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Russia: "Prove it or Stop Talking" on Hacking Elections; Trump in Mobile for Thank You Tour; Pentagon: China to Return U.S. Drone; Obama Lays Blame for Hacking on Putin; Trump's Secretary of State Pick Close to Russia, Putin; Wintry Blast Wreaking Havoc on Northern U.S. Roads; Trump Renews Rivalry with "Vanity Fair"; Poll: 63 Percent of Americans Think Trump Twitter Use Inappropriate. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 17, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. So, glad you're with us.

Coming up this hour, President-elect Donald Trump lands in Mobile, Alabama, for the final stop of his Thank You tour with a huge rally planned at the football stadium where he once packed 30,000 people during his campaign.

But this victory tour comes at a time of heightened tension between the United States and two major players on the world stage. We're talking about China and Russia.

Let's begin in China at this hour. The Pentagon is waiting for Beijing to return a U.S. drone, a drone that it seized off the coast of the Philippines. China says the U.S., quote, "hyped the issue," and promises to give the drone back. But the president-elect has already weighed in on Twitter today, writing, quote, "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters, rips it out of the water, and takes it to China in an unprecedented act."

You will recall Trump has already angered Beijing twice, first, taking a call from Taiwan's president, and then questioning the legitimacy of the One-China policy.

And then there is Russia. The kremlin sending this message to Washington about claims that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election, prove it or, quote, "stop talking."

Trump, for his part, continues to dismiss the U.S. assessment that Russia is responsible for campaign hacking, instead, diverting attention back to something gleaned from those e-mails stolen by Russia, tweeting, quote, "Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that the head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions for a debate?

A lot to get to this hour. We're covering every angle.

Let's begin with our Ryan Nobles, live at the site of Trump's rally in Mobile, Alabama.

Ryan, President Obama vowed retaliation in that press conference yesterday against Russia, really doubling down. What is Trump's team saying about that?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're largely staying quiet on the issue itself, in responding directly to what President Obama had pas you know, Poppy, they're trying to stay as far away as they can from intelligence that says that Russia hacked the election. They don't want in any way to delegitimize the president-elect's win.

Today, on CNN, Sean Spicer, one of President-elect Trump's top spokesmen, and likely the next press secretary, was asked directly, would Donald Trump attempt some sort of response to Russia's action during this hack President Obama has promised? This is how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, CHIEF STRATEGIST & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think to presume that he's going to do anything at this point would be premature. He's not president yet.

President Obama has every right to carry out the duties as he sees fit, based on the information he has through the rest of his term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And so a rather noncommittal response from Sean Spicer.

We'll have to see if Trump talks about Russia and what President Obama had to say at that final press conference at this event in Mobile, Alabama.

As you mentioned, Poppy, this was a football stadium where Donald Trump packed some 30,000 people back people back in August of 2015. The weather has been a little dicey here today. We've seen rain pop in and that may suppress the turnout a little bit. But Donald Trump would like to come back to this football stadium to thank these supporters who were among the first to get behind his campaign in a big way. We expect the president-elect to be here in Alabama within the hour -- Poppy?

HARLOW: Ryan Nobles, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

I remember that day. I think that was when Jeff Sessions was the first sitting Senator to endorse then-candidate Trump.

Thank you very much, Ryan.

At a press conference Friday, President Obama addressed the Russian hacking controversy, pointing the finger directly at the highest levels of the Russian government. Listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin. This is a pretty hierarchal operation. The last I checked, there's not a lot of debate and democratic deliberation, particularly when it comes to policies directed at the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is live tonight for us in Moscow. Almost midnight there.

Any response yet from the kremlin to what the president said? Clearly, without saying Putin did it, he said Putin did it.

