they prepare for the next congress. we take you to keep events as they happen without interruption. watch live on c-span. listen on our free c-span radio app. >> it was another busy day at trump tower. the transition team was busy with inauguration day a month away. several people came and went to the course of the day. here's a look at some of those who were seen and heard. >> what are you doing here at trump tower? and my hungry? -- am i hungry?

i am back here for another chat. that is all. i will see him when i get up there. what is your take on this report? >> i am not in the cia. it seems we need to focus what is most important on what is going on in stereo right now. syria right now. >> he does not want to give the same thing over and over. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think a lot will change. take care.

i think there are more important things. we are about to see a collapse .f syria china and russia are expanding. i think that is what we need to be focusing on. they need a groundskeeper at the white house.

reporter: how are you? >> i am well. we had a really productive meeting. a cool stuff in his office. all these athletes have given him incredible number of ely. memorabilia. we got down to serious is this and expense a grandma of time talking about china as are most important adversary. we talked about hacking, whether chinese hacking or purported

russian hacking. we talked about the opportunity the president-elect has to reset the trajectory of the economy, to reset the role of government, role in therica's world and how we are perceived in the world. i think that is why he is getting fantastic people in his administration. the high quality of people he has named already says so much about his abilities. it also says that people recognize the opportunity that our new president-elect has to make an impact on people's lives in this country and events around the world. it was an honor for me to be there. thank you all.

>> had a really good meeting. we were talking about the agenda we are working on together to create jobs, to strengthen the economy and to strengthen our military. we have a great opportunity to get the country back on track. we're excited about the opportunity but know it will be a busy first few months. it will be a really good run for our country. it is exciting to have a president focused on creating jobs and getting this country back on track and making america great again. what the have to say about the russian hacking investigation? >> i don't think there are any problems.

other countries have been hacking into america for years and barack obama sat on the sidelines.

>> thank you.

it was really good. we talked about a lot of issues. we want to make sure that the .ssues are being listened to we had a great meeting. we talked about a lot of different things. reporter: do think you would like a place in this administration? >> i want to help this administration anyway i can. i think there are a lot of things where i can help. if i can help, i can help in congress, i am excited to do that. what about the russian hacking probe? what do you think about that? into that butlook i do not serve on any of those committees are you -- committees. you have the cia that keeps saying that something happened.

we have not been briefed about any of those issues. i would like to hear about any information that they had. -- have. thank you. thank you very much. reporter: what did you talk about? >> we talked about a lot of things. always an honor to talk with him. amis a man of action and i very enthusiastic about the leadership that he is bringing. his commitment to making america great, getting our economy growing, creating jobs, and rethinking these federal agencies. he wants them to work. him ringing that's why federal government, which is very welcome. what about department

of interior?

>> that was inside trump tower. here is what happened outside the building, where several people gathered to protest. [indiscernible] >> we are all americans. we are all americans.

, no kkk, no fascist usa. no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa.

>> this is what democracy looks like. >> tell me what democracy looks like. >> this is what democracy looks like. >> what does democracy look like guys? >> this is what democracy looks like.

>> the people united, will never be defeated. the people united, will never be defeated.

>>. here showing support -- we are here showing support. we are here to show that democracy matters and that there are things that are not right but we can come together peacefully. here are a lot of people who feel the same. >> we are here to support this. late.is not too tall college can still do the -- the electoral college can still do the right thing.

>> hey hey, ho ho, donald trump has got to go. -- hey, hope, donald trump hello, donald trump has got to go.

>> the results of the is it -- election become official when a meat to cast their vote. you can watch the process take place in several states. live coverage starting here at -- some lenders are demanding and intelligence -- an intelligence briefing.

demandingectors are an intelligence reefing. they are asking for more information about recent reports on russia's potential influence. the issue demands close scrutiny from the elect world college after donald trump willingness and his continuing defense of russia. some lawmakers are asking that a special nonpartisan commission be created to help identify future measures that would prevent interference in u.s. elections. you can read more about that story at the hill.com. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told reporters he

supported a bipartisan investigation. here is a portion of his news conference on capitol hill. reporter: do you believe the russian government -- mr. mcconnell: the reason i read that statement is i think that thoroughly covers what i am prepared to say about that issue. reporter: you talked about an commission.n -- a mr. mcconnell: we will follow the regular order. it is an important subject. reporter: doesn't like voice can send you the signals coming from the new administration, the different attitude, orientation

and more friendliness towards russia? mr. mcconnell: let me speak for myself. -- russians are not are for our friends. they invaded crimea. to say that they are nervous and -- about the russians would be to put it mildly. commitmento keep the .hat were made in the agreement by any objective standard, it has been one of the most successful. i think we ought to approach all these issues on the assumption that the russians do not wish us well. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was created

as a public service by american television cable companies. your brought to you by cable or satellite provider. next, those who served on the transition team of bill kasdan -- bill clinton and president obama share with it -- from their experience. this was part of a form hosted by the brookings institution. it is 55 minutes. to brookings. it is a pleasure to have you here for a session -- special event. we are very proud to covers this atnt with the miller center the university of just josh virginia -- virginia.

