hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. ub fir up first, the trump transition proves into overdrive. picks to fill key national security positions. nom ainting jeff sessions for attorney general and kansas congressman mike pompeo for cia

director. and michael flynn, national security adviser. vice president-elect mike pence says the transition process is on track. >> making great progress. great working with the president-elect. he's a man of action. we've got a great number of men and women, great qualifications coming forward to serve this new administration and i'm just humbled to be a part of it. our agency team has gown arribe arrive in washington agencies this morning. we're beginning what will be a very confident and smooth transition that will serve to move this country forward. make america great again. >> all three of donald trump's national security picks are conservatives. mike flynn, though, is registered as a democrat. sessions and flynn were early trump supporters. pompeo initially backed marco

rubio but got onboard with trump much later in the race. a former adviser in the white house, axelrod -- donald trump is sticking with those who brought him to the dance, but to many americans it will seem a monstrous ball." from david axelrod. all three picks accepted his call to serve, but how much political baggage do they bring along with him? michael flynn does not need to be confirmed by the senate. a white house appointee, bud the oth but the other two require senate confirmation. sunlen serfaty joins us from new york city. we know senator sessions was deny add federal judgeship back in the 1980s. what can you tell us about that and about the senator's resume? >> reporter: only 1986, denied that federal judgeship, wolf and

only 39 years old at the time. but he was dogged by allegations and even testimony from those who work with him that said he had repeatedly made racially charged statements. now sessions denied that at the time. clearly some of those comments from those who worked with him coming back to haunt him now. the trump team seems very ready to push back on these allegations, on a conference call with reporters today aides say look at his entire record. the fact that in the time since he has served decades on capitol hill, in the senate, and the fact that he voted for things like the extension of the civil rights act and voted for the nation's first african-american attorney general eric holder. it can't be overstated how loyal senator session has been to trump over the course of the campaign. he was his very first senate endorsement and really stuck by his side, wolf, throughout the campaign. >> certainly has. we also know that congressman pompeo of kansas wanted the house benghazi select not take a

tougher stand on hillary clinton and a member of the house intelligence committee. tell us more about this congressman? >> reporter: a third-term congressman from kansas, known as a stalwart conservative. came into the house in a tea party wave of 2010. he serves on the house select intelligence committee and notably during the primary he supported donald trump's opponent, senator marco rubio, and had few critical things to say over the course of the primary against donald trump. of course, came onboard later in the election. wolf? >> also graduated number one in his class at west point and editor of the "harvard law review." obviously, a very intelligent guy, and lieutenant general flynn, throughout the campaign, certainly became a very high-profile surrogate but does have a history of controversial comments. fill us in on those. >> reporter: he does. some of those are surfacing now. many of which, allegations he was stoking islam phobia and

things he said in the part and his past record. checkered as well. in 2014 he was fired by the obama white house. he said at the time that it was because he was critical of the administration. but u.s. officials criticizing more his management style at the tile. also accused of mishandling classified information. he's denied doing that, but u.s. officials certainly open to scrutiny for his handling of that information. notable that this suspicion not one that needs senate confirmation that might help the trump transition team on this one, wolf? >> key appointments indeed by the president-elect. sunlen, thanks very much. talk about these men. their experience, their background. what they bring to the table. joining us, jim sciutto, chief national security correspondent. peter bergen, national security analyst. david gregory, cnn political analyst and manu raju, cnn political reporter. jim what do these three appointments, these nominations, say to you?

>> big picture, the idea the great moderation should be dispensed with. in each case these are folks with some pretty right-wing positions, conservative positions but by any measure mike flynn, not just controversial comments about islam. outright offenses. dismissed the whole religions is a political ideology as well as has very differ national security views than has been standard for two parties. says that russia in his view is not a threat, an exaggerateded threat. i spent a lot of time at the pentagon. it's not a point saying russia is a threat. you hear that across the defense industry and intelligence community. he has, calls sewage more of an enemy than an ally. different positions. pompeo is getting bipartisan praise, but look at positions. wants to keep guantanamo open, end the ban on torture. something until both parties opposed. sessions, listen, folks will

know better his positions on civil rights, but in the past he's made comments. he has, for instance, will say and they said on the party call this morning on the campaign call this morning, rather transition call this morning, he later voted for the voting rights act but has said things that concerned people in those communities. so each of those are positions. it's not just -- sort of the window dressing on the positions. it's a prove to the right. >> people, you spent a lot of time covering terrorism. reporten on terrorism. general flynn play add key role in afghanistan in fiding terrorism. he played a significant role. didn't he? >> yes. particularly in iraq in the 2006-2007 period when he was chief intelligence officer for joint operations. >> and adviser to general krystal in afghanistan? >> also in afghanistan. really the thing distinguishing from everybody else we've discussed over the last several days is he has a great deal of on the ground experience in afghanistan, in iraq.

