nearing final decisions over the top cabinet positions. inside the broader transition team, there is an internal struggle. disagreement over the big decisions between the more the two power centers in trump's world. the battle for appointments to president-elect donald trump's cabinet being called a knife fight and buffoonery, according to sources within his transition team. with potential picks for west wing and key national security posts drawing sharp internal disagreements. >> i think you'll hear some additional appointments. >> reporter: but today inside trump tower, president-elect trump and mike pence are hunkering down. the positions to be possibly nailed down as early today include secretaries of state, education, commerce, and treasury. >> he's a nightmare, and he's the chief adviser to the president of the united states now. >> reporter: this as the

appointment of steve ban bannon as trump's chief strategist continues to draw sharp rebuke, critics citing his close ties to the alt-right movement, known for white nationalism and anti-semitism. >> i work closely with mr. ban bannon. he's been the general of this campaign. frankly, people should look at the full resume. i'm personally offended you'd think i'd manage a campaign where that would be one of the going philosophies. it was not. >> reporter: and new concerns over conflict of interest are emerging with trump considering seeking top security clearance for his adult children and son-in-law, according to a transition team source. >> we'll be in new york and take care of the business. >> reporter: no paperwork has been filed, but the children could have access to secure communications technology, travel schedules, and secret service procedures. mean while, trump and russian president vladimir putin speaking by phone. the two men discussing the need for joint efforts in the fight against common enemy number one, international terrorism and

extremism. all this as deep domestic divisions remain. anti-trump demonstrators protesting across the country for the sixth straight day. >> we reject the president-elect! >> and a trump transition adviser says it is possible that there could be some cabinet level appointments coming out today once they have made their final picks. very clear as trump huddles today with mike pence, although they are inching toward decision time, very clear the final, final decisions haven't been made. >> sunlen, thanks so much. president obama on his final foreign trip. air force one touching down in athe athens, greece. part of obama's mission, reassuring allies about his successor, president-elect trump. let's bring in cnn's michelle k kosinski. she's live in athens. >> reporter: before he left, we heard him speak at some length

post-election. he was asked directly, do you have concerns about a trump presidency. >> i don't think he's ideological. he's pragmatic in that way. that can serve him well as long as he's got good people around him and he has a clear sense of direction. do i have concerns? absolutely. one of the things i advised him to do was to make sure he commits to certain courses of action, he's really dug in and thought through how various issues play themselves out. >> reporter: the president wants o sound optimistic, but of course the elephant in the room is always all of the things the president said about donald trump during the campaign, including that he's unfit. well, the president now says,

yes, there are elements of donald trump's personality, his temperament that won't serve him well unless he recognizes and corrects them. he said in the meeting they had, donald trump did express a commitment to nato. he said there are parts of obamacare he might preserve. and president obama thinks he is sincere about wanting to build america. alisyn? >> michelle, thanks so much for all that background. let's bring in cnn's chief political correspondent dana bash and cnn political analyst and editor in chief of "the daily beast" john avalon to talk about all this. let's talk about what is reportedly this infighting in terms of the top. i think it's about a division of power, right. so what will steve bannon be in charge of? do we know how it will be delineated? >> well, i don't think it will be delineated very much. that's how it worked in the campaign.

but running a campaign with a handful of people and running an entire country or a global economy is quite different. so the way this is going to shake out is unclear. i'm not so sure that the sort of infighting, if you will, is so much between those power centers as it is between those who want the jobs that are open. it's sort of the typical jockeying, but it is jockeying on steroids because these people genuinely didn't think they would be here. they thought they would be going off on their merry way, having their lives returning to normalcy, and hillary clinton would be doing a transition. and that's not happening. >> i think dana is closer on. i know it's a good headline that they're infighting in there, but it doesn't square with my reporting, what's going on inside the trump transition. first of all, i've been around transitions very closely. they're never not messy. there's always a conflict, everybody trying to jockey and show their worth to the man or whoever is at the top of the

