♪ all of those things combined have given me increasing hope that president-elect trump is the very man that can bring us to that better future. >> breaking overnight, mitt romney dines with donald trump, embracing the man he tried to derail a few months ago. did he do enough to convince the president-elect to pick him as secretary of state. the president-elect announced a deal with carrier air conditioning to get 1,000

jobs. a former goldman sachs banker and billionaire to head up treasury and complermerce, g morning, i'm john berman. >> good morning, i'm christine romans, it's 4:00 a.m. in the east. scallops, carameled and this is inside the national hotel. >> look at the lighting there. >> right over there, across the seat -- the president-elect and the man who tried to derail his campaign joined at the table by chief of staff reince priebus. after, romney seemed humble and impressioned. >> i had a meeting with president-elect trump. we had a discussion about affairs throughout the world. and the discussion was

enlightening and interesting and engaging. i enjoyed it very, very much. i was also very impressed by the remarks he made on his victory night. by the way, it's not easy, i know that myself, he did something i tried to do and was unsuccessful at. he won the general election. and he continues with a message of inclusion bringing people together. and his vision is something which obviously is connected with the american people in a very powerful way. >> cnn asked if mitt romney will be trump's secretary of state, trump's answer, we'll see what happened. >> he was speaking the language. he noted that trump won. while mitt romney didn't offer apology which a lot of people were looking for, he did use language that may have been seen as conciliatory. this morning may be a victory

for president-elect trump. the president-elect and the air conditioner manufacturer carrier reached a deal to keep more than 1,000 jobs in the state. donald trump tweeted this last night, he said i will be going to indiana on thursday to make a major announcement concerning carrier a.c. staying in indianapolis, great deal for workers. vice president-elect mike pence will be joining him. >> there are also critics that carrier received new inducements from the state of indiana, translation, money. other taxpayers could be on the hook. it's also unclear how many jobs will be lost. carrier said close to 1,000, but 2200 work at the factory. this is a deal, a big one for donald trump making good on his

promise to stop jobs shipping overseas at least in this case. remember, carrier is owned by united technology. what does united technology do? it makes big engines for all things used in the militia story. if you look at the overall picture, donald trump had leverage. team trump had leverage even if a tiny bit of revenue for united technology was diverted to this country for defense contracts. >> we still don't know the terms of the deal. indiana may have put forth a fair amount of money there but for workers and their jobs, it's a big deal. a former goldman sachs banker, movie financier, a billionaire, the bid for commerce secretary. let's get the latest from cnn's

sunlen serfaty. >> good morning. president-elect trump making a slew of staffing decisions. trump has chosen billionaire investor wilbur ross for commerce secretary and former goldman sachs partner steve mnuchin for treasury secretary. those announcements are expected to come formally by team president-elect trump. the president-elect also announced tuesday former labor secretary elaine chao will lead the transportation department and it will be who will be chosen sect which continues to take center stage. trump hosting more of the contenders here in new york on tuesday. he met with senate foreign relations committee chairman bob corker. and a sitdown with mitt romney last night. a big dinner meeting john

george, at the trump international hotel here. in new york city. a lot of discussion over the top aides, still, who would make the best pick for the job, the best high profile picture. >> let's talk about donald trump's bid for treasury secretary tore, he spent 17 years at goldman sachs. he was also trump's campaign finance chairman. expect him to be grilled. he bought the company for penneys on the dollar. paid millions of fines and then sold it for a big profit. trump is also tapping a fellow billionaire, longtime friend and colleague, wilbur ross. he owns his own investment company. and made huge money in steel and cole.

and also a billionaire, some say education secretary betsy devos is worth billions. i've known devos for years. in a company whos that thought deeply about upward mobility for people in this country. and he had concerns about, you know, education, how well we're educating our students. how well we're viewing things to be prepared to lead this century. these are things that i've spoken to him personally about. so he's an interesting pick for commerce. >> interesting as well given that donald trump ran against wall street high finance, mnuchin is wall street. cnn has learned that retired marine general donald kelly is emerging as secretary for homeland security i believe. a source for the transition team told our mark preston that the president-elect likes kelly's views on border security.

