Trump Begins with Historically Low Approval Rating; Trump HHS Pick Under Fire for Stock Buy; Growing Rift Between Trump, GOP on Healthcare.
CUOMO: What do you see?</s>DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Chris. You guys said it's an historic low that number you gave, 40 percent approval. Take a look historically just how low it is. At this point, on the eve of his inauguration, Barack Obama was at 84 percent approval. George W. Bush, 61 percent, and that was after that contentious Florida recount in 2000. Bill Clinton took the oath of office at a 67 percent approval. That 40 percent number is indeed historically low in the modern times and is a big warning sign for Donald Trump as he heads and takes the oath of office. Now let's take a look here at that number you said the disapproval, 52 percent. A majority of the country disapproves of the way he's handling the transition. Look how that's grown since November. It was just at 45 percent right after the election. So the transition period itself has not been going in Donald Trump's way. Another way we get at that, we ask people, what is your level of confidence? Has it increased or decreased since the election in Donald Trump's ability to do the job as president? Fifty-three percent say now that their confidence in Trump has decreased since the election. Thirty-seven percent say it has increased. How does that compare when we asked that question right after the election? Look at this. The number of people who say that their confidence in Trump has decreased, that's gone up ten points. Those that say their confidence in Trump has increased, look at that. That's gone down 11 points. Again, this transition period has been going in the wrong direction for Donald Trump. And finally, take a look at this. This is -- this is about his promise, right? Will Donald Trump create good-paying jobs, especially in those economically troubled areas? Sixty-one percent of the country says yes, that he is going to deliver on that big promise. I'll tell you, guys, if he does, if the American people are right and Donald Trump does deliver on this core promise, I would imagine some of those other numbers that we're looking at will go up as the days progress.</s>CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much. We're going to get even deeper into these numbers in just a second. More than three dozen Democratic lawmakers are now saying they're not going to go to President-elect Trump's inauguration on Friday. This is backlash after Trump's feud with civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis. CNN's Jason Carroll live at Trump Tower in New York with more. John Lewis did boycott George Bush, president -- 43rd president of the United States, as well, saying that that outcome, he saw, as illegitimate.</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. He's saying it again this time. We should also tell you that time a number of Democratic lawmakers who have come out, saying they are not going to attend the inauguration. It really started to increase after we saw the president-elect coming out to criticize Congressman John Lewis. A number of these lawmakers took to Twitter. They took to Facebook saying the time has come for them to follow their conscience.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President-elect.</s>CARROLL (voice-over): The growing discontent within the Democratic Party over President-elect Donald Trump sparking a massive boycott.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just cannot celebrate in good conscience.</s>CARROLL: Nearly one in five House Democrats are now saying they will not attend Trump's inauguration.</s>REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something, to say something, and not be quiet.</s>CARROLL: Democrats standing with civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis after Trump called Lewis all talk and no action, angered by Lewis's claim that he is not a legitimate president.</s>CONWAY: You can respect Congressman Lewis's vaunted place in our history and still defend yourself.</s>CARROLL: Despite the backlash with Lewis, the president-elect meeting with Martin Luther King's eldest son on the holiday devoted to the civil rights hero.</s>MARTIN LUTHER KING III, REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S SON: Things get said at both sides in the heat of emotion. And at some point in this nation, we've got to move forward.</s>CARROLL: This as the battle continues between Trump and the outgoing CIA director, John Brennan. Brennan bristling at the president- elect's comparison of handling of handling of unverified intelligence reports to Nazi Germany.</s>TRUMP: That's something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do.</s>CARROLL: In a new interview, Brennan saying, quote, "Tell the families of those 117 CIA officers who are forever memorialized on our wall of honor that their loved ones who gave their lives were akin to Nazis." Secretary of State John Kerry criticizing Trump, as well.</s>JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It was inappropriate for a president-elect of the United States to be stepping into the politics of other countries in a quite direct manner.</s>CARROLL: After Trump reasserted old criticisms of NATO, saying it is obsolete in an interview with foreign media.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said a long time ago that NATO has problems. No. 1, it was obsolete because it was designed many, many years ago. No. 2, the countries weren't paying what they're supposed to pay.</s>CARROLL: Trump also saying that he trusts America's longtime ally, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as much as he does Russian President Vladimir Putin.</s>TRUMP: Well, I start off trusting both.</s>CARROLL: But Trump's Russia-friendly rhetoric is a relatively recent development. Nearly three years ago, Trump stuck a different tone.</s>TRUMP: We should definitely do sanctions.</s>CARROLL: CNN's K-File unearthing a series of interviews where Trump called Russia America's biggest problem.