administration. so there's some of that. and then there's this other thing that i don't think squares that accurately with my reporting, which is this idea of calling bannon an outsider. even on this network, you hear the insider in reince priebus and the outsider in bannon. he's not an outsider. you just heard glenn beck say he's a nightmare. >> the cool-headed glenn beck is now weighing in. >> now acting as character reference. >> glen beck is saying this guy is something totally outside the sphere of normal. this reporting that, wow, they're really killing each other in there, not true. this idea he's just a regular outsider so it's like a typical balance of influences, not true. >> there's nothing typical here. >> there's nothing normal about this election or this transition. to dana's point, normally

transitions have been methodically planned. this one was treated as an afterthought for a number of reasons. that increases the chaos. you can call it a scrum, call it a knife fight if you want to be dramatic. you have a bunch of people who see unusual opportunities with massive ambition trying to curry favor while the clock ticks. they're big jobs with real responsibilities, and there's no clear process by which to select those people that's already been prebaked. >> let's look at some of the names being floated right now. secretary of defense. here are the names that are being floated. no idea if people are interested. jeff sessions, jim talented, john kyl, duncan hunter jr., bob corker. >> sarah murray and i were both told by sources who were involved in this yesterday that jeff sessions is now much more likely to be attorney general. >> than giuliani? >> well, definitely than giuliani.

giuliani, we were told -- rudy giuliani, and you'll appreciate this, but what rudy giuliani wants, rudy giuliani gets. and he wants secretary of state. i was told that people are assuming that he's going to go to the defense department. it's much more likely the former u.s. attorney, former judiciary chair is going to be tapped for a.g. >> is it true that what rudy wants, rudy gets? >> i think trump's been very op open about the fact that rudy was with him when other people weren't. he didn't run for the exits when the "access hollywood" tape came down. he was loyal, enthusiastic, and that creates loyalty on trump's part. i think what people don't appreciate about rudy, and i did work for him for many years when he was mayor of the city of new york, is in the meantime while he's deeply versed in the justice department, worked in reagan's justice department, he has really spent a lot of the

last ten years traveling the world on international business. that's really been the field that most fascinated him, even with his presidential campaign, which i worked on in policy. it's the international sphere that's fascinated rudy giuliani in the wake of 9/11 and the way folks might not see on the surface. >> now, the confusing part of this picture is he came on the show, seemed to be making a case for a.g. i was told afterwards that he was only talking in the personal context, not the professional context. he said, well, look, if you ask me about me, i'm very qualified to be attorney general. i never said i wanted it. i just told you i was very qualified. >> probably objective. >> the word is that he also -- not only is he interested in the policy and substance of what it means to be secretary of state, that attorney general is more of a been there, done that, maybe beneath him. >> but how many political heavy weights does the president-elect have to put around him?

>> not many. >> none of this is normal, but this transition, you know -- the romney campaign had perhaps presumptuously been ready. >> they are trying to reach outside, to your point, the very small sphere of trump world and try to see who is willing to come in and people who might not normally be trump, you know, sort of political people. >> and how's that going? >> we'll see. >> it's also a weird thing when you walk into the room. you walk in for one of these interviews. let's say you're jamie dimon. hey, reince, how you doing? you look over there, and there's steve bannon, who might as well have a big black cape on for a lot of these guys. >> that's paul manafort with the cape. >> his had red lining on the

inside. his is all black. >> these are coalitions that reflect the trump campaign and some could argue the state of the party. the baggage that comes with breitbart is unusual by any measure. bannon has unabashed about trying to inherit the mantle and do a burn down the establishment approach to politics. a lot of the folks around that have been advocates of white identity politics. that's a problem. >> i knew andrew breitbart a little bit. this is way beyond what he wanted. >> oh, yeah. >> he didn't do any of the racially tinged headlines. >> he always refused to join the birther crowd. he rejected that at the time. >> all right. stick around. we have many more questions. president obama answering questions himself. actually, for like the first time since the election, he provided details and insight into the meeting with donald trump. he'll tell you what he's saying about the president-elect's controversial appointment of

