we'll talk to sara murray who just broke the news next.ost people in the community recognize the blue trucks as pg&e. my truck is something new... it's an 811 truck. when you call 811, i come out to your house and i mark out our gas lines and our electric lines to make sure that you don't hit them when you're digging. 811 is a free service. i'm passionate about it because every time i go on the street i think about my own kids. they're the reason that i want to protect our community and our environment, and if me driving a that truck means that somebody gets to go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week. together, we're building a better california. hi there, i'm brooke baldwin, thank you for being with me on cnn. president-elect donald trump has announced another choice for his economic team. he's nominating a man by the name of andrew puzder to be secretary of labor. puzder is the ceo of the company that owns kar s carl's, jr., fad chain. this coming in to cnn as we wait to see the president-elect arrive on ohio to meet with

for the latest on the transition, let's bring in cnn's sara murray. >> reporter: good morning. the donald trump transition barrels on. while as a candidate on the campaign trail, trump may have said dismissive things about the generals. he is relying on them. he chosen john kelly to be the next head of homeland security. it is one of a number of staffing issues taking shape this week. another one the team made official is linda mcmahon. the former wwe leader. and a source tells me that donald trump is impressed with her business experience. that is the reason he felt she is the right pick for the job. he won't spend all day thursday in trump tower. he will head to ohio to meet victims and first responders in columbus around the ohio state attack and then on to des moi s moines, iowa. that is a state that helped him win the white house. part of the victory tour. also an opportunity to reveal at one of his staff picks. that is donald trump's choice to be the next u.s. ambassador to china. >>> thank you, sara. one reason trump picked the ambassador to china is the decades long rel

let's begin in new york with sara murray. sara? >> a spokeswoman says no final decisions have been made about the role of ivanka trump in the white house and it's true not what the official titles will be for ivanka trump or her husband, jared kushner. they appear to play a big role in the white house. >> you call my people, you'll call me. it doesn't make any difference. we have no formal chain of command around here. >> reporter: donald trump's unconventional white house quickly shaping up to be a family affair. trump's three eldest children all sitting in on a meeting with the nation's top tech executives wednesday. some who openly supported hillary clinton. >> we want you to keep going with the incredible innovation. there's nobody like you in the world. in the world. nobody like the people in this room. and anything we can do to help this go along and we'll be there for you. >> reporter: kushner helped organize the meeting which the group says will happen quarterly. he will get an office in the west wing and an advisory role s

for the latest on the transition, let's bring in sara murray at trump tower. >> reporter: good morning, john and alison, the transition barrels on and while as a candidate on the campaign trail, trump may have said dismissive things about the generals. he is relying on them as he builds his team. trump has chosen retired general john kelly to be the head of the homeland security. it is one of a number of staffing announcements that appear to be taking shape this week. another one of the trump tra transition team made official is linda mcmahon. that is trump's pick to lead the sba. trump is impressed with her business experience. the reason he felt she was right pick for the job. he won't spend all day at trump tower. he will head to columbus to meet with the victims and first responders of the ohio state attack. and then he will go to des moines as part of his victory tour and opportunity to reveal a staff pick. iowa governor terry bran stestb the next pick to be ambassador of china. >> governor branstad is known to have a close relationship with china. including a decades long relatio

let me bring in heidi perrzybyr the cnn political reporter sara murray. ladies, welcome. sara, on the note that apparently this tillerson pick came to fruition because of the urgings of bob gates, condoleezza rice and jim baker. talk about that and how they had a hand in making this happen. >> they helped put this candidate in front of donald trump at a time he was looking at other folks. he was looking at mitt romney for instance as part of an effort to look at former rivals and he kind of liked him. donald trump's team felt like he needed more candidates, this is someone that condoleezza rice, robert gates and others urged him to look at. they hit it off. >> had they met before saturday? >> not to my knowledge. >> forgive me, let me stop, we have to go to oakland, california. atf about to brief us on potentially the cause of the warehouse fire. >> atf has assisted by providing our fire expertise and conducting witness interviews. all of the scene information has been gathered and our analysis will continue in conjunction with the fire department investigators. all of the

