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Erin Burnett Outfront
Gore Meets with Trump Once Warned He'd Be a Catastrophe; Police: Fake Clinton Sex-Ring Story Led to Restaurant Shooting; Trump Adviser: "Screw 'Em" if China Upset by Taiwan Call; Interview with Jill Stein; Judge Declares Mistrial in Ex-Cop's Murder Case. Aired 7- 8p ET
Aired December 05, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:08] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner moving to Washington. Will Ivanka be more than just first daughter and CEO?
Plus, a Michigan judge orders an immediate recount. OUTFRONT tonight, the woman leading the charge, Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
And Trump's adviser has a message for China, screw them. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, surprise appearance. Donald Trump and former Vice President Al Gore face to face in what may be the most surprising meeting of the transition so far. Gore spent decades warning about the grim consequences of global climate change, sat down with Trump who, of course, has called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese. Trump's former Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway talking to reporters about the meeting just moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you talk anything more about his meeting with former Vice President Al Gore?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: A very small group of people in this country who have been president or vice president of the United States. So obviously -- obviously it would be a conversation of, you know, folks who really breathe a rarefied air at that level.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he extend any advice to the President-Elect?
CONWAY: I'll keep that confidential unless Vice President Gore would like to disclose that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Gore was originally scheduled to meet only with Ivanka Trump. Trump aides insisted the President-Elect would not be involved but, of course, he then was. And after it was over, Gore spoke glowingly of Donald Trump, a man that he once said, actually very recently said, would lead the world to catastrophe. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GORE, 45TH VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bulk of the time was with President-Elect Donald Trump. I found it an extremely interesting conversation and to be continued.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, this comes as CNN has learned that Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, are moving to Washington even though she says she will not have an official role in the Trump administration, because of course she's going to be working for the Trump organization in soliciting deals around the world.
Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT at Trump Tower. And Sunlen, first of all, very surprising meeting between Donald Trump and Al Gore.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. Certainly an intriguing meeting and notable that Al Gore was first only scheduled to sit down with Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump to talk about climate change. But then this meeting with Donald Trump, himself, got added in at the last moment. We are told that it was productive, that it was a lengthy meeting and Al Gore saying afterwards that it was a sincere attempt to find common ground on an issue they haven't always agreed on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY (voice-over): Today at Trump Tower --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Gore --
SERFATY: -- former Vice President Al Gore sitting down with the President-Elect and Ivanka Trump to talk about Gore's signature issue, climate change, something Trump has called a hoax.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORE: The bulk of the time was with President-Elect Donald Trump. I found it an extremely interesting conversation and to be continued.
SERFATY: The President-Elect also reaching out to a former rival, picking Dr. Ben Carson as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT: We're excited to have Dr. Carson as our intended nominee for Housing and Urban Development. We're looking forward to another very productive week in the transition and setting a historic pace.
SERFATY: Carson, a neurosurgeon, lacks significant experience in Housing and Urban Development. During the primary, he criticized housing regulations to address segregation in public housing.
BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is what you see in communist countries where they have so many regulations encircling every aspect of your life that if you don't agree with them, all they have to do is pull the noose and this is what we got now.
SERFATY: During their primary fight, Carson and Trump were fierce competitors, Trump seizing on Carson's anecdotes of violence in his youth in an interview last November with Erin Burnett.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I haven't seen it. I know it's in the book that he's got a pathological temper or temperament. That's a big problem because you don't cure that. That's like, you know, I could say -- they've say you don't cure -- as an example, child molester, you don't cure these people. You don't cure a child molester.
SERFATY: As one cabinet selection moves forward, another seems to be taking a step back. Trump is now expanding his search for Secretary of State after narrowing his list to four contenders last week. Transition sources now say former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is in the mix. As is Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson in West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, according to "The New York Times."
Former CIA Director David Petraeus also still in the running, expressing regret for mishandling classified information.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I apologize for it. I paid a very heavy price for it and I've learned from it. And, again, they'll have to factor that in and also obviously 38 and a half years of otherwise fairly, in some cases, unique service to our country in uniform and at the CIA.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[19:05:18] SERFATY: And tomorrow here at Trump Tower, Donald Trump will be holding at least one interview for that Secretary of State job. A transition officials confirm that he will be sitting down here tomorrow with Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson then it is off to North Carolina for another one of these thank-you rallies that he's been holding where Trump will formally roll out his nomination for Secretary of Defense.
Erin, we of course know that is General James Mattis -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Sunlen, thank you very much. And you know, this all comes as new questions are arising about Ivanka Trump's role in her father's administration.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT here as well in New York. And Jeff, you know, we've learned Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner are going to move to Washington.
