key cabinet posts. trump making his first big move, his first big staff move already which is causing some controversy. president-elect donald trump offering lieutenant general michael flynn the role of national security adviser, according to a transition official. >> we must regain our ability to truly crush our enemies. >> reporter: trump's choice is already making waves. flynn the former director of the defense intelligence agency has a long history of controversial remarks, accused of stoking islam phobia. >> we cannot win this war unless we're free to call our enemies by name. radical islamists and failed tyrants. >> reporter: he was fired in 2014 by the white house. flynn said it was payback for criticizing the administration. u.s. officials say it was his contentious management style. >> you have to look for somebody

that will tame the impulsive nature of the president-elect, somebody who is more steady and more objective and more thorough in their analysis. i'm not sure that's what you get with general flynn. >> reporter: flynn accused of mishandling classified information which the u.s. military that's scrutinized twice. in both cases he was never charged with wrongdoing and has defended his actions. flynn a registered democrat has been by trump's side for much of the campaign. acting as top adviser in high-profile surrogate. >> next president of the united states, right here. >> reporter: another trump loyalist senator jeff sessions emerging as the top candidate foerng according to a transition official. if picked he could face a tough senate confirmation fight over accusations over racist marks 30 years ago. causing the alabama senator to

be rejected for a judgeship. sessions denied the allegations at the time. >> if anybody had a problem with his record they would have run against him and made that very clear. senator sessions will be qualified for any number of positions. >> reporter: trump is reaching out to a information adversary. >> donald trump is a phoney, a fraud. >> reporter: the president-elect meeting with 2012 republican nominee mitt romney this weekend. the two planning how to govern moving forward amid speculations they could discuss romney serving as secretary of state. >> i think if the two of them can get-together mitt romney is an extremely smart guy. he brings a lot to the table and so i think looking at him as a candidate is the right thing to do. >> reporter: and the trump team is starting to make some progress now now making contact with these key agencies, defense, justice department as well as the national security council, starting to coordinate now with their obama administration counterparts.

donald trump after he wraps up the meeting here today he'll head this weekend to new jersey to his golf resort where he'll continue to make some decisions and moves on these staffing announcements and most notably he is going to be meeting with mitt romney there. >> it's going to be a very interesting weekend. thanks so much for all that. we want to bring in our panel. erol lewis, jason johnson, and david gregory. gentlemen great to have you. erol, i'll start with you. what should we know, what jumps out at you about general flynn. >> general flynn stwrieks me as somebody very much described, will be trump magnified as opposed to a wise counselor to reign him in. this is donald trump's decision to make, who is going to be sort of a truth teller and restraint and just go out and be a strong

right hand for him. to the extent that he's got a lot of really aggressive designs as far as how he intends to change foreign policy, flynn is right in line with that. so, those who thought that maybe there was going to be this famous word pivot, there was going to be a change, a more diplomatic tone that's not going to happen. there's reason to be concerned about what happens especially when it comes to dealing with muslim nations. >> on the nations of muslims. let's throw up his tweet from michael flynn. he said fear of muslims is rational. there's a video, please forward this to other people. david gregory, michael flynn is transparent about how he feels about a lot of things. he made this crystal clear. >> this double down on his darker impulse, about the islam jack world -- michael flynn, general flynn has made

criticisms about how this administration dealt with the rising athlete that became isis. then you jump the shark into this islam phobia to say islam is a political ideology and not a religion, to indict 4 billion muslims around the globe. that's short sighted ignorant thinking. that's the kind of impulse that will give opponents of donald trump and watchdogs of donald trump a lot of concerns. the other side of the ledger is general flynn has received very high marks from the military people that i have talked to, very high level retired who say that he's first rate as an intelligence analyst and gatherer, but the question will be not just those impulse and those kind of statements but how does he lead. to understand the role of national security adviser is not just the primary national security adviser to the president, but somebody who coordinates all of the elements of a national security team to get the best advice to the

president. if that's done well it's very important. if it's done in a clumsy fashion you can have real discord within the administration. this is an important pick. >> jason, one more troubling pick that his twitter feed reveals. he tweeted a fake story that's so over the top. nypd blows whistle on new hillary emails, money laundering, sex crimes with children, et cetera, must read. this comes from a so clearly fake news site that there's a gullibility this suggests that is troubling. >> so, let's put this in context. on monday president-elect trump selected steve bannon to be his senior adviser and he sympathizes with white supremacist groups and. now a national security adviser

