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CNN Live Event/Special

Now, Biden Hosts White House Reception for Trump; Guests Arriving at U.S. Capitol for Inauguration; Soon, Biden, Trump Travel Together to U.S. Capitol. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 20, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:02]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I think that they also, in addition, believe in these institutions of the peaceful transfer of power. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I just want to mention one thing because we can see a bird's eye view of the flags. And at the Capitol where we had seen -- there you go, there's the outside of the Capitol. The flag is all the way up and that is because House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered it so. Why does that matter? Because we are still in an official 30-day mourning period of the late President Jimmy Carter and the flags are supposed to be at half staff for 30 days, including right now.

But what are we looking at, Jake and Abby? We're looking at several flags all the way up outside of the White House, even though the one on top of the White House is halfway down. Why do we -- and the Washington Monument as well.

Now, again, why is this even worth a mention? It's because this is something that was incredibly important to Donald Trump. He was on a little bit of a rant about the fact that he wanted those flags to be all the way up for his inauguration. The fact that the one that we're looking at right now, on top of the White House, is not, but all of these others around Washington are all the way up. It's interesting.

TAPPER: I suspect that within a couple hours, the one on top of the White House will be at at full staff.

BASH: In two hours.

TAPPER: A lot a number of Republican governors have addressed this by saying, for instance, I think Glenn Youngkin in Virginia and Greg Abbott in Texas, they are raising the flags today in honor of Inauguration Day, in honor of Donald Trump. And then tomorrow, the flags will come back to half staff for the memorial period. I completely understand why Donald Trump wants it for his inaugural. That makes sense.

BASH: Now, it's happened.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Of all the things, I think it's fine. I think it's fine. I mean, Donald Trump is, is a man who has a lot of peculiarities about optics. And this is one of them, but there's going to be a lot happening today that's incredibly consequential, and I think that we should remain vigilant about that.

TAPPER: I think the celebration of America is beyond Donald Trump, and I think it makes perfect sense to me the compromise that the Republican governors are making.

Kaitlan Collins has some news now. We are all awaiting specifics. They always say that you campaign in poetry and I think maybe it was David Axelrod who came up with you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Maybe not. Maybe it precedes him. I'm not sure. But in any case we are waiting for the prose. We're waiting for the details about what Donald Trump is exactly going to do. Kaitlan Collins, you're learning more.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And Trump will be governing by executive order certainly today, Jake. We know he's going to be signing a lot of executive orders. They're going to be coming fast and furious after he takes the oath of office.

We're learning more about just where he's going on this. Some of them will focus on his biggest priorities like immigration, ten of them to be exact, I'm told. But also some of them will focus on things he said in recent weeks, which is remember that press conference he had at Mar-a-Lago where he talked about renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. That is going to be an executive action that he plans to sign today, I am told. That will be one effort.

But also Jake, another one he's going to do is not rescinding stuff just that Biden has done. He's also going to try to change things that President Barack Obama did, including naming the highest peak in North America, which Biden named, or, excuse me, that Obama named Denali. He will be reverting the name back to Mount McKinley. That is not just because he wants to undo something that President Obama did. President Trump has a fondness for President McKinley, who the mountain was named after he was assassinated. He wants to mirror a lot of his tariff policies, potentially, as soon as he takes office.

We're still waiting to see what it looks like in terms of tariffs that Trump enacts, and something that he has said he would use as a tool when negotiating with other nations. But those are two steps that he will be taking today, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and also renaming Denali t oreverting the name back to Mount McKinley.

As you can see here, John Boehner and Newt Gingrich and Kevin McCarthy, three former House speakers lining up to enter the Rotunda for Trump's inauguration.

TAPPER: Another reminder, Kaitlan Collins, that this is a celebration of America for Americans. In addition, I should note, Dana Abash, I'm told that there are a number of Democratic governors that have also ordered flags to full staff today, Kathy Hochul out of New York and the governors of Washington State, Colorado, and Gavin Newsom, California as well. Because, again, this is not about Trump or Biden, this is about the American people.

PHILLIP: Can I just say about what Kaitlan just reported on the E.O. on the Gulf of Mexico?