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whmy doctor.houldn't hamy dentist.veryday? definitely my wife. wait, i know what i want. make sparkling water at home. and drink 43% more water every day. sodastream. love your water. so president obama has a tricky task. his side lost the election, yet now as president of the united states, he has to go and tell

people everything is going to be okay. so he's on this farewell international tour. greece, germany, peru. but before taking off, president obama did hold his first press conference since president-elect donald trump's historic and unexpected win last week. and he talked about the election and what he sees as the next president's likelihood of success. >> campaigning is different from governing. i think he recognizes that. i think he's sincere in wanting to be a successful president. and moving this country forward. i don't think any president ever comes in saying to himself, i want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country. >> let's dig into what he said with our political panel, dana bash and john avalon. dana, saying someone is not ideological but pragmatic is often a nice way of saying

something that's not so nice, which is this person doesn't really believe anything, so we'll have to see what they get done. >> that's true. but i think in this case, my read of what president obama said was that he actually has it in him to do -- to get some stuff done, as long as he's got people around him who can guide him to do that, and as long as he pays attention to some of the things that, you know -- i think this is what he was trying to say -- some of the things in my agenda, president obama's agenda, that people actually liked. my sort of broader takeaway from what president obama was doing was to me, it was as if when he declined so many times to bite on steve bannon or anything else about what he said about donald trump before the election was this is how you do it. it was almost as if he was sending a signal to donald trump. that was campaigning and this is governing. and there's a deferenifference.

this is how you act. this is how you purport yourself. >> that's really a helpful analysis. there's so many people who dislike trump, so many of hillary clinton's supporters who are like, what's happening? how could the president have gone, you know, in the space of 24 hours from saying this man's a danger, he's unfit, to now saying i think that he's going to do very well. it's cognitive dissonance for people. they don't speak washington speak. >> i think they also fundamentally misunderstand the responsibilities of being president. there's a higher form of patriotism. that's enshrined by the peaceful transfer of power. there is campaigning and the personal views that the president may have. but this is professional. this is about the country. saying that someone is not an ideologue but pragmatic is a compliment. it's the glass half full. this is donald the deal maker. now that the election is over, he's going to try to unite the nation because he has to. he has unified control of government. maybe he will be more pragmatic because he doesn't come from an

ideological opportunity. >> it depends on what the stuff is, dana. you said i think the president is suggesting he can get some stuff done. if that stuff is repealing obamacare just to show he got his success, that's not stuff that i think obama will be calling positive pragmatism. >> no, i absolutely agree with you on that. i think that he's resigned to the fact that ever since obamacare was enacted into law in 2009, '10, he realized that the republicans made it their mission to repeal it, and now they have full control of congress, a republican in the white house, and some of that is going to happen. but there are other issues where he clearly was reassured by donald trump. i'm going to go out on a crazy limb here. >> go for it. >> i think that it is possible that donald trump, after he gets some wins with the conservatives by putting a conservative on the court, maybe dealing with obamacare, he can be a person who can do immigration reform.

he can actually not only just do immigration reform, maybe not one big package, but ultimately have a path to citizenship because -- >> only nixon can go to china. >> right. the main reason why republican leaders couldn't do that before is the base would have gone crazy. he's the guy, he's the one guy at this point who they trust. >> only nixon can go to china, and that's a strategic position of strength for trump to be in. he's got the base. he may be best positioned, ironically, to build up beyond it. it'll be fascinating to see if that's the direction he goes. but as you're also figuring out, some of this unentangling is more difficult. if you take away pre-existing conditions, which he said he would try to keep, that has a cascading effect that hurts people. that's not his intention either. he's going to be walking that line, trying to make sure conservatives get what he wants to deliver, but he's got an opportunity to reshuffle the deck. >> you hear more and more from

his people. i don't think this is going to be the mirror image of what we saw with then president-elect obama and early president obama, which is this is my signature move, i'm going to do it. i think that undoing this health care plan, no matter how you feel about it, is so onerous, he can't get it done quickly. you need a year lead time just for the contracts to cancel that people are signing right now. you won't get a quick win. you're going to have a lot of people who may be, you know, hurt by this. i don't think it's on the top of the list. i think they'll announce it but won't work on it actively. they'll work on other things they can get done. >> it'll be jobs. he's going to do infrastructure at a major level we've never seen before. that should have bipartisan support. >> executive orders where he strips away regulations. >> the president said donald trump said he wasn't as focused on withdrawing from nato. >> oh, he was focused on making it a robust relationship, maintaining it. >> that would contradict things donald trump has written in books as far back as 2000, but

