the trump team starting to take shape. the u.s. president-elect announces keep members of his national security team, and they seem to show him standing by some of the extreme ideas that he campaigned with. also, the billionaire president-elect settles multiple lawsuits against his defunct trump university. in eastern aleppo, could it get any worse? a new death toll after 60 days of air strikes says yes, it can get worse. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome. to our viewers here in the united states and around the world, i'm george howell. >> i'm natalie allen. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

4:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. president-elect trump is set for a busy saturday continuing to screen candidates for critical jobs within his administration. >> he does have one less thing to worry about. he's agreed to pay $25 million to settle three lawsuits over his now-defunct trump university. the lawsuits cover about 6,000 people who signed up for the real estate course. they can expect a refund of about half their money. >> in the meantime, trump has named three hard-line conservatives to key national security posts. one of them, retired general michael flynn. there's republican senator jeff sessions and republican congressman mike pompeo. now more on the team as it starts to take shape. >> reporter: lock her up. lock her up. >> reporter: lookingists, hard-liners, now the core of president-elect trump's national security team.

the choices revealing the next administration's security posture. one defined not by a pragmatic move to the middle but instead, by a move deeply into conservative orthodoxy. >> i told donald trump this isn't a campaign, this is a movement. >> reporter: jeff sessions, a crucial voice inside trump's team and his first senate endorsement, now in line to be the next attorney general. >> we need to bring back big-time leadership, and that donald trump. >> reporter: michael flynn, trump's closer military adviser and former head of the national intelligence agency is security adviser. mike pompeo, a former army officer, member of the house intelligence committee, and harsh critic of hillary clinton, now in line to be cia director. the picks provoking a chorus of cheers from top capitol hill republicans. >> jeff sessions will bring back integrity to the united states department of justice. >> reporter: and near universal caution or outright concern from

democrats. >> it's really getting more and more disturbing, and clear that donald trump is not trying to bring the country together with the moves he's making right out of the gate. >> reporter: for trump, an unquestionable ramp-up of the pace of his transition. the so-called landing teams of advisers and transition team staff arriving at the justice, defense, and state departments, and the quickened pace expected to continue in the days ahead. trump heads out of new york city to his golf course in bed minister, new jersey. the meetings with top candidates will follow. 2012 nominee and harsh trump critic mitt romney, potential education secretary pick michelle rhee, and potential secretary of defense pick james mattis scheduled for sitdowns with the president-elect. the romney meeting by far the most notable in light of comments like these during the campaign. >> donald trump is a phony, a fraud. a con man, a fake. his promises are as worthless as

a degree from trump university. >> reporter: some questioning with some saying he's not reaching out. the team saying this is a new reality. >> the president-elect wants the best and brightest. he's going to meet with people who support him, people who didn't support him, republicans, democrats, independents. most of all, these conversations start off as just that, a conversation to discuss people's ideas and thoughts and get their opinions. >> michael flynn will not require senate confirmation to become national security adviser. that may work to trump's advantage as flynn comes to the job with a lot of baggage that might not pass muster in the u.s. senate. cnn's jim sciutto explains why. the next president of the united states right here. [ cheers ] >> reporter: retired lieutenant general michael flynn, once a registered democrat, will now be the president-elect's closest adviser on the greatest threats to u.s. national security. a departure from long-held u.s.

policy from both parties. he's called islam itself, not radical versionsings a threat. in tweets such as this from the campaign, "fear of muslims is rationa rational," he wrote. in public speeches even calling islam a cancer. >> islam is a political ideology. it is a political ideology. it hides behind this notion of it being a religion. >> reporter: more broadly he supports a significant reversal of which states the u.s. views as threats. he's identified longtime ally saudi arabia as a danger. while russia, who the u.s. blames for invading ukraine, atrocities in syria, and meddling in the u.s. election as it worst an exaggerated threat, at best a potential friend. this view contradicts the u.s. intelligence community and senior defense officials from both parties. he's also unsettled u.s. allies by arguing that military commitments to nato and other

