Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20161116

Impact might he have on your air and your water. The hotline bling. Vladimir putin had no problem getting through to president elect trump, but one close ally apparently had a little bit of trouble getting past the trump tower switchboard. For more than a day hello. Im jake tapper. We begin with our politics lead today. And an attempt from a surprising source to reassure the public about what seems to be a rocky transition. Minutes ago Vice President biden emerging from his soon to be successor governor mike pence and saying the following. You think this administration can be ready on day one . No administration is ready on day one. We werent ready on day one. I have never met one thats ever been ready on day one. Im confident on day one everything will be in good hands. Remain calm. That seemed a direct reference to the myriad questions about just how smoothly, or not, the trump transition is going, as has been widely reported, the president s elect was not focused on preparing the white house and the staff cabinet agencies until a week ago because he and his team did not think they would necessarily have to. In the last week weve seen many reports on infighting and backstabbing as the team reshuffled the transition leadership. Mr. Trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner is said to be purging anyone affiliated with governor Chris Christie who used to head the transitio team. This stems from the fact that in 2005 when mr. Christie was a u. S. Attorney in new jersey, mr. Kushners father, charles, pleaded guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making Illegal Campaign donations. Jared kushner is now rising in mr. Trumps orbit, and this purge has begun of anyone affiliated christie seen as being on christies team, regardless of qualifications. President trump opted for twitter to reassure us huddled masses saying very organized process taking place as i decide on cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are. Finalists cnn political reporter sara murray is with me now. Sara, things are going so smoothly inside trump tower says the next president of the United States. Reporter donald trump says everything is going according to plan. I think what youre seeing is, while they may not have lost total control over their transition process, theyre going through some growing pains, its certainly true that theyve lost control of at least the narrative surrounding that. So today were seeing folks in some of the topranking positions in this transition trying to hit back against that narrative. Just a week into Donald Trumps transition effort, his team is already beating back reports of infighting and disorganization. We feel really good about the transition. I actually would just say its false to say its not going well. Everything up there is very smooth. Anyone saying anything else is either, a, bitter because theyre not on the inside, not being considered, or theyre someone who is just bitter because the election was last week and they didnt get the result they wanted. Reporter trump taking to twitter to insist everything is going fine. Very organized process taking place as i decide on cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are. A steady stream of top aides, family advisors and potential appointees coming in and out of trump tower all morning. As one of his allies, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urges trump to take his time. If you are a new president elect, everything is possible. The minute youve picked somebody you begin to shrink the possibilities. I think he is being correct in being cautious in how he is approaching this. Reporter meanwhile, the president elect knocking down reports that he was interested in topsecret security clearance for his children, tweeting, i am not trying to get toplevel security clearance for my children. This was a typically false news story. But a source familiar with the transition tells cnn that Jared Kushner, trumps soninlaw, could eventually end up with a Top National Security clearance, although it has not happened yet. As Vice President elect mike pence, who is now heading the transition effort, travelled to washington to meet with Vice President joe biden im available to him 24 7. Reporter one of trumps visitors today. New york mayor bill de blasio, the liberal democrat, told reporters he wanted to express the fears of many new yorkers, particularly minorities, about a trump presidency. I told him that we were very concerned that we had to show all new yorkers, including muslim new yorkers, that they were welcome. I let him know that so many new yorkers were fearful. And more had to be done to show that this country can heal. Reporter trump spending much of the week inside his midtown tower. Even he couldnt resist an evening out with his family on tuesday. The only problem, trump departed for dinner after his aides assured reporters he was in for the night. The move sparking a new wave of concerns about the trump teams transparency. Journalists swiftly noted the small group of reporters assigned to track a president , or a president elects movements each day must be present in case of historic or horrific developments. The White House Organization called it wrong that he ditched his security pool. The reason the press pool is there is to document moments in history. Remember, a small pool of reporters was with george w. Bush when he learned about 9 11. Pool reporters covered john