Now, that's a pretty stunning thing, right, if you think about the fact that Ivanka Trump has said she will have no role in her father's administration. But this is a clear signal that she's going to be right by her father's side. Maybe she doesn't have a technical title. But she's right there as she's staying in her job at the Trump organization. What more can you tell us? JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is certainly is something that
they are going to have to work out and sort through. They've already had some missteps here in the first month of this transition meeting with the world leader, the first meeting that her father had with the prime minister of Japan. And, but Erin, it's clear that they are still trying to sort through this. The American presidency is not simply set up for a family like this so they're going to be making the rules as they go along, but we are told they are planning to move to Washington.
They're looking for houses there at the very least. She's going to have a key role inside the White House from a social aspect as well as a policy aspect. Al Gore, of course, was there to talk about climate change with her initially. So that shows that she's going to have a very important role in the west wing.
BURNETT: And when you talk about a social role, of course, in contrast to Melania Trump who said she's not going to be moving until the end of the year. So it raises the question of Ivanka playing a bigger role, perhaps, than policy. You talk about her being in on that meeting, though, with the prime minister of Japan and also at the same time finalizing a business deal that would be for the Trump organization in Japan. That is something that should be raising red flags, isn't it?
ZELENY: It certainly is raising a lot of flags and it certainly is opening them up to questions and criticism. Again, there's not a rule book for this. So on one hand you have the "Wall Street Journal" editorial page saying, he has to sell everything to avoid in conflicts of interest. We're going to find out later this month exactly what he is going to do with his business dealings. But look, these conflicts are inherent, it's almost impossible to see how they will avoid all of them here. But I am told by someone who's close to the family that she will not be attending anymore of these meetings one-on-one here. This is something that they're simply trying to work through here. But this is going to be an ethics potential minefield -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Potential minefield at the least. Thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny.
OUTFRONT now, executive editor of CNN Politics Mark Preston. Our special correspondent Jamie Gangel. Washington Post political reporter Philip Bump. And presidential campaign correspondent for "The New York Times," Maggie Haberman.
I want to talk about the incredible Al Gore meeting because it is incredible, OK? But first, I want to talk about this Ivanka Trump situation. Moving to Washington, at least they're looking for houses, there's the reporting that we have. Melania Trump going to wait six months at least so that her son can finish his year at school. So, Ivanka Trump possibly going even earlier. How can that happen while she's at the Trump organization? They say there's no rules but there is this rule. Common sense, shows that this does not make sense.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, but there are no rules. Remember those tax returns, they were never put out there. And the other thing that I think you have to remember, so on Twitter Donald Trump said that on December 15th, he's going to make a big announcement to show that they're -- he's going to step away from the business. The problem is he also used an interesting phrase. He said, "Even though it's not mandated." And I think that's what you're going to see here. There are no rules. If it's not the law, they're going to be the new rules of Donald Trump and the kids are going to be there and he's going to be there. And I think we're talking about a whole new set --
BURNETT: I mean, Maggie, you got "The New York Times" reporting that when Nancy Pelosi called right after the election, Donald Trump handed the phone to his daughter. She was in the room with the Prime Minister of Japan. Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook, ardent Hillary Clinton supporter called Ivanka Trump. Al Gore today meeting with Ivanka Trump. This is not just kind of passing involvement here. She's central.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: She's central. I think that you need to unpack those different pieces, though. I think on the Al Gore meeting, Ivanka Trump wants to signal to Democrats that she's sort of the reasonable person around Donald Trump. That helps her for her own brand, that helps her basically as a bridge for her father and frankly it helps Al Gore to be seen doing this meeting, if we're being honest.
In terms of the Japanese Prime Minister, that was a very specific problem especially because there was no readout or photo from the U.S. side in terms of the media. All came from Japan. I think that you are -- and it's funny, Jeff's point that the presidency is not set up for a family like this is really true. We have never seen this sprawling level of entanglements and for the Trumps, this sounds like I'm excuse making, and I'm not at all because it's severely complicated, but really after covering them for 18 months, they know no other way.
[19:10:35] They see everything as a family decision. The pick of Mike Pence as the V.P. was described to me at the time and even as recently as last week as a family decision. They're going to have to realize that the presidency is a people decision. But I think that it's not that they're starting out on a land grab, or on a, you know, an access grab, they don't really know another way and they are going the same way the rest of us are into this brave new world.
BURNETT: Of course, there's only one way here to separate this, and that is to sell the company, OK? And put the money in the trust. That is the only way. There is no way for the children in any way, shape or form to be involved in the business while their father is president and not have there be conflicts of interest. But these companies -- countries are going to do things for that company that they think could reflect well in their diplomatic dealings. That's just the way it's going to be even if they're not trying to do anything untoward.
PHILIP BUMP, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. No, that's absolutely true. And we're already seeing that with this Trump Hotel down the block from the White House where all these foreign companies -- foreign governments are booking rooms and then, you know, trying to show, you know, some sort of respect.