treaty allies should be conditional. >> i've been called an angry general. i'll tell you what, you know, i'm not angry. what i am is i'm very determined to make sure that this country is ready for my children and my grandchildren. >> reporter: flynn's military record is impressive. as an intelligence officer, he is credited with helping turn the tide against al qaeda in afghanistan and isis' predecessor in iraq. when he served as chief of the intelligence agency his style antagonized many in the intel community leading to his being forced out. since then he was vladimir putin's dinner guest in december last year, accepting an undisclosed speaking fee. and flynn's for-profit consultancy was still working with a foreign client while he was also attending classified security briefings with donald trump during the campaign. the ranking democrat on the house committee on government oversight is now questioning flynn's ties to lobbyists,

requesting more information on his foreign connections, as well. >> he has a reputation as an independent thinker. some of that is good and necessary. the deeper problem potentially is that he has publicly said that he thinks the -- this war can go on for several generations. he's publicly called for expanding the war to basically any islamist militant around the world. and that comes with some potential downsides. >> jim sciutto reporting. flynn's views on islam have been condemned by some and have been defended by others. here's what host and professor of religious scholar reza islan and commentator caylee mckeny had to say earlier about trump's pick for national security adviser. >> over and over we've talked on this panel and on cnn that michael flynn has said that islam is not a cancer, it's not a religion. it's an ideology. we've been tossing this around.

i want you to understand quickly what michael flynn means when he says this absurd, ignorant canard that islam is not an ideology. what he means is that therefore muslims should not have religious protections in the united states. that's what that means. that means the 3.5 million, 4 million muslims in the united states should not be protected by the constitution. and i know that a lot of viewers now are kind of looking at this and saying,em with, this has to do with islam, it doesn't have to do with me. if you think that this kind of autocratic tendency, this abuse of power is going to stop only at muslims, you don't know your history. >> mike flynn said that islam is a political ideology masking as a religion. >> right. it's important to understand why he made that statement. you have andy mccarthy, a respected former federal prosecutor, national review columnist who's written extensively on this. he said, look, 90% of the koran is, in fact, a legal doctrine,

sharia. he's not sit saiing that as an insult to the religion. that is structured differently than typical christian religions or jewish religions, the way that those books are structured. that is what he's meaning academically. then also i think it's completely unfair to say that he called islam a cancer. when you listen to the whole statement in context, he says, look, this ideology is being used for people to cut off other people's heads, to commit mass a atrociti atrocities. that's a problem, a cancer. he was referring to the way it is used, the radical islam. to take bits and pieces of his statements and to suggest that muslims are not going to have constitutional rights under the trump administration, i just think is absurd hyperbole. i don't think it's a responsible way to speak. >> reza? >> no offense to caylee, but you don't know what you're talking about when it comes to the koran or the bible. about 120 verses of the koran

have to do with legal matters out of tens of thousands. if you read the first five chapters of the bible, you would know that it is mostly law. all religions are about not just your faith about about the way you conduct yourself in the world. in a way, all religions are about ideology, however you define that. that's not what michael flynn was saying. michael flynn was saying -- it seems as though you may agree with him -- that islam is different. it's not like other religions, so it has to be treated differently. not islamic radicalism, not extremism, but islam. and by definition, the 1.5 billion adherence of it regardless of their political or military views. that includes the 1% of the american population, citizens here under the united states constitution, that actually follow islam as a religion. >> redsa, i just want -- reza, i just want to respond. when confronted with facts, a

lot of times the other commentators add honorable anyone attacks, what you did -- >> i corrected your facts -- >> and -- i read the bible and academies disagree with your facts. a former prosecutor -- >> he's not a scholar of religion -- >> with your characterization. let's not descend into ad homonym attacks. let's not descend into absurdities and suggest that islamic americans will not have constitutional rights. they have all the constitutional rights that i have as a christian. president-elect has never suggested otherwise. it's irresponsible to come on here and cry racist, islamophobic, and use these terms and misconstrue people's words. it's sad. let's gym give him a chance and -- let's give him a chance and listen to president obama. >> president-elect trump, president-elect trump at various times in his campaign has called for banning all muslims from the united states. he's called for monitoring muslim neighborhoods. he has peddled a lie that american muslims celebrated 9/11

