to begin towards growth. this has got legs because company profits are going to rise. >> as that story literally developed on this program this hour. thanks for joining us. ac 360 with anderson starts right now. thanks for joining us. we begin with the president elect of the united states donald trump tweeting moments ago about a story that aired just moments ago on cnn, namely erin burnett's interview with a union leader at center of the carrier jobs story. here is the tweet. chuck jones who is pres of united steel workers 1999 has done a terrible job representing workers. no wonder companies flee country." let's explain what's going on here. this man was on erin burnett's show and a short time right afterdonald trump is tweeting about him. >> right. donald trump is one who

obviously watches the media and watches very carefully. chuck jones, lead of local steel workers 1999, one thing he was grateful for the 800 jobs trump was able to say but felt he was misleading in the major noubs he did last week. which was to say 1100 jobs of 1400 were saved. but the real math doesn't add up like that. it is 730 union jobs saved. total $800 save8 hundre00 saved. and carrier still getting rewards from the tax break even though hundreds of jobs are still going to go away. >> what's particularly interesting about this is the president elect of the united states clearly seems to be watching a lot of television news and responding almost in real time or shortly after to

things he is seeing or i guess in some cases things he's reading. martin thank you very much. we're going check in with you a little later. another tweet on a similar subject tonight, and there is a mystery. the question that flows from it and potentially a lot of jobs at stake. we're going to get to that in a second but i want to bring in our panel to talk about this latest incident of the president elect tweeting out based on something he's just seen. again we are -- yet again we're saying it. we're in uncharted waters here. it is very rare you have the president elect watching this kind of media coverage and responding in real time. >> and also saying no wonder companies are fleeing the country. his criticism actually has been because of the trade why companies are leaving and now he's sort of suggesting it is because of the union people who aren't representing people properly. so he's attacking this union

representative because he angered him and then saying something that i don't think even fits with the narrative that he's been saying about companies leaving. >> this is obviously something on the one hand trump supporters like. they like the fact that he has a direct kpanl -- >> exactly. >> -- kpachannel to people. and that he's counterpunching. >> one the united steel workers remember endorse hillary clinton. so the union this guy represents was anti-trump. so that is not a surprise. but number two, i want to stick up for him on this issue of twitter. i wrote a column a while ago, talking about abraham lincoln about the use of the telegram and live press conferences. twitter is the 21st century. donald trump is going to be a seriously 21st century president. and this is one of the ways he's going to use to communicate. and to be perfectly candid, he's going to use it to get around us. he's making great use of the

technology and there is lots of the precedent for him and more power to him. >> but not for punching down like that. he took on the steel industry, not a single steel worker in this. and -- >> as we talked about -- >> exactly. >> absolutely. in fact now i have read stories where chuck jones himself said he voted for him. >> -- did not endorse. >> no no. mr. jones has told the press i've read he personally voted for hillary clinton. >> and the local union in this case did not endorse any candidate. >> right. but the larger point is if there is a -- if you want to put a face on a trump voter, it is chuck jones. >> except he voted for hillary clinton -- >> actually chuck jones is on the phone. we have him right now. appreciate you talking to us mr. jones. what do you make of the fact that you appear on cnn and then

you have the president of the united states speaking out against you. >> reporter: well he misspoke on the amount of jobs. it was 800, it wasn't 1 00. i give thanks and praise for everything he did to save the 1100 people's jobs. i really appreciate that. but also at the carrier conference last thursday got up and said he never made my commitments or promises to keep jobs there. which is a complete falsehood. he said it numerous times on his campaign speeches and he denied that. and so i mentioned those two items and evidently it rubbed him the wrong way. so things will go on.

