Source: Trump Taps Iowa Gov as Ambassador to China; Trump: Romney Still Candidate for Secretary of State
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour 10:00 a.m. Eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow in for Carol Costello. So glad you're with us. President- elect Donald Trump said that there would be new addition to his administration today and tomorrow and we are learning about the first one. A source familiar with the decision confirms that Trump has offered the post of ambassador to China to Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. The position, likely of course, to be pretty challenging as the president-elect has railed against U.S. trade deals with China and accused China of manipulating its currency. Trump, also this morning, being named "Time" magazine's "Person of the Year," pushing back though, against the headline, president of the divided states of America. In fact, he says his most ferocious republican critic is still being considered for the coveted Secretary of State position. Listen.</s>MATT LAUER, HOST NBC "TODAY": Let me go back to Mitt Romney. Is he still under consideration?</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT (via telephone): Yes, he is.</s>LAUER: Does he have a chance to become Secretary of State?</s>TRUMP: Yes, he does. I mean, I have spoken to him a lot. We have come, a long way together. We had some tremendous difficulty together and now I think we have come a long way. But the answer is yes, he does.</s>LAUER: So this isn't about some case of stringing him along as revenge being a dish best served cold for the comments he made during the campaign?</s>TRUMP: No, it's not about revenge. It's about what's good for the country. And I'm able to put this stuff behind us.</s>HARLOW: Our Jessica Schneider is live this morning, outside of Trump Tower, turned into the transition headquarters. Good morning, Jessica.</s>JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. You know, the most anticipated pick from Donald Trump being Secretary of State. He's saying that he will likely announce his pick next week. But of course, all eyes have been on Mitt Romney for many weeks now. He's emerged as one of the leading contenders. He sat down with the president-elect twice, most recently at a dinner at Jean-Georges' restaurant, just a few blocks from Trump Tower. And after he emerged from that dinner with Donald Trump, he said that he was quite impressed by Donald Trump's electoral victory and this morning, Donald Trump saying that the two men have come a long way in their relationship. Donald Trump has come a long way in how he feels about Mitt Romney, of course, Mitt Romney calling Donald Trump back in March, a phony and a fraud. But despite that, in the past few days we have seen several other names emerged, people like General David Petraeus, also Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, who Donald Trump this morning called a great man, of course, the former Governor Jon Huntsman. So, who will Donald Trump pick? Donald Trump says he's not trying to string this out. He's not looking for revenge. He just wants what's best for the country. And in that vein, he says he's even consulted with the current president, President Obama, about some of his potential picks.</s>LAUER: I was fascinated to read in your interview that you say you actually talked to President Obama about some of your possible appointments.</s>TRUMP: I do.</s>LAUER: And the people you would surround yourself in the White House. Can you tell me specifically who you mentioned to President Obama that you are considering appointing?</s>TRUMP: Well, I don't think that would be fair to him but I have asked him what he would think of this one and that one. I have asked him what he thinks are the biggest problems of the country, what are some of the greatest assets going forward, and we have a very good dialogue. And I must tell you, you know, I never met him before this and I never spoke to him before this. I really, I do like him. I love getting his ideas and I may differ in many cases, I differ very greatly. --</s>LAUER: Right, just real quickly though -</s>TRUMP: I would say, that yes, I take his recommendations very seriously and there are some people that I will be appointing and in one case, have appointed where he thought very highly of that person. Yes.</s>SCHNEIDER: Donald Trump giving some insight into his conversations with President Obama. But the White House not commenting on any of those discussions and not indicating who President Obama may have suggested to Donald Trump he picked for one of these cabinet appointments. But Kellyanne Conway, saying this morning, that we could expect more announcements today, perhaps two ambassadorships. We have mentioned the Iowa governor will be U.S. ambassador to China. Donald Trump has picked him, possibly EPA and Homeland Security as well. Poppy?</s>HARLOW: Jessica Schneider, this morning live outside Trump Tower, thank you so much. We obviously have a lot to discuss. Let's bring in our panel. Domenico Montanaro is the political editor for "NPR," Jay Newton-Small is a contributor for "Time" magazine, and Josh Rogin is CNN political analyst and columnist for "The Washington Post." Thank you all for being here and Domenico, let me begin with you to really big headlines here, Romney still in the running for Secretary of State. Obviously, Trump putting what he said apparently during the campaign behind them and the fact that Donald Trump is not only seeking President Obama's advice, he's actually putting it to action with some of these picks. Who do you think the president approved of the Donald Trump has already named?</s>DOMENICO MONTANARO, LEAD POLITICAL EDITOR, "NPR NEWS": Well, I'm not sure at all. You know the White House hasn't commented about that at all. But I do think that there are these two Donald Trumps. And I think that sometimes people get so surprised that they see Donald Trump who might reach out to President Obama, somebody who for five years, he had said you know questioned whether or not he was born in the United States. And now seems to value his advice. I think that's one lesson in getting to know people rather than judging them immediately in some caricature form way which is something that we have seen throughout this campaign. But there are two Trumps. We heard Kellyanne Conway, I was in the room for that Harvard meeting for the campaign managers at the Institute of Politics last week and you heard Kellyanne Conway say look, he's transactional, folks. And I think that you have seen that throughout this campaign and you will likely see that as he's president. And you've seen that with some of these business interactions too, where he's tried to way in, to try to bring jobs to the country, even in very small micro managing kinds of ways.