michele: i'm michele norris. donald trump tapped another retired general and a couple of business tycoons to join his administration. and president obama launches an investigation of the 2016 election. look inside the trump transition tonight on "washington week." president-elect trump: we will have two simple rules when it comes to rebuilding this country. buy american and hire american. all right? american. michele: days after striking a deal that provided millions in tax breaks to keep hundreds of jobs in indiana, the president-elect threatens to with a 35%companies tax if they transfer operations overseas. republican leaders say there may be a better way to keep jobs here. the real solution down the road is to have america be the

most competitive place in the world to do business. that involves two things. a tax structure that works. not over-regulating and we don't have either right now. michele: the incoming president adds a third combat-experienced cabinet, raising concerns about the influence of the military on american policy. two unlikely cabinet choices are sparking controversies. a fast food executive opposed to raising the minimum wage is nominated to be secretary of labor and a climate change skeptic gets the nod to head up the e.p.a. plus, the person of the year now says he really likes the person replacing and vows to unite the divided nation. the table,around michael shearer of "time alexis simmendinger and jeff zeleny of cnn.

this is "washington week." by --g is provided providedl funding is institute. newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ford foundation. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, michele norris. michele: good evening. president-elect donald trump stepped up his transition aocess this week, naming third retired general to his cabinet and announcing his theces to run the pentagon, labor department, environmental protection agency, and the small business administration. nominees are expected to get quick confirmation, while others are more controversial. oklahoma attorney general, scott pruitt, will lead the environmental protection agency. involved inrrently a lawsuit can 23 other states against the e.p.a. an outspoken skeptic of theate change and supports keystone xl pipeline. democrats are gearing up for a confirmation fight. don't mind having an e.p.a. critic. that is not my concern.

science denier. foodle: and corporate fast executive, andrew puzder, has been named labor secretary. puzder does not support raising federal minimum wage and is opposed to expanding overtime pay. our panel to discuss this week, we have a lot to cover. begin with pruitt. about whatd a signal we can expect from the e.p.a.? and what does this say about trump's real sort of fist in the eye style of politics right now? jeff: i think what we're seeing among all of the -- or the majority of the members of the outsiders,lot of very limited government experience, if any, in those cases, not much. and people who are opposed ideologically to some of what their agency regulates. this is not to be a big surprise shock. had any republican won, it would have been a complete turnaround

from the obama administration, obviously. but this goes, i think, a little bit farther here. aree people individually people that donald trump uniquely closed. an establishment republican won, i don't think these people would have been in per se.sh cabinet, so these are people who are going to roll back a lot of the obama-era regulations but the theme of outsiders is super democrats cand certainly raise objections but can do very little about it. surprised, unless we alln some things, they may get confirmed. michele: what does this mean for the paris accord, if donald with pruitt in the it do that?will >> there are reasons other countries might want to follow through. china has terrible pollution problems in its major cities and

has an interest in pushing on clean energy on its own and the states isn't the only country where people realize the dangers of climate change but a setback to people who thought that donald trump, when he saw the "new york times" suggested things showed he might take climate change seriously, then al gore comes in and meets with talks about, climate change and people butght he might surprise us this throws a wet towel on those hopes. michele: can you tell us more about his view on unions, overtime pay and things about workers?placing alexis: andrew puzder would come perspectiveing the of low wage, low-educated workers in the fast food business. what he's described, and he's been as outspoken as donald

ways in what he's said and written, is an antipathy towards the kinds of held downs felt has productivity. whereas automation donald trump has said he's for growing jobs and helping working americans. andy puzder has said he's wary wage has done in the restaurant business. what democrats and advocates for the labor department are arguing that the labor department is supposed to represent workers, right? thise is coming into environment representing the perspective of a business community, or part of an not manufacturing, not construction, not middle-wage kind of incomes, but lower wage. and he's also said he's very moreested in letting in international workers to come in to fill out his restaurant business. michele: donald trump is also turning to an old friend and fellow billionaire to head the

