from 1998 to 2006. carol, back to you. >> all i can think about is the thanksgiving day game lions versus the vikings, oh, boy. >> you got ep, carol. >> i'm going to be drinking a lot. coy wire, thanks so much. and thank you for joining me today. i'm carol costello. "at this hour" with berman and bouldain" starts now. hello, everyone, i'm john berman. kate bolduan is off today. trump tower becoming won't tower. the president-elect with some notable and some cases surprising decisions about what he won't do. whether the country likings it or not. whether, in fact, he has the power to make these decisions or not. he won't pursue charges against hillary clinton. he won't apologize or explain if and how he is doing personal business during this transition period when he's getting really to do the nation's business. he won't answer questions on the record from "the new york times" or he wouldn't because just a

few minutes ago after backing out of the sit-down with the paper, he backed back in. let's start with the never mind on the lock her up. trump senior adviser and campaign manager kellyanne conway seemed to confirm the incoming trump administration will not seek further investigation into hillary clinton's private e-mail server or the clinton foundation. >> i think when the president-elect who's also the head your party now, joe, tells you before he's inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a strong message. i think hillary clinton still has to face the fact a majority of americans don't find her to be honest or trustworthy. if donald trump can help her heal, perhaps that's a good thing. i do -- look, i think he's thinking of many different things. and things that sound like the campaign aren't among them. >> bringing in cnn's jessica

schneider live in front of trump tower. what are you learning? >> it was donald trump's repeated rallying cry throughout this campaign. he continually called his opponent crooked hillary, and he relished those cries at his rallies of lock her up. it was late august when donald trump first talked about appointing a special prosecutor. and then, you'll remember, it was at that second presidential debate on october 9th when donald trump issued that threat directly to hillary clinton. here it is. >> if i win, i am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. special prosecutor, here we come, right? if i win, we're going to appoint a special prosecutor. >> she deleted the e-mails. she has to go to jail. hillary's running for a lot reasons. one of them is because she wants to stay out of jail. >> it's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of

donald trump is not in charge of the law in our country. >> because you'd be in jail. >> and despite all of that, trump adviser kellyanne conway stating unequivocally this morning there will be no further investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state, nor any investigation into the clinton foundation itself. but kellyanne conway taking a bit a dig still at hillary clinton. saying the majority of americans do not find her honest or trustworthy. even going a step further to say that donald trump can, quote, help her heal by not actually going through with any investigation. and in addition, rudy giuliani earlier this morning was inside trump tower where he talked about this decision to not move forward with the investigation. actually saying he agreed with donald trump, whichever way he decide to go, and he believed this decision would help unite the nation. rudy giuliani saying that maybe americans who didn't vote for donald trump would now give him

a second look, john. >> all right, jessica schneider for us outside trump tower. want to talk more about this with our panel. he was mitt romney's public policy director for two campaigns. also, cnn political commentator, errol lewis. and cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin. we have these words that say trump white house won't pursue clinton prosecution. well, in fact, white houses don't pursue prosecutions. so in and of itself, the entire structure here is flawed. trump as president would never have the power to charge anyone with any crime. however -- >> i think this story is far from over. i think donald trump's justice department may well continue this investigation. you have a group of fbi agents who are dedicated, fanatically opposed to hillary clinton, who want to see her prosecuted for the clinton foundation in particular. even though there has never been an allegation made -- i mean a

serious allegation made that she committed a crime. i think the door remains wide open for the justice department to say we found new information, in good conscience, we can't avoid looking into this. i think that statement from kellyanne conway was sufficiently ambiguous to let a very conservative justice department, a very dedicated fbi to continue their investigation. >> it isn't a white house decision. presidents don't charge, presidents don't investigate, presidents don't prosecute. >> they are -- no, you're right, although they do have a lot of influence over what the justice department does and doesn't do. >> all right, jeffrey toobin is taking the view this doesn't matter, that actually the trump administration writ large may still investigate hillary clinton. a lot of people, errol, are taking the other view of this now. what's basically happening is the trump team is admitting that rhetoric used during the campaign won't be the reality and they're going back to this position. you know, a lot things are said in the campaign.