our political reporter sara murray is outside trump tower in new york city joining us with more on the transition. sara, what's on the agenda for the president-elect's meeting with these tech industry giants? >> reporter: well, it could be a very interesting atmosphere. donald trump wants to go into this talking about how there should be more tech jobs in america. they should be creating these jobs here in the united states, rather han in countries abroad, and, look, the folks in these meetings are not all going to be people who see eye to eye with dpnt. some very critical of him in the part and his transition officials have taken pains to highlight that, to point out that donald trump wants to get their view not just of those who agree with him, his vision and policy but those who disagree with him, to bring the different viewpoints to the table. interesting to see how they all get along, but it does give you a sense of how donald trump does want to have an open line to the business community. he's made that clear, obviously, in some of this cabinet picks not from government but rathe

up first, sara murray.hat are you learning about rudy giuliani's exit in the race to be secretary of state? >> reporter: well, even though giuliani took his name out of the mix, sources are saying it went down a little differently, that he was informed that he would not be get thing coveted slot of secretary of state. now what you're seeing is an effort to save face. donald trump's secretary of state options, down one, with rudy giuliani withdrawing his name from contention for that or any other cabinet position. >> my desire to be in the cabinet was great, but it wasn't that great. and he had a lot of terrific candidates and i thought i could play a better role being on the outside and continuing to be his close friend and adviser. >> reporter: but sources say giuliani didn't voluntarily withdraw his name from the mix, he was informed he wouldn't be getting the state department position. this, as cnn has learned exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson's stock is rising for the state department post. that's as trump f

>> sara murray for us in mar mar-a-la mar-a-lago. >>> and echolight studio, senator, a pleasure to have you with us. i want to ask about donald trump's response to the attack in berlin specifically. issued responses, paper statements on both what happened inside turkey and what happened in berlin. on the berlin attack he said innocent civilians murdered in the streets, isis and other terrorists continually slaughter christians in their communities and places of worship and part of their global jihad. it may very well be that this turns out to be an isis attack. it may very well be this is an act of radical islamic terror, a term the president-elect likes to use, but the fact of the matter is overnight what happened was the person in custody, a man from afghanistan, or the pakistan region, german officials now say they do not believe he was the driver. so there's a manhunt for the person who did do it. they don't know who drove this truck. so, again is the president-elect out in front of the facts here? >> well i think if they don't k

sara murray, cnn, washington. >> let's pick up on that last point bringing in eugene scott live from washington via skype. rudy giuliani withdrawing his name from the list of possibilities. this goes along with chris christie and newt gingrich. these are people who have been loyal from the start and now seemingly left out in the cold. >> these are certainly people that wanted to be in the administration, but it appears they wanted very specific positions and if not that, perhaps nothing else. and some of them, at least giuliani are reporting says was not a finalist or at least a top finalist for the position that they wanted. but this does not mean that they will not have any influence. we have seen in past presidencies that sometimes some of the big withest advisers are the informal ones. >> what about trump also saying that as an executive producer on that show "apprentice," that he would keep that role. his campaign manager pointing out that he will do it in his spare time as he will have the full-time job of being the president of the united states. >> well, critics are suggestin

and cnn's sara murray joins us with the latest. a major meeting with tech executives. jim cook from apple. and amazon and google and elsewhere. and explain what's going on? >> there was an important meeting for donald trump to send the signal that he was willing to take the opinions of people he's criticized in the past and who have been critical of him. no secret donald trump's relationship with silicon valley i was stellar. but i'm told it was a positive meeting. a opportunity for the tech executives to make a case for priorities they are interested in. for high-skilled visas and more spending on a digital infrastructure. and donald trump made it clear and we saw this, that he wants to try to help them when he is president. so we'll see if this sort of love fest continues beyond the confines. but it is interesting as you point out that, it wasn't just donald trump but his senior advisors and his tech executives in the meeting. it was his grown children all present for what could be a very important meeting for trump. >> you know, the two grown men. donald trump's son