who say muslims should be feared, made aggressive statements about countries we have to interact with across the globe and appeared on russian television, state sponsored russian television. this is dangerous. tweeting out fake news suggests to me not only is he going to continue to spread the violent rhetoric he did during the campaign he'll do it once he's in office. that's dangerous for everyone in this country. >> national security adviser requires no senate confirmation. donald trump has asked him if he accepts he'll be the national security adviser. i'll make one point. all of these things were known during the campaign. american voters knew general flynn was donald trump's key national security adviser and they voted for him. this is a choice voters have already made. we'll see how it plays out. one person meeting with donald trump this weekend comes as a bit of a surprise. that's mitt romney. as i said these two men have had a lot to say about each other. what's unique in politics, i think they meant it.

>> donald trump is a phoney, a fraud. >> mitt was a disaster as a candidate. >> he's playing members of the american public for suckers. >> romney let us down. >> he gets a free ride to the white house and all we get is a lousy hat. >> romney choked like a dog. he choked. >> his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> i have a lot of friends. no, i have a lot of friends. by the way mitt romney is not one of them. >> this was nice stuff they said about each other. this wasn't even the harsh stuff. we played the wrong clip there. mitt romney will meet with donald trump this weekend. they are willing to talk about the future here. but, despite the fact that it's being floated out there that maybe mitt romney will be considered as secretary of state, is there anyone ver univ that could happen?

>> some kind of appointment could happen maybe not that one. let's think of what barack obama did in his first days. he took one political rival, hillary clinton and sent her to 100 countries as secretary of state. took another potential rival somebody who we now know they took seriously and who did in fact run against him john huntsman, former governor of utah, made him a diplomat, deported his rival essentially. i see a scenario where mitt romney could find some very useful work on behalf of the country far, far away from the shores of the united states. >> david, what do you think is happening? >> look, i think we're seeing two sides of donald trump as president-elect. i think he deserves very high marks for reaching out to not just a rival as john says but somebody who went after him completely and early and said this guy should be totally disqualified. and the fact that donald trump is reaching out to romney forced a vice, for guidance, to do so

very publicly and even better if he were to offer him a job in the administration is an extremely positive sign. he met with bill de blasio, met with ted cruz. all of those things are to say look the campaign was a campaign now let's move on, let's get the right people in positions, let's get the right advice. the other side is extreme loyalty. who was there first. who was behind him when the rest of the establishment was not. those people are getting rewarded. we talked about general flynn, bannon, reince preibus and others. you're seeing both sides of this. this kind of reaching out is very positive. >> do you see this as heartening meeting with bls bls, meeting with romney >> not really. i think it's the frightening reality donald trump realized oh, my god this job is tough. it's difficult. this is a tough job. all these people i said i'll drain the swamp with i need them. running the federal government is much more difficult. not that he's reached out to romney and reince preibus, he

says i want to keep talking to president obama. the fact that he realizes it's a difficult job is nice but that rhetoric will linger in some of these meetings. >> these people are sitting down with him. no one is forcing mitt romney to go talk to donald trump. >> the president asks you to come in and talk you go in and talk. it's possible, being a great tube fly on the wall to find out. it's possible that he's breaking him in just to say okay who gets the last laugh now. and then to try and come out and then be able to say look i talked to all of the people, we settled the "bad blood" but it's possible all these folks will remain far on the outside. >> you can't dismiss the optics of this. you can't have it both ways. optics in politics matters. he's having these meetings and getting this advice and one can hope he's taking it in and in an appropriate constructive way. >> panel stick around.

we have more. lieutenant general flynn has not accepted the offer but that's not stopping his critics from already going after him. how will he advise trump to handle isis and russia? we look at all that next. ♪

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donald trump has made his choice for national security adviser offering the job to retired army general michael flynn. what toes this choice say about a future you trump administration. joining us is nicholas burns to discuss this. also with us, lieutenant general mark herling. general let me start with you. general flynn has military experience. he has more than three decades of experience in world affairs and global affairs, in military and military intelligence. is that not the type of person you would like advising the president on national security matters? >> it is, john. here's what i'll tell you having traveled in circles with mike flynn. he's a first rate intelligence officer, staff officer.