was instrumental to the defeat of al qaeda in iraq, the parent organization of isis. this gives him tremendous credible. as jim said, also said a number of other things in a book he wrote. extremely anti-iran. and i want to pick up what jim said that is very important. if the new director of the cia thinks we should sort of be sending people to quan town mgu >> pompeo? >> yes. there isn't anything preventing that and bring torture back, statutes would prevent that, but a creative lawyer could say, we're going to bring back enhanced interrogations that lit r literally amount to cotorture and we're back to 2002. >> particularly favors waterboarding, nothing wrong with that. go ahead to get vital information to save american lives. president-elect of the united states as a campaigner said that. if pompeo believes that, he's in line with donald trump. >> yes. there is legislation that would

prevent some of this, on the torture side. but much of what the obama administration has done is by executive order in terms what they've done since after george w. bush. executive orders can be overturned. >> signed by one president and undone by the next president. a new executive order rekrinding it, c rescinding that and can happen and happens all the time. >> this is a validation of the promise of trump to stick it in the eye of the republican establishment. going hard at the idea of a crackdown on immigration. to go hard at isis in a way that is increasingly retro, at peter has written authoritatively about over the years. much more in keeping with osama bin laden, drawing the west into a civilization strauggle and sounds like they want to do that with isis. your job in the role, primary

adviser to the president on world affairs and national security and factor in all the other elements of the national security team. military, intelligence, diplomatic. that process has to work well for a good result a good decision to be made. and that's seems to be a big area of are his vulnerabilities. temperament, how he works with other people as well as, i've talked to senior military officials who complement on his judgment and work in intelligence and also think that he will appeal, mike flynn, will appeal to trump's darker impulses. >> flynn motto does not need senate confirmation. the white house national security adviser. they don't need confirmation by the u.s. senate. the other two do. congressman pompeo, any props in the u.s. senate getting him confirmed? >> at this point, no. one reason why, republicans can confirm any executive branch nominee by a party line vote. they do not need to get 60 votes, which requires democratic

support, because democrats did away with the filibuster foreexecutive branch nominees in 2013. potentially that move could come back to bite them. simple majority. >> 52 republicans in the new senate compared to 48 democrats. >> exactly. what you're hearing now from democrats is, you're not really hearing outright krcriticism, b caution. they'll review his record. vet him and they will cast a judgment based on the vetting process. that's similar to what you're hearing also about jeff sessions, too. democrats obviously know jeff sessions very well. him being a member of that body. typically senators look favorable of their own members when they're nominated to cabinet-level positions. still, he will face criticism for folks on the left over his record on civil rights. over his hard-line stances on immigration. a leading opponent of immigration reform, and you'll hear a lot of concern from the left, but is that enough to stop him? almost certainly not, unless some new controversy emerges.

>> pretty much in line with the president-elect on immigration. their views in tandem? >> right. and one reason why that donald trump certainly chose him. one reason why jeff sessions was one of the first people to endorse donald trump. he supports the wall along the southern border, believes there should be stricter immigration controls. clearly that will help him that will help him with the presidential-elect. >> i just -- signaling is interesting. especially immigration. i fully expect president trump to move on building a wall. my hunch, doesn't want to do something as divisive to immediately start deporting people from this country. he may want to pursue that policy, it may take time. my sense, he wants to focus on really good politics which is repealing obama care, supreme court nominee, tax policy, regulation. that to me is where he probably wants to direct his energies first. >> did say in the "60 minutes" interview, though, imsgramigrat is a top priority and 2 million or 3 million illegal undocument

ed immigrants and wants to start getting rid of them a.s.a.p. >> yep, he said that. >> a lot nor assess. coming up, a look at the man nominated to be the next attorney general of the united states. what does jeff sessions have to lead the justice department in the years ahead? plus, mitt romney getting ready for a weekend chat with president-elect donald trump subpoena romney looking for a job or trump just looking for advice? much more on that. stay with us. we'll be right back.

