Trump Meets Foreign Leader; Trump's Transition Team With New Picks
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: The Trump transition. The president-elect meets with a foreign leader and he's made a controversial pick for national security adviser. Also we're live in Berlin where the current U.S. president is trying to reassure European allies about his successor. And later, start your engines, Jeremy Clarkson races back to the small screen with a brand new show. Also ahead, the Swedish take on mansplaining. We'll explain. Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN newsroom. Donald Trump has now met with his first foreign leader since becoming U.S. President-elect. It was an unofficial meeting Shinzo Abe Thursday. But the two had what the Japanese Prime Minister called a very candid discussion. Mr. Abe said he feels now the U.S. and Japan will be able to maintain a relationship of trust with Trump as President.</s>ALLEN: Our Andrew Stevens is now live with us in Hong Kong with more about this. And the question, Andrew is, why is Shinzo Abe already keen to meet the president, is it curiosity, just want to be pals, or might he just be a little bit the nerves got the best of him considering some of the things Mr. Trump said in the campaign trail or all of the above.</s>ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Absolutely. I think, yes. It's that celebrating there. Some of the things that Donald Trump was threatening to withdraw U.S. treats -- troops i Japan, threatening to let Japan and South Korea go it alone as far as creating their own nuclear deterrents against North Korea. These were comments which rocked Tokyo to its core. Because the alliance between the U.S. and Japan, Natalie, is at the core of Japan's decades-long prosperity and peace and it is a very, very close relationship and it's one that Shinzo Abe value -- values above all others as his predecessors have done. So when he heard Donald Trump making those sort of comments on the campaign trail he is doing everything in his power to get his case across to Mr. Trump and to convince him that the alliance is indeed the bedrock of a very, very important global strategic alliance. And to be honest, I think it's fair to say that many in Tokyo like many in any other capital were blindsided by the fact that Donald Trump won the presidency and hadn't really prepared for it. He, Mr. Abe rang Donald Trump. They had a 20-minute conversation. And during that conversation Mr. Abe suggested that they so meet informally before the inauguration which happened for 90 minutes yesterday. And Abe came away saying the right things certainly for the domestic audience that he thinks Donald Trump is a man he can trust and trust is the very center of this -- of a very successful alliance between the two. We don't know just how substantive those discussions were. Donald Trump has made it clear, Natalie, he does not support international trade agreements like the TPP which has been a bedrock of the U.S. pivot under Barack Obama. Something that Mr. Abe has supported strongly. We don't know whether that was discussed yesterday. One of Trump's senior adviser saying that the substantive discussions with Japan will come after the inauguration but the Japanese certainly seeing this as a very good start.</s>ALLEN: All right. Well, that's a positive note. We'll end there. Thank you so much. Andrew Stevens for us in Hong Kong. Donald Trump is adding another name to his White House staff. A transition official says Trump has asked retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn to be his national security adviser. It's not clear if Flynn has accepted. Trump is also meeting this weekend with one of his biggest critics, 2012 republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. A senior source says they will discuss a potential cabinet post for him. CNN's Sara Murray has more on other key players Trump is considering.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Joining the top advisers potential cabinet picks and family members coming to Trump Tower's revolving doors some new faces like Florida Governor Rick Scott and Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling. Donald Trump also meeting today with South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, a sharp critic throughout the campaign.</s>NIKKI HALEY, SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: During anxious times it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.</s>MURRAY: Now, sources say she is under consideration for secretary of state. It's the latest indication according to Trump advisers that the president-elect is willing to look beyond past grudges as he builds his administration.</s>SEAN SPICER, RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: It doesn't matter to him what your political party was or where you stood in the primary. If you were the best person for that job then he wants you as part of this team.</s>MURRAY: All of this as Trump's top advisers say he is ready to deliver on one of his key campaign promises.</s>DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT-ELECT: We are going to Washington, D.C., and we are going to drain the swamp.</s>MURRAY: Advisers say Trump will enact a five-year lobbying ban after executive branch appointees leave office and a lifetime ban on representing foreign governments.</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It's a major campaign promise that Donald Trump he's already delivering on it during transition as the president-elect.</s>MURRAY: But it's unclear how Trump's team will define lobbyists and whether people will skirt the rules by choosing not to register as lobbyists and labeling them as consultants instead. One senior Trump adviser says ridding the government of lobbyist was the last draw in in Trump's strained relationship with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. After Christie presented Trump a transition memo peppered with lobbyist and establishment hires he was dismissed as head of the transition effort. And Vice President-elect Mike Pence stepped in. One outstanding question is where Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner will fit in the mix. A source says while Kushner will play a role in the Trump White House it's unclear whether it will be formal or informal. As Trump works to flesh out his government from New York, Pence was on Capitol Hill for meetings with members of Congress including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and House Speaker Paul Ryan who is tempering expectations on another of Trump's core campaign promising.</s>PAUL RYAN, U.S. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It's too early to have the -- to know the answer to how fast can Obamacare relief occur. What we're focused on is how we get Obamacare repealed and what we replace it with so that we can get that relief to the American families as fast as possible.</s>MURRAY: Now amid all the palace intrigue about who will actually serve in a Trump White House, Trump himself is making at least one offer. Asking General Michael Flynn if he would like to serve as his national security adviser. Now our source isn't telling us yet whether Flynn has accepted but in many ways it's a natural fit. Flynn has been by Donald Trump's side during throughout the campaign and also throughout the transition process. Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.</s>ALLEN: CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us from Los Angeles via Skype. Hi, there, Ron. Thanks for being with us.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, good to be here.</s>ALLEN: Let's talk fist about an announcement from the Trump team about the proposed NSA leader Michael Flynn. What do you think about that?</s>BROWNSTEIN: You know, a controversial figure even within republican circles. Someone who has had close ties to Russia, has also been strong in his language about the threat from Islamic terrorism. He is someone though, who, you know, was at Donald Trump's side and, you know, there is a certain inevitability to this. I mean, few people from the mainstream of the republican foreign policy world, in particular, even more than on the domestic side. A lot of Donald trump, as you remember, there were these two letters from dozens of former republican national security officials saying they did not believe that he was qualified to serve as commander in chief. So it is unlikely that, you know, any of those traditional names are going to end up in the marquee. And so there's a certain inevitability to this but it's going to be controversial even in republican circles, I think certainly with people like John McCain who already warned Donald Trump about his attitude toward Vladimir Putin.</s>ALLEN: Right. So he'll be someone to watch. But you talk about people on the outside. Republicans did not join in the Trump campaign. One of them was Mitt Romney.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Yes.</s>ALLEN: But now he is being mentioned for possibly being on the team.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Yes. This could be -- this could be a very important turning point for Trump. Because it is not clear at all, that many of the mainstream foreign policy officials in particular -- I mean, there's an issue on the domestic side, but even more on the foreign policy side. You know, you saw Elliot Cohen, who was a top adviser, a long-time conservative thinker on foreign policy, a top adviser in the Bush administration, wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post a couple of days ago, basically counseling republican foreign policy officials not to go into this administration that will compromise their integrity and their kind of professional honor. Obviously, if Donald Trump is able to persuade Mitt Romney to come in as secretary of state that would send a very different signal, it would also be extraordinary reversal given that Rudy Giuliani clearly is the most campaigning for the job openly. Stood with Trump all the way through. Mitt Romney condemned him as completely as I have ever seen a former nominee condemn a potential future nominee. So, it would certainly be a kind of magnanimous gesture by Donald Trump but one that would also I think give him more credibility to recruit others in the foreign policy as I said. His problems could be deeper at even on the domestic side.</s>ALLEN: All right. Mitt Romney held a news conference to talk about Donald Trump. But certainly...</s>BROWNSTEIN: And delivering (Ph) an incredible speech.</s>ALLEN: Exactly.</s>BROWNSTEIN: I mean, just incredible expropriating speech denouncing Donald Trump's character and, you know, essentially accusing him of dividing the country along racial and other alliance.</s>ALLEN: So one could understand where it might be challenging for Donald Trump to build a team. It's always challenging for any government.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Yes.</s>ALLEN: There's a little disarray when one is going out and one is coming in. So how it going for Trump overall and certainly not going well for Governor Christie?</s>BROWNSTEIN: Right. And look, it is a certain amount of chaos in every transition. I mean, even David Axelrod who was President Obama's top political adviser, you know, tweeted out that they had not made any of their major appointments by this juncture and their transition as well. I think what's more unusual and more revealing is the kind of palace coup who that happened almost immediately where Chris Christie, the Governor of New jersey, again, one of the few mainstream republican elected officials who endorsed Trump was forced out of his role as the head of the transition, replaced by the Vice President Mike Pence in a kind of palace coup, apparently engineered by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner who has a long standing feud with Trump -- with Christie. I think is revealing because this is exactly what we saw during the primaries. I mean, Donald Trump cycled through three campaign managers before settling on the team of Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon. He is someone who has not been able to kind of build stable structure around him. And I think the fact that that recurred again in the transition is more of a warning sign for what will be coming in the administration than the delay in naming major appointments. And look, it's hard. I mean, these are big decisions. No transition -- I covered the Bill Clinton transition in 1992. I remember that being accused of being chaotic. It often is but the fact that there was yet another shake-up after a campaign repeatedly interrupted by shake-up, so punctuated by shake-ups, I think that is probably something to watch going forward.</s>ALLEN: Well, we thank you. Our senior political analyst Ron Brownstein from L.A. Thank you, Ron.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.</s>ALLEN: Well, meantime, President Obama is making some final trips as his time as U.S. President comes to end. Ahead here, the push he is making in Europe to keep relationships in place as Trump prepares to take office. Also, Donald Trump will soon have access to America's nuclear weapons. Why that still has many people concerned.