kelly the former head of u.s. southern command. that will make three retired jens in the trump cabinet along with mike flynn who will be the national security adviser. >> the president-elect plans to kick off a thank you tour on wednesday, starting with a rally in cincinnati. vice president-elect mike spence joining him in ohio. green party candidate jill stein has paid a $3.5 million fee to clear the way for a recount in wisconsin beginning tomorrow. but a judge has rejected lower demand that all of the counties do their counting by hand. because of the excessive fee charged by election officials. wildfires in tennessee turning deadly. more than 150 buildings burned.

thousands expected to evacuate their homes. the question now, will rain bring an end to this? up next.

rain could come to the rescue in tennessee. wildfires fuelled by extreme dry conditions and 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts are being blamed for three deaths. authorities say the fires are, quote, human cause. local flames destroyed hundreds of buildings and homes and forced thousands in the city of gatlinburg to evacuate. >> reporter: john and christine, the mayor of gatlinburg said this is the situation where people were basically running for their lives as they were trying to get out of town, trying to escape the flames. weapon talked to one man who escaped with his family on monday. he said that the smoke was so thick, that when he was caravanning out of gatlinburg with his wife ahead of him. he could not see his car. his 1-year-old daughter was

choking in the backseat. there were harrowing tales like that all over gatlinburg. people trying to get out. some of them did not. as of now, we know at least three people killed at different locations. the local fire chief said they don't know if more people were killed because they have not been able to get to any area. you've got fire crews outside of gatlinburg. they're getting ready to deploy another truck here. a short time ago we saw a bunch ever them stream out of here with sirens blazing. you know, this came up on people so very fast. that a lot of people did not have time to get out. very little time. this is a situation where high winds, some as strong as hurricane force high 80s miles per hour, were blowing embers miles from where they picked the embers up and dumping the embers on trees like they were match sticks because this place has

experienced a drought since april. i spoke to a spokeswoman who said as of now there are about 15,000 acres that have been charred. and she said, a very important piece of information she gave us, she said this was human cause. now, i pressed her on whether this was arson or not. she would not go there, she said she's not ready to say that but they do know that this is human cause. wednesday, they're expecting some rain to come here, hopefully, that is going to help douse some of the flames. with the rain they're expecting winds to douse up to 60 mile an hour. the wind may flame flames in other areas making firefighters' life more interesting. john and christine. >> a beautiful part of the country. pigeon forge, that's closed. some lodging is open on a limited basis. basically, they're focusing on the community. she just shot a public service

announcement about stopping forest fires. this is a beautiful part of the country that really has been hurt there. we'll continue to watch. hopefully that rain will help. meanwhile, ohio state a show of unity after a stabbing on campus. the university tweeting out this picture, more than 1,000 gathering to reflect. abdul artan purchased knives on the day of his rampage luckily to carry out the stabbing. investigators are trying to determine whether a plane that crashed in the mounts of medellin ran out of fuel. six people survived apparently because of a lack of fire damage in the wreckage. that is leading investigator to consider fuel starvaion as a contributing factor. the obama administration has decided not to send in official delegation to attend fidel

castro's funeral on thursday. rhodes has played a key role in normalizing relations. thousands fleeing. hundreds of thousands caught in the cease-fir cross-fire, we'll have a live report.