[10:05:01]

This is not really something that Trump can accomplish just by an executive order. The Gulf of Mexico has been named that way for literally hundreds of years, even before the United States was a country, actually, and it's internationally recognized. There are going to be some other steps to this, but I don't think that's stopping them from making these kinds of symbolic executive orders.

I think you could say the same about birthright citizenship, the idea that they want to end birthright citizenship. They know that that's going to go directly to the courts and that the courts will have a say. This is a very Trump-friendly court, so we don't know how that's going to go down, but the established precedent is that birthright citizenship is the law of the land, and it would require a constitutional amendment to change that.

So, as we get these executive orders, they're going to -- some of them are going to be for some shock and awe effect for symbolic effect, as many of them are. He wouldn't be the first president to do that. And some of them will have real immediate effect, but we'll take them one by one and see actually what the text of these orders are, because I think the devil is in the details for a lot of this stuff.

TAPPER: Let's go to M.J. Lee now at the White House who can tell us more about this meeting between outgoing President Biden and incoming President Trump. Oh, to be a fly on that wall. M.J., what's your understanding of what they talked about?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, as the Trumps just arrived here at the White House, there were some pool reporters, of course, standing outside the North Portico as that arrival was happening. There's that moment again we are told that when the Trumps stepped out of the SUV, President Biden said to incoming President Trump the words welcome home.

And just moments prior that, we are told that when reporters asked President Biden, what is their message today? He responded with one word, and that word was joy. I am told by a White House official who is here that the two couples walked straight inside through the grand foyer and into the blue room. That is where we expect the four to now sit down and spend some time together. They are being served both tea and coffee. This, of course, is officially sort of described as the tea ceremony.

I am just struck by this little piece of color that we are getting again from the pool reports from the reporters that were standing there that President Biden, first of all, chose to use the word joy to describe his message for the day, because we know for a fact that joy is not exactly the feeling that President Biden is feeling right now in this moment of basically handing the baton back to a man that he has repeatedly said poses a grave threat to democracy.

And as we have been reporting for other reasons, too, the president has been in a bit of a dark headspace, feeling angry about being forced out of the 2024 race, feeling embittered about the blame that he is getting for Donald Trump's return and also just the president being put in this position, of course, where he has to even utter the words, welcome home, to a man that he very much hoped would never return home to the White House.

So, it just goes without saying, look, we are going through the motions of all of the ceremonies, the traditions that come with this day. And as I reported earlier, those traditions were ones that I am told President Biden felt strongly he had to stick by. But you can easily imagine that as he is going through those motions, these are not easy things for President Biden to be participating in today.

TAPPER: No, not at all. And for those wondering, because I know there are a lot of Democrats out there who think that the reason that Donald Trump has been back -- is back at the White House is because Joe Biden made the decision to run for reelection and everything that happened in 2024 with the CNN debate and obvious moments of communication problems. A lot of people in the Democratic Party hold Joe Biden responsible for ushering the Trump era back in.

That is not how President Biden sees it. President Biden thinks that the Democratic elites kicked him out and that he could have won if he had been permitted to stay at the top of the ticket. Pollsters can discuss whether or not there's any data to support that contention, but that is the president's belief.

Let's go to Kaitlan Collins at Emancipation Hall right now to give us the latest on what's going on in the room where they are expecting to inaugurate the 47th president. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Well, Jake, here's a lot of the cabinet getting off the buses. There's Kristi Noem -- I should say, hopeful cabinet Kristi Noem, Trump's pick to be his DHS Secretary. I also saw Howard Lutnick getting off the bus. That is Trump's pick to be his commerce secretary.

[10:10:00]

There's Pam Bondi, Marco Rubio, Doug Collins. You're seeing all of them filter in here. And Scott Bessent as well, Trump's pick to run the Treasury Department, RFK Jr. as well. Really, this entire bus is the entire Trump cabinet, should they be confirmed by the Senate. Most of them appear to be on a glide path to doing so.

Marco Rubio is expected to be the first one to be confirmed, Jake. It remains to be seen when the others are confirmed there, but obviously that'll be a key part of governing for the president-elect turned president.

