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Trump Picks Two women for Top Administration Posts; Clinton's Lead in Popular Vote Nears 2 Million; U.S. Navy: Personal Data of 130,000 Soldiers Hacked; Millions to Line NYC Streets for Thanksgiving Parade; Trump's Relationship with Gov. Nikki Haley. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 24, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have before us to bring real change to Washington.

[05:58:18] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor Haley is a good pick.

DR. BEN CARSON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There were a lot of things that were put on the table.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Betsy Devos will represent dramatic change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're looking for the top talent who's not out to settle scores.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Mitt Romney, will he be offered the secretary of state job.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: There are a lot of other people who are more qualified than Romney.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thanksgiving is a chance to finally turn our attention from polls to poultry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Millions of people across the country are on the move.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New York police taking extra security measures along the route of the parade.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The 90th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade kicks off in just a few hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special Thanksgiving edition of your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, November 24, 6 a.m. in the east. And I'm here with Brooke Baldwin.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Chris Cuomo is away. The girls will play. CAMEROTA: Anything could happen this morning. Stay tuned.

We're just hours away from the Thanksgiving Day parade kicking off here in New York City. So we will have live reports for you from the parade route as well as your holiday forecast throughout the morning.

BALDWIN: So we've got that for you this morning. We also, though, want to begin with President-elect Donald Trump selecting the first women to serve in his administration. This as we wait for word on other cabinet nominees.

President-elect Trump, meantime, releasing a holiday video message calling for national healing on this Thanksgiving. So we have it all for you on this holiday morning, starting with Jason Carroll, who is live down in Palm Beach at Trump's Mar-a-Lago. The sort of potentially winter White House with more.

Jason, good morning.

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

You know, no announcements expected today. This is a time for the president-elect and his family to have time together. So this will be a down day for the president-elect.

Meanwhile, the president-elect now calling for the country to come together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump diversifying his administration, picking two women to fill key positions, tapping former critic Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R-SC), U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N. APPOINTEE: I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK, that is not a part of our party. That's not who we want as president.

TRUMP: She's very, very weak on illegal immigration. You can't have that.

CARROLL: Trump now touting the South Carolina governor as a proven dealmaker with a proven track record of bringing people together. Haley has accepted the position, she says, out of a sense of duty.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is the first woman and first person of color to be elected as governor in South Carolina. But some are questioning if she has enough foreign policy experience for her new diplomatic post at the U.N.

TRUMP: Thank you, everyone.

CARROLL: Trump also naming a top billionaire GOP donor, Betsy Devos, as secretary of education. The president-elect calling the school choice activist "a brilliant and passionate education advocate." Even though she also heavily criticized him throughout his candidacy, raising money for other Republicans on the ballot.

And Devos previously served on the board of an education group led by Jeb Bush that supports Common Core standards.

TRUMP: We are going to provide school choice, and put an end to Common Core, bring our education local.

CARROLL: Devos setting the record straight on Common Core in a statement saying, "I am not a supporter. Period."

Trump also announcing on Twitter that he is seriously considering dr. Ben Carson as head of Housing and Urban Development.

CARSON: There were a lot of things that were put on the table, and I'm thinking about them.

CARROLL: All as Trump channels the spirit of Thanksgiving, releasing this holiday message on YouTube after what he calls a long and bruising campaign.

TRUMP: It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Again, today is a down day for the president-elect and his family. Dr. Ben Carson did give some indication of when we might hear something about his position. He did tweet that an announcement would be, quote, "forthcoming."

And Alisyn, there have been a lot of questions about when we might hear something about secretary of state. Mitt Romney is the frontrunner and, in terms of that position, we're hearing that Mitt Romney is mulling things over with his advisors, not expected to hear something on that front until after the holiday weekend -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Good to know, Jason. Thank you so much.

Let's discuss it all with our panel. We have CNN political analyst and "New York Times" correspondent Maggie Haberman; and CNN political commentator and assistant editor to "The Washington Post," David Swerdlick.

Happy Thanksgiving, guys. Thank you so much for being here.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

CAMEROTA: OK, Maggie, two women now appointed by Donald Trump. We have Nikki Haley. We have Betsy Devos. Let's look at Betsy Devos for a second.