the first year has not begun yet for the donald trump administration. have some already flavor of what life could be like in the first year. there is nothing like a trip down memory lane to try and understand the kinds of challenges any administration has in its first year that the trump administration in particular will face come january 20 when president trump is sworn in. we have an action-packed program that will deal -- today that will deal with the various aspects of presidential leadership in the first year,

from domestic to foreign policy to bureaucratic and organizational challenges. i am happy to have the opportunity to partner both with daryl, scholars here at brookings, and in particular with bill and the miller center. bill is well known to us because for 10 years, he was the managing director of this institution before he became the ceo at the miller center. i will introduce him now and he will introduce the overall program, particularly work on presidential transitions. before he came to brookings, he worked at the white house where he was director of international

economic affairs, the national security council, and the national economic council. his responsibility is included planning and negotiating for the g-8 summit. he also served as deputy director of the white house climate change task force before going to the state department , where he was on the policy planning staff and the bureau of economic affairs. bill is well-equipped in terms of his own experience to lead in terms of presidential first years. welcome. it is wonderful to have you back here in brooklyn. thank you for the conference. [applause] bill: thanks. it is wonderful to be back. it is great to see so many faces in the crowd and the hallways.

this is a home away from home. the first year is real, it is a real calendar driven period of time baked into our constitutional system because of an observation lyndon johnson made, which is you get one year because after the first year of congress, they stop inking about -- thinking about you as president and start thinking about their own reelection which comes a year later. that drives two things in the political transition. first, the domestic agenda. if you want to pass things legislatively, you have to work with congress, whether that is the president of a different party of congress or other outsider presidents from one party who control both houses of congress, sometimes they succeeded and sometimes, they struggled. johnson succeeded famously. other presidents such as jimmy

carter and bill clinton struggled in their first year. on the national security side, it is an omen for significant -- a moment to do significant change in the world, and also because of the relative experience of the team working with one another, it is often a moment of crisis. we saw that in 9/11 and bill clinton's first year when al qaeda attacked the twin towers. people often forget the trump problem was in the first year of the clinton administration. policies gone astray, the day of pigs, the of pay -- shootdown of the spy plane over china, or a failed coup in panama which caught the first

bush administration by surprise. out of those crises often become a team whining. the first bush team responded definitely to the fall of the berlin wall. we have been looking at presidential history for the last year and a half, preparing for this moment. i want to show you a short video and get right into the three terrific panels we have assembled today. [video clip] [drum roll] ♪ >> an extraordinary democratic moment occurs with the peaceful transfer of executive power in america. ♪

>> thomas jefferson in his first inaugural address referred to the presidency as a post above his talents. jefferson humbled himself before the magnitude of the undertaking. it takes one year for a new president to go from here to here. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. >> history teaches us the president's first year in office is crucial, a time of dangerous peril an exceptional opportunity. >> a problem for u.s. forces has been controlling the streets. >> the president was hit. he was wounded. >> i can hear you. >> the real world test, the untested commander in chief, and the new president must act.

it is also win presidents can enact their enduring policies. >> the civil rights act of 1964. >> whether renewing america's, at home or making historic racers on the world stage. as the inauguration day 2017 approaches, our responsibility is to look beyond, prepare for the new president passes pivotal -- president pivotal first year in office. how will the 45th president staff a cabinet, prioritize and -- prioritize an agenda and act on it? what risks and rewards dwell on the horizon? the miller center has launched a nonpartisan effort to research the pressing challenges and take those ideas directly to the presidential candidates and their staffs, opinion leaders, and the public at large. the first year project illuminates the major issue areas.

