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Trump Announces Other Cabinet Picks; Trump Attacks Union Boss in Series of Tweets; Dow Surges 1,200+ Points Since Trump Win. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 08, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:15] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Smart kids, Alisyn. Smart kids. You guys have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

President-elect Donald Trump beginning a busy day at the transition headquarters inside Trump Tower. At any time now, the lobby's trade mark gold elevators will whisk the latest candidates to meet with Mr. Trump. Retired Admiral James Stavridis is said to be on the growing list for Secretary of State and if chosen, he would only add to concerns that Trump's White House will have a heavy military influence. The President-elect has chosen three retired generals to serve atop his administration.

Trump also coming under fire for his selection of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA. Pruitt as Oklahoma's Attorney General sued the EPA for its regulations on the state's oil and gas industry.

Also Trump lashes out at a union leader who criticized that deal to save jobs at the Carrier plant in Indiana. Trump attacking the man on Twitter but not denying his claims. So there's a lot to cover this morning. Let's bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. She's live in Washington.

Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning too, Carol. A slew of announcements in the last 24 hours coming from the Trump transition team. The President-elect here clearly making some big picks for key roles in his administration, but Trump is also spending some time taking to Twitter, getting into a war of words with a local union leader critical of Trump's claims over jobs actually saved at Carrier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump naming two more hard liners to his cabinet, elevating climate change denier and fierce EPA critic, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the agency.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: There were a number of qualified candidates for that particular position that the President-elect interviewed, and he settled on Attorney General Pruitt. SERFATY (voice-over): A signal the Trump administration is intent on

reversing President Obama's move to curb climate change. Trump also tapping another general to his cabinet, retired General John Kelly, to head the Department of Homeland Security, raising questions about the militarization of his administration.

Kelly, a decorated four-star Marine general retired earlier this year as commander of the U.S. Southern Command. He is also a Gold Star father whose son was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

And tonight, Trump will introduce Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as Ambassador to China at his third stop on his "Thank You" tour in Des Moines. Branstad's long-time friendship with the Chinese President could help reassure the country that the President-elect is interested in maintaining its relationship with Beijing. Trump also mixing business and entertainment, nominating former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to head the Small Business Administration.

All this as Trump is readying to announce his choice for Secretary of State, which could come next week. Trump insisting former adversary Mitt Romney still has a chance at the post.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: It's not about revenge. It's about what's good for the country.

SERFATY (voice-over): But Trump's administration moves are being overshadowed by another feud, the President-elect lashing out again on Twitter against the Carrier union leader Chuck Jones after he called into question Trump's math over how many jobs the deal he brokered with Carrier actually saved. Jones appearing on CNN last night.

CHUCK JONES, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES STEELWORKERS 1999: Five hundred and fifty are still going to lose their jobs.

SERFATY (voice-over): Trump tweeting minutes later that Jones had done a terrible job and blaming job losses on Jones, quote, "If United Steel Workers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana." Jones then calling into "ANDERSON COOPER 360" to respond directly to Trump's attack.

JONES: Because of corporate greed and unfair trade, they want to move these jobs out of the country. So if he wants to blame me, so be it. But I look at him, how many billions of dollars he spent on his hotels and casinos trying to keep labor unions out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And today at Trump Tower, the President-elect will be meeting with one potential Secretary of State contender, former NATO Commander James Stavridis, and then he'll be traveling to Columbus, Ohio. He'll be meeting with the victims and first responders from the Ohio State attack that happened last week. Then, tonight, Carol, it is on to Des Moines, Iowa for that next stop on his victory tour. Another one of these campaign-style rallies, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, reporting live for us. Thanks so much. The war of words between the future President of the United States and a local union guy ain't over yet. Chuck Jones was on "NEW DAY" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: A lot of people in that crowd and throughout the plant thought they were, you know, at that point in time, were going to have a job, only to find out, when we told them the next day, that 550 of them were going to lose their job to Monterrey, Mexico. A lot of people had dashed hopes. And they were not willing to give us any information until last Thursday when Mr. Trump and Pence came into the facility. We didn't know what the numbers were until noon that day.

[09:05:25] And so that's when we found out 730 people were going to retain their jobs. And then when he got up there and told people, 1,100 jobs have been retained, people in the crowd and throughout the plant thought they were going to have a livelihood.

