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Trump Picks School Choice Advocate for Education Chief; Trump Picks South Carolina Governor as U.N. Ambassador; Romney Considering Secretary of State Job; Clinton Camp Meets with Scientists Calling for Recount; Ex-NYC Council Speaker Pushes to End Homelessness. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired November 23, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with breaking developments on how Donald Trump is expanding his team and in more ways than one expanding its diversity. He has just named these two women to cabinet-level positions. And his former rival, Dr. Ben Carson, gave this hint that big news is coming about his own, quote, "role" in making America great again. Also moments ago, President- elect Trump selected a woman by the name of Betsy Devos, a school choice advocate, to become his next education secretary.

This is all happening just hours after Trump named his first outright critic to a cabinet-level position. He chose South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations. She is the daughter of immigrants from India.

So let's go to Jason Carroll, who is down in Palm Beach at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, where he will be spending the rest of his Thanksgiving week. So, Jason Carroll, first on the news of this - the pick for education secretary. Tell me more about Betsy Devos.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Betsy Devos, a long-time advocate of school choice and school vouchers, huge GOP donor. Here's the question mark with this particular choice, Brooke. I mean when you think about Trump's rallies and some of the points that got the biggest amount of applause. Repealing and replacing Obamacare, huge applause. Talking about appointing a special prosecutor to go after Hillary Clinton, huge applause. Talking about getting rid of Common Core, again huge applause. And this is someone, Betsy Devos, who has been a supporter Common Cause during the past. In fact, she was a member of the Bush Foundation Excellence in Education, which was a central backer of Common Cause. So there seems to be a question mark. Did she change her position on the Common Cause or did Trump change his position? That's still the question mark there.

Trump did release a statement about this particular choice, saying, "under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back." Jeb Bush also came out in support of Betsy Devos and she came out tweeting saying the following, "I am honored to work with the president-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in education is not acceptable." So, once again, Brooke, a bit of a question mark with this appointment naming Betsy Devos as education secretary. Who changed their position on Common Core? Did she or did Trump?

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jason, thank you. Jason at Mar-a-Lago.

All these names floating around. As we mentioned a moment ago, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was a reluctant Trump voter. You remember this months ago? In fact, before even Trump became the Republican nominee, Governor Haley slighted Trump and endorsed Senator Marco Rubio and Trump then counterpunched. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Donald Trump is everything we hear and teach our kids not to do in kindergarten.

I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: She's very, very weak on illegal immigration. We can't have that.

HALEY: We don't want a president that's going to come in and just bash and sit there and tell us what we're not doing right.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And now Governor Haley will be working for Donald Trump if she is confirmed.

So let me bring in some voices here. Andy Shain of the South Carolina paper "Post and Courier." Also with me, retired Army Colonel Peter Mansoor, who was a former aide to former - General David Petraeus. And CNN political commentator Lanhee Chen, who used to serve as public policy director for Mitt Romney. All these names are germane in this conversation about hiss picks for this next cabinet.

So, Andy, let me go to you, South Carolina here, because as we talk about Governor Haley, I mean when you think back just as far as what she's accomplished in the year, I think of the flooding in your state. I think of, you know, the mass shooting in Charleston at that church and the bipartisan support and how she was able to help, you know, remove the confederate flag there in Columbia. That said, if we're talking about the U.N. ambassador, what foreign policy experience does she have?

ANDY SHAIN, COLUMBIA BUREAU CHIEF, "THE POST AND COURIER": Well, Brooke, I think that's the big question is, what kind of foreign policy experience does she have? Most of her experience dealing with obviously overseas relations, foreign relations, has dealt with economic development, trade missions. She's been on seven overseas trade missions. She's dealt with executives from overseas in trying to get them to land obviously either companies here in South Carolina or get them to expand their operations here in South Carolina. So it's really been more economic than diplomatic for her.

BALDWIN: All right. Moving to, Lanhee, your former boss, Governor Mitt Romney. He's being - he is being seriously considered, is apparently seriously considering, the post as secretary of state, the biggest job in the cabinet. You know, Trump loyalists are ripping the idea that this is just a total prize. Why would Governor Romney want to say yes?

[14:05:08] LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, Brooke, I think from the start, Governor Romney has always been a patriot. I've always known him to be a patriot. I think at core he wants to do everything he can to help the president-elect govern successfully. And I think that was the point he made shortly after the election in a phone call and a congratulatory tweet and that's why he shared his thoughts about the world with Mr. Trump in a meeting on Saturday.

So, you know, I -

BALDWIN: But a tweet is one thing, Lanhee. You know, taking secretary of state post is quite another.

