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President-Elect Donald Trump Spoke At A Rally In Mobile, Alabama; China Says The United States Hyped The Issue And Promises To Give The Drone Back; Kremlin Sending This Message To Washington About Claims That Moscow Meddled In The 2016 Election; President Obama Vowing Retaliation Against Russia For The Election Related Hacking; President-Elect Donald Trump Brushing Off The Idea That Untangling Himself From His Business Interests Is Complicated; The Bombardment Of Aleppo By Syrian Regime Forces Continue; David Friedman; Trump's Tact Team Choice For U.S. Ambassador To Israel. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired December 17, 2016 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:00:41] POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. It is 4:00 p.m. eastern. I'm so glad you are with us.
At any moment, president-elect Donald Trump will speak at a rally in Mobile, Alabama. This is the final stop of his thank you tour. We will take you there live as soon as it begins. This victory lap comes at a time of heightened tension between in the United States and two major players on the world stage, China and Russia.
Let's begin it now with China. The Pentagon is waiting for Beijing to return a U.S. drone it seized in international Waters off the coast of the Philippines. China says the United States hyped the issue and promises to give the drone back. Trump tweeted China steals U.S. Navy research drone in international waters, rips it is out and takes to China in an unprecedented act.
And then Russia, the Kremlin sending this message to Washington about claims that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election, prove it or stop talking says the Kremlin. Trump for his part continues to dismiss the assessment of U.S. intelligence that Russia is responsible for the campaign hacking.
We are covering all angles of the story. Let's begin this hour with Ryan Nobles who is in Alabama, the site of the rally which is about to begin.
Do we have any indication from Trump's team what he will say particularly as it pertains to both China and Russia?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We really don't, Poppy. And for the most part on these thank you tour speeches, the president- elect has stayed away from a lot of these dense policy battles that have played out around him. These are largely been just an opportunity for him to thank his supporters that have been with him from the very beginning. And there is no place better that demonstrates that than Mobile, Alabama.
I mean, many of the speakers have talked about the rally that was held here more than 450 days ago where some 30,000 people came as to this very football stadium to get behind Donald Trump. And at that time people thought that it was a little out of the ordinary for him to come to a state like Alabama, of which a primary was still months away, no votes had been cast anywhere, and this was a state that was expected to be in Republican hands. But it demonstrated how much passionate support was building to Donald Trump and that's something that he built upon leading to the election victory.
So, yes, Poppy. I don't expect him to say too much about Russia or too much about China. Instead, talk about his election victory and then talk about what he is going to do as president. But I can tell you this crowd behind me is pretty excited to hear the president-elect speak here in the next few minutes.
HARLOW: Ryan Nobles live in Mobile. We will go to the president- elect as soon as he begins speaking.
Thank you so much.
Meantime, President Obama vowing retaliation against Russia for the election related hacking. The president suggesting without directly perhaps pointing the finger or pretty much saying Russian president Vladimir Putin had to know about it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin. This is a pretty hierarchical operation. Last I checked, there is not a lot of debate and democratic deliberation particularly when it comes to policies directed at the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Let's bring in our political panel, CNN political commentator and Washington correspondent for "the New Yorker" Ryan Lizza is back. Also back with us, Becky Woodruff, politics reporter for "the Daily Beast."
Guys, as you well know, you know, the president chooses his words very carefully. And he didn't directly say Putin did it, but here you have the, you know, leader of the free world and nuclear power pointing his finger at the leader of another nuclear power and essentially saying how could he not have known. And he is promising, Ryan, retaliation, but says that the American public might not know it is happening.
With one month left in his presidency, is there anything that you think President Obama can do to assure the American about public that, yes, we will do something and the man coming after me, president-elect Trump, will fall through on that against Russia?
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, a couple things. One, they really have been saying that Putin knew since October. If you look at the October statement that the intelligence community put out, it also used that language about the highest levels of government. And you know, Josh Earnest made it clear the other day, the White House press secretary, and Obama in that clip all but saying it's Putin.
You don't run a foreign intelligence separation against the United States without Vladimir Putin knowing about it, right? This is not something -- some intelligence agents would casually do in Russia. So we know Putin knew and we know he directed this.
I think on the retaliation, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me if it's strictly a covert retaliation. The whole idea - the whole reason to retaliate or one of the major reasons to retaliate is as deters. If other states see that the United States does nothing about this, well, the lesson that they will learn is that they can also monkey around in our elections, steal secrets in from political parties and release them with political objectives. And that is very, very dangerous.
