Donald Trump Become America's 45th President; Trump TO Meet With President Obama At White House; Democrats Vow Threaten To Stall Trump Cabinet Nominees.
CUOMO: Only hours away, President elect Donald John Trump will meet with President Obama at the White House before the inauguration. The two men are going to ride together from the White House to the U.S. Capitol. It wasn't always that way but it is that way today. They're going to discuss in this historic moment, who knows. Let's discuss with Senior Political Adviser to President Obama, Dan Pfeiffer. This is an interesting day. You saw it on the other side.</s>DAN PFEIFFER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.</s>CUOMO: You knew what it was like to come in and those expectations. So give us a sense of where the Trump people are when they come to this meeting. Because you know that side.</s>PFEIFFER: Right.</s>CUOMO: And then we'll talk about how you feel President Obama will leave this day.</s>PFEIFFER: I think people don't fully understand what it's like when we have a transition of power for the White House staff. They will see their president -- their boss give a speech, accept the -- accept the Oath of Office. Get it in a -- go hop on a bus, go to the White House and they will walk in. It would be empty. They'll be logged -- first log with their password by the computer and they'll be in-charge of the worlds. And it is a -- like, you know that and they tell you that in the briefing but until you get there and realized that if something happens anywhere in the world; a natural disaster, international incident and economic problem. That's on you.</s>CUOMO: What was the first thing you did when you sat down there?</s>PFEIFFER: Try to log in to my computer.</s>CAMEROTA: Successfully?</s>PFEIFFER: Barely. Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: I mean, that is staggering. I mean, phrasing it that way and helping everybody understand the weight of the world literally. That is staggering. What happens this morning when the new president comes to the White House and the old president welcomes him and the first ladies. What is that exchange? What did they talk about?</s>PFEIFFER: I think it, you know, that White House will be basically empty. Almost all of the staff other than a tiny skeleton -- they had their last day yesterday. So, it would be -- it's mostly a social calling. And it's a moment that, sort of, soaking the history. That would be the last time that, you know, the Obama's walked out of that building, you know, as president and first lady. I think the president will -- I'm guessing here, but he will do what he (inaudible) continue to take the responsibility of the smooth transition of power very seriously. If Mr. Trump wants any advice, I think president would offer that. But, you know,to give -- they give him the support that George H. W. Bush gave President Obama when he came in.</s>CUOMO: And where do you think the outgoing president's head is?It seems to be a little bit of feel of isolation. You know, he comes out. There's a conciliatory. We're doing everything we can and then he writes a letter. That seems to have more of an admonition in it. He seems to have feelings about what he doesn't want to see happen as much as what he does want to see happen. What can you say?</s>PFEIFFER: I had the -- I had the opportunity to talk to the president about this on Thursday. A chance to go to the White House for our last day. See lots of former colleagues. And it - I mean, he -- and he was very -- what he's saying privately is what he said publicly in his speech in Chicago last week. Is he has very real concerns about surge in real threats to our democracy. Donald Trump is -- this is a symptom of those threats necessarily . Not the exact threat, not the threat in and out of itself. But having said that, it's very important for the president that the White Housework and the government work. And in order to do that he has to get all the support he can to help them succeed. Because we are -- there's going to be partisan battles on immigration,Affordable Care Act. But when a disaster happens, when something happens to the world. You need that building to work and for -- and government can't work if the White House doesn't work. So he has instructed -- he's taken that role with President-elect Trump. He has instructed his staff, take that role with their staff. To try to do what they can to give them the best start they can.</s>CAMEROTA: I don't know, Dan. It's hard to know,I think, where President Obama's head is. Because he privately says things to you and he seems to be issuing an admonition. But then publicly, he also says it's going to be OK to America. He had said many times, "Everybody is going to be OK. It's going to be OK." And it's hard to know if he's just saying that. If he feels that. He also said they had very constructive conversation. It would be great to know what those are.</s>PFEIFFER: Well, you know, obviously I'm not going to talk about the conversation with the president and President-elect Trump as he's not talked about those publicly. I think those conversation had been more productive and constructive that you would guess given the history of this -- when the two men given the -- say the nature of the election. Look we-- you want America to succeed. You want to give -- you want President-elect Trump to have the opportunities to lead the country in a way that allows everything to work for the American people. We'll have ideological battles but George W. Bush and his team went out of their way in -- to do a transition in the most professional and classy way possible. And President Obama believes he owes that to President Trump.</s>CUOMO: So on that note and with the nod towards history. What do you make of what's going on with the confirmation process right now?The Republicans will say, "We gave you guys -- we gave the Obama people, seven, eight of their main ones within a day or two of him taking office. You're tryingto delay ours. It's not fair."