Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Trump Takes on Protests & Media; Trump Will Now Get Presidential Daily Briefing; Warren Buffett Weighs in After Trump's Big Win. Aired 7:30-8a ET.

Aired November 11, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

Aired 7:30-8a ET>



[07:30:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, so in other words, it's either the DNC's fault or it's the media's fault. I mean, why is it hard for them to accept that 50 percent -- half of the country is not happy with the outcome of what happened on Tuesday?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HOST, "THE DAVID GREGORY SHOW PODCAST": Well, right, and there's not happy and then there is people who are deciding to protest in the streets and those are two different levels of unhappiness, so this is happening. Right, this is a response. It should not be seen as a response to delegitimize the new president-elect because we have a process, we have a democracy, and this is the result.

But, you know, look, I think that Reince Priebus can talk about professional protesters, can talk about the Clinton campaign and stories from what happened during the campaign. What I think that they would be better served doing is what Kellyanne Conway talked about, which is asking people to have an open mind. That's what Hillary Clinton has asked, even, her supporters to do. She's not going to be able to control all of them and so we see what's happening out there.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But when he puts out that first tweet, right, you have to hold him to what he says and also give him a chance and see what he does. But, journalists will not yield. It doesn't matter whether what you do is popular or not, you're going to keep doing your job. So what is the calculation for President-elect Trump in terms of how he deals with the media? Yesterday, he didn't allow the press pool to go with him.

GREGORY: Right.

CUOMO: Do you think that's what the does? Do you think he eliminates tradition and sets his own standard and just takes the war to the media every day?

GREGORY: I hope he doesn't, but I want to add a little bit of context on this. Every president -- President Obama did it, President Bush did it -- they try to find a way to get beyond the media filter and go directly to the people. And as technology has changed and social media allows to push that filter aside, every president, Republican and Democrat, will do that. So I think we ought to be careful not to make this a kind of Trump phenomenon that he wants to somehow go over the media.

Look, I was a White House correspondent. I believe very strongly that you need access to the President of the United States, to be able to question the president, to be able to watch the president. To be there in case -- and this goes back to President Kennedy. In case the president -- anybody tried to harm the president. That's why you have what's called a protective pool.

So I believe in that transparency very deeply as a member of the press corps, but I also understand that the White House is going to try to get beyond that filter. I fully expect that this president -- and, again, not that much different than other presidents and Democrats, too -- will find a way to marginalize the media, blame the media, and create a situation where the media is considered part of the rebellious left in this country. That is part of speaking to the people who support Donald Trump.

And we are in a position in the media, right now, where we have to take a look at ourselves and, yes, hold him to account, but also take a look at our own arrogance and our own short-sidedness that we didn't see all of the energy that was out there that could create this result.

CAMEROTA: David, what did you think? I mean, as a White House correspondent -- former -- what did you think of that meeting between President-elect Trump and President Obama yesterday?

GREGORY: I thought it was striking, you know. If you study our history, you know, you think about Donald Trump who rides into national promises on the back of a racist lie that our president may not have been born in this country and looking for his birth certificate, that could have led to a duel back in the days of Alexander Hamilton.

Instead, we have a President of the United States who invited him in as the president-elect to the Oval Office because the peaceful passage of power is what makes our country great, our democracy great, our institutions great, and the presidency is something to be revered. And so, you saw two men who had never met before and, apparently, they had a good discussion.

The president in a position to try to influence Donald Trump and say look, you know, here are my positions, here are our programs, you know. You shouldn't repeal this, you should repeal that. And you saw, I think, a president-elect also sounding like this is somebody he may rely on for counsel. We'll see what happens.

CUOMO: I had a friend of Donald Trump stop me yesterday and say I know that Donald Trump knows how to be the biggest man in the room. He knows how to rise above. Don't judge him just by the campaign. We will wait and see.

CAMEROTA: David, thank you.