cnn political reporter sara murray is live outside trump tower. and sara, trump was supposed to announce his business plan tomorrow. how to wall off his presidency from this empire. but that press conference, that announcement, it's been postponed. why? >> reporter: well, that's right, jake. tomorrow was supposed to be the big day. now that is being pushed to january so they can sort all of this out. ethics experts have raised a number of concerns about the roles the children have been playing, both in the trump organization and in the building of donald trump's administration. but as of today there still seems to be no wall. don jr., eric trump and ivanka trump, all sitting in on that very important meeting between donald trump and top tech ceos. donald trump's transition turning into quite the family affair. as the president-elect tops montana congressman ryan zinke to lead the interior. sources say don jr. helped interview people for the most and eric sat in on a meeting with mitt romney as donald trump evaluated his secretary of state options.

cnn political reporter sara murray is outside trump tower in new york city for us. ara, why tillerson and how concerned is the trump team about opposition to him up on capitol hill, including even from some republicans? >> reporter: wolf, it did seem in some ways like tillerson came out of nowhere. when donald trump met with him, he was very impressed by his work on the global stage and impressed by the fact that he already had relationships with world leaders and he was impressed by the fact that this is a businessman who knows how to do deals. obviously something donald trump can relate to. the fact that condoleezza rice and robert gates and james baker were willing to put support behind this man, that resonated with donald trump and his team, particularly members who didn't feel comfortable with the notion of trump going with someone like mitt romney for secretary of state. we have heard senators on the hill expressing concern already. in talking to trump's team, they don't seem particularly concerned about the notion of tillerson getting confirmed. they do believ

sara murray is following that side of the story. >> good morning, carol. look everyone began by playing nicely with one another. hillary clinton said let's give donald trump a chance as president. president obama said he wanted to see a peaceful transition of power and he would help with that. things have evolved a little bit since then and now we're seeing the president-elect trading very public barbs with the white house press secretary. listen. although this foolish guy josh earnest, i don't know if he's talking to president obama. you know having the right press secretary is so important. because he is so bad the way he delivers a message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. >> it's just a fact. you all have it on tape that the republican nominee for president was encouraging russia to hack his opponent. because he bleefd that that would help his campaign. >> now the rift that is emerging in this relationship, at least a new rift, questions about russia's meddling in the u.s. election, now donald trump took to twitter this morning to w

sara murray, many thanks to you. all of this is happening four days before members of the electoral college meet to cast their vote for president. so, in light of that, let's talk about it all with cnn's political commentator and an anchor for spectrum news and a former white house ethics attorney, now a professor at the university of minnesota. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> so, errol, trump's kids sitting in this meeting with their father, interviewing potential candidates for his cabinet and staff, is this just a new normal? >> well, you know what? i'd have to agree in some ways with donald trump's tweet. it's not complex. he never released his taxes. he's not going to release his taxes. he promised he would disclose his business interests. he's never going to disclose his business interests. he said he would keep his business interests separate from his work in the white house. he's not going to do that, either. it's really pretty simple. you know, and the reality is, and the professor can correct me

let's begin there with sara murray who is live outside of trump tower. let's begin with what we've learned today with don, jr. >> well, we've learned that don jr. was involved. but it doesn't just stop with don jr. eric trump sat in on one of the meetings between donald trump and mitt romney and we're learning when donald trump does head to the white house, the office that's normally seen as the office of the first lady and called that is going to become the office of the first family to make way for ivanka to play a role in the white house. we know both jared kushner and ivanka trump are expected to head to washington, d.c. and be advisers to donald trump when he's in the white house. trump's transition aides have down played this and said of course the kids are involved in the transition, we said they would be involved in the transition so it's no surprise they may be weighing in on cabinet picks or that they may be sitting in on meetings but it raises the question if eric trump and donald, jr., are going to be running the business is it appropriate fo

cnn sara murray live in florida. >> the latest events, a good reminder that as president-elect and as president, you may be on vacation, you may have another agenda, but the world certainly intervenes. donald trump amidst his transition meetings yesterday put out a flurry of statements. both on what was going on in turkey as well as what was happening in germany. he tied both of those instances to radical islamic terrorism. even though investigations are still ongoing. i want to start with his statement on russia about the assassination of the ambassador. he said, today we offer our condolences to the family and loved ones of russia ambassador to turkey andrey karlov who was assassinated by a radical islamic terrorist. talking about the attack on the christmas market as an attack on christianity. saying, isis and other islamic terrorists continually slaughter christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. these terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth. donald trump has given us little indic