BURNETT: Right. Right. And openly saying, of course, I want to book my room -- announcing it.
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: All very publicly.
BUMP: The question is, the extent to which the Trump family even wants to try and make this separation. Right? Having Ivanka Trump move to Washington, when she's supposed to be running the Trump organization which is based in Trump Tower, when he's not supposed to be someone who has an official role within the administration because of nepotism rules nor is her husband for the same reason apparently. Like, why are you moving to Washington? The only reason you're moving to Washington is to leverage that influence. And you shouldn't be leveraging that influence the same time you're running the Trump organization.
BURNETT: And she's leveraging it with meetings like Al Gore. And here's the thing. Look, people can change. And once people get in power, people who hated them then change their minds. OK? I understand the pragmatic reality. But here's Al Gore today. And here's Al Gore a few months ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORE: I've had a lengthy and very productive session with the President-Elect. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground. Her opponent based on the ideas that he has presented would take us toward a climate catastrophe.
PRESTON: And?
BURNETT: I mean, OK, you know what, climate catastrophe, common ground, those things can be very close.
PRESTON: He is not the only person who has walked into that lobby, and got onto that elevator and has gone up to the top floor who has said bad things about Donald Trump. I mean, it's political pragmatism in many ways. If Al Gore thinks that he can somehow wedge his way in because he doesn't think that Donald Trump has the convictions of what he said in 2012 when he described climate change as a hoax and it was brought on by the Chinese, and of course, "The New York Times," you know, just a few weeks ago does an interview and says, there is some connectivity, you know, to it.
BURNETT: Right.
PRESTON: Al Gore probably sees it -- I think it's super important in this is two things. When you talk about the conflict of interest, Senate Democrats really blew it because they could not investigate. They do not have any power now to really use Congress to go after Donald Trump and on the flip side, though, House and Senate Republicans are in a real tough spot right now because all of this could overshadow them trying to get things done. BURNETT: All right.
HABERMAN: It's also problematic because his agenda is not quite the same as theirs on policy.
PRESTON: Oh, sure.
BURNETT: Right.
HABERMAN: You have a dual track.
BURNETT: All right. And thanks to all. Staying with me.
Next, a gunman bursting into a busy pizza shop. His motive to investigate a fringe conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton.
And the Trump administration says, it has no plans to expand business in Taiwan but in Taiwan they say, hmm, not the case.
And breaking news, deadlocked. A white officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man in South Carolina, this is this horrific, horrific thing caught on tape. As you can see him shot in the back multiple times. Despite this shocking video, the jury could not reach a verdict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:35] BURNETT: Breaking news, new details tonight into the 28- year-old arrested for opening fire inside a Washington, D.C., restaurant because according to police, he wanted to investigate a fringe conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton. Edgar Welch making his first court appearance today. According to police he entered the restaurant after reading that Clinton and her campaign were running a child sex ring inside. Of course that story was completely false. The White House attacking these baseless claims today saying, they're having a corrosive effect on America's political debate.
Brian Stelter is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES" (voice-over): Fake news, real gunfire. A North Carolina man arrested in a D.C. pizza shop after brandishing a gun. Telling police he was there to investigate a conspiracy theory called pizza-gate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the hosts runs up and is like, did you see that guy? You know, he had a big gun.
SHARIF SILMI, WITNESS: We actually thought initially that he was a staff member because he was walking straight for that backroom. Staff member kind of looked at me and indicated that this was a gunman.
STELTER: Edgar Welch appearing in court this afternoon. According to police, Welch said that he had read online that the Comet Ping Pong restaurant was harboring child sex slaves and that he wanted to see for himself if they were there. The suspect said he was armed to help rescue them. The accusation came from this unhinged story that originated online days before the election saying that Hillary Clinton and her campaign Chairman John Podesta were operating a child sex ring. The lie took root in the digital swamps of Twitter and far right-wing websites.
ALEX JONES, HOST, INFOWARS: We're not covering pizza-gate enough even though we covered it every day. To expose the Satanism and the code words for pedophilia.
STELTER: October 30th, Clinton hating, Trump loving Twitterer claimed a police sort said Clinton was at the center of the pedophilia ring. Others latched onto this seemingly hoping it was true scouring dark corners of the web for possible clues. This is how conspiracy theories are threaded together. Lie by lie. Eventually, a name stuck, pizza-gate and the believers started harassing the owner of the pizza place.
JAMES ALEFANTIS, OWNER, COMET PING PONG: We've received many, many, many calls, but really they're from around the world so we didn't expect anyone to come.
STELTER: On Sunday, the suspect fired his weapon. No one was hurt. With detectives still on the scene in D.C., pizza-gate believers were already claiming that this real development was just part of a cover- up.