Everybody's got a right to their opinion. And sometimes we disagree on things, but I'm not overly upset about any of it. He overreacted, President-elect Trump did, and I would expect it to be, when he tweets something, he should've come out and tried to justify his numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So perspectives since we like perspective on this program. Jones does not represent the national U.S. Steel Workers Union but the local union in Indianapolis. He's the quintessential little guy. Although he is union, he endorsed Bernie Sanders and he voted for Hillary Clinton.

Still, numbers don't lie. President-elect Trump's efforts saved 800 jobs. Three hundred of Mr. Trump's 1,100 jobs were never leaving the United States. And 550 Carrier jobs are still heading to Mexico. So let's talk. I'm joined by Reid Wilson. He's a national correspondent for "The Hill." And Rebecca Berg, a CNN political analyst and national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics."

Welcome to both of you.

REID WILSON, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE HILL: Good morning.

REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Reid, why go after Chuck Jones?

WILSON: Well, this is Donald Trump's style, right? He goes after anybody who attacks him personally, and this deal with Carrier is something that has some holes in it and there's still questions to be answered about it. You know, states make these deals a lot, but the companies with which they make the deals don't always necessarily come through.

In Nevada a few years ago, the state gave away about a billion dollars in tax incentives to Tesla to build a big factory outside of Reno. And there was a report just yesterday in one of the Las Vegas Papers that showed that Tesla has not hired the number of people that they said they would have hired by now. So you have to keep an eye on these deals as they go forward because the company will still get the tax breaks, not necessarily having to keep all the jobs in the state.

COSTELLO: Because, you know, companies are in the business of making money and we should never forget that. Rebecca, Mr. Trump says if Mr. Jones was any kind of union boss, he would have kept those jobs in Indiana by reducing union dues. So if you make $50k a year as a union guy, you pay seven bucks a week of union dues. That's roughly 28 bucks a month.

BERG: Right.

COSTELLO: Really?

BERG: I mean, this is, Carol, a classic Republican position that union seats where unions are active make it tougher for businesses to come into the states and operate. Obviously, Democrats would disagree with that position. But, really, what this highlights is that there are underlying market forces at work here that Donald Trump is not addressing with this Carrier deal. And unions, maybe, are a part of that, but it's also taxes.

And so part of the Carrier deal was Donald Trump and Mike Pence approached Carrier and assured them that they would be pursuing tax reform in this administration to make the climate easier for Carrier to stay in the United States as Donald Trump has promised, renegotiating trade deals to make them more advantageous for American companies and companies stay in the United States.

But that is work yet to be done. And so I think what Chuck Jones is really highlighting is that, OK, he saved some jobs here in Indiana with this deal coupled with the tax incentives, the incentives to stay in Indiana offered by the state. But there are many other jobs still at risk in Indiana and elsewhere in the country. And Donald Trump is going to have to address those and address the underlying forces herein on.

COSTELLO: And on that note, the underlying forces, Reid, U.S. Steel, a big fish -- you know, the company U.S. Steel -- unlike Mr. Jones, Indianapolis union guy, a U.S. Steel representatives told CNBC, quote, " Market conditions will dictate if, when, and how many employees we can recall from overseas." That means, you know, reading between the lines, that U.S. Steel wants tax relief, incentives in the millions of dollars to return jobs to the U.S. That's a whole lot more than seven bucks a week, right?

WILSON: Yes. And the Carrier deal is just one company. And you can imagine now that they have gotten a deal, every company that is thinking about moving their operations overseas is going to approach either the Trump administration or a governor in whatever state they're in, asking for tax incentives and deals like this. These deals happen all the time. There have been something like 200 mega deals over, you know, $75 million in the last couple of decades aimed at keeping companies in one state or another. [09:10:05] But the fact is, again, you have to watch these deals over

the long run because even after you give the tax incentives to a company like Tesla or Carrier or Boeing or Exxon Mobil or anybody like that, they don't necessarily end up keeping all the jobs that they promised. So the 730 jobs that are going to stay in Indiana, they're staying there now. Are they going to be there in a year? Are they going to be there in four years? That's not entirely clear.

COSTELLO: OK. So in light of what I said about U.S. Steel and its statement, the Dow is going crazy, Rebecca. It's up 1,200 points. Companies are psyched. So does that mean it's good for America? We're not sure? What exactly does that mean?

