captioning sponsored by cbs >> dickerson: today on "face the nation," the trump transition train rolls on. president-elect donald trump puts the brakes on hiring to kick off thank you tour in his favorite battleground state. >> i love this stuff. can i go on with this just a little bit longer? i love it. >> dickerson: but is his time better spent getting prepared for his new job? we'll ask the new white house chief of staff reince priebus and trump adviser and former speaker newt gingrich. we'll get a preview of scott pelley's interview with speaker paul ryan for tonight's "60 minutes," and we'll talk to another former speaker, democratic leader nancy pelosi. she'll be along to tell us how democrats are preparing for the new administration. plus former defense secretary and c.i.a. director leon panetta will also weigh in on what it takes to succeed in the oval office. and, as always, political

reporters give us their views on the week and what's to come. it's all ahead on "face the nation." good morning and welcome to "face the nation." i'm john dickerson. president-elect donald trump maid some key hires this week and shocked some members of the foreign policy establishment. we begin this morning with the new white house chief of staff, reince priebus, who joins us from the rnc headquarters in washington. let me ask you about the secretary of state pick. what's happening with that now? >> well, there's going to be an announcement this week, and obviously we know it's going to be general mattis and what a hero, someone that i think all americans can look to and say, we're going to be in great hands with this person that i think all americans look up to, one of the most decorated marines of our generation and someone who has a strategic mind, someone that's going to lead our defense department and someone that's going to clean up the defense department and help president-elect trump shape his foreign policy.

>> dickerson: but what about the secretary of state job? >> well, that's a different story. things are moving quickly. i don't think anyone can accuse president-elect trump of not moving fast. we are. great picks people are seeing, a very smooth transition, but that one is just taking a little bit longer, and i think it's just fine. everything doesn't have to happen all at once. he's taking his time, making a smart decision, and we'll see where that goes. >> dickerson: kellyanne conway said there would be a grassroots revolt if donald trump picked mitt romney. do you agree with that? >> look, i think governor romney is very talented. i think what really we should look at is we have a president here in donald trump that wants to look at the best and brightest of america, regardless of background, regardless of past disputes that we may have had with each other, that that is the past. that's the rear-view mirror. we want the look through the front windshield. that's what he's doing by

talking to all of these different people. i think that the folks out there across the country, and i think they, are should be encouraged by a president that really wants to build trust and sort of in the team of rivals concept is something that i think is a good thing for america. but that's where donald trump's mind is at. that's where his heart is at. that's a great thing for this country. >> dickerson: team of rivals, the title of doris kerns goodwin's book about the lincoln presidency. let's talk about donald trump's style. there's a school of thought that says he's most influenced by the person he talked to last. do you agree with that? >> no, i don't. i think he's someone who likes to listen to lots of different opinion, lots of people, lots of smart people. he'll talk to a lot of folks and say, what do you think about this option? that's a good thing. but in the end, once he form late his opinion, once he decides, this is where we're going to go, he pulls the

trigger and he moves. and that's why you see a lot of these cabinet picks, they happen quickly, but what you don't see is that there are days and days and days of deliberation and communication and conversations that take place before those decisions are made. all great qualities in leading our country. >> dickerson: you say he likes to take in a lot of information. he has not taken in as many intelligence briefings as previous president-elects. why is that? >> but he is. you know, they have daily briefings now. >> dickerson: is he getting them every day? >> it's about every day. it's happening quite frequently, john. i think those are just going to ramp up as we get closer to january 20th. but he certainly is informed. he's getting briefed. and it feels like every day. i'm not sure if it is every day. but it's a lot. and that's who he is. it's someone who studies and someone who wants to be informed and it's someone who asks a lot of questions and listens. >> dickerson: is he a details guy? >> he is a details guy.

you know, he is... he's a socratic method guy. it reminds me of being back in law school. he asks a lot of questions. he asks questions about questions. and he will keep going until he is satisfied with the information that he's getting. >> dickerson: let me ask you, as the incoming chief of staff, what do you do when he says something like millions of voters voted illegally in california when you know that's not true? >> well, i don't know if that's in the true, john. i saw there was an article in the "wall street journal" the other day, and it had a certain percentage of people that are voting that shouldn't be voting. there are estimates all over the map on that. here's the problem. no one really knows. >> dickerson: but you think millions of people voted illegally? >> it's possible. >> dickerson: there is no evidence that it happened in millions of votes in california. i guess is question is: when you're president, can you just offer a theory that has no evidence behind it, or does he have to tighten up his standard of proof? >> i think he's done a great job. i think the president-elect is