thousands of sillians fleeing aleppo this morning. syrian government forces unleashing a ferocious ground assault and air strikes in a bid to take back the city from rebel control. some 200,000 residents caught in

the cross-fire. now they've been told to get out or face annihilation. cnn muhammad lela tracking the situation live from istanbul. this is just a real, real strong attempt here to turn the tide against these rebel elements. >> reporter: well, actually, that's exactly right, christine, what we might be seeing is effectively the rebels' last stand. just this morning we have a fresh round of regime air strikes targeting a number of neighborhoods in eastern aleppo as the regime continues its choke hold. there are is drone footage of hundreds if not thousands of civilians trying to escape to the western part of the city. we understand people are going to be put up in a camp that's close to the airport. christine, for a number of days we've been talking about how dire the situation is that

they're running out of fuel and medicine. the u.n. says there's no more fully functioning hospitals yet. let me spell out how dire that situation is. there's an organization call the white helmets. we've seen that dramatic footage that go in after a air strike and try to pull the victims out of the rubble. they now they can no longer do that because they don't have the fuel to put into their ambulances just to drive to those locations where the air strikes have taken place. the white helmets are the first line of defens and only responders to the crises. and when the white helmets say they can no longer basically do their job, it means the last line of defense in aleppo is no longer operating. that's the most hopeless this situation has gotten in the last four years. >> certainly frightening for the civilians caught there. former police officer michael slager took the stand in

his own defense in south carolina. slager is charged in the footing death of walter scott. slager told the jury that scott called his stun gun and that he feared for his life. he said he fired until it was over. cell phone video shows scott running away from slager when he was shot. closing arguments are expected today. betsy shelby will face trial in the shooting death of terence crutch crutcher. shelby is accused of shooting and killing crutch here was unarmed during a traffic stop in september. it is decision day for democrats in the house of representatives. members are set to vote on their incoming leadership for the new congress. ohio congressman tim ryan is challenging longtime democratic leader nancy pelosi. representative ryan said it's time for new blood and fresh ideas.

pelosi, though, is expected to retain her position as leader. martin scorsese is expected to meet with pope francis for an audience of 400 priests in rome. it's a longtime goal of scorsese. "silence" will open in december. >> finally, he'll make new movies. mitt romney calls his dinner with the president-elect enlightening, probably delicious also considering john george. did he make his case for secretary of state. that's next.

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i had a wonderful evening with president-elect trump. >> mitt romney's dinner with

donald trump afterward praise for the man he called a fraud just a few months back. >> the president-elect delivers on a campaign promise. details on a deal to keep 1,000 indiana factory jobs from moving to mexico. >> the trump administration's economic team now taking shape. one pick is from wall street. the other from wall street and hollywood. welcome back to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. about 30 minutes after the hour. breaking overnight, donald trump and mitt romney breaking bread and maybe breaking barriers that existed between the two. they agt frog legs and talked diplomacy at jean georges restaurant. >> nothing says middle class like frog legs, nothing says working class like jean georges. >> you had frog legs? >> i think it tastes like

chicken. >> the restaurant is inside the trump international hotel in manhattan. the president-elect will be joined by the man who will be the chief of staff and now frog legs lever reince priebus. afterwards, mitt romney took a decidedly different tone than during the election season. >> i had a wonderful evening with president-elect trump. we had a discussion about affairs throughout the world. and these discussions have been enlightening and interesting. and engaging. i've enjoyed them very, very much. i was also very impressed by the remarks he made on his victory night. by the way, it's not easy winning. i know that myself. he did something sigh tried to do and was unsuccessful in accomplishing. he won the general election. and he continues with a message that continues to bring people fopg and his vision is obviously

connected with the american people. >> that is cat nip for donald trump mitt romney talking about winning. that's exactly the kind of language that gets to donald trump. when asked if mitt romney will be his secretary as secretary of state, his answer was we're going to see what happens. >> and jim acosta got a reservation there? >> he got a reservation there at jean georges. that's just good reporting. he got a reservation. i don't know who picked up the bill. >> well, somebody did. president-elect trump and carrier strike a deal to keep 1,000 jobs in indiana. trump blasted carrier for its plans to close a facility in the state and open a new facility in mexico. he tweeted this. i will be going to indiana thursday to make a major announcement with carrier staying in indianapolis, great deal for workers. vice president-elect mike pence

