidate, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, sitting down with Chris Cuomo and answering questions on how Democrats will work with the Trump administration.

We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Breaking news. An intense manhunt under way in Orlando, Florida, after a police officer was shot and killed.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is following the story.

Polo, there was some emotional reaction to today's killing from police officials. Update our viewers.

[13:54:40] POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORERSPONDENT: Wolf, there are at least three reasons why this search for Markeith Loyd is personal for police officers in Orlando. Not only is he suspected of shooting and killing a Sergeant Clayton this morning, but the pursuit also resulted in the death of a motorcycle sheriff's deputy who was involved in a traffic accident. A third police officer, a police captain, was slightly injured as he tried to confront this individual. As a result, officials in Orlando now offering a $60,000 reward for this 41-year-old suspect, who is considered extremely dangerous.

Here's a little bit about what we understand took place this morning. This 17-year veteran of the force, Sergeant Debra Clayton, apparently tried to confront this individual, possibly recognizing him as an outstanding suspect for a murder last year of a pregnant woman. That's when this female officer was reportedly shot several times. The identity of the second deputy that was killed today in the accident, that hasn't been released.

Here's what we know about this police officer. She was a wife, a mother of two, someone who gave back to her community. And now police officers in Orlando are torn between honoring her and trying to track down the suspect cop killer -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Polo Sandoval, reporting for us. Thank you, Polo.

That's it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts next, right after a quick break.

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