someone who has pushed the envelope and caused people to think in this country. he's not ticking -- taking conventional thought on every single issue. it's caused people to look at things that maybe they've taken for granted. look at the flag-burning issue last week. this is an 80% issue. you watch the news media and they say it's constitutional. well, right, it is constitutional, but it doesn't mean it's in the a subject for debate and discussion for the supreme court to revisit down the road. so i think he... i think that unconventional thought is something that has caused a revolution in this country, which is why i think president trump will go down in history as a really great president. >> dickerson: in the brief time i have left, the president-elect had a conversation with the president of taiwan. did he believe he was talking to the leader of a sovereign state in that conversation? >> no, of course not. he knew exactly what was happening, but look, we have a lot of problems to solve in this country, and we're not going to solve them by just making believe that people don't exist.

this was a two-minute congratulatory call. he talked to president shi over two weeks ago. i'm sure he'd be willing to talk to him again. this is not a massive deviation of our policy. but president trump has made it clear that he's going to work with china, prc, to make sure that we have a better deal, that we have better trade agreements, and that we do a better job in protecting the american worker. he's going to continue to do it. >> dickerson: so courtesy call, not a change in policy? >> exactly. >> dickerson: all right. reince priebus, the incoming chief of staff, thanks so much for being with us. >> you bet. >> dickerson: last week scott pelley spent some time with speaker paul ryan for tonight's "60 minutes." ryan, whose relationship with donald trump during the campaign was rocky at best, told scott he talks with the president-elect nearly every day and that he's confident the two will work well together. >> we're fine. we're in the looking back. we're looking forward. we actually... like i said, we

speak about every day. it's not about looking back in the past. that's behind us. we're way beyond that. now we're talking about how do we fix this country's problems, how do we hit the ground running. that's what i'm excited about. what i'm excited about in my virtually daily conversations with donald trump, it's all about how are we going to get things done, what goes first, what's the schedule, how do we get this con, how can we help people here? it's really exciting to see for a long time we've been trying to get unified republican government. we here in congress spent all of 2015 getting ready and preparing for the possible opportunity of a unified republican government. now we have it, and it's very exciting. and those are the kinds of conversations we have on a virtually daily basis. >> pelley: i'm curious, how did you patch it up? who apologized to how? how did that conversation go? >> we were fine. basically two days after the election, we said, let's let

bygones by bygones. ever since then we'ved had nothing but extremely productive conversation. >> dickerson: for more of scott pelley's interview with speaker paul ryan, tune into "60 minutes" tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. joining us now is newt gingrich. mr. speaker, john kennedy said when he got into the white house, i wish i spent less time getting to know people who helped me get elected and more time with people who would help me be president. do you think donald trump is learning that? >> i think if john f. kennedy spent more time trying to be present, he wouldn't be president. >> dickerson: first things first. >> first things first. trump pulled off one of the most amazing achievements in american history. the only person not to have been a military officer or public elected official. only person in american history to win the american presidency. >> dickerson: so having been a

public figure... >> general grant, general washington, general... >> dickerson: you said donald trump was saying it's a bigger job than he thought. what does that mean? >> i think that particularly when he went to the white house and he was in the oval office, he was beginning to realize that under our system, the full weight of national security is on one shoulder. it's not 50 people. it's the president. commander-in-chief. the degree to which people around the country, much as what you saw with saving 1,100 jobs at carrier, the degree to which people around the country look to the president to try to make their lives better, i think you realize it's like the old story, the doing that caught the bus, and i said, no, this is like the dog that caught a convoy. there are so many ramifications if you take, as he does, trying to truly move america into a different direction, then it is remarkably important job and one that means he's got to build a real team, he can't possibly

this it by himself. he's showing that he understands that. >> andy:>> dickerson: you mentis all on one shoulder. that why it seems odd he's not starving for intelligence information, every day, wants the daily brief. >> i once had secretary reuben say to me as secretary of the treasury that during the financial crisis in indonesia he got more out of the "financial times" each morning than out of the c.i.a. and that he just thought, you know, you have to be realistic. i have no idea what the current intelligence briefings are like and i'm not denigrating them, but if you took the total number of foreign leaders that president-elect trump has talked to in the last couple weeks, he's clearly engaged in the world. he's clearly getting advice from a wide range of leaders, from abe in japan, from merkel. at the same time, he's got several people he trusts. i'm assuming that flynn and mcfarland are, in fact, taking the briefings, and if they see something they think he needs to

