[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Happening now, transition turmoil. Sources tell CNN that Donald Trump's transition team is like a knife fight. After a key national security official gets pushed out, Mike Pence comes in with his own list of names. As the delays build up, is the transition already in trouble? Can't stop the tweet. Trump can't contain himself, taking to Twitter to say he could have won the popular vote if he had tried, and praising the Electoral College, which he once called a disaster. Seats at the table. Trump's grown children and son-in-law heavily involved with the campaign and now in the transition. Will they get top-secret security clearances even though they're already involved in his business empire? And threatened by Trump. Shocking new revelations as Megyn Kelly, in her own words, describes how Trump tried to bully her before the first presidential debate. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following new developments in the Donald Trump messy transition operation. Vice President-elect Mike Pence arrived at Trump Tower today in New York to take charge and stop what multiple sources described as infighting over top jobs in the new administration. Today Trump received his first briefing about the nation's most important secrets. The president-elect also resumed tweeting today, calling the Electoral College "a work of genius" and boasting he could have won the popular vote if he had campaigned in California and New York. Nationwide, Trump is almost a million votes behind Hillary Clinton right now. We're also following journalist Megyn Kelly's new allegations of a Donald Trump vendetta against her. Kelly now says Trump threatened her only days before the first presidential debate. A lot to talk over with Republican Congressman Ted Yoho. There he is. See him? He's standing by. And our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of the day's top stories. Let's beginning with our political reporter, Sara Murray. She's in New York City for us. Sara, what are you hearing?
[Sara Murray, Cnn Political Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, while you certainly wouldn't expect a president-elect to have their entire cabinet filled out by now, it is unusual to see all of the different changes we're hearing about within Donald Trump's transition team, to see Chris Christie ousted and Mike Pence taking over and now to see some jostling among lower level staffers. Now, it is clear that Donald Trump and Mike Pence want to sort things out and get them moving on a glide path today. And that's why they've been huddled in Trump Tower for most of the afternoon, going over potential cabinet picks and trying to find a way forward from what you called a messy transition.
[Murray:] Tonight Donald Trump and his V.P., Mike Pence, huddling at Trump Tower to bring some order to a transition team already facing signs of disarray. Sources involved in the transition telling CNN there are internal disagreements over some top-level cabinet positions. Adding to the confusion, lingering questions about who's calling the shots, as newly-named chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, all weigh in on the transition process. As Trump received his first presidential daily brief today, a national security roundup of threats and intelligence developments, he'll have one less experienced hand to turn to. Former House Intelligence Committee chairman and CNN contributor Mike Rogers, who served as a national security advisor on Trump's transition team, was ousted on Monday. The ouster of Mike Rogers, the second major shakeup for the transition team after New Jersey governor Chris Christie was demoted on Friday.
[Donald Trump , President-elect Of The United States:] I want to give a very special thanks to our former mayor, Rudy Giuliani. He's unbelievable.
[Murray:] One area of contention, secretary of state. Sources say former New York mayor and close Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani is a leading candidate for the job. But others are pushing for former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.
[Rudy Giuliani, Former Mayor Of New York City:] John would be a very good choice.
[Unidentified Male:] Is there anybody better?
[Giuliani:] Maybe me. I don't know.
[Murray:] Giuliani is hardly keeping his ambitions hidden, but his international business ties, like doing business with Qatar and lobbying Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil conglomerate, could complicate his confirmation hearing. Meanwhile, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is already under consideration for a high-profile position, such as secretary of defense or attorney general.
[Giuliani:] Well, first of all, I won't be attorney general.
[Unidentified Male:] You won't be attorney general?
[Giuliani:] So good. I won't have to decide that one, thank God.
[Unidentified Male:] You made that clear.
[Giuliani:] I can escape I can escape that one.
[Unidentified Male:] I should ask Jeff Sessions that question, should I?
[Giuliani:] Wouldn't be a bad idea. But I don't know who's going to be attorney general.
[Murray:] He spent 13 years in the U.S. Army Reserves and was the first senator to endorse Trump for president.
[Sen. Jeff Sessions , Alabama:] At this time in Americans' history, we need to make America great again.
[Murray:] Another name Pence is looking to add to consideration for defense secretary, Arkansas senator and U.S. Army combat veteran Tom Cotton. Today Trump is also turning his eye to who should serve as treasury secretary. Trump campaign finance chair and former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin; Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling; or perhaps J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Amid transition planning, Trump's still finding time to troll his opponents on social media, tweeting about losing the popular vote: "If the election were based on total popular vote, I would have campaigned in New York, Florida and California and won even bigger and more easily." Trump then calling the Electoral College genius, after he tweeted just four years ago, "The Electoral College is a disaster for a democracy." One of the interesting things about some of the names that the Trump transition sources are floating is that they want to make it clear that they are not just looking at people who have previously served in government. They are looking at people in the private sector and even that they're looking at people who have been critical of Donald Trump in the past, even Republicans who have said that they voted for Hillary Clinton. Now, whether any of these people actually end up in top cabinet positions, that is still an open question, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Sara Murray in New York City for us. Sara, thank you. Our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, has been working her sources. She's here with me. Dana, what are you hearing about all the jockeying going on underway in Trump Tower right now?