>> he said something talking about carrier as a symbol and not necessarily specifically meaning carrier. clearly you view it as he meant carrier and that was -- >> he said carrier numerous times. numerous times. he said he wasn't president. he wasn't 50% sure. he wasn't 70% sure. he was a 100% sure these jobs would not be going to mexico. and he came in and negotiated a deal to 800 jobs there. but nobody is bringing up the fact that 550 are still moving to monterey, mexico. and he did a wonderful job with the jobs he saved but don't make it sound like it is 1100 when 350 of the jobs were going to remain here all along in the research and development. that is what i called him out on. >> and i want to put the tweet back up on the screen. it says chuck jones, president

of the united steel workers 1999 has done a terrible job representing workers no wonder cou campaigns fleed the country. >> what we do as the labor union, we negotiate wages and benefits. on the carrier situation it was all about wages. we can't compete with $3 an hour workers. we've got a skilled workforce but because of the corporate agreed and unfair trade they want to move the jobs out of the country. he wants to blame me, so be it. i look at him how many millions of dollars he spent on his hotels and casinos trying to keep labor unions out. so, you know, i like my side trying to work the best and make people's lives the best they possibly can be. >> i want to play some of what you had said on erin burnett's

show which maybe is what donald trump was responding to. i just want to play this. >> they announced at that point in time the research and development jobs, about 50 350 them were going to remain here in indianapolis. when mr. trump got in involved what the actual number of jobs saved is 730 bargaining unit jobs. the workers of the union members. and another 70 office, supervisory, clerical workers from management. and what they are doing, they are counting in 350-some odd more that were never leaving the country at all. and i think he did a lot of negotiations and i have likewise it and if you are dealing with people's livelihoods you sure as hell out to know what the numbers are. >> when did you find out -- you had heard the number donald trump said? when did you find out the

details of this and what did you think when you heard that? >> we were hearing three days 1100 jobs were staying. and we met with the people thursday last week at noon. and that point in time say said okay, this is what's going to happen. 730 bargaining unit jobs are going stay here and 70 other jobs. well, what i was calling trump out on is the fact that he was counting in the 350 research and development jobs that carrier announced in february they were going to remain here in indianapolis. the only thing i was doing was calling him out. what happened on that anderson, was our people heard that earlier in the week. and so once again they got their hopes up that something was going to be done. they was gonna have a job. so 1100 some-odd jobs is going

remain indianapolis. so the mood was good. we have to tell them -- you don't mention on thursday night that 550 jobs are going to move to monterey mexico. they leave that alone. and then we have to tell our members on friday because nobody was up front with them we're losing 550 members. and that is what upset me. because you got people's hopes up. 1100 some-odd jobs are going to remain in indianapolis. and which was wrong and people had hope they were going to be able to provide for their families and ended up not been true. and how many times can they go through this disappointment. they go through it once and then find out it's not the case. and so do i have issues with that? most certainly. dealing with people's

livelihoods and what's more important to a person's livelihood, their health, their family and their jobs and that got ripped away from them. >> mr. jones, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you so much for talking with us. >> i appreciate it very much. >> i want to bring in robert reish, who's back saving capitalism, for the many not the few." what do you make of this latest example of donald trump responding to something he's read or seen on television. >> well donald trump is doing this a lot. he's using twitter and has these tweets going out against people who criticize him. not only against chuck jones but also alec baldwin when he satirized mr. trump on "saturday night live." let me just say because donald trump is probably watching right

now let me just say with all due respect, mr. trump, you are president elect of the united states, you are looking and acting as if you are mean and petty, thin-skinned and vindictive. stop this. this is not a fire side chat. this is not what f.d.r. did. this isn't lifting people up. this is penalizing people for speaking their minds. what you did with boeing the other day, minutes after the ceo of boeing was quoted as saying that you, mr. trump, you, president elect trump were wrong on international trade, what did you do? you tweeted that boeing should have an order canceled. you called it a $4 billion order. and that meant boeing's own share prices plummeted. so in other words mr. trump, what you would like is for no one, not a ceo, nobody on television, no journalist,

nobody to criticize you. you take offense at that. well you are going to be president very shortly. you are going to have at your command not just twitter but also the cia, the irs, the fbi. if you have this kind of thin skinned vindictiveness attitude towards anyone who criticizes you, we are in very deep trouble. and sir, so are you. >> i want to. jeffrey lord. to the notion that he is thin skinned and this is vindictiveness like secretary reich was saying. what do you say to that. >> first of all i think this is being vastly overblown. harry truman wrote to his daughter --. someday i hope to meet you. when that happens you will need a new nose a lot of beefsteak for black eyes and perhaps a supporter below. i can only tell you donald trump