CHEN: Well, I - look, I don't think any - any decisions have been made or any, you know, anything out there in terms of actually what's going to happen. I think what we have is a bunch of speculation right now ahead of a holiday weekend. So, you know, what - we'll see where this all goes. But the bottom line is that Governor Romney is committed to helping the president-elect govern effectively come January.

BALDWIN: Well, the actual reporting is that he is seriously considering it and he's going to consider it through the Thanksgiving weekend.

Colonel, to you. You know, as we're throwing out names, some of Trump's harshest critics being Mitt Romney or Governor Haley. I mean you are - you have not been quiet about, you know, not being a supporter of Mr. Trump's. Do you respect him more for opening his arms to some of his harshest critics?

COL. PETER MANSOOR (RET.), FORMER AIDE TO GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: Yes, well I've always said since the election that we need to give him time to form his team and we'll judge him on his policies in office. So I respect some of his more recent considerations for the cabinet. There's others like Bannon that I simply shake my head and I wonder why he's in the West Wing.

BALDWIN: Andy, when you look at the picks like - a potential pick of Dr. Ben Carson, a former rival, retired neurosurgeon, brilliant, brilliant guy, you know, who could be a pick at Housing and Urban Development, HUD secretary, or, you know, as we mentioned, and you pointed out, Governor Haley, who doesn't have exactly foreign policy chops, what do you make of those two elections, and also an African- American and an Indian-American.

SHAIN: Well, I mean, certainly the advantage of nominating Governor Haley is that she is, you know, the daughter of Indian immigrants. She is, obviously, a rising star in the party. The youngest governor in the country. She was the first female governor here in South Carolina. She is seen as someone who's trying to make the party more inclusive. Obviously that's been a criticism of Mr. Trump's. And so I think, in the end, there's a win-win for both of them. For President-elect Trump, you get, obviously, someone in your cabinet, or in a cabinet- level position, who didn't agree with you necessarily during the campaign, but, of course, could help bring moderates back into the camp. And for Governor Haley, it's, obviously, a chance to broaden her experience and maybe put her in, you know, put her in the talk for 2024.

BALDWIN: That's right, that could be another piece of it, is the long game for her.

And then another name being floated, Colonel Mansoor, is General David Petraeus, former CIA director, highly decorated, impressive, impressive resume. You know, apparently he has said he's open to working within a Trump administration. But it's interesting since, you know, let's all remember, he was forced to step down after he pled guilty to mishandling confidential information in connection with his - that affair. So given the conviction, what position could he realistically serve?

MANSOOR: He could realistically serve in any cabinet position. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor with two years of probation. So I don't think that will have any impact on whether could should serve.

BALDWIN: You don't?

MANSOOR: You know - no. He stayed out of the partisan political fray during the nomination process and I think he was positioned to serve in either a Clinton or a Trump administration. He's enormously capable and if called on I think he's ready to serve the people of the United States in a Trump administration.

BALDWIN: But then what about all the Republicans who, you know, cried foul when it came to Hillary Clinton and classified information and her private server?

MANSOOR: I think it's a matter of degree. He shared a notebook with someone who actually had a security clearance, who then used the information in a public venue. And I think the concern, as you know, over Hillary Clinton is the scale of the server and the sheer number of e-mails on it and the putting classified information on a serve that was unclassified and not even controlled by the government. So I think that they'll view General Petraeus's transgression as much, much less serious.

BALDWIN: OK. There is some news out of Iran, today, Lanhee, let me pose this to you. The Ayatollah Khamenei said today that Iran would react if the U.S., under a President Trump, were to level sanctions in violation of the deal that was struck under the current administration. Would a President Trump, based upon this agreement, even be able to level sanctions? [14:10:11] CHEN: Well, I think we have to take the president-elect at

his word when he says he's interested in voiding the deal with Iran. It doesn't surprise me that that's the reaction from the Iranian side. But, look, you know, we've - over the course of the campaign, this was one of those things that President-elect Trump was very insistent on. He was very insistent on the fact that he felt that the Obama ministration's approach to Iran was wrong-headed, that he was going to take a very different approach. And so I do think that there are things within the authority of the next president-elect to reexamine the deal that was struck with Iran and potentially to take a very different path in our engagement or not engagement with Iran going forward.

BALDWIN: OK, Lanhee and Colonel Mansoor and Andy, thank you all so much. I appreciate your voices here on this day before the holiday. All-important as we're considering these different names and positions.

Coming up next here, there are computer scientists who are pleading with Hillary Clinton and her team to challenge the election results in three states. Find out why and whether the Clinton camp should listen.