f. Kennedys assassination and were right there when Ronald Reagan was shot outside a hotel right here in washington, d. C. Jake. Joining me now to talk about this and more, senator bob corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee. Thank you for joining us. Good to be with you, jake. Thank you. Let me start with the question you probably wont answer. What conversations have you had with the Trump Transition Team about becoming secretary of state or any other possible position in the Trump Administration . You are right. I probably wont answer that. But look, just generally speaking, understand i am in the mix. I also understand that there are people who have been very close to the campaign, have had longterm friendships, that are also in the mix. So my sense is that those people probably are being looked at very closely right now, and well see how it turns out. But its been an honor to be in the mix, and well see what happens. Your colleague, senator rand paul, said that if mr. Trump, president elect trump, were to pick former u. N. Ambassador john bolton for secretary of state it would be in his view a betrayal of the voters. He called bolton a menace. Do you think bolton would have problems getting confirmed if he were nominated as secretary of state . Well, jake, since the likely role im going to play in all of this is chairman of the Foreign Relations committee and i will be conducting the hearings and confirmations and going through the due diligence, i just dont really want to weigh in on anyone, especially until someone is actually nominated. So i hope youll respect that. Its just not something that would even be appropriate for me to do. Can you give us any sense of whats going on inside trump tower right now in terms of being prepared for this transition . So far it appears that the Transition Team has let go of more people than theyve brought in. How much turmoil is there . Is it extraordinary at all . You know, i had two calls back just a moment ago in the office. I was talking with someone there. I do get the sense that the turmoil is being blown out of proportion. And i do remember that, look, its just been seven days, and if you think about it, the trump effort was i mean, he almost did it by himself. He did have some people around him, lets face it, but it was very small. And so theyve had to go from last wednesday, a week ago, giving a speech about winning the race to now being where they are in the transition. So we look back, and when president obamas transition took place, he didnt even announce his National Security team, secretary clinton and others, until december 1st. So look, you would expect the beginning of this when youre lifting off at such speed there is going to be a lot of moving parts. I know that, you know, our office is assisting with some of the they go in, they do whats called landing teams in offices. I mean, just a lot to this. 4,000 positions. So my sense is all of us probably ought to just understand that this is how massive it is and should chill a little bit and, you know, give them a little time to get their bearings. Donald trump has promised to tear up the nuclear deal with iran. Some conservative critics point out a rule that you helped to pass in the senate which allowed the iran deal to be voted on in the senate by whether members disapproved, which meant that the president needed only 34 votes to sustain a veto instead of 67. It gets a little complicated there. Yeah. Do you think president elect trump should ditch the iran deal altogether . Let me make sure first, you know, they went straight to the u. N. Security council and had this approved at the Security Council level, before we ever voted. So we had nothing to do with helping make this happen. We created a process we were able to pass a process that actually gave us the ability to keep it from happening. We had a 90day stay passed to keep this from happening before it came to us. So he didnt go the treaty process, which is a shame. Now, as you mentioned, President Trump coming in, he can do away with it in five minutes if he wishes, with the flick of a pen. So our process was to stop it, to give congress a chance to weigh in and to possibly override it. I voted to disapprove the iran deal. But getting back to it, what i have heard him say is several things. I mean, he said he has said on some occasions, yes, i think at apac, that he would tear it up. He also said in one of the debates that he would wait until he got in office to see where it is and then decide. Look, i think i think theres going to be strong bipartisan support for really pushing back against the violations that iran is committing right now, both on the Ballistic Missile testing but also on the purchase of conventional arms. And i think youre going to see Congress Really joining in with him to push back and to hold their feet to the fire. So hes going to have to ascertain the best route for it. I think you know unfortunately all the leverage was given up on the front end which was why so many of us so strongly opposed this deal. Iran has the resources they are wanting. And the way to really make this happen in an appropriate way, weve got to bring germany, france and the uk and other countries along with us. I know president elect trump understands that. My guess is hell be looking at the best path forward to ensure that iran does not get a nuclear weapon. It sounds to me, sir and forgive my affrontry it sounds like what youre saying is he shouldnt tear it up, he should enforce