At the same time, a lot of the Obama folks who have been wrestling with this have pointed out to reporters, you don't want -- it has to be commensurate with what they did. So you don't want a tit for tat that escalate into something far more serious. And we have this very unusual situation where the president and president-elect disagree about the fundamentals here. That president-elect has not conceded that this happen. And you know, he is going to go from being the beneficiary Donald Trump, the beneficiary of this Russian hacks to the target of these Russian hacks once he's president. So I think we all have to hope that he takes this a little bit more seriously. And that Obama who does seem to have been developing a decent relationship with Trump can sort of bring him along and help him understand that, yes, you know, partisans are using this to point out that Trump's -- that there is an asterisks next to trump's election, but he needs to put that aside.
[16:06:56] HARLOW: Betsy, to Ryan's point, I mean, the fact that we have not heard the president-elect directly condemning Russia for this, or Putin at all, not on twitter, not in any of the remarks that he's made, and the fact that he has questioned U.S. intelligence agencies who by the way, you know, the director of the CIA had to come out this week with an internal memo and say look, we are all on the same page pretty much of the FBI, DNI and us, the CIA. How much - I mean, what should the American public read into that? Because he was very quick to go after China today.
BETSY WOODRUFF, POLITICAL REPORTER THE DAILY BEAST: I think probably one of the main things toward into this is that things are going to change dramatically as far as the relationship between the White House and the intelligence community under president Trump. And remember there is the change in tone between Obama and Trump isn't just in terms of Trump refusing to condemn Russian hacks. This past summer at the beginning of the DNC, I believe, when Trump had one of if not his last big major press conference, Trump actually said if Russia has Hillary Clinton's emails, I hope they will release them. He all but said that he supported having some sort of hack. That's extraordinary. HARLOW: He did say we should not have taken it literally when he said
that. I guess it was in jest. But yes, that is the last press conference that he had. And he said that.
So, speaking of China in the context of all of this, Ryan, I mean, he jumped on China because of, you know, they took the U.S. naval drone. And here's what he tweeted. China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters, ripped it out of the water, takes it to China. In on president to that (ph).
What is interesting, he has tweeted nothing like this about Russia or Putin. Why do you think it is that he is taking such a harder line on China than he is on Russia? I mean it's completely opposite tactics.
LIZZA: He has said in the past that, look, to the extent that he has a coherent foreign policy with respect to China and Russia, Trump has said in the past that one of the things he learned was that you never want Russia and China to get too close, that historically that's been bad for the rest of the world when China and Russia have a close partnership. I don't know if that is exactly what is driving this, but he clearly has expressed admiration for the way that Vladimir Putin has run Russia. And he has never had much of a kind word to say about China and has blamed China for a lot of what he sees as economic problems in the United States. Even, you know, talking about currency manipulation and unfair trading practices.
So, you know, I don't know. And he has people around him who obviously sort of maneuvered him into making a very, you know, out of the gate a very strong statement on Taiwan by taking the phone call from the president. And, you know, it's hard to say at this what happens with this underwater vessel is related to the tit for tat that has been going on between China and Trump, but he seems to be OK with escalating the back and forth. And I don't personally see much of a strategy behind it yet.
[16:10:08] HARLOW: I have to leave it there. Ryan, thank you. Betsy, nice to have you both. Thanks so much.
LIZZA: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: Coming up, president-elect Donald Trump set to speak live this hour in Alabama. The latest stop on his thank you tour before inauguration. It is the last time he will be wrapping up the thank you tour before he is inaugurated.
Also Trump's business partners, some with checkered or even criminal past, one of them called notoriously corrupt. Our investigation into that.
And the U.N. secretary general says Aleppo is now a synonym for hell. Just ahead, what is happening to the ceasefire and the fate of the thousands still trapped, freezing and starving inside of that city right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:13:25] HARLOW: Welcome back.
President-elect Donald Trump brushing off the idea that untangling himself from his business interests is complicated. He tweeted this on Thursday. The media tries so hard to make my move to the White House as it pertains to my business is so complex when actually it is not.
In just 34 days, Trump will take the oath of office and a new CNN investigation reveals he already face as conflict of interest in three different ways.
Our Drew Griffin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's companies spread across the globe, about 150 different limited liability corporations and companies that have had dealings in 25 countries according to a CNN analysis. But the focus is on ten countries.