[15:04:49] CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He did. And so far, there hasn't been any official response. And I wouldn't necessarily expect to hear one, because what the Russians are saying and have said all along, since these allegations first reared their head, like two months ago, back in October, is there's absolutely no proof, which is the same thing that President-elect Trump is saying. And in the absence of any tangible physical evidence, the Russians have said they find it offensive that these allegations continue. You heard the kremlin spokesperson just yesterday saying, either prove it or stop with the allegations. He went on to call them indecent. They have dismissed them as ludicrous nonsense.

And the narrative that really is being pedaled here in Russia on kremlin-backed state TV is that essentially this is an attempt for the Obama administration to try to poison the well, sour relations between the U.S. and Russia ahead of an anticipated warming of the relationship with the election of Donald Trump.

And they're also essentially trying to cast this as more Russia- bashing, evidence of the fact that they see the Obama administration as being very anti-Russian in its policies and an attempt to hide from the American viewer or distract the American viewer from all the deep- seated domestic problems going on internally within the U.S.

So, no official response yet. But if we do hear anything, I think you might get a biting or acerbic remark, but no shift in Russia's stance.

HARLOW: No shift in Russia's stance, but this comes at an interesting time. We're over 30 days out from a new president taking the reins here in the United States, Clarissa, a president who has a very different view of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin than President Obama does. And who has nominated a secretary of state who says sanctions against Russia are not effective and we should be careful in placing them.

Is there concern in Moscow tonight about more U.S. sanctions or do they look at President-elect Trump and his nominee for secretary of state and say that will never happen?

WARD: I think there's two things they look at. The first thing they look at is that President Obama is seen by the Kremlin as being a weak president. And he is seen as someone who has not enforced tough punishments on the Russians despite a number of red lines that they've crossed, whether it be the one in Syria, whether it be annexing Crimea, which did precipitate U.S. sanctions against Russia, which haven't changed Russian foreign policy at all.

I think President Putin understands fully well that even if President Obama did decide to implement or enforce further sanctions that could be wider-spread, in hitting their banking industry, for example, President-elect Trump would be likely to repeal those. I don't think Putin is particularly concerned at this time about how President Obama plans to respond to this -- Poppy?

HARLOW: You're absolutely right.

Clarissa Ward, live for us in Moscow. Clarissa, thanks so much.

Let's talk it over with our panel, CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, is with us, former Homeland Security assistant secretary; also, CNN commentator, Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker"; and Kayleigh McEnany, a Donald Trump supporter and a CNN political commentator.

Thank you so much, guys, for being here.

Juliette, you argue there are two attacks, the hack itself, and then there is the attack in terms of Vladimir Putin getting Trump to basically say to the entire community and the United States, I don't really trust your intelligence. Which one do you think does more harm to this country long term?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think the second. There is no question about it. What Vladimir Putin has been able to do is to get Donald Trump, who is unwilling or unable, who has had a series of, I would say, confused responses, from denying it happened to saying it was the 400-pound guy, to yesterday saying it happened but we got to learn more about Hillary Clinton, that it basically has brought about this scenario, which is just shocking. The president- elect has undermined or ignored an entire intelligence apparatus. Now the FBI concurs with CIA, ODNI, director of National Intelligence, DHS, and about 18 other intelligence agencies. What that says for the long term is that Trump will have no credibility going to other leaders in the future saying, look, my intel is telling me this, you need to stop doing this, or with our allies, you need to join forces with me because my intel is telling me this. And they're all going to be able to say, are those the same people that you threw under the bus, you know, leading up to your presidency?

So, to me, this is the more damning and long term difficulty with Trump's what I would say is a confused response to what's going on.

HARLOW: To that point, we saw John Brennan, the head of the CIA, send this internal memo to his staff this week saying, "Just so you know, we, the FBI, the director of National Intelligence, are all on the same page on the major points of the Russian hack." Obviously, the FBI and the CIA differ a bit when it comes to the actual proving the intent of them. Kayleigh, on what Juliette just said, what do you want to hear from

Donald Trump when he does hold - whenever his first press conference will be -- about this? Because you said he needs to choose his first words -- outside of Twitter, his first public words on the hack, very carefully. What should he say?