and after the lie was repeatedly poexzed continued to say -- exposed continued to say that lie. these are not opinions. i'm stating observable facts. >> we'll start with the first thing you said -- >> it doesn't matter what an attorney has to say -- >> you said a complete ban on muslims. he said a temporary ban until we find out what's going on. that was on the heels of someone getting into our country and taking 18 lives. that was on the heels of that. it's been reformed to be people who come from terror hotbed countries. let's get our facts right. nuance matters. to say a complete ban, you lead off the nuance and the intel, you scare a heck of a lot of people. >> reza? >> the truth, caylee, is that donald trump has yet to actually clarify. the ban on muslims is still on his website. it's still part of his platform. we've gotten numerous indications back and forth from his campaign about when that actually means a religious test or when that's from slim majority countries, which in and of itself is problematic because

that's not where all the terrorism is. look, the fact of the matter is that anti-slim bigotry has been the hallmark of donald trump's campaign throughout. and now he has brought together a cabinet so far of people who tend to agree with his views about islam and about muslims. and that has to be problematic. and again, to this whole constitutional element thing here, it's really just math, caylee. if islam is is not a religion, then muslims don't get religious rights, period. >> quite a duel there on cnn earlier. coming up in the next hour, i will talk with a professor receive international relations in london about michael flynn. barack obama is attending his last international summit as the american president. he could face tough questions from world leaders about his successor. plus, we'll show you a brutal scene that's become all too common in aleppo, syria. love or like?

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whether you're going for reps... or laps... or distance. you gotta try it... period. protein shots from 5-hour energy. great taste. 100 calories. 21 grams of protein. welcome back. you're watching "cnn newsroom" live from atlanta. saudi arabian state news says the saudi-led military coalition has declared a 48-hour

cease-fire in yemen. it's set to begin in about one hour which will be noon in yemen. the coalition says the cease-fire could be renewed if the houthi rebels and their allies honor it. reports say humanitarian aid will be delivered to conflict areas during the cease-fire. now to eastern aleppo. a quarter million people have almost no food or medicine. the u.n. also saying that rebel groups there have agreed in principle to a relief plan for them, but sawyer and russia have not given it the green light. 46 people were killed friday alone. a fourth day of relentless government air strikes on rebel-held neighborhoods. we are about to show you video also that is quite disturbing. rescuers trying to save a little girl from under the rubble. it is brutal scenes like this. these are the scenes that happen so routinely each day in aleppo. you see half of her body here appears to be trapped, but she

remains calm. in part seemingly in shock. almost emotionless. wow. let's bring in cnn's will ripley following the story live in istanbul, turkey, this hour. will, when you see images like this little girl just really drives home the pain that so many are enduring day in and day out in this hellish situation. tell us more about how people are dealing with this. >> reporter: simply horrifying, george. and these children, all of them are growing up. they've never known anything else. we talked about this earlier. they don't remember what life was like before the planes started dropping bombs in their schools, hospitals, and homes were destroyed. their friends and their parents were dying.

it is -- it is sickening to think that just in the last two months since that east aleppo cease-fire broke down, 1,086 have died according to the syrian observatory for human rights. that includes 231 children. there was one week in september when 96 children were killed in less than a week. and -- and these are families that are being torn apart by an onslaught. meantime, they're also being cut off, the food supplies, medicine is running out. and the bombing is being described by people living in east aleppo as unprecedented in its intensity. even more intense now than what they've seen the last two months. so the number of dead promises to continue to rise. and there is really no end in sight at this point. perhaps this plan to provide humanitarian relief will at least allow hospitals and markets to restock and relief organizations, as well. >> will, let's talk about hospitals. you know, for viewers around the world who -- i want to make sure

this is not lost on people. you go to the hospital for help. these hospitals have become death targets in the bombardments. talk about hospitals in aleppo and throughout syria that are being bombed and targeted. >> reporter: let me give you an idea of how quickly this is all falling apart. i spoke with a doctor inside east aleppo on monday. and at that point he said that out of nine hospitals in this area that service more than a quarter million people, there were eight operating hospitals at the beginning of the week. today, we are told from multiple sources on the ground there are four hospitals. it's not even clear if they are fully operational. medical sources are saying that all of the trauma centers have been -- have been wiped out at this point. and they're having a difficult time rebuilding them because they're running out of supplies and because the damage is severe. when you're talking about doddss and dozens -- dozens and dozens of barrel bombs being dropped on facilities. this is getting the attention of