small business administration. former professional wrestling executive, linda mcmahon, and small,band, turned a connecticut based business into a global sports entertainment empire. mcmahon also invested an million of her own wealth into two failed in 2010 andigns 2012. this is an interesting choice, herjust in terms of selection to head the administration, but it tells us something about his view of his connection to the crowds in the campaign, and the celebrity status that he into this campaign with? michael: i think he's been vinces with linda and mcmahon for quite a while. he appeared as a guest wrestler, slamming herbody husband in an episode one of the wrestling matches and i think what it does show, the similarities for people who time watching professional wrestling and a trump event are pretty clear.

brought to politics was this idea that there's a bad and there is a good guy and they're both in the room at this rally and we're going to jeer going touy and we're cheer the good guy. and he really transformed the campaigning. and i think he's always admired that culture. also, a lot of his supporters were attracted to his that level.lay on whereas other politicians would look at something like wrestling and say it's beneath the dignity of what statesmanshiphe of the presidency. donald trump, if you read his tweets to this day as doesn'tt-elect, just ascribe to that view. michele: and he knew his audience would hear that message. trump named a third combat-experienced general to join his team. retired marine general john departmentlead the

of homeland security. executingn charge of trump's plan to crack down on illegal immigration. signaled his views on how he would carry out some of the statements donald trump said repeatedly on the campaign trail? or what he thinks about the possibility of building a wall? jeff: i think the idea of the falling by the wayside. i was out with donald trump this week at a rally in north in iowa.and at a rally the wall was barely mentioned, if at all. rallying cry during the campaign. the reality here is, a, everyone knows that mexico's not going to for it, and, b, the u.s. can't afford it and it's not practical. toi think what we're going hear are more specifics about a fence probably more than a wall. john kellys of specifically, i think he was pattern of strength. that is one thread through most strength.hoices, is criticizedp,

generals during his campaign, likes to surround himself by strong men and i think that's what he brings to it. but in terms of specifics, he but irder experience haven't heard many specifics in terms of how the u.s. will theess the people here in country already and that is certainly one of his challenges but there were a lot of people sigh of relief at homeland security because they think he's very experienced. address the us other question on the table, who will be donald trump's secretary of state. drawn-outong and process carried out in a very public fashion. expect this decision to be made and what can we glean from the way he's carried out this decision? it feels a little like a reality show, doesn't it? everything about donald trump reality show but this particular part of it feels like a very public audition, you him, you're paraded before the cameras and people you behind your back. one thing it tells me, which i

suggestsliar, is it that donald trump didn't spend much time thinking about this incredibly important job before he was elected. he may not have expected to have to do a transition because like there was an assumption that hillary clinton a commanding lead but you would like to think he spent thinking about this beforehand. the other part of this is the spectrum. rorbacher, who wants to mend fences with russia, all the way over to mitt romney who in 2012 called russia america's greatest geopolitical threat, is hawkish, has even slight tendencies whereas donald trump is very opposed to that. and others who were on hillary be her's short list to vice presidential running mate so it's a real mess.

when we might get a selection, maybe next week, but no one's sure. this,e: the timing of isn't this one of the first things a president-elect will usually announce? the timing is always different. bush, on the morning after his election, the wednesday after the tuesday of his election day, announced baker as secretary of state, came right out of the gate with him. this is a very different kind of thing. michele: turning from the president-elect to the president with less than six weeks until the end of his term, president obama delivered his final speech on national security as commander-in-chief. at macdill troops air force base, the president defended his record on counterterrorism and talked about the importance of fighting terrorism without sacrificing rights. president obama: united states of america is not a place where to withstand have greater scrutiny or carry a special i.d. card or prove that they're not an enemy from within. somewhatthis was a