isn't even close to harry truman here. i think we're just getting overworked on this. what he's setting here is the principle. this is the 21st century. he's going to respond to his critics and good for him. >> do you think this is just a modern form of communication that mr. trump is bypassing the media and talking directly and this is just a sign of the times? >> well this is the 21st century. and twitter as a medium that communicates directly to millions and millions of americans and this is about specific personal criticism. a lot of people read this kind of personal criticism and what are they going to do? they are going to feel critical of that person as well. this is bullying. this is not using the bully pulpit. this is bullying. >> jeff, does donald trump seem thin-skinned to you? going after alec baldwin? i mean he is about to be the most powerful man in the entire world.

>> donald trump, carl rove noted this years ago about his feeling that the bush white house, the bush 43 white house made a mistake when the critics were going after bush on iraq and bush lied all of this kind of thing. and they didn't answer it. so they left the impression out there. one of the things that i personally asked donald trump when i interviewed him two years ago was this was a criticism of republican nominees. they don't fight back. will you do that? he assured me he absolutely would do it. and this is what we're seeing and good for him. >> mr. trump, president elect trump did not answer back. chuck jones said he lied about the numbers. apparently chuck jones is right. still a good thing saving 800 jobs but he lied saying 1100 wrong. instead of saying he got the numbers wrong, which lots of people do, he attacked chuck jones. and -- it was a private letter to a guy. >> but it got out in the media.

>> he was trashing truman's daughter. if someone trashes -- no. professor reich is correct. >> hold on a second. i just want to say this. >> -- abuse of power. >> i just want to say this. what we're not talking about here is at any time during all of this carrier event in the campaign hillary clinton could have picked up the phone and done. this. president obama could done this. donald trump did this. >> what they didn't do was pick up twitter and trash a steel worker named chuck in indianapolis who's fighting for his job. >> number one i think the twitter phenomenon is here to stay and i specially by donald trump. whether he's president in january or not. he's going to keep doing it. it is a huge tool for him. and it shows how aggressive he's going to be and this is all about the economy and he's going to keep doing it. he used twitter to his advantage just yesterday with the japanese billionaire, the softbank chairman who was in town. i understand when he was in the office with him he was thinking

well i may invest $50 billion in the u.s. and apparently the softbank chairman said, you know, if you tweeted it i might commit right now. and donald trump is like tweet it right now. and someone said just go on down to the lobby. and so trump went down to the lobby and so he got this commitment for $50 billion, 50,000 jobs because of a tweet. the japanese billionaire is also kind of a showman like donald trump is but in japan. >> and commitment back in august. so apparently he just snowballed trump. steam rolled him. >> all about discussing a tweet. but it is clear that the tweets that donald trump makes are going to be here. aggressive and they are going to be punchy. >> the white house uses twitter. it is just a question of what you are putting on twitter. and i do think paul's right that -- and secretary reich is right. this is bullying. this is just a regular american citizen. this is not somebody who is

necessarily necessarily on his level in terms of power. but i do think -- i said this to someone walking off the set last night. and this has been said before. last night he was presidential. well-behaved and stayed on the prompter. and i said to somebody tomorrow he's going to do something. and always happens. >> and this is it. >> more discussion when we come back afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

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we are back talking about twitter and how president elect trump uses it. not only that but personalizing. players powerful and not so powerful. including this tweet chuck jones has done a terrible job representing workers. no wonder companies flee the country. we just had chuck jones on the phone a short time ago at the top of the broadcast. here is what he said. >> to be quite honest what i did, i did a interview. and i called him out on some of the things that he misled the people on as far as the actual numbers of jobs that he claimed to save. and it was 800. it wasn't over 1100. i gave him praise and thanks for everything he did to save the 800 people's jobs.