Donald Trump has licenses named for real estate deals and cut deals with some international businessmen that have attracted controversy. Some have been under criminal investigation, others have deep ties to their own governments. All of them could present a conflict for the president-elect.
Turkey, Trump has licenses named at two towers owned by the business and media conglomerate founded by the billionaire Ayd?n Dogan. Earlier this year, Dogan was indicted in Turkey for an alleged fuel smuggling scheme. And in 2009, his company was slapped with a $2.5 billion fine for alleged unpaid taxes. That fine later reduced to $700 million through an appeal.
Dogan's representatives believe he has been targeted because his news outlets have been critical of Turkey's government and push for freedom of the press. In a statement to CNN, he called the charges absurd.
Trump's partner on golf course developments in the United Arab Emirates, billionaire Hussain Sajwani was found guilty in Egypt in the case involving allegations of government corruption. And Sajwani eventually settled out of court, but the Canadian government confirmed to CNN that it froze his assets until 2014.
That didn't seem to bother the president-elect. He has license his name to Sajwani for two new Dubai golf courses. It goes on and on. In (INAUDIBLE), a country with a history of corruption and human rights abuses, the Trump organization just confirmed to CNN that it's now terminated its deal for a Trump branded hotel.
In Indonesia, he is partnering with a billionaire businessman who like Trump has jumped in to politics. And also like Trump once publicly stated in an interview he admires Vladimir Putin.
In the Philippines, his condominium licensing business partner has just been named special trade envoy to the United States. It's not that there is just potential conflict of interest here says
Larry Noble with the campaign legal center, it's that the incoming U.S. president who built his business around the globe already has a world of actual conflicts of interest he will deal with on day one.
[16:16:10] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a danger because the foreign leaders, were foreign business people are going to be considering it as dealing with president, dealing with the president's family. So they are going to making decisions knowing that if they help the president's children, they are helping the president and they may get something for it.
GRIFFIN: He is a potential problem that concerns former U.S. ambassador and former deputy national security adviser James Jeffrey, especially since Trump appears to be keeping his business intact and in the family.
JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: If you do not divest yourself of all foreign or domestic holdings, and to that matter, domestic holding, are put to through blind trust, you open yourself up obviously to these kind of questions.
GRIFFIN: Questions that will dog the Trump administration every time a decision is made concerning any country, for a Trump tower, the Trump project or Trump golf course has been build. Ambassador Jeffrey says it will be up to Trump to prove he is putting America and not his interest first and up to the rest of us to make sure.
JEFFREY: Essentially a president can do what he or she wants to do, can have the assets, can have the relationships and it's up to the American people, the media and the Congress in the end to pass judgment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Drew Griffin, thank you so much for that.
This week, Donald Trump postponed a scheduled news conference that he was set to have to talk about how he would be untying himself from his businesses before he takes office. He did tweet that he will do that before he is inaugurated on the 20th of January.
Back with me now, Ryan Lizza of "the New Yorker" and Kayleigh McEnany, a big supporter of president-elect Donald Trump throughout the election.
Nice to have you both on.
Let me begin with this. If we run through what we know so far, we know that he has said that his children specifically his two eldest sons will run his business. We also know that recently Don Jr. Interviewed candidates for the secretary of interior. We know that Eric Trump sat in on at least one meeting with Mitt Romney. We know that his daughter, Ivanka Trump sat in on that meeting with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister. We know her husband Jared Kushner handled invitations for this big meeting in New York this week with all the tech CEOs.
Kayleigh, how is that a separation of his business and his presidency to be or do you think that it's different because it's the transition? He is not officially president. Where do you fall on that?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do think it's different because it's his transition. His kids were (INAUDIBLE) part of the campaign. Trump gave no indication during the campaign that he intended to distance himself from his children. They are now helping with the transition. That being said, there have been indications that the two sons will run the business. They will have - they will not sit in on any meetings starting January 20th, when Donald Trump becomes president. Whereas Ivanka and Jared Kushner will take a role in the administration and they will not have a role in the business. So I think that clear separation going to happen when Donald Trump officially becomes --
HARLOW: But wouldn't it be cleaner to just not have had the people that are going to run his businesses at all involved in the decisions about who will be in the cabinet?
MCENANY: I mean, you could argue that, but I think most of the American people are just fine with the fact that they are having some role in the transition, but they are not going to have any role in the administration. As long as that separation comes January 20th, I don't think many people are going to be upset that they have some role in the interview process for the secretary of interior, for instance.