GREGORY: OK. CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you. President-elect Trump to begin learning the nation's secrets through deeper classified intelligence briefings. Will that change his views on the conflict? Will it change his views on the fight against ISIS? We'll talk to military and intelligence experts, next.

[07:34:35] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:38:05] CUOMO: As president-elect, Donald Trump is now going to get a presidential daily briefing. It's an in-depth look at the classified problems the country faces. Let's talk about how that may affect him and what is going on, going forward, with the relationship between the president-elect and the military.

We've got Major Gen. James "Spider" Marks, a CNN military analyst who is retired from the Army. He's on the advisory board of Academy Securities. And, Mr. Bob Baer, a CNN intelligence and security analyst and a former CIA operative. He's the author of "The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins".

My 10-year-old loves that book, Bob. Let me ask you something. This report from "The Daily Beast" that the transition team for the president-elect is having trouble staffing within the intel community because of resistance to Donald Trump. Do you believe that?

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE, AUTHOR, "THE PERFECT KILL: 21 LAWS FOR ASSASSINS": Oh, I believe it, but we also have to realize that this is an insurgency. I think Washington, D.C. has got to brace itself -- the national security establishment -- because the insurgency will continue. They are talking about lopping off heads in Washington.

His advisory team -- I'm in touch with some of them -- are very serious about this and they've got a list of people they want to get rid of -- new policy. A lot of these people, of course, are conservative, but a lot of them are very well briefed on places like Iraq, Syria, the Middle East, China. These people are not inexperienced and they know who they're going after.

CUOMO: General, thank you for your service. Thank you for the service --

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST/U.S. ARMY (RET.), BOARD MEMBER, ACADEMY SECURITIES: Sure.

CUOMO: -- of those in your family. We appreciate it and we need it. Thank you, on this Veterans Day. I want to play you two pieces of sounds that I keep hearing about from the good men and women in your community when it comes to Donald Trump. Here's the first one with him talking about what he would do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me. I would bomb the (bleep) out of them. I would just bomb those suckers. And, that's right, I'd blow up the pipes, I'd blow up the refine -- I'd blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:15] CUOMO: Just political talk or is this something that you think is going to need to be reconciled right away?

MARKS: Well, I think it's been stated that if take him seriously, that's one thing. If you take him literally, that's something else. Clearly, the electorate took him seriously, not literally. I doubt that somebody who's now the president-elect is going to come in and, in a serious way, have a communications -- have a discussion that reflects what he just said for an entirely different audience.

And also, you know, what Bob just described is really the transition that takes place in this town as a matter of routine. The lopping off of heads is not to be unexpected. However, to Bob's point, you don't want to lop off too many heads at too many levels because that expertise -- that incredibly deep, very precise granular detail of what's taking place in different areas and along different verticals, you can't afford to lose. So there really is balance but we've walked this path before.

CUOMO: Does the community rise above the intel community, Bob, and just do their job not because of but despite, whatever the political influence is around them?

BAER: Oh, absolutely. There will be no pushback from the CIA, from the Defense Department. They are simply going to fall in line. He'll get the full briefings, especially compartmented intelligence, which he's never seen before. They're going to -- they're going to have people that will explain the stuff to him.

This is going to be a steep, steep learning curve because you're view of the world changes drastically when you're getting a PDB. That's a Presidential Daily Briefing. It just changes -- the stuff is incredible in this thing and you will change your views.

CUOMO: Give me another beat on that, Bob. This notion that the moment the office can change the man, in this case. How so?

BAER: Well, he's got to do a lot of reading. I mean, this stuff, you don't see it in "The New York Times", you don't see it on CNN. These are intercepts of diplomatic communications, conversations. And, you know, bombing the Islamic States into oblivion is not going to go over well with Saudi Arabia, for instance, or Turkey.

And you've got a refugee problem which he's starting to deal with by now.You know, if Mosul goes very, very bad and you have a million refugees that are going to go into Turkey -- he's been briefed on this. He knows it's a problem. He's not going to do carpet-bombing.