She likes school choice. She likes vouchers; not a fan of the public school system necessarily. This is in keeping with what Donald Trump talked about, I think, and promised on the campaign trail, that he did want to mix it up, that he did like the idea of school choice; and this seems to be fitting into that. HABERMAN: It fits very much with the mold of education approach that

one of his top advisors, Rudy Giuliani, has had. And I imagine that played some role in guiding Donald Trump's view of the education system. This is another appointment, though, that I think is going to potentially face some dinging up during the confirmation process.

BALDWIN: Why?

HABERMAN: Because you'll hear a lot about the Devos family approached the school system, how money was used or not used in terms of support of public education.

Again, she will, I'm certain, be confirmed, just based on the Republican House and Senate. But Democrats are going to be looking to get their licks in where they can. The union right away. The American Federation of Teachers put out a pretty scathing statement about Betsy Devos. I think you'll hear a lot more of that in the coming days.

BALDWIN: She had written a little bit in an opinion piece back in '97 as she was a mega-mega-donor, and she was the former head of the Michigan Republican Party. She wrote, "My family is the single largest contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party. I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point we expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy, consisting of limited government, respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment. We expect a good and honest government."

Is that not, David, a little bit in contrast from the "drain the swamp, drain the swamp, drain the swamp."

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, right. In a sense, she's being forthright in her saying that that is her approach, right? She's giving money to the party and to other organizations to see results.

On the other hand, right, it does not square with this idea that Trump's government is going to be this government of outsiders, not a government of people with moneyed influence.

I do think that the Devos pick does provide that stark dividing line just like Maggie was saying. The American Federation of Teachers gave this strong condemnation of the pick. I talked yesterday to Darrell Allison from the Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, who said he thought it was a wise choice. He's a charter schools advocate. So you're going to see the dividing line on this pick.

CAMEROTA: We just heard from Jason Carroll that we should not expect anything in terms of secretary of state until after the holiday weekend. What's going on with Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee coming forward and so publicly saying...

BALDWIN: They don't like it.

CAMEROTA: ... that Mitt Romney would not be a good choice? I'm interested in, is Donald Trump cool with that? Is he OK with some of his surrogates and advisors speaking out about this internecine war?

HABERMAN: Remember, there's a lot of history with Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. They ran against each other in 2008 in the primaries. I think Mike Huckabee's line was that Mitt Romney looks like the guy who fires you. It was something to that effect.

I think with Newt Gingrich, he tends to be a little more vocal on these kinds of things. He clearly has a formed opinion. I think that Gingrich is pro-someone more like Giuliani. And right now, there's a split within the Trump campaign. Rudy Giuliani versus Mitt Romney and versus, you know, bucket of third options. And basically, they have decided to slow walk this until they can get their arms around it. It's ultimately Donald Trump's pick, obviously, but he has so many people in his ear right now, telling him different things that I think there was a desire to just wait until we get past this.

BALDWIN: But even when you look at the Giulianis or the Governor Romneys or the Governor Haleys, where is the foreign policy experience?

SWERDLICK: Well, there's not a time, certainly, with Governor Haley. But you're talking about people who are -- she's a two-term governor. Governor Romney was a one-term governor. These are not people without governing experience.

I think the problem I see down the road for a number of these picks, including, potentially, Governor Romney, including Governor Haley, is this idea that there may be these contrasts in foreign policy outlook with Donald Trump himself down the road when you get to issues like the Iran deal, when you get to issues like whether we should put troops in the Middle East.

BALDWIN: How do you handle that?

SWERDLICK: They're going to be, then, carrying the water for President-elect Trump or President Trump at that point.

BALDWIN: That's right. Mitt Romney, remember, in 2012 called Russia our greatest geopolitical foe.

SWERDLICK: Yes.

BALDWIN: That's not exactly what Donald Trump's message (ph) has been.

CAMEROTA: Good point. Dave, I want to stick with you, because "Washington Post" has this reporting that Donald Trump has been turning away, or at least not attending intel briefings. He's only gone to two since becoming president-elect, whereas, Mike Pence, it sounds like, is going every day. What's that about?

