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WH Briefing Provides Details on Trump/Obama Meeting; Melania Trump Meets with Michelle Obama at White House; Mike Pence to Meet with Joe Biden; Trump to Meet with House, Senate Leaders. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired November 10, 2016 - 1:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are meetings that have either occurred or have been set up with senior staff at the White House since Donald Trump won the presidency, especially national security or economic teams going forward.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: My understanding, Justin, is that the broader formal process has not yet commenced with meetings. There were a number of meetings between White House personnel and members of both candidate's transition teams in the months leading up to the election. I know there's been a number of consultations with the president-elect's team and the White House team. But the formal meetings I don't believe have started just yet.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I wanted to ask about, I guess, press access today. The meeting with the vice president and Vice President-elect Pence, was closed press, which was a break from past presidents. And Carol reported that the Obamas canceled a photo op.

EARNEST: That's not true.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK. Can you talk about then why we didn't have a photo op and why there's no press access and particularly if this is --

(CROSSTALK)

EARNEST: First of all, Justin, you were just in the Oval Office. So, it's not accurate to say that was no press access. Let's just be clear about what happened. Over the last eight years, I've enjoyed the opportunity to have many of you in my office over the years advocating for greater access to the president and the work he's doing in the Oval Office. What that typically means is you coming in and advocating for the opportunity to see the president of the United States sitting in the Oval Office, photograph him sitting next to the person he's meeting with, and then hear from both people about the meeting. That is the -- that's the priority that has been conveyed to me in countless meetings with all of you. That is exactly what was provided today. That was not provided in 2008. I wasn't part of designing the press access in 2008 so I can't account for all of the reasons for that. The president access we put together today was based on the guidance we received from all of you over the last eight years about what the priority is. We're pleased to be in a position to provide that today. It's an indication of the excitement we have to transparency and an indication that the president has to build public confident in the shared commitment to a smooth an effective transition. What better way for the American public to understand that the president-elect and the outgoing president of the United States share a priority of a smooth and effective transition than to allow you all into the Oval Office to hear them talk about their commitment to that effort?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: One way to demonstration that you guys are committed to that I guess effective transfer of power would be to show the vice president or show the first lady welcoming their successors into the White House, and so --

EARNEST: I think we would all just agree that would be lower in priority than what was provided today and what was provided today is unprecedented in terms of the kind of access that was granted to previous White House press corps.

Look, there's always going to be this back and forth. As I've stated before --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- relevant. And the reason I'm asking the question is while the president has come out and sort of put on a cheery face, we know obviously, many people here are disappointed. The first lady spoke passionately about how she found Donald Trump to be an unacceptable choice. Are we to read anything or putting aside whether we should read anything, is the reason there was no press access, because the first lady or the vice president didn't want to be photographed or appear along side --

EARNEST: Absolutely not. In fact, I'm not aware that the first lady's office was consulted. I certainly didn't consult with them. What we can do is we can go back to the White House photographer and see if there are any photos from the greet, so that you all can get some insight into how that went. So, we'll follow up with you on that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last one, number of foreign governments from top allies of the United States Turkey and the United Kingdom, Canada, have all said their leaders have called President-elect Trump over the last 24, 48 hours. Beyond sort of congratulatory calls, is there concern among you guys as you try to pursue your -- that allies could be getting mixed messages on the U.S. foreign policy goals?

EARNEST: I'm not aware of any concern about that. It is not uncommon for countries that have important relationships with the United States for them to call and offer congratulations to the president-elect. Some of those conversations are facilitated by the State Department. In other cases, you get foreign governments that are going directly to the president-elect's office. That's consistent with past practice. I'm confident that happened after President Obama's election as well, OK.

Olivier? UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Josh, I'm kind of curious about the president, as a journalist professional. Does he say you need to get a great chief of staff, does he say there's one job you never ever heard of but it's vital? How does that -- or is it just --, you know, obviously, Donald Trump knows he has to staff the White House. How much precision is the president offering in his recommendations?

[13:35:23] EARNEST: Well, I'll be honest, I didn't have a detailed conversation with President Obama about this. I think he has built an organization at the White House with an eye toward surrounding himself with capable people and putting them in positions where they are given the authority they need to make decisions. Also, he's ensured that they are given the authority they need to elevate decisions to him if they need to be. So, structuring a -- structuring the organizational chart effectively is not an insignificant matter when you're talking about life-and-death decisions that have to be made on a regular basis in this building. So, you know, the president will be taking some questions over the course of the next week and maybe somebody can see greater insight from him on that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Looking overseas, the operations against the Islamic State, the president recently sent 1700 more American troops there. You've long insisted they don't have a combat mission. These are combat troops. Why did they go? Are you saying they need 1700 more American troops-worth of advice and assistant? We're starting to see some social media of Americans who look like they're in frontline operations, not in supportive ones.

