Trump Kids Take Part In Transition Work; Trump Graydon Carter Feud Goes Back Decades; Trump Aides Hint Daily Press Briefings Will Change
KEILAR: President-elect Donald Trump let loose a barrage of tweets this morning, half of them aimed at one of his favorite targets, the media. He even called out the editor of a major national magazine by name. This one, "Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of 'Vanity Fair Magazine,' way down, big trouble, dead. Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out." This is who he's talking about, the longtime editor of "Vanity Fair," Graydon Carter. He and Donald Trump have been trading insults for decades. Trump calls Carter a dummy and a loser on Twitter. I believe this all began after in the '80s Carter called him a short-fingered Bulgarian and that is something that has always stuck with Donald Trump and certainly stuck in his craw. In yesterday's edition of "Vanity Fair" featured a unfavorable review of a restaurant located in Trump Tower. CNN's Brian Stelter is here, our Senior Media Correspondent, also Lisa Lerer, Politics Reporter for the A.P. OK, so this has been going on for some time.</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yeah.</s>KEILAR: We know that. And broadening this out to the struggle between Donald Trump and the media, your expectations as we, you know, just days, few weeks out now from inauguration.</s>STELTER: Well, Trump has continued to belittle and battle private individuals on Twitter. Graydon Carter, of course, a more public one then say that the local union leader recently. You know, Trump has been written for years that "Vanity Fair" would fail and that Graydon Carter would fail, maybe some day it will be true, but he's been saying the stuff for years. It is remarkable what random things Trump chooses to pick on from time to time and this is the latest example.</s>LISA LERER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I mean there's little question if this is a difficult time for the media. It's not only Donald Trump picking off individual publications as you point out, it's also that the public's trust in the media is basically at the lowest point that it's been in decades and you're dealing with the president. You know, the presumption has been always that the president is telling the truth and you fact-check it, you make sure, but you're working from a place of truth. And I think as, you know, someone who's covering this White House, people who are covering this White House, you just can't work from that place anymore. Even today he tweeted something that was just factually inaccurate. So that does change how you approach this presidency, you know, from reporting it out. [0:05:05]</s>STELTER: Yeah, even those assumptions have to be tested right now.</s>LERER: Yes.</s>STELTER: I think bottom line, be fair, but do not be intimidated. A lot of what we're seeing, whether it's in tweeting or complaining or rallying up this crowd is to intimidate, so do not be intimidated.</s>KEILAR: Yesterday we heard Reince Priebus, now -- incoming Chief of Staff for the president-elect. He was talking about changing up the seating in the White House briefing room, which is odd because it's the that actually deals with that, not the White House. He even talked about maybe not giving a daily press briefing. What are your expectations, Lisa, as someone who covers this day and day out about access?</s>LERER: Well, I think its worth, first of all, clarifying a few things about what he said. The assigned seating, which you and I have both benefited from being in the first row with our organizations, was started in 1982. And it was something that the administration asked the media to do because they didn't want to be seen as playing favorites. They didn't want to be rewarding or being seen as rewarding certain publications with better seats and, therefore, better access. So that's the concern there. You want to make sure there's a level playing field.</s>KEILAR: Now, we get argue amongst ourselves about it.</s>LERER: Right. Now we get argue, then it switch, you know, the duties (ph) switched to the White House Correspondents' Association. You know, I don't -- I think the issue here is you can debate the value of the daily briefing, but it's not as if -- it doesn't seem as if at least they're going to replace the daily briefing with something else. What we've seen from this transition is that this is an operation that's very hard to get even basic information out of. So I think the problem with access is always that you never get more. Once you dial back the measuring stick, you don't gain afterwards.</s>KEILAR: I know that many administrations, Democratic and Republicans sometimes bemoan the utility of the briefing. Of course, we do not. But you spoke to Josh Earnest, the sitting Press Secretary about this.</s>STELTER: Yeah. I was asking about this yesterday interviewing him kind of coincidentally on a day when Reince Priebus is questioning the value of the briefings, suggesting maybe things will change. I asked Earnest, "Do you think is it real chance the briefing could go away? He says he has no idea. He doesn't think even Trump knows. But here's what he said about his concern about that as an American.</s>JOHN EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As an American, I'm concerned about that, because I do think that it is -- the interaction that takes place in here on a daily basis is one that's good for our democracy. It is value. It's instrumental to holding people in power accountable for their actions, accountable for their statements, and accountable for their promises.</s>STELTER: Earnest point is that it's good for both sides to be having these day to day interactions.</s>KEILAR: That's right. And, of course, they find it annoying. It was interesting he said as an American, because, of course, it's annoying if you're at the White House, you know, it's a lot.</s>STELTER: There are days where he doesn't want to go out there.</s>KEILAR: I'm sure there's a lot of Trump ...</s>STELTER: Trump administrations not going to want to go out there.</s>KEILAR: Yeah.</s>STELTER: But there is value in the back and forth.</s>LERER: And it also gives transparency for the public. They can see what's being asked and how they're responding.</s>KEILAR: That's right. That's a very good point. Sean Spicer speaking of transparency, he is a contender for -- to replace Josh Earnest basically. He said on CNN that the Trump transition team has been very transparent. What do you think, Lisa?</s>LERER: That's not the word I would use. Certainly, there's been very little, you know, insight into their process. As I said, it can be very hard to get routine inquiries answered. So, I -- and, you know, in terms of financial, he hasn't been transparent at all. He didn't really release his tax returns. We have no signs of getting those tax returns, so I would disagree with that statement.</s>KEILAR: There's a lots of people who do sometimes -- it's not organized at all, but sometimes you're seeing how the sausage is made in the Trump transition team. That's one way that I think it's a little different in other groups, but Spicer also argues, "Hey, there's a camera in the lobby of Trump Tower, so we're seeing all this coming and going that is kind of extraordinary." What do you say to that?</s>LERER: Well, I mean, the press is traveling on a separate plane. That's not usually how this is done. There's a press pool, but it's not really tracking the movements of the president.</s>KEILAR: And the pool is reporters who essentially adhere to ...</s>LERER: Right.</s>KEILAR: ... whether it's a candidate, the president-elect, the president. And this was born, of course, out of the assassination of</s>JFK. LERER: Right.</s>KEILAR: To always have eyes on the president. How important this is, right?</s>LERE: Right. I mean, look, you know, when the president's whereabouts are unknown for 90 minutes or three hours, that's a kind of situation that can take -- think markets cause global unrest. And I also think there's value for the administration in the pool. If the president has to get out a statement quickly, he can -- or she, but he in this case can just go out in front of the pool and have cameras that will stream to all the major networks and all the major publications.</s>KEILAR: Yeah. All right, Lisa Lerer, Brian Stelter, thank you so much. Great conversation, you, too. And coming up, Yahoo hacked, more than 1 billion accounts breached. So what should users do now? We're going to have a live report for you.