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New Day
President Obama to Meet with President-Elect Donald Trump; Donald Trump's Possible Picks for Cabinet Speculated On; Interview with Rudy Giuliani. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired November 10, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division and unify our great nation.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result, and then look to the future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This needs to be a time of redemption, not a time of recrimination.
TRUMP: I promise you that I will not let you down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We who believe in freedom will not rest.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not Democrats first. We're not Republicans first. We are Americans first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. And up first, president-elect Donald Trump is going to Washington to meet with President Obama. This is part of the formal transitioning of power. The Oval Office meeting at the White House is going to be awkward with a capital "A." Why? Because Trump is not only a critic of President Obama, he's the guy who tried to prove that Obama wasn't born here.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So we're hearing about unity. But we're seeing a different picture in some cities. Protesters taking to the streets, some blocking highways as you can see, others setting fires and chanting, quote, "Not my president." We have it all covered for you, so let's begin with CNN's Athena Jones. She live at the White House. Hi, Athena.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. This is not the meeting President Obama was hoping to have or expecting to have. He spent months saying that he didn't think Donald Trump would ever be president. Well, now Donald Trump is going to be president, and so the focus has to shift to the peaceful handover of power.
The White House has talked about how much they appreciated the way George W. Bush's team handled that transition back in 2008 and 2009. It was smooth. It was professional. This is something the president spoke about again yesterday in the Rose Garden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I have instructed my team to follow the example that President Bush's team set eight years ago and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect, because we are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country. The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Now, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has said that it's too early to say what sort of impact Trump's election will have on President Obama's top policy priorities is. But we know that Trump ran on promises to undo much of Obama's legacy. And so we expect him to get to work right away on things like repealing and replacing Obamacare, reversing some of the president's executive actions on things like immigration and regulations of power plants. Trump has also said he wants to withdraw from agreements like the Iran nuclear deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and also the Paris climate accord.
And I can tell you, we're getting some indications from Congress that TPP, that trade deal, is all but dead. So there's a lot to discuss and a lot that could change under a Trump presidency. After President-elect Trump meets here with President Obama, he and vice president-elect Mike Pence will go on to meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan. So a lot on the schedule, a lot to watch today.
CAMEROTA: It is going to be a very busy day, Athena, thanks so much for setting it up for us.
Donald Trump now has two months to fill thousands of jobs as he prepares to take office. It's one of Washington's favorite parlor games. Who will get the top posts in Trump's cabinet? CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live in Washington with a look at some of the names being floated. Who are you hearing, Sunlen?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of possibilities here, Alisyn, as president-elect Donald Trump and his team may have really been hunkered down and huddled up, going over all these potential names for these top jobs. And I can tell you a lot of the names just won't be a surprise to you because many of the people are ones that we've heard of standing by Donald Trump during the campaign trail, in his inner circle during the campaign, now they could go on to fill out his cabinet and turn into his new inner circle in the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SERFATY: On day two as president-elect, Donald Trump now looking to turn his promises into policy, beginning with his call for unity.
TRUMP: Now, it's time for America to bind the wounds of division.
SERFATY: Words echoed by President Obama and Hillary Clinton, both pledging a peaceful transition of power.
OBAMA: We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country.
CLINTON: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.
SERFATY: Trump now in the throes of building his administration.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We have to get ready to form a government.
SERFATY: Potentially rewarding some of his top supporters. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus one prospective option for Trump's chief of staff.
[08:05:03] REINCE PREIBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I haven't thought about it. And right now as chairman of the party, I'm excited about that job.
SERFATY: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has led his transition team, also being eyed for top posts. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani under consideration for attorney general, or secretary of homeland security, while Newt Gingrich is being floated as the prospective secretary of state. Other possible cabinet picks, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for defense secretary, billionaire businessman Carl Icahn for treasury secretary, and retired army general Michael Flynn for national security adviser. When Trump takes office in January, he will have extraordinary power to push through his agenda with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress.