sara murray follows that part of the story. good morning. >> reporter: look, president obama wanted this sort of peaceful orderly transition of power but a rift is emerging because of russia. now we are seeing the president-elect trading barbs with the white house press secretary. take a listen. >> although this foolish guy, josh earnest, i don't know if he's talking to president obama. you know, having the right press secretary is so important because he is so bad, the way he delivers a message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. >> it's just a fact, you all have it on tape, that the republican nominee for president was encouraging russia to do this because he believed it would help his campaign. >> for the first time we are hearing from hillary clinton and her top allies of what they think russia's impact was on the election and john podesta, one of her top aides, wrote a scathing op-ed. i want to read you a portion of it as it relates to the dnc hack. he says when the fbi discovered the russian attack in se

and cnn's sara murray joins us with the latest. a major meeting with tech executives. tim cook from apple, jeff bezo and oabezos and others from amazon, google, elsewhere. donald trump's grown children were in on this meeting. explain what was going on. >> reporter: that's right. this was an important meeting for donald trump to sort of send the signal he was will to take the opinions of people he criticized in past and been critical of him. no question donald trump's relationship with silicon valley wasn't exactly stellar throughout the campaign. i'm told this was actually a pretty positive meeting. a opportunity for the tech executives to make a case for priorities they're interested in. for example, high-skilled visas and also more spending on a digital infrastructure. and donald trump made it clear in the meeting and we saw this from what we said in front of reporters that he wants to try to help them when he is president. so we'll see if this sort of love fest continues beyond the confines. but it is interesting as you point out that, it wasn't just donald trump b

let's begin in new york with sara murray. sara?spokeswoman says no final decisions have been made about the role of ivanka trump in the white house and it's true not what the official titles will be for ivanka trump or her husband, jared kushner. they appear to play a big role in the white house. >> you call my people, you'll call me. it doesn't make any difference. we have no formal chain of command around here.

. >> pam:reporter sara murray has more on the questions their presence is raising about their exact role in the new administration. adminstration. return to index of stories... >> reporter:donald trump's transition turning into quite the family affair. >> reporter:as the president-elect taps montana congressman ryan zinke to lead the interior department a source says donald trump junior helped interview candidates for the post. >> reporter:this as another source says eric trump sat in on a meeting with mitt romney as donald trump evaluated his secretary of state options. >> reporter:with trump poised to turn his business operations over to those two sons, the opportunity for conflict of interest appears abundant. >> reporter:but not to transition aides. >>sean spicer, rnc chief strategist communications director: "bottom line, he's been clear from day one with the role his family plays and the trust that he has in them in terms of guiding decisions." >> reporter:there's no sign the family's influence is waning, though. >> reporter:once trump moves to the white house, the first lady's off

sara murray reports. >> reporter: with a dash of last-minute drama -- >> the votes are ten votes, donald. >> you sold out our country! >> reporter: the electoral college is making it official today, sealing donald trump's victory as he prepares to head to the white house. trump critics making a final stand, protesters aired their grievances at state capitals. a few electors attempted to vote for candidates besides trump, and former president bill clinton, an election tore in new york, la meanted the, quote, bogus e-mail deal and the hurdles hillary clinton couldn't overcome in his bid for the presidency. >> she fought through everything and prevailed against it all but at the end we had the russians and the fbi deal which she couldn't prevail against that. she did everything else and still won by 2.8 million droets. >> reporter: trump appearing to take the final snubs personally tweeting sunday, if my many spoete spo supporters were acting like those who lost, they would be called name. some are hoping the president-elect will adopt a tougher tone. republicans like senator mccain express