the u.s. state department, the spokesperson, john kirby, talking about the role of syrian regime warplanes and russia targeting hospitals outside of east aleppo. >> i can't speak for the syrian military or the russian military. i don't know whose airports are hitting these hospitals. what i can say is we've got credible claims from legitimate -- you know, well-established agencies that are reporting t s this. they are hospitals and patients. people that are trying to get well are, in fact, being bombed. and frankly, it doesn't really matter whose airplane is dropping the bomb. it's either the syrians or the russians or both. the fact is it's got to stop. it needs to stop. >> reporter: the situation that you have on the ground in east aleppo is that patients, even if

they are ill or injured, are often afraid to go these hospitals because the hospitals are considered targets of artillery fire, of barrel bombs, and so you have this tragedy compounded by the fact that there is only less than three dozen doctors, 31 doctors that remain in east aleppo, three pediatricians, you know, a handful of surgeons, and they don't have a place to work, they're running out of supplies. one thing that is important to note, as well, is there are atrocities being committed by both sides. that figure of more than a thousand killed in the last two months also includes civilians who were killed by rebel attacks on western aleppo which is held by the government. both sides have accused the other of using chemical weapons on civilians. so certainly when it comes to the conflict, both sides inflicting grave harm on each other, george. in the middle of all of this, of course, these families and these children. >> will, i want to take another second here just to look at this

video again, this little girl. stay with me. i want you to tell me again about the situation. you know, i just don't think that -- i don't think people see enough of these images. and again, these things happen every day in aleppo. these are the families, these are the children. i'm a father myself, and -- you know. it's heartbreaking. as a human it's heartbreaking, will. >> reporter: i agree with you, george. people don't see enough of this. the focus of the world right now is on the united states and the u.s. presidential transition and what the president-elect, donald trump, is up to and who he is meeting with. and i've chatted with people in eastern aleppo who feel that they have been forgotten by the world. the more that we can tell their stories and show these images and let people know what's happening, they're hopeful that someone will help them. >> cnn's will ripley live for us in istanbul, turkey. thank you for the time. >> so happy she was pulled out alive. so many are not.

will mentioned the focus on donald trump and that will also be the focus at the asia-pacific economic cooperation summit for peru quite likely. u.s. president obama landed there friday night. world leaders are meeting in a few hours to begin the summit. they are expected to ask mr. obama pointed questions over free trade and trade agreements which donald trump opposed throughout his campaign. our athena jones has more from lima. president obama arrives here in lima facing some difficult conversations during this apec summit. there's no denying that the white house expected a very different result from the election. president obama said many times that he did not expect donald trump to be elected president. now that donald trump has been elected president, there's a lot of uncertainty about the direction that u.s. foreign policy is going to take in the coming years. one thing we know is that president-elect trump has been skeptical of a series of international agreements. chief among them is the tpp.

the transpacific partnership. he has called that 12-nation trade deal a disaster. we know from congressional leaders on capitol hill that that deal is not going to come up for a lame duck session. it's after efforts to rebalance foreign policy toward the asia-pacific region, a powerhouse on the economic front and important militarily, as well. the white house says that the president will try to make the case that the u.s. should remain engaged in that region. it's unclear how effective he's going to be. we know that china stands ready to fill the void left by the failure of the tpp with its own massive multination trade deal. the white house says that that deal would lower or eliminate terrorists but wouldn't have the same high standards, standards protecting things like intellectual property, the environment, labor standards, it wouldn't have those same high standards that the tpp has.

and it would leave u.s. companies at a disadvantage. so this is going to be a difficult, potentially a difficult trip for president obama who is scheduled to meet with china's president xi jinping and australia prime minister, malcolm turnbull, during the trip. back to you. >> athena jones, thank you. "newsroom" back after this.

welcome when we come back to our viewers around the world. -- welcome back to viewers around the world. this is "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. here are the headlines --

