hi there, i'm brooke baldwin, this is cnn. thank you so much for joining me on this friday. donald trump has filled three posts that are key in defending this country. two of the three men chosen were key in defending trump during this presidential campaign of his. alabama senator jeff sessions, he has accepted the nomination to become president-elect trump's attorney general. senator sessions was the first

u.s. senator to announce his support for mr. trump but he has been dogged with decades-old allegations of racism which we'll get into here in a judgeship he didn't attain. meantime, retired lieutenant general michael flynn will become -- would like to become trump's national security advisor. flynn, a registered democrat, often introduced trump on the campaign trail. and then there's kansas congressman mike pompeo. he is up for cia director and according to a source, pompeo doesn't know president-elect trump very well, nor did he do much campaigning for trump. reaction to these choices ranges from complimentary to caustic. take this tweet from former michigan democratic congressman john dingle. he tweeted "forget the basket, the truly deplorable ones end up in the cabinet." ouch. he, of course, is referring to hillary clinton's now infamous campaign comment about some of

trump's supporters. we will be learning much more on all of trump's choices in just a moment, but first to trump tower and our national correspondent sunlen serfaty. any moment now, sunlen, we know donald trump will be leaving for new jersey, tell me more about what you know. >> that's right, brooke. he has one more meeting here at trump tower today before departing at this hour. he is sitting down with governor huckabee whose name has been floated for a potential pick for commerce secretary. potentially for secretary of health and human services. earlier today president-elect trump held a two hour long meeting with his transition staff to look at where they've come in the week and a half since election day and where they're going in terms of filling out the rest of donald trump's administration. now, heading into this weekend, trump will be holed up at his golf resort in new jersey where he will be headed later this afternoon where one transition official says the pace of the

meetings will be non-stop over the next two days and certainly among those meetings will be so-called auditions or interviews for some of these key top cabinet posts, including with mitt romney who we know is being under consideration for secretary of state, michelle rhee, department of education and james man us in for undersecretary of defense. >> let's drill down on alabama senator jeff sessions. his nomination isn't without controversy. lets me tea take you back 30 years. a black former u.s. assistant attorney testified sessions called him "boy" when he worked for him. sessions adamantly denied these

allegations of racism against him and still does to this very day. >> i'm not a racist, i am not incent since to blacks, i supported civil rights activity in my state. i have done my job with integrity, equality, and fairness for all. >> let's go to pamela brown, or justice correspondent with more on senator sessions. he's been a u.s. senator for nearly 20 years. how likely is it that these decades old allegations of racism will hurt his chances. >> these allegations will makely come up during the confirmation hearings. as you point out, this was in 1986 when he was up for a federal judgeship and his colleagues testified that he called the naacp un-american and that communists inspired an african-american who had worked

under sessions testified that he called him boy and joked about the kkk, saying he was okay with them until he found out they smoked weed and as you heard there, jeff sessions at the time has said those allegations are false, that he is not a racist, that he despises the kkk but that doesn't mean, brooke, that this won't resurface during the confirmation hearings along with his civil rights record. in 2009 he voted against expanding the hate crime laws to cover gays and lesbians. he's called the voting rights act intrusive legislation but we've seen senators that have worked with him over the years, he's been out n the senate for 20 years, applaud this nomination. mitch mcconnell has said that has said no doubt he will be confirmed and he cares deeply about the country. donald trump who nominated him says he has a great legal mind but others have come out and said even though he is a colleague and well respected in the senate, that doesn't mean he won't undergo the same kind of

strict scrutiny that others would seeking this position. >> you perfectly laid it out for me setting up my next conversation. pam brown, thank you. but before we get on to that, so we're all on the same page, you have lieutenant general michael flynn, he's the only trump selection who won't have to go through those confirmation hearings because the national security advisor is part of the white house staff and not the cabinet. lot to talk about now with me. steve cortez, former member of tr trump's hispanic advisory council. lanhee chen used to serve as public policy director for mitt romney. political analyst david gergen who has been an advisor to four presidents and political commentator angela rye, used to be the executive director of the congressional black caucus. awesome to have you on. steve cortez, pam will l.ela br it up, the list of pros and cons for senator sessions as a.g., especially with the allegations of racism from decades ago.