I just think his opinions are going to change on this. I mean, he is going to modify them. He'll pick up the speed but not like he's promised.

CUOMO: Second piece of -- second piece of sound, General, and then, please, make your point in the context of what you're about to hear.

MARKS: Go ahead, sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Whatever happened to the element of surprise? Why are they saying this? And then three months go, and then two months, and I hear in two months, now it's one month. And finally, about a week -- two weeks ago I heard next week at about 3:15 we're going to start the attack. These people are stupid. They're stupid people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: General, now you well know there are very good reasons that certain messaging is put out and what's expected and what's understood. That is not as simple as what comes across in the media sometimes or, certainly, what we heard there from candidate Donald Trump. Do you believe he will, as Bob suggested, change once he gets the real deal from the real men and women in uniform?

MARKS: I don't know that he's fundamentally going to change his core, but what we see -- again, to Bob's point -- what we see and how we will interact with this new president will be through a filter of advisers that are absolutely essential. I mean, the sound bite, Chris, that you just had is a classic example.

There are multiple levels of surprise and there are levels of predictability. What you need in a commander-in-chief is a very measured response and a certainty in terms of what he, in this case, want to achieve strategically and, above strategy, at the policy level. That's what has to drive his messaging.

At the tactical level, of course, we're not going to announce that at 15:30 on the 13th of March this will occur. That doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. And what he's doing is conflating the two, in this case. He will begin to separate those two in very short order once he starts to immerse himself in this level of detail and the magnitude of what he's going to receive.

I think Bob made it absolutely, perfectly clear. I mean, as an intel guy, I was the guy early in the morning that had to present this stuff to my bosses at different levels. It is an onerous and it's an intellectual task. You have to get your head in the game.

[07:45:00] It's not the CEO of an organization that has, potentially -- not all CEO's are like this -- the luxury of saying you guys handle it. The commander-in-chief must be involved in the consequences -- therefore, the decisions -- therefore, the details.

CUOMO: And a candidate exaggerates the status quo to advantage. The president is going to have to own it and that's why you see a lot more modulation or, at least, you hope to see it.

MARKS: Sure.

CUOMO: General, Bob Baer, thank you very much. Appreciate it -- Alisyn.

MARKS: Thanks, Chris.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Up next (clears throat), excuse me, the oracle of Omaha weighs in on this presidential race. Our Poppy Harlow spoke with Warren Buffett and brings us what he says about Mr. Trump's plans.

CUOMO: Also, this Sunday we have a special CNN "PARTS UNKNOWN" for you. Tony Bourdain is going to follow a famed chef to his childhood home in Japan and he's going to learn how he transformed Japanese cuisine into big sushi success in the U.S. Guess who it is? Here's a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST, CNN "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN": (Foreign language spoken).

Any excuse to come to Japan is a good one --

I feel healthier already.

-- for a reason, it's awesome. This episode, we're going back to Japan with Masa Takayama.

MASA TAKAYAMA, CHEF-OWNER, MASA: He's a character.

BOURDAIN: Probably the greatest and most respected Japanese chef in America.

How do I hold the sake cup?

TAKAYAMA: No, no, that's women.

BOURDAIN: For 10 years, I've been drinking sake like a girl. His restaurant, Masa, in New York, is certainly the most expensive restaurant in America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is from a tree.

BOURDAIN: That's so beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

BOURDAIN: And we're going back to Japan with him to find out why, what happens next --

TAKAYAMA: (Laughs)

BOURDAIN: -- where it all came from --

TAKAYAMA: (Foreign language spoken)

BOURDAIN: -- and where it's going. Oh, just a bite.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:46:55] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:55] CAMEROTA: Billionaire Warren Buffett came out strong for Hillary Clinton, donating his time and money to her campaign.

CUOMO: So, how's he feeling about Donald Trump's stunning victory and the post-election surge on Wall Street?

CNN's anchor Poppy Harlow landed an exclusive interview with the "Oracle of Omaha". It wasn't too oracle-ish when it came to picking.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Right. I was just saying good morning to you guys. Good morning, everyone.

