Transcripts For BLOOMBERG With All Due Respect 20161201

President elect of the United States area and we have not seen him much until today, when he held his first public event. Trump is kicking off his victory this week,ou tour but the first event took place this afternoon and indianapolis, where he basked in the glow of the deal with the Carrier Airconditioning Company to keep a thousand jobs for moving to mexico next year. In the speech, there was no shortage of selfaggrandizement, but is demeanor was calm, measured, and is tone was optimistic. Hes tone was often his tone was optimistic. Mr. Trump i want to let the Companies Know that we are going to do great things for businesses. Your taxes will be at the logan did joe, and your unnecessary regulations are going to be gone. , andll be at the low end your unnecessary regulations are going to be gone. Its becoming an industry, the writing of regulations. These companies are not going to be leaving anymore, they are not going to be taking peoples hearts. Trump is headed to cincinnati for the first of a series of victory rallies. Mark, what do you think we are going to see from donald trump on the rest of this tour . A very familiar guy, stream of consciousness, selfcongratulation, an emphasis on winning, mocking the media. He did not call her crooked hillary, except that was very similar to a campaign event. Its interesting, youve got such great marks on his Election Night speech, i did not hear a thoseout, either tone or kinds of lines, but i will say that trump ran as a successful clinical brand and him sized winning and emphasized winning. This is it area i think this is the this is it. I think this is the version of president we will get come january. John if that is right, and on the basis of the indianapolis event, and aims to suggest we will see a lot of campaignstyle trump on this tour, it seems to me that it makes clearer than is not justis tour about saying thank you, but it is about amazingly, and everyone is going to cringe when i say it, but it is really the first set of events of the 2020 reelection campaign. To win anmp managed election in a way that in some respects was predictable, and in others was totally shocking, but by winning these nitwits states these midwest states that have been part of the blue wall, indiana won by 19 points, he understands that if he is going to be reelected, he has to maintain a strong basis for his Political Support in those what we arethis is going to see for the next couple man, the Permanent Campaign is on, and i am already looking down the road. Mark i say this without a judgment about the merits. And i say this without really knowing the answer. I say this even though donald trump did not raise it. But the question is, raised, lighted the current president not do this . John the answer is the current president did not want to do what is about to happen. The reason this deal happened is, its about tax policy, not about a bunch of small inducements they got laid out. We heard about indianas role in this, but this is a larger thing going on with carriers Parent Company. I dont think barack obama wanted to play the game. About theets talk merits of this deal and whether it is in the Public Interest were not. For keeping those jobs in indiana, the Hoosier State is going to give the company 7 million in incentives over the next few years. The bigger issue, as john just carriers may be that Parent Company wants to have Good Standing with the Incoming Trump administration. A majorglomerate is defense contractor in addition to making air conditioners and a lot of it businesses with the federal government. Trump, if you can, is going to try to cut Corporate Taxes and regulations. If the administration does that, they will benefit. Lots of people do not like this deal, including vermont senator Bernie Sanders. Peeved. Ally published a scathing oped in the Washington Post today. He criticized trump for reversing on his Campaign Promise to slap tariffs on companies that try to flee the country and take jobs overseas. Sanders said, instead of a tax, the company will be rewarded with a tax cut. Hows that for standing up to corporate greed . We talked about this yesterday. There are more facts known about the agreement. What do you think . Im not a big fan of tariffs, and i was never a big plan to slap on taxes. He said, im going to make them pay a tax, and i was talking about slapping tariffs on companies that ship jobs overseas. I am not a fan of that. Regardless of where you stand on that, it is 180 degrees out from the deal he has cut with carrier, which is to promise to cut their taxes going forward. I think sanders is right to call is a perfect reversal. Im not forfore, tariffs, but that is what he said he was going to do. Of flawsre are lots with this, and i agree with those that are critical of it and say that if a Democratic Administration did this, they would be criticized, etc. I will say two things. The notion of a president cheerleading for drops in an improvisational way, i think there is a positive there. Others will say other businesses will demand the same thing. Im not sure thats true. I think there will potential he be a culture of doing the right thing, keeping jobs here, and try to get a pr benefit from that, even if you dont get the same sized tax inducements and other breaks. John i never thought i would call you pollyannaish. Pollyanna halperin. I never thought it would happen, but here we are. Mark this firm has gotten millions of dollars in free pr today. John they will also probably get a tax cut worth millions. Anyway, donald trumpcourtship with capitol hill is something to be of a political soap opera next year. Vice