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New Day
Millions Face Wet Start To The Work Week; Fearful Muslim Women Take Steps To Be Safe; Trump Allies Warn Against Romney For Secretary Of State; Is Trump Amassing A Cabinet Of Billionaires? Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired November 28, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- bringing fresh snow to the Rockies and rain for millions of Americans at the start of the workweek. CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers has our forecast. What does it look like, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: For skiers, Alisyn, it's called powder out there in Colorado and Utah, and for people in the southeast, it's called drought relief. An awful lot of rain coming in places we really need it. Now there will be severe weather today and maybe even some tornadoes.
A lot of cabs on the road this morning. People still getting to the airport. Those that didn't get out yesterday or the flights were too expensive yesterday. Airport travel today will be very slow.
This is what rain looks like at 6:00 tonight heading to one of the busiest airports that would be Atlanta, very windy in Chicago and St. Louis, as well. There's your chance for severe weather across Louisiana. There will be tornadoes on the ground.
I know we think of tornado as a spring type thing, but there is a spring and a fall season for tornadoes and we are in the fall season right now. Rain in New York City for tomorrow, but we'll worry about then.
This is what the rainfall looks like now for the next couple of days. There are areas over Georgia and Mississippi that haven't seen rain in two months and finally we see some because the drought is exceptional in these areas. Chris, back to you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you very much, my friend.
So, a young Muslim woman in U.S. says she fears for her life because of what just happened in the election. She wants to tell you her story and the powerful message she has for President-elect Donald Trump, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:30]
CAMEROTA: As President-elect Trump builds his cabinet, Muslim women in America dread what the future may hold. Some say they are fearful for their safety and taking matters into their own hands. CNN's Kyung Lah is live in Los Angeles with that story. What did you learn, Kyung?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, what we are seeing is given all of these threats, there is a reason why they feel so intimidated. Over the weekend here in Southern California, there was a handwritten letter sent to four different mosques. We have a copy of it here.
Whoever wrote this letter cites Donald Trump, cites the election and says that Trump will do to Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews. This letter was also sent to a mosque in Northern California, as well as one in Atlanta.
Muslim women say given the tone of the country, given these threats and given that they are ones who are so visible in their religion, they would like to be invisible.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (voice-over): In a crowd you don't notice Marwa Abdelghani.
MARWA ABDELGHANI, MUSLIM-AMERICAN: I want from expecting to be the center of attention to nobody looking at me whatsoever.
LAH (on camera): Did you feel relief?
ABDELGHANI: Yes, a huge sense of relief. I didn't feel like a target any more.
LAH (voice-over): A visible target. A Muslim woman in a head scarf. Since she was a senior in high school, Abdelghani wore the traditional scarf whenever she was in public, part of her Islamic faith, culture and identity. This presidential election, that changed.
ABDELGHANI: I was walking on the street and a driver drove by me and slowed down and rolled down his window and he just spit at me.
LAH (on camera): He spit at you.
ABDELGHANI: Yes. It was getting closer and closer to November 8th and that's when I decided I just was going to take it off for a while.
LAH (voice-over): Since the election the Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked more than 700 hate incidents. But Muslim women say their sense of safety began to change after this picture of San Bernardino killer (inaudible) Malik went public.
SAMAR SALEM, SELF-DEFENSE STUDENT: After that people started to see us differently.
LAH: Muslim women began taking self-defense classes driven by fear. Now post-election, sharing tips on social media and making a searing choice, their faith or personal safety.
ABDELGHANI: The head scarf has just become something that went from being a very spiritual element of a woman's life to being something where she had to be scared to wear it. I, myself, just didn't feel like I wanted to continue with that fear.
LAH: The only places where Abdelghani feels free to express that part of Islam is in the privacy of her apartment and her mosque. To the incoming Trump administration this young Muslim woman has this message --
ABDELGHANI: When you hold that kind of position and you think it is OK to make these racist, Islamophobic, sexist statements, there are people, unfortunately, as crazy as they are who look up to you and they will follow you and they will act out in response to what you're saying.