[15:10:30] KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, that's undoubtedly true. I think when he's first asked about this, be it his press secretary or him asked about it in a press conference, he needs to acknowledge what is the consensus of the entire intel community, that the attacks happened. That is a fact, they happened. The DNC was hacked.

That being said, Democrats also need to acknowledge the other fact, what President Obama said very clearly yesterday, and that was no voter machines were tampered with, every vote that was cast was counted, and it was counted accurately.

So, the frustration I think on Donald Trump's part and some Republicans' parts is that you do have some Democrats, namely John podesta, saying the electors need to be briefed on this, politicizing the fact that it happened. But it did not affect the election or the counting of ballots. So, Republicans need to acknowledge the former fact and the Democrats need to acknowledge the latter.

HARLOW: As we know, ahead of the electors voting on Monday, we learned yesterday that they will not be getting that briefing that some of them had been calling for.

Ryan, what about critics of the Obama administration who say that he didn't handle this attack on our electoral process correctly, that he had eight years to get tougher on Russia, and there was the obviously failed attempt at a Russia reset. Were there ample opportunities for this administration to take a harder line on Russia so that Vladimir Putin wouldn't be looking at what he deems to be a weak president?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The response that he could have -0 what he could have done is respond to the cyberattacks when the intelligence community in October came out with a consensus statement saying they knew it was Russia and they knew it was ordered at the highest levels of Russia, which means Vladimir Putin. And the decision then, as a lot of the reporting has shown, they dithered. They didn't know what to do or how to respond. Would it have interfered with the election even more if President Obama had launched some significant retaliatory cyber strike or some other retaliation against Russia for this meddling, would it have been seen in the United States strictly in political terms as a way to help Hillary Clinton? That seems to have been their concern.

I think hovering in the background was they believed Hillary Clinton was going to win so they didn't want to create that issue. I think now that the election is over, he has until January 20th, and it does sound like, from everything the administration has said publicly and what's been reported anonymously, that they are coming up with some options beyond just the so-called naming and shaming that they've been doing since October, but some kind of retaliatory strike. This is a whole new world, Poppy. Obama is going to sort of -- he's

the first president that's sort of had to really come up with options after a cyber strike. We did it with North Korea. And, you know, there has been some suggestions that we've done it covertly with other entities.

HARLOW: The question becomes, what happens in 30-plus days when he's no longer the sitting president? Will we see any of that carried through by President-elect Trump?

Thank you, guys. Juliette Kayyem, Kayleigh McEnany, Ryan Lizza, we appreciate it.

We have a lot ahead this hour.

LIZZA: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: President-elect Donald Trump about to land in Alabama for a huge rally. What does he think of President Obama's vow to retaliate against Russia for hacking? We are standing by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:45] HARLOW: Welcome back. Live pictures out of Mobile, Alabama. President-elect Donald Trump landing there a short time ago for this final stop of his Thank You tour. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, an early Trump supporter, the first sitting Senator to endorse then-candidate Trump, now, of course, Trump's pick for attorney general, he will stand alongside Trump at this stop. We'll stay on top of that, bring it life to you when it begins.

In the meantime, with rising tensions between the United States and Russia, there is renewed focus on the president-elect's pick for secretary of state, Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The worked together. If confirmed, he will be well-positioned to push back against current sanctions against Russia, which would allow his former company to move forward with billions of dollars of deals. Of course, he would have to leave Exxon should he become secretary of state.

Joining me on the phone, someone who knows Rex Tillerson and the oil business extremely well, T. Boone Pickens, the chairman of B.P. Capital Management.

Good to have you with me. Thanks for joining me from the middle of a snowstorm in Texas.