public events, digital components, and vigorous promotion and communication strategies. we are connecting history with policy and impact. >> how are you feeling? >> i'm feeling pretty good. how are you? >> what is the trouble? >> well i got a little bit with the congress and a little bit with indochina and the vietnamese. a little of it all over the country. i thought i would call you and get a little advice and inspiration. >> the miller center specializes in studying the institution of the presidency. we apply the lessons of history to contemporary public policy challenges, helping to understand and shape the modern presidency. our scholars conducted comprehensive oral histories for every administration since president carter, creating a

living network of the most senior officials who have led our executive branch. the miller center brings the lessons of history to life and connects the past to the future. >> to dive into this, we have assembled three panels today that combine the terrific expertise of our own scholars but also partners like the brookings institution. in putting together this project, we have articles written by over 10 scholars across brookings particularly from where i had the pleasure of being a senior fellow here. our thanks to darrell and his home team. one of my colleagues, the first principles, we are delighted to have two people who successfully did the last transition from the

bush administration to the obama administrations. that will be moderated by my friend and colleague, barbara. after that, a panel on moving a domestic agenda and organizing global challenges. hand itnd it -- i will over to barbara and her counterparts for the first panel. barbara: while our colleagues mic'ed, thank you, bill, so much. thank you all for being here

today. i was telling bill this was my first visit to brookings, though i feel like i have been here due to the political scientists. i'm forever tuning in to and watching the brookings panel. it is such an honor to be moderating a panel here today for the miller center. as you can see from the program, arrayed anarade -- amazing group of scholars and practitioners who have served in four different presidencies. in the case of josh, bush 41 and bush 43, chris, currently deputy secretary of labor in the obama administration, and elaine of the clinton administration. we represent four presidencies. we want to dive right into the subject of today, particularly as bill announced, the title of the panel is first years and first principles. all of you had the amazing experience of being a part of

a presidency in the first year. some of you after that as well. we want to start off today with that very intriguing question. how does a president-elect go from being a campaigner to a short window of opportunity of being president-elect, then start the first year of his presidency? we will start with you. >> i can say in one would they -- word, they do that poorly. democrat or republican, it is not a partisan statement and i will explain it with statistics. there are just over 4000 jobs the president has to appoint in the federal government. of those, only a little over 1000 are the big ones confirmed by the senate. even that is a big number. it is really the 700 to 800. a couple hundred of those are

part-time appointments to boards and things like that. you're looking at 700 to 800 people to run the government and military about 4 million people. -- of about 4 million people. it is impossible. one thing a president has to quickly figure out, is, what is the thing he has inherited? what happens is whenever a big blowup happens, guess who gets blamed? president obama was not in charge of writing code for the health care website. but i promise you the american people looked at him and said, uh oh, you screwed up. jimmy carter did not fly helicopters into the desert but that came back to get him. george bush was not delivering ice in new orleans, but that was

a big black mark on his presidency. what happens is presidents tend to ignore the vast government they run, then the government blows up on them and surprise, they get blamed. because the american people think the president is the boss. the first thing the president should do is figure out what the thing is and understand that in any given point in time, an organization that consists of 7 million people, two things are happening simultaneously. something is going very right, they have got the right intelligence on this problem, and the right expertise. at the same time, something else is going very wrong. they are understaffed and something is about to blow up. i will end with an anecdote i

used in one of the chapters in my book and it goes back to the fall of 2013. on december 13, two days from tomorrow, 2013, there were two astronauts in space repairing a misfiring heating and cooling system at the international space system. they were floating around in space suits, doing something that for most of us, would be inconceivable. two months earlier, the obama administration was facing the collapse of the meltdown in his health care website. in october of 2013, november and december, everybody started writing, the government, what a mess. it cannot do anything.

blah blah blah. of course, the same government in the same fashion, has these two guys up in space wondering -- wandering around, whatever they were doing. the fact of the matter is, at the centers for medicare and medicaid and at nasa, federal bureaucrats had contracted the private sector companies to do a job the government wanted done. at nasa, a company western massachusetts makes space suits. go figure. they make the spacesuits that these guys were wearing. in other words, it was not any different. it is just that at any time, something was going right and something was going wrong. presidents generally figured this out when it is too late. then they discover their campaign skills of messaging, tweeting, speechmaking, rallies,

your campaign skills do not help you when the government has blown up in your face, which is why it behooves presidents to spend a little less time wandering around the country, and a little more time in their first year figuring out what is happening in the government that they are the head of. >> an example of things going up makes me think of a first-year fiasco as it was called, the pigs. that certainly blowup in president kennedy's face. -- blew up in president kennedy's face. he went on national television and said, i take responsibility for this. i am the responsible officer of

the government. his opinion poll rating soared 83%. there might be a lesson. if people will blame you anyway, take responsibility and it might work in your favor. let me go to josh in chronological order. a little bit about the fact you were with him throughout the campaign as the head of policy and then part of the transition in a short window of opportunity because of the bush versus gore controversy. >> thank you. thank you for doing the program and the work you do. both at brookings and the miller center. i had the good fortune of being a part of the bush campaign, the bush 2000 presidential campaign, which began at the beginning of 1999, almost two full years before the election, i arrived in austin, texas, as the policy director of the bush campaign. chris, i know you started early

in the obama campaign. that is the first way you start to build a presidency that could withstand the difficult time of transition that the president faces. president bush and governor bush bush, then governor bush, said something interesting to me on my first day when i arrived in austin. i met him in his gubernatorial office. he said, go out and do a smart thing, but just remember one thing. i want to campaign the way i govern and govern the way i campaigned. every presidential candidate ought to begin a campaign that way. i doubt whether you use the same

