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Trump Picks Haley to be U.S. Ambassador to U.N.; TN Governor Visits Bus Crash Victim's School; Iraqi-led Forces Cut Off Key ISIS Supply Lines; 50 Million Hitting the Skies, Roads this Week. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired November 23, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:16]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Love this bird. The most powerful position in the world brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities. This is not one of them. I know some will call this amnesty. But don't worry, there's plenty of turkey to go around. There has been a fierce competition between a bunch of turkeys, trying to win their way into the White House.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Some of you caught that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK. I have to admit I love when presidents pardon the turkey. So President Obama will be doing it for the last time, later this morning. The next hour of "CNN Newsroom" starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. The Trump transition team, hard at work this morning, even as the boss spends his holiday in Florida, this morning, Mr. Trump's team announcing that the president-elect has chosen South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley, you might recall, remained critical of Mr. Trump even after he clinched their party's nomination, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, praising the decision, calling Haley a strong leader, who will be an outstanding ambassador. CNN's Sara Murray is here with more. Good morning.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Well, the Trump team is making it official this morning. They are naming Nikki Haley as Donald Trump's pick to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. I think this tells us a couple things. It tells us, it wasn't just a head fake when Donald Trump was meeting with people who have been critical of him in the past. And he's actually naming one of those to a top slot. But I think it also tells us that he's taken some of this criticism, the note that they are -- you know, are mostly older white men making out the top ranks of his White House staff and his cabinet positions to heart. And so we are seeing Nikki Haley add a dash of diversity to that. She's a woman. She's also the daughter of Indian immigrant.

Now, of course, that's not where the palace intrigue ends when it comes to a potential Donald Trump cabinet. One of the big announcements -- we are still waiting on is who he will select to be his Secretary of State. One of the top contenders for this job has been Mitt Romney, who was a critic of Donald Trump throughout the campaign, but some of Donald Trump's closest allies are not thrilled with this. Take a listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I can think of 20 other people who would be more naturally compatible with the Trump vision of foreign policy.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: He attacked him on a personal level about his character, integrity, his honor. When do you that, there's only one way that I think Mitt Romney could even be considered for a post like that, and that is that he goes to a microphone in a very public place and repudiates everything he said in that Salt Lake City speech. And everything he said after that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now, both Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee have been Donald Trump supporters since early on. They have proved their loyalty to the candidate. Another person who has done that to the president-elect is Rudy Giuliani. He's still in contention to be a potential Secretary of State which makes this a tough decision.

And the last name we have to throw in the mix today, Dr. Ben Carson. It appeared for a while that maybe he was pulling his name out of the running for a top slot. Donald Trump is now saying that's not the case. He took to -- Twitter to say, "I'm seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD," that's Housing and Urban Development, "I've gotten to know him well. He's a greatly talented person who loves people!"

Now, I'm told that Dr. Carson is seriously considering the job and will be spending his Thanksgiving holiday thinking it over. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Sara Murray, many thanks to you.

So this news comes amid some confusion over Mr. Trump's policy positions. "Politico" counted 15 flip-flops since Election Day, a few examples.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: OK, folks? You know, I have these guys -- torture doesn't work -- believe me, it works, OK? And waterboarding is your minor form. Some people say it's not actually torture. Let's assume it is. But they ask me the question. What do you think of waterboarding? Absolutely fine. But we should go much stronger than waterboarding. That's the way I feel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. But Trump told "The New York Times" yesterday that, "General Mattis told him, I've never found it," waterboarding, "to be useful. Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I will do better." Trump said he was very impressed by that answer and then Trump added, "Torture is not going to make the kind of difference that a lot of people are thinking." General Mattis, by the way, is under consideration for Secretary of Defense. And then there's Trump's campaign promise on Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time. For her many crimes against our nation, our people, our democracy, likely concluding in a criminal trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. But Trump is changing his tune on that, too, telling "The New York Times," "I don't want to hurt the Clintons. I really don't. It's just not something that I feel very strongly about." And then there's climate change. Back in March, Trump told the "Washington Post," "I'm not great a great believer in man-made climate change." But yesterday, he told the

[10:05:16] "Times," "I think there is some connectivity, some, something."

So let's talk about that and more. Ross Douthat is a CNN political commentator and Op-Ed columnist for "The New York Times." Errol Louis is CNN political commentator and political anchor for "NY1 News." And Julian Zelizer is a historian and professor at Princeton University. Welcome to all of you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

ROSS DOUTHAT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND OP-ED COLUMNIST "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So Ross, you were present when Donald Trump was interviewed by "The New York Times." What went through your mind as Trump ticked off these differing apparently softening policy positions?