how would you defend him? >> i defend him thusly. if the best they can do is come up with something from 30 years ago, i think it shows this man has an incredible record of public service, attorney general, state of alabama, u.s. attorney and two decade long senator. number one, he denied them and i believe him, i take him at his word, he's shown himself to be a man of honor. secondly -- and this is important -- he didn't lose a full senate vote. he lost in committee. his nomination was killed there. two republicans crossed over and voted with the democrats, one of them, former senator arlen specter later recanted and said it was a mistake. i would also point out two of his current senate colleagues who are vociferously anti-trump, senator flake from arizona and senator graham from south carolina, both of them immediately come out strongly in support of senator sessions. these are not folks who are willing to just de facto back a trump nominee.

>> angela rye, you feel differently? >> i do. i think it's not even about feelings, it's about record. so for example, and pamela brought this up in her commentary. for jeff sessions to say that the voting rights act was an intrusive piece of legislation and that is the very thing that was just before the supreme court in 2014 the supreme court gutted the voting rights act and you haven't been able to get consensus in the house or senate on moving something forward to fix what they said was wrong with the voting rights act. so here you have someone running to be -- in the running to be the attorney general nominee and he doesn't believe in voting rights legislation. so what does that mean? that means that the civil rights division, which i would argue is one of the most important right now thanks to attorney general eric holder and attorney general loretta lynch, is he going to gut those if he doesn't see the point? so while steve mentioned he

declined to admit to some of the things he's been accused of, he did admit before the senate hearing -- go ahead. >> i'm listening to you and i'm thinking adding on to this -- and david gergen, i want your voice -- senator sessions made comments in the wake of the fbi investigations that the james comey, the letter that we reported on and private e-mail server, he is on the record saying comey hasn't completed the full investigation and that it should be more fully investigated. are you taking that into consideration? should the senate take that into consideration if they move forward? >> absolutely. the senate must have a comprehensive hearing and as it does with other major nominees. the attorney general's position is one of the most important in the u.s. government and in particular, brooke, as you well know it's long been seen as the custodian of civil rights in the country. so that i -- i think the question before the group in

terms of civil rights would be okay, we know what the record was 30 years ago, and we know it's in controversy. he did go down in a republican committee and that's important. but what has been his record since then? and i think in fairness, people ought to scrutinize that and then make the judgment not simply go back the 30 years but we've had lots of people who have been major civil rights advocates over time who came out of the south and changed their minds over times, there are others that we've seen who've had conversions in effect, and have -- become much stronger defenders so in fairness to him we ought to have the complete record out there. at the same time it's important to explore what is his view on comey? is he -- would he lean, in fact, then, to having a special prosecutor? that's a huge question that had been raised by the trump people themselves but the other thing is he has very strong conservative views about undocumented people here in this

country. and those questions are going to be swirling around, too, so in fairness to him there ought to be complete and full hearings and then congress can make up his mind. >> well, you have now in these first three names that have been selected -- sessions, flynn, pompeo, lanhee -- who are all core soldiers for mr. trump, hard-liners, anything but mainstream and then now you have your former boss, governor romney, add him into the mix meaning with mr. trump over the weekend. possibly even considered for a cabinet position maybe even secretary of state. let's give mr. trump the benefit of the doubt that this is an olive branch. how would mitt romney wrap his head around working in a trump administration? brook. >> brooke, let me start with what governor romney has done since the election. obviously you saw governor romney issue a congratulatory

tweet and then the two had a phone conversation. mitt romney is a patriot at heart. he believes strongly about trying to unify the country. so his priority is going to be as he said over and over again to help the president-elect be successful in implementing those policy priorities that he agrees with so i think that's where we have to start with. the other point i would make about these appointments, brooke, is that we have to give the president some deference in this regard, right? because you think about the priorities of a trump administration, they are going to be different from an obama administration so the kind of people he's going to be appointing are going to be different and so we have to allow the president-elect that latitude and the people he's selected are not unreden shled at this point we ought to, as david said, give him the benefit of the doubt. >> how would this signal to democrats? >> that's the big issue. he is going to be different but are you going to be so different