know, they come tell him. >> dickerson: you talked about the team around him, incoming chief of staff reince priebus talked about the team of rivals, making the case for mitt romney. you are not making the case for mitt romney. why isn't that a good team of rivals? >> first of all, nobody in the lincoln cabinet actively opposed his election up to election day. they were rivals until he got the nomination. and then they were all for him. so there's a... romney doesn't quite fit that pattern. but second, i'm very comfortable if, given the amount of time he's put into this, if president-elect trump says, i want romney, i'm for romney. he has spent more than enough time talking with with mitt, and he accepted the call from taiwan, inmitt will understand trump is his own leader in important policy, and he's looking for somebody to be his secretary of state's, not the state department's. if he concludes romney can do the job best, i'm for romney. what i'm impressed with is the

patient way he's gone about this. he didn't jump in for romney. he didn't jump in against him. he hasn't jumped in for julian giuliani. and i can say, as trust as i've been in public, very aggressive deliberately about mitt, i have gotten no blowback from anybody, including reince. there's a sense of you're allowed to have your own opinion. this is like "the apprentice." when you get to the decision, let's all be on the same team, but until that opinion is made, let's have an opinion. >> dickerson: the tv, what's more important, something you tell him in person or something on tv? >> something you tell him on tv. on occasion it helps to say that on tv. >> dickerson: it seems like some people, kellyanne conway, are sending him messages through tv or maybe we've got that wrong. >> dickerson: you're also communicating to the millions and millions of people. i've been out doing book

signings. people walk up to us routinely and say, "i don't want mitt." well, those people deserve to know there is a substantial positive part of the trump operation that hears their concerns. that doesn't mean that in the end they shouldn't be for the president-elect when he makes a -- if he makes a decision for romney. but they deserve to know there are people hearing them. >> dickerson: on the carrier action donald trump said, wouldn't republicans traditionally say he's meddling in the free mar scet? >> first of all, he's picking winners among americans. it's a very simple model. 1,100 families are going to have a better christmas, and all of the people around them are going to have a better christmas, the local dry cleaner, the local grocery store are all going to have a better christmas. now, you can ask the question: should the president-elect -- i think it's amazing he did this before he got sworn in -- should the president-elect pick up the phone and call the c.e.o. and

say, you know, we want the change things. give us a shot here. let us try to fix this. >> dickerson: the company now says i can get seven million in tax brakes if i say i can go... >> 50 fofs worked overtime to get companies to stay in their stay says. may in the new world economy, the president should behave like a governor, i'm competing with mexico and china and germany. i want that factory here. what do i have to do to keep that factory here? >> dickerson: newt gingrich, thank you for joining us. we'll be back with one of the top democrats in the house, nancy pelosi. stay with us. yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job.

♪ you may sometimes suffer from a dry mouth. that's why there's biotene. and biotene also comes in a handy spray. so you can moisturize your mouth anytime, anywhere. biotene, for people who suffer from dry mouth symptoms. >> dickerson: and we're back with house democratic leader nancy pelosi. welcome, leader pelosi. >> good morning. >> dickerson: what is it going to be like with donald trump as president? how are the democrats going to react? >> well, first of all, we respect the office he holds and the people who elected him to the office. we will engage with where we can, and we will oppose where we cannot.

a good example is how we worked with president george w. bush when he was president. we opposed him on privatizing social security, the war in iraq, but we worked with him on many, many other issues, including one of the biggest energy bills in history, issues that related to tax breaks for low-income people, the list goes on and on. >> dickerson: what are some areas where you think you might be able to work with him? >> hopefully we can work with him on building the infrastructure of america in a way that increases the paychecks of american workers, that won't be a cooperation if, in fact, it's just a tax break for the wealthy disguised as an infrastructure bill, but let's hope for the best. everything he has said i think is promising about how we can go forward. we can work with him on issues that relate to childcare, early childhood education. the rest he has said that would be important and we've had a conversation about that.

>> i want to ask you about early childhood. i heard a report that he talked to his daughter -- you were talking to him and he handed the phone to his daughter. >> yes, he did. i took that as it's a high priority for him. >> dickerson: what do you think that the kids are out of the administration and the business. >> i'm not going to go to that place. i would like to say where we won't work with him is on privatization of medicare and private diswaition of the v.a. i think it's really important for the american people to know that central to the ryan budget, speaker ryan budget is our voucherrizing of medicare. this would be a tremendous loss, taking away the guarantee of medicare. in addition, over ten years in that bullet, it takes a trillion dollars out of medicaid, two-thirds of which drove forth long-term health care for seniors. so seniors have a lot to lose and what the republicans are

