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Trump and Obama will Meet at White House; Christie: No Trump Job Promised to Me; Giuliani: I'd be Good Fit for Atty. General. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 10, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:42] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. And thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello live in Washington, D.C. President Obama, just one hour away, from meeting with the man who vows to dismantle the key pillar of his legacy. President-elect Trump arriving any minute now at Reagan National Airport just outside of Washington, you're looking at live pictures there. Trump will then be whisked to the White House in a motorcade similar to this one that whisked him from his New York home just last hour. You can see there, you are going to see it shortly, Trump waving to the onlookers there in New York City.

Once he arrives in Washington, Trump and President Obama will meet privately inside the Oval Office. It's a long-held tradition to assure Americans that even the most bitter foes will work together on a peaceful transition. But few presidential races have been this bitter, this polarized. We are covering all the angles for you this morning as our government shifts to a Trump presidency. Let's begin though, with that Trump/Obama meeting. Athena Jones, live at the White House. Hi, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. This is not the meeting that President Obama was hoping to have or expecting to have. We've heard him say for months that he didn't expect that Trump would ever be president. Well, Donald Trump is going to be president. We know his plane took off not too long ago from New York on his way here for that meeting. We do expect to see video pictures of these two men sitting down and talking to each other at the bottom of that meeting. We expect we could hear some brief remarks from President Obama. Don't expect him to give extensive remarks or necessarily take questions, but certainly a lot of energy and attention is focused on this meeting.

And Carol, we know that these two men have not had a lot of nice things to say to each other but we also know that the White House takes very seriously this transition. We heard the president talk about it yesterday during his remarks in the Rose Garden about how peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of our democracy. We've heard the president and his staff talk about how much they appreciated the way that President George W. Bush and his team handled the transition back in 2008 and 2009. And so President Obama has instructed his staff to follow the George W. Bush example when it comes to the transition.

Now, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has said it's too early to say how Trump's election could affect President Obama's top policy priorities but we know that Trump ran on promises to undo much of Obama's -- President Obama's legacy.

So we expect him to hit the ground running working on several things like repealing and replacing Obamacare, also reversing some of the president's executive actions on things like immigration and power plant regulation. We also know Donald Trump has said he wants to withdraw from agreements, agreements like the Iran nuclear deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and also the Paris climate accord. And we have already gotten some indications from Congress that that trade deal TPP is all but dead. So, there's a lot to discuss, a lot on the table, and we'll have to wait and see how this meeting shapes up and how it turns out. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Athena Jones reporting live. Thank you so much. Now let's turn to Trump's top priority, filling the thousands of jobs that will shape his administration. CNN's Jason Carroll has that. He's outside of Trump Tower in New York. Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Outside of Trump Tower, Carol, where it's all clear now. Last night as we were standing out here, as you know, there were thousands upon thousands of protesters standing in front of Trump Tower, many of them shouting some of the names being considered in a Trump administration, the Trump camp for its part, moving forward with the transition.

Let's look at a breakdown of what lies ahead. Some 72 days including today until Donald Trump's inauguration. 4,000 plus appointments up for consideration, 1100 of those require Senate confirmation. Some of the key positions being looked at, Donald Trump's chief of staff. Some of the names being floated out there, Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Reince Priebus, of course. Also under consideration, Secretary of State, another key position, Senator Jeff Sessions, his name out there along with John Bolton, Senator Bob Corker, two of the names being considered, one of them I have already mentioned, Rudy Giuliani and of course Chris Christie, both of them speaking out this morning about being part of a Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, NBC HOST "TODAY.COM": Would you want to be chief of staff? Would you want to be --

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: You don't really think -

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC HOST "TODAY.COM": That's what's called a pregnant pause.

CHRISTIE: You really don't think I'm answering any of these questions, do you? You know me better than that. The answer is, I am not [10:05:16] committed to doing anything in the new administration or not. You know, the bottom line is that I have a job to do to help get the administration ready. If there's some role for me that I want to do and that the president-elect wants me to do. You know, we have known each other for 14 years, we will talk about it.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Do you have it in you to be attorney general? Do you feel that you have the energy?

RUDY GIULIANI, (R) TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Oh, my god.

CUOMO: Do you feel you have the desire?