I'm here at Emancipation Hall, and this is kind of the overflow room where a lot of the guests who aren't going to fit in the rotunda, because you saw they can only squeeze so many chairs in there, they'll be in here. This is really the visitor center area of the Capitol. It's named after the enslaved people who built the Capitol, I should note, Jake. And so this is where Trump will come after he delivers that inaugural address. I'll actually be listening closely to that because I don't think that is a scripted speech. I believe there are unscripted remarks that Trump will be delivering here just briefly to those who are gathered here in the room. And it'll be their first opportunity to get a glimpse of the president and the vice president, J.D. Vance, once they are sworn in.

Right now, so far, you're already seeing a few notable figures here in the room. Governors will be here and other VIPs at the top. Guests of congressional leadership, we know, are expected to be seated here. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, is one that we're expected to be here.

Right now, you're looking at the north lawn of the White House. You can see those green tents in the background. That's where all the T.V. reporters stand and deliver their reports. Of course, the Beast is leading off. That's the car that Joe Biden and Donald Trump will get into together with the first lady and the incoming first lady to ride up here to the Capitol, where I am, Jake.

And you're just getting a sense of all of the people, the VIPs that have been shifting around and figuring out where they're going here. That's been an issue in recent days, is for those who are not only re- planning the inauguration to move it from outside to inside. They had a lot of VIPs calling, wanting to make sure they got good seats at this inauguration.

And right now, they are showing air here inside the room. People are watching along, they were applauding as Trump got out of the car at the White House and greeted President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, but obviously just a fascinating scene for all of these small moments that you watch here.

And in just a few moments, that rotunda will be filled with all of the guests who are seated here, as well as Emancipation Hall, where they're playing music and people are gathering and milling about as you're looking around to see who it is that has been invited and gotten a prime seat at Trump's inauguration now that it's indoors and very few people are here, Jake.

TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins, was it Trump's call to have the inauguration indoors? Was he ultimately the one that made that decision?

COLLINS: His team went to him and said that they believed it would be the best decision to make because they were looking at the forecast, Jake. I know a lot of people have speculated about whether or not this was about crowd size. I was told right off the bat, this was not a decision they wanted to make. They wanted it to be outside. Obviously, Trump is a producer at heart and cares about the visuals and how things look. That's often how he picks some of the people who are going in his cabinet. He says they look like they're made for T.V. And so that was certainly a factor in it. And they made the decision because they said people would be lining up at 6:00 and 7:00 A.M. and they were just worried about keeping people outside for that long, Jake. And so that is how they made ultimately this decision to put everybody inside. I do think the fact that Ronald Reagan was the only other president to have been sworn in inside 40 years ago played a factor in all of this, Jake, because, obviously, Trump likes to style himself after Reagan. He believes that he had a Reagan-esque of victory this time around, as he's been arguing this mandate that he has given he not only won the election, he also won the popular vote here, and so all of that is a factor in this.

And the other thing to watch, Jake, world leaders. We know several dignitaries are going to be here. The Italian prime minister is here. She's actually one of the very few G7 leaders who's forged a close relationship with Trump and his incoming team. We talk about the big tech executives and everyone trying to get in good with Trump. It's not just them. World leaders are also trying to do the same. And, you know, they were navigating Trump the first time around, and now they're back to figuring that out this time around. There's Elon Musk, Jake, as you can see there in the middle, walking into the Capitol.

TAPPER: The reason I bring up the issue of the weather is because obviously you see members of the Trump cabinet walking into -- I believe that's Doug Burgum maybe, walking inside the Capitol right now. That's not right. That's not Doug Burgum. And I apologize. And a lot of them are not wearing coats because the truth of the matter is -- there is Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Minority leader with his wife, Elaine Chao, the former secretary of labor during the Trump administration -- transportation, I apologize.

[10:15:01]

She also -- oh, she served at labor in a previous administration. She resigned from the Trump presidency on January 6th 2021. She was so upset with the insurrection. Obviously, those feelings have waned.

But in any case, the point I was just making was like, it actually has not turned out to be as frigid as the forecast had predicted.