expected to join him. cnbc reports that carrier received new inducements from the state of indiana. translation, money, either in the form of tax breaks or other incentives. critics say taxpayers could be on the hook. it's also unclear how many jobs will be saved here. carrier said close to 1,000 jobs will be saved. 2200 people work at the factories. what is clear, this is a huge win for donald trump making good on his promise to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas. also here, the big picture, carrier is owned by the big company united technology. utx makes jet engines and other stuff that the country buys. who knows what was going on behind the scenes saying look you get a lot of contracts, your parent company, why don't you save these 1,000 jobs. >> he doesn't a lot to give. but mike spence the governor of

indiana, maybe they got some tax incentives. >> he does have something to give. i just think it shows a lot of companies have suggested we are working with the incoming administration. they're terrified about what he could do with trade policy to really, really crimp their bottom lines and end the globalized way to do things. >> if you're one of those 1,000 workers who had their jobs saved right now -- >> the union is saying they hope this is not false. they hope this isn't as a result of a pr. they really want to see this follow through. >> we'll wait to see the details. the president-elect is expected to roll out his team today, a banker, choice for secretary, sand a billionaire is the pick for commerce secretary. let's get the details or the latest from cnn's sunlen serfaty. good morning, john and christine, president-elect trump is now making major steps to

fill out his cabinet, making a slew of cabinet positions. transition sources have confirmed that trump has chosen will bus ross as commerce secretary and steve mnuchin as treasury. and elaine chao to now lead the transportation department and gop congressman tom price as his pick for secretary of health and human services but it really is this palace intrigue over who will be chosen as secretary of state which continues to take center stage. trump hosting more of the c contenders here in new york. he met with bob corker and having a more personal second sitdown with mitt romney last night. a big dinner meeting at the restaurant jean georges at the trump international hotel here

in new york city. a lot of deep divisions over trump aides over who still would be the best pick for this job. the most high profile cabinet positionoverall. >> let's talk about the treasury secretary, he's a former partner at goldman. steve mnuchin 7017 years at goldman maximum. he's got movies in theaters right now. expect him to be grilled during confirmation hearings on failed mortgage lending indymac. he bought that company on penneys to the dollar. >> he'll also be asked about "avatar" which he helped fund. >> he helped fund "avatar"? >> congress is obsessed about that. >> he will not be asked. let's talk about wilbur ross, he's a former billionaire to run congress. he's the face of american business around the world.

he made a lot of money buying distressed companies and turning them around. when i say a lot of money, i mean a lot of money. he has deep roots in steel and coal. he knows how to borrow money and find value in companies. he represented trump's casino bond holders. and betty devos is also a billionaire with billions as well. >> billionaire worth billions is the right kind of billionaire. cnn has learned that john kelly is emerging as donald trump tick as homeland security. telling our mark preston that the president-elect likes kelly's views on border security. he's the former base of u.s. southern command. if he ends up in the cabinet that would make three retired jens. james mato is the leading pick

and mike flynn will be adviser. he does not require senate confirmation. a tour will focus on key battleground states that helped propel trump to victory. vice president-elect pence expected to join him in ohio. green party candidate jill stein has paid a $3.5 million fee for a recount in wisconsin. a judge has rejected her demand that all wisconsin counties do the recount by hand. the judge ruled there's not enough evidence of fraud or abuse. stein says she plans to raise $2.3 million because of excessive fee charged with wisconsin election officials. >> new details in the deadly plane crash in colombia. investigators say there was very little fire in the damage. that's why there were a few survivors. could it be the plane simply ran

out of fuel?

all right. we've got breaking news for you out of alabama. you can see the pictures just coming into us. a deadly tornado ripping through jackson county just a few hours ago. this is in the northeastern part of the state. three people are dead. there are multiple injuries here. the county coroner's office telling crews are on scene right now. they're assessing the damage. just a few hours ago, a deadly tornado in alabama. three fatalities and injuries. wildfires fueled by extreme drought and 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts, they are blamed for at least three deaths in tennessee but rain is now on the way. authorities say the fires are, quote, human cause. the smoke and flames damaged 150 buildings and forced thousands