i really appreciate that. he also during the conference with the carrier people last thursday got up and said he never made any commitments, any promises to carrier people to keep jobs there. which was complete falsehood. he said it numerous times on the campaign -- on his campaign speeches. and he denied that. >> and back with the panel, including former labor secretary robert reich. secretary reich, do you think -- i mean, do we know how this plays out over time? we've had presidents before who have kept enemies list. donald trump certainly has a long memory of people who he thinks slighted him or have been unfair to him. how does this play out? even for those who like him doing this, right now it may seem new, refreshing. it's different. over time does it not play

better and better or does it not play so well to his supporters. >> i think over it becomes more dangerous to democracy. which depends on freedom of the speech and freedom of the press. if people feel intimidated that they cannot criticize the president of the united states will retaliate, then there is going to be a massive intimidation a chilling effect on free speech and also on freedom of the press. this is extremely serious. this is not merely talking about fireside chats or angry truman being angry at some critic of his daughters. this goes to the central core of a democracy. we're talking about the freedom of people to express their criticisms of the president of the united states, without fear of retribution. without fear that the president

of the united states is going to single them out and condemn them in front of millions of other people. >> i can't recall a time where presidents of the united states in such a public forum have ever gone after private individuals. >> i think -- glen beck in the day. i think they went to great lengths to savage him. >> -- critical of that though. i think that was bad actually for the obama things do that precisely because it comes with the power of the president. and you have the senior white house officials going out and doing this and it is chilling. i don't think you should be singling out news organizations and attacking them and saying they are not legitimate. >> every president has complained about the press. and sometimes about individual reporters. that is not new.

what i can't think of. and jeffrey is a good student of history. is a time a president elect or a president has reached all the way into the heart of middle america. and frankly the very profile of a trump voter. this is what is the most troubling thing about this. in the main is mr. jones is able to come on your broadcast. in the main he's not able to defend himself. he's not. and donald trump with one buttons 16 million people. and chuck jones can't defend himself. and that is what's sew chilling. and if he's going to do that to chuck jones. do you know how many ceos are going to say i don't want to stick my head up. >> and just for the record donald trump said he didn't read the chicago tribune article in which the ceo of boeing was quoted. >> what's interesting is i watched the last couple of day, i went to so many rallies with donald trump. they were filled with union

workers. so it is a really contradictory thing to see him attacking a union worker. and then you have the ceos, you put steve schwartzman, head of the --. got this big panel and part of all these ceos and i talked o him and he said i've got to get on one of these panels with him. so now in the trump world they are going to pick up a manufacturing panel. the tech ceos coming in. the ceos out there are doing a flip-flop to try to get involved with the trump administration because they see the deal maker in chief coming on strong. so now they wanted to be part. >> want to be part and fear of not being part of fear of retaliation. >> they either want to be in his good graces. or they think he really is going to lower everything and we want in. >> another thing that's problematic at the way he's used twitter if you look at attacking boeing and their stock prices.

a long time i worked in the white house handling trade. and as a junior spokes personal you were really schooled in you could never say anything that has not been cleared by 50 people. every word has to be measured perfectly because it will move markets. and he is the president of the united states tweeting -- >> form ore labor secretary is with us. secretary reich. what about that? the power to move markets with a few words here or there. >> the power of the presidency not only to move markets but also to unleash a hailstorm of criticism against individuals who have the nerve and audacity to speak their minds. i mean, we are talking about presidential power here in its rawest and most important form. it has to be used with a great deal of decorum. with a great deal of sensitivity. and that is why this is so concerning. because we have the president elect of the united states.

not some candidate. the president elect of the united states, who is tweeting to 12 million or 16 million followers criticisms of individual whose dare correct him, dare to speak out about what the president elect of the united states is doing. this is something new. we have not seen this before. and it does pose a huge potential danger. not just to companies. yes there will be a chilling effect on individual ceos who will not want to speak out against president elect donald trump for fear he's going say something that causes the stock prices to go down. and yes the president has to be very careful what he says about a economy as a whole but what about reputations of individuals. what about keeping their jobs. what about what other people are so angry about what a president may say about a particular individual that they actually go out and seek some sort of revenge. this is raw power and it is very dangerous.