MIKE CERNOVICH, DANGER AND PLAY: The media is claiming that this is because of pizza-gate. This is very dangerous fake news. Anybody claiming that the gunman today at Comet pizza had anything to do with pizza-gate is lying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Brian Stelter is with me now along with Kayleigh McEnany, a conservative columnist, and Nayyera Haq, the former White House senior director under President Obama.
Brian, let me just start with you, because that man right there, I mean, just take a step to think about what he just said.
STELTER: Yes.
BURNETT: The guy who went in with the gun, all right, and discharged it, he said that he went in because of this story.
STELTER: Yes.
BURNETT: This fake story.
STELTER: Right.
BURNETT: That guy there that we just heard said that's completely made up, the gun man was an actor. I mean, what is this? STELTER: These pizza-gate believers, some of them today say this was
all a hoax, this incident, this incident, this real-life incident at the pizza shop was all made up trying to cover up the real conspiracy. You know, those people are not going to believe this report. Hopefully the vast majority of people still on planet earth can deal with the truth.
BURNETT: I mean, here's the stunning thing, Kayleigh, Michael Flynn, Jr., I want to emphasize Jr., that's the new national security, or the nominated national security adviser's son, tweeted on Sunday, I'll read his tweet, "Until pizza-gate proven to be false, it will remain a story. The Left seems to forget Podesta e-mails and many, quote, coincidences tied to it." That's pretty stunning, okay? I mean, this story is a lie. It is wrong. How could someone like that come out and tweet this? That this could possibly be true?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Look, I don't think Flynn's son should be tweeting this. He should take down the tweet, but I do want to emphasize this is two degrees removed from Donald Trump. This is the son of the national security adviser. This didn't come from Michael Flynn, himself. It likewise did not come from Donald Trump. I do think this pizza restaurant has a good lawsuit on their hands, but I really do want to emphasize now, though, the extreme fringe right wing has nothing to do with mainstream right wing, just like the 9/11 truthers didn't really have anything to do with the mainstream left wing. This is the fringe element of the right just like we have the fringe element of the left.
BURNETT: OK. So, you make a fair point there but there's this one problem. Sorry, Nayyera, Michael Flynn, Jr. is, yes, just his father's son except for not just. He is also his father's chief-of- staff, his top aide. Sorry. He has a government transition e-mail. He is involved.
General Flynn himself tweeted back on November 2nd, "You decide, NYPD blows whistle on new Hillary e-mails, money laundering, sex-crimes with children, must read." What do you say?
[19:22:26] NAYYERA HAQ, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN UNDER CLINTON AND KERRY: Well, this is what you end up having when you start creating a culture and people who are in leadership positions with large blow horns and millions of Twitter followers start saying things like the mainstream media is terrible. You can't believe anything you hear on TV or read in newspapers. People start to look for alternative sources of information that, frankly, aren't backed up by any investigative reporting or any of the principles of ethical journalism. So this is, in that sense, directly connected to Donald Trump and the conspiracy theorist that have surrounded him.
I mean, the when new White House senior adviser is going to be Steve Bannon. And Breitbart is also part of the alt-right movement. And these conspiracy theories are often featured on that website. And speaking of General Flynn, I understand his son has a transition account, official government account. So, certainly he should be held accountable. But with the National Security adviser actually tweeting these types of conspiracy theories, it leads to questioning his judgment and whether or not it was a joke, it should be made clear if he thought it was a joke. But people take this -- when people in power say things on Twitter accounts, it gets taken very seriously. So, we certainly need to be holding our leaders accountable.
BURNETT: But Kayleigh, does it concern you that --
MCENANY: But Erin, I do think --
BURNETT: Go ahead.
MCENANY: Erin, I do think it's important though that Mike Flynn Sr. was actually tweeting about something entirely different. It wasn't pizza-gate.
HAQ: But it was another child sex ring scandal conspiracy theory.
MCENANY: But it was not -- hold on, Nayyera, let me point out, though, what he was suggesting actually had some basis and truth. There's a man named Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted of child pornography, Bill Clinton took several flights with this individual, and there was some real questions as to why these flights were not on the books, what happened on --
STELTER: Are we really going to do this?
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: There are two separate things.
HAQ: Again, trying to parse all of this information about this connection with that connection, this is exactly how conspiracies start and this is exactly the type of logic and reasoning that we need to all be working against and start working with facts. I mean, this is a post-fact universe that we're working in.
MCENANY: Nayyera --
BURNETT: Kayleigh, should Trump though bear some responsibility, himself, to say enough? Enough? I don't believe -- even --
MCENANY: No
BURNETT: Even in private to tell these people, stop with this. I don't want to see you tweet like this. I don't want to see these things, they're lies and they're hateful. Doesn't he bear some of that responsibility when some of this is coming from people who are in his inner circle?