president elect mike pence that with Congressional Republicans yesterday, and both sides say they are ginning up some plans for a productive and definitely not samesex union in the coming months. A press conference today, House Speaker paul ryan addressed questions about one hot button issue, medicare, described as on a path to going back. Two going bankrupt. Goinglso says he is not the route of privatizing medicare, which is something trump has not shown much interest in. To flesh out his proposals on immigration and the debt ceiling. Is it a looming lovers quarrel . Close. Think it is very right now there are substantive issues, particularly the debt ceiling, entitlement reform, there is a huge gap between what trump not only talked about, but what he will push for, and what the traditional republican position is. There is a huge issue about whether to cooperate with the democrats to try to get bipartisan support for things. These will become a cropper before too long. But it is trumps party. That is the coequal branch is more than coequal. My guess is that eventually paul ryan and Mitch Mcconnell will have to figure out how to accommodate themselves to ciara. Desta trump. To trump. I think this will go relatively smoothly, but we shall see. Be righthink that may on those issues where there can be a lot of common ground. Like you said, i think mcconnell and ryan will see it as being in the partys political interest to give trump some wins. Medicare reform. This is an issue we talked about all year long. We sent part of the reason why ryan and trump are not a match made in heaven was because they believe Different Things about the Biggest Challenges the country faces on questions of domestic spending. Medicare is the biggest. Paul ryan has a long record of what he wants to do on medicare, and donald trump wants to do something different. The question is, where do we go on that . It is literally the Biggest Program and the federal government. Mark kid is so easy to say, lets repeal the row affordable how tot and figure out replace it. You have to do it with medicare and medicaid, and i think republicans in congress will be reluctant to say they will get rid of the Affordable Care act, but not exactly. There are some complexities, but right now it is going fairly smoothly. Mike pence right at the center of it. And we come back, the former governor of vermont, who also happens to be the former chairman of the Democratic Party, you say howard, we say dean, after this. ,ark and now our first guest the former chair of the democratic committee, a job he is trying to go back and claim again. From vermont, the howard dean. Dr. Dean, thank you for joining us. Get asked all the time, why did Hillary Clinton lose . I will ask you this, why have democrats lost so many seats in house and senate and state legislatures over the past years . Mr. Dean because they have not built a grassroots legislation. Every time we have a democratic president , 50 and see the comes the way the dnc the comes the way of the reelect. The committee usually gets pretty hollowed out. Strategy there has not been attention for a long time paid to what the republicans have done well, which is School Board Member , that isselors, mayors what really drives the party. We do have a branch of the democratic legislative council, legislative council, but we dont find it. Fund it. Some strong we organization has to be done. Mark thats a pretty long list. You like street talk. Straight talk. Name two of the people who share part of the blame for the dynamics you described. Mr. Dean not going there. Next. Appreciate the ask. No. Mark if you are not willing to say, this person did not do it right, how is there any accountability . If it were a republican who made mistakes, you would say this republican messed us up. Why wont you name names in your own party . Mr. Dean because i am in the business of trying to keep the party together. One of the things i want to avoid is the fight between the centers and clinton supporters chairmanship. Everybody has people they are going to blame. What is the point of my getting in that game . A smart guy ready pretty interesting story yesterday, talked about areas where the Democratic Party could andeivably, if it wanted to thought it was part of the solution to revitalize, moved to the center, particularly on cultural issues that might be problematic for the party where identity politics have run out ofinst some of the realities the white workingclass voters that donald trump appealed to. Do you think that is what the party needs to do to try to make inroads with that constituency that used to be a copart of the democratic relation core part of the Democratic Coalition . Mr. Dean no. First of all, we need to stop talking about white workingclass people and Start Talking about workingclass people. If you dont like identity politics, we need to stop talking about white workingclass people. All colors face problems. We need to be a broad party that deals with people on economic grounds, which means that all workingclass people who got screwed in the last 20 years. For him to invest 7 Million Dollars in taxpayers money for 800 jobs while another 500 went to mexico, thats a great pr deal in the first months or so after he has been elected president , but no governor in the country of either party knows that thats sustainable. I think we need to organize better, and weve got to reach out on economic grounds and show that we are the party of people who are going to help people like that who are struggling. John you did an interview the other day with canadian ctv news where you referred to them in non as a not see. I am wondering if you genuinely believe he is a