T. BOONE PICKENS, CHAIRMAN, B.P. CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (voice-over): Sure. Thank you.

HARLOW: Tillerson's nomination has drawn comparisons to Dwight Eisenhower picking the CEO of General Motors for his defense secretary. Because when asked about conflicts of interest, the man known as Engine Charlie Wilson, famously said, "For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice- versa." Do you think Rex Tillerson subscribes to the same philosophy that

what's good for Exxon-Mobil is good for America or do you think he can and will truly separate the interests of big oil and business from the interests of the country?

PICKENS: First, Poppy, I was there. I remember Engine Charlie. So, I do remember.

Rex Tillerson, you know, he's winding up his career with Exxon. And this is a fabulous opportunity for him to serve the country. And he is highly qualified. But he isn't just, you know, secretary of state for Russia. I mean, he's secretary of state for the United States and the world. So Tillerson is well-trained. You can go back and look at his record, it's been immaculate. He starts out as an Eagle Scout. And that was kind of his -- the way he followed his career through Exxon and all, and CEO of Exxon. But he will go from Exxon to a very highly dedicated secretary of state for this country.

HARLOW: What about those concerns? And I'm not just talking about concerns among Democrats. I'm talking about concerns among very well- respected sitting U.S. Republican Senators, like Lindsey Graham, like John McCain, about his deep ties to Russia, ties you know well. He has made millions of dollars for Exxon and millions of dollars for himself because of huge deals that he has inked with big Russian oil companies whose stakeholder is the Russian government. How does he separate himself from that totally, even if he doesn't still have financial ties, just that friendship and mindset?

[15:20:18] PICKENS: Poppy, let me tell you, Rex Tillerson has negotiated extremely hard against the Russians. He hasn't given anything away. He hasn't given anything away for Exxon or anything else. He has, you know, many hours of negotiation with Putin and others in the Russian government. So, I don't have any problem about Tillerson. He's prepared to go, he's prepared to take the assignment. And it will be 100 percent for the United States State Department. I can't say it any clearer than that.

HARLOW: So you don't think he would have any hesitation, for example, to institute tougher sanctions against Russia? Because as you know, he's questioned the effectiveness of sanctions multiple times just in recent years, specifically sanctions against Russia.

PICKENS: No. I do not. I have no fear of his serving for this country.

HARLOW: Do you want to grab a sip of water while I ask you this next question? It sounds like you have a frog in your throat.

Are you with us, T. Boone?

PICKENS: I'm with you. I'm right here.

HARLOW: All right. So, it's interesting, because you recently said it would be tough to find someone more uniquely qualified to serve as secretary of state than Rex Tillerson. Now, he doesn't have diplomatic experience, neither does the president-elect. You said, look, I don't want any more politicians as president of this country right now.

PICKENS: I mean --

HARLOW: Outside of the qualifications of being a businessman making these deals, any concern that he doesn't have any diplomacy experience?

PICKENS: Look, Tillerson is -- you know, he served at Exxon. He was CEO. He's out. His term is just about up. He will be replaced. There will be no -- he moves on in life. And what an opportunity to serve the United States and the State Department. As well-qualified as Rex is, incredible to have a person in that role that he will now serve.

HARLOW: Let me ask you a little bit about this election in general, because you are vocal during the election. And you talked a lot about both candidates. One of the things you said during the election is, you said, "Donald Trump always overestimates how successful he is." But you supported him ultimately. You said, "I'm tired of having politicians as the president of the United States."

Now you don't have a president who is a politician. What is the first thing you believe Donald Trump should do when he takes office that you think will benefit the most Americans when it comes to jobs?

PICKENS: You know, I supported Trump. I was not. Originally, I supported Bush. But I switched over to Trump. And I was right there. I wanted to see him win. I think he's the guy who has unusual qualities. I know him personally. And I think he, too, is ready to serve. And this country is fed up with politicians.

HARLOW: But what's the number-one thing he can do to help most Americans?