MCENANY: You had the president of the United States --
BURNETT: Sorry. Kayleigh, that was to you.
MCENANY: Does President Obama have the responsibility to say, I disavow the 9/11 truthers? No. Because he doesn't have to go around disavowing every single conspiracy theory. Because they're fringe left wing people. And Nayyera, your party has gone around with false, false narrative that Trump is racist, Trump is a xenophobic. No basis and truth. So, we want to talk about conspiracy theories and out there --
(CROSSTALK)
Your party is responsible for it.
HAQ: Sure. Let's talk about what happened actually just in my neighborhood. So, Comet Pizza is only a couple of blocks away from me. So, this is very personal. But actually a few blocks in the other direction, you had, what, two weeks ago a bunch of White supremacists who held an event and said hail Trump. Now, this is actually in Trump's new backyard, not something he disavowed, that's even happen in his own neighborhood. Usually when there are gun shootings in where a president or President-Elect is, there is some sort of statement or some kind of denouncement of that or any kind of horrific attack.
So, we haven't seen that. We haven't seen any time the KKK endorsed him or a David Duke or any of these White supremacists were advocating on his behalf, he never said, I disassociate myself from these people. Hardly disconnect to say that by when he has people who are supporting him actively campaigning for him, if he doesn't disavow them --
MCENANY: He has repeatedly --
BURNETT: Let me give the final word here to Brian. Let me give the final word to Brian.
STELTER: I was going to say about this issue of Twitter, for a man who's so well known for tweeting, who has such a great grasp of the medium. He hasn't even bothered tweeting about Oakland today, never mind this issue about what happened at Comet Ping Pong, never mind the broader issue about racism and about hate and harassment. I find it just strange sometimes what he chooses to tweet about. He complained about the media today but none of these specific issues that are on the table.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much to all. And next, Trump's controversial phone call to Taiwan. Trump advisers today, one of them now saying screw them to China.
And the breaking news, a judge declaring a mistrial in the case of a white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man. Shot him multiple times in the back. We all saw this tape. What did the jury see that was different?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:30:49] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: New tonight, the Trump team leveling a stern warning to China. The president-elect's economic adviser Steven Moore says if Beijing doesn't like the president- elect's controversial phone call to Taiwan's president, quote, "screw 'em."
Trump has been under fire for that call because Taiwan is still technically at war with China, in part. On Twitter, Trump did not back down. In fact, he upped the ante here to make that call.
Today, the White House warning Trump's actions could have serious consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Some of the progress that we have made in our relationship with China could be undermined by this issue flaring up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And, of course, Trump does a lot of business. He benefits from doing business in China and across Asia.
Miguel Marquez is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Taoyuan Aerotropolis is Taiwan's largest development project ever.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The largest development project ever sounds right up Donald Trump's alley.
ANNOUNCER: Gateway of Taiwan and to Asia.
MARQUEZ: And just maybe it is. Trump's protocol-breaking phone call with the president of Taiwan is the first time the U.S. has publicly admitted speaking with the leader of Taiwan since 1979, raising new questions about Trump's intentions. Trump advisers say it was a routine congratulatory call, but the mayor of Taoyuan issued a statement saying a Miss Chen with the Trump Organization discussed investment opportunities in September but they haven't heard from her or the Trump Organization since.
Interviewed on China's MAS TV, Taoyuan's mayor says Chen had documents issued by the Trump Company and his company is interested in Taiwan. Miss Chen has since been identified as Charlene Chen who described herself to the "Wall Street Journal" as a sales ambassador for Trump Properties, but not an employee.
A Trump organization spokesperson says, "There have been no authorized visits to Taiwan on behalf of our brand for the purposes of development nor are there any active conversations."
But a Trump Organization employee, Anne-Marie Donoghue, the global director of transient sales in China made a business trip to Taiwan in October, that according to a post on her Facebook page that has since been deleted.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I love China.
MARQUEZ: But Trump's business ties to mainland China go far deeper than anything in Taiwan. TRUMP: The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where
their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower.
MARQUEZ: China's ICBC is the biggest tenant in Trump Tower, says "Bloomberg" news, paying nearly $2 million a year. That lease comes up in 2019.
And Bank of China says "The New York Times" is providing some financing on a $950 million loan on a building Trump partly owns on Manhattan's Sixth Avenue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, in Trump's 2011 book, he writes of China, "Get it straight. China is not our friend. They see us as the enemy." This while he was pursuing very big deals in China that didn't actually pan out.
But it seems this is sort of his M.O., that you keep your opponents, your adversary on their back foot so to confuse things, say one thing, do another. It works in business. We'll see how it works in the presidency -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Miguel. Thank you.
Back with me, Kayleigh McEnany, Nayyera Haq, Mark Preston, Jamie Gangel.