-- he used the same kinds of words, but i that president -- think that president obama said much the same ring. -- the same thing. what he was telling me and the rest of the staff was build a campaign, build a policy structure that is something i can take into the white house and implement, because what i say on the road is what i will do when i am in the oval office. we were blessed in the bush campaign with having a campaign staff that was essentially a staff that was itself ready to move into governance. i was a policy director and became the deputy of chief of staff for policy. owl was the chief political strategist and became the strategist in the white house. hughes was the head communicator and she became the head of communications in the white house. when you have built a good campaign team that is ready to

move into the white house, you are able to mitigate another source of great disruption during transitions, which is a total changeover in personnel. very often, campaign people are not good governance people and vice versa. in building a campaign and building a government, i think presidents ought to look for both. so we were unusually blessed. we had only half of the usual transition because of the recount in florida. yet i think we came in with only 37 days worth of a transition, in a much better condition to know who was going to be in government, along with president bush, and what the agenda was . we had a 450 page policy book of

-- book that spells it out. my concern for the current transition is that they are not in that sort of position. there is not a thick policy agenda with detail to it. there are certainly inclinations and directions and so on, which is what the public pays attention to and it worked very well for president-elect trump. there is also not the big infrastructure of people ready to move in with him. it is incumbent upon all of us, including through processes like these, to help what is a difficult situation for the best prepared, for those that are coming behind us. barbara: the fact that the outgoing bush 43 administration worked very closely, chris, with the transition team for president obama. to make the transition is smooth -- as smooth as possible.

chris: in every setting like this, i complement josh for the tone and he and president bush -- for the tone that he and president bush set. [laughter] chris: in 2007 for pledging full cooperation with the incoming president regardless of which party it was. the success we enjoyed in 2008 is in large measure because of the cooperation we received. i was in daily communications, working through transition issues all 77 days. in return, president obama has pledged that same level of collaboration with president obama's successor. on balance, i think you're doing that. it is challenging. it is fair to say there is a playbook of how you transition from campaigning to governing. the president-elect is ripping that up. whether with foreign policy statements and tweets, the

carrier deal, there are a lot of things here that we have not seen before. it will be interesting to see whether that changes or not. i suspect not. it will be an interesting ride for all of us. barbara: let's turn to governing itself. let's say we have gone through the transition. you have situations as in the case of president bush 43, where he had a clear agenda in the campaign. to say i want to govern the way i campaigned makes for what seems to be a fairly smooth transition to priorities nation policy topics and policy issues. i wonder if you could talk a little bit about president clinton and his prioritization and what he brought in as a priority and what might have begun to be imposed upon him by events. elaine: well he had a similar

saying. his saying was good government is good politics. if you get it all going right. therefore i think the most important thing he did was the very first budget in the first year, which, he got a lot of grief for. it costs us some congressional seats, etc.. but it was absolutely critical in setting us on the road to what was by the seventh year a balanced budget, the first and only time we have had a balanced budget in many decades. there was a clear direction and he understood that was the most important thing he had to do. like reagan before him, reagan is the only other president i know who got this right, they understood that macro economic policy is a very blunt instrument and it takes a long time. you have to do the tough, ugly stuff.

you have to do it in your first year. clinton did that with the first budget deal and the first reconciliation deal. so did reagan with his first budget deal. by 1984, it was morning in america. i remember this well. i was working for walter mondale and that was a pretty depressing campaign to work in. by 1996, i mean, we had incredibly low unemployment and all sorts of things that become -- that presidents want to have. doing the tough things early is really the most important thing. then, of course, getting used to running a government, in my book, i talk about a scene that i witnessed between outdoor and -- al gore and bill clinton. it was one of the awkward things where there were a lot of people

in the oval office and they all went off into betty's office on the side. there was a traffic jam so i was the last one and i could not get out. i was stuck. obviously, al gore wanted to say something to bill clinton. i stupidly stood there trying to pretend i was not there. i got to watch al gore say to clinton, you must say this, this, this, and this. it was a foreign policy question. what was going on was al gore was more familiar with foreign clinton whong to was the best and lips beach in americanker history, this is one place you do not as lived. because foreign policy statements have resources in the world will purchase them and usually diplomats will work it out, whether medicaid or welfare or something like this.