that you undermine democracy? that you continue to do just that. david mentioned we need to look at his current record. in 2015 he was talking about putting people who illegally immigrated back into this country in jail for five years. that's a law and order presidency donald trump has talked about, he's clear he would be a law and order a.g. and that undermines democracy in a way that forgets everything we've learned of recent about mass incarceration and overcriminalization of things that aren't worthy of criminalizing. so that's a flag and i can't wait for the senate hearings where democrats around republicans will join together to ask tough questions. >> angela, i don't want to relitigate the election but we just had an election that was largely about the very issue you mentioned which is illegal immigration and the people of the united states sided with donald trump and senator sessions -- >> the states did, look at that popular vote. >> and they decided -- >> we don't have a popular vote here, we're a republic and we have an electoral college. >> we do have a popular vote.

>> read the constitution. >> they decided via our electoral college that our victims are not the illegal aliens, the victims are legal immigrants -- >> they're people, steve. >> we decided that as a country and we have a mandate to continue forward. >> we didn't. >> we won, are you saying we didn't win? >> no, i'm saying that you did not win the popular vote and i don't subscribe to the term illegal alien, i'm talking about undocumented people. >> we don't try to win the popular vote, we won the electoral vote. >> congratulations, nevertheless -- >> you don't have to congratulate me, congratulate the constitution, that's our system. >> the point is sometimes -- there's a whole thank and we can't get into it here but there's an argument that's existed for centuries about the strict constructionist nature of the constitution. we don't have time to go into it now but there are people who believe the constitution is a living and breathing document and sometimes it requires change. >> well we don't believe that. >> i'm sorry you don't believe

that. but. >> but who cares what i believe? the american people voted us in based on those principles of strict constructionism and i think that's going to be run of the reasons that senator session will be a great attorney general. he's going to uphold the bill of rights which has been under attack whether it's religious liberty, gun rights, the bill of rights is in danger. >> we'll fight you all the way. >> we can do a constitution segment at another time. we have to go but appreciate the healthy disagreement and this is foreshadowing to these tough questions that will arise. thank you so much. so much more to get to today. the president-elect right now meeting with governor mike huckabee over at trump tower. trump expected to be departing this location shortly for new jersey. we will obviously -- lots of cameras inside there. we'll sneak a peek to see if anyone passes by and turn that around for you. also, general michael flynn and kansas congressman mike pompeo. who are they? what are their resumes? what are their national security

chops that they could bring to this country? we have the back story on both of them. also he was an outspoken critic of donald trump but this weekend mitt romney and the president-elect will speak and meet face to face. we'll talk about that with ari fleischer. so much for ari today. we'll be right back. you're watching cnn. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms.

breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com.

she's noticing a real difference in her joint comfort... "she's single." ...and high levels of humiliation in her daughter. in just 7 days, your joint comfort can be your kid's discomfort. osteo bi-flex. made to move. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan.

[ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now.

you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. president-elect donald trump shoring up his future national security team. what do we know about his selections? i can tell you that kansas congressman mike pompeo has been nominated to become the next cia direct director. impressive resume. west point grad, army vet, he was an early supporter of trump in the house and is a member of the house select committee on intelligence, he's linked to the tea party movement, rode that waive into congress. his selection forrize inner is lieutenant general michael flynn, a retired three star general with extensive military experience. but he was forced out of his job at the defense intelligence agency two years ago. he supports aggressive military action against isis and wants to