Jeff Zeleny is there at the rotunda. Jeff Zeleny, tell us what you're seeing.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, Jake, we can see members of the cabinet, the designees walking in, as you were saying, but right behind them, Elon Musk also walking in and waiting at the law library door here, just on the east front of the Capitol. And we saw Marco Rubio, of course, the former senator from Florida. He's likely to be the first cabinet nominee to be the secretary of state to be confirmed by this U.S. Senate and then several others. Governor Doug Burgum, as you were saying, was actually in the line.

And I can speak to the weather for a second Jake The cabinet nominees just came directly off of heated buses and walked inside. So, they were outside for not very long. It is very sunny out here. I don't know if you can see our shot. It's definitely sunny, but it is windy and it's cold. I was not here during the Reagan inaugural, but I was here during the Obama inaugural in 2009. It felt colder to me that morning, but it is similar. So, there's no doubt it is very frigid if people were sitting outside, certainly aging people for a long time, but we are now still seeing more VIPs coming through.

But, again, Elon Musk was right behind members of the cabinet walking into the east front of the Capitol just moments ago, Jake.

TAPPER: There's Joe Rogan, the popular podcast host, Tim Cook from Apple, the CEO of Apple. We've talked a bunch about all the tech executives,

ZELENY: And you can see right now --

TAPPER: Is that the former McCarthy aid, right?

PHILLIP: I believe I saw the TikTok CEO just walked in as well.

TAPPER: And Mark Zuckerberg is there as well. Go ahead. Oh, there's Mark Zuckerberg walking in as well. These are a lot of tech executives that had previously faced this --

BASH: (INAUDIBLE) a lot of quality time together.

TAPPER: Previously faced the scorn of Donald Trump, who have spent the last few months trying desperately to get in his good graces. Dana Bash?

BASH: Yes, that looks like Jeff Bezos.

TAPPER: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who also has a $40 million documentary deal with the first lady for Amazon Prime.

BASH: And his fiance or wife, not sure what their exact status is right now, Lauren Sanchez, and as you said, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife as well.

PHILLIP: It's such a small ceremony, just to be clear. This is a tiny ceremony relative to what was supposed to happen on the Capitol. There are a lot of people who maybe thought that they would be in proximity to this ceremony, who will not be. Those folks are still getting their seats somewhere inside where it's nice and warm. And I think that's a testament to just how much influence they have already in this incoming Trump administration.

TAPPER: There are a lot of disappointed Trump supporters, I have to note, people who have come in from all over the country to attend the inaugural ceremony, who were disappointed. I'm completely sympathetic to the idea that they had a tough decision to make with a forecast of tremendously frigid and uncomfortable temperatures. There are Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, of course, who ran for president in 2016 and lost to Donald Trump in his first run, attending, once again, a celebration of American democracy, a celebration of the peaceful transfer of power.

BASH: And I'm told that the former presidents had discussions about --

TAPPER: There's Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, walking in.

BASH: -- About whether to go, are they going to all make a decision together, you know, what they should go to, what they should not go to. They are going to the actual inauguration, not the luncheon following, which is, again, part of tradition. But it is -- we've heard a lot about Michelle Obama not coming, but Hillary Clinton is obviously a very different situation. Hillary Clinton understands the image and the symbol that she provides to the country as one of the people, if she can show up for Donald Trump.

It is not about Donald Trump. It is about the United States of America, and it is about democracy, along with the --

[10:20:01]

TAPPER: That's former President Barack Obama. It was Obama's presidency that really created Donald Trump as a political force, as he falsely said that Barack Obama -- falsely suggested that Barack Obama had not been born in the United States, but that the first African-American president in American history had actually been born in Africa, a racist and malicious lie.

But Barack Obama, nonetheless, attending this inaugural. Michelle Obama, not there, as we've discussed in the immortal words of Bartleby the Scrivener. She would prefer not to attend. Her absence from both the Carter funeral and the inaugural is interesting.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who was part of the Department of Government Efficiency that Donald Trump.

PHILLIP: Technically, I think he still is at this --

TAPPER: But he is resigning from it, and there is some talk of him running for governor of Ohio.

BASH: He's almost certainly going to be doing that.