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: He heard those voices that were out there that other people weren't hearing, and he just earned a mandate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And certainly new attention is now being paid to what candidate Trump said on the campaign trail about what his first 100 days in office would potentially look like. He's made several big, broad, sweeping proposals, things like cleaning up Washington, protecting the American worker, and restoring rule of law. But he also did at times make very specific detailed promises, like repealing Obamacare, renegotiating some of the specific trade deals, and Chris, perhaps the most notorious promise that we heard time and time again from the campaign trail, to build that wall along the Mexican border. Chris? CUOMO: All right, Sunlen, thank you very much. Many provocative
questions, but forget the questions. Let's get some answers. I can do that for you right now. I've got former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. He is Trump's campaign senior adviser, and many more, soon, maybe more soon. Good to see you. Congratulations, Mr. Mayor.
So, let's get some answers here. You just said something to me while we were coming out of Sunlen's piece. Something happens to a man who becomes president. How does that inform your idea of what we will see out of president-elect Trump today? Because many people are concerned, Obama and Trump, they hate each other. This has been really ugly and bitter. This could be bad. What do you say?
RUDY GIULIANI, (R) FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I say you're going to see a very, I hate to use the word "cordial" because it's used almost as a diplomatic term, you know, when people yelled at each other you say they had a cordial meeting, but I think you're going to see a very professionally run meeting between two men who actually have a lot of charm. We know Donald from some of his comments that weren't so charming. And we know Obama now on the campaign trail from some of the comments that weren't so charming. But sitting together, I think they're going to be able to talk of two the very few people in the history of the world. One who has the power, and one who is going --
CUOMO: That may be him. You want to answer that?
GIULIANI: And one who is --
CUOMO: What are you doing on with Cuomo?
GIULIANI: And one who is going to hold $e power. So I would say that -- yes we got to do something with this thing. Off. Done. OK.
CUOMO: Was it him?
GIULIANI: No.
CUOMO: Can't have the president-elect interrupting my interview. So you were saying two of the few men who understand --
GIULIANI: That this is a -- the weight of the world is on their shoulders. And Donald, I think, realized it the last couple of days in the campaign. I think he really realized it when he saw --
CUOMO: You've seen a change?
GIULIANI: Yes.
CUOMO: Now, so people are going to come to you, and they're going to say, OK, he won. Democracy affords him an opportunity. People say have an open mind. It's trickier here, though, because when someone comes out and says we should be unified, OK. When they are the person who is blamed with creating the division, now it's more complicated because which one of these people do you believe? Is this the Trump that we saw as president-elect, or the one who was stoking intolerance? GIULIANI: My advice would be the same advice that I gave President
Bush when he won in '04, and kind of was a follow. You go with the things you know you can pass. Like for example, way back then Bush could have passed immigration reform just like Obama could have when he first came in. And both of them passed on it, so now they leave it for now.
CUOMO: So you think he should start --
GIULIANI: No. I think he should start with tax reform.
CUOMO: Tax reform first.
GIULIANI: Because I think he's got the votes for it. He definitely has the Republican votes for it in the house and Senate, and I think he probably has he Democratic vote for it. So he could get it done with a bipartisan majority.
CUOMO: But people whether say, wait a minute, I'm here for the wall. I'm angry, I want the wall, I want to drain the swamp.
GIULIANI: The wall is going to take a while. He's going to build it. It's a campaign promise. He's not going to break a campaign promise.
CUOMO: Guys in Congress don't want it. On both sides there's resistance.
[08:10:02] GIULIANI: Well, he can do it by executive order, by just reprogramming money within the -- within the immigration service, and not only that, they have actually approved a wall for certain portions of the border that hasn't even been built yet. So you could take a year building that out, with what has been approved.
CUOMO: So go with what you can get done. Let bygones be bygones, move on to the policies.
GIULIANI: After you get a couple of credits under your belt, like tax reform, which I think can get done, like a stimulus program but a real one for infrastructure, this time the commitment has to be the money gets spent on infrastructure. And not to go back over old over wounds, and I think President Obama made a big mistake with his stimulus program when he promised it would be spent on infrastructure.
CUOMO: But it wasn't.
GIULIANI: There were no shovel ready jobs. Right now we need it. That will put Americans back to work. That will be a good long-term investment in America. It's going to help grow our economy.
CUOMO: But if this is -- if this is to not be about settling scores, politics at its worst, keeping a list, that raises an interesting issue that I want your take on, specifically. Hillary Clinton, big part of his campaign rhetoric, some of his angriest talk was, I am going to appoint a special prosecutor to look into her. Chris Christie was TV this morning, other surrogates of Trump have said, look, that's politics. It's over now. Leave it alone. You haven't said that.