cnn political reporter sara murray is in new york for us. our senior political reporter manu raju is up on capitol hill. sara, tell our viewers, first of all, why the president-elect is visiting columbus, ohio. >> well, wolf, most of the stops on donald trump's agenda, as you pointed out, are part of this victory tour. they're uplifting events, ways for him to thank the people who delivered him the presidency. his stop here in columbus is going to be a different kind. it's going to be a more somber stop for hip m to meet with fir respo responders as well as victims of the attack. you're going to see a different side potentially of donald trump not just sort of the candidate we saw in the campaign trail and the president-elect we see at rallies but more essentially the comforter and chief kind of role we expect to see from our presidents, wolf. >> it's a very important role indeed. i assume over the next four years he'll be doing unfortunately a lot of that kind of comforting. sara, the president-elect also held more important transition meeti

cnn sara murray has the latest on that story. sara in. >> good morning, chris. that warm, fuzzy feeling we may have had for a few minutes when the obama administration wanted to play nicely with the trump administration appears to be evaporating a little bit and donald trump is playing a hand in that, as well. going after white house press secretary. a week of russia revelations and donald trump's denials creating a rift between incoming and outgoing administration. >> this foolish guy josh earnest. >> reporter: the president-elect taking shots at president obama's press secretary. >> he is so bad the way he delivers their message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. he could say, ladies and gentlemen, today we have totally defeated isis and it wouldn't sound good. >> reporter: lashing out after the white house sharply criticized trump's continued dismissal of intelligence about moscow's election meddling. >> mr. trump, obviously knew that russia engaged in malicious cyberactivity that was helping him and hurting secretary clinton's campaign. >>

. >> thank you sara murray.ant to go "outfront" now particularly to joe becker of the "new york times." you have been breaking so much on this story. it is pretty stunning here. can trump keep his stake in the trump organization with all of the lack of transparency that would entail? >> legally he can. it is interesting. the conflict of interest laws that govern federal employees don't apply to the vice president or the president. so legally he can keep his company. however there are statutes. clauses in the constitution, that say that government official can't take gifts from a foreign government. the thinking through kind of how all of this is going to work is sort of mind boggling. if you think about it, he has said the current thinking is he wants to retain his ownership stake in the company. he will turn over the day-to-day operations to his two sons. ivanka our sources say is going step aside from the organization. her husband is preparing for a role in the white house, and i think that is part of it. but

cnn's sara murray is here with the latest. what have you learned, sara in. >> good morning, alisyn. all these warm, fuzzy feelings in the beginning between the obama administration and coming trump administration having some riffs. a week of russia revelations and donald trump's denials creating a rift between incoming and outgoing administrations. >> this foolish guy josh earnest. >> reporter: the president-elect taking shots at president obama's press secretary. >> he is so bad the way he delivers their message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. he could say, ladies and gentlemen, today we have totally defeated isis and it wouldn't sound good. >> reporter: lashing out after the white house sharply criticized trump's continued dismissal about moscow's election meddling. >> mr. trump obviously knew that russia was engaged in cyberactivity that was helping him and hurting senator clinton's campaign. >> he's not positive and, i mean, maybe he's getting his orders from somebody else. >> reporter: russia putting a strain on the roller coaster relationship between trum

sara murray joins us now. you are learning new information from your sources, update our viewers on that. >> reporter: well, that's right, wolf. we know donald trump has been having meetings about how to better separate himself from his business now that he is the president-elect. and of course, he has teased a big press conference to announce his plans next week. what we are learning is, as of now there is really no indication that donald trump is going to fully divest from his company, which means there are still going to be questions about whether there are conflicts of interest that could potentially follow him throughout his four or eight-year tenure in the white house. now, the other thing we've learned is that, when he does hand over control of his businesses, at least to his two sons, potentially his daughter as well, he may install another independent person as part of that organization structure, someone who is not a member of his family. he could do this to further ininsulate himself from conflicts

sara murray joins me now in washington.xplain to me, the transition team, they're saying that his being executive producer of celebrity apprentice is something out of a hobby. >> we're dying to know exactly how it's going to work. it's not normal for a president to have a side gig but donald trump is not your normal president-elect and sources are telling cnn even though donald trump made a fuss over the fact it wasn't his business interest that mattered to him, it was the presidential campaign, it was becoming president, he doesn't look like he wants to leave those behind any time soon. on the campaign trail, donald trump shrugged aside his business interests insisting the allure of the white house was far more important. >> i don't care. doesn't matter to me. it's nice when you don't have to care but i don't care. what i care about is making america great again. that's much more important. much more important. >> but now, the president-elect is showing little sign of stepping back from his corporate calling. yet another p