emotional speech for the president who talked about how ontimental he was hearing the road the rustles as he approached the podium but who is intendeddent's audience? it's not just the troops, but is trumpo a signal to donald >> absolutely. are multiple and the white house made no bones that part of the message was to received by donald trump. president obama has been talking to donald trump personally. a mystery. he doesn't need to use the microphone to transmit this message to trump. talking. but what's interesting is there's an international audience for this, a domestic audience. presidentountry, the believes, voted for someone other than donald trump and that message is for them and for his legacy and obviously his supporters. but the argument the president made that i thought was so try to makewas to the point again -- this is not a

new message -- that the rule of law and the constitution helps us be a safer country and it our values to transmit a message so he was trying to argue, because we know initially was enamored of the idea of water as torture and let's try to target the relatives of terror suspects and see if that threatens them. so part of this message is to encourage donald trump to expand general mattis, who is donald trump's pick for d.o.d., does not agree with donald trump on torture. michele: you were at breakfast this morning, some interesting news was made. monaco talked about, from the national security team, talked about the fact that she has not met with her counterpart, in the trumprorism, on transition team and she also announced that the obama administration will begin an investigation into the possibility of hacking in the

u.s. election. is the homeland security counterterrorism adviser to president obama. know, she was saying i counterpart,ith my i'm looking forward to it. tore's lots of information transmit. donald trump has only named four people to the white house staff. we have 40 days left. to fill.big staff michele: and they will all leave. right?place empties out, what she announced in response to a question was this question the president declassify information about russian hacking during the election, she said the president ordered up a report that he hoped would be completed by the bee he leaves office to distributed to stakeholders and members of congress and she described it as the president's desire to describe lessons learned. trump, get that message, lessons learned meaning that the

administration has said russia behind hacking during the election and donald trump has refuted that. acting as press secretary, said this will go malicious08, any cyber attacking in elections since 2008 so they're trying to not justook like it's the recent election but they have 42 days to get that report president's desk. michele: how hard is it to do that in 42 days? >> i think they have most of this reporting done. they've been investigating it for months. it's a matter of compiling the report. this is a report that can be leaked after donald trump becomes president in some classified or unclassified form because donald trump, when i spoke to him last week, not only does he say i don't believe was behind the hacks of hillary clinton's emails, we asked him, do you think the intelligence assessment is politically motivated and he remarkableich is a thing to have a president-elect

basically fighting his own intelligence community before he into office and i think the white house and the intelligence community wants to place in caset in that same view -- benchmark. >> two more beats on this. one, it would be frustrating to democrats, including hillary clinton's campaign staffers, to feel we can't throw a counterpunch to russia. if obama does sanctions through orders, trump can just repeal them but republicans in congress have said that in january they want to have hearings about this and they might consider steps and this report will throw a log on that fire and give them fodder, give them momentum to try to do something that might include sanctions. michele: president-elect donald trump added another title to his name this week. "time's" person of the year. donald trump called it a honor during a phone and interview with morning television and he said he thought he should have won the

title last year. michael, you did the original cover story with the candidate. you visited him in his penthouse apartment. you've spent a lot of time with him. himcurious how you've seen change, particularly as he moves closer and closer to walking door at 1600t pennsylvania avenue. this is someone who takes his own counsel, who lives a life he enjoys quite a bit of freedom and the white house is guilded cage -- gilded cage. much moreo free-wheeling than any other politician i've dealt with. ino much more enthusiastic, strange ways, to be talking with reporters. he really enjoys the process. he likes the give-and-take. he wants to respond to where you're going with a question. extent he has changed, i think there is a weight on his that there wasn't 2015, orlked to him in

even in 2011 when he was first talking about running for this office. then he was very much someone playing in this new space. he was experimenting with what he could do in politics. he was coming up with ideas as he went. has internalized the gravity of the position he's in. it doesn't mean he's not tweeting. it does mean that he's aware, of where his provocations could lead. interesting to see how much he reins himself in. the reality is he has advisers around him who are regularly telling him to do things differently than he chooses to he often doesn't follow their advice. it will be interesting to see he chooses when he becomes president, when he takes that office, how to adjust his performance. michele: you mentioned his tweeting. he's taken to twitter again this week. people wonder if this