that would also be a recognition of reality. h >> his caveat is he says i'm good with nato, they just have to pay more. >> maybe we'll see donald the deal maker step in and readjust. the president is going to be giving a speech about global populism and the lack of trust in institutions. that's one of the high stakes questions that too often we don't discuss in the united states because it seems foreign to us, but it's core to the structure. >> you talked about the fact that president obama is -- you know, he just touched down in greece. can we wrap our minds around the fact that president obama is effectively an ambassador right now for president-elect trump to try to calm -- i mean, that's what he is. his job is to calm people down around the world. that's what he's going to be doing. >> and what a tough job that is. talk about opposite world. you have to go to greece to calm them down about what we might mean to them. that sink hole of international funds. >> strange bedfellows that have

been created by all of this. thank you for helping walk us through all to of this. so she broke down barriers for women and african-americans. we'll remember the life and legacy of gwen ifill ahead on "new day."

courage, fairness, and integrity. some of the words being used to remember gwen ifill, the late journalist whose historic career spanned three decades. she quickly became a pioneer for women and african-americans, shattering both gender and racial barriers. >> judy and i will be bringing you the news and analysis you've come to trust. >> ground breaking, history making, role model. gwen ifill was a veteran journalist, best known for co-anchoring "pbs news hour." >> she was a super nova in a profession loaded with smart and talented people. >> reporter: her career included stints at "the washington post," "the new york times," and pbs. ifill a pioneer for women and african-americans in journalism. >> let me turn this on its head.

because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about african-americans, people of color. i want to talk to you about white people. >> reporter: becoming the first african-american woman to host a major political talk show as moderator of pbs' "washington weekend review" in 1999. >> i'm gwen ifill of the news hour and washington week on pbs. >> reporter: in 2013 once again making history, co-anchoring "news hour" with judy woodruff. >> reporter: the two women the first two jointly lead a national nightly news broadcast. ifill taking on the challenge of moderating two vice presidential debates and a 2016 democratic primary debate. >> she not only informed today's citizens, but she also inspired tomorrow's journalists. >> reporter: while covering this year's presidential election, ifill was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. she chose to keep that diagnosis

private. she was 61 years old. >> such a -- so much packed into such a short life. >> it is so shocking for us. obviously not her loved ones who knew about this. but for people who didn't know she was battling cancer, to hear of her death, it was just so sudden to us. >> how she handled it also, i think, is probably a little emblematic of how she did her job. she never made the news about her in any way. she was suffering with a really hard form of cancer. she only took time when she had to. she came back after treatment and interviewed the president of the united states. that takes a lot of gumption. it really does. wow. our best to her friends and family. all right. we're going to take a quick break here. house democrats are calling on donald trump to rescind his latest appointment to the white house, steve bannon. why? what is it about steve bannon that is a legitimate concern, and what is just political hype? we're going to talk to a man who knows and worked with bannon well, next. the hospital after a dvt blood clot,

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white nationalist leaders and members of the so-called

alt-right are celebrating the appointment of breitbart executive steve bannon as donald trump's chief strategist. there is, of course, a lot of opposition for exactly that reason. let's bring in someone who knows steve bannon and who formally represented breitbart news before cutting ties with the organization earlier this year, president and ceo of endeavor strategies joins us now. good to have you back on the show. >> thanks for having me on. >> why should we be so concerned? why isn't this just, you know, they're bringing in somebody who's not from the mainstream, he's not in the club and all the media and insiders get upset that someone's in there that you, you know, isn't someone we really know. is that what this is about? or do you believe bannon represents something that needs to be taken seriously? >> i think this is really unprecedented, uncharted territory. this isn't what you normally see in administrations, in turnovers where they bring in somebody that may have a little bit different experience than what we see in washington. this is something that's

completely outside the normal situation. and i think that's why it has so many people concerned. it is an unpredictable variable. it's an unpredictable variable that has the ear of the president, who's the virtual co-white house chief of staff. nobody knows what's going to happen. >> so you worked there as an adviser. you're a pr guy, a strategist of different ways to get messaging across. what did you detect in your time working with them where you were like, this is a concern, i don't want to be around this? >> well, the way breitbart operates and the way steve operates, they're provocateurs. they're about creating conflict. when you're in the role of being someone who helps the president run the country, that's not the mentality you should have. it should be much more reserved and diplomatic and mature. and if you look at the pages of breitbart, the last word that comes to mind is mature. >> is it just about tactics, or is it about intention and what he believes? what does steve bannon believe