. >> sara murray, thank you for that. tonight, some top republican senators are ramping up pressure for a new investigation of russia's election related hacking. they're getting an assist from democrats. where does this push for an investigation stand right now? >> they need a vote in the senate. that means the republicans and democrats will need to join together to get the 60 votes needed to establish this committee. democrats are expected to be largely united. the question is, whether or not republicans join forces with democrats. we have seen john mccain and lindsey graham agree to move forward on something. but they're facing resistance from republican leaders, including mitch mcconnell who wants this investigation to happen in the select committee on intelligence, not the brand new, wide-ranging committee on russia. he believes it should happen in the existing committees on capitol hill. and we have learned that two republican senators, who are gettable votes to potentially create this committee, both are telling us

. >> sara murray, thank you very much. all of the 11 people injured in the attack at ohio state are expected to fully recover. we bring one of them in now, he's william clark, engineering professor at ohio state university professor, thank you so much for joining me. how are you doing? >> improving slowly day by day, but still very stiff, very sore and not moving at full speed but getting better. >> i'm glad to hear that. i know that, of course, mr. trump is meeting with a number of people who were impacted directly by that horrendous attack recently on campus. you declined the invitation to meet with president-elect trump. tell me why. >> two reasons. first of all, my from my healing standpoint i didn't feel it was a necessary step for me i'm older than most of the other victims and they had a more traumatic experience being chased by a guy with a knife than i did. that was one reason. and the other is i was frankly a little put off by mr. trump's initial reaction to the attack where he got on twitter and quickly blamed i

sources telling sara murray that eric trump was also present for at least one of his farther's meetingsmitt romney, in addition to the news earlier that donald trump jr. personally interviewed some of the candidates for interior secretary. keep in mind, both of the trump boys are supposedly running trump's enterprise and mr. trump is now trying to figure out how to separate his conflicts of interest with his businesses from his duties as president of the united states. we will keep you posted. >>> one other development. earlier this hour we told you about this questionnaire that was sent to department of energy employees. it was a 74-question questionnaire and it was sent specifically to scientists studying climate change. sources are now telling us from the trump team that the questionnaire was not authorized or part of a standard protocol. we also understand the person who sent that questionnaire to the department of energy has been quote, counseled. >>> executives from some of the most powerful tech companies in the world will be meeting with donald trump. the list includes jeff bezo

sara murray, it's pretty stunning development when you think how close rudy giuliani was throughout this campaign basically to donald trump, all of a sudden word out he's announcing he's no longer in the running to become secretary of state. >> rudy yulianny was a front-runner based on the fact he made no secret wanting this job but was very loyal to donald trump very early on. he was just on television explaining why he says he pulled his name out of the running. let's take a listen to that. >> my desire to be in the cabinet was great but it wasn't that great. and he had a lot of terrific candidates and i thought i could play a better role being on the outside and continuing to be his close friend and advisor. that's sort of the role i played during the campaign. i never worked for the campaign, nor part of it. gave me a certain degree of independence and being able to give advice and i saw that he had so many good candidates available. i mean, there was no reason to complicate his life any longer. i withdrew back on the 29th. >> now, he says he withdrew his name. that's not what we're

first, let's go to cnn's political reporter sara murray, over at trump tower in new york. the president-elect's children are clearly in the spotlight tonight. update our viewers. >> reporter: absolutely, wolf. while ethics experts and lawyers have raised questions about the role trump's children might play once he enters the white house, donald trump's transition aides are already down playing that as his children sat in on a very important meeting today at trump tower. donald trump's transition turning into quite the family affair. the trump children all sat in on the meeting. >> i just want to thank everybody. this is a truly amazing group of people. >> reporter: as the president-elect taps congressman ryan zinke to lead the interior department, a source says don, jr., helped interview candidates for that post. another source says eric trump sat in on a meeting with mitt romney as donald trump evaluated his secretary of state option. but trump, poised to turn his business operations over to those two sons, the opportunity for conflicts of interest appears abundant. but n