Jamie, you talked to some very senior members of the former Bush administration. What have they been telling you?
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So I have to tell you they were not so concerned that this call took place. They say it's okay to be a little unpredictable. He's president-elect, not president yet.
That said, despite all this reporting that this was all planned out, they were not under the impression it was planned out and what they're concerned about is winging it. If there's a genuine strategy behind doing something like this, then that's one thing.
[19:35:04] But they were -- they were concerned that, you know, not just Taiwan, when he spoke to the British prime minister, he said if you're ever in Washington, come and see me. Pakistan, you're fantastic.
BURNETT: Extraordinary.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Extraordinary.
GANGEL: That's what they don't like. This needs to be a thoughtful process.
BURNETT: So, Kayleigh, how close is Trump toward what could be the most crucial decision here that we are awaiting, right? We understand he's very close to making a decision but he has greatly enjoyed the public parading of secretary of state candidates, sort of the casting call for lack of a better word.
When is that decision going to be made? Because that person is ostensibly going to bear the burden of figuring all this stuff out.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. It seems Donald Trump recognizes the gravity of secretary of state. This is arguably his most important cabinet appointee he's going to make or to call.
And every day, we're seeing more names. You know, we've heard almost a dozen names at this point. It does seem to me from what I've read and what I've researched that Romney seems to no longer be the leading contender. We see a lot of dark horses coming out. Potentially, Robert Gates, I know.
But I think it's good that Trump is taking his time. I think it's good that he's meeting with people who are critical of him like Romney and Gates. But I wouldn't underestimate Rudy Giuliani. He may just in the end come out to be the one who is selected. I think that would be an excellent choice.
BURNETT: Dark horses, Jamie. Robert Gates is a dark, dark horse.
GANGEL: Right. So, Robert Gates has said, no, he's not going into the Trump administration. He wrote a scathing op-ed. But he just spent two days at Trump Tower giving people advice.
And I will tell you this, there are a number of GOP establishment people and I say that as a good thing, professionals who would love nothing more than if Bob Gates -- I don't know that Trump is interested, but they see Bob Gates and General Mattis as the dream team.
BURNETT: And they got General Mattis.
Now, Bob Gates wrote a scathing op-ed, OK? We covered it extensively. It was as nasty as it gets. And Trump responded in kind.
PRESTON: He did. So a couple things that Donald Trump said, just only back in September about Bob Gates. "I've never former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He knows nothing about me, but look at the results under his guidance. A total disaster." Which is definitely not ringing endorsement for secretary of state.
But he went on to say, "never met, never liked dopey Robert Gates." that's the best part, right? Dopey. "Look at the mess he's always in, always speaks badly of his many bosses including Obama."
What's interesting about this, too, is if he does choose someone like Robert Gates or asks him at least, we don't know if he would accept, it does say something Trump is willing to pivot off his personal animosity towards people to take somebody into his administration that actually knows what they're doing on a certain subject. BURNETT: So, Nayyera, Trump is reportedly considering seven people
for this job now. And as Kayleigh points out, you know, first, people are saying, well, it's Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney. We're now up to seven.
Former ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, under Barack Obama. GOP presidential candidate, but perhaps more important is the China part of his resume, also on that list.
How likely is it that Trump will do what Mark just said and considers somebody that has insulted him and hated him in the past?
NAYYERA HAQ, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN UNDER CLINTON & KERRY: Well, it should be very interesting, this is clearly a really important appointment. It's taken quite some time, especially if he's going to be making calls to foreign leaders as we've seen and making the types of commitments he's made behoove him to actually engage and pin down this appointment sooner rather than later. We need somebody as secretary of state that the president-elect will actually listen to and the president-elect prides himself on not necessarily being diplomatic, not playing nice in the sand box. But we need somebody who will.
At the same token, we have all of these State Department officials who are overseas in embassies who are waiting to just help and provide nonpartisan expertise. Nobody in the Trump campaign is engaging with them -- sorry, the Trump transition -- is engaging with them and the president-elect has also opted not to have the daily intelligence briefings. So, we have somebody who's talking to foreign leaders who doesn't understand the countries or the nuances of what's going on, really need to have somebody in that position as secretary of state that hopefully he'll listen to.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks to all.
And by the way, what Bob Gates wrote about Donald Trump in part, "he is unqualified and unfit to be commander in chief."
PRESTON: Right. He was critical of Hillary Clinton as well, Erin.
BURNETT: He was. He did say between the two he would pick her, but it was hardly a ringing endorsement. But yes.
All right. Next, the breaking news. No decision in the trial of police officer Michael Slager who shot an unarmed black man in the back multiple times as he was running away. They're not anywhere close to each other. So, we all saw this tape. The jury, though, unable to come back with a verdict. Why?