GIULIANI: Well, I think it's a tough decision. I think it's a tough decision, because you have to weigh what Chris is saying, which is that it's been a tradition in our politics to put things behind us. On the other hand you have to look at how bad was it? Because suppose somebody comes along a year from now and is alleged to have stolen $50,000 from a charity. And she was never investigated for hundreds of millions.
CUOMO: Do it then?
GIULIANI: Well, not after you pardon her, you can't do it.
CUOMO: But is it about pardoning her or leaving her alone? How do you expect to get anything done with Democrats if you're still going after Hillary.
GIULIANI: I don't know what the right answer to that is. I think it's a tough one that should be given a lot of thought and shouldn't be an off-the-cuff answer. Equal administration of justice is one of our most important principles.
CUOMO: But you have the FBI that's taken a look at the foundation stuff. They haven't moved on it.
GIULIANI: Why not? Because they were denied a grand jury. They were denied a grand jury by the eastern district of New York.
CUOMO: But you had Comey who didn't recommend anything. You had the DOJ --
GIULIANI: He never got to investigate. He never got to investigate the foundation. So there are legal questions that are more complicated than just saying let's forget about it. If, in fact, you believe you have a Justice Department that's been corrupted, you got to fix it. And he needs an attorney general who's going to be like Edward Levi was after Watergate. There's got to be an attorney general --
CUOMO: You think Comey has to go?
GIULIANI: That's a decision for the president. That's a presidential appointment. He's got to make that decision.
CUOMO: It's not easy to get someone -- by the way it's not political -- he's got a term involved.
GIULIANI: I would think if the president wanted Jim out, Jim would leave. FBI director can't function without --
CUOMO: So you think it's a possibility but it's up to the president?
GIULIANI: That's up to the president. And I think it's a close one. Personally, I trust Jim. I like Jim. He worked for me. He was an assistant U.S. attorney that I trained. And although I had a severe disagreement with him -- CUOMO: You've been beating on a fairly big stick about what happened
with Clinton.
GIULIANI: Yes, but I never said I believe he was corrupted or dishonest. I believe his judgment was incorrect.
CUOMO: You, if they asked you to be the special prosecutor, would you accept that role?
GIULIANI: No.
CUOMO: If they asked you to be attorney general --
GIULIANI: That would be a closer question --
CUOMO: How do you say no to the president of the United States if he says I need you to do this for me?
GIULIANI: Well, if it really was just me and I couldn't point to three others that would be just as good or better --
CUOMO: Who's just as good?
GIULIANI: I don't know yet. We'll see.
CUOMO: You think Chris Christie is just as good as you?
GIULIANI: Christie is an excellent, excellent choice for any job in government.
CUOMO: Notwithstanding he has a close relationship with my brother, the governor of New York, you don't think he's tarred by the Bridge- gate situation?
GIULIANI: I think the Bridge-gate situation was an exaggerated political situation.
CUOMO: Two convictions, all counts.
GIULIANI: I know.
CUOMO: That's exaggeration?
GIULIANI: I think it was exaggerated. Never should have gotten to that.
CUOMO: Two convictions, all counts.
GIULIANI: Chris --
CUOMO: I'm just saying. In a world where nobody ever goes to trial --
GIULIANI: A good lawyer can convict you in a lot of different ways.
CUOMO: I mean, are you kidding me? GIULIANI: I don't know -- I have no idea.
CUOMO: The same ring tone as my mother. What is it with you old --
GIULIANI: I don't think it's my wife. I don't know who it is. It can't be my mother, otherwise it would be --
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: So do you have it in you to be attorney general? Do you feel that you have the energy? Do you feel --
GIULIANI: Oh, my God.
CUOMO: -- the desire?
GIULIANI: I certainly have the energy, and there's probably nobody that knows the Justice Department better than me.
CUOMO: So, nobody's better than you. You just said -- oh, I got you. I finally got you. Taken me 35 years. You just said --
GIULIANI: Seventeen years.
CUOMO: If I couldn't point to three other people who are as good as me then yes if it's just me. You just said nobody knows it better than I do.
GIULIANI: Well, I was -- an assistant U.S. attorney.
CUOMO: That's right.
GIULIANI: I was the associate attorney general of the United States.
CUOMO: Yes.
GIULIANI: Third ranking official under Ronald Reagan. I've argued in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.
CUOMO: Mm-hmm.
