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Trump Team Unveils Top National Security Posts Today; Trump to Meet with Critic Romney This Weekend. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 18, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The Trump administration kicking into high gear just within the past hour. We've seen the Trump White House start to take shape with several key leadership posts offered and accepted. Sources tell us that Trump has chosen Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as the U.S. Attorney General. Critics are sure to bring up claims that Sessions made racially charged comments decades ago.

We've also learned that Trump has asked Congressman Mike Pompeo to be his CIA Director. And there's another national security post expected to be named today. Sources say Trump wants Retired Three Star General Michael Flynn to serve as his national security adviser. Flynn faces strong criticism from his former colleagues, both in the military and in the intelligence communities.

We've got teams at Trump Tower and in D.C., of course, as team Trump starts coming together. Let's start, though, with Sunlen Serfaty. She's live in New York outside of Trump Tower. Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump has been holed up here at Trump Tower all week conducting interview after interview. And now, we can say that the contours of a Trump administration are beginning to take place and beginning to form. We know that Donald Trump has made key posts on three big jobs. And we know this according to sources, but a formal announcement is going to be made later today.

And even though he has chosen Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, and Mike Pompeo to be among his staff, there are still many, many, many positions left to be filled. And that is, in part, why Donald Trump has called for a two-hour meeting here at Trump Tower today with his full transition staff where he will, very likely, be reviewing some other top choices for these still vacant posts.

This weekend, Donald Trump is headed to his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey where he will be continuing to huddle with his team, and notably, with Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, who has been said to be under consideration for Secretary of State, Carol, a job that he has told people he would be interested in. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty reporting live from Trump Tower. Sources also telling CNN that Mike Pompeo has accepted the role of CIA Director. We go to CNN Politics Executive Editor Mark Preston with more on that. Good morning.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Hey, good morning, Carol. Yes, no doubt, but I can give you two different stories of Mike Pompeo. He's a third-term Congressman from Kansas, serves on the House Select Intelligence Committee.

He also served on the Benghazi Committee that looked into Hillary Clinton's involvement in, of course, the attacks where we lost lives over there, as well. He's been very critical of Hillary Clinton, said that she put politics ahead of the American people. He also went on to say that she didn't act when American lives were on the line. He's also been very critical of President Barack Obama's decision to ease sanctions on Iran. He thinks that sanctions should be a lot tougher.

And what's interesting is that he did not initially support Donald Trump, Carol, during the beginning of this presidential campaign. He supported Marco Rubio. But when Donald Trump became the nominee, Mike Pompeo, of course, got behind him.

Now, having said all that, I did speak to somebody who actually went to college with him at West Point. He talks about Mike Pompeo in very glowing terms, says he's a stand-up guy, described him as a patriot and noted several times that he was first in his class at West Point, as well as having gone to Harvard Law School. So you can be sure that during these confirmation hearings that he will be asked over and over again about his line of questioning with Hillary Clinton in the Benghazi Committee, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Mark Preston reporting live from Washington. Thanks so much. All right. So we also know that Trump has picked, for the U.S. Attorney General, Senator Jeff Sessions. We're going to get to Evan Perez in just -- oh, Evan Perez is here to talk more about that. Good morning, Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Well, one of the picks that Donald Trump has made is for Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Right now, he is a Senator from Alabama. He's a former U.S. attorney, so he does have a history inside the Justice Department.

But one of the more interesting things about picking Sessions is that, just a few months ago, here on the air on CNN, he was calling for a more thorough investigation of the Clinton Foundation. So now, if he's confirmed as Attorney General, he's going to be in a position to do something about that. As you remember, that was a big part of the campaign, certainly for Donald Trump, claiming that the Clinton Foundation was part of a corrupt system, part of the way Hillary Clinton was corrupting the State Department.