that people should be worried about? >> i think it's the overall world view that the united states should be more of an isolationist country, that we should have less partners, we should be doing less in the global community, withdraw and go backwards. what had so many americans concerned about this election particularly is the idea that the message of we need to go back to the way it was and undo what many would call progress in our country, that has a lot of people very scared and concerned about what that means for them. >> do you believe this ideology includes feeling that multiculturalism, respecting minority rights is a problem? >> i think the last thing you think of when you think about donald trump and steve bannon is the word respect. these are people who very freely and openly attack anybody who might disagree with them, who attack the free press, who attack standing pillars of our institution, of our democracy and want to change that. that has a lot of, rightfully so, very concerned. >> so this guy jared taylor, who

runs the site american renaissance, a white nationalist site. this isn't the kkk we're talking about. these are people with illegitimate or legitimate grievances. there has been some waffling on some candidate trump's signature issues. build a wall, looking at muslim immigrants. i suspect one of steve bannon's important positions will be an anti-waffler. some can say, good, he promised it, he should do it. that's a tough spot for trump, right. because he did talk this talk. what do you see in this? why should that be a concern for people? >> one, trump set himself up to be held to a standard he set during the campaign. it's going to be his words and his rhetoric he's measured by, by his own supporters, by the most passionate alt-right support he has.

i think steve is there to ensure he doesn't waffle on these things. there's a difference in saying something in the beginning, delaying a little bit, and trying to garner some good favor with everybody else before pursuing the agenda he talked about for so long. i think he's going to ultimately try to do those things. i think right now this is all just posturing. >> do you belief that steve bannon would be a force to oppose the respectedi inrespect for minorities like the lgbtq community? >> absolutely. look at how on the pages of breitbart they talk about these communities and minorities and relations and women and the role of women in this country. that's kind of a playbook at least for the type of rhetoric that they're comfortable with. actions always start with words and turn to something much more serious, much more substantive. all we have to measure both the incoming president and steve by are the words from the past and the stories we read on the site that they describe as their go-to place for news. >> last question may be the most

relevant one. in your experience with this man, steve bannon, is it what he really believes, or is this just what has been working for him with this media product of breitbart, you know, that passion with a small base of people who believe these things. is it hype and business, or is this who he is? >> i think it's a little bit of both. one of the real observations is it's hard to discern where breitbart ends and where steve bannon the person begins. i've heard stories of people coming out saying, well, he's treated me very well, i'm jewish and he's respected me. >> navy officer, worked at goldman sachs. he's done a lot of legitimate things. >> he's done a lot of things. i think that how you treat one individual person who might be from a specific subgroup, that doesn't necessarily speak to your overall world view either. all we have to judge by are the things we've seen promulgated by this news site. that's what he's being judged by. that's probably appropriate given the role he's played there at the top of that situation.

>> and it is right to put news in quotes when talking about that site. thank you very much. appreciate it. so what do you think about this? are you concerned? tweet us @newday, post your comment on facebook.com/newday. alisyn? >> okay, chris. a top democrat calling for a review of donald trump's finances for conflicts of interest before the president-elect moves into the white house. we take a closer look at those when "new day" continues.

the new york giants winning a nail biter on monday night over the bengals for their fourth win in a row. coy wire has more in this morning's bleacher report. >> hi, alisyn. it has been three years sense t -- since the giants have won four games in a row. they haven't looked this good since they won that super bowl back in 2012. big part of the reason, odell beckham jr. watch this move right here. it's just so sweet. look at the double move. defender frozen in time like he's doing the mannequin challenge. odell beckham busts out the old-school thriller. this was trending all over online. nice pass from eli manning there. this was the moment, a gamble on