GIULIANI: I certainly have the energy and there's probably nobody that knows the Justice Department better than me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Going back to Chris Christie, he also said that he did not believe the Bridgegate scandal would in any way, sort of hover above him in terms of trying to secure a position if he were asked. Also, Christie, weighing in on the Trump children, you know, they were very active throughout this campaign, advising Donald Trump throughout the campaign. There's been some suggestion that perhaps maybe one of his children, Ivanka or Trump Jr. or Eric might be interested in one of the positions up for grabs, Carol. But Christie saying that he believes, he suggested that the Trump children would be more interested in running the business rather than being part of their father's administration. Carol?

COSTELLO: Jason Carroll reporting live from New York City. Thanks so much. So let's talk about that and more. David Lauter is with me. He's the Washington bureau chief from the "Los Angeles Times." Thomas Burr joins me. He's Washington correspondent for "The Salt Lake Tribune." And Asma Khalid is back, she's a political reporter at "NPR." Welcome to all of you. Wow. So David, oh to be a fly on the wall, right, when President Obama sits down with President-elect Trump.

DAVID LAUTER, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Yes. It's going to be quite a meeting. I mean, these two have said some pretty nasty things about each other for quite a while now. But you know the president has prided himself all along on not having smooth - not having bumps in the road, you know, "No Drama Obama." That was his slogan. And I think he's determined to stick to that in this transition. That he wants it to be smooth. He wants it to be seamless. He's told his aides and advisors that they need to be ready to turn over power in a seamless fashion even though this is someone who they have campaigned very toughly against.

COSTELLO: Yes, because it wasn't "No Drama Obama" during the campaign, right, right? And I just want to remind people how vicious it became on both sides. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: I hope he was born in the United States. If he wasn't, it's the greatest scam in history, not political history, in history.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to be president.

TRUMP: He is the founder of ISIS.

OBAMA: You don't see him hanging out with working people, unless they're cleaning his room.

TRUMP: We've got a person in the White House that's having a lot of fun. It's like a carnival act.

OBAMA: He's erratic. If his closest advisors don't trust him to tweet, why would any of us trust him with the nuclear codes?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So Asma, it's endlessly fascinating to me that politicians are able to like, oh, I'll forget all about these mean things that the other person said about me and I'm going to sit down and be very professional.

ASMA KHALID, POLITICAL REPORTER "NPR": And I think in the case of these two men too, it's very personal. I mean, Donald Trump is the man who sort of spearheaded the birther movement, questioned the legitimacy of President Obama, not only you know, whether or not he was born in the United States but whether or not he was sort of legitimately the correct and rightful President of the United States. And I think that this is a really strange moment for America. I mean, here we have the country's first black president who will be followed by a man who you know, unleashed some very unpopular racist sentiments in the country and was ultimately at times you know, endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan. And that's a very sort of, I think, strange moment for the country.

COSTELLO: It is a strange moment for the country, Thomas, because the country is, so very divided. On one hand you have -- millions of Trump supporters, enthusiastic, hopeful that the country will improve. And on the other hand, you have these protesters, like the protester I interviewed last hour who -- she is like afraid of what's to come.

THOMAS BURR, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT "THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE": Isn't that why this moment is so important right now, right? This is why you know, it's been a very divisive campaign. The United States is very divided right now. But then you can have them together in the Oval Office, you have them talking and talking about working together and making a seamless transition. This is all about setting the tone for America to say it's going to be OK.

COSTELLO: It's going to be OK. I have heard from more than one Trump supporter that Mr. Trump doesn't mean the things he says literally. You know, he says them to cause a reaction and to get things done but he doesn't necessarily mean for them to actually occur. Is there something to that?

LAUTER: There may be. I mean, I think all politicians as you said, you know, they campaign in a way to generate a reaction, get support, and then when they get to governing it's a little different. But you know, this is part of the strength of why the American democracy works, that for more than 200 years now, we've had this -- tradition with the notable exception of the Civil War that you can have

[10:10:16] strong disagreements, you can even hate each other but at the end of the day, you follow the will of the people and you transfer power according to the rules. And that's what's allowed this country, as diverse and rambunctious as it is, to function.

COSTELLO: The other meetings that will take place today, Asma, the first lady, Michelle Obama, will meet the future first lady, Melania Trump. And Mike Pence will sit down with Joe Biden. So it's sort of a, like, Kumbaya moment.

KHALID: It is.

COSTELLO: -- for the two parties.

KHALID: It is. I mean, we know that Melania Trump has said that at times you know, she admired the first lady, she admired her style. So, I think that will be sort of a rather gracious meeting. I think that you know Joe Biden and Mike Pence, you know, sort of have known each other over the years. Mike Pence served in Congress. So, that I think is an interesting meeting. The meeting that everyone is so keen to understand and sort of see what will transpire is the meeting between President Obama and Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: Yes and I know they will say a few words maybe after the meeting publicly to make the country feel better.