it and make sure the iranians stick to what they agreed to and use the International Community to go along with it. Thats right. But he should not tear it up. I dont think he will tear it up. And i dont think thats the way to start. I think what he should do is build consensus with these other countries that theyre definitely violating the agreement. And hes going to have congress with him on that. I think thats a much better approach. Iran, over time, likely will hang themselves, okay, because, again, they have avenve alread theyre pushing the envelope, going outside the agreement. The other thing we should be doing is pushing back strongly against the terrorism theyre conducting in the region. The efforts they have under way in yemen and syria. There are multiple pressure points that we can push back on iran on and with. My guess is that president elect trump will pursue those and, over time, really make a final decision as to how he wants to deal with this issue. I dont think hes going to come in on january 20th and rip the agreement up. Which, by the way, because of the way it was done, he can easily do. I mean, its its a nonbinding political commitment. If President Trump wants to step away from it the day he gets in office, he can, which is why it shouldnt have been done in the manner that it was done. Got it. Thank you so much, senator, appreciate it. He defended trump on having new york values, and now hell be the last line of defense for the democrats. The brewing showdown between president elect trump and the new top democrat in the u. S. Senate, Chuck Schumer. That story next. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isnt it time to let the real you shine through . Introducing Otezla Apremilast . Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Otezla may increase the risk of depression. 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Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. Join the millions who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. And provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. With all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. Call now to request your free decision guide. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. The Democratic Party currently in one of its weakest positions in washington, d. C. , and nationally in the last century is trying to figure out how to rebuild. First order of business, electing senator Chuck Schumer as the new Senate Minority leader. He is already foreshadowing a new yorkstyle showdown, telling his fellow new yorker, president elect trump, to expect a, quote, strong and tough fight. Lets bring in cnn senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny. Jeff, senator schumer and president elect trump go back. Trump used to be a Campaign Contributor to mr. Schumer. He did. When donald trump was a democrat. Not so long ago. Oddly they have one of the longest relationships of any of the leaders here in washington, certainly more than the Republican Leaders do. Senator schumer says he is going to fight with donald trump but not oppose things simply because theyre Donald Trumps ideas. He is the last democrat standing in the way of donald trump. Fellow new yorker senator Chuck Schumer. Were ready to stand shoulder and shoulder with republicans, working with soontobe President Trump on issues where we agree. But we will go toetotoe against the president elect whenever our values or the progress weve made is under assault. Reporter its a delicate dance for schumer, elected today by Senate Democrats to lead them beyond their stinging defeat into the new era of trump. He faces a balancing act of confrontation and cooperation. He said hell do both. Indeed, a Silver Lining in the deep clouds of this election is that, on may economic issues, president elect trump and his campaign was closer to us than to Republican Leadership, which always seems to wind up in the corner of the special interests. Reporter of all the new dynamics that lie ahead in trumps washington, the relationship between the incoming president and the new democratic leader could be the one to watch. The two have a far deeper history than most anyone in the capitol. That much was clear last month at the Al Smith Charity Dinner in new york. He used to love me when i was a democrat, you know. Reporter trump, who gave money to Many Democrats over the years, also contributed to a handful of schumers campaigns. Thank you, sir. Reporter and the schumer household is not a stranger to working across the aisle. His wife, iris, was transportation commissioner under republican new york mayor rudy giuliani. And even though their differences are wide, spanning a divide from schumers brooklyn to trumps fifth avenue, theyve often bonded over their love of new york and their quest to make a deal. When trump and ted cruz were sparring over new york values in the gop primary, schumer sided with trump. He stood up for new york 100 . Reporter as democrats pick up the pieces from Hillary Clintons stunning defeat, the party is in the wilderness. And on capitol hill, in the minority. When you lose an election like this, you cant flinch, you cant ignore it. You need to look it right in the eye and ask why. Analyze it. And learn from it. Reporter to rebuild the party, schumer added independent vermont senator Bernie Sanders to the ranks of Senate Democratic leadership. But its schumer who will be cutting deals or sparring with trump. Were not just going to, as some have done here in the