cnn's sara murray is here with the latest. what do you see in >> good morning, chris. everyone was playing nice at the get-go. hillary clinton said we need to give donald trump a chance as president. president obama made it clear he wanted to see a peaceful and orderly transition of power. but now a rift is emerging and we're seeing the president-elect is exchanging barbs with the white house press secretary. a week of russia revelations and donald trump denial. creating a rift between incoming and outgoing administrations. >> this foolish guy josh earnest. >> the president-elect taking shots at president obama's press secretary. >> he is so bad the way he delivers their message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. he could say, ladies and gentlemen, today we have totally defeated isis and it wouldn't sound good. >> reporter: lashing out after the white house sharply criticized trump's continued dismissal of intelligence about moscow's election meddling. >> mr. trump, obviously knew that russia engaged in malicious cyberactivity that was helping him an

cnn political reporter sara murray is at trump tower in new york city for us. sara, the president-elect now has assigned three generals, retired, to top positions in his administration. update our viewers. >> reporter: that's right. he is relying awfully heavily on the military as he fills out some of the top slots. the latest, a source tells cnn, is retired general john kelly to be the head of the department of homeland security. all of this leaves one big lingering gap, and that is who will be the secretary of state. from trump, still no word on that as he works at quite a quick pace to fill out his white house. donald trump may have held a dim view of the generals as a candidate. >> i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. >> reporter: but as president-elect, he is changing his tune. after selecting retired general michael flynn as national security advisor and retired marine general james mattis as defense secretary, a source tells cnn trump has chosen retired general john kelly to head the department of homeland security. trump also announci

cnn political reporter sara murray is live in palm beach, florida, where mr. trump is holding his latest transition meetings. >> reporter: good mortganing, alisyn. in a flurry of statements yesterday, donald trump offered up his concern but also condemnation for the killing of the russian ambassador to turkey and the attack on the berlin christmas market. he wasted no time in tying both of these attacks to radical islamic terrorism even though authorities are still investigating both of these instances. in one of the statements, donald trump was vowing to come together with any freedom loving partners who will work with the u.s. to help eradicate terrorism. in addition to putting out these statements, he also took to twitter to express his concern not just for the attack in berlin as well as the one in turkey but also for an attack in switzerland where a gunman opened fire at a mosque. on twitter, he said today there were terror attacks in turkey, switzerland, and germany. it is only getting worse. the civilized world must change thinking. now, donald trump wi

sciutto, "new york times" editor and cnn political analyst patrick healey, cnn politics reporter sara murray and cnn political commentators kayleigh mcinenny and hilary rosen, a hillary clinton supporter. i want to talk about donald trump and trump world when it comes to the russian hacks. over the last 24 hours we have been getting the word that yeah, donald trump we are told by aides is concerned about the reports of the russian hack, yet he's still saying if it's so bad why didn't we hear about it, yet he's still going after josh earnest on this subject, yet he's stopping short of calling for congressional investigation here. what exactly is going on inside trump world? >> donald trump himself has given no indication publicly, obviously, on twitter or otherwise that he is concerned about the russian situation and what you are seeing i think from a lot of his advisers is sort of this defensive stance. they believe that we are talking about this now and that people are bringing this up now as an attempt to yurpd mine the legitimacy of his presidency. so rather than focus on the fact the rus

sara murray is outside of trump tower tonight. the president elect sending a very clear message to american companies, big companies today. >> reporter: that's right. and while in the past --. it is clear donald trump is ready to be a different kind of president. he told time magazine he wants to see drug prices come down. of course that is on the heels of him striking up a deal with carrier not to move jobs overseas, as well as issuing this threat to boeing that he would cancel an order for new air force one jets. all of this as donald trump is building out his potential white house reading some new names in the mix today. his pick to head the epa. oklahoma attorney general scott prewitt. this could be a controversial pick. we're already seeing democrats seize on some of his past comments and call him a climate change denier. and he has questioned the impact of course on climate change in the past and he's been really in lock step with donald trump on a number of issues, particularly being critical of epa regulations that effects