work more closely with russia. i have with me now jim sciutto, national correspondent, mike baker, former cia covert operations officer, great to see both of you. jim sciutto, just beginning with these two men, tell me more about them and how seriously will they be considered as contenders? >> i think big picture, one, these positionings matter. they are big powerful positions and, two, any sense that donald trump was going to move towards the center as president i think at least with these early selections we should dispense with that thought, at least for now, although he's of course talking to a broader expanse of folks, for instance, for secretary of state when you think of a name like mitt romney. but when you look at flynn, early supporter of trump, pretty hard-line views, offensive views, for instance, on islam, some very different views on a country such as russia which many in the defense and intelligence world see as a

primary threat to the u.s. he tried to turn that on its head to some degree. so that's a big difference. you look at a pompeo, he's now getting unlike flynn support for democrats as well as republicans on there, just spoke to one of his fellow members adam schiff said he's smart and expects him to be moderating positions he had while he was serving in the house. but if you hold those positions, he will have the president's ear on key issues. key national security issues. >> what about just -- honing in on general flynn, mike, when you look at his experience, he knows the enemy but back to the john of the dia, he lost his job apparently because of temperament issues, ethics issues not to mention there is video of him with vladimir putin chl which would not assuage concerns

for folks critical of the trump administration being buddy buddy with russia. how concerning is that in this selection? >> i'm not concerned about the narrative that was kbilt up about trump and trump's appointments going to be naive about vladimir putin. you know, i think you -- you're right in saying he was forced out of dia. i think part of that was -- he was at odds with the administration over system of his more aggressive views towards the islamic state and his opinions as to whether we were being as successful as we could be. at the time there was an aspect of that. so i think that when you move into a position like the national security advisor, you're aware of a lot more. you're at that funnel point where all the information is fed in and mike flynn -- nobody is arguing mike flynn is not an extremely smart individual.

he's a very, very good tactical operator and he understands how intelligence becomes actionab actionablened the value of quality intelligence, accurate intelligence in terms of its operational value. so when he gets into that position and he now is responsible at the 30,000 foot level i think he's a smart man and i have confidence that some of those views have pointed out. >> great. jim, back to pompeo, the fact he graduated first in his class at west point, was the editor of the harvard business review, road the tea party wave into congress. served in the benghazi committee. when it comes to intel experience why would he be the selection for the head of the cia? >> on the house intel committee you'll get high level classified briefings on the main issues. so he has background there. it's somewhat unusual, the last

sitting congressman to be head of the cia was porter goss and that didn't go very well, he lasted just about a year and he's forced out, the intelligence agencies they can be tight-knit fraternities and sororities and he does have that experience on the committee. but on the issue of flynn, he was an impeccable commander, he was at general mcchrystal's side, crediting with turning around the fight against al qaeda in afghanistan but also against isis' predecessor in iraq. his question haff your on the trail, the comments he made in public about muslims but also about locking up hillary clinton, i heard criticisms of that not just from democrats but inside the five-walled building of the pentagon, people uncomfortable with a -- granted

retired general but a military man making sometimes out there comments which gives real concern. i spoke with someone today who described his judgment as erratic while granting as a military commander he had an impeccable record. but those are two different jobs, tactical intel guy on the battlefield and high level advisor inside the white house. >> and all that is important to weigh but for nsa you don't need the senate confirmation so that maybe puts extra pressure on how that person and who that person is. jim and mike, appreciate both of you on those two. thank you. is, next, syrian president bashar al assad has called donald trump a natural ally. he is one of a handful of world leaders cheering on a trump presidency. we'll talk to fareed zakaria about all of this next. attention: are you eligible for medicare?

the medicare enrollment deadline is just a few weeks away. changes to medicare plans could impact your healthcare costs. are you getting all the benefits available to you? call healthmarkets and we'll help you

find the medicare plan that's right for you. hi, i'm doctor martin gizzi. it's a new medicare year. that means more changes ... and more confusion. the key question is: what can you do now, to ensure you get the care you need in the coming year? call healthmarkets today. we have access to thousands of medicare options from leading insurance companies nationwide. plans that may... cost less... cover more ... with more choices... like dental and vision care ... and freedom to choose your own doctors. all at a price you can afford. we help find the right plan for you. and we do it at no cost. make sure you have what you need to get the care that's right for you. if you miss the deadline, you may have to wait another year before enrolling. call this number now!