>> a 48-hour cease-fire was supposed to have started a short time ago in yemen. the saudi-led coalition declared it earlier saturday. the cease-fire could be renewed if the houthi rebels and allies ally aid to g-- allow aid to ge to the areas. 26 isis fighters were killed in air strikes friday. the first location was near the town of talafar. the air strikes hit an isis vehicle and positions on the ground. a similar strike was carried out near the village to the south of mosul. iraqi christians have ere erected a new cross at their church after the original was destroyed by isis. meantime, u.s.-backed iraqi troops are gaining ground on the stronghold in mosul. elite units stormed the northeastern edge of the city friday. >> showing you live images this hour from seoul, south korea. enormous crowds of protesters there for several weekends in a row. demonstrators calling for their

leader to step down or be impeach impeached. the president of the nation, park geun-hye, is embroiled in a corruption scandal involving a friend and allegations of influence peddling. saturday will be a busy one for donald trump as he interviews more candidates for high-profile jobs in his upcoming administration. on friday, trump picked three hardliners for crucial posts on national security. >> let's list them from left to right. right to left, rather. left to right, i should say. republican senator jeff sessions for the u.s. attorney general. house republican mike pompeo for cia director. retired army lieutenant general michael flynn for national security adviser. >> three lawsuits alleging fraud by donald trump's university were settled friday. you recall the story likely from the campaign. trump agreed to pay now $25 million without admitting any guilt. the lawsuits cover about 6r,000 people who signed up for the

now-defunct steareal estate cou. >> reporter: the lawyer for donald trump emphase fa sized this in court and after saying "in no way is the president-elect action angeling any fault or -- acknowledging any fault or liability." he says this will allow president-elect trump to focus on matters at hand, fighting for america. >> we felt confident in our position, but at the end, president-elect trump was prepared to set aside his personal interests and focus on the monumental task that he faces in bringing this country together and fighting for the important issues and all the people that he represents. he wants to spend his time and energy, his focus, his talents, his ability on fighting for americans. >> reporter: and many times leading up to this trial for years, donald trump had said he would never settle.

again, his lawyers seemed to be happy with this deal. and both sides were overall during the proceedings and after the proceedings. it didn't seem for either of them that they had been bludgeoned into this move. in fact, jason forge, the plaintiff's attorney, a former hard-charging federal prosecutor, said that they were going to not require any payment from the plaintiffs. he also said that this would be spread out and that every single plaintiff would receive at least half of their money back from what they paid for classes, donald trump university, they said all along that they felt the university was nothing more than a sham. now back to you. >> thank you. let's talk more here about the republican senator, jeff sessions. he comes from a small town in alabama. most voters there cast ballots for donald trump. cnn's gary tuchman asked residents about sessions' nomination for the top law enforcement job in the united

states. >> reporter: in tiny huffman, alabama, the nomination of alabama's own jeff sessions is the talk of the town. >> i was surprised but glorified. i'm overjoyed with it. i think he's going to do us a great job. >> reporter: heflin, the county seat of the county, is where we came to talk about sessions and other trump cabinet nominees. >> as to now it's been all white nominees. is that okay with you? >> it is, okay. >> reporter: would you like to see a woman? >> i would. yes, i would. >> reporter: not necessarily. if everyone's qualified, that's okay with you? >> it is. >> i'm not a feminist. so i -- it doesn't matter with me one way or the other as long as they know how to do their job. >> reporter: 88% of county voters cast their ballots for donald trump. they are loyal to him, as well as sessions. we had questions. jeff sessions in 1986 wanted to be a federal judge. he was rejected by a republican committee because of racially charged comments he made. he called the naacp, aclu communist inspired, un-american.

do you think that should disqualify him? will. >> no. 30 years ago, that was common for somebody to say. >> reporter: if he said something more recently, a few years ago or last year, would you think that would be enough to disqualify him? >> yes. >> 30 years ago i went to an all-white girl. might be longer than 30. when i went to high school, i went to an all-while school. they had an all-black school, i was all for that because i didn't know any better. >> reporter: you feel he didn't know any better back then? >> there's a chance he didn't. >> reporter: if he made those comments today -- >> it would bother me, yes, it would. >> reporter: what about the nominee for national security adviser, lieutenant general michael flynn? >> lock her up. that's right. >> reporter: a fiery and controversial advocate for trump on the campaign trail? >> he in the past has talked about islam. and he said islam definitely hides behind being a religion. it's a political ideology. did that trouble you? >> i don't think that's true. that may be his opinion, but i don't think it's true.