</s>TRUMP: We have to show some strength. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch.</s>CARROLL: And also that interview with the foreign press that you heard some of that there, Trump was asked whether or not he supports sanctions against Russia for their role in those cyberattacks, to which Trump said people will do what they have to do. He also went on to say that he still is looking forward to making good deals with Russia -- Chris, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: Jason, thank you very much. Let's discuss these new poll numbers and what they mean with our panel. We have CNN political director David Chalian. Also joining us is CNN political commentator and host of CNN's "SMERCONISH," Michael Smerconish; and CNN contributor, "Washington Examiner" reporter and "New York Post" columnist Salena Zito. Great to see all of you. Michael, I want to start with you, because you have your finger on the pulse of how your listeners feel through your radio show all the time. So how do you explain or how do they explain these historically low approval numbers for an incoming president?</s>MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: As David's numbers suggest, what Donald Trump is not getting is the bump that's normally afforded to an incoming president. What strikes me, Alisyn, when I look at the data, if that about 40 percent as an approval rating, that's pretty darn near where he was when he got elected, because only -- and I don't want to besmirch his election -- he won -- but only 46 percent of the American people are sending him to the White House. So there's been a modest decline in the numbers. And he hasn't been afforded the kind of bump that President Obama received when his numbers were at 84 percent, when he was coming into 2009.</s>CUOMO: Well, you've got, Salena, a 10 percent increase in the amount of people who express disapproval. So there's some kind of softening in the base there, but what can you look at that would explain this at this point?</s>SALENA ZITO, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Michael is right. When he came -- we shouldn't be surprised if it's at 50 percent, because he came in here with half of the support or less than half of the support of the popular vote. I would -- I would say that, you know, when President Obama came in, it was a very historic moment, and there was a lot of praise about his differences. Trump, by the nature of the way he interacts with us, it's much different. There's much more chaos. There's much more contention. There's much more, you know, arguing back and forth with the press, and, you know, a lot of it is him. A lot of it is us. And so he's walking in there in part creating this sort of noise.</s>CUOMO: And Bush came in on the heels of an historic legal battle that questioned legitimacy as much as anything ever did. He was at 61 percent.</s>ZITO: Yes, but it was different. You know, you didn't have -- you didn't have -- in 2000, you did not have this massive social media with all this information going at you at all times. You have video. You have information...</s>CUOMO: You didn't have Bush questioning the intel organizations...</s>ZITO: No.</s>CUOMO: ... and attacking every institution he could find either.</s>ZITO: He's a completely different guy. I will tell you this. When you talk to Trump supporters out here, and even when you talk to Clinton people out here, they think this is -- they're going to look at polls with a very different sort of point of view, because to them -- even people that supported Clinton, they'll say, hey, we thought she was going to win going in. I'm a little skeptical of everything that people are telling me.</s>CAMEROTA: I mean, so do you think that he has a higher approval rating than what this poll is showing in terms of 40 percent? Or what you're saying, just to be clear, is that he is doing something so differently. He is picking fights right now with the intel community, with Congressman John Lewis, with Angela Merkel, with China, with the CIA director, with CNN; and maybe people aren't liking that?</s>ZITO: Well, I mean, I would -- I would caution about picking fights, you know, how it's perceived by people picking fights with the intel community. So people look at the intel community in two completely different ways. Their populist side of them look at them as something big. And that's what populism is. It's the rejection of all things big. So it's the rejection of bureaucracy, but individually, they look at them as heroes. So you put that aside. And then his fights with John Lewis. Honestly, even the Democrats that I talked to say that John Lewis is well within his right to -- to not attend the inauguration. We have a history of doing that. It goes back to Nixon. It goes back to Lincoln. But they did not like him saying that he was illegitimate. So John Lewis did start it. Trump's reaction, not that great. Put that right out there.</s>CHALIAN: Hey, guys, I just want to...</s>CUOMO: Go ahead.</s>CHALIAN: If you take a look at sort of where the support is coming from here, I do think it is interesting to look at it. When we asked people in November immediately after the election about approval or disapproval of how he's handling the transition, parts of his base from election night, white voters to begin with, he was plus 19 in approval among white Americans immediately in the aftermath of the election in November. He's plus three now there. He was ahead with independents on approval in the aftermath of the election. He's now underwater by 4 points here. So some parts of his winning coalition and that were with him in the immediate aftermath approving of what he was doing in the immediate aftermath of the election seem to be drifting away from him, in large part because of what they've seen between then and now.