Obviously, that is something that the FBI has been taking a look at. It's not an investigation that's gone very far but, Carol, now that Jeff Sessions is picked for Attorney General and if he is confirmed by the Senate, which we expect to be very likely obviously, it is going to be something that's going to be interesting to watch to see whether or not he makes a move to more thoroughly investigate the Clinton Foundation, and bring that whole thing back up. [09:05:04] Now, some of other picks, Mike Pompeo is not somebody who

is very well known here as far as national security credentials. He is a Harvard-educated lawyer. He is well liked by his colleagues. He wasn't initially a Donald Trump supporter, so it's interesting that Donald Trump decided to go in that direction. And we expect, simply because he is a member of the House of Representatives, he's going to come with some built-in support on Capitol Hill, which makes his confirmation probably a little more likely and more easy than some of the other names that were being floated out there.

And Mike Flynn, obviously, is national security adviser. We know him well. We've seen him out there yelling out, "Lock her up," at the RNC convention. It is a pick that, obviously, is going to get a lot of reaction, including from Democrats on the Hill who say that his temperament doesn't seem to fit the job. There's also a lot of questions about him doing speaking engagements and sitting with Vladimir Putin in the last few months.

He did an engagement over there, working for Russia today. He was paid by them to appear at an event Moscow. And so those questions are now -- those appearances are now being raised, simply because, obviously, one of the big, big questions for Donald Trump is how is he going to deal with Russia and Russia's blatant attempt to interfere in the U.S. elections by hacking into the DNC. At least that' the finding by the U.S. Intelligence Committee. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez, thanks so much. So let's talk about all of this. With me now, Laura Coates, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. David Swerdlick is here. He's a CNN political commentator and assistant editor at "The Washington Post." And General Mark Hertling joins me as well. He's a CNN military analyst and former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and the Seventh Army.

And just to review for our viewers, because I know that went by very quickly, so Jeff Sessions, Mr. Trump wants him to serve as Attorney General. General Mike Flynn as the national security adviser. Mr. Trump wants him in that role. And he wants Mike Pompeo to be the CIA Director.

Now, keep in mind that the national security adviser does not have to be approved by Congress. So Mike Flynn's an in if, of course, Mike Flynn says yes, right?

So let's start with Jeff Sessions, though, as Attorney General, Laura. Because 30 years ago, Sessions chances at being a federal judge were sunk after a Justice Department prosecutor testified to Congress that Sessions called the NAACP un-American because, quote, "They try to force civil rights down the throats of people." And because Sessions reportedly joked to the prosecutor that the Ku Klux Klan was OK, until he found out that members of the Ku Klux Klan smoked pot. So this happened a very long time ago, Laura, so how much will this be a factor?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Carol, there's two different points in time now. Of course, you got the confirmation hearings where already has the benefit of having Republican-led Congress, which probably makes him a shoo-in for the position. But then you've got the issue of actually what happens when he indeed runs, if he is confirmed, the Department of Justice.

Remember, there have been two things that have been the hallmark of the Eric Holder and now Loretta Lynch administrations when running the Department of Justice. And that has been a concerted effort to reverse some of the effects of the Omnibus Crime Bill and the mandatory minimum sentences, and also with a push towards immigration reform, neither of which Jeff Sessions has been a fan of.

In fact, he is somebody who has been very vocal about the immigration reform movement and also about being opposed to drug minimums and the reform of justice system.

But this is also a person who appears to be respected by his colleagues in the Senate. And since those particular comments were made back in the '80s during the Reagan administration, he was elected to the Senate numerous times. So there will be an issue about whether or not he will have the faith of the people. And that's going to be one of the most difficult things for him to overcome.

Remember, the Civil Rights Division, which I used to be a part of, is one of the hallmarks of the Justice Department. And they have been very, very visible in their efforts to ensure that they do not have selective enforcement or that there is excessive force used against members of minority communities.

So if you have somebody with a history of either having called somebody a boy when he was a U.S. attorney, or has viewpoints that are quite polarizing to anybody in the civil rights community, you will have a real halt of momentum, and, in fact, a reversal of the faith that has been placed in the Justice department under Holder and Loretta lynch.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's move on to Mike Pompeo because he's being offered the job of CIA Director. He's a staunch opponent of the Iran deal. He was opposed to closing Guantanamo Bay. And he's a supporter of the NSA's bulk collection program. David, what do you make of this?

DAVID SWERDLICK, ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: So I actually don't have as good of a read on Representative Pompeo as I have on some of the other appointments.