he's unrelenting and passionate and intense on collecting intelligence against al qaeda in the last ten years or so. at the strategic level personalities and relationships do matter and there are some challenges there. like his boss recently since he's retired his tweets, his travels, his demeanor, to me, as your military analyst as been troubling from the professionalism side as a retired general officer. those are the things that matter. his comments about muslims, you know when i first read his tweet about muslims i thought to myself hey wait a minute mike when commanding first armored division i had about 300 muslim soldiers in my unit and a couple of muslim chaplains. not all muslims fall into that category. travels to moscow to meet with putin soon after he retired, his relationships with turkey. again, these are all troubling things and he seems to be complimenting the personality of his boss which certain lly a bo

can choose that but this kind of demeanor and actions i'm standing askance about that. >> i agree he's had a distinguished military career. he deserves thanks for his service. there will be some questions. one about judgment. one is about experience. on judgment i agree that sitting next to vladimir putin at a russian tv, the propaganda arm of the russian banquet did not show appropriate judgment. his talk about muslims is worrisome from a civil libts perspective as well as human rights perspective. i've worked for the national security council staff both in a republican administration and democratic administration. this is a key position. it's important, obviously, to tuned military intelligence. just as important to understand diplomacy. does he have the experience to really have a sophisticated view of asia, of japan, south korea

and china. does he have a sophisticated view of latin america and africa. he's had a one dimensional career focused on the middle east. that's an important part of the world. the bigger challenge is he making the right judgments about vladimir putin because he seems to be saying we should antibiotic lining ourselves with putin to fight the islamic state but we have big problems with putin in eastern europe. he's pressuring our nato allies. i worry both about donald trump and general flynn's cozying up to putin when we should be standing up to him. >> this is what donald trump ran on. this is what donald trump ran on and donald trump won on, this policy towards russia that michael flynn he went over there and sat near vladimir putin in a russian television gala and paid for that trip. that's not different than what donald trump said and the war against isis and prosecuting that is not against what donald trump has said. so general, where do you think

this shows the priorities of the trump administration will be? >> well, i think what we have seen over the last week is he's tried to put his team together during the transition. he should be going after people who give him an informed view. he has done that in some cases but in other cases as john you've reported there have been people who have been dismissed with that view because they are part of the swamp he's trying to drain allegedly. truthfully i agree, you have to have many voices in the room especially as national security adviser and presidential team and they have to be like-minded. there has to be some coordination with some pretty tough egos and personalities when you talk about states, chairman of the joint chiefs, the intelligence czar. all those folks coming together in primary categories or nsc meetings, you have to have the informed view and collaboration and consensus building as opposed to the tough talk and

just the feelings versus the post-truth actions. >> ambassador burns, it's also, i think, instructive to look back at the double standard that may be in play here. you know, general flynn went to russia for this conference. he was photographed with putin. he received money for it. this is the same campaign that there was a lot of hue and cry about hillary clinton considering going to morocco and taking money for a speech which she ended up not doing and then mishandling classified information and relaying it intentionally to people who should not have had it and i don't need to remind everybody about all about the hue and cry of hillary clinton's private server and classified information. how do you square those things? >> well, we should have the highest standards for people in public office and we should go to the facts here.

the facts are and you said it john what donald trump said during the campaign about russia is objectionable. you want a national security adviser, secretary of state, secretary of defense not to side with russia. when he divided ukraine. it's a policy judgment. that's what i think people have to think about when they look at this appointment and look at some of the other appointments. it's a fact that donald trump is going very first president of the united states with no prior public experience, political experience or military experience. he needs a sophisticated team around him and think of the great people who have served in these jobs. think of steve hadley. these are the quality of people in all these jobs in forming this team that donald trump needs. he needs a lot of help because he really doesn't have the

experience or i think tiendsing of global politics and he's made some serious misjudgments donald trump about russia during the campaign. >> general, quickly yesterday donald trump met with the prime minister of japan abe his second meeting with a foreign leader. after both meetings, both leaders said that they were terrific meetings. they had fruitful conversations with donald trump. i hear from japanese officials during the meeting last night they couldn't believe it went on for so long. it lasted for 90 full minutes. does donald trump have a personality that may serve him well for foreign relationships going forward? >> he may. but, again, it's that informed view that backs up that relationship. i've been in a lot of rooms with people where charisma comes through on both sides, shaking hands and having a discussion. what i heard in mr. abe's comments afterwards it was different than what he thought it would be. that's all well and good but, again, when we're talking about not just the one on one but an

understanding of how all countries fit into the global order it gets more challenging and more complex as opposed to that deal making one on one. i'm not sure how much he was informed before that meeting in terms of the other implications of dealing with japan but that's of consideration and that's why you need as the ambassador said that good staff to give him that informed view from a world perspective not just a one on one. >> thanks for being with us. donald trump giving himself a pat on the back for saving u.s. jobs by stopping ford from moving one of its plants to mexico. is that what really happened here? closer look ahead.