BERG: Well, I think what the market is reacting to, Carol, is just there's great optimism right now among corporations that Donald Trump and Republicans will actually be able to get some measure of tax reform done. And they have been hungry for this for many, many years, especially on the corporate side. Corporate tax reform, something that many Democrats would actually be on board with, as well. Because, really, many republicans, and some Democrats, would argue that our corporate tax rates here in the United States make American businesses -- make it tough for them to compete with foreign competitors, where taxes are lower in other countries.

And so I think the market is very excited about the prospect of tax reform. Certainly, a number of people on the business side, and on Wall Street feel, feel that Obamacare has not necessarily been as successful as some people would have hoped, and so there's some people excited, as well, about the possibility of health care reform.

But you're absolutely right. I mean, when we talk about people being nervous potentially about Donald Trump's presidency, the market is not reacting that way at all. It's actually very bullish on the Trump presidency so far.

COSTELLO: It certainly is. All right. Reid Wilson, Rebecca Berg, stick around because, of course, we still have a lot to talk about. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, could a climate change skeptic be in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency? The firestorm over Trump's controversial pick next.

And a little later Donald Trump makes his pick for Homeland Security as he strikes a softer tone on immigration in a new interview. Janet Napolitano, the former Homeland Security Secretary joins me with her thoughts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:25] COSTELLO: Democrats and environmentalists are returning for a fierce fight over President-elect Trump's latest cabinet pick. Trump has tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, an agency he once sued.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHNGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump's pick for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, is a staunch climate change denier. Giving Democrats and environmental groups whiplash, after Trump's highly publicized meetings with prominent climate change activists.

JASON MILLER, TRUMP SPOKESMAN: Attorney General Pruitt has a strong conservative record as a state prosecutor and has demonstrated a familiarity with laws and regulations impacting a large energy resource state.

JOHNS: An ally of the fossil fuel industry, the Oklahoma attorney general is a fierce critic of the agency he may soon lead, filing lawsuits against the EPA over its regulations of power plants, including Obama's effort to significantly reduce their emissions.

SCOTT PRUITT, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OKLAHOMA: When you look at the EPA and the role that it's played over the last several years, there's going to be substantial change in that agency. There's going to be a regulatory roll back.

JOHNS: Critics blasting Trump's nominee. The League of Conservation Voters writing, "Scott Pruitt running the EPA is like the fox guarding the hen house. He has fought to pad the profits of big polluters at the expense of public health."

As for climate change, Pruitt wrote in "The National Review" just a few months ago that the link between global warming and human activity is far from settled. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Pruitt's reluctance to accept the facts on climate change couldn't make him any more out of touch with the American people and with reality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: The decision to name Scott Pruitt came just a short time after the president-elect gave environmentalists what you could call a glimmer of hope, or middle ground by meeting with Al Gore, who's been a leading voice on the issue of climate change -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live for us from Washington.

Let's bring back my guests, shall we?

Reid Wilson is with me again, the national correspondent for "The Hill", and Rebecca Berg the CNN political analyst and national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics".

So, Mr. Trump's pick to lead the EPA sued the EPA over Mr. Obama's emission reduction program. But Trump also talked with Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio about climate change.

So what gives, Reid?

WILSON: Well, this is one of the things that I'm going to be watching. We're going to see a sea change here in the relationship between federal government and the states now that we've got a new administration.

Scott Pruitt, attorneys general from state like Texas and Kansas, very conservative states, spent the last eight years suing the Obama administration, every agency from the EPA, to the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service.

Now, we're going to see a reversal. If Scott Pruitt as the next EPA administrator tries to undo a lot of the climate regulations that the Obama administration has implemented if they skip even a tiny step, I think you're going to see some Democratic states, most notably California, stepping in with litigation as fast as possible.

The Trump administration is going to try to undo a lot of the regulations the Obama administration has implemented but even undoing those regulations takes time, it requires public comment. It requires meetings. Every single one of those steps takes time, and if any of them are skipped, you can imagine the Democratic states are going to step in and try to stop the undoing of some of the regulations, or at least tie them up in court for years.

[09:20:03] COSTELLO: OK. So that could be messy. And also, Rebecca, during the campaign Trump did say he wanted to dismantle the EPA. With this pick, isn't it possible?