[09:10:00] I'll only say that when it comes to the Iran deal, look, if you have someone who is an opponent of the Iran deal, if you have President-elect Trump who has said repeatedly on the campaign trail that this is one of the worst deals he's ever seen or one of the worst deals in American foreign policy history, what I wonder is, if the administration is going to move forward and try to either renegotiate that or change their posture toward Iran, what is their strategy going forward?

With a lot of these appointments, Carol, I see less of a challenge for both the administration and the Congress in terms of the individuals or the personalities, and more of a challenge on how they're going to get everybody on the same page policy wise. That, I think, remains to be seen because I think that President-elect Trump and a lot of these things still remain an open book.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's move on to Mike Flynn, the retired general. And General Hertling, President Obama fired Flynn for his contentious leadership style. Flynn says he was fired because he criticized Obama's policies. But there is a worry that General Flynn is extreme, especially when it comes to Islam. Here's what he said back in August.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. MICHAEL FLYNN (Ret), FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: Islam is a political ideology. It is a political ideology. It definitely hides behind this notion of it being a religion. I don't see a lot of people screaming Jesus Christ with, you know, hatchets or machetes or rifles shooting up clubs or ratcheting, you know, literally axing families on a train. OK? So it's like cancer. And it's like a malignant cancer, though, in this case. It has metastasized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So, General, this kind of rhetoric along with the idea of a Muslim registry frightens many Americans. What should we expect?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (Ret), FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL OF U.S. ARMY EUROPE AND THE SEVENTH ARMY: Well, first, Carol, I'd like to back up a little bit because I've heard a lot of people say that Mike Flynn was fired as the DIA Director. He was not. He was replaced. There was no contentious issues that caused him to be fired, as it were. But, yes, they felt a change was necessary, so he was asked to retire a little bit earlier than he thought.

But, yes, he is a very top notch tactical intelligence staff officer. He's very good. He's very energetic in terms of gathering and assessing and disseminating intelligence. What's been troubling lately, though, is, I think, since his retirement, he has undertaken a demeanor and some actions that have been a little bit troubling, and perhaps even boarding on unprofessional in the way he's attacked the current administration and the way he said things and the places where he's gone.

So, yes, some of the comments on Muslim activity, in my view, are counterproductive in terms of what we're trying to do on the war against Islamism, not all Muslims but the radical sect. And I think it's troubling because may of allies are in fact Muslims. A good portion of the world are. And, in fact, as a commander of a tank division a couple of years ago, I had about 300 Muslims within my rank with several Muslim chaplains that were wearing the uniform of our country. So that's not very helpful.

So that issue, I think, Mike has got to tone it down just a little bit if he's going to be the national security adviser and provide information to the new President. If I can comment on Congressman Pompeo as well? He is a West Point

graduate, as Mark Preston said. He's also a --

COSTELLO: General, can we save that until the next block? Because I'm going to shore my panel over to the next block.

HERTLING: Sure. OK.

COSTELLO: But I just want to get this question to David right now. David Axelrod tweeted a couple of minutes ago. He was a former top aide, of course, to President Obama. He said, quote, in his tweet, "Donald Trump is sticking with those who brought him to the dance, but to many Americans, it will seem a Monster's Ball." What does he mean by that?

SWERDLICK: OK. Well, David Axelrod has the benefit of having been a part of a transition and having understood very well what it means to make selections that will influence the administration. What I think he probably means by that is that, you know, Trump clearly values loyalty. That's been the story all along. And these are folks that he feels are going to serve him well, that he can trust. Either he knows them, they've been supporters of his early on, or they're people who his supporters trust.

I think the challenge, though, is, is that if President-elect Trump is going to be the President of the whole country as he says he wants to be and sort of broaden his reach, govern in a way that was different than these sort of us versus them campaign that he ran for the last year, year and a half, then I think it's interesting and maybe discouraging.

And maybe that's what our colleague David Axelrod is saying, that he's picking people like, say, Senator Sessions who, as Laura said, was not confirmed as a Republican nominee by a Republican Senate for comments that he made that were racially charged or alleged to have made.