>> secretary reich you said something very interesting here. that this has not been seen before. and i would just say to everybody we're going to see a lot of this. this is going to be a very unconventional presidency by the likes of washington d.c. and established way of doing things. it is not just this. it is going to be a whole lot of things to come. he's going to be very different. he comes straight from the private sector. he's never been a governor, a senator. he's never in washington as an elected official. he's going to do things differently. which is why i would suggest he was elected in the first place. so i would respectfully suggest this is the tip of the iceberg and we're going to see a lot more of a lot of different things he's going to do very differently. >> but i don't think people voted him so he could beat up on chuck the steel worker. >> but the american people aren't dumb. they realize this guy vote forward hillary clinton, as you yourself said. he's a political opponent. >> no he's not. an american citizen. he's a voter. >> you can be an american

citizen and be a political opponent? >> really? come on jeffrey, you are too decent to think it is okay for a billionaire president elect to pick on a working class -- >> all men are created equal. declaration of independence. >> do you really think that is okay? >> let me just say something. because it certainly is okay for a president of the united states to criticize a network, criticize an industry, criticize a large group of people. but it is qualitatively different for a president or a president elect of the united states to criticize an individual who is exercising his first amendment rights to criticize that president elect. there is a huge power imbalance. and that power imbalance could create a situation -- and we're maybe not that far away from it. if this continues. anderson, you said what happens if this continues? if this continues and grows we

could have a situation where people across the board are scared to speak out. they are intimidated because they don't want to be punished. >> i don't think so. i don't think so. if you are old enough. and i hate to say it. the gray hair attests to it. my generation protesting linden johnson using all kind of language you can't use on television. they weren't scared and lindaen johnson was one of the -- >> did he go after you personally jeffrey? >> no he -- >> there is a big difference between going after a group of people and going after an individual and using the power of the presidency or the president elect of the united states to go after -- >> but this is -- >> that is the whole point. that is the intimidation. that is the danger here. >> sorry, go ahead, jeff. >> this is not just chuck jones some guy. i'm sure he's a perfectly decent sole. but le represents a steel workers union. he himself is a political

opponent who admitted to that. >> what did he do that was wrong? >> there was nothing. >> what he said was there were more jobs that need to be saved. what was it that was so horrible that this reaction? why wouldn't be reaction be oh let's go look at what these other jobs and see what we can do to save them? >> i can only tell you, when a political opponent goes after you, you go after them back. >> hold on. you're saying that's ridiculous. >> that's ridiculous because we just had an election. and if you take as your definition of political opponent anybody who voted against donald trump there are tens of millions of people right now in the united states who would be defined as political opponents and under that definition it would be perfectly fine for the president to every day tweet about one of those political opponents and say something negative about one of those political opponents. >> well it's just -- >> -- that is an absurd

argument. >> i don't think that donald trump cares whether the voted for or voted against him. i think he's upset that he's stepping on his show. and he had a great coupe last week and now he's undercutting it. i really think donald trump is a showman as well as the president elect. and he doesn't like that this guy is undercutting what was a really good show and presentation. >> it probably took harry truman a lot of time to write that letter. and it doesn't take donald trump much time to send a tweet. and he's writing in the moment clearly. and often times a wise person wants to, you know, think things through a little bit and let the moment pass and count to ten, breathe. >> he wants to set the record straight right away.

>> but he didn't set the record straight. he made a mistake. he did a good thing. he claimed he did a great thing. chuck called him on it. no big deal actually. >> but he -- >> -- wants to personally attack the guy who criticized him. that's what chilling. not that he wanted to set the record straight -- >> -- it is not as if that had not been on the record. it was something about chuck saying this and that it was a bait and switch or whatever the term -- >> -- majority of -- >> if i can just say he's got an awful lot of political enemies -- >> if i could just say in the media sense and i'm sure we're going to do have a lot of these in the next four years. like the texas demonstrations down there for the nut job down there t white supremacist. the media tends to overplay these things. vastly overplay their worth in a situation like this. and i just don't think it is that big deal. the president of the united states, the new president of the united states tweets.