nazi. Thats not a word id use without thinking about it carefully. Whats look at breitbart news. They are antisemitic. They have been blunt about that. They are certainly misogynistic. They have been very blunt about that. They are white supremacists. Blunt abouten very that. I think thats a fair word to describe that kind of attitude. I dont think it along to the white house. John those are critical comments, and i lot of them are saying something different. Is are saying steve bannon nazi, so i want to make sure thats what you actually believe. Mr. Dean steve bannon ran breitbart news. He was the one who published it. It was his baby after breitbart himself passed away. Thes responsible for content, and i think he owes america on apology and explanation. To move. Dean, i wanted to a different topic, but ive got to ask you again. You used the phrase reportedly before in an interview. Are you standing by at . Is he a nazi in your view, or not . Mr. Dean he is all the things i just said, and i do not back off from any of it. Mark in the coming months, a lot of democrats would like to as new young people emerge faces of the party, leaders of the party. Who are two or three Young Democrats who you think cap the stature, the knowledge, the vision to become part of the motivated the mosaic face of the Democratic Party . Threean so far there are of them running for the dnc. I like the idea of new blood. So far, the only candidate who fits the bill is jamie harrison. I dont think we can have a twochair dnc. E tried that it did not work well. I dont think we can have a sitting congressperson as chair of the dnc. That did not work well. I want to see younger people run the dnc. Chair. Have to be the but its got to be done right. If we are not doing the grunt work, we are not going to be better off than we are now. Mark should the dnc continue to raise money from wall street interests . Raise money should from anybody who we can raise money from. Cnn there is a story up on today about Keith Ellison that talks about something we have known about that has been part of the Public Record for a while, which is his long defense of the nation of islam and defending louis farrakhan, in particular against accusations of antisemitism. Do you think it is problematic at all, this history that ellison has in terms of defending farrakhan in the nation of islam . A lot. N i like keith i campaigned with him when he first got elected, because i thought it was important that he be in congress representing american muslims, which he has done a good job of. I think people evolved, and the mark and the remarks he made in 2010 may not be appropriate today. Is anthink keith honorable, decent person who is not an antisemi, and i dont make a big deal out of those marks. People change, they learned, they grow. Hopefully we will see change from donald trump. John howard dean, thank you. Mark dr. Dean, thank you very much. When we come back, we will talk to Kurt Andersen about the election of the guy he has not always gotten along with, donald trump. Welcome back. At our next guest has been writing about donald trump for decades. He is an author and host of a radio show. He has written for the new yorker and time magazine. Of thelso the founder legendary five magazine, which donald trump whats called a piece of garbage. Are joined by cody anderson. Great to have you here. I know you are horrified by trumps election, but are you totally surprised . Not as totally surprised as many people, because i did not think it was as beyond possibility as everyone else did. He decided tohen run, i was already in the middle of a book, essentially arguing that america had evolved over the last hundreds of years to a place where anything like donald trump could happen. The lack of care for them. All for instance, sort of tea does up care for imperial reality, empirical reality, for instance, sort of forget about the Campaign Donald trump, because it seems to me that the Campaign Donald trump and that donald trump are different. There are some things that are similar, other things that are different. What kind of donald trump do you expect now . The thing that always struck me and amazed me about donald trump was his need for attention, this pathological need for as much attention as possible for whatever reason under any circumstances. For the president of the United States, thats about as much attention as you can get. So will he now become a happy and fulfilled person . I dont think so, because i think he also has a large hole in his soul that will not be sewed up by the constant attention. So what can we expect . I think we can expect a guy who does not know what he is doing. Apart from, he is used to attention and used to deference. President s get both of those. But he is not used to governing,ot used to the consensus listening to different opinions and figuring that out. He is not used to having tens of hundreds of thousands of people working for him. As a new york businessperson, he ran a pretty tight ship in terms of people not leaking, talking publicly about dirty laundry. That cant happen. It is going to be a very different thing for him. Hen you still maintain that has unusually short fingers, right . Kurt yes, and that he says b igly. John stick around. If you are in washington, d. C. , you can listen to us on the radio. We will be back. We are back with the host with the most, the host of 360 radio, Curt Anderson Kurt Andersen. Hillaryave dealt with Clinton Clinton supporters, democrats, where are they impressionistic leave regarding adjusting to the notion of President Trump . Like all trauma and horror, there is a halflife, and i think that people are coming to grips with it. There