BURR: Yes. It will be very nice. I don't think they're going to say anything mean anymore. But it's those private conversations that I really wish we were able to bug the White House sometimes.

COSTELLO: Thanks to all of you for being with me this morning. Thank you so much.

Coming up in the "Newsroom," we are still waiting for Donald Trump's arrival, here in Washington, for that big meeting with the president. The president-elect's contract with America, a robust plan for the first 100 days, I'll talk to a former Senator, he's been working with the Trump campaign on a transition plan.

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[10:15:30] COSTELLO: The Trump campaign was all about promises. The first 100 days, all about action. Donald Trump says he has a plan to change Washington, to drain the swamp, a change that includes term limits for Washington, renegotiating trade deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP and securing funds for a border wall that Mexico will reimburse. So let's talk about that. I'm joined by President of the Heritage Foundation and former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. Welcome sir.

JIM DEMINT, (R) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR AND PRESIDENT OF THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Thank you, Carol. Love your set.

COSTELLO: It's beautiful, right?

DEMINT: Yes it is.

COSTELLO: I know. Washington's a beautiful place.

DEMINT: Yes, it is.

COSTELLO: But Donald Trump wants to drain the swamp.

DEMINT: Yes.

COSTELLO: So let's talk about that first term limits. Because you know, some of the - some lawmakers aren't so for term limits because some of them have been in office for a very long time.

DEMINT: Yes.

COSTELLO: You think it's possible?

DEMINT: I think it is possible. I think it would be one of the best reforms for Congress. I'd lived by term limits, so I ran on them, six years in the House, and two terms in the Senate. And there are some downsides of losing the institutional knowledge but frankly, I think on balance, it could be one of the best reforms here. If people came to do a job and go home, rather than make a long-term career, the idea of a citizen statesman -

COSTELLO: -- this long-term lawmakers, like Mitch McConnell, will say, sure, I'm going to help you push through term limits in Congress.

DEMINT: Well, the way we had to do it, I mean, back in the '90s, it was, OK, we're going to pass it but grandfather you in, Mitch? Then you can serve two more terms after we pass it. And you would have to do something to accommodate folks who have been there and been planning on it. But I like the idea and I don't know if you can get enough support in Congress or not to do it, but about 70 percent or more of Americans think it's a good idea. So that's a good start.

COSTELLO: That is a good start. Let' talk about Obamacare. And repealing Obamacare because Mr. Trump says that's one of the things he wants to do immediately.

DEMINT: Yes.

COSTELLO: Will that be easy?

DEMINT: Yes, it is easy, easier than most things here. Frankly, Republicans could pass a repeal of Obamacare and have it on the president's desk the day he's inaugurated because of Senate procedures with reconciliation of the budget. They can do that with 51 votes. They did it last year as a trial run. The House and the Senate passed it. So we know how to pass or repeal -

COSTELLO: So that's a way of getting past the filibuster - because you now have quite enough votes in the Senate. Democratic folks -

DEMINT: You can legitimately do that because it's a budget item. So, if Republicans don't do that, frankly Carol, there are no more excuses for Republicans. I think that's one of the things that helped Trump get elected is Republicans have been saying, give me the House and we'll do this, then they said, well we don't have the Senate, now we got the Senate, oh, we don't have the White House. There are no more excuses. Obamacare --

COSTELLO: What about the 20 million people who are enrolled in Obamacare? If it's repealed on Mr. Trump's first day in office, what happens to them?

DEMINT: Well, you have to sunset it. And the bill is set up that way where you transition away from it. But most people who have got insurance from Obamacare have just been stuffed in the Medicaid. And the -- private insurance plans, if we create the competitive environment that Trump has talked about, will create better policies at a lower price and so we need to do that. We promised the American people we would do that and if Republicans don't have that on his desk the day he's inaugurated. Then it's a bad start for Republicans.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about the wall because that's another signature idea from Donald Trump. A lot of people don't believe he can actually build a wall because a, it's really expensive and you have to come up with the money from somewhere. And we don't have it right now.

DEMINT: Well, Carol, actually, I helped to pass a law before Bush left the White House that authorized 700 miles of double layer fencing. That means two high fences with a road in the middle so you can patrol it. Part of that, about 35 miles or so, has been built and it's been proven that it actually works. It's not an unfriendly gesture to Mexico. What it is is creating a border just like you have a fence in your backyard that's going to create better neighbors. Right now --

COSTELLO: So it's more realistic that it's not an actual wall but it will be fencing?