which is what everybody does around the world. he's setting a precedent that other presidents are going to use in their own fashion. >> i hope not. i hope not. we have -- a president of the united states now through twitter has access directly, unmediated access to 16 million people. and i hope this does lead to presidents using their power direct access to single out individuals for criticism and blame. that is dangerous folks. >> mr. secretary, with all due respect franklin roosevelt used the radio to get around republican newspaper publishers of the day. >> he did not criticize individuals. -- joe mccarthy in the 1950s, senator joe mccarthy and his communist witch hunts, he went after individuals. he was not president.

he had a lot of power. but he had a lot of power. and do you know what happened with those individuals? they lost their jobs. they were intimidated by mr. mccarthy, until finally one member of the press stood up to joe mccarthy and said basically joe mccarthy is a despot. he's a dictator. he's dangerous for the country. are we going to have to wait for somebody to stand up to donald trump and say this? >> i got a lot of respect for you, but i just think that is hysteria and i think that's typical of what's wrong. >> you don't think what we're now witnessing is dangerous? >> no. no. are you kidding me? no. anderson cooper, cnn, fox news, everybody is going to be on donald trump's case for the next four years, eight years, whatever it turns out to be. as they are with every president of the united states. >> and donald trump has spent a lot of his time condemning the media and condemning individual journalists. >> and what? john f. kennedy canceled the new york tribune. so what. >> condemning individual

journalists? i'm sorry. we're in a completely new zone here. a new era when you have a president -- >> it is technology. it is the 21st century. >> you have direct contact between a president and 16 million americans -- >> and there is nothing wrong with that. >> -- and criticizing individuals, average americans? i'm sorry, there is something wrong with that. and if you don't see the danger in it, that in itself with all due respect is very dangerous. >> martin savage at the carrier plant. you have been speaking with them, is that how. >> reporter: i've talked to chuck jones several times. he will admit he vote forward hilla -- voted for hillary clinton. he will also say he voted holding his nose. he didn't like either choice. and i'll point out the local

labor union did not make any endorsement for the campaigns. the national union endorsed hillary clinton but the local union made no official endorsement. and chuck jones again is grateful to donald trump. he is amazed that donald trump was able to pull off saving 800 jobs. his particular point was at that announcement, the 1100 figure that was used was inaccurate and as a result there were several hundred members of his workforce who thought they would have jobs who don't. >> and it is interesting, jeff, because donald trump, i think it was a point paul already made but he's not responding to that particular factual -- to that fact or allegation. he's -- >> going after the credibility. >> he's angry at that. so he's poking at what a

perceived weakness or whatever it may be. that is a little different than saying, well, actually no, mr. jones, here is what happened. it's no. you're lousy and you're partly responsible for these jobs leaving. >> well i just think that this whole thing is getting vastly overblown here. and again, donald trump is the only person who did this. the sitting president of the united states and hillary clinton had the chance do this. so this is the reaction. it is only 800 jobs when it could have been 300? it would have been zero jobs. >> that is not the only reaction. mr. jones himself is saying he's very appreciative of these 800 jobs and nobody seems to be disputing that. >> if we can just switch for a second to boeing. so boeing happened and donald trump says i didn't do it because what the ceo said. that may actually be true.

it may not be true. who knows but we know donald trump was always in construction. and we know hillary clinton made a big point of this during the campaign, that he tried to squeeze every penny out of every contractor. remember when le would say on the campaign trail, thank goodness my father the drapery contractor did not have him as a client because he would try to squeeze him. so to me when he came out to say i want to get the price down on boeing or cancel the contract, it is just like him to want to do it. i was with donald trump once when he was going through the old post office. jese seeing something on the trim that he didn't like it. he was like well what is the price of this. how much did we pay? i could see his knock the cost down that we're going to pay this contractor. so it is totally like him do this. i don't know if it is appropriate on a government procurement. >> secretary reich. >> i'm sorry, it may be like him to do this. and that is precisely the problem we are dealing with right now.