[and her new business: i do, to jeanetgo. jeanette was excellent at marrying people. but had trouble getting paid. not a good time, jeanette. even worse. now i'm uncomfortable. but here's the good news, jeanette got quickbooks. send that invoice, jeanette. looks like they viewed it. and, ta-da! paid twice as fast. oh, she's an efficient officiant. way to grow, jeanette. get paid twice as fast. visit quickbooks-dot-com.

donald trump ice first face-to-face meeting with a form leader is in the books after sitting down the japanese prime minister his is and while much of the world has been shocked petrified by trump's election, many, many, more than half the country delighted and according to this editorial in the "washington post" by my colleague fareed zakaria, a number of foreign leaders who are cheering trump have something in common. if reed writes "what unifies trumps foreign admirers is the idea that the existing global order is rotten and should be torn down." so fareed zakaria is with me, host of "fareed zakaria gps." nice to see you. >> pleasure. >> you talk about a couple leaders around the world,

duterte. apparently what they have in common is "we both swear." assad called trump a national ally and mugabe in zimbabwe says he is hopeful. they're celebrating but these are not leaders that the american people would cheer for. >> it's an odd situation where our allies are very concerned. you heard very concerned voices coming out of germany and france and italy and britain and the people who are cheering are a bunch of dictators who think they'll found a natural ally which might not prove to be true. but the places in europe that are cheering are these right wing populous forces that want to destroy the european union. in you look, it's the far right parties in france, germany,

northern europe, the guy in hungary, the prime minister who says i want to create an ill liberal state in hungry. all of them are pro-russian because they see russia as being the most actively -- the active state that is the most powerful state that is actively trying to destroy the existing global order. one thing i hope we'll clarify is these are not his buddies. these are not his compatriots. his agenda isn't to tear down the global order the united states set up in 1945, '46, '47 after world war ii which has helped the united states enormously. so i hope trump will convey appointments that he believes in the american order that harry

truman and dwight eisenhower built after world war ii. >> i was fascinated yesterday about the juxtaposition of president obama in berlin and his gratitude and farewell to his dear friend angela merkel and fast forward to trump tower and shinzo abe, the prime minister of japan as the first word leader that flies in to meet with mr. trump. what do you make of the fact that he jumped on a plane so quickly and headed to manhattan to meet with him? is that nerves or eagerness? will we see more of that? >> i think it speaks to that the president of the united states has enormous power just in terms of the power of his words so remember that trump said maybe the japanese should get nuclear weapons, why are we protecting them? that would set off a chain of events both in japanese domestic politics, japan has constitutionally fore sworn the idea that it would have any kind of offensive arm.

but it would set a series of chain reactions over asia where they remember japan as the aggressor in world war ii. >> but you have the tramp aump saying "don't take everything in the campaign literally." >> but that's the thing. assault and battery took a 12-hour flight from tokyo to make sure those words were not -- >> were not literal. >> were not literal and i think that is probably the more important reason than just getting to know trump. but they're wondering are we meant to take this -- play this game. are you meant to take it seriously or literally? >> it will be interesting how many foreign leaders take that multihour flight to trump tower to figure this out. fareed zakaria, as always, thank you, make sure you watch fareed

sunday mornings, 10:00 a.m. at 1:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. thanks. next, he called him a phony and a fraud but this weekend mitt romney is set to meet with donald trump face to face in new jersey. what governor romney is likely to talk about with the flex. might he consider a cabinet position? we'll explore that. we'll be right back.