DEMINT: Fencing, yes, to build a brick wall is not as secure as a double layer of fencing. And so whatever you call it, we need to control our borders because right now, human trafficking, arms trafficking, drug trafficking and illegal workers are not helping America and so I'm hoping this is something that the Republicans can do right away because it's just a matter of funding a current law.

COSTELLO: Let me ask you about the fear out there from undocumented immigrants who have children born in the United States. They are living in fear right now. Undocumented immigrants, you know,

[10:20:16] children who are brought into this country by their parents, many of them going to college, they fear that at any moment, they will be arrested by INS agents and taken back to a country they don't know. Do they have a right to be fearful?

DEMINT: Well, it's a sad situation, Carol. And as you describe that situation, the one thing we don't want to do is continue to do this for another 10 or 20 years. To drag people in who are not citizens, who don't know how they stand - the process --

COSTELLO: Well, let's just talk about the citizens that are - or not the citizens, the undocumented immigrants that are already here.

DEMINT: The beginning of this discussion has to be to stop it, to control our borders and respect our heritage of immigration by creating a program where people can come and go legally. A number of people who are living and working here now, would like to be on a guest worker program, so they could go home. And that's the way it was traditionally in America.

COSTELLO: But I think most people would agree with that, right?

DEMINT: Most people would.

COSTELLO: But Democrat or Republican - but I'm talking about the 11 million people who are here, who are really scared right now. Who are scared there's going to be this deportation force put together to like, eject them from the country.

DEMINT: Well, I don't think that's going to happen. Trump has emphasized the folks who have committed crimes will be deported. We will do whatever needs to be done in a reasonable way. But everyone seems to defer the conversation about controlling our borders and having an immigration policy by saying oh, what do we do with those who are already here. We can talk about that once we have ability to control our borders and to have a way that we can have legal immigration. There are millions of people waiting to come to America legally. And we make it so hard for them and the people who have come and done it the right way and paid all the money to lawyers to become naturalized citizens, we need to respect what they did when they obeyed the law. So, that's just a philosophy, I think, I believe Trump is going to bring that to the White House but that discussion -

COSTELLO: Let me interrupt you for just a moment because my executive producer, Michelle, is telling me to go to the White House and Athena Jones because you know that big meeting's about to take place. --

DEMINT: That's more important than what we're doing here, I guess.

COSTELLO: I'm so sorry Senator DeMint. So Athena Jones, do you see any action there?

JONES: No action yet. But I'm told that the action could be happening very soon. I'm not clear on whether Donald Trump's plane has already touched down or exactly where he is on route, but I'm getting indications that he may have arrived at least to Washington, D.C. early. And we have been talking about how awkward this meeting could potentially be, because these are two people who have not had a lot of nice things to say about each other. We didn't even get into back in 2011 that White House correspondents dinner where President Obama had some fun making jokes, poking fun at Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: Athena, I'm going to interrupt you for just a second because we are seeing - like a pretty incredible picture, actually. We can take a live picture of the Trump plane in the air about to land right behind me at Reagan National Airport. And of course, then a motorcade will take President-elect Trump on to the White House. So continue, Athena.

JONES: Well, I was just saying, it is interesting to see this is probably unprecedented, president-elect landing in his own plane emblazoned with his name. But this is going to be a very interesting meeting. A lot of attention on this meeting, of course, and this is just one of many meetings that President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will be having today. They are also going to be meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. We know that Vice President-elect Pence is going to be meeting with Vice President Biden. And that Melania Trump is going to be meeting with first lady Michelle Obama, so a lot of talk going on, when it comes to this transition.

And we do expect to hear from the president at the bottom of this meeting. We will certainly see video of the two men sitting side by side in the Oval Office. But we do expect the president could make some brief remarks. Nothing extensive, we are told to expect, but certainly we expect we could hear from them. And there's of course a lot to discuss. We've talked about all of the things that Trump says he wants to change about President Obama's policies but there are also just some nitty-gritty things to talk about when it comes to transition.

It is a massive effort. It's one that the White House team and folks around the White House have been working on for nearly a year. And so, there's a lot to discuss. We also expect that Trump -- President- elect Trump could have some questions of his own. So there's no telling how it's all going to go down. We have been talking about how great it would be to be a fly on the wall in that room given some of the things that the two have said about each other. I think you played it just a few minutes ago. -- We'll see.