are interesting arguments going on among the liberal elite in which i spend a lot of time calling, should we keep every trump voter a racist or not . Those kinds of discussions and debates. , a there is also, i will say great eagerness among hillary voters, among democrats, among liberals, and not just young ones, to become engaged politically in a way that people have not been beyond sharing things on facebook. Creating new entities and joining old entities. That seems like a real thing to me, that people are signing up for the resistance, quote unquote. Andy you agree with me, he cares about what elites in new york think about him. Thinkts Kurt Andersen to trumps awesome, right . Kurt he does care about what he leads think, and they have never accepted him. Ofme, one of the stories donald trump for the last 30 or 40 years in new york city is borough guydtunnel who, despite his wealth, despite it all, has not ever been able to crack the elite. He feels that contempt and will continue to feel that contempt. Indeed, the fact that voters in michigan, indiana, and alabama felt his feeling of that content is one of the reasons he thought, oh, hes like me except hes got a billion dollars and a hot wife. Mark but do you think its possible when he is negotiating with republican conservatives in congress that he will think, well, this might be good for a working class voter in indiana, but maureen dowd will not like it one bit . Kurt it depends on the audience at the moment, and who he is trying to get over at a certain moment. The New York Times meeting is going was really telling. I think you are going to like what i do on the first amendment, with climate change. How passing and is, or if thats just what he had to say that our in order for it to not be uncomfortable, or if you want a if he wants a more meaningful affirmation from the elite, which he will get your yet if he were smart enough, he would not have to do that much to make plenty of say, well, i was surprised. Hey would say, im surprised he really did do this big infrastructure thing and did not do this crazy constitution busting thing. It would not require much move to the center precincts for him to get the credit that he has always craved. What do you think about what people think about Hillary Clinton at this point . If i would be enraged at the Clinton Campaign and the ways in which they failed at some basic fundamental political tasks, like the idea that Hillary Clinton never visited wisconsin. N inevitably defendable opponent, and she managed to somehow screw up and lose states like michigan, wisconsin, iowa. As much raget about that as i expect or expected. And she lost pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin by a total of 80,000 votes. If she wins those three states, she would be president. So yeah, although beyond a of professional work was a professional democrats, really . How much time are you going to spend thinking, oh, they get out the vote was bad . Its over. Its like saying, oh, we got in this accident and i lost my legs and im paralyzed, but we could great the trauma is too to get into the weeds of incrimination. John so if you are a democrat, are not going to blame Hillary Clinton, but you want to join the resistance. Presumably you also want to rehabilitate the Democratic Party and figure out why the Democratic Party i assume there are a lot of liberals out there whose attitude is, this is what i should be doing. We should have a party that can win back statehouses, the senate, and the presidency, none of which we currently control. What is that thinking, or are they all turned off . In your experience, our people turning away from the Democratic Party . Kurt again, i never would have put democrat high in the list of things i consider myself. John but you hang out with a lot of democrats. Kurt i do. The love for barack obama, which is continuing, i think has made a lot of people which is abamaites, preferable brand to be a being a democrat. Sure, i knew some enthusiasts for hillary, but not many. I love them felt, i made them up and lots of them felt, im a democrat for voting for hillary, but leave me out of that. And young people, my millennial children, they are appalled and freaked out by president donald trump, but they are not taking necessarily, im going to go in and change the Democratic Party. They were also Bernie Sanders primary supporters, and remain so. So that battle between essentially the socialist part of the Democratic Party and the mnuchin part of the Democratic Party, the regular centrist wall street part, will be ongoing. But it is not the same way that the Republican Trump days rejected the republican establishment, but it is analogous. Not the anger, but there jazzed to fixam it. You. Thank we will be talking about Donald Trumps thank you tour, right after this. Mark some was i news on the trump transition today. Very big names are now being floated for some very big positions. Considering joe manchin to potentially be energy secretary. Meanwhile, Chris Christie is said to be kind of poking around for the Republican National Committee Chair job. Sarah palin is apparently under consideration, amongst several other positions, for the veteransAffairs Department job. Veterans Affairs Department job. John, to these make any sense . Mark the one that makes most sense is joe manchin for the energy department. It would be a good part on trumps a good job on trumps part to reach out to a democrat. Much moren is centrist and conservative than most of the Democratic Party. Choices, though, sarah palin for the department of veterans affairs, is a laughable choice, not just because she is not a veteran, but the size of the bureaucratic