DOUTHAT: Well, a couple of things. I mean, one is that Trump is a salesman, right, and if you put him in a room with a collection of journalists whose views tend to differ from his own. I was probably the most conservative attendee at the "Times" meeting. My colleagues won't complain about that characterization. If you put him in a room like that, you will get a different Trump than you get on the campaign trail, at a rally where he's trying to rally conservative votes against Hillary Clinton. And you know, my sense throughout this campaign has been that there are few issues that Trump is really invested in, particularly his economic philosophy, you know, the idea that we need to be building more buildings and cutting better trade deals and so on. But then on most other issues, he can move around depending on the situation, the audience and so on. So I wouldn't read too much into what he said to us yesterday, any more than you would necessarily read too much into what he said on the campaign trail. The fact that he's going to have - administration staff --

COSTELLO: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. So the voters shouldn't read too much into what he says at any given time, Errol? --

DOUTHAT: I think that that's fair -- Yes.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND POLITICAL ANCHOR "NY1 NEWS": That's right. That's exactly right. I mean, this is -- something that almost with a smile and a wink, the candidate himself, candidate Trump, really sort of made clear that he's looking for maneuvering room. He's a good negotiator. He likes to make deals. He doesn't want to talk about this. He doesn't want to talk about that. He will change his stance. This is a habit that he's carried over from his commercial life. And the fact is he can get away with it. There are a number of voters who told pollsters, who told reporters, that they know he's not going to necessarily build a wall. They don't care if it's a fence or a wall or even nothing at all, but they know he's tough and they know -- they like what he has said. And so there are a lot of different reasons that people supported Donald Trump. But a point by point menu of the different policies that he promised is not necessarily one of those reasons.

COSTELLO: So Julian, that's not necessarily a bad thing. That means he can sit down and negotiate and work with people, right? But the thing is for his most ardent supporters, you know, a tenet of his campaign was to build that wall but now it involves fencing. So will they, you know, listen to what Errol said and sad, of course that's true and I'm fine with that.

ZELIZER: Well, obviously they will be disappointed with these statements. But before we go too far in saying Donald Trump the negotiator has emerged, I think we should be cautious. He did this several times in the campaign but he did come back to certain themes like the wall and tough immigration control. And he's surrounded himself still with appointees, at least the first few picks, who are pretty conservative and he's dealing with a Republican Party in Congress that is very much to the right and won't be easy on him if he backs away from some of these issues. So "The New York Times" was just one moment in a broader picture where I still think he is in the same environment of policies that he was when he started the campaign.

COSTELLO: But Ross, Mr. Trump is reaching out to -- picks for his staff that a lot of Republicans who weren't totally on board with him might like, like Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

DOUTHAT: Right. I mean, we haven't yet seen the most important staffing decisions that President Trump will make, which are basically Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and the Treasury Department. So, so far he's made picks up until Haley that were mostly campaign loyalists, people like Jeff Sessions. So a lot will turn on what we see in the next few days or a week in terms of the personnel and policy question.

More broadly, Julian is absolutely right, that you know Trump is not remaking himself in some radical way. He has a conservative Republican Party to deal with. He has a sort of broad vision of Trumpism that's different somewhat from conventional conservatism that he's going to have to try and implement or a lot of his voters will be disappointed. But I'm just thinking, it's useful to keep in mind, this is a man who I think, you know, when you listen to him talk about Hillary Clinton, at our interview, he talked about how she suffered enough, you had the sense that he -- as he did in the past, actually likes the Clintons, perhaps more than he likes some of his Republican opponents, and he's a reality TV performer.

[10:10:16] I think that he thinks of a lot of what went on, on the campaign trail, a lot of the viciousness, especially the viciousness that came from him himself, as a kind of performance that can be sort of stepped into and stepped out of. --

COSTELLO: OK. So along those lines, Mitt Romney, right, because you heard what Mike Huckabee said, like if Donald Trump appoints Mitt Romney as Secretary of State, Mitt Romney ought to get in front of a microphone, Errol, and apologize for every awful thing he said about Donald Trump, but does Donald Trump expect that or want it?

LOUIS: Yes, it's an interesting question. Donald Trump, -- I have to say I was a little surprised to see how quickly and how bully he welcomed Mitt Romney. I think if you want to put it in conventional political terms, this is his olive branch or his way of showing that he's at peace with the never Trump faction of which Mitt Romney was maybe the most prominent member. And he gave really a devastating attack on camera against Donald Trump.