Plus, "The New York Times" editorial board says it is stunned at how thin President-elect Trump's policies are. We'll talk live with someone who was face to face with the president-elect in that meeting at "The Times" just yesterday.

And a little boy hurt in that deadly school bus crash in Chattanooga is told his sister, who was also on the bus, just got her wings. Heartbreaking, heartbreaking new details about these little boy and girl lost far too young. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:30] BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You know the story, CNN called the election and Donald Trump won in the reliably blue rust belt, giving him the heavy Electoral College lift he needed to become the 45th president of the United States. This hasn't changed. But here's what did change, the popular vote. Those ballots continue to be processes. Hillary Clinton has the lead by a margin of almost 2 million votes.

This as a source tells CNN top Clinton campaign official had a phone meeting with computer scientists and election lawyers calling for a recount they say persuasive evidence they have in these three states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, indicate the results may have been --- may have been manipulated or hacked. CNN cannot verify any reports of inaccurate results.

But here with me to discuss this, and so much more, passion as well, former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Chris Quinn, it is an honor to have you here.

CHRISTINE QUINN (D), FORMER SPEAKER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: Well, thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

QUINN: That's so nice. Thank you.

BALDWIN: We'll talk about the amazing work you do in the city here in just a second. But, you know, we used to see you on TV all the time talking about, you know, your gal Hillary.

QUINN: Right.

BALDWIN: And when you hear that, you know, John Podesta and folks had a phone call with these scientists, even though there's basically no evidence, why do you think they took the meeting?

QUINN: Well, I mean I've not spoken to any of them, so I don't know.

BALDWIN: OK.

QUINN: In America, every vote gets counted, right, and that's a real basis of our democracy, and every vote is getting counted and we - I understand the Electoral College, et cetera. But it is quite remarkable that the person who did not win the election, Hillary Clinton, is going to win the popular vote by two million votes. That's really significant.

And I think some of these conversations about those states and whatnot started and seem to be just kind of like those things on the Internet, right? And then it seemed to evolve to having some real legitimate computer scientists and statisticians, et cetera. So I can understand why John would take that meeting, right?

BALDWIN: Would give them the time of day. Would hear them out.

QUINN: Yes, because these are legitimate individuals who have spent a lot of time and their energy and in the kind of American vision of every vote needs to get counted, they did deserve, I believe, to have their voices heard by John and the, you know, secretary's staff that remains.

What will come of it? Who knows?

BALDWIN: OK.

QUINN: Who knows?

BALDWIN: OK.

QUINN: You know, I really don't know. Obviously there's part of me that like, come on, come on, come on. But, realistically, I think -

BALDWIN: Realistically.

QUINN: Realistically, I think probably again no knowledge, that John Podesta was being gracious. BALDWIN: And then so you have like that storyline playing out. And, of

course, we saw Hillary Clinton speaking to the Children's Defense Fund.

QUINN: Yes.

BALDWIN: And that was that. You know, juxtapose that with what - the images we've been seeing on the screen, whether it's people coming and going out of Trump Tower. Now we have crews outside of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

QUINN: Right.

BALDWIN: What do you just make of all of it?

QUINN: Well, it's so different than any other transition, right, which is usually not played out in front of the cameras. It really is "Apprentice" like, you know what I mean?

BALDWIN: Yes.

QUINN: Or pageant-like, which each one of the potential candidates, or contestants, if you will, meeting the president-elect, the photo-op in front of the door, it really is kind of garish in a way and weirdly competitive in an external-facing way that I think is not usually how transitions are done because you want to have a bunch of people who are all connected and supporting you whether - and supporting your vision, whether they got the job or not.

BALDWIN: On to you, off of politics, because you know I reached out to you privately a couple of weeks ago because I was so moved by this piece you had written because, listen, losing isn't fun.

QUINN: Nope.

BALDWIN: You didn't like Hillary Clinton losing.

QUINN: No.

BALDWIN: You, yourself, had a gut-wrenching loss. You wanted to be mayor of this beautiful city here in New York. It didn't happen. You had a little, as we would say in the south, like a come to Jesus trip out in Thailand, (INAUDIBLE) the mixes (ph).

QUINN: Yes, exactly.

BALDWIN: And you came back and you decided what?

QUINN: I came back and did some other work, was at a fellowship at Harvard, which was amazing. Really very helpful in my journey. And I really decided - and I have to say the Institute of Politics and working with the students confirmed this for me, the title doesn't matter, the work matters. And it really became clear to me that I wanted to work on urban issues. I wanted to work in New York. I wanted to work on women's issues. And I wanted to run a group of size and substance that did both direct service and advocacy, because that way the change we're fighting for when women in need is not what I think it is at a think tank, it's what those women and children tell us every day. And WIN (ph) is the largest provider of shelter and permanent housing to homeless women in children in New York City, 4,700 people (ph).