>> i think their position pretty consistently on a number of topics is we're going to be ambiguous. we'll talk about both sides of a particular proposition and leave ourselves the leeway to do whatever we want whenever we feel like it. i mean, that's what i take from it. because this is not -- you played the clips. he promised, you know, earnestly and repeatedly to take a specific course of action to appoint a special prosecutor to go after her. he said she belongs in jail and so forth. me either has to disavow those, which we know he won't do, or sort of leave things up in the air. >> he might when he sits down with "the new york times" later today. that's a whole different story. his campaign manager seemed to suggest that he is backing off. isn't that sort of what the country wants the healing process to not go forward with something like this? >> something a little more coherent and transparent such as, you know, following my briefings during this transition period. i agree with the fbi director. i don't think anything's going to happen. something that straight forward i think is unlikely to come out of this particular transition. >> all right, lonnie, i want to bring you in.

there is one group that doesn't seem to be satisfied with this trans tra stance so far. that's the ardent supporters of trump. particularly breitbart news. steve bannon is now going to be in the white house. just putting this headline out. broken promise. trump doesn't wish to pursue clinton e-mail charges. but lonnie, do you think any trump supporters would hold him to this or, you know, end up being displeased or turn their backs on him if he did not, you know, push his fbi and justice department to prosecute this? >> it's very interesting, john, you know, there's been some great reporting here at cnn. talking to voters who supported donald trump during the election, asking them about some of his key campaign promises like the promise to build a wall and have mexico pay for it, et cetera. i think a lot of his voters actually take him more figuratively than literally in a lot of ways. i think they're willing to give him the benefit the doubt. i think many republicans at this point are.

i think there are some republicans who are probably glad to hear that the focus of the first 100 days the trump administration is not going to be an ongoing investigation into hillary clinton but instead efforts to roll back regulations, to explore energy and potentially to deal with obamacare. so i actually think this might be a welcome announcement to some republicans even those who enjoyed some of that rhetoric during the campaign. >> all right, guys, stand by. but we have more breaking news this morning. sort of from the irony department. the trump foundation admits it broke the law apparently. that's right. on the same morning donald trump says his administration will not pursue charges against clinton family charity, we're learning that his own charity is admitting it used donation dollars to benefit either the trump family or its businesses. "the washington post" has been the leading reporter on this story for months. he joins us now by phone. david, explain what exactly we learned this morning, what has

the trump foundation admitted to? >> sure. one of the basic laws of run a charity is you can't take money out of your charity and use it to buy something for the president of the charity or buy something for the president of the charity's business. with the trump foundation admitting now is that in the past, in 2015 and before that, it violated those rules. it took money out of the charity and spent it to benefit someone who ran the charity, presumably donald trump. >> now, we don't know exactly what they're admitting to this morning in terms of what dollars they use to buy what stuff for either the business or the family. but you have reported in the past some examples where this might apply. >> that's right. we've uncovered a number of examples in the past where trump used money out of the charity to buy things for himself. he bought two giant portraits of himself for a total of $30,000 and he spent $258,000 out of the charity to settle lawsuits that involved his for profit businesses. basically to get his businesses out of their obligations rising from legal trouble. any of those could be it or it

could be something i haven't found yet. >> david, and again, the campaign is behind this now, but when you were covering this during the campaign, did the trump foundation or the trump campaign ever admit to the wrongdoing that now this morning after the campaign is other they apparently are admitting to? >> no, in fact, they repeatedly said -- they didn't answer a lot of my questions. when the stories came out, they said the stories were full of falsehoods. the closest they got to acknowledging any of this was in one particular case the trump foundation bought a painting, a $10,000 painting, of trump himself, that was later found hanging on the wall of trump's sports bar at a golf resort he owns outside miami. and their response was, well, actually trump's business is doing the charity a favor by storing the painting on its wall. that doesn't hold up to scrutiny but that's the closest they've got be to explaining any of this. >> yes, strange definition of storage wars there. you're reporting for the past several months, pushing this story forward. we appreciate you being here.

aruna fruhar, i want to start with you. this is about the trump foundation, not exactly the trump business empire. everyone is looking for where these lines will be. between the trump family business and the trump administration. and it's getting harder and harder to discern where these lines are. >> absolutely. i mean, it's really unprecedented situation. you know, you've had presidents in the past that have had business interests and put them in blind trusts but you've never had a situation in which a president is running a business, as donald trump has, with his children. those children are now in meet i meetings without security clearances. a complete blurring. unless it's worked out quickly, it's going to dog his presidency. i mean, it's, it's got to be said that the kids are either running the business or -- and/or, you know, they're doing policy but there has to be a bridge between those two things and a wall.