HARLOW: I think, Ryan, that Kayleigh makes an interesting point because, you know, the president-elect before has said people knew about all of my businesses and my hands in all these businesses and the American public knew that and they elected me anyways. Do you feel at all that the media makes a bigger deal of this than the American public believes it is or is the reverse true?
LIZZA: No. And you can look at the polls when this question is asked accurately, the public wants a much more cleaner, stricter separation. And during the campaign remember he said, he would put everything in the a blind trust, though he didn't (INAUDIBLE) that in the campaign. And frankly, I think we in the media didn't, you know, he hasn't done a press conference in a very long time, so we haven't had the opportunity to ask about it, but it probably was not as big a story as it should have been, perhaps partly because everyone thought Hillary Clinton was going to win.
But his kids are official members of the transition. So this would be the equivalent if you just flip it around because sometimes it is so -- you have to sort of look at it from the other angle, this is -- imagine if all of the top people who run the Clinton foundation were now involve in with the top people running the transition for Hillary Clinton. There would very, very obviously be outrage about that because as everyone in Washington know, it's not just about serving in government, it's about making the decisions about who gets placed in government.
So arguably, the transition period now and the staffing of the government is far, far more important for the Trump kids when they go off and run this business than if they were joining the government in the first place. That's why transitions always attract lobbyists.
[16:21:10] HARLOW: It's an interesting point, Kayleigh. What do you say to that? I mean, don't you think that you and other big supporters of the president-elect, if this was the reverse would be up in arms if folks from the Clinton - Sherry Mills (ph) folks and the Clinton foundation were working, leading the transition team?
MCENANY: We would be up in arms. And I think the reason for that is because of the president, the Clinton foundation gave us. You know, we got to go back to when Hillary Clinton went through the nomination process for the secretary of state. She was grilled by senators about how she would ensure that the Clinton foundation and her work there would be separated from the state department. She assured us there would be a wall and that wall seems to have been broken down and we saw the revolving door of people getting access, who had donated to the foundation. So there was history there of her not being able to make that relationship work.
We don't have that same history here. Donald Trump should be afforded the same opportunity secretary of state Clinton was afforded not only because he deserve the same chance, but also because the president is actually exempt from conflict of interest laws.
HARLOW: Which is a fascinating odd law that the president and the vice president can make money basically from their office. It is not illegal to do so. But no one else in government can.
Guys, thank you very much. I wish I had more time. Thank you, Kayleigh and Ryan.
LIZZA: Thanks, Poppy.
MCENANY: Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: Coming up, we are going to turn to Syria. Anguish from the innocent in Aleppo. Thousands of civilians caught in the middle as the evacuations stop and start amid a hail of gunfire. We are live on the Syrian border with the new deal trying to get people out of Aleppo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:26:00] HARLOW: News from overseas just in to CNN, confirmation that Russia will host a multinational meeting to discuss the situation in the war-ravage city of Aleppo. That meeting still though ten days away, but the humanitarian crisis in Syria is more dire by the hour.
This week, the bombardment of Aleppo by Syrian regime forces continue. Thousands of civilians, families and children remain trapped freezing inside of eastern Aleppo. They wait and they pray to be evacuated. The forces of president Bashar al-Assad are on the brink of retaking Aleppo. This as U.S. secretary of state John Kerry calls the violence there unconscionable. The United Nations this week called the situation in Aleppo a complete
meltdown of humanity. Yesterday President Obama was asked in his press conference if he in part feels responsible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There are places around the world where horrible things are happening. And because of my office, because I'm president of the United States, I feel responsible. I ask myself every single day is there something I could do that would save lives and make a difference. And spare some child who doesn't deserve to suffer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Remember these faces? Tease are the faces of the victims of the ongoing fighting in Syria. 5-year-old (INAUDIBLE) bloodied after surviving an attack on his home in Aleppo earlier this year. And toddler (INAUDIBLE) who died as his family fled the violence in northern Syria. He washed up on the shore. And these are just two of the thousands of innocent children who have only known war for their entire existence. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed over the five year civil war in Syria.
Our Muhammad Lila is live now in Turkey. He is right on the Syrian border.
They are trying to evacuate people from eastern Aleppo. Aleppo, clearly right on the brink of being overtaken by the Assad regime. What is the status, I should say, of the evacuations at this point?
MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, we talked to the international Red Cross office in Damascus a short time ago. They told us that those green buses that people are being evacuated on, that are fueled and that they are in Aleppo and ready to go. But the Red Cross tells us the evacuations are not yet taking place. They also tell us that they don't have the security guarantees that they need to be on the ground and keep their staff safe both from the rebel fighters inside eastern part of Aleppo as well as the militias and pro-Assad military.
So the conditions right now appear as though we know that there has been an agreement for the evacuations, but we don't know when those evacuations are going to take place. Of course, when the Red Cross can't be there because it's not safe enough, it certainly not a good sign.
HARLOW: And they have seen so many agreements just completely fall apart. So many ceasefires, not actually become reality.
You have spoken with some of the people who have been able to escape Aleppo. What are they telling you?
LILA: Yes. Well, they are sharing just horrific, horrific stories of what they had to go through. I spoke with a man who was lying on a rickety hospital bed. He was bandaged and his 6-year-old son was lying down next to him. And he talked about how an air strike had that killed his entire family and the only family member he had left was his 6-year-old son. And it's tough to think about, but he had to tell his 6-year-old son that his mother was dead.
One of the things that never came out in some of that footage that was aired was that that 6-year-old boy was crying so loud that you could hear him crying in the next room. And for us as reporters and journalists, of course we report on this, but it's a living reality. It is a living nightmare for thousands of civilians in eastern Aleppo as well as in areas as where the militants are firing mortar shells. So it is a living reality that so many thousands of civilians are trapped in and even once these people are evacuated, Syria is still a massive war zone, so they are being evacuated to a place where they might not be guaranteed anymore safety than they had in the place that they just left.
[16:30:03] HARLOW: Yes. It is unbelievable.
Muhammad Lila, live for us right on the Turkey-Syria border. Thank you so much.
Coming up, also big news this week when it comes to Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to Israel. Certainly a controversial choice. Some of his most controversial ideas include moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. What he has also said about the settlements and the fact that he's called the president an anti-accept might. We will break it all down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:33:35] HARLOW: It is hardly surprising that president-elect Trump would go outside of the mainstream for certain cabinet selection, but perhaps no pick has been more provocative than David Friedman. This week, Trump's tact team has his choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel. The 57-year-old lawyer has no experience in diplomacy. He is perhaps best known for his controversial that often hardline views on Middle Eastern politics. He supports moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also leveled scathing criticism of President Obama's handling of the Iran nuclear deal telling an Israeli news outlet quote "that the blatant anti-Semitism emanating from our president and his sycophantic minions is palpable and very disturbing."
Our global affairs analyst Aaron David Miller joins me. He is a distinguish scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center.
So nice to have you. I know you have written extensively on this pick. If confirmed, he still has to go through the confirmation process, David Friedman is clearly signaling plans to turn around decades of U.S. policy towards Israel from both Democratic and Republican administrations. Rhetoric is one thing. Implementation is another thing. What do you expect the actual implications on the ground to be?
AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I mean, I must say, I have been a part of transitions from Rs to Rs, Ds to Rs and Rs to Ds and I have never quite seen a pick like this. You know, much of this, Poppy, is going to depend on the policy
parameters that the president sets. If Mr. Friedman was attributed to Mr. Friedman in terms of arguing against a two state solution, settlement should be legalized, the West Bank should be next, if those turn into Donald Trump decision or American policy positions representing a fundamental break with both Republicans and Democrats over the last 20 years, then I think it will have an impact on the ground.
[16:35:28] HARLOW: So why would say, Aaron? I mean, this is a guy who was an adviser to Donald Trump on Israel during the campaign. He has been tapped by the president-elect. Did there any reason why we should believe that those policies will not be the policies of the next president?
MILLER: Usually American policy is not determined by an individual ambassador. In fact in the case of U.S. ambassadors to Israel, presidents have a way of communicating messages to prime ministers to national security staff or through the state department and very often the ambassador is bypassed.
I think the one concrete concern is the issue of the embassy. And I think in the transition statement issued announcing Mr. Friedman's appointment, he was quoted as saying it will be a real honor to represent the United States from the embassy in Jerusalem. That may well be initially the most concrete manifestation of a change in policy.
The other matter, two state solution, Donald Trump wants to be a negotiator. He thinks that he can fix the problem. Those are in many respects that remains to be seen. And again, I think it's an ambassadorial appointment that represents a decision on the part of the Trump administration to break decisively at least symbolically with previous administrations and to send an mistakable signal that the U.S./Israeli relationship is going to improve in the wake of the eight years of pretty (INAUDIBLE) relations between Netanyahu and Obama.