fourth down early in the fourth quarter. rookie sterling shepherd, the go-ahead touchdown. the giants would hang on for the 21-20 win. l.a. clippers down to the brooklyn nets last night. the clippers have won seven straight. they've been putting a beatdown on almost everyone this year, including themselves now. watch chris paul. loses the ball out of bounds. deandre jordan goes in for the consoling hug, but they butt heads. that's going to leave a mark. their only headache on the night. clippers cruise to a 127-95 victory. if you're tired of the mannequin challenge, too bad because the gonzaga student section pulled one off before their game against san diego state last knight. had to show you this one. reporter got involved. the cheer team got involved. all the students there just hanging, frozen in time. and if you like that one, here's one you haven't seen before. under water mannequin challenge. the university of pacific

women's water polo team taking the mannequin challenge to entirely new depths. i don't know, cuomo. that's a pretty good one. what do you think about that one? >> somebody who gets called a mannequin on a regular basis, i feel like i have a little bit of insight. what would be your hold face? >> my hold face? something like this. >> oh, yeah. that's what i'm talking about. you can't make yourself look ugly. you're too pretty. keep trying. >> i'm waiting for one from you guys. i want a commercial break mannequin challenge at some point at "new day." put it out on twitter for us. >> done. >> we pretty much sit with fixed expressions on our face. >> this is our mannequin challenge. >> for hours had at a time. >> thanks, coy. so donald trump's children will be running his corporation while he is in the white house. but now there are reports that the president-elect is considering giving his kids top-secret security clearance. why do they need that? we discuss that next. who says i shouldn't have a soda everyday?

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scalpel. i have no idea what i'm doing. i'm just a tv doctor. i never went to college. (scream) i don't do blood. but now, thanks to cigna, i can do more than just look the part. is that a foot? we are the tv doctors of america. and we're partnering with cigna to help save lives. by getting you to a real doctor for an annual check-up. so go, know, and take control of your health. doctor poses. cigntogether, all the way. new questions about how president-elect donald trump will handle the potential conflicts of interest between his business, his family, and the presidency. this amid reports that trump is considering asking for top-secret security clearance for his kids, donald jr., eric, ivanka, and her husband jared kushner. here to discuss this, we have

bloomberg view executive editor and author of "trump nation," timothy o'brien, and former chief white house ethics lawyer and professor of corporate law at the university of minnesota, richard painter. great to have both of you. timot timothy, let me start with you. if his kids are going to run his company, the trump organization, why do they need top security clearance? >> i don't think they do. that's the largest question looming over all of this. he's not establishing any clear boundaries on what should divide his business interests from his political interests, from policy in the white house. we've had guidelines in the past that presidents have observed, but that's by tradition. the president has a lot of latitude. there are no conflict of interest laws that apply to the president. they apply to other members of the executive branch, but the president is free of those laws. >> is that right? >> so you may have an issue about secure communications. you might be able to make a preconstructive argument for why

his communications have to be safe. then you get into this gray zone you're talking about. mr. painter, let me bring you in on this. richard, what is the -- is there any bright line about what a president has to do, or is this all about discretion? >> most of it is about discretion. there are some rules the president does have to follow. for example, the constitution prohibits the president from receiving any payments that could be characterized as gifts from foreign governments or companies controlled by foreign governments. so there's going to have to be some reworking of relationships with, for example, the bank of china and other entities if the president chooses to retain ownership of these businesses. and of course the anti-bribery laws. >> one more thing on the kids. aren't there nepotism laws? >> yes, there are nepotism laws that will prevent the president from appointing his children or

in-laws to positions in the government. we have had those ever since the late 1960s when congress was upset about president kennedy having appointed his brother. >> so you're saying if they're not official positions, then they can come and go and be advisers. >> well, they can. we went through this in the early '90s with hillary clinton working on health care. it's very important for president-elect trump to realize he could very well be overreaching here if he involves his family members as unappointed advisers and circumvents the anti-nepotism laws. >> and here comes back an issue that was big during the campaign and might even loom larger now. one of the only ways that you can have, other than the financial disclosure documents they put out every year that you know what the president's up to, what's getting into his pocket, is his taxes.