there is a lot of learning and sometimes very counterintuitive. i do not know who will tell that to president-elect trump. somebody will need to say to him. i do not know when he will learn -- that this freewheeling campaign that he is run which has had many electoral advantages, will be a problem in governing. they all go through it to a certain extent but they all have some inkling of something. current transition is unusual. >> to say the least. chris, could you tell us about transitioning into policymaking,

the links to the campaign agenda, which has health care reform at the top for president obama, but coming into office with an ongoing crisis, an economic meltdown in the financial world. chris: we started transition planning in april 2008 at we -- and we were focused on immigration, education, health care, a whole range of issues. by the time we took office on the 20th of 2009, the only issue was the economy. i recall the first jobs number we got february of 2009. the country had lost 2000 jobs, more than south carolina. no matter where else i campaigned on, the number one governing principle had to be getting the economy of and -- economy off and running. weeks after inauguration day, congress passed a stimulus package. vice president biden oversaw the recovery act, it was to get the money out the door as quickly as possible with as little waste and fraud and abuse is possible.

-- as possible. at that time, we had a couple of cabinet members confirmed and not many around them. the ability to get a hundred dollars out the door was in large measure because of the lear leadership who understood these are the programs you can put money into that will have the greatest impact as possible. there is often a criticism of career employees and their ability to quickly and drive through change. we learned early, you cannot accomplish anything unless you have clear leadership behind you. barbara: that brings me to josh and president george w. bush. again, a very clear agenda coming into office. talk about how he implemented that agenda and to chris and elaine's point, executive agencies and in congress, and others in congress. >> president bush came into

office having published two books for policy in his campaign. one was published in july and august of 2008, 400 pages long, it was detailed policy speeches and then five or six page fact sheets with all the speeches. you could tell a policy direction and philosophy and principal from a speech. you have got the numbers, you have got the programmatic details, in the fact sheets. when we came into the white house in january of 2001, we did not have to have a lot of meetings about the policies the president wants to implement. we did not face a crisis around -- on the way in the door.

we did face a economy headed into recession. we had policies that were well-designed to combat that recession. on itent bush campaigned butg necessary regardless also had advice from his economic advisers to the effect that a recession was on the way. this would be the best antidote. theere not confused about policy priorities. education was a big one. no one will remember this, president bush campaigned on being the education president. that was his intent when he came in. in fact, campaigned against al gore on the notion that the clinton administration had become too distracted by foreign activities and nation building

and the bush administration was not going to dissipate in that -- to participate in that sort of activity. i am probably anticipating a further question about how events change. the perspective of every president, they always do. on the way in, that gave us the opportunity to focus. president bush did one other thing i think was generally regarded as having been a shortcoming of the clinton administration on the way in the door. maybe a short coming of the trump administration. that is, focus on the white house. there is a tendency in every transition to focus on the big shiny objects, the big cabinet posts. those are absolutely critically important.

but it causes president elects and their senior team to neglect the construction of the white house staff, which actually is the group that will help drive the really critical presidential priorities. the government that elaine described so well in her set of remarks, was pretty resilient. some would say impervious. but it is very capable of running itself, at least on a steady state, without substantial political leadership. it is only on those issues where the president really wants to take the country in a particular direction, especially a new direction, where the presidential leadership counts a

lot. typically that comes from the white house. they do not have to be big public figures. the people the president brings in the white house, and empowers to drive the initiatives, are the key appointments early on in a presidency. i think those especially less familiar with the governments have to affect that barbara: what of my favorite stories, we have done every presidential history from jimmy carter. starting with the administration of gerald ford. we are coming to the end of the bush 43 project. of my favorite stories from that administration . it is likely a lesson for president-elect trump given he is a media impresario.

president bush 43 invited ted kennedy and his family down to the white house theater to watch the thin new film, 13 days, about the cuban missile price -- missile crisis. here is ted kennedy with george w. bush watching a film about his brother in the oval office and the cabinet room coming to terms with the cuban missile crisis. the bush library, which i had the post -- pleasure for visiting for the first time last week. they have a hand written thank you note from ted kennedy to bush, thinking him for bringing him and his family down to the white house to see 13 days. he said, i hope i will have many opportunities to come down to the white house and watch you signed some policies that we can agree on. including education and health care. a part from that, that outreach and that