HARLOW: When you look big picture for what it means for the United States and its allies in the Middle East, how should we expect Saudi Arabia for example to respond to this pick and if some of the rhetoric is actually something that the president-elect does support and does try to implement, how about Saudi Arabia and the other allies in the region react?
MILLER: I mean, (INAUDIBLE) and it's a paradox. Israel's relations with Egyptians, with Saudis, with the Emirates are probably closer now than any time since the state of Israel was created.
HARLOW: Right.
MILLER: Injecting the Jerusalem issue into this as a time when Mr. Trump is trying to create an anti-Iran yap coalition and perhaps even pursue a regional approach to peace making is going to screw this up big time. And I suspect it's broader than just moving the embassy. The Israeli/Palestinian peace process is dead, but still resonates
greatly among America's security partners and allies. And I think this appointment is going to both confuse and confound key Arab states.
HARLOW: I mean, Netanyahu has been more open to a two state solution seemingly than David Friedman, correct?
MILLER: Yes, this puts Mr. Friedman well to the right of Mr. Netanyahu. In fact on the issue of annexing the West Bank, that is a position that actually contradicts current Israeli government policy. And I think it puts the prime minister in a difficult position because before he could use the United States to restrain the right by basically saying we can't do this because the Americans will become angry. And right now it appears as if the right in Israel has a green light to pursue any number of policies that I think will make Mr. Netanyahu very unhappy.
HARLOW: Aaron David Miller, nice to have you on as always. Thank you for your expertise.
MILLER: Thank you, Poppy. Thank you.
HARLOW: All right. Coming up, the future first daughter -- before we get to that, guess what you're looking at? Mobile, Alabama, the final stop on the president-elect's thank you tour. There you see him. Looks like he's walking out on to the stage, so let's stick with this for a minute. Obviously this is significant. Alabama is where he got a big endorsement from Senator Jeff Sessions, the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse then candidate Trump. Now his pick for the next attorney general of the United States. We have seen the president- elect making this thank you tour over the past few weeks, going to North Carolina, going to Pennsylvania, now in mobile, Alabama.
I think the big question now is will he directly address the issues with China right now and also with what President Obama said pointing the finger at Putin for being the person who essentially directed the hack of the U.S. election. Will he address those things or will he simply stick to what he has said before. We know Jeff Sessions is there with him as well. Let's listen in.
[16:40:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you very much. This is where it all began. Remember that incredible rally we had. And people came out and it was like this. It was packed and incredible and people said something is going on there, right. That was the beginning, wasn't it? That was the beginning.
And if you remember being even though you don't have to vote for me, maybe four years we'll take a look, right? But you know what, I said I'm coming back to see you in Alabama. Right? And this is our last rally, our last stop. And I just want to thank the people of Alabama. And I want to start by wishing you a very merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. (APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But I'm here today for one reason and that is to thank the incredible people that I recognize so many of you. I have so many friends from Alabama. But to thank the people of Alabama, we are really the people that love this country, we have so many people that love this country all over.
I went to a little victory tour but really they were thank you tours in Pennsylvania, all over. But this is Alabama and if you don't mind, we're thanking the people of Alabama and we're thanking the people of the south. Because, boy, did we do well. Boy, did we do well in the south.
So I don't know if you notice, I added that on, the people of the south. Because I tell you, the fact I said it bylaws, I think I'm going to move to Alabama or someplace in the south. Because we won - we didn't win like OK here. We won at a record setting. Nobody has had the numbers that we had.
So I just want to thank you. This is our last stop. And I will tell you what, there is no better place to celebrate than right here, OK? So thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You propelled to victory a grassroots movement the likes of which the world frankly has never seen before. And you know if I was saying something that was slightly off, these very dishonest people up here, they would be correcting me. Right? They would be correcting us. And because of the weather by the way, the buses are still pouring in, so I think we shouldn't wait. Do you agree? We just -- so they're coming in. And we're just going to wait. You'll explain to them as they walk in we're having a great time, right? But the incredible patriots of this stadium today defied the pundits, defied the pollster and special interests and delivered a historic win for the American worker and for the American people, totally.
I want to thank so many great people, but having Franklin Graham who was so instrumental, I tell you, we won so big with evangelical Christians. We won so big. Where is Franklin? He's around. He's right there. What a great -- there he is. Look at him. He works so hard. Thank you, Franklin. Anybody that has anything do with the great Billy Graham, I love. And that son is great. So thank you.