EARNEST: Olivier, what we've made clear is that our servicemembers, when they go to Iraq, they're trained for combat, they're equipped for combat, because they need to defend themselves in a dangerous country. But they're not given a combat mission. That's an important distinction because the president does not believe the American troops should be in a situation in which they're expected to be at the tip of the spear to go and take and hold ground. The idea of the U.S. military being an occupying force in Iraq is not one that has yielded success for our country. So, what the president envisioned and the mission they have been given, it is a dangerous one. It's one that -- in which American servicemembers are asked to assume great risk so that they can be in a position to, in some cases, train Iraqi security forces. In other cases, so that they can offer advice and assistant as Iraqi security forces undertake important military objectives. There are even some situations where, if some of those trainers or advisers end up in a dangerous position, then there are additional U.S. forces that are mobilized to get them out. This is dangerous work. This does put them in harm's way. It does put them in a situation where occasionally they have to use their combat training and combat equipment to defend themselves. But that is much different than being the situation in which they are asked to take and hold territory. That's just -- that's a different strategy. It's a different mission. Both of them are dangerous. Both of them require courage and professionalism and skill and sacrifice. And that's what we have seen uniform.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The kinds of troops -- WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Josh Earnest, providing us some

details on the meeting in the Oval Office between the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, and the president of the United States, Barack Obama. The president invited Donald Trump for this meeting, to start this formal transition. Donald Trump will become the president of the United States in 10 weeks on January 20th of 2017, Inauguration Day. That's when he's sworn in as president of the United States. The president, by the way, said it was an excellent meeting. Donald Trump called president a very good man. And we just heard Josh Earnest say that the president was deeply -- was deeply relieved, very happy, if you will, that Trump -- he got a renewed confidence from Trump that there would be a commitment to a smooth transition. And Trump called President Obama once again a very, very good man. Very different words than we heard clearly during the campaign.

I want to bring in our panel. Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is here with me. We're right in front of the White House. Our CNN politics executive editor, Mark Preston, is here. Our chief political correspondent, dana bash.

The renewed confidence that the president has that Donald Trump has a commitment to a smooth transition. Both men are very upbeat, very positive. They've been saying all the right things since Donald Trump stunned all of us, stunned the world, by winning the presidency.

[13:40:14] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think they're bot grasping the moment in history this is. The fact that two men sit together who don't like each other is not new. I was communicating with Mike Duffy, who is a friend of mine and co-author of the book "The President's Club," and he was pointing out to me this is sort of the quintessential club moment here because Truman didn't like Ike. He helped him anyway. Ike Eisenhower didn't like JFK. Welcomed him into the White House. LBJ didn't like Richard Nixon much. And he did the same thing. Each of these men understands, once you've been a president, you're initiated into the club, that it is your time to help the next person who's going to join that club understand the surroundings, understand the enormity of it. Which I think hits you the moment you want in that door of the Oval Office probably. This is something we've seen in our history. If it worked any other way, that would be what would be sort of discombobulating to the nation about it. We are lucky enough to have this kind of smooth transition of power. I don't think it means that these guys really like each other anymore than they did yesterday. But I do think they understand the responsibilities that the office brings with it.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: You know, Dana, it was a 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office without any aides. Just the two of them, one on one.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, and I agree there's no reason to think they're going to, you know, they were going to end that singing kumbaya and be best friends, but the fact they have never actually met.

BORGER: I know.

BASH: They were in rooms together like the White House Correspondents Dinner but they've never met and have h such strong opinions about one another. It's almost as if the only thing that each of them knew was the other's caricature. And now just in that intimate setting in such a monumental setting like the Oval Office, they got to know each other's character. And that says a lot. That says a lot.

You know what, listen, we've all been in this town for a while covering politicians. And we know just, even in Congress, in particular, they scream at each other, they call each other names, they fight over very real political and philosophical differences. But they all, you know, get together, not as month as they used to, but they can have friendships across the aisle. And this is a very, very extreme version of reminding everybody that these are two human beings but also t
BLITZER: I want to point out the pictures we're seeing in the upper left-hand part your screen. That's the motorcade, Donald Trump's motorcade. After leaving the White House, they drove up to Capitol Hill. Donald Trump is meeting right now with Paul Ryan, the speaker House, he'll be meeting with Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, as well. These are also important meetings, Mark, that --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Can I just add one thing, what I thought in terms of the symbolism of all this. Of course, he went to the Oval Office. The picture there, where that motorcade is, that's outside the Republican National Committee or the Capitol Hill Club where they're meeting. So, he's not on Capitol Hill meeting with Paul Ryan in the speaker's office. They decided to meet on neutral ground. I think is interesting.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Why is that? Why would they do that? I mean, we've all been to the Republican National Committee headquarters where they're meeting right now. The whole area's called Capitol Hill, as we know.