in the city of gatlinburg to evacuate. let's get the latest from cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: john and christine, the mayor of gatlinberg said this is a situation where people were basically running for their lives trying to get out of town. we talked to one man who escaped with his family on monday, he said that the smoke and flames were so intense and so thick that when he was caravanning out of gatlinburg with his wife ahead of him he was trailing in a car behind him. he could not see the car. he said his 1-year-old daughter was choking in the backseat. harrowing tales like that all over gatlin brurg. people trying to get out. some of them did not. we know at least three people killed at difficult locations. the local fire chief says they don't know if more people were killed because they have not been able to get to ever affected area. you've got fire crews staging behind me in the shelter just outside of gatlinburg.

they're getting ready to deploy. another fire truck here. a short time ago we saw them streaming out of here with fire sirens blazing. people have very little time to get out. this is a situation where high winds some as strong as hurricane force in the high 80s miles per hour were blowing embers, miles from where they picked the embers up and dumping the embers on to trees that were already like match sticks because this place has experienced a drought since april. i talked to a national parks spokeswoman a short time ago who said as of now there are 15,000 acres that have been charred. she says a very important piece of information she gave us. she said this was human cause. now, i pressed her on whether this was arson or not. she would not go there. she said she's not ready to say that. but they do know this is human cause and that part of this is under investigation. now, into wednesday, they're

expecting some rain to come here. and hopefully that is going to help douse some of the flames. but with the rain, they're also expecting some wind. maybe gusts up to 60 miles an hour. while the rain may help douse the winds, the winds may help to flame the flames. >> a show of unity at ohio state, one day after a stabbing spree on campus. the university tweeting out this picture. more than 1,000 people gathering to reflect on the attack that left 11 people injured. authorities confirming the suspect abdul artan purchased knives on the morning ever his rampage. likely to carry out the request of isis and anwar al awlaki. six people in the chartered plane flight, six people did

survive. there was no fire in the damage of the wreckage. the tragedy is breaking hartings throughout brazil. let's get the latest from cnn's shasta darlington in medellimed. >> reporter: the small turn of events for the soccer team of brazil on its way to compete in the soccer cup for the very first time. the plane crashed in the mountains here outside of medellin, 78 people were killed. there are six at this hospital. in part because it was difficult for rescue workers to reach the site. there was fog, it was dark and driving rain. they were eventually able to dig through the wreckage, recovery bodies and find the survivors. three of them soccer team members, two crew and one journalist. now, this is an absolute tragedy in brazil where the president has declared three days of mourning. hundreds of fans poured into the

stadium in chapeco in southern brazil. sharp contrast of the teams we've seen celebrating their recent victory. this was a team that was virtually unknown a couple years ago. they climbed their way to the top of brazil's soccer league. in medellin, the investigation continues. authorities say they found both black boxes. they're in perfect condition. and now the soccer teams and the fans are going to hold a candlelight vigil on wednesday night where the first game was going to be played. back to you. all right. the obama administration has decided that tout send an official u.s. delegation to attend fidel castro's funeral on sunday. the president is sending national security adviser ben rhodes and u.s. diplomat jeff de

laurentiis to represent him. 30 minutes past the hour. i have some good news for you if you're a homeowner. >> you do? >> i promise. the home prices they're now higher than the peak in 2006. and some markets, these price gains are stunning. the entire crash wiped away. i'm going to show you the hottest places to live. cnn money stream. >> frog legs. "credit karma huh?" "yeah, it's free." "credit karma. give youself some credit."

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses,

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former police officer michael slager took the stand in his own defense in his murder trial in south carolina. slager is charged in the shooting death of walter scott following a routine traffic stop last year. the former officer told the jury that scott grabbed his stun gun that he feared for his life. and he kept on firing until he believed the threat was over. more now from boris sanchez in

charleston. zblaun and christine, some very uncomfortable moments in court as michael slager took the stand in his own defense. the prosecution grilling him, going frame by frame, in excruciating detail. the prosecution asking him all kinds of specific questions where was he looking at certain parts of the tape. how was he shifting his weight during the encounter. and the question that kept coming up again and again how could walter scott have been a threat to michael slager life if he was trying to get away. a point where he was still unarmed. here's a bit of that from the prosecution and michael slager. >> would you agree that even if mr. scott had that taser it could not have been used on you on the distance depicted on that video? >> at that time, i didn't have that information so i can't answer the question. >> you've seen the video. >> i have.