And Jill Stein pressing recounts in three states that Trump narrowly won. She's my guest, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:51] BURNETT: Tonight, the presidential recount now under way in Michigan, officials hand counting nearly 5 million ballots after a federal judge ruled the recount must begin an begin immediately. Trump's lead in the state, as you can see, is just shy of 11,000 votes. The other states where recounts are being called for, Wisconsin, Trump's lead there, 22,000. Pennsylvania it is now down to about 47,000, just shy of that.
The woman pushing for the recount, Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, standing outside Trump Tower, she vowed to escalate her fight in Pennsylvania to a federal lawsuit, urging Trump to let the recounts proceed.
OUTFRONT now, the 2016 Green Party nominee for president, Jill Stein.
Dr. Stein, thank you for taking the time.
JILL STEIN, 2016 GREEN PARTY NOMINEE: Great to be with you, Erin.
BURNETT: I want to talk about the recount. But, first, you were outside Trump Tower, you were there today.
Al Gore, the former vice president, was also at Trump Tower today to talk climate change. He met with Donald Trump. He said that it was a sincere and productive conversation. A few weeks ago at a rally for Hillary Clinton, he said Trump would create a climate catastrophe.
Does it trouble you that Al Gore would take a meeting and describe it so positively today?
STEIN: You know, it doesn't trouble me. I find it strange. I'm not sure I believe it. I don't know what's going on.
[19:45:01] You know, I -- I am concerned, obviously, about where Donald Trump stands. He's had a very consistent history. He's highly invested, for example, in the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Is he going to respect the recent decision not to grant a permit and require an environmental impact study? Yes, I mean, I think you have to Judge Donald Trump by his record, which is very clear which is rather disastrous.
But I have to say, it's not been great under the Democratic Party, either. Hillary Clinton, you know, supports fracking. Donald Trump supported coal. Both of them absolutely catastrophic. We should not be building new fracking pipelines and infrastructure either.
As far as I'm concerned, they both have a long way to go --
BURNETT: So --
STEIN: -- and I'd like to see Al Gore, for that matter, step up to what we ally require, which is 100 percent renewable energy, clean renewable energy by 2030.
BURNETT: So, on the issue of the recount, you have said the president-elect, Donald Trump, and his campaign are scared and trying to obstruct the recount process. Why do you think that? Why do you think that they're scared? STEIN: Well, because they're doing everything they can to stop
transparency and accountability. You would think that they would be confident in their victory. You could think that they would support the Democratic process. What is wrong with counting the votes?
You know, when there's a question about where a ball landed in football or in tennis, you know, we review the tapes and we see where exactly it landed. We should have the capacity to do that in every election. There should be automatic audits of every election and we should just be getting rid of this very disaster-prone, tamper-prone, hacking-prone, electronic touchscreen machines.
BURNETT: OK. Let me ask you a question about this, though, because the margins of victory here seem very close. If you're a person out there, you're watching, you say 10,000 votes, 10,700 votes in Michigan, 5.5 million ballots cast, you immediately say, OK, that makes sense that that would be a recount.
Jeffrey Toobin, you know, who wrote the book about the recount in Florida in the year 2000 says the most number of votes that will switch is 500 votes. He says there's no way this outcome will change.
Are you concerned that you are hurting confidence in the system? Especially by people on the left who are upset that Trump won, when the results won't change?
STEIN: Well, let me just say, we saw in Ohio in 2004 after the fact in a court case that there were 90,000 votes that were mistakenly read as blank in Toledo, in an African-American heavily Democratic-leaning district, those votes were basically blanked out. Had they been counted, there's no question that would have changed the outcome in Ohio.
And it's just not true that only a couple hundred votes here and there change. We don't know.
But the purpose here is not to change the outcome. Let me say that the purpose here is to create a process that we can trust. We cannot sweep American cynicism, American distrust. After this very bitter and divisive election, we need to be confident in our voting system that we have counted every vote and respected American voter.
BURNETT: So, I hear you, but Donald Trump was under great criticism, remember at the debate when he said, well, I'll see what the results are before I say if I accept them. And some people say that's you now. Here's his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway yesterday talking to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I was asked on this program and many others that will you accept the election results? So, the question for Jill Stein and Hillary Clinton and those who just are still in the grief, anger and denial stages, will you start moving over to acceptance?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEIN: Well, I'm --
BURNETT: Wouldn't you be incredibly critical of Donald Trump if he was doing this to Hillary Clinton right now if he lost?
STEIN: In my view, we should have recounts whenever there is a very close race.
BURNETT: But we do. We have laws, 0.2 percent, 0.3, whatever it is.
STEIN: Right. But we don't have audits and we're using extremely unreliable voting machines, electronic machines that have been known to miscount or discount tens of thousands of votes at a time. So, I was asked throughout the election, if there was concern about the credibility and integrity of the vote, would I stand up and call for a recount? And I always said yes.