And then, and someone like General Flynn who as General Hertling said needs to tone it down with his rhetoric on Muslims and General Flynn also, you know, let's talk about the fact that he was President Obama who nominated General Flynn as the director of -- sorry the agency -- the Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency.

[09:15:12] He was an Obama appointee, but then became an Obama critic and I wonder how that will play as he -- if he becomes national security adviser, Carol, what will happen if he winds up disagreeing with President-elect Trump on particular national security issues related to the Middle East.

COSTELLO: OK. So, David, Mark, and, Laura, stick around because we're going to continue this conversation after a break.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM, a lot going on inside Trump tower as the president-elect's national security team takes shape. I'll have much more after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: All right. A lot happening in Trump Tower in New York City this morning. Mr. Trump will hold a two-hour meeting to talk about -- to talk to his transition team and perhaps name more members that -- name more people that he wants to serve on his White House staff and in cabinet positions.

[09:20:03] You know, it's seemingly taking shape this morning. Mr. Trump picked Congress Mike Pompeo to be CIA director. He picked Congressman Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general, and he picked General Mike Flynn to be his national security adviser. General Flynn has not said yet as far as we know, but we'll see.

And of course, then this weekend, he'll travel and he'll meet with Mitt Romney. So, it's going to be a very interesting couple of days for Donald Trump.

My panel is back with me now to talk about this and more. Laura Coates, David Swerdlick and General Mark Hertling.

General Hertling, I want to talk about General Flynn, because I think that this is -- this is Mr. Trump's most important pick so far. And I want to center on -- on Russia and General Flynn, because after Flynn left the Obama administration, he started this international consulting firm. He took the speaking engagement, including several on a Kremlin-run propaganda TV channel RT or Russia television, right?

And then afterwards, he attended this gala and he dined with Vladimir Putin, pictures were taken, photos that were later used by Putin as a propaganda tool.

So, a lot of people are worried about this, General. Your thoughts?

HERTLING: Well, I think mike was asked to be an analyst for RT just like you all asked me to be an analyst for CNN. The difference is --

COSTELLO: But RT is a state-run television --

HERTLING: Well, that's where I was going -- and I think unfortunately he was probably set up a little bit by going to Russia, talking with RT, and then being pulled into this dinner with a great propaganda value with Mr. Putin. That's what he was doing.

And it's become unfortunate. I know it has negatively affected many of our NATO and European allies. They see this as additional cozying up with Mr. Putin when there certainly needs to be a little bit of informed, perhaps distancing with Russia until Mr. Putin goes by the Minsk agreement and maybe does a little bit more coordination regarding what's going on in Syria.

But again, this was his post-retirement attempt at getting a job. So, you can't fault him for that. But you can fault him for is being sucked in to the orbit of a foreign leader that the U.S. government is not too happy with.

COSTELLO: Well, Laura, there's also this, this tweet that Flynn sent out in July I believe that has people wondering, too. So, this is what General Flynn sent out in July. He tweeted, "In the next 24 hours, I dare Arab and Persian world leaders to step up to the plate and declare their Islamic ideology sick and must be healed."

Laura, thoughts?

COATES: Well, you know, people talk about having to tone down rhetoric. I don't think it's a matter of toning it down. I think it's a matter of having the wrong opinion and the wrong viewpoint with respect to religion that is particularly prominent throughout the entire world. Not simply this country.

And the general just pointed out, there are people who are among our armed forces who are devoted patriots to this country, and to have somebody to demonize a religion based on extremism, I think is inappropriate, and doesn't set a good tone for the diplomatic efforts that our president-elect will have to solidify going forward.

COSTELLO: Well, David, Mitt Romney is rumored to be on the list for some sort of position. Could he balance Flynn?

SWERDLICK: I think he would balance the administration. I don't know if he specifically balances General Flynn, but look Mitt Romney, as a former governor, and former head of the Olympic Committee in Salt Lake -- he did his Mormon mission in France, so he has, you know, many years ago, but he has lived overseas, and he was the nominee of the Republican Party, this is one person in this constellation of people that you can probably fairly describe as an elder statesman certainly in the Republican Party.