challenge of running the department is no big is so big that putting sarah palin in that job seems even more ludicrous than putting Chris Christie at the top of the rnc, given how many republicans dont like Chris Christie. Upk even if he married her with a deputy secretary that was very detail oriented, that job requires such intense focus right now, it is not really make sense to do it. There is also talk tonight that perhaps the secretary of state slot is being expanded in terms of who is being looked at. I thought yesterday that trump was pretty much coming down between romney and bob corker, but now it appears it is possibly being expanded, and it has really become the biggest mystery of where trump is headed. John we have also seen reporting this afternoon about james mattis, retired general who has been considered the frontrunner has the potential head of the pentagon. From a coupleed of new sources. The Trump Campaign knocked it down and said that no decision has been made. It seems like he is the frontrunner for that job. Mattis is obviously very conservative, but many of the military think he is eminently qualified for the job. The question is whether he would be on an almost inevitable collision course with the nsc and what general flynn, having two hardheaded, controversial, highly opinionated generals, one inside the white house and one at the pentagon, that seems to be a recipe for trouble, for sure, if thats where we end up going. Of the things people are wondering is what kind of National Security advisor is flynn going to be . Most people think he will be in the kissinger model. Flynnw that person how will therefore interact with all the other people in the National Security slot, not just defense ,nd state but also cia, dni etc. And what is mike pence is role . Mike pences role . What is President Trumps role going to be as well. Has very strong opinions. One of his virtues that people say he has is that he is a straight talker. He is willing to express controversial views to anybody. We have seen turf war between the head of the nsc and predictably the pentagon in the past. Even those two guys, both generals with strong points of view who express them freely, that would be one of the first very big bureaucratic tangles you would see in the administration, and maybe the most consequential. Mark with donald trump in ohio tonight on the victory tour, we will talk about what it all means after these words from our sponsors. We are joined with metta a gold from the Washington Post. I have so many questions for you, but lets start with the what you thought about yesterdays trump statements with relation to how he may or may not trying to disentangle himself from his bid from his business ventures. We talked about it yesterday on the show. What are your thoughts . Guest it does not actually answer any questions about whether he will be able to effectively while himself off from these potential conflicts of interest. Indicated he was going to hand over the management of the Trump Organization to his children, but that does not change his ownership or the fact that his name is emblazoned on all these hotels and resorts. I think the devil is in the details. See they interesting to normallystate office of governmental ethics overtaken by a strange tweet storm yesterday suggesting that he needed to divest himself of all of his holdings, which i think we are very unlikely to see. Seems to me we are headed on a collision course, where basically every ethics republican and democrat, all kind of agree that the only way to deal with this conflict of interest thing is to liquidate all his businesses and put his money in a blind trust. It seems he is not interested in either. You are on a collision course, what happens if trump measures . E half matea i think unless there is a potential measure in place to flag complex and avoid some of these landmines, every single time there is a policy issue before the new president that intersects with his business interests, but it is going to be a story and he will have to answer questions about it. I know they realize this, and they are deep in conversation and planning of trying to deal with it. Several have suggested that he should appoint some kind of independent overseer who could flag potential conflicts. But this is unprecedented. We have never had a president with these kinds of holdings in the United States and abroad. I think it will dock him every step of the way. Precedent,ing of washington is filled with staff lobbyists and hired guns for corporations across america. How do you think they are viewing what is happening when with carrier what is happening with carrier, and the implications of that . Have done some reporting about this today. There is no question that trumps decision to personally get involved in this case and also pledged to crack down on companies and punish them with consequences if they tried to move their operations overseas has really engendered a lot of worry in the corporate suites, and i think what is really an arming businesses that are otherwise pretty happy about the cabinet appointments he is this sense of uncertainty. Are they going to be targeted next . Are they going to come under pressure for trying to outsource jobs . I think there is a lot of consternation in the is this community about how this is going to play out. Mark is it clear which lobbyists and lobbying firms are based on some perceived closeness to trump, are now being paid out by corporate interests . Matea obviously, anyone who has worked for the Vice President elect mike pence is in high demand. Whoave also seen staffers worked for Jeff Sessions coming aboard as lobbyists. Connection to a the