PICKENS: The number one? You know, you can grow out jobs and things like that. That's all important, extremely important. But, you know, the worst growth period this country has ever had was Obama. Eight years of Obama, and we had no growth. So here it's going to -- the Republicans are going to have to produce. That's all there is to it. You can't -- you can't just --

HARLOW: T. Boone, how can you say we had no growth under President Obama? He and his administration and his team and American businesses helped lift this country out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

PICKENS: You got upset with that answer, didn't you?

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: I want the facts.

PICKENS: OK. The facts are, there's been no growth in the economy. And --

HARLOW: Almost 11 million new jobs created. PICKENS: I know, you can say you can have 22 million new jobs. But,

no, the record of Obama has been pitiful as far as the economy in America. You have -- we've got to move. You can't move at 1percent a year. You've got to -- Donald Trump is going to have to move us at 3, 4, 5 percent. And --

[15:25:20] HARLOW: The economy grew 3 percent last quarter.

PICKENS: Last quarter. Not for the last eight years. That's just one quarter. But -- it hasn't. No, we haven't had any growth of any -- you know, it has not -- it has not been a good period for the country. And -- you will -- I mean, I really believe that Donald Trump, he's going to show you he's going to do something. You asked me what -- there's got to be a tax change, a huge tax change. And I think that will occur. I think it will happen pretty fast.

HARLOW: All right. T. Boone Pickens, I'm out of time. The numbers don't reflect that there's been no growth. There's been job creation. You say it will be better under President-elect Trump. It would be great if we have more for the American people. Come back and join me in a year and let's hope that is the case.

PICKENS: OK.

HARLOW: T. Boone Pickens, I appreciate you joining me. Thank you.

Coming up, a travel nightmare, as snow, ice, and freezing rain lead to a 55-car pileup in Baltimore. At least two people dead in a massive accident. We'll get a live update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:44] HARLOW: You're looking at live pictures. Maybe they'll pull out a little bit because there is a very cool scene -- there you go -- of people greeting Donald Trump as he landed. The president- elect there in Mobile, Alabama, for his final stop on his Thank You rally. We'll bring you that live in just a moment.

Meantime, back on the east coast, a wintry blast across the nation wreaking havoc on U.S. highways, creating slick road conditions that have claimed at least three lives. At least two of those fatalities happened in this 55-vehicle crash on an icy stretch of I-95 in Baltimore, leaving the interstate there shut down for hours because of the pileup that included a tanker truck that burst into flames.

Our Sara Ganim.

Sara, I know you're in New York on an icky winter day for all of us. So, treacherous, dangerous on the roads today. What do we know about this fiery crash?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORERSPONDENT: Well, we know, Poppy, the parts of I- 95 near Baltimore are still shut down as police investigate. State police tell CNN they're looking into whether the tanker truck, which clearly slid off the road and burst into flames, whether it caused the pileup or was the result of it. 11 people hospitalized, two people died. That wasn't the only multi-car pileup across the country today caused by these icy conditions.

In northern Virginia, there was another 23-car pileup in which a person was also killed. State police there saying that a driver involved in the pileup appeared to have left his vehicle and was later found dead on the road. Thankfully, the rest of the people involved only received minor injuries. It was one of 41 crashes alone in Virginia that were investigated today for icy conditions.

And across the country, in Minneapolis, Indiana, we had similar reports of crashes caused by icy road conditions.

Here in New York City, as the day went on, the temperatures began to rise and the snow turned into rain. And thankfully, tomorrow, temperatures are going to rise. We're expected to see temperatures here in New York in the 60s tomorrow. A high of 60 tomorrow. So, that is just a little bit of good news for all those last-minute Christmas shoppers --Poppy?

HARLOW: Pretty wild weather.

Sara Ganim, thank you for that. We'll keep you posted on the deadly crash as well.

Coming up, Donald Trump slams China for stealing a drone from the U.S. Navy. How is China reacting? They say they're going to give the drone back to the U.S. We'll get a live report from Beijing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:31] HARLOW: China is going to give back a piece of American equipment, a drone that their Navy picked up out of the ocean this week. Pretty wild. That's according to the Pentagon, who says that both sides have been in touch, and that the underwater drone will be returned. Chinese officials say the U.S. made more of the incident than they believe it really was.