>> so donald trump doesn't seem to think there's any problem right now. overnight on twitter, one of a series of tweets he put out, a series of subjects, he wrote about his business interest it he said prior to the election it was well known i had business interests in properties all over the world. only the crooked media makes this a big deal. so jeffrey toobin, you could envision a scenario where a hillary clinton was going into power and there were -- it was information or revelations about the clinton foundation that came out during the transition and then the republican-led congress would hold hearings. or launch an investigation. into said foundation. is there any chance of that happening now? >> certainly not at the moment. i mean, the house and senate are in republican hands. these conflicts are obvious and they're ripe for exploration but the only people who are going to do it at the moment are the news media. because of the government is under unified control. and just the idea that donald

trump will have to address this i think is wrong. i mean, he has, over and over again, proven us wrong about what he has to do. well, he can't say that about a gold star family. i mean, he can't say, you know, call a mexican american judge unfit to sit on his case. he is operating by his own rules. he has won the presidency. and i see no sign that he's going to change. >> lonnie, your republican party chairs in the house and the senate, is there not a whiff of hypocrisy here, that there is not a push from them, the same push you know would be there if the shoe was on the other foot. >> i think, john, the issue now is the republicans in the house and the senate want to focus on a policy agenda for the first 100 day, the trump administration. i think that's really what they're trying to do. i think the concern would be obviously turning the attention away from that. diverts from what are some legitimate and important policy goals. that's probably what the explanation from the trump campaign or trump transition

would be at this point as well. is that their focus wants to be on what are the things you want to see him get done initially? that's why they put out the video with the president-elect's campaign priorities, et cetera. it would be interesting to see what happened if the tables were turned, no question about it. >> erol, one of the things the trump team tells us, this isn't moving the business of the nation forward. this stuff matters. there's reasons why the constitution writes about the emollients clause, did i say it right? you can't get gives from foreign governments. you can't be given money from a foreign government or foreign entity if you're president. you know, there's a reason why the framers of the constitution, the american people over the last 225 years haven't wanted their presidents or leaders to be able to enrich themselves while they are in office. >> well, that's right, and it's intended both to protect the public but also to protect the office holder, frankly, from conflicts of interests. you know, when the bank of china, if you owe hundreds of millions of dollars to the bank china and it's time to sit down

and make some decisions, you want to be able to do that with sort a clear head and clear intent. donald trump seems once in a while to make noises as if he understands this. but based on the tweet last night, based on everything we've seen, i got to agree with jeffrey that, you know, he doesn't think that there's any real important distinction to be made between what enriches him and his family and what's good for the world and for the country. >> and by the way, we don't know the full extent of his financial arrangements because he never released his tax return which was another area we said, oh, well, he's got to release his tax returns. all presidential candidates release their tax returns. he defied that convention. he's defied the conventions about separating his private business from his public work. but his candidacy has been an exercise in defying convention. >> we're look at the stock market now, the dow up 29

points. not quite over 19,000 at the moment. it did cross that 19,000 barrier, i think the s&p was up over 2,000. the markets at least right now seem to love the incoming trump administration. if he does create the jobs, jobs, jobs that says he wants to, does any of this stuff matter? >> well, i think the other stuff definitely matters. the market's response is interesting it the market's responding to the fact that he's proposing some fiscal stimulus in the form of an infrastructure plan. that will probably create some kind of growth. we don't know how much growth. and it's coming after a period of time where you haven't seen any fiscal stimulus. basically central bankers have been running the economy. they're kind of tapped out. a lot of people, both republicans and democrats, have been hoping for fiscal stimulus and he's now going to get the credit for this. how the stimulus plan is structured and what it does. are we going to get the bridges and roads that we know we need fixed. are or we going to get pet projects of business friends of donald trump's working on things