PHILLIP: Yes. We're seeing several members of Congress. I think most of them on the screen right now.

TAPPER: Brian Mast, the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a combat veteran from Florida, Jim Clyburn, who -- if it weren't for Jim Clyburn the, from South Carolina, the dean of the South Carolina delegation, doubt Joe Biden would have been elected president to begin with.

PHILLIP: President Biden spent the day with him yesterday in South Carolina.

BASH: And, Abby, you talked about the tech leaders coming in and now that it is inside, how precious and valuable each of these seats is. You know, my understanding from somebody who's been involved is that the actual members of Congress who work there, who come in there and serve the American people every day, there was a lot of jockeying to see which ones, particularly in the House, where you have 435 people, which of them could actually get seats. PHILLIP: I mean, they're practically on top of each other.

BASH: Yes.

PHILLIP: These chairs are close.

TAPPER: I don't see Paul Ryan, former Speaker Paul Ryan. I'm not sure if he is planning on attending or not. Obviously, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who did time in prison and was called a serial child molester by a judge, I'm not sure if he was invited. His portrait was taken down.

BASH: Nancy Pelosi also said that she's not coming, which is --

TAPPER: But that's quite different from Dennis Hastert.

BASH: No, sorry, but we were just talking about former speakers.

TAPPER: Yes, Pelosi is --

BASH: That does not mean to equate the two.

TAPPER: Pelosi, there is no love lost between Nancy Pelosi and President-elect Donald Trump.

PHILLIP: The Gingriches, John Boehner on the screen there.

TAPPER: There's a lot of Republican members of Congress who are greeting their former bosses, their former leaders, former speakers, Newt Gingrich, who is a close ally of Donald Trump, more so than probably any Republican speaker of them all, Newt Gingrich.

PHILLIP: I mean, there's a lot that you can say about Newt Gingrich being a sort of forerunner for the forces that allowed Donald Trump to be in the White House, but he's simply proven to be someone who is a strong supporter of him and gave him a sense of legitimacy when he was running back in 2016.

TAPPER: Let's go to Manu Raj, our chief congressional correspondent, who is there. Manu, tell us what you're seeing.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Every ex-member of Congress was invited to attend this ceremony. Jake. In fact, there are more than about 800 seats. Of course, 535 members of Congress and the question is who ultimately will attend. You've seen Republican members right now file in. We expect most Republicans to do attend.

But there has been actually a debate among Democrats themselves. There's been a split about which Democrats would actually come. Some, like the Democratic leaders, plan to attend, of course, like Hakeem Jeffries, even though Jeffries, I'm told, has not spoken to Donald Trump, really since Donald Trump's first term in office.

But there are a number of others, Nancy Pelosi being one, who is skipping today's ceremony. And some also on the left flank of the Democratic caucus, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is one who's not planning on attending. Neither is Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat as well, who has criticized Democrats who are attending after saying that Donald Trump was a threat to the democracy.

And I'm told, Jake, that there's actually been a debate over the weekend, a lot of members texting about whether they should come, and we'll see. A lot of members attend, but some Democrats choosing not to, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, thank you so much Manu. They are loading up the limos. We just saw the presidential spouses come out. The one of the interesting things in terms of guests, we've also seen, in addition to supporters, like Elon Musk, in addition to supporters like Joe Rogan. We've also seen -- we just saw Rudy Giuliani walking in to the Rotunda, he's been in the news a lot lately for his legal tussles.

There is the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser.

[10:25:01]

Tucker Carlson, also the former Fox host, now a popular podcaster and YouTube poster, or I'm not exactly sure what they call it.

He's in Washington D.C. Muriel Bowser. Tucker Carlson, also the former Fox host now a popular podcaster and YouTube poster, or I'm not exactly sure what to call him, but influencer, certainly.

BASH: Very influential in --

TAPPER: Very influential. Yes, absolutely. Anderson Cooper?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, thanks very much.

As we continue to look at the visitors (ph) arriving, I'm with Chris Emery, the White House usher from 1986 and 1994. You were there through Reagan, H.W. Bush, the Clinton administration. Talk about inauguration day from your vantage point. What is it like to be (INAUDIBLE)?