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>> time now for five things you need know. number one, donald trump offered the post of national security adviser to retired lieutenant army general michael flynn. president obama slamming fake news during a joint appearance with the german chancellor in berlin. he said bad information could push our children in the wrong direction. this morning the president theeds peru, this is the final stop of a three nation tour. tim ryan will challenge nancy pelosi for the house democratic leadership. he says the party needs a new direction forged by new leaders. nancy pelosi has been top democrat in the house since

2003. they hold leadership elections november 30th. federal investigation into the shooting of the guerilla found his protective barrier didn't meet u.s. safety standards. he was killed after a boy fell into his enclosure. listen to this you can have mcdonald's brought to your table now. the fast food company volcano out new offerings to personalize the customer experience. there's touch screen ordering and table service being phased in to help the golden arches stay relevant. >> because it was complicated to get your food at mcdonald's. >> you had to walk to the counter and then walk to table. for more go to new day cnn.com. >> donald trump promised he would stop u.s. companies from out sourcing jobs to overseas. that's why so many american workers voted for him. can the plebt keep that promise?

we talk to workers at the plant at the center of that debate. that's next.

. this morning president-elect donald trump is taking credit for stopping ford from moving a plant to mexico but new details show it's not that simple. chief business correspondent christine romans here with the details. >> trump taking credit for keeping an entire auto plant from notifying mexico a plant that wasn't moving anyway. here's what trump tweeted. quote just got a call from my good friend of bill ford who advised me he'll be keeping the lincoln plant in kentucky not mexico. 14 minutes later he said this. i worked hard with bill ford to keep the lincoln plant in kentucky. i orthopedic it to the great state of kentucky for their confidence in me. that plant wasn't going anywhere. last year ford signed a legally-binding contract with turn aw. it would build the new escape models there, had $700 million in new investments. what might have moved, the small

scale production of the lincoln mkc. they make about 20,000 of these a year. but sells a lot more of the escape. that louisville plant was going focus fornd escape and lincoln would go some place else. ford confirms it alerted trump the model would stay in kentucky a sign that ford doesn't want to antagonize the president-elect sthaen second time he's taken credit. >> but they were going to say there is the bottom line. >> this plant was never moving to mexico. this model might have moved some place else, mexico or another plant in the united states, the small scale model. >> thank you very much. so the news that an indiana air conditioner company carrier was shutting down its plant and moving to mexico taking 1400 jobs with it, that became a big

campaign issue as you'll remember. then candidate donald trump said he would stop that from happening if he were president. okay. so fast forward to today. what about that campaign promise? cnn martin savidge went to indiana and spoke to workers. what did you learn? >> reporter: good morning. there's no question donald trump owes his presidency in large part to the success he had getting blue collar votes in this rust belt prone states. but the real question and there are hopes now that he's going be president that his first day on the job he makes their jobs job one. ronald and eric will never forget the day it happened. >> we were devastated. been with the company 16 years of my life. >> reporter: last february heating and air conditioner giant carrier shocked employees at this indiana plant saying in

order to stay competitive it made a decision. >> to move frustration our facility in indianapolis to monterrey, mexico. >> reporter: 1400 jobs would soon be gone. but the loss quickly became donald trump's campaign gain. >> carrier air conditioner says they are leaving the united states. 1400 people. because they are going to build in mexico. >> reporter: trump said it wouldn't happen if he was president. part of an effort to tap into blue collar anger and discontent. he mentioned carrier by name. not just once. many times. >> we knew that that was something that america was -- it was happening right now. >> reporter: it worked. trump won thanks in large part to working class votes. now the sully bar and grill across the street from the carrier plant some are hoping trump keeps his promise. >> exactly. he made a lot of promises to a lot of people.