they may have done anyway and getting tax credits for it. that's the big rub. you'll see short-term growth. the longer-term growth is going to be predicated on how this plan rolls out. >> interesting discussion. there are a lot of questions that we do need to key on asking here. meanwhile, brand-new demands that donald trump personally denounce a group of racists cheering his victory and chanting "hail trump" during a meeting just blocks from the white house. plus, an extraordinary suggestion from a president-elect. donald trump calls on the leader of brexit to be named an ambassador. even though somebody already has that job. actually the american president doesn't get to choose which ambassadors come to the united states. the uk not happy at all about this. and horrific new details regarding a school bus crash that killed at least five children on their way home from school. we'll give you those details coming up. all finished. umm... you wouldn't want your painter to quit part way.

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heartbreaking story out of chattanooga, tennessee. a school bus slammed into a tree and essentially split in half. look at these pictures, just awful. at least five children who were on that bus died. dozens more were injured. the driver, johnthony, walker,

has been arrested. facing charges of vehicular homicide. cnn's martin savidge joins us live from chattanooga. martin, what are you learning? >> we're outside the hospital where the 12 students that remain hospitalized are being cared for. six of them are still in intensive care. and then there is the arresting affidavit that has been released to cnn regarding the basic information they've used to charge johnthony walker. i'll just read you a few things. it says the defendant was traveling at a high speed on tally road which is a narrow winding road according to this and then based on witness statements and physical evidence, the defendant wallace driving the school bus at a high rate of speed well above the posted speed limit of 30 miles an hour, swerved off the roadway to the right, striking an elevated driveway, a mailbox, then swerved left and overturned. so that's what's coming from the arresting warrant that was used

with the five counts of vehicular homicide. then we also have a statement that came froth the mother of walker. he says this, a word of comfort to whom it may concern. my heart love is going out for all that was in harm's way sending out mine and our con dole abbies to every family that god touched yesterday in this horrible accident and i'm asking for compassion. also for my son johnthony walker. she goes on to say he's never been in trouble before. of course police looking further into his background. john. >> all right, our hearts go out to all those families. has to be incredibly difficult time. martin savidge, thanks so much. some disturbing new video of white supremists, racists, cheering on donald trump at a meeting over the weekend. will donald trump personally denounce this? plus, news just in, after his big meeting with tv

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this morning, new questions about why the president-elect or his team will not specifically condemn a group by name that calls itself part of the alt right but was really promoting white supremist notions and neo-nazi ideals while using donald trump's name as a rallying call for their

anti-semitic agenda. watch this. >> hail trump, hail our people, hail victory. >> this was the annual conference of the national policy institute. just blocks from the white house other the weekend at the ronald reagan building. this is their leader. >> america was, until this past generation, a white country, designed for ourselves and our posteri posterity. it is our creation. it is our inheritance. it belongs to us. >> donald trump's transition team released a statement saying he has always denounced any form of racism but really said nothing specifically about meeting or the slog ans or the statements made over this weekend. joining us now is the senior editor of the intelligence project and hate watch at the southern poverty law center.

tha thanks for being with us. this group calls itself alt right. how do you know what that means? what's the distinction between alt right and what we saw there which was neo-nazi white supremist stuff, coupleled with what they said in other instances over the weekend, than jews are not people? >> well, there's absolutely no distinction to be honest. alt right is simply white supremacy rebranded for the digital age. it's the new term for an idea called everything from white nationalism to white realism to white pride. >> what do you think the effect is of a, calling it alt right as opposed to neo-nazi and, b, the trump transition not specifically condemning this meeting? >> the threat all along has been these ideas would be legitimized. during this breeuising campaign during which donald trump blew a dog whistle to a number of