LAH (on camera): Do you think you will wear it again someday?
ABDELGHANI: Yes. I hope so. I hope I can wear it one day again. I hope I can feel safe enough to do so.
LAH (voice-over): To practice one of the founding principles of America, freedom of religion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Kyung, it's really interesting to hear from her. We totally understand why she would make that decision to take off the head scarf. There are other women who see the head scarf differently. What is their idea?
LAH: Yes. We saw and which I thought was really interesting in the same way that you're hearing Muslim women talking about the head scarf terrifies them in this climate, you're also seeing a different reaction. Women saying you have to wear it, not just for religious reasons but an act of defiance.
What we're seeing across social media are many, many pictures of Muslim women posting pictures of themselves, showing themselves wearing it saying, really, this is the thumb in the eye of people who sent letters like the ones that were sent across this country.
CAMEROTA: Kyung Lah, thank you very much for all that reporting.
LAH: You bet.
CUOMO: All right, did you watch the game last night? Of course you didn't. This was a big one. The Broncos and the Chiefs, it was a huge gamble that decided it in overtime. What happened? The "Bleacher Report" has it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:43:34]
CUOMO: Football games seem to last forever these days.
CAMEROTA: Way too long.
CUOMO: But last night was actually worth. Andy Scholes has more about this overtime win in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Tell us about it.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Chris, have you ever been near the end of NEW DAY and just want to give Alisyn a high five for a job well done. You know, that's how the Kansas City Chiefs (inaudible), check this out.
Rookie Tyreek Hill will go 86 yards for a touchdown. But before he gets into the end zone, his teammate was running alongside him right here going to give him a little high five. Don't see that every day.
Now, Kansas City down eight in the closing seconds of this one. Alex Smith finds Hill for the touchdown. Get the two-point conversion and we go to overtime. The Broncos missed a 62-yarder that would have won it. Chiefs win a thriller in overtime, 30-27, over the Broncos.
Finally, this made me laugh out loud. The Ravens were up seven on the Bengals with 11 seconds left. Instead of punting the ball John Harbaugh told all his players to grab and tackle all the Bengals players and once the clock ran out the punter you see him in the back of the end zone. He's going to walk out of it for a safety.
There were multiple flags thrown on the play, but since they were all offensive penalties, the game was over. Ravens win 19-14. Clearly frustrating for all the Bengals, Alisyn, but genius move on the part of the Ravens.
CAMEROTA: There you go. Thanks so much, Andy.
[06:45:04]All right, Trump loyalists are mobilizing to try to sink Mitt Romney's chances of becoming the next secretary of state. But if Romney does not get the nod, who will? That discussion, next.
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CUOMO: New Orleans police searching for a pair of gunman involved in a deadly shootout on Bourbon Street. Investigators say two men who had previous issues bumped into each other in the French Quarter on Sunday night. They started arguing and then exchanged gunfire. A young artist named (inaudible) was struck and killed by a stray bullet. Nine others were wounded.
CAMEROTA: Authorities in the Philippines think a terror group linked to ISIS may have planted a homemade bomb near the U.S. Embassy. A street sweeper in Manila reportedly found an IED in a trash can within a 100 feet of the embassy gate.
[06:50:02]The bomb squad detonated the device and no arrests have been made. Police say the IED is similar to one that killed 14 people in September.
CUOMO: An investigation is now under way into a hack attack on the San Francisco transit system. Ticket machines were taken off line Friday and Saturday. The message, "You hacked all data encrypted" appeared on agency's computer screens. Officials say hackers also hit the transit system's e-mail systems. CAMEROTA: All right, let's talk politics because several members of President-elect Donald Trump's inner circle are publicly and loudly expressing their opposition to Mitt Romney as a choice for secretary of state. Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump's senior adviser said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISER TO DONALD TRUMP: It's just breathtaking in scope and in intensity the type of messages I've received from all over the country. I'm just me. I'm not Donald Trump. So, just as his former campaign manager, the number of people who feel betrayed to think that Governor Romney would get the most prominent cabinet post after he went so far out of his way to hurt Donald Trump. There was the Never Trump movement and then there was Mitt Romney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right, so what is going on here? Let's bring back our panel. We have Alex Burns and David Drucker. Alex, why would we think that Kellyanne is going rogue? Why don't we think she's channeling Donald Trump, her boss, who for some reason has soured on Mitt Romney? If he ever was a candidate, it sounds like he no longer is.
ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, if Donald Trump wanted to make a definitive statement that Mitt Romney is no longer in the running, he could certainly do that. He could say it and tweet it and leak it out through advisors. We've just decided this was not a good idea. We don't have the chemistry. He has not done that.
CAMEROTA: Then what is going on with Kellyanne Conway?
BURNS: What we know is going on is that there is an important and powerful faction within Donald Trump's inner circle and a lot of people closest to him throughout some of the toughest times in that campaign who don't like the idea of Mitt Romney just on principle and greatly prefer Rudy Giuliani when it comes to loyalty and support for Donald Trump, there is nobody who is closer and a fiercer supporter than Giuliani.
CUOMO: Well, is that true? You know, Rudy was not for Trump early on in the primary, even though he's always maintained a friendship, he says. He was kind of bouncing around from person to person early on. There may be some who were on the list even longer, let's say like Jeff Sessions.
BURNS: Certainly within the category of people who could be considered for secretary of state.
CUOMO: Right. It's starting to feel like a little bit of another situation here that it may not be Rudy Giuliani. It doesn't seem to be Romney, but I think what's curios is Kellyanne Conway is the spin master. That's what she does. You say one plus one and she'll fight you all day saying --
BURNS: It's fun.
CUOMO: Yes, you have to look at the ones a little differently. For her to come out and say bad things about Romney, that means they're bad on Romney. But the only reason this seems inefficient is they brought Romney up in the first place.
DAVID DRUCKER, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": We should remember that this is pretty typical behavior for a transition team for high-level appointments when we're talking state, treasury and defense.
CUOMO: Give me another example of an administration eating its own nominee?
DRUCKER: Well, it's not an administration yet. You have a lot of rival factions and we see this in many White Houses, but there have been other instances. I'm thinking of George W. Bush in 2000 floating a name either for treasury or defense and that person was either insufficiently pro-life or something.
In other words, there are always ideological concerns either by the president-elect or the people that surround him and there is a fight over who is going to get these high-level appointments. You know, with the Trump team, it's just they're a little bit more freelance than we're used to seeing.
I think Alex is right. When Trump is ready to put the kubosh on all of this, they'll do it. The interesting thing about Giuliani, they're looking for a place for him. He was one of the most outspoken advocates for Trump. He is not a fit for state. He doesn't have a particular skill level or background.
CUOMO: Developed a pretty formidable international consulting firm.
DRUCKER: Correct, but nobody looks at him as a sort of --
CUOMO: Diplomat.
DRUCKER: Diplomat. He's much more like Trump. So, I think that part of the Giuliani speculation is what do we do with him? He's got to go somewhere and nobody can figure out where and that only adds to the drama.
CAMEROTA: Kellyanne Conway was practically complimentary of Mitt Romney when you compare her to what Newt Gingrich said about Mitt Romney this weekend. Let's play a moment of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I think there's nothing that Mitt Romney can say that doesn't sound phony and, frankly, pathetic. He called Trump vicious and vial things. He described in a language that is not possibly compatible with the being (inaudible).
And the idea that now Trump has won that Mitt would suddenly decide to issue a mea culpa and say, oh, gee, all the vicious things I said about you when you were running I didn't mean them.
[06:55:11]Well, he sure did mean them and he sure did try to defeat Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: What does Newt want?
DRUCKER: Revenge.
CAMEROTA: I mean, it sounds like it, right?
DRUCKER: He's still mad about Romney kicking him out of the presidential race in very public fashion in 2012. Staffing an administration at these high-level positions has never been about rewarding loyalists.