cnn political reporter, sara murray is here. carl higbee, former navy s.e.a.l. and trump supporter and phil levine, former mayor of miami beach and kate anderson-brower, author of "first women and residents, inside the private world of the white house." great to see you. sara, phil was talking about the reporting on jared kushner and where the loop hole is there. you are reporting on ivanka trump and her role in the white house and her real estate in the white house. >> right. at one point, she did this interview and said she would not be heading to the white house. that appears to be changing. they are peerepared to relocateo washington, d.c. and ivanka trump is expected to have an office in the east wing. normally this would be the first lady's office. under a donald trump white house this will become the first family office. it will be an opportunity for her not to just do the washington hostess thing but we have already seen her advise her father on issues like climate change, on issues like paid family leave. she brings a more liberal perspective than some

and we're also learning from our sara murray that the first lady's office, the traditional first lady'sice in the east wing of the white house will now become the first family office, ivanka trump will have an office presumably there. her husband, jared kushner, will have an office in the west wing. that's where the power is. in the white house. do you have a problem with the adult children participating in these meetings and looking forward to after january 20th when he is sworn in as president? >> i certainly have a problem if they're going to continue to run the family business and they're also going to participate in meetings like this. it is a profound conflict of interest. and in fact, today elijah cummings hosted a hearing i participated in oon the emoluments clause on these conflicts of interest. you can look at any parts of the world. we have been talking about russia. and see the potential conflicts. just to take turkey, for example, you have a situation in turkey where, when the trump towers were being named or erected there was an agreement between the trump family and the e

cnn's sara murray has a closer look. >> good morning, carol.onald trump's team is saying there's no conflict here. we told you that the kids were part of the transition effort and so it's no surprise that they may be in meetings and yes, yesterday they were present. we saw they were all in this meeting but what's happening behind the scenes, what sources are telling us privately, is what's more interesting. and that is the fact that ivanka trump appears to be headed to the east wing, normally where the office of the first lady is but under donald trump's administration, it's expected to become the office of the first family to allow ivanka trump to assume some of the duties we have seen from past first ladies, acting as a hostess and advising her father on a variety of issues from family leave to climate change. as for jared kushner, he appears bound for the west wing which would be pretty unprecedented to see someone's son-in-law in a position like that. now, sources say their titles have not been finalized and a spokeswoman for the transition

bush and sara murray, rock star political reporter is here as well. ari, we were just listening to athena jones talk about this questionnaire that went to the energy department. the white house saying flat out that it could end up -- could lead to targeting of civil servants. the transition now says it was not an authorized, it was an unauthorized questionnaire that was sent over. you have been involved in a transition. how does that happen? how does an unauthorized questionnaire get to the energy department? >> because you are drinking from so many fire hoses at the same time and a lot of people are new to it, thrown into a transition, don't have supervisory roles set up yet. i had a feeling that's what it was. it was a mistake, shouldn't be done. civil service needs to be protected from this. political employees -- >> that's the difficulty. >> civil servants should be protected. i'm glad to see the trump presidential election came out and said wrong, it shouldn't have happened. >> patti, the white house did not mince words on this. i do wonder if th

reporter sara murray has more on the questions their presence is raising about their exact role in histwo sons, the opportunity for conflict of interest appears abundant. but not to transition aides... sean spicer, rnc chief strategist communications director:"bottom line, he's been clear from day one with the role his family plays and the trust that he has in them in terms of guiding decisions." there's no sign the family's influence is waning, though. once trump moves to the white house, the first lady's office is slated to become the first family's office to help incorporate ivanka trump.nats but trump's focus is elsewhere today - as he convenes a meeting with tech luminaries he's lobbed insults at in the pasttrump once accused amazon c-e-o and washington post owner jeff bezos of buying the newspaper "for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no profit company, @amazon." while bezos suggested it was time to send trump to space. but today bezos - along with facebook's sheryl sandberg, apple's tim cook and others met trump to chat about growing u-s tech jobs. trump: "there's nobody li