SWERDLICK: Well, you know, I don't see this as an issue for alarm. I think it's a great report by my colleagues. I don't see this as an issue of alarm, if it's something that only is taking place in these first couple of weeks of the transition. If this becomes a pattern over the course of the entire transition,

past the inauguration into the administration, then you have to wonder, is President Trump too hands off with these briefings? The American people didn't elect Vice President Trump [SIC] to run foreign policy. They elected Donald -- President Donald Trump.

BALDWIN: But -- but in your piece, thanks to your colleagues, they point out how President Obama not only took part in regular intel briefings, did deep dives. President Bush, Bush 43 asked for daily briefings after the recount happened. And when they cite this source, it says it would help if Trump could be brought up to speed on world events. And the quote is, "Trump has a lot of catching up to do."

HABERMAN: I think that quote is from a Clinton supporter, if I'm remembering that correctly. I think that -- I agree with David. I think that it's certainly, I think, a bit of a surprise just given how Trump has made foreign policy and, you know, jobs the two sort of pillars of how he'll govern. But it's not really a cause of alarm yet. There were other examples in that story of presidents who didn't dive right in. There were a bunch of them.

And so I think that that's right, that if we're still, you know, if it's January 19, and he's still doing this, then I think people will perhaps have greater reason to raise their eyebrows. But right now, it's not there yet.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of Hillary Clinton supporters the number of the popular vote by which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, is now 2 million. It has surpassed, actually, 2 million.

And there is this ground swell, some of it being led by Jill Stein, one of the other people who ran for president, that maybe some people in the Electoral College won't vote for Donald Trump. Maybe they would switch to Hillary Clinton, or maybe there needs to be an investigation into the states that were the tightest states, the battleground states; and maybe that would somehow tip the results? Where are we with all of this?

HABERMAN: So there's too different things. There's this push for a recount in three states. And Jill Stein, who did get, I think, a combined 104,000, something like that, votes is able to do that.

You have to be involved in this election in order to be able to -- you have to be a candidate in order to request it.

She is raising money to try to do that. The Clinton people have been pretty quiet on this. Some of her supporters, however, have urged it. They've put it on Facebook, you know, call the Justice Department and so forth.

Again, I think most people will say they really don't expect this to change the results, but it is clearly something they want to do. The problem is for the Clinton people, there was so much volume put into denying the idea that the election could be hacked, which was raised by some of Trump's supporters, that it's harder to make that your argument. As for Electoral College electors switching...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HABERMAN: ... that really doesn't happen. I mean, I think the most was around James Madison. Something like six.

CAMEROTA: But aren't some saying that they're considering doing it?

HABERMAN: Some are saying they're considering doing it. The number would have to be something like 37, I think it is, in order to switch away from Trump. That's a large number. So we'll see. Look, anything obviously can happen, but it seems unlikely.

CAMEROTA: Last thought.

SWERDLICK: I mean, you're not just talking about one or two electors, and I think there's a bigger issue here, Alisyn, which is just that, look, the election could have been won if 100,000 or more people in -- across about five states had voted differently or gone to vote at all. This is ultimately not about Electoral College voters. This is about who got their voters out on election day.

HABERMAN: That's right.

CAMEROTA: Guys, thank you very much. Stick around, we have more questions.

BALDWIN: Meanwhile, a stunning data breach at the U.S. Navy. Hackers accessing names and Social Security numbers and more than 130,000 current and former sailors. We have more from CNN chief national correspondent Jim Sciutto -- Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We're learning of a potentially damaging security breach affecting the U.S. Navy. This began with just one laptop, a single laptop that belonged to a contractor for the Navy, but because that laptop was compromised, someone was able to access the names and Social Security numbers of more than 130,000 sailors. Those sailors now being notified.

The Navy saying it's taking this very seriously. They don't know who did it. To this point, that information has not been shared more widely, but they're, obviously, investigating this potential for real damage here.

Alisyn and Brooke, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jim, thanks so much for that.

So the floats and the balloons are set to go in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We'll take you there live for all of the excitement on this special edition of NEW DAY.