>> you've heard he was 18 feet away. would you agree he was not a threat to you with that taser from that distance? >> no. >> okay. >> okay. so you're going to stick to that? >> yes. and the reason is from 18 feet, he could have turned around and attacked me again. >> the moment after that was also extremely uncomfortable. the prosecution literally handing michael slager a tape measure and then walking the 18 feet away that represented the distance between he and walter scott when he opened fire. the prosecutor turning around and saying how would walter scott have been a threat from his distance. of course, slager's defense was before that witness had started rolling video, walter scott had taken his taser and aiming it in miss direction. the prosecution ended it by asking michael slager if he cried that day that walter scott was shot. both sides wrapping up. we're expecting closing

arguments today. decision day for democrats and house of representatives. members are set to vote on incoming leadership team for congress. ohio congressman tim ryan is challenging longtime democratic leader nancy pelosi. ryan says it's time for new blood and fresh ideas. pelosi, though, is expected to retain her position as the top democrat in the house. the stock market. record heights today. dow futures higher. nasdaq hit a high that couldn't hold on to the record. in the first hour of trading there, shares in asia closed with gains overnight. investors watching oil prices. crude is jumping this morning. opec leaders meeting right now in vienna. home prices in the u.s. have never been higher. the home price index shows a 5.5% increase in homes. the average price $184,800

beating the housing boom in july 2006. the hottest metro housing market in the past years is seattle. prices up there 11%. portland, similar gains. denver and dallas also posting big jumps there. another sign of economical strength, gdp, now the strongest in two years. a second reading, from third quarter ticked up 3.2%. the initial reading was something like 2.9%. the u.s. has not grown that fast since the third quarter of 2014. boosting the growth. a good sign along with record sales on black friday and cyber monday. one interesting note on spending. a new survey finds 68% of women say they're primarily responsible for the household spending but 30% of men believe

they're responsible for holiday shopping. men and women, all in one feed, download it now. >> can i ask you a question about housing? because that's a big deal. whenever they get high now, i think we're all conditioned now to think well, are we talking bubble again? is there reason to fear? >> mortgage rates are starting to tick up, they're at 4.25% right now. first-time home buyers are a big part of the market which i think is increasing. there are other statistics not just the home prices that i think are important. looks if wages are increasing and the job market is getting stronger then that supports that. >> that's a rising tide across the board. >> exactly. ea"early start" continues right now. >> all of those things combined give me increasing hope that president-elect trump is the very man who can lead to us that better future.

>> mitt romney dining with donald trump embracing the man he tried to derail a few months ago. did he do enough for the president-elect to pick him as secretary of state. >> the president-elect announcing an agreement with carrier air conditioning to keep 1,000 jobs from moving to mexico. so what is in this deal and how did he get it done? >> the trump money team, the president-elect poised to pick a former goldman sachs executive and banker. two very itch grich guys. good morning, i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it's wednesday, november 30th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. the breaking news overnight -- donald trump and mitt romney, they had a big, big dinner, trying to get past their differences and perhaps talk about the state department gig. mitt romney is said to be considering the job if, if it is

offered to him by the president-elect. they had frog legs at jean georges restaurant. >> have you eaten frog legs? >> i've never had frog legs nor have i pronounced jean-goerges restaurant correctly. you can see the man who will be donald trump's chief of staff reince priebus as well. after the dinner, mitt romney went to the microphone. >> i had a wonderful evening with president-elect trump. we had another discussion about affairs throughout the world. and these discussions with him have been enlightening and interesting. and engaging. i've enjoyed them very, very much. i was also very impressed by the remarks he made on his victory night. by the way, it's not easy