past, say, just because its President Trumps idea or thought, were going to oppose it per se. Where we can Work Together, we will. But i have also said to the president elect, on issues where we disagree, you with expect a strong and tough fight. Reporter one person not in that fight, jake, is hillary clinton. She will be making her first appearance since conceding one week ago tonight at a speech at the Childrens Defense Fund in washington. I am told shell urge supporters to remain committed to aggressive politics at every level. Thank you very much. The wall . Ending nafta . Repealing obamacare . Well take a look at what president elect trump can actually get done on his first day in office next. Then, hes been called enemy number one by Climate Change experts, and now hes on trumps short list to oversee the agency thats supposed to make sure companies are not dumping toxic chemicals into our water and air. Stay with us. My budget used to be hard on me. Especially around the holidays. I was pinchin more than pennies but thanks to fingerhut. 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Tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious and may be lifethreatening. Injection site reactions may occur. Tell your doctor about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins, like tresiba®, may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your doctor. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing. Fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness, or confusion. Ask your doctor if youre tresiba® ready. Tresiba® ready welcome back to the lead, im jake tapper. President elect trump gave himself quite the todo list if he decides to act upon all the promises he made before election day. How realistic is his wish list. Cnns tom foreman jameoins me a the magic wall. He said he wanted to do a lot of things on day one. What can he actually do with a without congress . Thats the tricky part. Lets look at his desktop and see what he might be considering on his president ial punch list. Item one, the wall. He has talked so much about this idea of building a wall on the border down with mexico. The question is, can he actually do such a thing. He could continue to work on sections of such a wall which have been going on for years. But expanding further for a complete wall would require more money, and that means congressional approval. So he cant do that alone. Item two, deportations for people who have come into the country illegally. In recent months hes suggested he wont deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants but maybe only about two million whom he says have committed serious crimes. Yes, he can send them home without Getting Congress involved, if he can find them. Item three. He says he wants to dramatically rewrite trade deals. He thinks theyre bad for american workers. His election and the republican sweep of the congress have killed for the transpacific partnership. Its not clear what the Economic Impact would be and legal challenges are almost sure to follow. Item four, repealing and replacing obamacare. This will be tricky. Yes, republicans hold 51 seats in the senate, but the rule stands theyre well short of the 60 they would need to overcome a democratic filibuster, so he can chew away at portions of the program by cutting funding, but he said he would also replace parts of obamacare, though its not clear right now fully what that would be. Item five, a hiring freeze for all federal workers. Again, the complete repercussions are unclear, but he does have the power. Its just not clear if hell follow through. Jake. As a candidate he also said he would appoint a special prosecutor to go after and try to jail his former democratic opponent, hillary clinton. Yeah. This was hugely explosive that he said he would do such a thing despite the fbi says twice now they found nothing illegal with the private email server. He can appoint a special prosecutor to investigate again but now that hes won, its not clear if he will. Anything president obama did on his own without congress, President Trump could probably undo. A hoax cooked up by the chinese is now donald trump described Climate Change. Now one of trumps potential picks to lead the epa is causing serious concern about the future of combatting Climate Change, the future of the land on which we live, the air we breathe, the water we drink. Stay with us. Experts, so we have extra sets of eyes on our wells every day. 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With humira, control is possible. Welcome back to the lead. As the world tries to figure out just what comes next, one of the clearest policy differences between the current president and his successor, president elect trump, has to do with combatting Climate Change. President elect trump has made no bones about his belief, contrary in the vast majority of scientists that manmade Climate Change is not a legitimate phenomenon and now he is tapping one of the leading Climate Change deniers to head the transition for the Environmental Protection agency. Someone who may not want the agency to exist at all. Were going to cancel billions and billions of dollars of payments to the United Nations Climate Change programs and use the money to fix americas environmental infrastructure. Suff ice it to say donald trump is not a big believer in manmade Climate Change, contrary to the views and data of the vast majority of scientists. Our plan will end the epa, which is a hey, look, its all wonderful but