Trump Holding First Meeting with Foreign Leader; Trump & Romney to Meet This Weekend
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, transition reality show. Donald Trump's transition team racing to fill key positions while Trump's son-in-law weighs what role he will play in the new administration. Romney meeting. A source tells CNN Mitt Romney and Donald Trump will meet this weekend to discuss possibly serving in the Trump cabinet. Is Romney, who refused to endorse Trump and once called him a fraud, really willing to serve in the Trump administration? Muslim registry. Would a Trump administration consider forcing Muslims entering the United States to register in a database? Tonight, Muslim-Americans and civil rights group, they are worried about a possible new wave of discrimination. And nuclear options. As Trump prepares for his first post-election meeting with a world leader, is he pushing the idea of more countries building their own nuclear arsenals? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BLITZER: We're following breaking news this hour, as Donald Trump holds his first meeting since the election with the leader of another country. Japan's prime minister is coming to Trump Tower in New York, saying he wants to build trust with the president-elect. During the campaign, Trump criticized the U.S.-Japanese military relationship and even raised the possibility of Japan's possessing nuclear weapons. Also breaking, word that President-elect Trump will meet this weekend with one of his harshest Republican critics, former presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Even more surprising, Romney may be under consideration for a post in the Trump cabinet. We're also following a new controversy. New talk about setting up a registry for people coming to the United States from high-risk areas, mostly Muslim majority countries. Is that, in effect, a Muslim registry? We'll discuss today's important developments with former congressman Jack Kingston. He was a senior advisor to the Trump campaign. And our correspondents, analysts and guests will have full coverage of the day's top stories. Let's begin with the breaking news. Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is over at Trump Tower. Jim, has the prime minister of Japan arrived already to see Donald Trump?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Donald Trump will be sitting down shortly with the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, for his first meeting with a foreign leader since winning the presidency just last week. But, Wolf, Donald Trump is also tending to some domestic matters, namely filling his cabinet. And he is considering names at this point that are very surprising and suggest that he knows he has some fence- mending to do.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): In all the comings and goings at Trump Tower, a signal is being sent that the president-elect just might be ready to put the scorched-earth campaign behind him and perhaps engage in some healing. In addition to his meetings with foreign policy heavyweights like Henry Kissinger, Donald Trump has been sitting down with some of his biggest rivals and toughest critics from the primaries. South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, who's under consideration for secretary of state. Former Texas governor Rick Perry, at energy. And Ted Cruz, contender for attorney general.</s>SEAN SPICER, RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR & CHIEF STRATEGIST: Donald Trump right now isn't looking to figure out who supported him and who didn't. If you are the best person for that job, then he wants you as part of this team.</s>GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I taught my two little ones that you don't push people around.</s>ACOSTA: Haley fought hard against Trump, announcing she reluctantly supported him in the general election.</s>HALEY: The best person based on the policies and dealing with things like Obamacare still is Donald Trump. That doesn't mean it's an easy vote.</s>ACOSTA: Trump was just as brutal, once tweeting, "The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley."</s>RICK PERRY (R), FORMER TEXAS GOVERNOR: Donald Trump's candidacy is a cancer on conservativism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised, and discarded.</s>ACOSTA: Trump once said of Perry, he should be forced to take an I.Q. test before being allowed to enter the GOP debate. Vice-president-elect Mike Pence was on Capitol Hill, reaching out to Democrats, meeting with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after flexing some of the GOP's new muscle in this selfie.</s>GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very humbled to be back with my former colleagues. We're excited about moving the Trump agenda forward.</s>ACOSTA: But House Speaker Paul Ryan hinted it's not clear how quickly the GOP will be able to deliver on its promise of repealing Obamacare.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It's too early to have the -- to know the answer to how fast can Obamacare really occur?</s>ACOSTA: But Pence and the transition are vowing to clean up Washington, with new restrictions on lobbyists joining the administration.</s>TRUMP: Governor Chris Christie, folks, was unbelievable.</s>ACOSTA: Part of the criticism of ousted transition chair Chris Christie is that he had too many lobbyists on board, leading Trump loyalists to question what happened to "drain the swamp"? On "60 Minutes" Trump himself seemed resigned to working with the lobbyists he blasted on the campaign trail.</s>LESLIE STAHL, "60 MINUTES": You don't like it, but your own transition team is filled with lobbyists.