What we are hearing of course is that Donald Trump thinks he looks like the guy who can play the role of - you know, almost a casting television sense, play the role of diplomat and maybe somebody to offset a lot of the belligerent talk that's going to be coming most likely out of the Pentagon and indeed, out of the White House. You will need somebody to go - and you know, talk to people in Cairo and in Beirut and in Riyadh and all across the Middle East and sort of back away from some of the really hot ugly talk that has come from elsewhere.

So you know it's a team effort. It's not just one by one. But certainly I think, Governor Huckabee's comments really point to something that I have also heard which is that there are a lot of people who feel loyalty is supposed to count for something. And that the Rudy Giuliani is of the world, who went out when the campaign was at its lowest and defended that videotape from the bus and everything else, are supposed to be rewarded, not necessarily somebody like Mitt Romney.

COSTELLO: Well, that's true, Julian. Maybe that's what that's all about, right? From not only Mike Huckabee but -- I'm sorry, Mike Huckabee but -

DOUTHAT: Chris Christie?

COSTELLO: Yes. -

DOUTHAT: I mean, one of the secrets of Trump, too, he likes humiliating people who have already abased themselves to him. --

ZELIZER: I think - Oh, I'm sorry. --

DOUTHAT: Go ahead.

ZELIZER: I think President-elect Trump likes people who are loyal but it's unclear that he is loyal to them. I mean, during this campaign, we saw many shake-ups where people would come in at the top and they would go. And I don't think the idea that he's someone who keeps his team close and will remain with them, like Hillary Clinton, is famous for being -- is true of him. So I don't think Giuliani, for example, should have high expectations of how he will be used. If he's not beneficial to Donald Trump, Donald Trump will not have him in the cabinet. And I think that is the kind of president we have.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. I was trying to think of Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee, maybe their support of Rudy Giuliani and that's why they said those things about Mitt Romney. But who knows. Who knows what they really think. Thanks to all of you. I appreciate you coming in this week, Ross Douthat, Errol Louis, Julian Zelizer.

Coming up in the "Newsroom," Tennessee's governor visiting Chattanooga after that deadly school bus crash, this as investigators try to figure out what went so tragically wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:26] COSTELLO: Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam in Chattanooga this morning, to visit Woodmore Elementary School after that horrific school bus crash that left five kids dead. The vigil was held last night for the victims and their families. Today, federal authorities are looking into the case and trying to answer some of the many questions, including questions about the driver's past and the use of seat belts on school buses. CNN's Nick Valencia, live in Chattanooga with more. Good morning.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It goes without saying this is going to be a devastatingly sad Thanksgiving holiday for a number of families here in Chattanooga, just factoring in the ages of these victims, kindergarten and fifth grade. The images are hard to talk about, not least to have witnessed for those 37 children who are on the bus. It was earlier this morning within the last hour that Tennessee's Governor Bill Haslam visited the elementary school of the victims and talked about this unspeakable tragedy.

GOV. BILL HASLAM, (R) TENNESSEE: -- not supposed to have elementary classrooms with empty desks. And I think, the sorrow that all of us feel is incredibly deep. And I want to bring my wishes for you from people from across the state. I think the whole state has reacted with incredible sympathy for the tragedy you guys are feeling. I do want to say -

VALENCIA: 24-year-old Johnthony Walker remains in custody charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. We know that he has had a past driving that school bus. He was involved in a single car accident sideswiping another vehicle. No one was injured in that accident. But of course, investigators are going to be looking at his history. He was only credentialed or credited to drive a school bus back in April, and then getting into that accident in September.

We spoke to his mother, who said that he is a good man. He called her right afterwards, right after that accident, to say that it was a drastic accident had happened. That he was trying to help those victims on the school bus before paramedics and police arrived. He has a 3-year-old himself. Again, the school bus, the district that outsourced the private company that this school bus was operating, that is also going to be part of the investigation to find out exactly if anything could have been done to stop this tragedy. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Nick Valencia reporting live from Chattanooga this morning. Thank you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 19 minutes past, CNN's obtained documents that show an accused cop killer used his time on the run to get married. Otis Tyrone McKane got married, one day after San Antonio Police Detective Benjamin Marconi was gunned down. McKane got married Monday morning. And that afternoon, he was arrested. The 50-year-old lawman was shot at close range as he wrote out a traffic ticket outside of police headquarters.

A Dakota pipeline protester is recovering this morning after nearly losing her arm. It happened during an explosion, Sunday night, as nearly

[10:20:16] 400 protesters and police clashed. Both sides blame each other for the blast. The Police say protesters used improvised weapons against them. Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been suspended. Pending talks with Native American leaders.

A global watchdog group says it will look into Russian claims that Syrian rebels are using chemical weapons in the embattled city of Aleppo. Both the government and the rebels have accused the other of such attacks. The organization has a prohibition for chemical weapons, has asked Russia to provide samples of the alleged chemicals. The group says it is still waiting for those samples.