its a disaster. Thats why the former epa administrators under richard nixon. Ronald reagan and george h. W. Bush hammered trump during the election for pledging to yank the u. S. From the paris accords, an International Agreement to fight Climate Change, a move they said, quote, would set the world back decades. Leading the trump transition on environmental matters is an avid Climate Change denier. Myron ebell is the director for the center for energy and environment part of a libertarian think tank that questions Global Warming alarmism, partly funded by some of the same industries such as coal being hurt by the regulations of the fossil fuel industry. Ebell argues theyre an extension of power. He rejects the reams of data and evidence suggesting that manmade Climate Change is real. We believed that the socalled Global Warming consensus was not based on science but was a political consensus. Thats rejecting evidence accepted by most scientists as well as a growing number of republicans. Including former South Carolina congressman bob inglis. Its really quite comical, really, to have one of the merchants of doubt as the head of epa. That really would be a continuing joke on america. As founder of Environmental Group republican. Inglis says there must be a way everyone can move together in a balanced way. We want to take care of the problem. It may be, just maybe, that somebody like donald trump could show that there is a Free Enterprise answer to Climate Change. But he wont show it if hes got myron ebell as the administrator of epa, however. Trumps appointee will also have the power to effect how we work with the International Community to combat a changing environment thats proven deadly time and again. Ebell tops trumps list less than a year after protesters publicly named him a climate criminal in paris during a u. N. Conference. Im used to that from the far left. I can get my photo taken with my poster so i have it. When the online channel climate home caught up with ebell, he made his priorities clear. I hope whoever is elected president in 2017, of whatever party, will undo the epa power plant regs and some of the other regs that are very harmful to our economy. Lets bring in our panel now. Joining us, cnn political analyst jackie kucinich, Mary Katharine ham, Senior Writer at the federalist and david ignatius, Foreign Affairs columnist at the washington post. Jackie, first of all, beyond his position, is this draining the swamp to have somebody so affiliated with these Energy Industries to be in charge of Energy Policy . I mean, theres i feel like theres two parts to draining the swamp. This is draining the regulations. This is about regulations. Its not about necessarily what you just said, having maybe some interest that you shouldnt have if you are the secretary of energy. That said, it just it this is what donald trump said he was going to do. This is what why some people particularly in places like coal country voted for him. Because he said that he would roll back these regulations. If this surprises anybody, i guess you werent paying attention during the election. Absolutely not a surprise. Mary katharine, you know mr. Ebell. Ive worked with cei in the past and done events with them. So so. I am a libertarian radical on this regulation stuff, to put it nicely. No. But i think, look, i think most americans, their relationship with the epa comes more from fuel standards that may make their cars less efficient and their fuel more expensive or things like the coal regulations that make it tougher to get a job in the area. Their relationship with the epa is not the same as a collegeeducated Ivy League Kid who is panicky about Climate Change. The question with Climate Change is not the adherence to whether its true or not but what the government can actually do to change any of it. The paris accords and things like that, most americans are like, im not seeing that work real well. David, what do you think . I think first putting ebell on the transition Transition Team is a symbolic action. It is an attempt to deliver for trumps voters. I am reminded of how Ronald Reagan appointed james watt as secretary of the interior 30 years ago. Again, in a symbolic move. It was deeply upsetting to environmentalists back then. These regulations will be harder to undo than trump and ebell have implied. Also, there is so much momentum in the world now toward carbon reduction, sustainability, if you are a big Global Company trying to sell products, you want to be seen as proenvironment. You want to be seen as caring about the issue of Climate Change. And, you know, regulations, one way or the other, i dont think will change that business reality that Companies Want to be seen as being involved in this. In which case i think thats a good reason not to panic about a guy who can get incremental change and streamlining done at the epa while there is a cultural consensus that companies should be working on this. More broadly about the transition, i do not remember this much at least described chaos behind the scenes, jackie, during the obama or the bush transitions. We should point out it was three weeks until president elect obama named a cabinet official. Its not as if not having named anybody a week out is symbolic of anything at all. Well, right. It just there is a lot of palace intrigue here, though, right . The other thing is i feel like i am at a balloon festival. There is a new name every day. Some make sense, some make no sense whatsoever and we vet them all. It