>> reporter: that's because things here have only gotten worse. we're less than a mile from carrier and here they make bearings. last month the company announced it's moving this facility to mexico taking away over 300 jobs. local union leader chuck jones says even though he didn't vote for trump he's still hopeful when president trump will come through. you expect him to live by -- >> my expectation is for him to live up to what he promised. >> reporter: mike is one of them. live long democrat he voted for trump. his answer surprised me. >> do you believe that donald trump can stop that place from closing? >> i don't believe he's going to stop that one. maybe in the future, you know. nobody knows what the future is. >> reporter: why not that one? why count you stop that one >> corporate greed. >> reporter: paul also voted for trump and he does have hope.

sort of. >> i try to be optimistic but realistic at the same time. >> reporter: what does that mean? >> he can save some of the jobs. because i don't think -- if they send just half the jobs they can make morgan which is all they are after. >> martin, so interesting to hear from those folks. so, i mean, how are they feeling now that the dust settled. do they feel help remorse voting for him, still happy, was it a gamble? where are they? >> reporter: they believe and they know it was a gamble voting for donald trump because remember these are not just blue collar workers they are union blue collar workers. they say a billionaire is not really a union kind of guy. with that said they like his bass savvy. they believe that could be beneficial. they are hopeful all of that talk he made about bringing jobs back and about saving their jobs, keeping them in america, that he really meant it. but there is that voice in the

back of their heads that does whisper to them every now and then maybe he was only after our votes. the real test, though, comes the day that trump becomes president. >> martin, thanks so much for sharing all of that with us. so did super cam just save the season for the defending nfc champion carolina panthers? wow. details in the bleacher report next.

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college football playoff picture gets clearer this morning, or messier if you're a louisville fan. here's more on this morning's bleacher report. we go live to knoxville, tennessee. >> reporter: i'm living the life, john. i'm here at university of tennessee where the balls have a big sec clash with missouri tomorrow. tennessee brings it. let's get you caught up. college football action last night. huge upset louisville guesting upset by houston and cardinals quarterback had a rough night.

he may no longer be a lock for this year's heisman trophy. cougars came out swinging. all the bounces going houston's way. the cougars offense a barrage of offense. they sacked jackson 11 times running for his life the entire game. houston wins 36-10 knocking louisville clear out of the playoff picture. how about thursday night football action in the nfl, panthers in a must within situation versus the saints. cam newton may have lost his mind wearing pre-claim cleats with a mullet on the back. look at this gorgeous throw. incredible catch. incredible. there was some bad news for the panthers. linebacker carted off the field.

he was diagnosed with a concussion. panthers would hold on for the 23-20 win. but luke kuechly, incredible guy off and on the field. we wish him the best. the political stage is set for a challenge to nancy pelosi's long time leadership of house democrats. our panel weighs on that next. when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums

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house democrats are still reeling from last week's stunning losses and trying to regroup and refocus on their new political reality. their path forward could involve new leadership. let's bring back our political panel to discuss. david, i'll start with you. tim ryan, congressman tim ryan has thrown his hat in the ring. is nancy pelosi's leadership in trouble? >> i think it's considered a long shot bid but probably

something a lot of democrats think is worth testing. look, you've heard from bernie sanders and others talking about the need for democrats to go in a new direction, to really take stock of this loss. and i think with not just the loss of the presidency, but both houses of congress as well, the governorships around the country, there's is going to be this testing of whether there's a new way for the party to go. but i think there will be a lot of stalwarts in the party who see nancy pelosi as a very effective minority leader and potential speaker again, depending upon how these first two years go when activism, fundraising and mobilization becomes really important against a new trump presidency and nancy pelosi has a lot of experience doing all of that. >> tim ryan's point is there has to be a new way because the current way isn't working. listen to what he said.

>> the lowest number of state and federal officials since reconstruction. we have the lowest number in our caucus since 1929. and we lost over 60 seats since 2010. the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and you keep, you know, keep getting the same results. so time to move on, i think. >> that's congressman tim ryan. tim ryan is the walking representation of what democrats haven't been able to reach. white working class voters in these swing states. he's from outside youngstown in hi. >> i've met tim before. he's fantastic. his district was right next to my school. he understands what middle america is talking about. and also it's interesting. he's the last man standing of that sort of early 30s group. they thought they would change the democratic party in 2006. he's the last one standing.

i think it would be a great change in the democratic party. i don't know if he'll win. >> is now the moment for change >> now is the moment for a discussion about change. jason is right. they came in their early 30s. nancy pelosi is 76. are we going wait for her to sort of turn 78 and then maybe they gain a few more seats and then -- >> about her age. if she's effective she's effective. 76 or 78. >> see they are raising questions about effectiveness. this is the quintessential principal business. you lose fouring straight elections. any other endeavor, four successive loss, these are folks who will see a decade of their careers basically in the minority, and they don't see any reason why they should be all that patient. >> david, let me play for you how she justifies her existence. listen to nancy pelosi. >> in 2005 and 2006 i

orchestrated the take back of the house of representatives. when president clinton was president the republicans took the house. president bush was president the democrats took the house. when president obama pfs president, the republicans took the house. so we have an opportunity, it doesn't mean any guarantee but means we'll do very hard work. i hope to have -- i'm very proud to have the opportunity. i know how to do it to get it done. >> what do you think, david? >> look there's no question she does know how to do it. to jason's point part of the appeal is to find a new way for the party a new palette of issues, new communication to make headway and it's very difficult in the house, in particular if you look at all the gerrymandering of the district ace round the country this is where you get the rural split in our demographics and politics. it becomes more difficult to effect change in the house versus the senate. >> as omar said, you come with the king you better not miss.