because as a private citizen or as a developer when he was doing all of his developments around the country, around the world donald trump was not president elect of the united states. he was not -- he didn't have the power that he has right now. and it is not a matter of just correcting the record with regard to something that chuck jones has said. it is actually attacking him personally. it is saying he is a lousy union leader. it is like going after alec baldwin saying alec baldwin is lousy, he's not funny. rather than correcting the record. if there is some satirical issue. instead of correcting the record what donald trump will do with tweets is a kind of character assassination. it is what he did on the campaign trail. >> or attacking boeing, which is one of the companies in the united states that contributes the most for our gdp of sending

a lot of airplanes out of this country. so he does take it on but he says he's doing it for the u.s. first. >> we've got to take a quick break. the panel is going to stick around. mr. secretary, thank you for joining us. coming up a new batch of trump picks ah, family holiday party, huh greg? at least with directv from at&t, you can download then watch your dvr'ed shows anywhere. that makes you more powerful than your gene pool. i'll trade you the candy cane for the eggnog. deal. or aunt jaxie's lack of boundaries. or uncle terry's over-commitment to holiday cheer. pretty good hiding place, gotta say. say that to the nanny cam. it's your tv, take it with you. now you can watch your dvr anywhere, at no extra cost, with directv from at&t.

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someone who in the past has taken some $126,000 from energy groups. and someone critics are speaking out against. dmoblgts obviously. environmental groups speaking out as well. but kellyanne conway speaking in its defense saying look, we're ready for the nay sayers. this is a man who knows about overregulation and they are ready for the critics. >> and lastly trump's pick for the department of homeland security probably the least problematic so far. >> john kelly. known for being plain spoken. for being blunt. for example speaking out about

his opposition to guantanamo bay in terms of closing it. wants to keep that open. knows the horrors of war firsthand. lost his son back in 2010 after his son stepped on a land mine, anderson. >> thank you so much. back with the panel. dana bash joining us now. what do you know about the president elect's choice to head the epa and mainly about the reaction so far in washington. do you think there will be a tough fight on this? >> jason talked about the reaction coming in democrats and environmental groups. i think that is a very tame way to put it. they are sending up blistering statements, one after another getting them in my inbox about this pick for scott pruitt. first and foremost he's not just someone who's within a climate

change deny who are's said he wanted to rip up the --. has actually been involved in and helped lead lawsuits against epa, the very agency that he's nominated to head. now if you take a step back and listen to what donald trump said during the campaign this should not surprise anybody. this is what democrats warned about and this is what republicans promised. it was a big applause line in many trump rallies. and i saw and heard it firsthand. but the reason why there is a bit of whiplash right now among democrats is because it was like 24 hours ago that al gore, the personification of climate change was in trump tower talking to not just ivanka trump but the president elect coming out saying they had a really good conversation. leonardo dicaprio was there. he's mr. climate change. so i think that is why there is this reaction because democrats and environmental groups got what they now see is sort of a flurry of false hope after the

meetings and now it is back to the reality that he is appearing to deliver on his campaign promise to try to do away with not just the regulations of the obama administration but maybe the epa itself. >> it is interesting also the number of generals so far named to donald trump's inner . . . >> well, the one thing we can say is it probably doesn't bode well for general petraeus. if he was to add another general, i expect that would be too much. these are pretty impressive people. people that have a lot of respect across the board, at least two of them, i should say. mike flynn is a little more controversial. i think the military is a very respected institution in our society. where every other institution is losing respect. the military still has an overwhelming approval rating in the country. trump understands that. i think it's something that one more would probably be too many. at this point, at least two of

these picks are picks that i think a lot of people approve of. >> do you have a sense of where he is in terms of the timeline for secretary of state? >> i think he said it is going to be next week. i think he still doesn't know. i agree that petraeus is out. he cannot put another general in there. at one point, he was considering kelly for secretary of state. i don't know which way he is going to go. i don't know whether it would be romney or giuliani or somebody completely new. the pick with the worldwide wrestling person is so interesting to me. if you want to go online, you can find some funny tapes of donald trump getting smacked a little bit walking into the wrestling match. he enjoyed the show of that as well. >> you talk about linda mcmahon and to sort of show the

conflicted feelings of people on capitol hill who are going to have to confirm these cabinet picks, senator blum that you will from connecticut, who defeated linda mcmahon said he is going to vote for her. they are okay with that. they are okay with the pick today of terry branstandt to be ambassador to china. a lot of bipartisan applause for that. you have the sort of whiplash of this epa appointment late tonight. >> but, dana, a lot of support for general john kelly. >> yes, it certainly seems that way. it does not seem as though there is going to be much pushback at all on that. i do think it is fascinating that he is a gold star father given the controversy that donald trump had with the gold star parent at the convention.