And Billy is doing well. I mean he's 92 years old, but he's doing well. I also want to give a very special thank you to the pen and women of the United States military. Incredible. Incredible. Because not only it we win with evangelicals by massive numbers, not by like two points, but by many point, but we won with military and with law enforcement big league.
So we are in your debt and we will never ever let you down. We will honor your service and sacrifice that take begins with restoring respect for the American flag, right? The American flag. Which has been taking abuse lately. I can only speak for myself, but I don't like it, OK? I don't like it.
And we go to finally take care of our great veterans and that's another group. So amazing. So amazing the veterans. And we will be naming somebody she, very soon to head up the VA and we will get it taken folks. It's time. It's time. People that come into the country illegally, people that come into the country and cause problems, they are taken care of better than our vets in many cases. Yes. Time to take care of our vets.
CROWD: Build that wall. Build that wall!
TRUMP: Do not worry, we are going to build the wall, OK? Don't even think about it.
We are also going to rebuild our badly depleted military. We have the greatest people on earth, our military is depleted. But we will be smart with how we spend our money. We're not going to spend $4.2 billion on air force one. Is that OK? I mean, we all like beautiful aircraft, but Boeing is going to do a much less expensive job than that. They ordered a new plane, they're in the process. And I said how are you doing? Well, there are massive cost overruns. And I said no, there's not going to be cost overruns. So you will see it. And we got in sort of toward the end, but that's OK. We got in in time. We got it in time. But no $4.2 billion airplane.
America will be a strong nation again. But we will also be a fair and just nation. There is a very, very special guest, OK? And I want to bring that guest on stage in a moment. He is someone who cares deeply about justice, who believes all people are equal in the eyes of the law. He is a great, great man. He is an Alabama native. He could have run for the rest of his life. Nobody even wants to run against him. He spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor, served as the Alabama state attorney general and represented you in the United States Senate for 20 years, including 20 years on the Judiciary Committee. And people don't even know because we think of him as a senator. He was a great, great legendary prosecutor. A lot of people forgot that. He appeared right here 16 months ago and put on a make America great again hat.
He was the first senator to endorse me and really the first major endorsement that I had and he never endorsed a presidential candidate or very few candidates before, but he saw what I had to say and he saw the response from the people of Alabama. He is someone I'm very proud to call a friend and a man I have chosen to be, and by the way this is a great honor for the state of Alabama, to be the next attorney general of the United States. Alabama senator Jeff Sessions.
Come occupy, Jeff. Come on up, Jeff. Come on up. Come on up, Jeff. Come on up.
(APPLAUSE)
[16:49:36] SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Thank you Mr. President- elect. What a great honor it is to have you back in my hometown, Mobile, Alabama. I do remember that event 16 months ago. How many of you were here on
that day? It was an eye-opening event for the entire world and certainly the United States political establishment. I don't think there's any doubt that for your effort and your campaign, Mobile played a historic role in that momentum that built. There's no doubt about it. That, I think is where people begin to see that this was more than a normal campaign but a movement, and I think the American people have spoken in so many ways in this election.
Thank you for the honor you've given me, the opportunity to perhaps have a different role in my life that would occur. I would give my honest and best effort every single day to make you proud, the American people proud, to serve people with equality and justice. But I want to tell you, this country needs hope. They believe that you have the ability to lead us in a new way. I think they are encouraged by the new and fresh cabinet you're assembling, putting people in there that have the dedication.
(CHEER AND APPLAUSE)
[16:51:19] SESSIONS: I want to say thank you to Mayor Simpson and his team and the city, to the county and all those who have helped make this possible now and last time. It's been a really great thing there.
So, Mr. President-elect, thank you so much for the opportunity to work with you, the opportunity to see you develop as a candidate, the opportunity to participate in a movement that I believe can help make America great again. God bless you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: He's an amazing man.
CROWD: Trump! Trump! Trump!
TRUMP: Jeff is an amazing man and working with him I know we will make these incredible strides that our country has to make in restoring safety and justice for all of our people. And, again, Alabama, I know because I get so many letters from the people in Alabama in every form of communication, including tweets. They are so proud. They are so proud of him. And we're proud of him. So thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Fantastic. So great.