COSTELLO: And Athena, -- I just want to talk about this incredible sight we are witnessing because right behind me, Mr. DeMint, and I can see the Trump plane about to land at Reagan National and the motorcade of course, will then take Mr. Trump on to the White House. I also want to bring in Manu Raju, he's CNN's Congressional correspondent, and also a man who knows all about the inner workings of the Oval Office, Chris Christie -- I mean Ron Christie. Not Chris Christie. Ron Christie,

[10:25:16] and he served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush. Hi, Ron.

RON CHRISTIE, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, your feelings as you see Mr. Trump's plane about to land at Reagan National? CHRISTIE: It's an incredible sight, Carol, for having been with President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney on January 20th, 2001. I can tell you this is a very exciting time. It's a very busy time. President-elect right now is on his way to the White House to meet with the President of the United States. They have a lot to talk about. Beyond the 4,000 jobs in the federal bureaucracy that President-elect Trump has to fill, it is how you transition to power. How do we, living in the greatest democracy in the world have that peaceful transition, the handoff of the baton from one president to another?

So, as we look here at the monitor, as we see the plane about to land and about to taxi, this will be a very exciting day for Mr. Trump as well as the Congressional elected leadership as we move to a new legacy, here in the United States of a smooth and very peaceful transition of power.

COSTELLO: And that's a wonderful thing. Ron Christie, you stay right there. Jim DeMint, Wolf Blitzer has joined me. And I'm about to depart from this historic moment.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This is really pretty amazing when you think about it. A lot of people, when he decided he was going to run for president really did not take it all that seriously. A lot of Republicans didn't take it seriously. We know at least 16 or 17 Republican presidential wannabes, senators, governors, didn't take it all that seriously. And all of a sudden, they take it very, very seriously. He got the Republican nomination, and then he became president-elect of the United States and now, he's about to meet with the President of the United States in the Oval Office. I'm sure there will be some other moments. They'll take him on a little tour. This is history.

COSTELLO: Well, this is in a very important moment too because the country is very much divided, you know, thousands of people across the country protested last night. And I wanted to ask you about that, too, Sen. DeMint. -- What do Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama say today that will bring the country together?

DEMINT: Well, just the fact that they're getting together is symbolic. I mean, it should soothe a lot of tensions because there's been no deeper disagreements than between these two during the campaign and they have said some pretty rough things about each other. And the fact that they can put that behind them, and come sit down together, it's a good signal for America, a positive and non-violent transition of power. And I'm hopeful the whole transition will work that way.

COSTELLO: Have you ever experienced a time when the country has been this divided, Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes. The country has been divided on many occasions in our more than 200 year history. There have been major problems and of course, the Civil War, the Vietnam War that deeply divided the country. There's a moment now where the President of the United States and the President-elect and we are about to see it. They can take that first initial step in healing. I know that President Obama wants to do for Donald Trump, the President-elect, what President Bush did for him during that transition. He was very gracious, spent a lot of time, they spoke and President Obama, who was then still a junior Senator from Illinois, was so grateful to president Bush for the way he handled that transition. And based on all the conversations I have had, I know that the -- President Obama wants to do the same thing for the President-elect. Look, they disagree on almost everything. And there's a bitter history there, going back to the whole birther movement and all of that, but you know, that's the past. They both have responsibilities. Right now, they go way beyond -- their personal history, if you will.

COSTELLO: Let's go back out to the White House and check in with Athena Jones. So exactly, how will this meeting go down? We see the Trump plane landing at Reagan National Airport. - Athena is not there? OK, I'll ask Wolf because I'm sure you know the answer to this question. So, how exactly will it go down? Will President Obama come out and greet Mr. Trump and then escort him into -

BLITZER: I'm sure what they are doing, what they have done and there's a whole history. I'm sure that President Obama will want to do almost exactly what President Bush did for him. -- I assume they will walk on that colonnade, outside the Rose Garden. There will be obviously a moment inside the -- in the Oval Office. They will have their meeting. And then the cameras will come in, reporters will come in, there will be that traditional photo opportunity and we will hear from the president. We will probably hear from the president-elect. Reporters will then shout a few questions. We'll see if they answer any of those questions before they are whisked out. That's the tradition. That's what we'll see. And I assume at the same time, the first lady, Michelle Obama, will welcome the incoming first lady, Melania Trump. And they will have a little meeting as well.

COSTELLO: And Mike Pence will meet with Joe Biden today as well.

BLITZER: Yes. And Mike Pence will get ready to move into his residence on Massachusetts Avenue. Not too far away from where we are right now, at that Naval Observatory.