improvisational communication just that, is it improvisational or is there a strategy behind it? in some way?ic is there a logic behind what he's doing when he takes to twitter, often late at night. >> he is often tweeting on something he's seen on television. you can mark a pattern of him flaging something -- the incident last week. fox and friends were airing an episode on burning the american minutes later, he tweeted. this week, the union president in indiana at the factory there was harsh on him. he said he built workers up thinking they could keep their jobs and they can't. donald trump went after him hard, directly by name, unprecedented for someone who's about to be president to call twitterout directly on like that but donald trump believes it's a good form of communication. he's going to keep doing it. hopes he is. we'll see if his advisers rein him in. for all the talk about, will

there be a new donald trump? there's not. we've seen several donald trumps as we'll see all of these president. michele: to internal communication, we've learned his approaching his office with a tempo in terms of the security briefings he receives. he wouldat this point receive daily security briefings. he does it once a week? hearing, what we're once a week. very unusual. you would assume if you have this miraculous intelligence, this information, the great apparatus of the gather, yous can would want to see it, especially when it was a new thing. want as muchinly as possible. when you're going to be commander-in-chief and unstable,g a very fluid, dangerous world, and you in't have a background government or foreign policy, you presumably would want to use many arertunity, as encouraging him to do, to learn up, get the vernacular and to understand how things work, get the feel for it. and he doesn't seem to want to

fits in with this larger concern which is, does trump really understand -- you talked about the weight he seems feel on his shoulders. but does he yet really grasp what it means to be commander-in-chief and have -- be at the helm of the greatest country in the world, strongest the largest military, and all the responsibilities that entails, that's reflected concerns about some of his early national security appointments, adviser michael flynn, controversial figure. michele: alexis, you noted that donald trump has talked about advisers haves talked about the frequent phone the currentad with president. how often are they talking? alexis: it's interesting because not a usual thing for a announced thet to a disaster, to reach out. he's had all these effusive

things to say. talked, the white house says, about a handful of times. donald trump has done more about theth his team call than president obama has done to disclose the nature of the calls but it's very clear to me that president obama approached donald trump from the thet meeting they had in oval office with respect, talked about trying to be helpful and that.de good on the white house says when donald trump calls, president obama gets on the phone. michele: before we go tonight, to acknowledge the passing of a man who inspired millions of americans to reach stars. john glenn was a world war ii veteran who became an astronaut 1962, was then first american to orbit earth in space. on to serve his home state of ohio in the united states senate for 24 years. history again when he returned to space in 1998, at becoming the oldest person to ever fly in space. president obama awarded glenn of presidential medal freedom in 2012. john glenn was 95 years old.

thanks, everyone. our conversation continues online, on the "washington week" howa where we'll talk about the trump administration is writing a new playbook when it comes to disseminating policy and communicating with the press and the public. while you're there, check out some interesting about-the-scenes stories the everyday people on the trail who made a lasting impression on our "washington week" political reporters during the 2016 presidential campaign. both atfind pbs.org/washingtonweek. i'm michele norris. good night and a great weekend. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by --

>> xq institute. additional funding is provided boeing. newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. the ford foundation. koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

♪ welcome to kqed newsroom. i'm thuy vu. we open our program at oakland, at the site of the memorial for those who died in the ghost ship warehouse fire. the notes and candles symbolize the immense grief felt across the bay area and across the nation, in the week since the fire claimed 36 lives, many questions remain how many other warehouse spaces are there like this, how safe are they? who should be held accountable and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again? investigators and city officials are continuing their work, but for the many people who lost friends or family members, their grief is still overwhelming. i'm here in oakland to talk to members of the arts