</s>PFEIFFER: Well, we had our paperwork in order, right? That probably the -- Trump had determine even the most (inaudible) source to say has been bumpy and best. And the ethics paper works -- Mitch McConnell laid down a set of very specific things, he wanted before our nominees be confirmed. We adhered to that. The Trump team has not done that. They're behind in that way and it's even more important in the sense that they have very -- that he's appointed people who have been very successful in business. They have a large number of potential conflicts of interest and that paperwork has not been done.</s>CUOMO: So you think it's pro forma not political?</s>PFEIFFER: I think -- look there's always politics in this town.</s>CUOMO: Right.</s>PFEIFFER: But there's a real substantive reasons for why this is proceeding at the pace that it has that are different from 2009.</s>CUOMO: Dan Pfeiffer, a little bittersweet for you today.</s>PFEIFFER: Absolutely. Absolutely.</s>CUOMO: Thank you for the insight. Appreciate it.</s>CAMEROTA: Thank you so much.</s>PFEIFFER: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: So when Donald Trump takes the Oath of Office. He will do so without most of his Cabinet in place. The Senate is expected to vote today on the confirmation of Mr. Trump'sDefense and Homeland Security Secretary. Let's discuss this and more. The Senior Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner and host of the podcast Examining Politics, David Drucker and CNN Political Analyst and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast, Jackie Kucinich. Great to see both of you.</s>DAVID DRUCKER, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Good morning.</s>CAMEROTA: So, he won't have much of his Cabinet in place. Does that a calls for concern?</s>DRUCKER: I don't think so. Look, I think one of the things that works in his favor is the Democrats cannot filibuster his nominees. All right. They don't have the votes. They don't have 60 votes.</s>CUOMO: Remind people why.</s>DRUCKER: Well, because a couple of years ago, 2014, then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, decided that they were tired of what they deemed as unfair Republican obstruction. And so they used what we called in town, The Nuclear Option. They broke the rules of the senate. Meaning they used fewer votes to change the rules than what the rules said. Now these are the rules of the Senate not the Constitution. So they were perfectly capable of doing so. And they changed the rules so that it only takes 51 votes to confirm an executive branch nominee except for the Supreme Court.</s>CUOMO: Supreme Court.</s>CAMEROTA: Thinking the tables would never turn back.</s>DRUCKER: They were very short sided. Right, Jackie? You remember those --</s>CUOMO: That's what McConnell said.</s>CAMEROTA: Right.</s>DRUCKER: How angry -- by the way, Republicans were not thinking to themselves,"No big deal. We'll get our revenge in a couple of years." They were very angry about it and for the institutionalists on both sides of the alley were very concerned.</s>CUOMO: ButMcConnell did give them a,"You will rue the day."</s>DRUCKER: And they are ruing the day because had they not done that.</s>CUOMO: Rue. Rue. Rue.</s>DRUCKER: All of these nominees that they think are so damaging to the future of the country that they have policy and ethical issues with. They could have had -- they would have the votes to blockthem, hold them up, force concessions from the administration and the Republicans they can't do a thing which is why most of them will sail through even though some of them do have a couple of issues.</s>JACKIE KUCINICH, POLITICAL ANALYST: So sail is a little bit -- is a little bit optimistic. They are -- Democrats are going to try to delay this. That's the only thing they can do. They can make it harder. They can make it bumpier. So, particularly for someone like a Rex Tillerson, for example. He has some other arsenals even with Republicans. But there's -- but there's a -- and you saw this actually with Congressman Pompeo, the nominee to be the CIA head. He was supposed to be one of the -- like Kelly and like Mattis. But Senator has a problem with him. So now they're kicking him to next week. So, again, it's prolonging it and making it a little bit more difficult. But doing it right, I mean, at the end of the day.</s>CUOMO: Does today help -- I mean, you know, we had a little bit of a bumpy start this morning. But even still there is a an excitement to this day. You know, inauguration comes from the word that means to consecrate. There is a sacredness to this. Forget about, you know, any kind of religious philosophy. This is religion in this country. It's us coming together under a common law. How big is this day?</s>CAMEROTA: (inaudible).</s>CUOMO: And could it change a little bit the dynamic once it becomes real entity. DonaldTrump is the President of the United States.</s>DRUCKER: Well, look, I think it is a very important day and it's a very really wonderful day. In terms of how our democracy works. And in how we celebrate it. And I think people will see President Obama just behind us with President Trump as he is inaugurated and to see the families together and to see the two leaders together, I think, helps diffuse a lot of tensions. However,as we saw eight years ago. It's back to business rather immediately. There are some unresolved issues both emotional and substantive from the campaign that are not going to go away. One area where Trump becoming the actual president today could make a difference is with his National Security Team. You want a president that be able to keep the country safe. Have his National Security Team in place and that could move quicker.</s>CAMEROTA: God, thank you. We will rely on you all day long. Thank you very much. The stage is set on those steps of the Capitol where Mr. Donald Trump will make history today. The crowd are starting to build on the National Mall. We're live with all of the pageantry of the Inauguration next.