GIULIANI: I've argued in almost every circuit.
And I tried as a personal lawyer, and U.S. attorney, over 50 cases.
CUOMO: Right.
GIULIANI: And --
CUOMO: It's a good resume.
GIULIANI: So I know -- I know the bottom of the Justice Department and I know the top of the Justice Department.
CUOMO: Would you be OK leaving your (INAUDIBLE) and travel all around the world and the different enterprises you're in? GIULIANI: Those are things I would have to give serious thought to
and also, really, my interest in this election, and I know people have a hard time believing it, is -- they have a different view of it -- I felt that Hillary got elected we were going to move in a socialist direction. And I didn't want to leave a country behind for my children that was moving in that direction. I want to move more in the opportunistic American direction of hard work, good education, straighten out the educational programs, the kind of America my parents left to me.
So that was my -- that was the reason I was working 20 hours a day. Plus, as you know, my close personal friendship with Donald Trump.
Getting a job is secondary to me. I wanted to have a good administration. And if it's the right fit and everything works? OK. If it doesn't, I'm perfectly happy with that.
CUOMO: Would you accept the position if it came with the condition of I don't want to go after Clinton? Leave it alone. Let's focus. We've got a lot of other things. I don't want to create more political --
GIULIANI: Well, I think -- I think -- I think that's a presidential decision, also.
CUOMO: So, if it came to you that way, from the president --
GIULIANI: That's --
CUOMO: -- then you're all right with it.
GIULIANI: We would have to talk about that. We would have to talk about what the -- what the ramifications of that to other prosecutions, future prosecutions, how would you couch that suppose more evidence came forward a year from now that we don't know about now, that makes it a much worse situation. I don't think President Obama should pardon her. I don't think that would be right, because if he pardons her he's got to pardon about5 other people who helped her. It wouldn't be fair to pardon her and not pardon the guy who hammered the cell phones. You got to pardon that guy, too.
You can't have --
CUOMO: But none of those people are looking at any charges.
GIULIANI: The guy -- that guy didn't get immunity.
CUOMO: Right, but he also hasn't had any recommendation of prosecution against him.
GIULIANI: Well, that doesn't mean he can't be investigated. The FBI still has an ongoing investigation and we don't know what it's going to uncover. So, you have to cut that off.
CUOMO: Well, Comey has said several times now it's not even a close call. GIULIANI: But he has never said anything about the foundation.
CUOMO: Oh, you're talking about the foundation. You were saying destroying --
GIULIANI: Yeah, but --
CUOMO: The phones --
GIULIANI: The e-mails may very well have been destroyed. Because the e-mails show the connection between the State Department and the -- and the foundation --
CUOMO: But do you believe that the value of that investigation is worth the political instability it would cause?
GIULIANI: I told you I think it's a very close question. I think that -- I think that somebody should review that very carefully as to how bad is that evidence. And if it isn't as bad as se of the exaggerators think it is, then maybe the best thing to do is to forget about it and move on. If it is really bad, then somebody's got to look at it who is independent.
CUOMO: Well you won't know until you're in the role. So, maybe that will influence you in terms of your decision.
Mr. Mayor --
GIULIANI: Thank you. Thank you very much.
CUOMO: -- thank you very much.
As you know, my job doesn't change. We've got to speak truth to power. If you're here, I look forward covering you.
GIULIANI: I found every one of our sessions excellent. But, you know, here's my view. I was taught this by David Garth. David taught me the following, there's no such thing as a bad question, there's just a bad answer. And you want to get asked the bad questions because you want the constituents to hear your answer to them.
CUOMO: Well, that's why we're here.
GIULIANI: Thank you.
CUOMO: Not to ask the bad questions, but the tough questions.
GIULIANI: Tough questions. The ones that nail you on the things people are worried about. Why do you feel this way? Why do you look at --
CUOMO: That's what we do or we try to do --
GIULIANI: And you do a great job.
CUOMO: Thank you, sir. GIULIANI: Thank you.
CUOMO: Best to you.
Alisyn, he said me, not you by the way.
CAMEROTA: I also like that he said sessions as though it was a therapeutic quality to this.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Chris.
President Obama about to meet face-to-face with his successor, President-elect Donald Trump. How will they get past all of the bad birther blood? We will speak with former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:23:38] CAMEROTA: About two hours from now, President Obama will meet with President-elect Trump.
