Trump Brings in Giuliani for Cybersecurity
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you everybody for being here. We appreciate it. Today, I'm convening this meeting to follow through on my promise to secure crucial infrastructure and the networks that we've been talking about over the period of time and the federal government against cyber threats. I will hold my cabinet secretaries and agency heads accountable, totally accountable for the cybersecurity of their organization, of which we probably don't have as much, certainly not as much as we should have. We must defend and protect federal networks and data. We operate these networks on behalf of the American people and they are very important and very sacred. We will empower these agencies to modernize their I.T. systems for better security and other reasons. We will protect our critical infrastructure such as power plants and electrical grids. The electrical grid problem is a problem but we will have it solved relatively soon. We must work with the private sector, which is way ahead of government in this case, to ensure that owners and operators of critical infrastructure have the support they need from the federal government to defend against cyber threats. Now, I think a pretty good example of this was, despite spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, more money than we did, the Democratic National Committee was hacked successfully, very successfully and terribly, frankly. And the Republican National Committee was not hacked, meaning it was hacked but they failed. It was reported, I believe, by Reince and other people that it was hacked. But we had a very strong defense system against hacking. So, despite spending a lot less money than the Democrats, and in all fairness, winning -- people don't say that -- we spent less money and we won. That's good. Isn't that a good thing, right, when you can spend less and win.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.</s>TRUMP: But we were also very successful in our defense against hacking. We are going to make sure that cybersecurity is central to both our military and ships, planes and tanks built by great Americans for our great American military. And our military will become stronger and stronger as we go along. I just met with General Mattis and he's doing a great job. We're really happy with him and everybody. You probably saw General Kelly. He was spectacular today on his press conference. And we appreciate everything he said. With that, I want to introduce Rudy Giuliani. And he's going to be working with Jared Kushner and Tom Bossick (ph), who are also here. And Rudy is an expert on cybersecurity. It's a very important for him and what he does. And maybe I'll ask Rudy to say a few words. Thanks, Rudy.</s>RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Well, thank -- thank you very much, Mr. President. First, congratulate is what a historic administration, I've never seen so much done in so short a period of time than ever. I was part of the Reagan administration. Used to sit in this room every Thursday. And I remember how fast they got off to a start, and you're about three times ahead of them. I don't remember Roosevelts' 1000 days.</s>TRUMP: It would help if the Democrats would move on that. So, we'll see.</s>GIULIANI: So congratulations. And what you have been doing is keeping your promises. One of your promises was to shore up our country, because one of the dangers we face, national security and crime, is cybersecurity. And a large part is made up of the private sector. And the private sector is wide open to hacking and sometimes, by hacking the private sector, you can get into government. So, we can't do this separately. And you were wise enough to decide that we should have a council where we can bring in the private sector. They can explain to you the problems they have. They can explain to the administration the solutions they have, which in some cases, may be better than the government's. And, in some cases, may not be as good as governments. Plus, we can search around the world, including countries like Israel, and places where they're doing a lot of the advanced cybersecurity analysis, and we can look for long-term solutions. So here you're addressing not only a national security problem, but you're addressing the fastest-growing form of crime in America, which is cyber theft. It's growing faster than any other crime. And finally, speaking out on this and holding regular meetings on it you are using the pulpit of the presidency to get the private sector to wake up. Some of the private sector has awakened to the fact that they have to do more about cybersecurity, but part it hasn't. And as president, you're in a unique position to get the private sector to realize that they have to pitch in and help the government. And I'll work very closely with Jared and with Tom and Sebastian Gorker (ph), and all the people you have working on this, and we'll take our priorities from you. What first we want to do is look at the grid, we'll bring in all the private grid and solution companies. And if you want to look at financial institutions, we'll look at financial institutions. You want to look at hospitals, we'll bring the hospitals. But we'll let you set the priorities so we can have a very close working relationship. And, again, congratulations on your fulfilling another one of your campaign promises.</s>TRUMP: Thank you very much, Rudy. I appreciate it. I know you're going to do a great job. He formed the committee and we're going to go into great detail, we'll have it up and running, and we'll be doing something very special in many ways. I want to thank you to Senator Coats. Thank you very much for being here, Senate. Do you have anything you want to say about cyber?</s>SEN. DAN COATS, (R), INDIANA: Clearly, it's really the top priority. because of the impact it can have. My job, if confirmed -- I'm not confirmed yet.</s>TRUMP: I have a feeling you will make it.</s>COATS: Well, I hope so.</s>TRUMP: Well, I want to thank you for you service and everything you have done, even over the last week. Your knowledge is amazing and everybody has great respect. So, thank you very much. We thought he was going to leave after many years in the Senate, and I called him and asked about going longer. And we really do appreciate it. Thank you very much. And, Admiral, thank you very much, Mike, for being here. Would you anything else to say about cyber?</s>ADM MIKE ROGERS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Other than, as Mr. Giuliani said, I think the key here is going to be the partnerships between the private sector and the government. Our ability to bring together the capabilities of both, that's the sweet spot.</s>TRUMP: John Kelly just gave a very long news conference and a very, very good one and effective one. And while he's warmed up --</s>GEN. JOHN KELLY, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I had a lot of things to say about cyber, but I think I'll run at the feet of the wise men here.</s>TRUMP: And it has a lot to do with border, and really if you think about it, a lot to do with what you're doing. Well, thank you all very much. We're going to have a meeting and get it going. Thank you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How are you going to get them through?</s>GIULIANI: General Keith Alexander --</s>TRUMP: Hold on, one second. Just one second.</s>GIULIANI: General Keith Alexander is probably the one who knows most about cybersecurity of anyone that I know. And he, I hope, will play a very big role in this.</s>GIULIANI: This man is a tremendous resource.</s>TRUMP: Thank you. That's great. Thank you, General. That's very nice. We'll see you in a little while. We'll be announcing a Supreme Court justice, who I think everybody is going to be very, very impressed with. So, we'll see you at about 8:00.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Democrat's guy didn't get through, Mr. President.</s>TRUMP: Thank you very much.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They say it got stolen.</s>BALDWIN: All right. So, we just wanted to linger on that. The president, who you couldn't see, who you couldn't see, just the back of his head, and his good friend, former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, who was speaking there. Phil Mattingly, let me bring you in as I'm talking about this. There was this roundtable on cybersecurity. And he was seated next to Jared Kushner and John Kelly, the DHS secretary. But tell us the role that Rudy Giuliani has on cyber here?</s>PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPODNENT: Utility man is the best way to put it. The jack of all trades, if you will. We all thought and we all heard and we had all been told that Giuliani would have a much more prominent role in the Trump administration, probably be up on Capitol Hill trying to get confirmed, like others nominees, and that didn't work out. And so, he's been brought him on for cybersecurity. And through his firm, he has a lot of experience. But what's most interesting is you look around the table and see the expertise that's going to be needed to move on anything large like cybersecurity. This isn't much different than the Obama administration. They pushed for legislation on Capitol Hill. And you heard one comment, not sure who said it, who said the sweet spot is the agreement and the willingness to work between the government and the private sector. If Rudy Giuliani can figure out to bridge that gap, there's no secret how big of an issue this is. We saw it through the campaign but also the private sector -- Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: Rudy Giuliani, the utility man, other cyber experts weighing in. He's expected to sign the executive order on cybersecurity. Phil Mattingly, our utility man, thank you very much as well. Speaking of John Kelly, the White House insists the controversial travel ban is not a ban at all, although the president used that term himself. My next guest says the ban is poisonous. Why? That's next.