And I think that if there's a potential appointment to be offered, a senior cabinet level position, that is an encouraging sign in the Trump administration. If this just winds up being a meeting between the 2012 nominee and the 2016 winner of the presidential election, just to smooth over what was obviously some conflict back in March when Governor Romney denounced Donald Trump publicly in a speech, then I think that's also good. But then it's less significant.

I think Governor Romney would be a strong candidate for secretary of HHS, for secretary of the treasury or as has been rumored, secretary of state. But I think they would have to jump over some hurdles and get some things worked out before it wound up being that he was nominated for one of these positions.

COSTELLO: Yeah, because it's, you know, the things that Mitt Romney said about Donald Trump and vice versa.

SWERDLICK: Right.

COSTELLO: Again it, it boggles the mind that these two men could actually now work together and actually listen to one another, David.

[09:25:02] SWERDLICK: Well, look, whenever Mitt Romney -- I have criticized Mitt Romney in the past. There are things he made certainly politic mistakes when he was running for president. But I think it's fair to say that this is a smart guy. This is a guy who understands how these things work, and that he -- look one thing you can say about Governor Romney is that he made his position clear in March.

So if he goes in to the administration now, you know, without knowing more, I think it's fair to say this is not someone who owes something to President-elect Trump. And right now, President-elect Trump doesn't owe him anything if he winds up being offered a position, then I -- I would -- without knowing more, I would assume that he feels like he could serve well in that rule, serve the country if not -- if not agreeing with President-elect Trump on every single foreign policy issue.

There will be issues down the road. Presidents and their secretaries of state certainly disagree. You had smaller disagreements between Secretary Clinton and President Obama but all in all, you know, they worked well together. Same you can say with Secretary Colin Powell and President George W. Bush.

COSTELLO: So, so, Laura, would Mitt Romney's presence in a Trump administration soothe the nerves of people who are frightened out there in our country?

COATES: You know possibly. I'm a public servant. And I know that Mitt Romney says that he is as well and indeed is. He has a record of being so.

And I think that if you really do believe that there is a necessity to be a gate keeper or a buffer between Donald Trump's more polarizing ideology, and the rest of the world and our nation, then you do have a duty to act as a gate keeper or as a buffer who can actually guide the hand of the president, advise appropriately, and ease the mind of people who fear that those polarizing viewpoints will impact not only the national security of our nation and our armed forces, but also jeopardize our global position.

I think that Mitt Romney could serve in that position, in that capacity with full faith and credit of the American people, especially because he was somebody who was so vocal against Donald Trump and we're not perceiving him to be somebody who simply trying to aggrandize himself for selfish reasons. If anything, secretary of state is the person who would help somebody who lacks in foreign policy experience navigate this very, very uphill battle that we have advisers who have anti-Islamic, and -- and polarizing sentiments.

COSTELLO: OK. With that, the former Michigan congressman, he's a Democrat, mind you, his name is John Dingell, you remember him. He just tweet, this out, quote, "Forget the basket. The true deplorable ones end up in the cabinet."

So, so, General Hertling, with what you know about General Mike Flynn and Congressman Mike Pompeo, is that fair?

HERTLING: No, it's not fair at all just yet, Carol. I'm -- I'm willing -- I mean I haven't been a supporter of Mr. Trump. But I'm willing to give him a chance as our current president has asked us all to do. It's just an interesting lineup that we're seeing so far.

And it seems a little bit, to me, heavy on the military peak. Talking about Congressman Pompeo, like I said he was a West Point graduate. He was probably there when I was teaching there in '86 and then went on to Harvard Law. He's a very smart guy but he has made some interesting comments about the Iran deal, he has been one of the bashers of both Obama and Clinton over the last several years and he came in on the wave of tea partiers, even asked along with Senator Cotton to go to Iran and meet with their leaders there after the deal was in place.

So, I'm just a little bit concerned that we've got sort of a lot of teeing up together especially with almost what seems to be an extensive emphasis on hard power versus an informed soft power approach with diplomacy.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. David Swerdlick, Mark Hertling, Laura Coates -- thanks to all of you.

I'll be right back.

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