the naacp coming out strongly against president-elect's nomination for jeff sessions. senator sessions as attorney general is deeply troubling and supports an old, ugly history where civil rights were not regarded as core american values. the aclu denouncing sessions nomination tweeting this picture at the bottom saying sued bite aclu. question mark. not yet. trump's transition team is defending the nomination. >> once senator sessions was u.s. attorney he file add number

of desegregation lawsuits in alabama and also voted in favor of the 30-year extension of the civil rights act. he also voted to confirm attorney general eric holder. and eastern spearheaded the effort towards giving the, awarding the congressional gold medal to rosa parks. so we feel very confident that senator sessions has the background and the support to receive confirmation. >> we're back with the panel. manu you cover the hill. i assume all republicans, i'm sure, will vote to confirm sessions. he's pretty well liked within the caucus. so the question is the democrats. i suspect a bunch of democrats will confirm him as well? >> yes. it's very hard for senators to vote against a fellow senator even if theyty ace g tdisagree record. even if they disagree on the

merits, but doesn't mean they won't put up a fight or make issues particularly on immigration. discussed senator sessions is a, the tough stand he's taken against comprehensive immigration reform, undocumented immigrants, making their point in that regard, but you'll probably see a contentious confirmation hearing, dianne feinstein now the top democrat on that committee clearly is going probably have very tough questions, but there is that personal friendship. chuck shoochumer noting he's friends with jeff sessions. worked out together in the senate gym. so things like that -- >> that should settle everything. >> settle everything. we noted before, republicans have enough votes to confirm him. majority leader mitch mcconnell said i'm going to push your nomination through the senate. >> tomorrow the president-elect meets with mitt romney.

there has been suspicions, suggestions maybe mitt romney could emerge as potential secretary of state. i'm sure mitt romney would have no trouble getting confirmaled by the u.s. senate. he's very well liked, but what are your thoughts about this meeting given the exchanges that these two men had during a very, very bitter campaign? >> look, i would be shocked if mitt romney agreed to serve. but former governor romney has a tremendous sense of duty, and i think if asked would certainly consider it. this was really heated between the two of them in the campaign. it kind of goes beyond the normal, you know, disagreements in campaigns. mitt romney said, look, this guy should not be president, should not be our nominee. but give trump credit here. those who say he's table, not meet wig people, meeting with people who appeal to his darker impulses. good for him reaching out to political enemies saying your advice, i want to hear what you have to say. >> listen to what shawn spice

her to say about this meeting tomorrow between the precede lect and marco rubio. >> he's conversations start off as just that. a conversation to discuss people's ideas and thoughts and get their opinions. sometimes the president-elect will think they might be good for a job or several jobs and that process continues. the conversation with mitt romney is just that. an opportunity to hear his ideas and his thoughts. >> now, a lot of us remember the words exchanged back in 2007, 2008 between then senator barack obama and hillary clinton in respect were ugly exchanges, albeit not as bad as between mitt romney and donald trump. once he became the president he asked hillary clinton, part of a team of rivals if you will, to go ahead and be his secretary of state. >> he did. be honest, it got more personal in this campaign. romney outright said he's not qualified to be president. interesting. early on talking to the transition team i was told never trumpers were not out of the

game. that the transition team would consider them, unless it got personal. there was a limit to this kind of openness, big tent, but got personal. there he is. was it -- not the language of politics? a sense of duty from romney. trump seeing the benefits. not actually expanding that list of potential candidates, that has benefit there. >> the big danger, gets in a position he gets b team players. people down the chain. doesn't want that. mitt romney has great business relationships. something to think about. >> if you're isis, baghdadi, the team over there and looking at the president-elect, positions tough hard-liners what goes through your mind? >> right now they're doing exactly what they did before any of this. which is running for their

lives. the united states has killed 36 leaders of isis in the mosul area in the last several months. abu baghdadi disappeared. appeared once in an audiotape recently. still believed to be in charge but on the run, and mosul is probably going to fall before the next president takes office. all of this rhetoric about isis is winning, we're going to take it to them. we have been taking it to them and central command is impiesed impiesed imposed -- killed 45 isis leaders. doesn't matter whether president obama is in charge or president trump. the military separation moving forward. >> not a done deal yet. still a lot of work to liberate mosul and of course move on to raqqah. this is going to be a long-term proposition. >> mosul is likely to fall in the next several weeks. >> several weeks you think? >> yes. and raqqah, probably a year-long enterprise. isis is in the process of losing

the thing they -- the geographical caliphate. >> they want they're caliphate. guys, stick around. a ranking member, the ranking member of the house intelligence committee. after the break, congressman adam schiff is standing by ta to talk more about the national security picks. does he favor them? oppose them? we'll be right back. jon batiste has mastered new ways to play old classics. with chase atms, he can master new ways to deposit checks too. easy to use chase technology for whatever you're trying to master.