every year the presidents put out their taxes. we all look at them. jason miller represents trump. came on yesterday and non-answered that question. he said, you know where he is on the question about his taxes. he's been very clear about the question about i had taxes, which i took as he ain't going to give you his taxes. do you think he can get away with that as president? >> i think he probably thinks he can get away with anything he wants as president around some of the traditional rules or guidelines presidents have followed. clearly he doesn't care about his taxes. he's blown it off during the whole election. he said that he would create a blind trust with his children overseeing his businesses, but in fact, the opposite of government ethics doesn't allow you to have your own family members oversee a blind trust. so that's a nonstarter. he said he would keep decision making around his business and white house policy separate, which in fact, he's now put his children on the transition team. they're going to help oversee the appointment of 4,000 people to the federal government.

he wants to give them security clearance on documents. they absolutely don't need that, but he wants it anyway. every indication he's given is that he has no desire to follow any divisions between his personal interests and public policy. >> one of the other issues that we heard so often during this campaign was the clintons, the rules don't apply. they think the rules don't apply to them. that's how they've operated. that's why she set up a private server. >> and remember during his first administration, that's what enraged people about hillary overseeing the health care policy. >> absolutely. so professor, this is -- can you file this under rules don't apply to the trump family? >> well, the problem is the entire campaign involved boundaries being caught -- boundaries of acceptable behavior being crossed over and over again. the president-elect has been rewarded for that at every stage of the process. but now the campaign is over. he has a job to do.

we have to have a white house that works and serves the american people. we can't have torture memo lawyers hanging around transition team headquarters. the white supremacists need to be sent back to their bunkers. and we need a separation between the trump business interests and the white house, a clear separation. he's there to serve the american people, not his family. >> congressman -- >> so cummings is coming out with this letter. he's the ranking member of the committee on government oversight and reform. he sent a letter requesting the oversight committee immediately begin conducting review of trump's financial arrangements to ensure he doesn't have any actual perceived conflicts of interest, that his advisers comply, et cetera. the irony here, of course, professor, as you know, is that this is actually a legitimate exercise of oversight by congress. usually you could argue they're overreaching and looking at

quasi criminal things when they have no jurisdiction over that at all. what do you make of the cummings request? do you think it gets anywhere? and practically s it a real concern? >> well, it is a concern that congress should investigate, whether the conflicts of interest concern the trump empire or breitbart news or any other private entity that seeks to influence this administration. that's the function of that committee. i've criticized that committee under both democrats and republicans for overreaching with respect to highly politicized investigations, but that is the reality. and if some day the democrats get control of congress and control that committee, they're going to roll back investigations to right now this

transition team, period, with respect to conflicts of interest. it's very important for the president-elect to focus on getting this job done, ridding himself and his white house of conflicts of interest, and dealing with the other problems that are going to come back and be very damaging to him later in his administration. >> professor, tim, thank you both. >> thank you. we're following a lot of news this morning, so let's get right to it. i think there are going to be a lot of announcements of a lot of people. >> the battle for appointments being called a knife fight. >> it is one of those norms vital to a functioning democracy. a smooth transition is so important. >> bannon, he's a racist. >> i'm personally offended. people should look at the full resume. >> certain elements of his temperament will not serve him well. >> nato is obsolete. nato has to change. >> one of the messages i will be able to deliver is his commitment to nato. this office has a way of waking

you up. this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your "new day." vice president-elect mike pence on his way to trump tower in manhattan this morning. they're trying to get on the same page about these waves of appointments they need to make and who will be surrounding president-elect trump in washington. sources tell us that there's a lot of tension between the traditional and the ultra conservative over what choices should be made. >> president obama has just arrived in greece. this is one day after his first news conference since the election. the president is trying to reassure allies that donald trump is truly committed to nato. cnn has every angle of the trump transition covered, starting with sunlen serfaty. >> good morning. a trump adviser describing the meeting today between president-elect trump and mike pence as serious, given they are

nearing final decisions over some top cabinet positions. but inside the broader transition team, there's already a struggle over over these big decisions between the more traditional republicans and steve bannon, the two power centers in trump's world. the battle for appointments to president-elect donald trump's cabinet being called a knife fight and buffoonery, according to sources within his transition team. with potential picks for west wing and key national security posts drawing sharp internal disagreements. >> i think you'll hear some additional appointments. >> reporter: but today inside trump tower, president-elect trump and mike pence are hunkering down. the positions to be possibly nailed down as early today include secretaries of state, education, commerce, and treasury. >> he's a nightmare, and he's the chief adviser to the president of the united states now.