BERG: Well, he did say that, Carol, and then later sort of walked that back, walked back the opposition and said, well, instead of dismantling the EPA entirely, we can at least roll back some of these unnecessary regulations to help businesses who are really just trying to do the best that they can in these states.

So, he did walk back from that position, but certainly, that's the fear of many Democrats, Carol, is that they will roll back these regulations to a point where the EPA is not focused on its core mission of actually protecting the environment and not able to fully execute that mission.

And so, this is certainly the fear that Democrats have at this stage. But what Donald Trump has argued is that there are just too many regulations that the EPA has overreached. So, I think that's exactly what he's getting at with picking Scott Pruitt for this role that he wants to address those regulations.

COSTELLO: There is a fine line to watch here. Need I remind people of the Elk River in West Virginia the water was poisoned in the Elk River and the drinking water was poisoned from the folks and that was a by-product from the coal industry.

And in Oklahoma, they just had two earthquakes a couple of days ago and scientists believe those earthquakes are being caused from the injection of wastewater from the shale oil industry.

So, in that sense you really do need some regulatory agency, Reid, to protect people from industry. WILSON: And this choice is much different from even the EPA

administrators that George W. Bush picked. His first EPA administrator was Christine Todd Whitman, the former governor of New Jersey, who was a relative centrist when it comes to Republican policies.

One of the things that I think is most fascinating is that Scott Pruitt comes from a state where the energy industry relies on fracking like you just mentioned and that is a process costs a lot of money. As the global oil commodity prices have fallen, one of the things we've seen is that these -- the companies in those specific states have been shedding jobs.

And states where unemployment rate is rising, include states like Oklahoma, and North Dakota, and Wyoming, places that are really heavy on energy dependence. So you know, even as we talk about Donald Trump and the carrier deal, and jobs moving overseas because of forces far out of the control of any American president so, too is the oil industry undergoing some changes that not even an American president, not even an EPA administrator is going to be able to change or reverse by rolling back some regulations.

COSTELLO: And the irony of energy independence for the United States, Rebecca, I think that America is something like 74 percent energy independent, it gets very -- it doesn't get very much oil from overseas anymore, especially from Middle Eastern countries. The oil industry is kind of tried to the market in the price of oil.

So, can you really control that as president of the United States? And doesn't that have a say in how many jobs companies keep and how many companies it jettisons?

BERG: Certainly. And I agree with Reid's assessment that, you know, obviously, there are things that an American president cannot directly control or address. Really a president is limited in his power to address these issues.

But Donald Trump has certainly made clear during his transition process, Carol, that he is going to be very friendly to oil companies and open to working with them directly. One of his picks potentially for secretary of state could be the CEO of ExxonMobil. So, it is pretty clear that Donald Trump has a good relationship with these energy companies, and feels as he expressed during the campaign that the climate could be better for energy companies in the United States.

Certainly with a popular Republican position but I think we'll be seeing a lot of pushback from Democrats on that.

COSTELLO: All right. Rebecca Berg, Reid Wilson thanks for your insight as always.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Donald Trump once again turns to the military for help in running the nation. We'll talk about his pick to run homeland security with the woman who knows a lot about that job. Janet Napolitano, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:39] COSTELLO: Ever since Donald Trump's win, the Dow has been surging. Now it's within striking distance of a huge milestone. Huge. So, is this a sign of times to come?

CNN's Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Hi, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSIENSS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

So much for the predictions. Analyst after analyst predicted the Dow would drop 1,000 points if Donald Trump won the election. Well, the exact opposite is happening. The Dow is up more than 1,200 points, or 7 percent since the election. It's now sitting less than 500 points away from 20,000. And some optimistic traders are telling me they think it will get to that milestone in just a few weeks.

Almost 300 of those points came in yesterday with the Dow closing at a record high. The S&P also hit a record high. The NASDAQ is getting close to a record. Investors are all giddy because they believe Trump will be good for business and the economy. They're banking on him to usher in those regulations, low taxes, faster growth, and fiscal stimulus.

And with the Republican Congress and White House, Carol, the thinking is an infrastructure program can be passed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik, reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange -- thanks.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Illegal and unconstitutional, that's how Donald Trump has described an Obama program that allows young people brought here illegally by their parents to go to college and to get a job if they register with the government.