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dnt's choices for a slate of key national's security posts today drawing fire from some democrats. trump is nominating senator jeff sessions of alabama to be the next attorney general of the united states. also nominating congressman mike pompeo of kansas to become the

next cia director and picked retired general michael flynn for national security adviser at the white house. joining us, adam schiff, democrat from california, ranking member of the house intelligence committee. thanks very much for joining us. >> great to be with you. >> talk about your house colleague mike pompeo, ranking democrat on the intelligence committee. you have to deal with the cia all the time. he is qualified? >> well qualified. a solid pick. a some are smart guy. hard working. can be partisan. certainly had differences over benghazi, i'm confident he'll naught aside. the cia role is supplying the best intelligence to the president and congress. he'll do a great job. >> not controversial? slide through confirmation in the senate? >> i would think so. certainly apprehension about the very vocal role in benghazi.

not feeling the majority report was strong enough. he's an intelligent guy, will do his best to manage well. i have a lot of confidence. >> i've spoken with a lot of democrats who agree. well liked, intelligence, number one at west point, on to become the editor of "the hard vavard ev review." >> i'm confident he'll do a very good job and they couldn't paic. >> and donald trump's national security advisers does not need senate confirmation. what's your take? >> his views really scare me, frankly. he has difficult time differentiating between the entire faith of islam and those

who pervert it like al qaeda and isis. a lot of his statements of inflammatory playing into the narrative isis has that it's the west against islam. very concerned about that and profound questions about his temperament. someone i think at d.i.a. had a reputation being hot headed. not a consensus builder. in this position you need to bring together disparate voices within the national security infrastructure to come together on tough policy. those aren't really his skills. i think he was widely thought of, praised in his role with general mcchrystal and gathering intelligence. >> in afghanistan. >> but in running an agency, tamping down the impausive nature of the president-elect to have another volatile character in the white house scares me. >> views on radical islam, seems to be in-line with the president-elect? they don't diverge in that area?

>> that worries me. echo on islamic radicalism and on russia, because he has very much come to cling to the same view putin is somehow a friend, willing to overlook the invasion of putin's neighbors that, the cyber hacking, similarly to the president-elect, mike flynn asked about the hacking, shrugged it off. wasn't willing to echo exactly what our intelligence agencies knew, that this was the russians meddling. unfor unfortunately in mike flynn we'll get someone that will tell wham he wants to hear not what he needs to hear. >> and quickly, next attorney general, senator sessions, your thoughts? >> i haven't had a working relationship with him. they're going have to do a thorough job obviously in the confirmation process. it concerns me he voted against loretta lynch because of her views on the immigration issue. he's been opposed to a

comprehensive reform on immigration and opposed to criminal justice reform, something i feel passionate about but the president gets to choose his policies and needs to be thoroughly vetted. >> and did confirm eric holder under president obama. >> well, you know, they will have to do a thorough investigation into all of these issues. the american people understand i think, and we are seeing elections have consequences, and some of the consequences we're seeing of choices like steve bannon and mike flynn ought to concern americans that thought maybe he would moderate his views in the white house, and his selections, surround himself with thoughtful, sound people, we're getting some nominees who don't fit that category. >> still plenty of other jobs open there, director of national intelligence, who oversees the cia and 15 or 16 other intelligence agencies. secretary of defense, secretary of state. still opportunities to diversify that national security

portfolio. >> there are. i hope he takes the opportunity to bring in some, if not dissenting views, at least views that will be independent of what he's expressed on the campaign trail. people respected in the various agencies. there is a great talent pool out there of people that have served in republican administrations, conservative people, but mainstream people, and it scares plea when i see him pick people outside the mainstream. >> ho woo you prefer? rudy jewgiuliani or mitt romney? >> i would be thrilled to see mitt romney. well with the mainstream. not extensive experience, but neither does giuliani and a lot more confidence. >> and secretary of state, thought about that? >> i don't know -- who the -- president-elect is thinking. >> kelly ayotte, who's, you know, the senator from new hampshire, just lost in her bid

for re-election. one thought of bringing her in. i don't know if you know her? >> i don't know her. i think she would certainly be a mainstream choice for that position given some of the other names mentioned. mainstream is good. >> adam schiff, congressman from california. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. the challenge to nancy pelosi's leadership is coming from that man on the left over there. congressman tim ryan of ohio. does he have a realistic shot at becoming the next leader of the house democrats? our panel will assess when we come back.