He was stunned. I mean, the "Oracle of Omaha" did not see this coming, just like pretty much everyone else. I asked him a few things, especially the important question of even though he was one of the first big names to come out and support Hillary Clinton, does he support Donald Trump as president? He said absolutely, it's very important that every American does support the president.

And I also said, you know, President Obama called you a lot for economic advice. If a President Trump were to call you on the economy would you help him? He said no question, I would do that for any president.

But then, we dug into specifics on the economy and what Donald Trump has said he would do as president. And he said things like four percent GDP growth year-on-year, just not realistic. Here's more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: You are the eternal optimist. I mean, you're the one who wrote the opinion piece in the middle of the Great Recession, saying bet on America.

WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Do you feel optimistic about America right now?

BUFFETT: A hundred percent.

HARLOW: A divided America?

BUFFETT: A hundred percent.

HARLOW: Why?

BUFFETT: It is -- I mean, this is a fantastic country. In my lifetime -- I was born in 1930. The real GDP per person has gone up six for one. Here we were, just about the most advanced country in the world when I was born, and one person's lifetime, six for one. There's never been anything like it. We have $57,000 of GDP per capita. A family of four, $228,000. They don't get it, but -- this system will produce more and more stuff and better and better stuff and services.

HARLOW: The system works regardless of who the president is.

BUFFETT: The market system works --

HARLOW: All right, let's --

BUFFETT: -- but it doesn't work for everybody.

HARLOW: It doesn't --

BUFFETT: It works in aggregate.

HARLOW: Let's talk about the market, long-term -- the market reaction to all of this -- to President-elect Trump. What do you expect it be long-term, given the policy proposals that he has laid out, if he carries through with them?

BUFFETT: Are you talking about the stock market?

HARLOW: I'm talking about the stock market.

BUFFETT: Yes, the stock market will be higher 10, 20, 30 years from now. It would have been with Hillary and it would have been -- it will be with Trump.

HARLOW: So all of these predictions that the market was going to tank under a President Trump --

BUFFETT: They're silly.

HARLOW: Silly?

BUFFETT: They're silly.

HARLOW: Let's dig into some of the proposals that Donald Trump has put out there -- the economic proposals and your take on them. He has suggested and proposed instituting a 35 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico and China --

BUFFETT: Yes.

HARLOW: -- to this country. A lot of business leaders say that would cause a trade war and that would cause a recession. What do you say?

BUFFETT: Well, I think it's a bad idea -- a very bad idea, but I'm not going to say it will cause a recession. Anytime you start playing around with retaliatory-type trade things it's very likely you're going to have a -- the other side's going to play, too. I mean, that's been the history.

The problem for trade -- and this is why you need what I would call an instructor-in-chief as president because you cannot blame anybody that lost their job because industry -- their industry moved abroad because there was a comparative advantage with some other country. You can't expect any of them to say ah, I'm for free trade because it helps the society as a whole. It does help the society as a whole, but the benefits are very diffuse, you know.

I may buy the socks I have, the underwear I have, a few cents cheaper because of the comparative advantage of some other country in producing it. But I don't get down -- every time I go to Walmart and buy them I don't say oh, thank God for free trade.

HARLOW: Does it worry you, then, to hear Donald Trump say he will scrap NAFTA, which he'll have the power to do as president?

BUFFETT: Well, we'll see what happens. It is true there will be a -- with the Republicans in control of the Senate and the House --

HARLOW: You don't think he'll do it?

BUFFETT: Well, you know, he has to get the House and the Senate to -- he has to get support on it. There will be a lot of -- and this is not true -- and this is not exclusive to Donald Trump. There are a lot of things that in campaigns that don't happen after the election.

HARLOW: Donald Trump ran on the platform of being a billionaire businessman, arguing that that gives him the unique ability to help all of the Americans and millions of people who are struggling in this country who cannot get by on one job, who cannot support their family, and they believe he is their answer. Do you think that Donald Trump is a good businessman because you certainly went after him on his business record during the campaign?