</s>CUOMO: Look, the numbers as we know are a snapshot of a moment in time. And there does seem to be some softening. So the obvious question is why the softening. Michael, what's working for him? What isn't? To many me the word "Russia" does pop up. We see in our own poll that, you know, people have mixed feelings about it. You know, you do have that they don't feel that this is why the election turned out the way it did. The assessment of whether or not the intel community is right about Russia and their involvement. Skews about 75-25. I see that third of somewhat likely being very important and probably going to skew more negative to neutral. But when you look at what's working for him and what isn't, does Russia pop up in terms of how he's managing that?</s>SMERCONISH: Well, I think that him being at odds with the intel community and being an island unto himself, because they have been uniform. The FBI, the NSA, the CIA, all of those differing agencies, towing the same line, and then there's Donald Trump. And anyone who's playing close attention to the confirmation hearings knows that he hasn't drawn any support from his own nominees. So I think that's the single largest issue that has cost him. Let me also say that those confirmation hearings thus far, I think, have gone well for the nominees. There haven't been any major bumps in the road. So whatever decline in numbers he's experiencing is all on him. It's not from the team that he's assembled.</s>CAMEROTA: Salena, I think that you make such a good point about how, of course, people see CIA agents as heroes individually, but maybe the intel community as a big bureaucratic blob. However, here -- he -- Mr. Trump has been in a fight, publicly now, with the outgoing CIA director, John Brennan, and...</s>CUOMO: Accusing him of leaks.</s>CAMEROTA: Accusing him of leaks. So John Brennan just responded. Here's his "Wall Street Journal" interview. He says, "It's when there are allegations made about leaking or about dishonesty or a lack of integrity, that's where I think the line is crossed. Tell the families of those 117 CIA officers who are forever memorialized on our wall of honor that their loved ones who gave their lives were akin to Nazis." That's something that Mr. Trump did. "I found that to be very repugnant, and I will forever stand up for the integrity and patriotism of my officers, who have done much over the years to sacrifice for their fellow citizens." Do you think this is resonating, in terms of his approval rating?</s>ZITO: Yes, possibly. Look, I honestly think the biggest thing that is resonating is that, after 2016 election, people were exhausted, and the -- his honeymoon period has been anything but calm and cool and smooth. It has been as exhausting, if not even more contentious than the campaign. I never thought that would be possible. I think that actually is playing into this, and I think people are just like, "We're done. Everybody just stop, and let's start governing -- governing." And I think that is part of why you see a loss of support for him in the polls. I think, if you put Congress in there or put us in there, we'd probably be in the same place.</s>CUOMO: There's no question. Negativity breeds negativity.</s>ZITO: Oh, yes.</s>CUOMO: Thank you very much. Appreciate it, panel. Coming up in our next hour, Republican Senator John McCain joins us. Let's get his thoughts on these poll numbers. Let's get his thoughts. More importantly, on what matters. He has a message for you about the condition of the U.S. military and what needs to happen yesterday.</s>CAMEROTA: Also, you have to stick around for this. Woodward and Bernstein together again. The legendary journalists will discuss their reported rift over the recent CNN reporting on that 35-page dossier, as well as what they expect for the Trump presidency.</s>CUOMO: All right. Some reporting first here on CNN. New ethics questions looming over Trump's health and human services nominee, Tom Price. The transition team is defending the Georgia lawmaker. House records show he invested in a company, then introduced a bill days later that would have directly benefited the firm. CNN senior political reporter Manu Raju live in Washington with more. What's the facts?</s>MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris, remember, Congress in 2012 passed legislation to crack down on insider trading on Capitol Hill. And now ethics experts say Congressman Price's latest healthcare trade flies in the face of that law. This after new revelations in March 2016 that Price purchased between 1,000 and $15,000 in stock in the medical device maker Zimmer BioMed, which would have been hurt by a federal Medicare rule taking effect. Now, less than a week after purchasing those shares, Price offered legislation benefitting Zimmer BioMed by delaying that federal Medicare rule until 2018. And then the company donated Price's campaign. Now Trump's transition team says this is all much ado about nothing. The congressman was not influenced by the campaign. The company's donations, they say he was not aware that his broker made the purchase until about a month later, about April 2016. But Price did continue to hold that stock in the House, and he now views his shares as enough of a conflict of interest that he plans to divest from Zimmer BioMed, along with 42 other companies, if he gets confirmed to the post. This all is renewing calls from Democrats for an ethics investigation into Price's trading. Now, there are other appointees who have endured some controversy, as well, including Monica Crowley, a conservative commentator who bowed out of a White House staff job yesterday after CNN's K-File uncovered instances of plagiarism. And this all comes as major confirmation hearings over Trump's picks with the EPA, education, energy, treasury and interior department, all take place this week, as well as Price's first one on Wednesday and expect that to be very contentious -- Chris.</s>CAMEROTA: Manu, I'll take it. We will be talking about that throughout the rest of the program. Thank you very much. So there's this growing number of Democrats in Congress who plan to skip Mr. Trump's inauguration. What do Republicans think about that? We'll ask one next.