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Political Correspondent:] It's intense and, in many ways, it's expected. You have a person who has never been in public office trying to put together a government in under 70 days and trying to not just put together a government but pick people who are going to represent an ideology and a world view that isn't completely hammered out. So these are big, big decisions to make. Certainly, there is there is jockeying to the point of some infighting. I was told by a couple of sources that much of that at this point is some hard feelings by people who Chris Christie, who was the head of transition during the campaign, he had put in place and are no longer part of the transition. Some of that is because of the fact that Chris Christie is being pushed aside by team Trump. And some of it also is because that was planning for the maybe hypothetical, and this is reality. So there's a lot of that going on. I was just told that we should not expect any big announcements for the rest of the week, that they're still trying to, you know, meet and talk and try to put all of the pieces of the puzzle, at least the big names, together. Hopefully, they hope, by the end of the week.
[Blitzer:] Yes. Secretary of state...
[Bash:] Exactly.
[Blitzer:] ... secretary of the treasury, secretary of defense, CIA director. Big names like that. The vice president-elect, Mike Pence, he's there in New York today. So has he really taken charge? Because he replaced Chris Christie.
[Bash:] He has. He was in New York today, last night and today, having meetings with the president-elect, with the transition team. And I was told that they met for several hours today, that it was a productive meeting and that things are falling into place. And the thing to keep in mind, I'm told and you know this, Wolf. You've covered transitions before. You know, let's just say, for example, our reporting is that Rudy Giuliani really wants to be the secretary of state. Well, that might happen or it might not, depending on the other pieces of the puzzle that fall into place. Jeff Sessions, another person, by the way, who like Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump feels like, whatever they want, they get because they were so loyal from the get-go, is said to, according to several sources, Sara Murray's and mine, actually prefer the attorney general slot over the secretary of defense. But now I was just told, well, maybe he will be willing to do secretary of defense if they need somebody else for the attorney general slot. So it's it's personnel, you know kind of a personnel checkerboard figure out. And again, they need all the pieces to fit together.
[Blitzer:] And they're watching that lobby over at Trump Tower very closely to see who's walking in, who's walking out.
[Bash:] They are. There is somebody who came in today who has had a storied and troubled relationship with Donald Trump, Ted Cruz. He came to New York. He met with the president-elect. His spokesman just pulling it up here just released a statement saying that he was happy to meet with the president-elect to talk about issues like draining the swamp and Obamacare and filling the Supreme Court. But it is, I think, note-worthy that he, who is now going to be a senator and, he says he hopes, a partner of Donald Trump, went to meet with him to talk about legislative agenda, a whole other host of things. Because he could be a partner; he could be a thorn in his side. And an early meeting is quite notable.
[Blitzer:] Yes. Interesting. All right. Dana, thanks very, very much. Joining us now, Republican Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida. He's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thanks for joining us.
[Rep. Ted Yoho , Florida:] Sure, Wolf. Great to be here.
[Blitzer:] So what do you think about some of these names that have been suggested so far for key positions in the Trump administration?
[Yoho:] Well, he's developed a short list, and I'm very excited about it. And I think you're going to see some jockeying. And what I would tell people is just step back, take a breath, calm down. He'll work through this. I mean, this is a guy that came from zero to win the presidency of the United States. He's built successful businesses. He knows how to put teams together. And I think you're going to see him come together, and things will fall into place. So I have a lot of confidence in his ability and the team he's putting together.
[Blitzer:] What do you think about John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. during the Bush administration, becoming secretary of state?
[Yoho:] I'm excited about that. I know Mr. Bolton. I've got a lot of respect for him, as he does around the world. And I think he would represent America well and the ideologies not just of Mr. Trump but the people that sent Mr. Trump up there as the next president of the United States. And I look forward to working with him. As you know, I sit on Foreign Affairs, and we've seen him multiple times. Very smart, very astute ambassador. And he'll represent America great.
[Blitzer:] He doesn't have it yet. We'll see if he does. Rudy Giuliani clearly is very interested in becoming secretary of state, as well.
[Yoho:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] There are some concerns, though, because his law firm had consulted, done business for foreign governments. Should he be nominated for the job, given that issues some of those the contacts he had with some of these foreign entities?
[Yoho:] Well, Wolf, I mean, that's something that would have to go through the vetting process. And if there's no doubt that what he's done is OK, I say move forward. If there's any doubt, yes, we don't want to cloud an administration. But that's in the working process. And that will all come out, and that will be vetted out and flushed out.
[Blitzer:] Congressman, we're getting some new information on this entire transition process. I want you to stand by. We're going to take a quick break. We'll resume our coverage right after this.