BALDWIN: But, first, a Thanksgiving message from one of our brave service members overseas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. TYLER JOHNSON: My name is Lieutenant Tyler Johnson. Wish I could be home for Thanksgiving. Miss my family home in South Dakota and to everyone back home, happy Thanksgiving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back and happy Thanksgiving. Millions of people are expected to line the streets of New York City to watch all the balloons and the floats at the 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

We also know that police are stepping up security, of course, to ensure it all goes off without a hitch. Boris Sanchez got the gig this morning along the parade route on Manhattan's Upper West Side where I know you'll be walking along with the parade once it gets going.

I'm hearing screaming.

CAMEROTA: That's for Boris.

BALDWIN: It's all for you, Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

BALDWIN: It's all for you.

I may or may not have coached them a little bit to start screaming. You guys excited? All right. Yes. It's a pretty good crowd. Everybody is pumped for the Thanksgiving Day parade. Don't stop. Keep screaming. Keep screaming. There you go. There we go.

If you look behind me, the parade is going to start right here on 76th Street. One other thing I want you to notice, Brooke, the amount of police officers out here. There's going to be about 3,000 for the 3.5 million people that are lined up. You can see a huge crowd of them there. This is a huge security operation for folks, but it's all for a good time.

There are dozens of floats, many, many balloons and 1,000 clowns, believe it or not.

The parade starts here and goes all the way down on 34th Street to where Macy's is. A lot of excitement in the crowd, right? A lot of excitement in the air.

Some of the things to look forward to, we're going to have all new balloons. One of them from the movie "Trolls," from the DreamWorks movie "Trolls"; also "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." And a brand-new blockhead, Charlie Brown is back, making a comeback. So was Felix the Cat. He was actually the first balloon ever featured

in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade back in 1927. And now for the 90th anniversary, they're bringing him back.

Not just that, we're also going to have big Broadway shows doing numbers. My personal favorite, "Cats," is going to be out here. Our camera guy, Frank, loves "Cats." He's going to have a great time, as is the crowd. We're going to keep an eye on this.

Parade kicks off at 9 a.m. We hope you'll stay tuned -- Brooke.

CAMEROTA: I'll take it, Boris.

BALDWIN: Favorite?

CAMEROTA: We learned a lot about you here.

BALDWIN: "Cats"?

CAMEROTA: I hear that your favorite musical is "Cats." That's revealing.

BALDWIN: Judging, judging.

CAMEROTA: But also that you are a good director. The crowd was so obedient.

BALDWIN: I heard a lot of high-pitched girl screams. That's all I'm saying.

SANCHEZ: They're great.

BALDWIN: All right.

SANCHEZ: They're very, very excited to be here. You've just got to wake them up, because it's still pretty early.

CAMEROTA: That's great, Boris. We will check in with you throughout the program. Thanks so much for that.

So, hopefully the weather will hold for today's parade and, of course, your holiday travel. Let's get the forecast from CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

Yesterday, Chad, you said Snoopy will fly.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Snoopy will fly. Yes. You know, wind may be 5 miles per hour, but there's a big threshold. They need to be up between 20 to 25 gusts to stop the balloons from flying. So today is not even close to that.

Some snow in the Poconos, but that won't even make it to New York City. By the time the precip gets there, it will be in the form of rain.

So the forecast for today really a nice forecast for Snoopy as he flies today. We are going to see temperatures in the 40s and the 50s. We are going to see all the way to 52. And there's Snoopy. There he is right there. He can fly and fly right over my head. How about that for graphics wow in the morning hours?

Here's the future radar. By 2 p.m. it will be raining, so I don't know if you will still be out there. But by 6 a.m., everybody inside probably eating turkey. It will be raining heavily there across parts of the northeast. The rest of the country looks pretty good. No real big storms to make any last-minute movers and shakers that haven't got to their place yet slow down. Looks pretty good.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much, Chad.

BALDWIN: There's a turkey on the screen.

CAMEROTA: We're pulling out all the stops, as you can see.

BALDWIN: This is -- did you do this because I'm sitting here?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BALDWIN: It's so special, Brooke and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I have some more surprises for you coming up.

(SOUND EFFECT: TURKEY GOBBLING)

BALDWIN: Amazing.