CHRIS EMERY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE USHER: Absolute chaos, but controlled. It's just the busiest time, and right now the president and the existing president and the future president are about to leave the White House. That's when the White House residence staff really gets to work. There's moving vans on the South Grounds, moving vans will be moved to the North Grounds.

COOPER: So, there's two groups of moving vans just waiting for these two to leave?

EMERY: And we hope we have about six or seven hours to move the new family in, get the remaining items of the former family out. And it's chaos, but it's organized, and it's been the same way for 200 years.

COOPER: The relationship, I mean, is it hard watching people that you care about, have worked with, leave? EMERY: It's very emotional. In fact, usually about 10:30, the former first family is in the state dining room bidding farewell to the executive residence staff. I remember Mrs. Reagan was crying when that occurred. President Bush couldn't speak. He was so emotional. Mrs. Bush had to speak as they went around and shook hands with everybody.

COOPER: How long does it take to -- I mean, is there like a deep cleaning done?

EMERY: Absolutely. I mean, we have 97 staff. Everybody's working. And it's just --- it's -- everyone is assigned to a different floor to handle the move in of the clothing, the furniture, new electronics, all these things are taking place all within the short period of time we have.

COOPER: Right. There's 73 to 79 days between an election and inauguration, so there's a short window. I mean, how do you know where everything's supposed to go?

EMERY: Well, for the family moving out, they start planning early, so a lot of those items have been shipped. New things come in and we work with the first lady coming in to find out where she wants things, how it's to be set up, how many guests the first night. Bush has had 32 guests the first night when they came in 1989, crazy.

So, not only were we moving beds into rooms that never had beds, we were trying to account for the actual first family members that had been closer staying on the main floor to the second floor. It was just crazy.

COOPER: Wow. And you know -- I mean, do you know where -- what towels they like? All that stuff is worked out in advance.

EMERY: We know where to put the toothbrush. We know what shaving cream to place. I mean, it's all been prearranged and agreed to. Sometimes we make mistakes, not often.

COOPER: Does it make it easier because President Trump has already been in the White House?

EMERY: Yes, absolutely. Same with Grover Cleveland. I mean, you know, he just walked in, everything's already set up.

COOPER: Were you there for Grover Cleveland?

EMERY: No, I was there the year after.

COOPER: But that does make it easier? I mean, there's a -- it's one less thing that's -- I mean, it's not a mystery for them?

EMERY: Well, it's not a mystery. I mean, you have to account for -- like I said, the things they're going to access first, their toiletries, their clothing, and then we have to account for the house guests, who's coming and how many meals? What do they want? So, that goes on for quite a while. COOPER: I also want to bring in Vanessa Friedman, New York Times fashion director and chief fashion critic. Talk about, if you will, what Melania Trump is wearing in her inauguration look today versus 2017.

VANESSA FRIEDMAN, FASHION DIRECTOR AND CHIEF FASHION CRITIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES: So, this time around, she's wearing Adam Lippes, who's a New York designer. He's an independent. He's someone she's worn before and she's got a quite structure, very sort of protected, coat and a very dramatic hat, which is by Eric Javits.

And it's a sort of marked difference from what she wore in 2017, where she really seemed to be making an effort to be part of a sort of first lady continuum. She wore a Ralph Lauren look, she was his fifth first lady, and it was very evocative of Jackie Kennedy.

COOPER: What message -- is it sending a message of some sort?

FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, I mean John F. Kennedy took his hat off in 1961 and made a big statement. She's keeping hers on.

COOPER: And what -- I don't know -- how much -- how has her style evolved over? I mean, are there a lot of designers who want to dress -- I mean, does any, is it the case that any designer would love to dress her?

FRIEDMAN: Any designer would love to dress the first lady of the United States. And when you speak to them, whether it's a big brand or a small brand, they will say it is their honor to dress the White House. It's not necessarily the Trumps, exactly.

COOPER: So, that's the look you're --

FRIEDMAN: That's the look. It's a little bit -- it's more royal family governess than necessarily American first lady.

[10:30:03]

COOPER: That's how it reads, royal family governess. That's interesting.