President Obama promising a peaceful transition of power in spite of a very heated election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Remember, eight years ago, President Bush and I had some pretty significant differences. But President Bush's team could not have been more professional or more gracious, so I have instructed my team to follow the example that President Bush's team set eight years ago, and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right, let's discuss this with former Obama senior adviser and CNN senior political commentator, David Axelrod.
Hi, David.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, guys, how are you?
CAMEROTA: You know President Obama very well. So what happened today when he confronts and comes face-to-face with the man who questioned his birth and his citizenship and his legitimacy?
AXELROD: Well, first of all, I remember very well that period eight years ago when we were in transition. And he was quite right. President Bush and his whole team were incredibly welcoming to us. I remember Ed Gillespie who was in my role in the Bush administration inviting me over to the White House and spending hours with me talking about his job and how it's done and how the White House works, just the mechanics of it.
And it was very helpful and it was very welcomed by me. And President Bush himself was kind to all of us during that period.
[08:25:04] And that was after a campaign that was really predicated on reversing the policies of the Bush administration. President Bush took a beating in that campaign. And yet, he saw it as his responsibility to ensure the peaceful transfer of power in a proper way.
And I think President Obama did learn from that, that this is the way it should be done. And I expect that he will be very professional when he meets with Donald Trump this morning with the president-elect in talking about the mechanics of how this transition will occur.
CUOMO: So, what do you say to the reverse of that notion? That from the angry Democrats, from those who feel this election was won the wrong way, that President Obama should represent that disposition? Is that -- is that a fair request of the president of the United States?
AXELROD: Yes, I think so. I don't think people -- he's not asking anybody to be happy about the result. I don't think supporters of John McCain, or Mitt Romney were happy about the result. And we've had acrimonious elections in the past.
What he's saying is, respect our democracy, respect the system that says once the election is over, we have one president. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't fight vigorously over differences on policy moving forward. It does mean that we have one president at a time, and you should start from the -- from the at least premise that we should find ways to work together, because the success of the country depends on it.
So, I understand how strongly people feel and how offended they were by some of the things that were done in this campaign. But this isn't about respect for one man. It's about respect for our democracy, and for our institutions, because those have to endure.
CAMEROTA: David, what do you think is the future of President Obama's legacy, given that Donald Trump has basically stated that he's going to dismantle as much of it as possible, starting right away with Obamacare?
AXELROD: Yes, we'll see exactly how this thing moves forward. It's one thing to say I'm going to dismantle, repeal, and replace Obamacare.
It's another thing when you realize that 20 million people are getting health coverage under Obamacare today. It -- it's different when you realize that that's the law that made it illegal for insurance companies to ban people with pre-existing conditions from getting insurance, which is incredibly popular in this country. And there are so many other features of this that are very, very popular, even if the name or the, you know, the headline is not with some people.
So, how this is done in such a way as not to create massive unhappiness on the other side of the ledger is going to be a challenge for him. But, I think President Obama's legacy is much larger than simply the Affordable Care Act. He is the president who led the country through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. He is the president who came to office when there were two wars raging, 180,000 troops in active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He's, you know, led the country through so many other things, transitions on things like gay rights, you know, education, and so on, higher education, access to higher education.
There are many, many parts of this legacy that will endure, and maybe the greatest, although it's not as tangible as the others, is he brought dignity to the office of the presidency and honor to the office of the presidency. I think he'll be remembered for that in the future.
CUOMO: Eight years, not one personal scandal. I mean, some people say, well, that's too low a bar. But look around you. It's -- it's something that is --
AXELROD: It's unusual, Chris.
CUOMO: It's unusual, especially because often people are looking for scandal even if it's not actually there.
Also, telling to you, Axe, that Rudy just said tax should be the first priority, not Obamacare.
Do you think that's a nod to the complication of dealing with Obamacare that it's more than just a political promise, there are legal and practical problems that may not make it a good first choice?
AXELROD: Yes. I just don't think that you want your first act to be taking away from the American people something that is a real value and importance to them. I confront people who've had -- who've been helped by Obamacare all over the country, who have tears in their eyes about what it's meant for them.
So, I think that they should go slow on that. I know Mitch McConnell said it would be his first act and it's red meat for some in the base, but the other thing that I -- I heard Rudy say was still mulling over whether there should be some prosecution.