BASH: It is.

BLITZER: But it's not part of the official government --

(CROSSTALK)

BASWH: And most importantly, he's the speaker of the House. He's got some pretty nice digs on Capitol Hill, gorgeous, gorgeous. I mean, this view is nice, his view is nice too.

BLITZER: Outlooks the whole Mall.

BASH: Exactly. I don't know the reason why they're not doing it there. I just think it's interesting they decided to meet on neutral ground which is exactly where they met the very first time they me after Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee.

BORGER: But Pence is going to Capitol Hill, Mike Pence. And that's familiar turf for him --

BASH: Exactly.

BORGER: -- unlike Donald Trump and the White House.

BLITZER: Pence spent 10 years as a member of Congress.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Symbolically, the pictures are -- they're so important not only here in the United States, where we saw the protest last night. I'm sure we'll see them tonight. We'll see them in the coming days -- quite frankly, again, we'll be talking a lot about this. On a global scale, right now, how important that is. But the reality actually governing in town, these meetings are really going to matter right now. There's the campaign rhetoric we saw Donald Trump talk about on the campaign in very volatile, and what have you. And then there's the fact that there's the governing reality. And there's can you work with Capitol Hill, can you work with your own party, can you work with Democrats. There are going to be some major clashes. The Obamacare fight, right when he is elected president or sworn in, rather, that is going to be major. I think we're going to see this country even more divided at that point. But the fact is, is that he is the president and they've got to give him the respect of the office.

[13:45:26] BORGER: What struck me, though, about what Donald Trump said -- and I wonder how this is going to play with his base -- was that he said that the president explained to him some of the really great things that he has achieved. We haven't heard Donald Trump talk about the really great things that Barack Obama has achieved over this campaign.

BASH: Or any one thing.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: So I'm wondering what they were talking about. My guess is maybe the president was talking a little bit about some of the issues with Obamacare, that the American public might not want to lose, keeping pre-existing conditions cover. But what were those really great things that Donald Trump heard?

BLITZER: We'll find out soon enough. And, remember, that was then, this is now. It's a whole new environment, given the enormity of what's going on.

Coming up, this historic day in Washington, as President-elect Donald Trump meets with President Obama and the House Speaker Paul Ryan. He'll also be meeting soon with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill. We'll have all the latest developments.

Stay with us. The breaking news continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:50:21] BLITZER: During the campaign, President Obama called Donald Trump unqualified, Donald Trump during the campaign called the president incompetent. That was then, this is now. Today, they clearly have moved past that bitter presidential campaign to begin the transition of power.

Let's bring back our panel.

Dana, today the president -- President-elect Trump called President Obama very good man. President Obama said "my number one priority in the next two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful." and Donald Trump said, "Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you. I look forward to being with you many, many more times." They spoke alone in the Oval Office for 90 minutes.

BASH: And the fact that Donald Trump said it was supposed to be like 10 minutes, it went 90, and it could have gone much longer. You know, I'm sure the president had a lot of words of wisdom he'd like to impart both on process and on policy. But Donald Trump -- if I were in Donald Trump's shoes, I mean, I would want to just sit there for hours and hours. Where do you even start on the questions to ask about how that job works? He knows how to run a business, how to be a CEO, he knows how to be a reality star and now he knows how to be a candidate for running the biggest economy and government.

BLITZER: You can see the motorcade leaving on the Republican National Committee on Capitol Hill. That's Donald Trump's motorcade. It looks like they were there -- he left the White House at around 12:45 or so. It's 1:51 on the east coast, at least more than an hour, Dana. That, as the meeting between Donald Trump, the president-elect, and the Speaker Paul Ryan.

BASH: Right. Which is probably as important, if not more important, than the one that happened in that building.

Go ahead, Mark.

PRESTON: I was going to say, the irony is a week ago we were talking about how Donald Trump was not going to embrace a smooth transition of power and how the system was rigged and how he wasn't going to embrace it.

BASH: But he won.

But he won. And, look, we have this smooth transition of power, or at least we do now. Look, I think for all the anger, anxious, frustration out there from those who lost, the bottom line is this is our democracy and this is how it works and he won. That's the bottom line.