</s>TRUMP: That's the only people you have down there.</s>ACOSTA: And one of the other interesting guests here at Trump Tower today, Wolf, was the Israeli ambassador to the U.S, Ron Dermer. Ron Dermer came downstairs after his meeting with Donald Trump and said he looks forward to working with all members of the Trump administration. And he specifically mentioned Steve Bannon, the chief strategist and senior counselor to President-elect Trump. Wolf, that is interesting, because of course, we know that Steve Bannon, the head of Breitbart News, which had posted material that was viewed as anti-Semitic. We should also point out, coming up after Thanksgiving, aides to Donald Trump say he's going to be going on a thank America tour. They're not calling it a victory tour. Calling it a thank America tour, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Very interesting indeed. Jim Acosta over at Trump Tower, thank you. Let's get some more on the surprising news about the upcoming Trump/Romney meeting this weekend. Our politics executive editor, Mark Preston, he broke the story earlier today here on CNN. What else are you hearing, Mark?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, Wolf, we know that this weekend Mitt Romney and Donald Trump will sit down and discuss, amongst other things, how to govern, how to move forward and also the idea of the potential of Mitt Romney joining Donald Trump's cabinet. What does that mean? Well, there are only two positions, really, when you talk to Republicans that they think that Romney would actually be interested in. One would be secretary of state. The second one would be treasury secretary. Although I have to hedge and say that it seems as though Mitt Romney would be more interested in the secretary of state. Now, what's interesting, too, about Romney, as when people were talking about him today, they talk about him as somebody who is very tough, but he's a gentleman and he knows when to draw the line, which is obviously needed when you become secretary of state. And our own Jamie Gangel is now just reporting as I read this off my Blackberry that Mitt Romney has told friends that he would like to serve in government again. And one of the positions that he'd like to serve is as the secretary of state and that Romney is being presented as a choice to Donald Trump, you know, as Donald Trump is looking for, quote-unquote, "adults" that he would bring into his team. Now, this all comes as there's been questions being raised about whether Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and the top surrogate for Donald Trump, could actually make it through a confirmation hearing, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Interesting stuff. What does it tell you, Mark, that Donald Trump is inviting his fierce critics, Republican critics, like Mitt Romney, to come over to Trump Tower, to sit down with him and to review, discuss and maybe even discuss the possibility of serving in a Trump cabinet?</s>PRESTON: Well, we've certainly transitioned out of the campaign aspect of what we've been through the last year, year and a half to where we are now into governing. And I think what we're seeing from Donald Trump now is him using his business acumen, trying to bring in the smartest people to his fold to try to help him move the country forward. Now, the idea of bringing Romney in is interesting, because Romney understands global affairs, but he also understand the global economy. And the fact that he had the likes of Ted Cruz up to Trump Tower as well as Nikki Haley today says something about trying to mend fences with those that you were battling with over the past year, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, he certainly is trying to do that. All right. Thanks very much. Good reporting, as well, Mark Preston helping us. Joining us is now here in THE SITUATION ROOM is Jack Kingston. He's a former U.S. congressman from Georgia. He was a senior advisor to the Trump campaign. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.</s>JACK KINGSTON, SENIOR ADVISOR TO TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Glad to be with you.</s>BLITZER: What do you think about this development? Surprising. Mitt Romney all of a sudden this weekend, going to sit down with Donald Trump and maybe discuss the possibility of becoming secretary of state.</s>KINGSTON: You know, I think it's exciting. It shows that the campaign is over with, that the administration is moving forward, and in my opinion, it started at 4 a.m. Wednesday morning with the tone, and then the next day Hillary Clinton striking the right tone. The next day meeting with Barack Obama. I believe that Donald Trump has quickly brought a closure to the campaign phase, and now he's talking about governing. And reaching out to your political enemies, as you know, Wolf, very, very difficult. A lot of politicians never do it. But it sort of fits the theme of Donald Trump being a different type of leader and somebody who doesn't go by all the conventional rules.</s>BLITZER: It was closer to 3 a.m., by the way. I remember it very, very vividly that night. I'd been on the air since 5 p.m. It was 3 a.m. Let's talk about Mitt Romney, though. I had a chance to sit down with him in Park City, Utah, earlier in the year. And listen to what he said about Donald Trump then.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's demonstrated who he is, and I've decided that a person of that nature should not be the one who, if you will, becomes the example for coming generations or the example of America to the world. Look, I don't want to see trickle-down racism. I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation. And trickle- down racism, trickle-down bigotry, a trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.