In my view, this should have been done during the Democratic primary when there were concerns about votes that were stripped from the voter rolls in Brooklyn. Hundreds of thousands of votes that were not counted in California. To my mind, that should have been a call for a recount.
And I always said, in the presidential race, if it fell to me to raise questions and ensure that voters have a voting system we can believe in and that we can trust, I would always step up to the plate and call for a recount. It didn't matter who the winner is. That's the problem with Donald Trump's thinking here. I think there was enormous resonance with his concern that the vote was rigged.
BURNETT: So, you do this -- you would have done this to Hillary Clinton, too?
STEIN: I would have done this no matter what. If there was doubt about the vote, then we should address that and not sweep it under the rug.
The American people are very concerned. We do not have faith in our political system, in the election, in our public institutions. You know, lack of faith is really at a high, all-time high level whether you're looking at political parties, the judiciary, the Congress, the executive, media for that matter.
[19:50:06] This is a time, you know, for accountability and transparency. Let's earn the trust of the American people.
BURNETT: All right. Dr. Stein, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight.
STEIN: Great to be with you. Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, the breaking news, a mistrial declared in the deadly shooting of an unarmed black man running away from a white police officer. We all saw it on tape, but the jurors said they could not reach a verdict. Why? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:53:31] BURNETT: Breaking news: Mistrial. Jurors unable to reach a verdict in the case of former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager. Slager, who is white, shot Walter Scott in the back multiple times. Scott is black and was unarmed.
This video is unforgettable. It was evidence in the case. But Slager insisted that he tried to back away and Scott was posing a threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SLAGER, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: At that time, when Mr. Scott was coming after me with the taser, I drew my weapon and fired. I was focused on the front sight. That's all I know. I know he tried to tase me, we were on the ground. I'm backing away getting away and he's still coming after me with his taser and at that point, I made the decision to use lethal force because Mr. Scott never stopped. He's always dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Except he was running away in that video.
Nick Valencia is OUTFRONT.
Nick, what happened in this trial?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was the first indication we got that there was a potential for a mistrial on Friday when we received news there was a lone jury holdout who said he could not in good conscience convict this officer of first-degree murder. Today, we learned it may not have just been one, however. It was a majority of the jurors that were still undecided as of this morning.
This came as an incredible shock for those that were supporting Walter Scott's family. To them, all that matters was this cell phone video shot by Feidin Santana. That video that shows Walter Scott running away from Michael Slager, being gunned down, shot from behind multiple times. To them, it was shocking that there was this deadlock jury.
[19:55:01] Some of what was taken exception in this community as well was the makeup of the jury. Eleven of the jurors were white, one of them was black.
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, however, the Scott family chose not to focus on that. They said they're optimistic they could get the conviction in a potential retrial scheduled for sometime later next year.
However, we should remind our viewers that Michael Slager is not completely off the hook yet. He is facing federal civil rights charges. That trial expected to happen sometime in early 2017.
Some poignant words earlier from Scott family attorney saying that there was a missed opportunity here -- a missed opportunity to heal some very deep wounds in the black community as a result of the series of police shootings that have happened in this country over the last two years. Erin?
BURNETT: All right. Nick, thank you.
And OUTFRONT now, Paul Callan, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.
So, Paul, we all saw that video. Slager's, he said he was backing away, Scott was coming after him with the taser. Of course, when the video actually is rolling and this is the final moments, this is the final moments, Scott is running away, Slager shoots him multiple times in the back. Scott is killed.
Are you shocked at the outcome here?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I am shocked. The thing it emphasizes is how much people respect police officers and how hard it is to convict a police officer. And I think this was -- we have this term called "jury nullification" where sometimes the jury just goes against the law and it goes against the facts because they have a gut feeling that the right thing is an acquittal or in this case a hung jury.
BURNETT: A hung jury. On Friday, you heard Nick report one juror was the holdout. They said go back and figure it out, figuring that one person will come around. That person convinced other people, we now understand that there were multiple people. It's truly a hung jury. That is also shockingly unprecedented.
CALLAN: That is staggering if that happens, because normally if it's down to 11-1, the 11 convinces the one to change sides. I tried a murder case myself as a prosecutor once. One juror is holding out, he locked himself into a room when they were requestered overnight, and they had to bring the door down to bring him back to the court house.
And know what happened at the courthouse? He changed his mind and went with the majority, because that's what always happens. This is going to go down in the record books, if one juror changed the minds of the others.
BURNETT: And we will see what happen, of course. The prosecutor says he's going do go ahead with another trial.
Paul Callan, tank you.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And thank you for joining us. Don't forget, you can watch OUTFRONT anytime, anywhere on CNN Go.
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