</s>HARLOW: Jay, one of the things I find fascinating is in two different ways here. Donald Trump is doing something that will infuriate or has infuriated his base, right? That is one, as Kellyanne Conway has even attested to, keeping Mitt Romney in the running for Secretary of State. The second thing would be, utilizing the advice of a man, the current President, Barack Obama, who he called "the worst President in U.S. history." Is this the transition from Trump the candidate to Trump the president-elect, soon to be, Trump the president, realizing you have to have cooperation here. It can't all be us and them.</s>JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONTRIBUTOR, "TIME MAGAZINE": Poppy, I think, you're absolutely right. And you see Donald Trump really trying to bridge not just to the establishment Republicans but also to Democrats, in reaching out to President Obama - in interviewing some Democrats for cabinet positions, or at least even meeting with Democrats. We don't know if they're actually being interviewed for cabinet positons. But he's - for example, met with Tulsi Gabbard, who is a Democratic congresswoman. He's supposed to be meeting with Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, in the next couple days. And so, you do see him beginning to reach out and trying to bridge the divide -- and as you said, "Time" magazine just named him "President of the Divided States of America." This is something that he has to deal with, something that he has to be able to bring America together and represent both the angry base that elected him but also the rest of the country, 2.5 million of people who voted actually for the opponent - who voted for his opponent.</s>HARLOW: Josh, I want to get your take on Trump tapping according to our Dana Bash and Jeff Zeleny, Iowa's Governor Terry Branstad as the ambassador to China. Obviously, the governor was very loyal to Donald Trump throughout the campaign. We know Trump likes that. But at the same time, this is someone who has a long history with China you know, and also, someone who knows frankly, President Xi. What do you make of this pick and how tough this job is going to be given all that Trump has said about China?</s>JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND COLUMNIST "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes, I think this is a really fascinating pick. As you mentioned, the governor has known Chinese President Xi Jinping since 1985. When Xi was a rural agricultural officer for some back water part of China nobody heard of, and showed up in Iowa and they stayed friends and they visit each other. And they have had him over for dinner recently. And you know if we are going to have this contentious relationship with China, it seems like we are going to, seems that's the direction President-elect Trump wants to go. It's invaluable to have someone in Beijing who has that personal relationship. China is basically a dictatorship. President Xi Jinping has consolidated power. Nobody has aligned into this guy. So, the fact that we will have an ambassador in place, who can pick up the phone and call him, I think could make a real difference, both in a crisis situation, but also in a negotiation.</s>HARLOW: And Domenico, the first job he will have is likely to try to smooth things over after the president-elect took that phone call from the President of Taiwan. How does he do that?</s>MONTANARO: I mean, that's really fascinating, the fact that Bob Dole was somebody who had -- to kind of be an emissary. And we have seen sort of conflicting reporting whether or not this was, hey, it was just a call, sort of dismissing the importance of it. And then, to learn that it was -- had some time in the making, I think it does reflect on the personal relationships that Donald Trump values. If he knows you, if he trusts you, then you have a way in. If he doesn't, then you have seen some of that vindictive side, some of that thin- skinned side of Donald Trump and that is going to be weighed out. And I think we should expect that you will see both of those things come out at various points in a Trump presidency.</s>HARLOW: All right. I'm just being told that Governor Pat McCrory just arrived at Trump Tower there, about to head up in the golden elevators, obviously after a disappointing loss for him. Guys, as we watch and see who else might come out and who else might talk, as you said, Jay, that we are expecting possibly Rahm Emanuel as well. I mean to meet with President Trump. Look, the vice president -- former Vice President Al Gore met with Donald Trump about climate change, something that Trump has called a hoax created by the Chinese Rahm Emanuel. Not only the mayor of Chicago, also formerly the chief of staff and someone who has said you know I don't care what your administration is doing, Chicago will stay a sanctuary city.</s>NEWTON-SMALL: Yes, so it's really interesting. He's got a really diverse cast of characters here. And I think that you know thus far a lot of his cabinet picks have been pretty much loyalists. There have been some establishment picks, Nikki Haley from South Carolina, for U.N. ambassador, for example, who was a critic of Donald Trump. But most -- for the large majority of the picks, have been people who have been very loyal to him, like Jeff Sessions as A.G., Michael Flynn, as national security advisor. And so, it will be interesting now to see as he really rounds out his cabinet, is he going to build a team of rivals, is he going to gather together Mitt Romney, who was highly critical of him. - Is he going to include a Democrat in his cabinet?</s>HARLOW: He's kind of indicating he is going to.</s>NEWTON-SMALL: He has been in recent days, really sort of saying he does seem to plan to do that. And it makes -- it's really refreshing, I think. It's a really good idea to have lots of diverse voices in the cabinet. I mean, get lots of opinions that are not necessarily ones that agree with you because that's going to give you the best kind of decision making. And so, we hope to see that. We have to wait and see who he actually names Secretary of State at the end of it. It's been such a long sort of tortured process.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>NEWTON-SMALL: But I do think that you know it is a much more diverse cabinet than a lot of observers expected early on. And it will be really interesting to see if he includes a Democrat in that cabinet.</s>HARLOW: Yes. Domenico Montanaro, Jay Newton-Small, Josh Rogin, thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Coming up, dueling messages on the war on terror, Donald Trump and President Obama both delivering speeches yesterday on exactly that. Different messages though, different tactics on how to keep America safe. We'll debate it, next.