</s>BLITZER: Now those are pretty powerful words he said then.</s>KINGSTON: They are. But you know, when you -- even listening to those words, you can see what a diplomat that Mitt Romney is. So many of the other critics of Donald Trump were just bare knuckles. "You're a horrible guy," kind of grabbing people by the throat and saying, "I don't like Donald Trump." But I think Mitt Romney was very forceful but also very selective with his tone. And that's what you want in a secretary of state, somebody who can actually just be a little bit more patient, a little bit more careful with what he says. And I think, if the two of them can get together, Mitt Romney is an extremely smart guy. He brings a lot to the table. And so I think looking at him as a candidate is the right thing to do.</s>BLITZER: And if -- if Donald Trump, the president-elect, were to select Mitt Romney as his secretary of state, clearly, I think, Mitt Romney would be interested in that. What would it say to you, given those harsh words, what would it say to you about Donald Trump?</s>KINGSTON: I think that he's just willing to move forward. He wants to do what's best for the United States of America. But the other thing, Mitt Romney does represent a more moderate part, a more mainstream part to the Republican Party and having somebody like that who's extremely pro-America, pro-business, who's been around the block a few times, I think it would not be a bad move. And I think that the more conservative base of the party would not be uncomfortable with Mitt Romney in that role. There may be some other roles where they would not want him, but I think secretary of state, I don't think the two are too far apart on the Middle East or on China, or North Korea, some of these other big...</s>BLITZER: Ted Cruz was there yesterday. They exchanged some pretty harsh words during the campaign. He was at Trump Tower. Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina. They exchanged some pretty harsh words, as well. Yet now, what, all of that is the past? Forget about it?</s>KINGSTON: I don't know that everybody is ready to forget everything, but I think to start talking is the right thing. Sometimes when somebody is throwing plates at you, you've got something to work with as opposed to indifference. The best thing to do is start communicating and start engaging. He is sending that signal that, you know, we need to come together.</s>BLITZER: What do you think about this notion of reviving what had been in place, some sort of Muslim registry, as some people are calling it, people from Muslim-majority countries coming to the United States, being on a database. Because that's causing some alarm bells. It had existed before during the Bush administration, went away during the Obama administration. Now apparently, the Trump -- the incoming Trump administration is re -- is considering it once again.</s>KINGSTON: I think you'd really have to justify it internationally, and you'd have to show why it worked before and why it wasn't a violation of liberties. For example, if -- and he has said this with the extreme vetting, is that, if you come from a country that has a pattern of being anti- American, we want to know about you. We want to know what your person feelings are before you come into this country. And it is all part of the bigger picture of border security. He also talked about a committee on how do you stop people from being radicalized once they're in America? And I think this is part of it. You know, what do we do for people who come -- who are coming here? You know, what are the motivations? So I think the discussion of it is a national security issue, and I think it's consistent with his immigration security plan.</s>BLITZER: Because when they did away with it, the inspectors general and those who were reviewing it called it obsolete, not reliable. There was a lot of -- a lot of concern. They also said it was inefficient. But from what you're hearing, they're thinking of reviving it?</s>KINGSTON: Well, I'm not certain that they are. But if it's a discussion item, you just need to know what were the pros and the cons? But I'd say this. In terms of the relationship with Muslims, he has an opportunity when he talks about the Obama administration got it wrong with the Arab Spring and embracing the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly in Egypt. And I think he can build upon that. I don't want to make the same mistake that the Obama administration did with the Arab Spring. And I think that will be well-received around the Middle East.</s>BLITZER: What's very worrying right now are the hate crimes being committed against Muslims in the United States at mosques and other places, as well. That's very disturbing right now.</s>KINGSTON: And he certainly denounced that. And now Hillary Clinton has. I think both. And President Obama. The tone that has been set, I think, is a very good one, and people need to step back and say, you know, this is not what America is about. We've got to get along. But he has that opportunity again with Muslims to say, "We are going to engage in the Middle East. We're going to try to do what we can in Syria, and we want to bring civility, and we're not going to make the same mistake that the Obama administration did."</s>BLITZER: Congressman, I want you to stand by. We're standing by. The first meeting that Donald Trump is about to have with a foreign leader. We're watching Trump Tower very, very closely right now. Stay with us. We'll be right back.