ideologies on the far right. the fear was these ideas would be normalized. if you call it the alt right, it's important to know exactly what we're talking about. we're not talking about some new sophisticated brand of conservativism. we're talking about simple racism. >> sorry, someone was talking in my ear. i apologize for that. listen, talk to me about what effect the 2016 campaign has had on the rhetoric you all monitor around the country. >> well, the rhetoric has exploded to be honest. it started to explode, you know, almost immediately upon donald trump announcing his candidacy. remember, he announced his candidacy by promising to build a wall on the border with mexico. i mean, for a white supremist who's interested or concerned with the, you know, racial demographics of this country, there's no greater promise that a politician can make. almost immediately the rhetoric exploded. and as donald trump has said, you know, he says he denounces this brand of racism and

announces it thoroughly. but he's speaking in some ways out of both sides of his mouth. because as he said on "60 minutes" he asked these protesters, rather these people carrying out acts of hateful intimidation and harassment in his name, he said to stop it. but then the next day he announces that steve bannon is his chief strategist -- >> let me just play -- >> there's one more example i can give you. >> help just pllet me just play because donald trump did tell people engaging in violence around the country to quit it. listen to this. >> i am so saddened to hear that and i say stop it, if it, if it helps. i will say this, and i'll say it right to the camera, stop it. >> that's a good message, yes, ryan? >> yes, it's a good message, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect. we've received reports of more

than 700 incidents of hateful harassment, intimidation, you know, since the election. and they continue to come in. the issue here is not whether donald trump will stand up and say stop it. it's whether he'll address the very groups that are propagating the rhetoric leading to this violence. which, as you pointed out, he's refused to do or hasn't done yet. i'd like to make one more point. so yesterday donald trump released his 100-day plan on youtube. he announced some very thorough, some specific things he was doing by executive action. he referenced a phrase. he said he's going to drain the swa swamp. drain the swam was a meme, a twitter hash tag that grew, exploded, really, after donald trump came forward with plans, with allegations it was a rigged election. and it was spread specifically -- or among the people spreading the drain the swamp hash tag were avowed racists. white supremists who exist on

twitter to harass and demean various ethnic groups. so we have a little bit of a two-sided message here. yeah, he's saying stop it, but he's also, you know, giving a wink-wink nod-nod to the very people he's asking to step away from their violence. >> all right, ryan lenz, thank you. there are plenty of people who are in favor of draining the swamp, not having lobbyists involved and taking some of the money out of politics that i'm sure have no connection or supported by groups like this but i appreciate the point. ryan lenz, thank you. discussing further. carl higby, a donald trump supporter and former navy s.e.a.l. we were sitting here watching the comments together from this white supremist group. i think we both had the same reaction. this is garbage. it's racist nazi garbage that we her from them over the weekend. so why not just say that if you're the trump team? >> i mean, look, these people are idiots, you and i both --

but the fact is, donald trump has said this, like, i don't endorse these people, i don't support them, i denounce them. if he wants to run around every single time some moron comes out and throws up his right hand and says i'm for white america, whatever, he's going to spend his entire presidency trying to respond to stupid people. let's move forward. look, these people are idiots. that's what it comes down to. >> doing it blocks from the white house. doing it in his name. >> right. >> when asked specifically about it, they had the statement, you know, has continued to denounce racism. david gergen called it a namby pamby response to hate speech. >> look, hillary clinton -- >> donald trump is the president of the united states and he was asked about people who said anti-semitic neo-nazi stuff.

>> i would just say stop this garbage, stop being stupid. >> angela. >> i think what's interesting here is, one, we continue to find space for hillary clinton, no surprises here, of course, she won the popular vote. but what i would say to you is we've watched donald trump denounce people. we watched him denounce groups. we've seen him denounce "saturday night live." we've seen him denounce "the new york times." we've seen him denounce "hamilton the musical." yet he can't find it in his heart, he can't find the gal to denounce white supremist groups. he couldn't find the gal to denounce david duke. of course he rebuked him as he said later on a few days later. but the reality of it is, he continues to lack the ability, the courage, to stand up to white nationalism, white supremacy in this country. part of the reason for it is because donald trump's very business record has been built on some of these things. perhaps it wasn't intentional racism but it was a racist impact. whether we're talking about the department of justice settlement twice whether we're talking about the ways in which he's