BUFFETT: Yes, well, he had -- he had some major failures and -- he was very good at licensing and he was very good at things that involved promotion of his name. Actual operation of the businesses in the 1980's and 1990's, you know, it left him, essentially bankrupting multiple companies. But, he -- I would say this. He understands business but his record has been better at licensing and --

HARLOW: Than operations?

BUFFETT: -- than he's putting out his own capital, yes.

HARLOW: His publicly-traded Trump Casino empire business. "No major U.S. company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy more." Are you concerned about his ability to operate big businesses?

BUFFETT: Well, he isn't going to be operating businesses. I don't have to worry about him running a business at all. He's the one who has to -- you know, that doesn't really, in my judgment, determine whether somebody makes a great president.

Harry Truman went broke in a haberdashery store near Kansas City or in Kansas City. I mean, he wasn't much of a businessman. He turned out to be a terrific president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Fascinating to hear from him. So, what does the "Oracle" say about the U.S. economy and the future? HARLOW: Right, he is always bullish, the eternal optimist. But he did say to me, Alisyn, that he believes the U.S. economy, right now, is "slower than people think". And when he talks, markets move. Now, he doesn't think that this will have, necessarily, material impact on the market. What he's saying is I just don't see in the 70 companies that I own 2.9 percent growth last quarter. He said I think when they revise third quarter growth, GDP, it will be less than that.

And then I said what are you seeing? He said look at the railroads that I own, look at what we're shipping. He said it just seems a little bit slower. He did not say a recession is imminent or anything like that, but he did say it's a little bit slower.

CUOMO: Buffett is buy and hold, as strategy.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: He has often used the expression "you buy on fear". What is his take on Trump and temperament and its effect on the markets?

HARLOW: So, right out of the gate we talked about temperament and the president, and I asked him why he was such a big supporter of Clinton. And he said the single most important job of the president is to "minimize the chances of weapons of mass destruction being used."

He made the calculus of two choices he believes that Clinton was the better option on that. And I said does that mean you think Trump has bad temperament? He did not go that far, Chris, and I pressed him a lot on that. He said I think Clinton led on temperament. It is why he was a big supporter of hers.

And then, he talked about the importance of that 3:00 a.m. phone call and what will happen. But, you know, this is our president now and he is supporting Trump.

CAMEROTA: Poppy, thanks so much for sharing all the reporting with us.

HARLOW: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: It's great to have you here.

HARLOW: Thank you.

CUOMO: We wanted to see more of Poppy's interview and she said no, it's an exclusive. It's a one-on-one and you have to see it on my show, so that's what we'll all do. Tune into "CNN NEWSROOM" tomorrow afternoon starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

There is a lot of news to get to. The president-elect is tweeting, once a-gain. What did he say? Let's get to it.

CAMEROTA: Once a-gain?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have been very encouraged by President-elect Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: We were just going to get to know each other.

PROTESTERS: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: This is a man of action. He is ready to get working. It's really, really exciting.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: He's a hard guy not to like.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have got to demand that Mr. Trump keep the promises that he made.

PROTESTERS: Not my president, not my president.

OBAMA: It is important for all of us to now come together.

D. TRUMP: I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Friday, November 11th, Veterans Day, and we do thank all of our veterans today. It is 8:00 in the East.

Post-election anger erupting again overnight, a second night of protests in cities across the country. Things taking a violent turn in Portland where a peaceful demonstration turned into a riot. Donald Trump responding last night on Twitter with a mixed message.

CUOMO: Hmm. The men and women who were celebrating today as veterans secure a right to a protest, not to be criminals and riot. This, in stark contrast to the unity we saw with President Obama and President- elect Trump in this White House meeting where they pledged to work together toward a smooth and peaceful transfer of power. That comes 70 days from now.

Let's get to CNN's Jason Carroll. He's live at Trump Tower. That's the place to be. What do you see?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, good morning to you, Chris.