It often is that and it becomes that, but there are lots of instances where members, where the winning candidate looks to bridge the divide in the party or just simply thinks you're the most qualified.
And as long as you do what I say, you'll be a great fit. Hillary Clinton and Obama, they weren't exactly fast friends. Obama felt she would be a good fit and helped the rift in the party, and she ended up as secretary of state.
BURNS: The rift in the party the Democrats faced in 2008 was nothing compared to what Republicans are looking at now. If you want to apply the Conway/Gingrich test to every Republican in Washington, you don't have a Senate majority of people who said nice things about Donald Trump.
You have five or six or more Republican senators. The balance of power in the U.S. Senate that Donald Trump must control in order to pass anything who were pretty much out there on the same level as Mitt Romney.
If you're sending the signal with the appointments that you make and the message you deliver during the transition that you need not apply to do business with this administration, that's real trouble for the next two to four years.
CUOMO: I think the generous assessment is that they haven't hit their stride yet. That's the nicest thing you can say. This speaks to incompetence. They can't keep the president-elect from making a fool of himself on Twitter by saying that millions of people voted illegally.
He looks foolish saying something like that. Maybe we're giving him too much credit to say that there is some great architecture to these efforts with Romney because they haven't looked far enough ahead to say, we're loading this deck with billionaires. Probably not the best thing to do as a hallmark of a populous movement.
CAMEROTA: Let's just look at them. Some of the possible cabinet picks are and how much they're worth. CUOMO: Look at the poor man, $26 million. Poor Dr. Ben Carson, still can't get ahead.
CAMEROTA: That's a lot for a doctor, by the way. Look at all this, Betsy Devos, $5.1 billion. These are, obviously, accomplished, very accomplished people and extremely wealthy people, but that's fine, right? Is the cabinet supposed to be (inaudible)?
DRUCKER: The cabinet is increasingly like this. Congress is increasingly like this because guess who can afford to go into government? People that have already made their mark and don't have to worry about feeding their kids.
CUOMO: But he said that's all bad. This is part of the swamp --
CAMEROTA: He didn't say the wealth is a swamp. He means corruption. What makes you think just that you're wealthy?
CUOMO: You can't have money influencing the system.
DRUCKERS: We've seen this bore that the argument of the wealthy populous is I can't be corrupted because I don't need the money and people buy into that and they love that argument. But if you look at, look, even Congress given fundraising regulations, federal fundraising regulations. Who goes into Congress a lot?
People can't afford to fundraise, write themselves their own check. They don't have to make a dial for dollars, and so you see this increasingly in Washington.
CAMEROTA: Very interesting.
BURNS: Part of the real risk here is the net worth of the cabinet and it's who you're putting in charge of regulations. That if Democrats can make the case that you're putting a Goldman guy in charge of the treasury, a petroleum guy in charge of energy. That's a deeper argument than just they're so rich.
CAMEROTA: Alex, David, thank you.
CUOMO: A lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: Why in the world can't the Democrats accept the election results?
CUOMO: Donald Trump falsely claims that millions of people illegally voted in the election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A total waste of everybody's time.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (D), VERMONT: We have one candidate who got 2 million more votes than the other candidate. She is not going to be someone as president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should examine our policy towards Cuba.
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: What the Obama administration has done is strengthen Raul Castro.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fidel Castro should be revered. He should be reviled.
CAMEROTA: Will the Army Corps of Engineers forcibly remove pipeline protesters?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: We will be talking about what's going with the pipeline out there later.
CUOMO: It should be getting a lot more attention.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Up first, President-elect Donald Trump acting like Candidate Trump questioning the legitimacy of the election. Trump falsely claiming that millions of people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton costing him the popular vote.
CUOMO: Trump is peddling an apparent conspiracy theory in the series of tweets like the 12 days of Christmas. You've had 12 tweets about this absurd notion. Why?
It seems that the president-elect doesn't like this recount effort that is set to begin in Wisconsin. We're also waiting for word about more picks to Trump's cabinet. Will he pick another billionaire? We are going to have it all covered for you. Let's begin with Sara Murray live in Washington --