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here in washington democrats in the house of representatives soon have to choose whether they want to chart a new direction with a new minority leader or stand behind the current leader

nancy pelosi who first won that post some 13 years ago. ohio congressman tim ryan says he will challenge nancy pelosi. here what he had to say on cnn on "new day" earlier today. >> we just elected donald trump president of the united states. we're doing something terribly wrong, and i think we need to move in another direction and i'm offering myself up to our caucus to say, hey, let's try to do something different. i don't want to hang this around nancy pelosi's neck. i love her. she's great. she's a mentor. she was amazing as speaker when she was in, but we've got to ask ourselves who can get us back into the majority? >> joining us now, senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny and cnn political director david chalian. mum merings, this guy is willing to go public. murmurings from other democrats saying it's time torefor a chan. how serious is this? >> the idea of a challenge is quite serious to her.

she's been there more than a decade. 13 years, in fact, and democrats are -- are at a low point. no question. the problem here is that there's no one person that can probably take her out. tim rye an is definitely a readg star or rising voice in the party. no question. he's from one of those red counties in ohio. the democrats didn't win. that said, she has a lot of support locked up from her california delegation. also from women. so it is difficult. most democrats would like to see her leave quietly. they point to the fact she's 76 years old. point to that respectfully. %-p? nearly twice as old on the republican side. one of the challenges there. that said, she a very good politician internally usely wins these races. >> i've never seen a leader understand where their caulks is at in terms of a whip count and

lead count the way she does. think about a democratic presidential primary. tim rying might have a general election appeal, taking lessons of this november election and trying to have a national conversation about that but the liberal groups are with her. the democratic caucus in the house, they are constituents. this is the liberal wing of the party. >> move on endorsed her yesterday. >> already. it is difficult to take the message we have to -- that we democrats need to speak more to the heartland as a message inside a very liberal democratic caucus that has only become more liberal in recent years as republican won a lot of districts that used to be purple. >> a debate in the senate and house and democratic party as well, do they challenge president-elect donald trump on every issue, fight, fight, fight, or try to work with him and get serious legislation passed? it's a big debate going on right now. >> definitely have a debate, but the word i kept hearing over and

over this week up on the hill was, let's try and exploit his differences with republicans. we saw it during this campaign pap long, republican's primary and general election campaign and donald trump had significant differences with republicans. chuck schumer wants to use those populist issues that really helped elect him and seize on those. now, the challenge for democrats is that republicans control both chambers here. so it's -- and also that mike pence, the new vice president-elect, is going to do a lot of the legislative dealing and may not be quite as populist at donald trump. don't discount chuck schumer and donald trump having an interesting relationship. >> both new yorkers, both from new york city and a long-standing relationship. >> and donald trump's a former donor to -- >> that's correct. and schumer's been relatively silent. relatively quiet as far as criticizing donald trump pap new book coming out from cnn politics "unprecedented." first book eavin done, out

december 6th. it focuses in one area, very interesting, when trump always would speak of common sense. common sense. talk a little about that. >> so our colleagues, thomas lake and jody, a dream assignment to avoid being in the mess of the daily headline, able to for a year and longer step back and write the story of this campaign from behind the scenes. one of the things they learned from a former trump aide there, sam nunbernunberg, from the beg of his campaign, trump wanted to make sure to use common sense as catch phrase over and over again infusing everything they put together. he said because, this is interesting and proved to be true -- it is something that the republican primary electorate was hungry for. someone who would speak common sense and enrage the establishment republicanance saying oh, it's not that simple. much more complex than that. a two-fer. enrage the establishment and give something to the base. they used it also in terms of the wall. they said, why don't we just, yes, it's immigration, border, complex issue.

boil it down to, trump and the wall. and voters will start to see that this developer wants to build something that protects us, and keep it that simple. it's basically the, it's the economy stupid, from the '92 campaign, became the mantra of common sense inside the trump campaign. >> it's the economy, stupid. guys, stick around. you can get a lot more of cnn behind the scenes story of this campaign as it happened. order the new book "unprecedented: the election that changed everything" go to cnn.com/book. still to come a man on both sides of the confirmation process, former secretary of defense, congressman, u.s. senator, william cohen, weighing in on the latest picks for donald trump's national security team. what it means for the future donald trump presidency. your insurance company