President-elect Donald Trump taking to Twitter this morning and writing, "China steals U.S. Navy research drone in international waters, rips it out of the water, and takes it to China in an unprecedented act."

Also unhappy about the incidence, Senator John McCain wrote today, "The Chinese Navy seizure is a flagrant violation of the freedom of the seas. China had no right to seize the vehicle. And the United States must not stand for such outrageous conduct."

Our Matt Rivers reports from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN ASIA-PCIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): The USS Bowditch, an unarmed military research ship, was about 50 miles off the Filipino coast Thursday where the Navy says it was conducting research using two underwater drones, called ocean gliders. Officials said the research was legal under international law. It was set to bring them back on board when officials say a Chinese

naval ship launched a small boat which swooped in and grabbed one of the ocean gliders. The Defense Department said it immediately made contact to ask for it back but the Chinese ship sailed away. Friday, Pentagon officials asked again.

Spokesman Captain Jeff David told reporters, quote, "It is ours and we would like it back and we would like this not to happen again."

The Chinese Defense Ministry responded late Saturday, saying, initially, the ship didn't know what it was and seized it for navigational safety reasons. They went to say, quote, "Upon confirming the device was a U.S. underwater drone, the Chinese side to transfer it to the U.S. side in an appropriate manner. China and the United States had been communicated about this process. It is inappropriate and unhelpful for a resolution that the U.S. has "hyped the issue. We express our regret over that."

The seizure comes at a time of heightened U.S./Chinese military tensions in the South China Sea. China has built and militarized artificial islands in disputed territory, actions the U.S. calls illegal.

President-elect Trump has made Beijing angry twice in the last two weeks, first, taking a call from Taiwan's president, and then questioning the legitimacy of the One-China policy, a decade-old diplomatic staple of U.S./China relations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: Poppy, in that same Ministry of Defense statement, the Chinese were very pointed in saying that the United States frequently deploys ships and aircraft in waters facing China and they're very much opposed to that.

Given that statement, I think most experts will tell you when the Chinese fished that drone out of the water, no matter what reason they give us publicly, they knew they were going to be sending a message to the United States that they are not happy about U.S. naval operations in that part of the world.

HARLOW: Matt Rivers, thank you so much for the reporting, live from Beijing. We appreciate it. We'll keep following it.

Also, coming up, switching gears, President-elect Donald Trump reviving a decades-old rivalry that started with a remark about his hands. Why doesn't the president like "Vanity Fair?"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're not small, are they?

(CHEERING)

[15:39:04] TRUMP: I never heard -- I never heard that one before. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: President-elect Donald Trump reviving a decades-old dispute, this time, taking on magazine "Vanity Fair" and its editor. A day after the magazine published a pretty negative review of a restaurant in Trump Tower, called Trump Grill, the writer not holding back, describing how painful he says it was to eat there, writing, quote, "The steak slumped to the side over the potatoes like a dead body inside a T-boned minivan and the cocktails seemed to be concocted by a college freshman experimenting in their dorm room."

Our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, has more on Trump's feud with the magazine and why it may go back to something deeply personal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Look at those hands. Are they small hands?

(LAUGHTER)

BRITAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES (voice-over): Donald Trump is not one to let things go. At this GOP debate in March, he famously defended the size of his hands, among other things.

TRUMP: I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee you.

(LAUGHTER)

STELTER: The original insult about Trump's hands can be traced back to this guy, "Vanity Fair" editor, Graydon Carter, who called Trump "a short-fingered vulgarian" back in the '80s.

Trump fired the latest shot in their decades-old feud, attacking "Vanity Fair" in a tweet and predicted Carter would be fired.

Trump was saying the same thing way back in 2012, tweeting that he "Can't wait for "Vanity Fair" to fold. And with Carter at the helm, it would happen "sooner, rather than later."