>> reporter: does that bother you? should it disquahim from being national security adviser? he's acknowledged making the comments. >> maybe he knows a heck of a lot more than i do. >> reporter: then mike pompeo for cia chief. few know a lot about him. many think he may not have the experience to run the cia. does that trouble you? >> a little, yes, sir. if they don't have the experience, yes. >> reporter: donald trump picked him. >> well, we can't agree with everything he does. >> reporter: in the small town, there seems to be a general agreement that the presidential transition is going just fine. do you think there are some people in this country, the political establishment, the news media, who don't get it? >> they never had it, seriously. >> reporter: gary tuchman, alabama. >> thank you. the pope appoints new cardinals and shakes up the catholic church. we'll explain why next. plus, the cast of "hamilton"

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the world health organization has declared that the advisorivirus is no longer public health emergency. concern over the virus is far from over. the mosquito-borne illness caused widespread fear when it was linked to pregnant mothers and birth defects in brazil earlier this year. world health officials say the change in zika status will help them focus now on a long-term approach to fighting it. >> we are not downgrading the importance of zika. in fact, by placing this as a longer term program of work, we're sending the message that zika is here to stay, and w.h.o.'s response is here in a robust manner. we're dealing with long-term

issues, management of neurological complications in children and adults. we're dealing with family planning issues, we're dealing with health system issues, we're dealing with maternal reproductive health issues, and we're dealing with a long and comprehensive research and development agenda that happen needs to be multi-yeyear and ha been pushed by w.h.o. just last month. >> pregnant women are stilling because -- being urged to take great precautions in mosquito-borne areas. >> not a health emergency, but a great deal of concern for many families. just to stay away or, you know, from particular areas. >> thank you goodness it's been knocked down a notch or two. >> yeah. that at least a good headline to report. still the fight continues. heavy smog continues to blanket the chinese capital of beijing. prompting the government to issue the city's first orange that's right year. >> let's find out what an orange alert is. derek van dam's here. >> reporter: definitely not something you want to be caught

in the middle of, to say the least. if i could just comment quickly on the zika story. my wildfire is pregnant, and we had to move our vacation plans because of the zika virus. you see how it's impacting people around the world, including the decisions as you want to go and take recreational time, as well. check this out, we're talking about smog in beijing because you know, it's -- it's an annual thing. it happens this time of year because we start burning the coal to heat our houses across northeastern china. unfortunately, it creates scenes just like this. beijing enveloped in severe smog this friday. a day ago, the orange level the second highest. advises schools and kinder gather tones cancel outdoor -- kindergartens to cancel outdoor sports and classes. it's urged government vehicles to keep off the road which they've done in the past if they issued a red-level alert. this is the second highest. visibility there less than two

kilometer becaus because of the, dense smog from all the coal and vehicle pollution that is created in and around northeast china. specifically the beijing area. a lot of people wearing protective masks to just keep them away from -- keep the particulates away from their lungs because it can be so, so unhealthy for you. the latest check at the aqi, the air quality index, that 107, unhealthy for some sensitive groups including the elderly, people with asthma, also the extremely young. what makes this part of the world so bad in terms of smog collection is because of the mountain range that surrounds the municipalities around the beijing region outside of beijing. we actually have 2,000-meter-plus high peaks. that traps in the smog and pollutants across the area. this is a very flat part of china. as you get into the mountain ranges, you can imagine that works as a bull to keep in the

unhealthy particulates. now, we do have one more day of bordering on that unhealthy to very unhealthy levels into sunday. we do expect monday and tuesday to clear. we feel a cold front that will pass through bringing the potential for for snowfall. first time for the season for this area. temperatures dropping quite dramatically as we head into the workweek. >> a white alert sounds better than orange alert for sure. >> for sure. >> all right. thanks. >> thank you. pope francis has appointed 17 new cardinals, and many of them have a background in humanitarian work. some come from far-flung places like bangladesh and the central african republic. why is this so unique? let's find out from our vatican correspondent, delia gallagher, live from rome. hem low, what does this signal from pope francis? >> reporter: these are interesting choices.