BORGER: Now you understand --

(CROSSTGALK)

BLITZER: That motorcade we are being told included not only Donald Trump, the president-elect, but the vice president elect, Mike Pence, and the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. They're leaving the RNC building heading over to Capitol Hill to the U.S. Congress itself.

BORGER: Now we understand why presidents become such ardent students of history. If they weren't before the they want to learn how other people did it and coped with the cray seize that will inevitably come their way and how other people organized their White House and the pitfalls of the presidency and the difficulty of living in the bubble.

BASH: And the loneliness.

BORGER: The loneliness of the job. These are two men so I'm not sure they discussed the feelings part of it but maybe Melania and Michelle Obama did. But there is a part of that job that is so alone and difficult. And as David Axelrod always says, the president says the decisions that get to his desk get to his desk because they're impossible. And so the difficulties that face you from the minute you wake up in the morning and you get that national security briefing about the threats against this country to the time you go upstairs, you're always working. And I think that you just saw in Donald Trump's face today, if you can read anything into it, that when he said I respect -- I have great respect for him, because I think the president opened a window for him -

(CROSSTALK) BORGER: -- on to what his life is like every single day from when you get that briefing at 7:00 in the morning.

PRESTON: Two things. Just kind of an aside but very important. One is we'll have a young boy in the White House now. We had two young girls for the last eight years.

BORGER: Yeah.

BLITZER: Baron.

PRESTON: Baron Trump, who we haven't' seen on the campaign trial but -

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Donald Trump's son.

PRESTON: Donald Trump's son.

BLITZER: 10 years old.

PRESTON: 10 years old. Standing next to him on that stage looking so uncomfortable out of the spotlight and you could feel for that kid.

BASH: Have we had a young boy since John-John? It's been all girls, right?

(CROSTALK)

PRESTON: So that will be interesting. BORGER: It will be easier with the boys.

(LAUGHTER)

PRESTON: Or not so much.

But what books are Donald Trump going to be reading? What historians is he going to try to meet with to find out how other people dealt with crises and learn more about it. It will be telling.

[13:55:06] BORGER: And Michelle as we were talking about earlier this morning, Michelle Obama it is so important for her to tell Melania what it's like to be a mom and raise your kids with any kind of normal life in the White House.

(CROSTALK)

BLITZER: She's done a very good job.

BORGER: Well, she has and so did Hillary Clinton with her daughter. But it is tough. It's very, very difficult and I think that would be a concern of any --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: We're looking at live pictures. You see Paul Ryan arriving, Donald Trump arriving, Mike Pence arriving. They're in the Congress on Capitol Hill right now. They've just walked in.

Dana, you're familiar that location.

BASH: We talked about the fact he's got nice digs. Speaker's office so Donald Trump is about to see the majesty of the House speaker's -- it's not just an office, it's the whole suite, the whole part of the -- the whole wing of the capital which overlooks the Mall.

BLITZER: And let's not forget Mike Pence, as vice president of the United States, will be president of the U.S. Senate like Joe Biden is.

BASH: And he was a former member of the House Republican leadership so he knows his way around there.

PRESTON: Mike Pence will have an office right off of the Senate floor. Will be right there. And, look, I expect he'll be spending a lot of time up there.

BORGER: In many ways Mike Pence -

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: -- Mike Pence might have the job that Joe Biden had, which is being the emissary to Capitol Hill. Makes sense.

BASH: The picture we're looking at, Mark Preston and I when we were kids spent a lot of time in that hallway.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: So did I, by the way.

BASH: And you.

(CROSTALK)

BASH: And to the left thereof is the Senate floor and right around the corner is where the vice president's office is.

BORGER: And it's just -- you look at it and it looks so majestic. It's not a very large space so you can -- you run into -- you know, the great thing about covering Congress is you run into everybody all the time in the hallway and it's very accessible, unlike the White House, in which you have to get behind guards to get anywhere. And I think Mike Pence is on familiar turf.

BASH: There he goes.

BORGER: He will have the role Biden had, I believe.

BLITZER: It's been, these past few hours, extremely important to the country to see the president of the United States, the president-elect of the United States, now the speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader, the vice president-elect of the unit, states. By the way, Mike Pence will be meeting with Joe Biden the vice president. I'm sure they'll have a lot to discuss about being vice president and being president of the Senate itself. So, a very, very important day.

We'll continue CNN's special coverage non-stop.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers. "Amanpour" is coming up next.

For our viewers in North America, Brooke Baldwin will continue our special coverage after a very quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:07] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- affordable and better. We're going to (INAUDIBLE) the public. And that's what we want to do and that's why -