proposing. it's interesting to see if president trump will go along with that. >> dickerson: what about obamacare, why wouldn't that be an initial big fight democrats... >> well, it would be a big fight, and seniors should know how it affects them because we extended the solvency of medicare in that. we gave three check-ups, all of that closed the doughnut hole which increased prescription drugs to seniors. so seniors have a lot to lose, both in the voucherrizing of medicare, cutting of medicaid and what it wants to do for the affordable care act? >> dickerson: the democratic party is in a moment of questioning about its identity. you were reelected to lead the democrats in the house. what do you tell democrats who want a new direction and what are you going to do differently? >> i don't think people want a new direction. our values unify us and our values are about supporting america's working families. that's one that everyone is in agreement on. what we want is a better

connection of our message to working families in our country, and that clearly in the election showed that that message wasn't coming through. but we are united in terms of the security of our country, which is our first responsibility. to be smart and strong and not reckless in how we protect the american people, strong in how we protect our economy. >> dickerson: here's my question, though, democrats since 2008, the numbers are ghastly for democrats. democrats are down 10%, in the house down 19.3% and in governors 35%. the democrats are getting clobbered at every level over multiple elections. that seems like a real crisis for the party? >> you're forgetting that we went up so high in 2006 and 2008, and let me just put that in perspective. when president clinton was elected, republicans came in big in the next election. when president bush was president, we came in big in the

next election. when president obama became president, the republicans came in big in the next election. >> dickerson: i guess me question is: the republicans reacted to their losses with a big revolution and a change. they have a very new president at the top of their party now. you have somebody like agricultural secretary tom vilsack saying the democratic party is like a tree that looks healthy on the outside but is in the throes of a slow and long-term demise. >> i have enormous respect for the secretary, but i'm more optimistic about the strength of the democratic party, and what i would say, because you talked about these numbers, some reasons to be hopeful, because it's necessary, because this is about policy, it's not about politics. it's about politics for some, but for us it's about protecting medicare, social security, good. >> paying jobs, america's workers, protecting a woman's right to choose, issues that unify us. but let me just say this any time that a presidential... the

change in president from one party to the next, the states receive an infusion of talent. president obama going out of the office sadly not having% come in, but those democrats will come back. run for government, run for state legislatures and the rest. and we will build up the numbers that you're talking about there. >> dickerson: all right. we have to leave it there. thank you. >> upward and onward. >> upward and onward. >> dickerson: thank you. we'll be right back. >> thank you. weakens as you getr increasing the risk for me, the shingles virus. i've been lurking inside you since you had chickenpox. i could surface anytime as a painful, blistering rash. one in three people get me in their lifetime, linda. will it be you? and that's why linda got me zostavax, a single shot vaccine. i'm working to boost linda's immune system to help protect her against you, shingles.

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civilian control of the military is a tradition and why having a general is a good or a bad thing or just what kinds of things people should be thinking about. >> well, you know, it goes back to george washington. there is a great portrait up at the capital of george washington giving up his commission in the military in order to become president of the united states, which i think was a reflection of the fact that it's important to have civilian leadership and civilian perspective when it comes to those issues. it doesn't mean you can't have a military background. that is important to have that background, but at the same time, in those jobs, you have to exercise the ability to understand political issues, to deal with broader issues that

involve your capability the relate to the american people. so, yes, having a strong defense background is important, but it's also important to be able to have that ability to understand the civilian side of that job, because both are involved. >> dickerson: you worked with james mattis. what do you think about him? >> i liked james mattis a lot. he's a tough general, spoke the truth, was a good adviser. i trusted his defense judgment, so i think he's got a lot of qualities that are important to secretary of defense job. i do think that it's important for congress to talk with him if he is nominated, to make sure that he also understands the civilian perspective, because i think it's important to have that when you become secretary. >> dickerson: we'll have a lot >> dickerson: we'll have a lot more with our interview with former defense secretary leon

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>> dickerson: we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." don't go away. >> what does the speaker of the house think he and president-elect trump will be able to get done? >> that's the first thing you're going to do? >> yeah. >> find out from paul ryan on "60 minutes" tonight.,,,,,,,,

[captioning funded by cbs sports division] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> den broncos. >> is caught for the win. >> danny willett has won the masters. >> jason day, major champion. >> derek henry will win it. >> phenomenal! j.b.: week 13 in the nfl. >> and matt ryan playing like a surgeon this year at an mavericks type level. leading the number one scoring offense in the nfl. >> paxton lynch the 6'7" rookie quarterback in jacksonville. j.b.: and ryan tannehill who looks to lead the dolphins to the 7th straight win. may be his legs and not his arms with the biggest impact. >> stone i