And all-out offensive, Iraqi led forces now say they have the ISIS stronghold of Mosul completely surrounded. That means ISIS forces inside the city are isolated and essentially cut off from supply lines at the west. But the fight isn't over yet. CNN's Phil Black, live in Erbil, that's 50 miles outside of Mosul. Hi, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, the ISIS is essentially trapped in Mosul now, we believe. They can't get out. They can't get to the Syrian border in the ISIS controlled territory there, nor can they get new fighters or supplies. But after some six weeks or so of the battle for Mosul, this is really just the end of the first phase. There is still a lot of fighting to do, in other areas around Mosul, but more importantly, in the city itself. That's where Iraqi Forces will now need to go from house to house, street to street, in order to wipe ISIS out of Iraq's second largest city in this way.

We've already started to get a taste of this around Mosul's eastern flank. That's where Iraqi Forces have penetrated the built-up area. And we have a sense of just what a tough fight that is. That is where ISIS is resisting them fiercely, where they prepared, where they motivated, where they knew this was coming. So, with a combination of tunnels, suicide car bombs, snipers and just really an all-out defense including mortars in this heavily built-up, populated area, ISIS has been able to withstand the Iraqis well -- pretty well so far, although the Iraqis are advancing slowly. What all of this means, is that there is a lot of fighting to do, and that Iraq will not be declaring victory in Mosul imminently. There's a lot of work to do just yet, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Phil Black reporting live for us, this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the "Newsroom," he has been president-elect going on three weeks but some Democratic electors want that all to end on December 19th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:13] COSTELLO: No Wednesday before Thanksgiving would be complete without jam-packed roads and airports. One of the busiest travel days of the year is now well underway. About 50 million of you are expected to travel this weekend. Take a look at the 405 in Los Angeles last night. Doesn't that look fun? I'm sure all of those people remained in the Thanksgiving Day spirit, don't you? Oh, and then there's this. A storm system could bring some travel headaches if you are flying into or out of the Midwest. It's going to be quite nasty. Let's begin though, with Ryan Young. He's live at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, where people appear to be pretty happy. Hi, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty happy because you are talking about one of the busiest airports in the country. And the idea here is, it's not slam-packed, it's not like the 405. If you look behind, as you can see, look at the security line. We are not able to say this very often. The TSA has this thing moving very quickly. In fact, we have seen a lot of smiles throughout here.

And Carol, just to show you how this kind of extends, you are talking about one of the busiest terminals in -- around here, the American Airlines, and there's barely anyone in line. We have seen people traveling. We have only seen a few people running to get to their flights. So that's good news. Everyone is smiling so far. That's the best part about this. And look, we caught up with another traveler. You say you are going to D.C.?

UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: That's right. YOUNG: I see you have a little one.

UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: We do.

YOUNG: What has it been like so far in terms of dealing with security and what's next?

UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: I was surprised at how short the line was. We are hoping to get through quickly to get this little guy off and running, so yes.

YOUNG: Did you plan to be here early?

UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: We did. We did. We planned to be here a couple hours early. So, I think we will be OK, though.

YOUNG: And you always do that with the small ones because you want to make sure you don't have to worry about the security and the whole nine.

UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: Sure, yes. This is his first time flying but we always tend to get here early anyway. It's O'Hare. So we know what to expect.

YOUNG: And when you say that, usually it's more packed than this. Because I think people at home would probably - they will get better impressions of that.

UNIDENTIFIED TRAVELER: Yes. Oh, yes, definitely.

YOUNG: Well, good luck. Happy Thanksgiving, buddy. Mind if you wave to Carol, over there. Carol, look, you know that's the best part about this. So far, everyone is smiling about this. The line is short. We know there's going to be one of the busiest travel periods in a long time. Well, look, so far, so good.

COSTELLO: And that was one adorable baby. Ryan Young thanks so much, Happy Thanksgiving.

YOUNG: Thank you, Happy Thanksgiving.

[10:30:16] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Hillary Clinton might have won the popular vote but Donald Trump did take the Electoral College. Now some Democratic electors are saying, not so fast. They are pushing Republican presidential electors to vote against Trump when the Electoral College meets on December 19th. With me now is one of the electors, leading the effort, Michael Baca. He is a Colorado state elector and a DNC national delegate. Welcome.

MICHAEL BACA, COLORADO STATE ELECTOR AND DNC NATIONAL DELEGATE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: First of all, explain to people, like how this works. Because you know, this is like very confusing for people to understand. So the electors get together on December 19th. What does that look like?