new cabinet is going to be sought after. We are also going to see, despite the trump transitions pledge to keep lobbyists far from the administration, we are going to see a lot of those folks playing a big role. They simply have to do register as lobbyists. Deregister as lobbyists. John there is a lot about the Goldman Sachs heaviness of what seems to be shaping up in the administration, especially of gary cohen is up running the office of management and budget. About this. Awking a lot pointing out the hypocrisy of it, the way donald trump attacked Hillary Clinton for her connections to wall street. Will anything, that, or does trump have a free hand to dip as deeply as he wants into the goldman pool . Matea i think it will be very interesting to see how he is received at these victory rallies. This is the first time we have a chance to see has reporters respond to him since he has made some of these decisions. I dont know how much the intricacy of the names being floated has sunk in with some people, but there has been a lot of focus on the fact that trumps will be filled with billionaires, with donors, with people who come from wall street, so i dont think it is a coincidence that they wanted to triumph the carrier deal and really give a nod to his pledge to working people. It is a balancing act. These are people he knows and trusts and wants to put in these positions, but it also seems to cut against the rhetoric he used repeatedly on the campaign trail. John we talked earlier on the show about trump in Congress Trump and congress, potential areas where there could be trouble ahead. When you sense of, look down the road, where the biggest stumbling blocks are when trump works with republicans. Matea i think immigration will be something to watch. There is a lot of anxiety about whether there will be forced to try to craft a bill that will address the broad policy goals he has laid out. Ofare the details a lot congressional leaders dont want to get into, when it comes to a wall. And Corporate Tax reform is something there is a lot of optimism about. Paul ryan said it today. He deflected on the question about carrier and said, well, i dont know all the details, but what we are pushing is a broad Corporate Tax reform that will be a boon to all businesses. I think thats where we will see a lot of action and perhaps avoidance from the hot button issues that got attention during the campaign. At this point, what are your Unanswered Questions about how trump is organizing his government . I am very curious about what kind of access people have that one part of the inner circle. He is clearly bringing in people to meet with him who were not part of the campaign were are even democrats. How much of those conversations are shaping his thinking . It is interesting how struck he was by his conversation with romney, and whether he gets picked as secretary of state will be very telling, but i think there will be a little bit of a battle between people who have been at his side for a long time, and some of the newer voices coming in. Gold. The great matea it was delightful as always. We will be right back with a special word about tomorrows program. John mark, i bet you were not aware that today is our ive hundred 25th episode of with all due respect. Our 525th episode of with all due respect. Dr. Dean tomorrow tomorrow is not only our 526, but it is mark we will have a very special episode scheduled for you. You wont want to miss it. Goldblum,e got jeff jeff daniels. Mark shush. We have a lot of special surprises. To say farewell to the north american viewing audience. John the montages will kill you. Meanwhile, you can visit bloombergpolitics. Com to read potentialld trumps business conflict. Until our last daily show, i will say to you, me, and mark, sayonara. Are you on medicare . Do you have the coverage you need . Open enrollment ends december 7th. So nows the time to get on a path that could be right for you. With plans including aarp medicarecomplete insured through unitedhealthcare. Call today or go online to enroll. These Medicare Advantage plans can combine your hospital and doctor coverage with Prescription Drug coverage, and extra benefits all in one complete plan for a low monthly premium, or in some areas no plan premium at all. Other benefits can include 0 copays for an annual physical and most immunizations, routine vision and hearing coverage, and youll pay the plans lowest prescription price, whether its your copay or the pharmacy price. Or pay zero dollars for a 90day supply of tier 1 and tier 2 drugs, with home delivery. Dont wait, call unitedhealthcare or go online to enroll in aarp medicarecomplete. President elect donald trump is an indiana to celebrate keeping 1100 jobs in the state traded trump appeared with Vice President elect mike pence at a carrier factory in indianapolis and warned u. S. Companies there would be concert for sending jobs outside the country. Indiana will give kerry a Parent Company United Technologies 7 million worth of incentives. West virginia senator joe manchin made the chosen for secretary of energy, according to a report from politico. The conservative democrat told the publication he had not been contacted by trumps team and has no plans to travel to new york. Political also reporting Chris Christie is looking to lead the Republican National committee. Sources familiar with the talk say christie told the truck Transition Team hes interested in the job. The Death Penalty trial of dylann roof, the white men charged with killing nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church, begins wednesday. Roof faces dozens of federal charges including hate crimes in connection with the june slaying