[14:20:22] BALDWIN: Good for you. If I may just applaud you -

QUINN: Oh, thank you.

BALDWIN: Publically because WIN, this is w-i-n, this is Women in Need, this is - is it the largest non-profit or one of the largest for women?

QUINN: It's the largest provider of shelter and permanent housing to homeless families in New York City. And we have over 60,000 homeless in New York City. And what most people don't know is 70 percent of them are families with children, the vast majority, and we house close to 5,000 of those individuals a night.

BALDWIN: So, last question, just being mindful of Thanksgiving and this country and its divisive and people are emotional, I was emotional yesterday. I mean what's - what can we all take away from what you've done?

QUINN: So I think you can take away I hope something from what I've done, but more importantly what I see our homeless moms do every day at WIN. Fifty-one percent of the moms in our shelters are working. They're committed so much to getting out of shelter and getting their lives better for themselves, but for their beautiful little children. Our moms are resilient. They don't give up. And they're really not so much focused on themselves as their children. So I hope, as what I learned for myself, and we can all be mindful of as a country, in what are challenging times for a lot of us -

BALDWIN: Yes.

QUINN: It's not about our title. It's about who we're serving and helping. Be resilient. Don't give up. And when that's hard, focus on someone else in your life that you know or you don't who you love.

BALDWIN: Chris Quinn, thank you.

QUINN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

QUINN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I needed that.

QUINN: And happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

BALDWIN: Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you.

Coming up next here, back to politics, inside look at Trump's meeting with "The New York Times" where he seemed to soften on a number of the promises he made on the campaign trail.

Also ahead, parents and friends now speaking about their just absolutely gut-wrenching loss this week after this school bus crashed in Chattanooga. Hear what happened in the hospital as doctors are meeting with parents and how one little boy survived, but his sister did not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:01] BALDWIN: One day before Thanksgiving, it is a time of mourning for a Tennessee community where five children were killed in a bus crash on their way home from school. A kindergartener, a first grader and three fourth graders all lost their lives in Monday's crash in Chattanooga. Nine-year-old Cordasia Jones (ph) was one of them. Her aunts called her a bright little girl and said, God was ready for his angel to come home.

We're also hearing from one of the grieving moms about the moment she found out her only child, six-year-old Timon Brown (ph), had taken his final breath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND BROWN, SIX-YEAR-OLD SON KILLED IN SCHOOL BUS CRASH (voice- over): I know where my baby sits on the bus. I know he sits in the front of the bus. I know that because I stay at the bus stop and get him every morning, every evening when he gets off the bus. And I know he gets in the same spot.

So when they told me that the front of the bus kids hadn't been removed, it automatically gave me that mother instinct that my baby was up there because I had been sitting out there as they were pulling the kids out one by one and I hadn't seen my son yet.

So then I made my way onto the emergency room because they kept telling me that several kids were already at the emergency room and you just need to go there and they're going to try to identify them.

And from there I was there probably about 4:00 something until 11:40 last night. And I finally got the word that my son was deceased about 10:30 or 10:45 last night. That he was one of the ones that was dead on the scene.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As we are learning more and more about these young lives, we are also learning that the man behind the wheel had been involved in another school bus crash just two months ago. Investigators say in September, 24-year-old Johnthony Walker failed to yield the right of way and sideswiped a car. No one was seriously hurt. But now this young man is facing five counts of vehicular homicide, as well as reckless driving and reckless endangerment charges. His arrests affidavit alleges he was speeding down a winding, narrow road, he lost control of that school bus, swerved and plowed into a tree just outside of this one woman's home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY SMITH, SCHOOL BUSH CRASHED OUTSIDE HER HOME: I ran out and all I could hear was kids screaming. And I mean they was screaming. One little boy, well, I think there were two, maybe three, were thrown off the bus. He was laying there, and he wasn't moving. I thought he was already passed. Another little boy was asking me, "am I bleeding?" And I said, "no, you're not bleeding," but he seen all the other kids bleeding, so he thought that he was bleeding also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hundreds of mourners are coming together to pray for everyone affected by this sudden loss. At least 12 children are still in the hospital, several of them with severe head or spinal injuries. A local pastor says he has been at the hospital to help comfort the families who are in so much pain.

[14:30:01] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR KEVIN ADAMS, OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH: It's something I've never, never experienced before. As the doctors were coming in and, you know, just announced that - to a family that your child was deceased, you know, I saw mothers