Speaking of that -- gobble, gobble -- the fate of Tater and Tot, folks, has been decided. President Obama pardoning two Thanksgiving turkeys at the White House. We'll tell you why the president's daughters are feeling liberated, as well. Next on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Time now for the five things to know for your NEW DAY. Donald Trump naming two women to top administration posts. He's nominated South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as U.N. ambassador and school choice advocate and Republican donor Betsy Devos to head the Education Department.

BALDWIN: The names and Social Security numbers of more than 134,000 former and current sailors breached by hackers. The U.S. Navy now is just trying to track down who compromised the contractors' laptop to access that data.

CAMEROTA: A sixth student has died in that deadly crash -- bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Investigators say the school bus driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The NTSB says the driver was not on the designated route when that speeding school bus slammed into a tree.

BALDWIN: Here's a little something that Tokyo hasn't seen in, you know, say, more than half a century. Snow.

CAMEROTA: Is that right?

BALDWIN: Snow in November. This is a first in the last 54 years. Didn't stick to roads. So not a huge, huge deal. But made getting around the city a bit of a challenge.

[06:25:06] CAMEROTA: All right. So President Obama pardoning his final turkeys, Tater and Tot...

BALDWIN: Ba-dum-bum.

CAMEROTA: ... in the traditional Rose Garden ceremony. The first daughters, Sasha and Malia...

BALDWIN: They were no shows.

CAMEROTA: ... they were no shows. They decided to pass on the festivities, and the president explained that his daughters could not face another year of his turkey jokes.

BALDWIN: Yes, you cran.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

BALDWIN: That was actually -- that was the president's line.

For more on -- I'm sorry...

CAMEROTA: I'm laughing to hard.

BALDWIN: Again, Alisyn. For more on the five things you need to know, go to Newday.CNN.com for the latest.

CAMEROTA: Now your turn.

BALDWIN: She is Donald Trump's newly-nominated ambassador to the United Nations, but South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has not always been in Donald Trump's corner. CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, looks at the evolution of a once rocky relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump hasn't always been the biggest fan of Nikki Haley.

TRUMP: I won South Carolina big, big, big. And Nikki Haley was against me. It turned out to be an asset, because she's very weak on borders, OK?

JOHNS: And vice versa.

HALEY: When a bully hits you, you hit that bully right back.

JOHNS: But the president-elect is turning to the South Carolina governor to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, praising Haley as a proven deal-maker and saying "she will be a great leader representing us on the world stage."

HALEY: Thank you very much.

JOHNS: The choice of Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, would also add diversity to a Trump cabinet. Haley says she accepted the assignment out of a sense of duty, adding, "When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed."

It's a far cry from the heat of the GOP primary, when Trump tweeted, "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nicki Haley," and Haley, who initially backed Marco Rubio's presidential bid, delivered a verbal jab at Trump during her State of the Union response.

HALEY: During anxious times it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.

JOHNS: On policy Haley criticized Trump's proposal to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. as un-American and unconstitutional; and she dismissed his claims that the election was rigged as irresponsible. Despite her reservations, Haley still cast her ballot for Trump.

HALEY: The best person, based on the policies and dealing with things like Obamacare, still is Donald Trump. That doesn't mean it's an easy vote.

JOHNS: And following Trump's victory earlier this month, she sounded an optimistic note.

HALEY: Get excited because I am just giddy. The idea that we can now start to really govern, I've never know what it's like to have a Republican president.

JOHNS: Haley is passing on an opportunity to work with a Trump administration to be part of one. It's the latest step in Haley's rise to national prominence after she gained widespread praise for her handling of the aftermath of the Charleston church shooting that left nine people dead in 2013. That included her call for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state house.

HALEY: That that flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.

JOHNS: And while Haley has spent six years as governor of the Palmetto State, she lacks extensive foreign policy experience. Though the Trump transition team notes that Haley has worked on overseas trade and business recruitment missions during her time as governor.

(on camera): If Haley is confirmed by the Senate, she would be succeed as governor by South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster, who is the highest ranking official in the state to endorse Trump before the February primary.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: OK, thanks to Joe for that.

So, there are growing concerns about Donald Trump's potential conflicts of interest. The role his children are playing in the transition and much more raising eyebrows. So, we will dig deeper on all of that next on this special edition of NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)