You know, Jeff talked a little bit about the election and his endorsement and I think -- if you want, you want me to discuss that evening one more time because this will be it. Should I? Yes or no? Because I could give you a beautiful rhetorical flowing speech and we can all fall asleep together, right or we can discuss it and this is our last stop, as I said. And I'm really here because I promised you during that wild day that we had in August, long time ago, it seems like a long time ago. And just a lot of things came out of that day and opened up the eyes of the media. Even the media that dislikes us all. It opened up -- no, but it opened up their eyes. And it began to a certain extent here, it began June 16th. Remember the escalator, coming down the escalator with Melania and I talked about crime, I talked about borders and I talked about trade. Nothing much changed. We just got more severe and freeze warningly things got worse. Things got worse. And it made more and more of an impact.
So when I announced we had a big primary. We had a total of 17 people. And I remember they did a report one time and it was interesting but they did a report and it was about three or four months into the campaign and they said Trump has four months of experience doing this. And my opponent had 236 years. Right.
All right. It is 236. In other words you add up 25 years and 30 years and 20 years and it's going to start -- I will say out here. The hell with the suit, right? I didn't know it rained in Alabama. But, you know, rain is good luck, right? Rain is good luck. So -- and I never liked this suit anyway so we'll throw it away.
But, it was an amazing -- it was really an amazing thing. So we did that and we got into the general and we all know what happened in the primaries. They say they were the meanest primaries in the history of elections in this country.
And they were mean. They were nasty. And I generally got good support, Ben Carson and Chris Christie and a lot of other people supported. But -- and a lot ultimately most of them came around. A few didn't. A few came around right after the election but, you know, that's not quite the same thing.
But we started off and it was amazing because that evening we were set up incorrectly by the media. They all said that Texas was in play. They said Georgia was in play. They said Utah was in play. And they weren't in play. And I never thought they were in play. He shouted liars. Only in Alabama can we do that. Liars.
But what happened is we tend to believe the media. You know, we believe Walter Cronkite years ago, right. This is not Walter Cronkite any more, folks. This is not the great Walter Cronkite. So we tend to believe them. And wet I go out and have crowds like this. You should see the crowd we had in pence and Ohio and Iowa, always a massive crowd. And even after the election, this is just a thank you from me to you and the folks. But to have crowds -
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
[16:56:51] TRUMP: We had a crowd last night that the manager said was 30,000 people. And I read "the Palm Beach Post" tomorrow. And you know, the one that just came out and there was a line in the second paragraph, now it was one of the biggest crowds that I have seen. You couldn't even see the end of it. It was a field. Actually a field last night, Orlando. Incredible. And I read "the Palm Beach Post" today. It said Donald Trump spoke before hundreds of people. Right? Very dishonest. Very, very dishonest. But that's OK.
Hundreds of people is not 25 or 30,000 people, do we agree with that. But they know. They know what they are doing. They all know what they are doing but I guess it didn't work because we're here together, folks, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But we have been hearing and I have been n hearing Texas and I go to Texas that would have these massive crowds. We had one crowd in Texas that filled up a stadium. The line was so long and those are the people that didn't get in. The line was like 30 blocks long. It went all the way back to a highway in Houston. I said how are we losing Texas or tied in Texas - anyway, but they said Texas is to play? That means we are doing badly, right? Because we are supposed to win as Republicans and Georgia.
And as soon as the polls opened they go breaking news. Donald Trump wins the state of Texas, right? Donald Trump wins. This is like immediately. We win Georgia. We won Utah. And did you see my competition in Utah? This guy came out of nowhere. I mean my wife said trust me he is not doing well. But they had him even with me and they had me maybe not winning Utah. And, by the way, as soon as the polls, real polls came out we won it in a massive landslide. And that guy -- I don't know what he was trying to prove. All we're going to do is lose the United States Supreme Court potentially.
OK. So let's assume the race was closer because we won by a lot. It wasn't even close. But let's assume -- let's assume we needed Utah which, frankly, we thought we need. We really thought we needed Utah. And let's assume we didn't win Utah. So what does he gain? You know what he gains? I won't say the name of a magazine guy who works so hard. So many of these people misread us for two years. They misread us and they are still misreading us and I love it. I love it. They are still misreading us. So we won that.
But then Ohio came in. And we were almost ten points up in Ohio. We were ten points, more than ten points up in Iowa and Iowa you never win like that, the Republicans certainly. And so we won them by big numbers. And then we came down to Florida and Florida was even. Florida was even that whole night, the big, big beautiful state. I love Florida. And it's even. And then all of a sudden we hadn't hit the Panhandle, right. Anybody living in the Panhandle?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I love the Panhandle. And you know, and you had to see the people. They were so devastated.