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welcome back. let's discuss with william cohen. served as republican member of both the house and senate. later served as defense secretary under president clinton, secretary. secretary cohen thanks for joining us. >> good what's your reaction? >> i don't know mr. pompeo but i'm told mike hayden, former cia director, nsa director and general thinks very highly of him, that -- so that's good enough for me. general hayden says this is a man of substance and someone that can build a support within the cia. >> general flynn, he was that of the defense intelligence agency for two years. he was forced out or fired, whatever happened. he had a distinguished career in the u.s. military, served under general mcchrystal in afghanistan, served in iraq. he wrorose the ranks to become

three-star general and leader, director of the defense intelligence agency so yearly there's a history there. >> there is and you don't get to be a three-star without having some real capability. i think the issue for him is going to be the national security advisor and the role. it's much more bureaucratic. it's really designed to help smooth all of the different departments that have an interest in national security and it's not just the military. you also have the state department. you also have the cia. so you have -- treasury department and others as well as the attorney general. so you have a lot of competing agencies involved and it's the job of the national security advisor to reduce as much as possible the decisions that have to go to the president. sandy berger was a good example of somebody who was obviously a partisan democrat but he also was very objective in saying everybody had to have a place at the table and let's resolve

these issues between you, mr. secretary, and madeleine albright and others before we have to take it to the president. so if i wasn't satisfied i wasn't being heard, sandy would say "let's go to the president." so his job, he'll find it much more diverse. it's not only military, it's economic because economics also play asthma i jor role -- plays role. many, many former generals have gone on record to say climate change is a national security issue so this will have to be laid out and he will have to play a role of being an honest broker. and that's something he hasn't had to do. the question is, can he do it? we'll see. >> well, there have been military personnel, generals, who have been successful assize in he-- national security advisors. >> general powell. >> general powell. he later emerged to become a national security advisor and secretary of state. >> general scowcroft.

>> brent scowcroft. >> was a very good national security advisor. and he was an air force general. >> absolutely. >> so maybe general flynn has that potential in him but you're expressing your doubts. >> i'm not expressing doubt, i'm just saying that's a role he'll have to broaden out his skill set in terms of managing the military department or agency but he'll have to manage a lot of competing interests that may be adverse to his own philosophical versions of what needs to be done. >> he doesn't have to go through confirmation as the national security advisor. you were a senator. senators like to confirm their brothers and sisters in the senate. let's remember the experience of chuck hagel, he became secretary of defense but not without a great deal of controversy and certainly not with a unanimous vote.

so i think the issues will be raised of senator sessions will be what is really your opinion about waterboarding. do you subscribe to the notion we should engage in torture. do you subscribe to the notion we kill families of suspected terrorists. members will have to be satisfied of his response. >> but if the president-elect has expressed those views. >> exactly. >> he says waterboarding would be okay under extreme circumstances. he's made that case, donald trump. >> i happen to disagree with that and there are others in the senate who will disagree with that, but he's the president-elect and jeff sessions is his choice so i suspect he'll be confirmed but it won't be just smooth sailing. i think there are a lot of issues that will have to be raised. >> who would you like to see emerge as secretary of state and secretary of defense? >> one name i've heard surface would be general madus other at defense. he will be a great choice. >> but doesn't the general -- retired general -- you have to

wait seven years before you can take a job like that? >> unless there's a waiver. >> but the waiver would require senate approval. >> it would. >> and that's not necessarily always that easy to do that. >> i think general madus enjoys -- if he's in the consideration i think he would have wide support on capitol hill. i know him well, he's worked with me certainly. and he's somebody who served this administration very well, i'm a former pentagon correspondent. they usually like to have a civilian -- somebody who maybe served in the military but not necessarily a military man or woman as the secretary of defense. are you familiar with that? >> i am. and we have civilian rule over the military and subordination and that's going to be very important in terms of who that individual is. it's up to the president-elect. >> rudy giuliani wants that job. would you be comfortable with that. >> i would want to know more about his experience in terms of how he sees the united states in

the world at large. i just returned from china, by way of example. they are concerned about national security issues. we have north korea, other issues. i want to know more about his views. >> we'll have confirmation hearings and find out. >> but he's also the president's pick. >> thanks very much. and elections do have consequences. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. east american the situation room. the news continues after a quick break. ♪ i'm done. done with figuring it out for myself. i'm done with surprises.

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