treated black employees. he ushered them off the floor of a trump casino. he's talked about a black accountant being laze and the only guys he wanted counting his money, guys, by the way, were guys with yarmulkes. he has a problem denouncing racism and he has, in fact, bralgs embraced it. it is time for the president-elect to do something different. as you heard from your last guest, 700 incidents of hate crime, of harassment. i don't know about you but my tweeter feed is a good example of that. it is high time for him to do something courageous and no longer stand on the backs of these people who are enraged and need someone to blame. this is not their country they're taking back. this is land we took from other people. it's time for us to start embracing the fact this say melting pot. perhaps even jambalaya because we're all different and web need to embrace those differences. >> one of the things people like about donald trump is he speaks

his mind and he's not afraid to use blunt talk. when he's talking about islamic terror, for instance, donald trump makes a point saying call it what it is. which is something a lot of people agree with. you know, why dancing around the terminology here. why is he so willing to campaign on calling terrorism radical islamic terrorism but he won't sit there and say this group who says it supports me is a bunch of nazis or racists? >> he's too busy calling out the same people marching down the streets tearing down local businesses. too busy with the people shooting our cops in the street. look, these people are morons. they're idiots, okay. but we're the republican party. we're the party that freed the slaves. we're the party of martin luther king -- >> no, no, no, you're not the party of martin luther king. >> he wallas a republican. look at your history. >> my history is clear. your history is ass backwards. >> okay, the republican party is not the ones who passed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment? >> let me help you. >> please do. >> the republican party is not

the party of the 13th and 14th and 15th amendment. your party is the one pushing forth voter suppression legislation all throughout this country. your party is the one who helps ensure that shelby versus holder would gut the voting rights act of 1965. your party is the one in pennsylvania where a gop legislator said these laws were put in place to ensure that republicans would win back house, the senate, the presidency. let's be clear. your party is living and thriving off of oppression. >> absolutely not. >> perhaps you were the party of anti-slavery and abolition back in the day but that is not who you are today, sir, you're not going to do that today. >> you know what it is, 175 years ago, largely democrats traded a steady stream of labor and housing, housing and food in exchange for labor. now that same democratic party seeks to share that same exchange of housing and food, vouchers, affordable housing, in exchange for a steady stream of votes. >> is that what we're doing? >> yes, the democratic party seeks to divide and keep this

country guessing for then, playing for them. the republican party wants to have people with their eyes on the horizon achieving as much as they can. that's what donald trump represents. when you look at the new york city skyline, you see achievement. he wants every american to achieve the same thing. >> on the backs of poor people. >> -- dependent on them. >> no, i have to respond to this. on the backs of poor people. a donald trump that refused to pay contractors. a donald trump who used immigration laws and abused immigration laws to build these same buildings. you just compared what democrats have done, whatever that is, to slavery. you're saying that democrats and the fact that people are not who and what they should be, they haven't been able to economically thrive in this country you're comparing them to slaves? if you want to talk about that, let's talk about economic inequality and what your candidate is going to do to address some of that. part of the real issue here, carl, is the fact that he won't denounce white supremacy. >> he has it how many times do you want him to do it? >> no, he hasn't. >> not this time. >> that's how he uses everything

else. until he goes on a platform and says this is not the path for our future, we will not be able to benefit off of the backs of poor people and continue to push this type of racist propaganda. we need to call it for what it is. the very people who you're talking about who you think are looking for free gifts and handouts are people who have been disenfranchised since they got off the slave ship in this country. until you recognize that and pay for that, we're going to t continue to -- >> now we're going to pay for it? >> yes, there should be reparations. >> that is the most ridiculous un-american statement i've ever heard. >> oh, there's nothing un-american about reparations. >> do you want white people to pay black people for the slavery? >> i think that's a really dumbed down way of talking about it. it's a really intellectual conversation to have. >> what do you propose? >> there are housing -- >> hey, guys. >> i knew we didn't have time for it. >> i think we have shifted a little far a field. >> i agree.