once again, pope francis going for the outsider. many places have never had a cardinal before as you mentioned in bangladesh. in the central african republic, in papua, new guinea. he's been impressed that the men are working on the front lines for issues he cares about such as poverty, such as immigration, environmental issues. he's also chosen a cardinals from syria, an italian-born ambassador to syria. an interesting choice. he's one of the men who says he's going to stay in syria and continue to work for peace in what the pope calls his beloved and martyred syria. in the united states, there are three new cardinals. again here, an interesting choice from pope francis. he bypassed cities which traditionally received cardinals such as los angeles and fells and gone to chicago. blaze coopage was somebody that the pope surprised many in 2014,

making him the head of the church in chicago. he also invited him to be a special representative to the senate on the family over here where archbishop cupich was seen speaking to gays and lesbians. he has the archbishop from indianapolis, archbishop tobin, another outsider choice, moving him to newark, new jersey, when has never had a cardinal before. and the archbishop tobin distinguished himself last year when he butted heads with governor mike pence over inviting a syrian family to resettle in indianapolis. and you can imagine that that's something that might have impressed pope francis with his emphasis on welcoming immigrants and resettling refugees. archbishop ferrell, formerly the archbishop of dallas. he's been promoted by the pope to a new vatican office over

here on family, laity, and life. these three u.s. cardinals, important choices. an important way that pope francis puts the stamp on the men he likes and wants to see help move the church in the direction that the pope would like to see it going. now, today what we'll be seeing is the cardinals receiving their red hat, the three-pointed red hat that signals a cardinal. the pope puts it on their head. he gives them the cardinal's ring. they also get a church in rome. the pope has many churches here. each cardinal becomes an honorary head of a church in rome. the vatican has announced that after the ceremony, the pope and the new cardinals will head into many buses behind st. peter's, up the hill, to visit pope emeritus benedict xvi. >> interesting, thank you very much. live from rome. thanks. the u.s. president-elect's home in new york, the trump tower -- i was just in new york, passed by the building, tons of

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u.s. president-elect trump was famous long before he ran for office, and his new york home, trump tower, was, too. the recent high-level meetings there have created a whole new star inside the building. our jeanne moos takes a closer look. >> reporter: when donald trump announced for president, it was trump tower's escalator -- ♪ that became a star, replicated on "the simpsons," a selfie magnet. now, it's the elevator's turn to shine. and shine they do in their golden glory. flen reflecting in their mirrored splendor and closing doors the huddled press assigned to document the job seekers and dignitaries. >> mr. smith? >> reporter: going up and down to visit the president-elect. >> what's going upstairs? why are you meeting with mr. trump? >> reporter: like so many, the ceo of fedex preferred fifthing

with his phone than asking questions. those about to ascend tend to wave or smile. >> what's going upstairs? >> reporter: or give a thumbs up in lieu of words. sometimes the waiting journalists have to settle for a picture of the luminaries above like south carolina governor nikki haley and the four elevators require camera people to develop strategies. >> it's kind of like the elevator version of the shell game where you don't know which elevator is going to come out. >> reporter: and heaven help the shooter -- >> if there's two and it's one and four, you're like, which way do you go. >> reporter: even when it was only the one and the two arriving simultaneously. the crews almost missed rudy giuliani. c-span is streaming the elevator cam live. and though it's not as cuddly as the panda cam, you do get variety. from trump's ex-wife, marla maples, to the pizza delivery guy, these superstar elevators

shine so bright, no wonder why janine pirro is wearing sunglasses. maybe their golden globe bathe the ceo who elected them to reflect before meeting the president-elect. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> fred smith from memphis, tennessee. video of fedex. i like that, c-span elevator cam. >> so golf for those photographers. >> poor, poor news media. >> the life of a cnn photographer has ups and downs. >> geez. geez. >> i'm here all day. a few blocks south -- quiet. a few blocks south of trump tower, vice president-elect mike pence got an earful while he attended the hottest musical on broadway friday. >> he was greeted with some clapping but was also greeted with booing, too. listen. [ cheers and boos ]

>> the vice president-elect at "hamilton" is the about alexander hamilton, found iing father of america and defender of the constitution. the cast made it clear they're worried about the incoming administration. >> vice president pence, we thank you for joining us here at "hamilton." we do. we, sir, we are the diverse of earth who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us. [ cheers ] our families, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our american values and to work on behalf of all of us. [ applause ] all of us.

an american story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds -- [ applause ] >> the "hamilton" cast running the show. >> yep. >> on broadway. >> yep. free speech, as well, in the united states. >> hope he liked it, mr. pence. thanks for joining us. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. another hour of news after the break. stay with us. this is cnn.

now singing a different tube, the president-elect goes back on his word and settled the trump university case. and a cabinet in the making more controversial figures are poised to join the