donald trump is a phony, a fraud. >> mitt was a disaster as a candidate. >> he's playing the members of the american public for suckers. >> romney let us down. he was a very poor campaigner. >> he gets a free ride to the white house and all we get a

lousy hat. >> romney choked like a dog. he choked. he went -- >> his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> i have a lot of friends -- no, i have a lot of friends. but the way, mitt romney is not one of them. >> joining me more to talk about all of this, ari fleischer, the former press secretary for george w. bush. we love having you through, nice to see you. first of all from the trump perspective, do you think this is a head fake or a genuine interest? >> its may be a genuine interest to talk to him and do that olive branch reachout president for all people, but i'd be shocked if it's real interest. >> why? >> when someone excoriates you, it's not appropriate. they're not a good fit. why pretend? why try? i understand bygones will be bygones but this went too far. >> on the flip side, why would

governor romney want to travel to new jersey to meet with donald trump? >> under the assumption he wants advice, he wants to hear my thinking which would be appropriate reaching out of president-elect trump. but to be considered for the cabinet? why would mitt romney want to serve after the things he said about president trump? . but if he's being considered for secretary of state? >> well, i can't imagine that. >> it's all bluster. >> there's a mischievous piece of me that says ted cruz came in for attorney general and then they announced somebody else. i wouldn't be surprised if 24 hours after mitt romney comes in they announce who the secretary of state is and i don't think it will be mitt romney. >> what do you think of -- then you have these three picks -- mike flynn, mike pompeo, jeff sessions. these are the hard line true core trump supporters. >> absolutely. >> do you think that, then, is a

sign of the picks to come? >> frankly, i this they is appropriate. >> why? >> the president should have a team that full heartedly and proudly supports the president and that's who these people are. i understand there should be a mix of people and some may not be the full thoroughbreds others are but in the national security apparatus where donald trump says he'll be different from his predecessors, he needs people who see it his way. and i think it's appropriate to have those people there. >> i think perspective is important. there has been criticism over the timeline of these selections and i wanted to go back eight years and i believe it was when then senator barack obama won, the election was november 4, i think his first pick, tim geithner, was 20 days later. number, two david axelrod tweeted "we hadn't made any major appointments at this point in 2008, i don't remember being criticized for it. what do you make of the criticisms and also what do you make of the leaks.

>> it drives me crazy, seeing headlines that stay they're in disarray. >> buffoonery, knife fight, "game of thrones," this is what i'm hearing from insiders. >> well, the florida recount covered up because nobody was paying attention to the transition. and we were going through personnel issues but everybody had their eyes on florida so we could make mistakes, vet people when no one was watching us. now that they're watching everything -- my beef with the press is any time somebody goes on a scale of 1-10, from 5 to 6 the media start screaming "they're heading to 10, they're heading to 10, disarray." they're not in disarray. >> i remember talking about transitions and they're messy no matter what. i hear you. name floated out for press

secretary as someone who had the role. laura ingram. thoughts? >> he has to decide, does he want to send a combative signal to the press and bring in somebody who will fight with them all the time -- which there are advantages -- on the other hand, laura doesn't know candidate trump's position as well as other people on the inside of the campaign and she's not been familiar with the people who brought donald trump in. the insiders have a good relationship with the press, not as combative and they know trump. they know what makes him tick and they know the insiders they'll have to relate to. so it's an insider/outsider choice. does he want to fight with the press and send that signal or work more accommodatingly with the press at least through his office of the press secretary. it will be a window into what donald trump wants to do. >> last question, words matter, tone matters, visuals matter. during the "60 minutes" interview we watched on sunday with mr. trump and his whole

family, there they were in trump tower, critics called them the gold tloebs, these -- the luxurious room and here is this man that half the country voted for him, many are struggling. do you care? is it much ado about nothing? do you think he even thought about the signal he would be sending? >> it doesn't matter. if it did the american people wouldn't have gone for a billionaire in the first place. they know he's a billionaire, they don't care. >> they cared about mitt romney's money. >> mitt romney didn't wear it well. donald trump wore it, put it in people's faces and said "i'm a billionaire, that's good, you want more people to be like me." mitt romney was much more old school you don't talk about wealth. >> wealth whisperers camp. >> that's right. he didn't wear it the way donald trump wore it and donald trump is blown through all of those old notions that you can't be rich and be in touch. donald trump is a billionaire that people called the blue-collar billionaire and

blue-collar voters like. >> it ari fleischer, thank you for stopping by, appreciate it. >> thank you, brooke. >> she played a mom are innocent role during the campaign and now ivanka trump is sitting in on a meeting between her father and the first world leader her father has met with, his first meeting with the japanese prime minister, could this be an indication of what's to come as far as the closeness between the family and the administration? let's explore that coming up.