but we went down this road talking about blaming democrats for slavery which is a favorite republican talking point and it is just wrong, racism is to blame for slavery. >> both of you condemn this meeting that happened over the weekend. >> yes, absolutely. >> a point of agreement. >> both of you think it was hateful rhetoric. >> yes. >> yes. >> racist anti-semitic stuff. >> yes. >> absolutely. >> all right, well, that's good. i don't think you can ever say it too much. and i don't think our leaders frankly ever can say it too much. so carl higby, angela rye, thank you. a thoughtful discussion. i hope we get a chance to talk about this at greater length coming up. thank you, guys. >> thank you, john. all right, donald trump, he is busy picking his administration, but not so busy that he can't recommend positions for other governments. why his suggestion for an ambassadorial position from the united kingdom raised some eyebrows. that's next. ♪ i want a hippopotamus for christmas ♪

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dealdash.com for great deals. and start bidding today! president-elect donald trump making a pointments, including ones he has no power over. in a tweet overnight, he said many people would like to see nigel farage represent great britain as their ambassador to the united states. the spokesperson said, there is no vacancy, we already have an ambassador to the u.s. joining me, mary beth long. thank you for being with us. you know, there are people who look at this and say this is the president-elect not quite understanding how it works. your reaction. >> i think that's probably unfair in one of the instances in which we have a very dynamic

unpredictable president-elect who made a comment on tweet or on twitter by tweeting many people would like to see this guy. i'm met the british ambassador. the uk ambassador to the united states. he's excellent. this is not a suggestion. i think this is a dialogue the president-elect is having with the people. >> by the way, there are plenty of people in this country who would likely say, you know, what we want a guy who doesn't stick to the stale old conventions. we want someone in there who maybe doesn't always toe the same line everyone's expecting. >> well, i don't think actually even the president was saying that. i doubt he's even met the uk ambassador. they're saying, new blood, new changes, i like what i hear about this guy. certainly the ambassador i've met in washington from the uk, i can't say that he's stodgy, i can't say much about him. i don't think the president-elect was either. look, the guy -- >> so -- >> excuse me, i'm sorry. >> no i, was going to say you signed a letter early on in this campaign as a republican who was

not supportive of donald trump. you came out against him. then before the campaign, you changed your mind. now you were supportive of him during this transition period. what do you like you have seen so far during this transition? we don't have, you know, we have a national security adviser appointment steve bannon as special assistant and maybe the secretary of defense going forward. what do you think so far of the foreign policy picks? >> i think the foreign policy picks are very mature. i don't think anyone can make criticisms of general mattis. there have been a lot appointments. calling governor romney in. look, this is a president who's taking his time meeting with a variety of people. all of whom, or many of whom, were frankly republican candidates or those were considered under both republican and democratic regimes. he's taking his time. he's looking for wisdom. i don't think he's made any premature -- in fact, every

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all right. moments from now donald trump will sit down with the "new york times" after cancelling a meeting earlier this morning coming after he met with top television executives and anchors off the record. and joining me, brian stelter.

what the heck's going on with the "new york times"? >> donald trump wakes up, reads the newspaper, gets angry and tweets. seen it several days in a row. this morning, cancelling a meeting with the "new york times" about 6:00 in the morning. however, by 8:30, an aide on the phone, "times" publisher trying to reschedule. in a few moments he'll head over to the "new york times" off the record for a chat, and more importantly an hour-long on the record interview. one of trump's most in-depth conversations with reporters yet. we could learn more. >> ask whatever they want? >> a "60 minutes" interview, that's about it. a unique opportunity. trump was hostile with broadcast executives. see if he take as similar tone today. he may despise the press, seems like h does. he knows he has to speak with us. >> brian stelter, thank you. appreciate it. >> thanks. next, more on the breaking news. donald trump's charity, the

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hello there. welcome to "cnn newsroom." thank you for joining me. i'm brianna keilar. we still don't know how the president-elect plans to fill out the rest of his cabinet, and the west wing, and in general the executive branch, but today we have a better idea what donald trump plans to do starting 59 days from today. what he's decided to drop as well. now, topping that list apparently is a new investigation of his former opponent hillary clinton. maybe not doing it? that's what it sounds like. here's how his former campaign manager now senior adviser put it on morning television.