GRAYDON CARTER, EDITOR, VANITY FAIR: Thank you so much.

STELTER: Well, not yet.

But Trump, now as president-elect, continues to wield Twitter as a megaphone and as an insult machine, sometimes targeting recognizable figures like Carter, and other times more ordinary Americans.

CHUCK JONES, PRSEIDENT, UNITED STEEL WORKERS UNION: I just wish that he would have had the numbers down and he would have been up front with 800 people's jobs staying here.

STELTER: When union leader, Chuck Jones, criticized Trump's job- saving Carrier factory deal, Trump castigated Jones within minutes, saying, "He's done a terrible job representing workers." Jones told reporters he received a flood of threatening messages after Trump's tweets.

Trump also recently targeted CNN's Jeff Zeleny after Zeleny fact- checked Trump's false claim about voter fraud.

Of course, many supporters love Trump's combativeness, visibly on display during the primary.

After this woman confronted Trump --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you become president, will a woman make the same as a man? And do I get to choose what I do with my body?

(CHEERING)

STELTER: -- he criticized the 18-year-old on Twitter. She recently told "The Washington Post" that, even one year later, she's still receiving abusive messages via Facebook.

Now many wonder whether the president-elect recognizes the power of his keyboard.

TRUMP: I think I am very restrained and I talk about important things. Frankly, it's a modern-day form of communication.

STELTER: As for the "Vanity Fair" tweet, it's not clear what set Trump off. It might have something to do with the scathing review the magazine published of "Trump Grill," the steak house in the Trump lobby. It gleefully described the tacky decor and mediocre food.

Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:45:32] HARLOW: Brian, thank you so much.

Let's bring in our panel, CNN political commentator and Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker," Ryan Lizza; and also, Betsy Woodruff, politics reporter for "The Daily Beast."

Ryan, let me begin with you.

Take a look at this new FOX News poll. A majority Americans, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, anyone you ask, 63 percent think that Trump's use of Twitter is inappropriate. Even if they don't like it, isn't it effective? This is a president-elect who has -- I don't know if "gotten away with" is the right word, but he hasn't had a press conference in 140 days, yet is still talking to the American people through Twitter.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That number is surprising, because it means a lot people who voted for Trump are saying, telling pollsters it is inappropriate. Look, politicians since the beginning of communications have been

looking for ways to get around us, to cut out the middleman and speak directly to the American public, whether it's through FDR's famous fireside chats or more modern means like Twitter.

I think the serious point about this is, when he is president and when he's no longer a candidate, there's a lot of staffing that goes into presidential statements and even preparing for presidential interviews. When the president says something, it can send markets moving, it can create foreign policy shifts. And when you say it, that becomes your policy.

So, you know, I think the big question is, does he realize the difference of when he is a candidate, and even president-elect --

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: -- than when he is an actual president.

HARLOW: I think he has already moved, you know, market, not full markets but stocks.

I mean, look what happened to Boeing's stock and Lockheed Martin's stock, Betsy, when he tweeted negative things about the company.

BETSY WOODRUFF, POLITICS REPORTER, THE DAILY BEAST: Right, exactly. What he says on Twitter certainly has a major impact. In the case of "Vanity Fair," the magazine says it got 13,000 new subscribers after Trump sent out that tweet. Conde Nast says that's the most subscribers any of their magazines has gotten in a 24-hour period.

Twitter is kind of a blunt instrument. You can't use a lot of nuance. You can't go into detail. You can't necessarily zero in or explain complicated situations in a way that people will always get. And as in the case of "Vanity Fair," it had the opposite effect of what he wanted.

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: So I'm sure his advisor will tell him to be careful of that.

HARLOW: What's interesting, Ryan, "Vanity Fair" is using Donald Trump's hatred of the publication and Graydon Carter to actually advertise and try to win more subscribers and make more money.