>> i love wire references. >> nancy pelosi is one person left in washington who can count votes and she's good at it and if anyone can wrangle support it's her. let's talk about president obama who thought he would be the savior for the democrat party. he's been going around the world right now talk lot about sort of the future and sort of expanding on his post-election comments on donald trump. yesterday in berlin standing next to angela merkel he talked about his tone a little bit. let's listen. >> what i said to him was that what may work in generating enthusiasm or passion during electi elections may be different than what will work in terms of unifying the country and gaining the trust even of those who didn't support him. and he's indicated his

willingness to -- his understanding of that. >> to me it seems president obama is working through this, like a lot of democrats are right now and he's torn between -- he's so grateful to george w. bush how he left office and how quiet he was in criticism afterwards and desperately wants to do that but at the same time he has this other voice saying i've got to try toert influence donald trump or make clear where i have issues. >> this is the challenge that he's got. barack obama is a patriot. he wants to see the country do well even if it's not under the candidate he supported he wants america to do well. he has sincere concerns about how trump will do the job. i think part of this tour just isn't president obama saying good by he has to calm our allies. germany is the one nation he's the most popular foreign leader in germany. they love him over there. he says you got to work with this guy. >> why is he saying the challenges while he's over in germany and when he was here he

said we had an excellent conversation. >> he's going to say what he has to say where he is. this is like any other president on his way out the door he's concerned about legacy. this particular president was kind of talking legacy from day one. this is the kind of conversation he slips into. to go back to the other conversation in part, there's a part of his political legacy is that the democrats were flat on their back during the obama presidency in a way we haven't seen in decades and it's going to take at that long time for them to repair and rebuild. he doesn't want to own that. we don't like to talk about it. but it's a part of sort of the cold reality of this stuff. yeah he can talk to germany about unity and so forth but how did it work out under his presidency. >> he keeps bragging about his approval ratings. you're a democrat right now you're looking at yeah what did that get us? not so much. gentlemen thank you for being with us.

coming up, we'll be speaking with congressman tim ryan about his challenge to house minority leader nancy pelosi coming up very shortly. >> we are following a lot of news this morning so let's get to it. general flynn will serve president trump very well. >> we'll look for somebody that will tame the impulsive nature of donald trump. >> donald trump is a phoney, a fraud. >> we have to take into accounts many different people, allies, rivals. >> looking at him as a candidate is the right thing to do. >> we have a responsibility to find common ground but to stand our ground when we can't. >> it's time for a new direction for the democratic party. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". chris is off. john berman joins me. happy friday. fiery former army general is

poised to become the nays's next national security adviseadviser. president-elect trump offering the post to michael flynn and this morning some of flynn's previous comments are already coming under criticism. >> the flynn news was expected by many but not so expected the trump-romney summit. mitt romney who called the president-elect a fraud and a phoney and really did seem to mean it he's paying a visit to donald trump this weekend in new jersey and there's speculation by all sides involved here they could discuss the possibility of mitt romney working for donald trump, serving as secretary of state. cnn covering every angle of the transition. we'll go to trump tower. >> reporter: donald trump calling for a two hour meeting with his entire transition team today here at trump tower. where he'll likely review some of the top choice for these key cabinet position posts and making big moves meantime with

his first staffing appointment which is already causing some controversy. president-elect donald trump offering lieutenant general michael flynn the role of national security adviser according to a transition official. >> we must regain our ability to truly crush our enemies. >> reporter: trump's choice is already making waves. flynn the former director of the defense intelligence agency has a long history of controversial remarks, accused of stoking islam phobia. >> we cannot win this war unless we are free to call our enemies by name, radical islamists and failed tyrants. >> reporter: he was fired in 2014 by the white house. flynn says it was payback for criticizing the administration. u.s. officials say it was his contentious management style. >> look for somebody that will tame the impulsive nature of the