>> fareed zakaria and his conversation with president barack obama. all of it coming up. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

president-elect trump says he values president obama's on

things. he talked in pretty glowing terms about the conversations they have been having? >> i really like him. we have a really good chemistry together. we talk. he loves the country. he wants to do right by the country and for the country. i will tell you, we obviously very much disagree on certain policies and certain things. i really like him as a person. i have asked him what he thinks are the biggest problems of the country, what are some of the greatest assets going forward. we have a very good dialogue and i must tell you i never met him before this and i never spoke to him before this. i really, i do like him. i love getting his ideas. >> earlier, i talked about some of this was cnn's fareed zakaria, who has a two-hour special report of the legacy of

barack obama will which air at the top of the hour at 9:00 p.m. eastern. donald trump saying he has been consulting with president obama about cabinet appointments and values the president's suggestion. what does that tell you about the kind of leader donald trump is going to be? >> let's hope it tells us that trump is going to be the kind of leader who would consult with a wide variety of sources. so far, that hasn't been true. he has tended to have a very narrow circle of advisers, family, a couple of advisers like steve bannon, kellyanne conway. maybe he is broadening. obama recognizes this is his one chance to have some kind of an impact in preserving his legacy. >> so you think perhaps it is president obama's attempt to preserve some of his legacy to have some influence on donald trump. >> i think he understands, nobody knows what it feels like to be president.

all trump's advisors are not in the same position. obama has a unique perspective he can provide. he is hoping that he can make him understand that perhaps the path to being president for the whole country, to having high approval ratings, is to preserve some of those elements of the obama legacy that have become part of the fabric of both american domestic policy and foreign policy, for example. upending the iran deal would be very difficult, very complicated. it is an international deal. the iranians will get a green light to go nuclear. nobody else is going to reimpose sanctions. the americans will be isolated. similarly on obamacare, it might look easy to repeal. what do you do with the 20 million people? what do you do with the fact that people expect insurance companies to cover anybody that has a pre-existing conditions? >> your documentary is two

hours, it airs tonight starting at 9:00. you interviewed the president for it. what do you think president obama believes his greatest successes have been? >> in his mind, no question, he believes that obamacare is the single most important thing he has done. he believes with some justification, seven presidents tried to do this. theodore roosevelt is the first to talk about universal health care and he actually got it done. he is as aware as anybody else of the limitations. he would argue a lot of them were forced on him, compromises that he had to make. at the end of the day, he got it done. my guess is, the trump question that you were asking is probably more than anything else about obama care. >> keeping at least parts of it? >> keeping parts of it. he was very clever in the conversation by keeping those core elements, essentially keeping obama care. he understands that. i think he very much wants to

preserve that. on the foreign policy side, i think he has shifted the way america thinks about foreign policy and i think he thinks that will endure. >> it is very interesting some of the things he admitted to you. he didn't see the rise of isis, the syrian civil war and the devastation and the impact it would have on europe. that haunts him. >> i asked him, your policy on syria seems to be am biff lent. >> he says, it is because i am ambivalent. you have this terrible tragedy but he doesn't think american in military action will solve it. you would just be jumping into a quagmire. i asked him, do you think that keeping america out of the syrian civil war, is an achievement? he said, yes, we have a bunch of very lousy options. on that list unfortunately that is the one i would have to pick.

>> fareed, thanks. >> pleasure. >> that does it for us. thanks for watching. the cnn special report, "the legacy of barack obama," a two-hour special by fareed zakaria, it starts right now. see you tomorrow. the following is a cnn special report. barack obama's america was born with hope, people were crying in the streets. with crisis -- >> fragile financial system. >> financial panic. >> we were hanging on the edge of a cliff. >> health care hysteria. >> why don't they take the health care being forced down our throat. >> two wars. mass shootings. >> a gunman opens fire. >> a spray of bullets. >> racial violence. >> if