LIZZA: And it's working.

HARLOW: It's working, but I wonder, it seems to be markedly difference for other corporations, like Ford or Boeing or Lockheed Martin or Carrier whom he has attacked. They can't really come out and use that as advertising, right? Why is it different for them?

LIZZA: It's very different for we, in the press, "The New York Times" and "The New Yorker," where I work, we've all seen huge spikes in circulation and subscriptions since Trump's election, because people are thinking this will be a time in American history when good journalism matters. His attacks on the press often backfire. It gets people more interested in what we do and our circulation goes up.

For corporations, especially publicly traded corporations that have major business before the federal government, like if you are United Technologies, which has billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government, that affects the stock value, of course, because people think, wait a second, the president of the United States, who will be in charge of the federal budget, suddenly has a beef and will take it out on this publicly traded company, maybe these contracts are going to dry up. That is why it's so different and can really damage one of those companies.

As you probably know, Poppy, there are now people on Wall Street trying to game this, trying to make money by shorting stocks immediately after Trump criticizes a public company.

And one other thing, "Vanity Fair," full disclosure, is owned by the same company as "The New Yorker." Graydon Carter has been at "Vanity Fair" since 1992, so Trump's tweet about how he's likely not be the editor, I think he's pretty safe in that job.

[15:50:11]HARLOW: Betsy, when do we -- and I don't just mean we, the media. I mean we, the American public -- stop talking about the president-elect's tweeting? This is just how it's going to be, isn't it?

WOODRUFF: It's a good question. He will be the most powerful person in the world on January 20. I think it's very difficult to think about how to cover these things because it is deeply consequential. And when he tweets about companies or about other countries or about --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: I don't mean stopping covering what he's tweeting. I just mean acting surprised that it's over Twitter.

WOODRUFF: Right, exactly. As far as I'm concerned, like I know on our end, Donald Trump tweeting things that are perplexing or hard to understand or, in the case of this morning, misspelled. Of course, he spelled it "unpresident" rather than "unprecedented." His shooting from the hip is not anything new. So, I think that's why more and more there will be more focus on the substance of what he's saying. In this case, the China issue of course is massive.

LIZZA: And one thing we have to do as journalists with the tweets -- of course, there is a certain amount of fun in covering Trump's kind of unpredictability. But as a lot of people have pointed out, there is a pattern. He likes to start public spats with people that his base don't necessarily like, and very often those spats coincide with other things in the news that he might not want attention. For instance, the other days, two big news item, not big, but two news items. One was "Vanity Fair" gave a bad review, and the other one that Putin was personally in charge of the election hacking operation. Who did Donald Trump attack? He attacked "Vanity Fair," not Putin. So, you were talking about how we cover them, that's important to put these things in context and also talk about things he's not talking about.

HARLOW: It's a really important point. You can't let shiny objects necessarily distract if they're not newsworthy.

Thank you very much, Betsy, Ryan. Appreciate it.

LIZZA: Thanks, Poppy.

WOODRUFF: Sure, thanks.

HARLOW: Coming up, we'll take you live. President-elect Donald Trump is getting off his plane -- you see him there -- heading to this big rally where's being introduced in Mobile, Alabama. We'll cover that.

Also, will Russian hacking and that drone stolen by the Chinese be among things he will discuss? We'll carry it live right here. Stay with us.

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[15:55:49] HARLOW: In today's "Artisan Spotlight," "CNN Style" travels to the famous Moroccan city of Fez. Take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPODNENT (voice-over): It's small, round, traditionally red and instantly recognizable. The Fez is a symbol of national pride in Morocco.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: And here inside the alley ways of the Medina of Fez, one of the oldest medieval cities in the world, is where the craftsmen can be found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fez is known for its rich artisan culture. Copper, leather, wood, mosaics, there are many skills on show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: In this tiny workshop, he's lost count of how many hats he's made. People come from all over to buy them.

But there is one special customer he's still waiting for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)