president-elect trump holding his first meeting with a global leader. trump sitting alongside japanese prime minister shinzo abe in a lavish room in trump tower. but it's who else was in the room raising eyebrows are. his daughter, ivanka trump, and her husband jared kushner. we should note american journalists were not allowed in the room which is why all the major networks and cable outlets in the u.s. are not using the photos from the meeting but for ivanka's part back in september she told cnn having this kind of access to her father is just business as usual. >> he would pick up the phone every single time. and he'd put me on speakerphone,

wouldn't be a long conversation, he'd introduce me to whoever was in his office but only in retrospect, i laugh now, that it didn't matter who was there, it was colleagues, it was titans of industry, heads of countries, he'd always take my call. >> doug brinkley is with us, cnn presidential historian, elise labott, cnn global affairs correspondent. elise, the fact that you have this -- you know, ivanka sitting with her father in his very first world leader meet iing, wt more do we know? why was she there? >> well, from the japanese side they said it was a very warm very cordial meeting. if you look at the japanese press, they weren't necessarily upset that ivanka trump was there. the japanese citizen, obviously, she is seen as someone very popular and close to her father and undoubtedly ivanka is one of her father's closest advisors. she's been seen over the campaign as someone who seems to walk him back a bit.

r when he seems to go too far and is too combative but at the same time it sends signals to the world about who is close to the father. we've talked about chaos and confusion in the transition, in fact, one diplomat said to me "i'm wondering if i should get an appointment with ivanka trump because i don't know who else is close to the father." it also raises some questions about the fact that -- about a conflict of interest. donald trump said he was going to divest himself of his business interests, turn it over to his children but if his children are involved in the transition and meeting with world leaders i think it sends a message to people in the country, around the world that, you know, if you do business with ivanka, that will make me happy. and that does raise some questions and it raises questions about security clearances. they don't necessarily have it yet, this was an informal get to

know you meeting but it's very unorthodox and is causing some concern here in the united states. >> unprecedented, doug brinkley. >> not unprecedented. franklin roosevelt used to have his sons and daughters with him all the time. there would be one of his kids meeting when he had secret meets with churchill. but in recent years we haven't had full adult sons or daughters. the exception was president bush 41. he didn't let jeb or any others be involved with white house protocol but george w. was working with his father as an angry pit bull during that administration with the press. >> so elise, the murkiness with

how close the adult children will be with the business they're running and their father who is president of the free world, there's the jared kushner angle, talk of him having a security clearance potentially and being an advisor, it could be very murky. >> it could be. i'm not sure necessarily with jared kushner how that fits into laws about nepotism and it doesn't look like ivanka trump will be taking a role in the administration but she is a close advisor to her father. i'm sure presidents are always talking to their family, maybe necessarily getting informal advice but the biggest concern here is that ivanka trump and the rest of the trump children are going to be seen as running the trump empire and if they're -- let's say for instance if ivanka wanted to -- if the trump organization wanted to open up a hotel in japan and given the fact she was in that meeting with her father does

that send the signal to the japanese, listen, they don't want do upset president trump, we need to do what they want. it raises some questions hopefully as trump takes office and has more formal advisors, a cabinet, this will become less of an issue. >> doug and elise, thank you. we'll see how it shakes out. straight ahead, donald trump's national security team lining up. what former house republican majority leader tom delay thinks about his choices. he'll join me live next.

mthat stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. guess i won't be seeing you for a while. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? let's end this. i thodid the ancestrydna toian. find out i'm only 16% italian. so i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors was eastern european. this is my ancestor who i didn't know about.

you are watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me on this friday. we begin with a couple significant names here. donald trump has filled three posts that are key in defending the nation. two of the men selected were key in defending trump during his presidential campaign. first up, alabama senator