does seem like were being thrown off in some ways. And only, you know, only a couple of people actually know who is actually being vetted, who is real. And thats hard to decipher here because no one was expecting to be covering lets be honest to be covering a trump transition. I dont think the trump transition was expecting to be covering the trump transition. Hence the chaos. David, is all the intrigue right now because Jared Kushner, the soninlaw of donald trump, has reportedly been purging not only former governor former transition head governor Chris Christie from the Transition Team but also all these people who are fairly well respected in washington from who were affiliated with christie, kushner obviously hates christie because christie prosecuted his father back in 2005. None of this seems to me to have anything to do with how well donald trump can staff up an administration. Is this good advice that he is listening to . Well, i think there is kind of a knight of the long knives quality as this trump team sorts out who is going to be on top, who is going to have the president elects ear. Jared kushner is a person who has a deep political personal history with christie. I think there was general concern among the traditional Foreign Policy group in washington when mike rogers, who was a key transition figure, former House Intelligence Committee chairman, a conservative republican, but somebody who worked very hard to make his committee work, when he was removed, ousted from a key position over the weekend and others came into the center. I think the issue really is, are they going to have qualified, experienced people directing these most sensitive activities of the u. S. Government or people who are less knowledgeable, lest trustworthy. David ignatius, Mary Katharine ham, jackie kucinich. Thank you one and all. President trump garnering praise from some brutal foreign dictators. That story next. Theres nothing more important than your health. Or the freedom to choose what doctor you want to see. So if youre on medicare, consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like any standardized Medicare Supplement plan, youll be able to stay with the doctor or specialist you trust. Or look for someone new as long as they accept medicare patients. And youre not stuck in a network. Because there arent any. So why wait . Call now to request your free decision guide and learn more. Mapping the oceans. Where we explore. Protecting biodiversity. Everywhere we work. Defeating malaria. Improving energy efficiency. Developing more clean burning natural gas. My job . My job at exxonmobil . Turning algae into biofuels. Reducing Energy Poverty in the developing world. Making cars go further with less. Fueling the global economy. And you thought we just made the gas. Energy lives here. Were back with more on our politics lead. Since the election there are some World Leaders welcoming donald trump as the next u. S. President. They are russias vladimir putin, Syrias Bashar Al Assad and the philippines rodrigo duterte, a notorious trio. Bringing in jim sciutto. Jim, i dont know how much they actually care about the opinion of leaders in the uk or france, but the Trump Transition Team claims that the president elect has spoken with at least 29 World Leaders, though the state Department Says none of them were with briefing materials that would be provided by the state department. Contact with the foreign leaders without preparation or help from the arm of the u. S. Government built specifically for relations with foreign leaders. Im told many of those powers including some very close u. S. Allies have had to speak to the president elect of the United States causing at best some diplomatic peak, at worst some real confusion. Donald trumps first contacts with foreign leaders are breaking longestablished practices for an important early ritual for newly elected president s. One close u. S. Ally had to reach out to multiple contacts before successfully arranging a phone call with president elect trump, a diplomatic source tells cnn this a full day after his victory. And the state department, normally an intermediary for such key conversations has yet to be contacted by the trump team. We stand ready to support him and his team with any information that they might require. Either in advance of or on the back end. Today president elect trump himself touted his first foreign contacts at twitter. Quote, i have received and taken calls from many foreign leaders despite what the failing New York Times said, russia, uk, china, saudi arabia, japan. And his spokesman jason miller told cnn mr. Trump has always intended to follow a different playbook. Hell have strong relations and will work with other foreign leaders and show he is able to reach out and step outside of the political norms to do different things. Different also means uncertain. For fortune leaders eager to see where donald trump stands on Foreign Policy. I think it takes on greater urgency in this circumstance since so little is known about mr. Trump, how he will actually govern and even who will advise him. Japans Prime Minister shinzo abe will be the first world leader to meet with trump on thursday. Again, the Transition Team has not sought guidance or a briefing from the state department in advance. There is a genuine interest, even curiosity, for him to get to know more of who mr. Trump is about. And i think its going to be vice versa. Mr. Trump may be equally interested, even curious, to know who shinzo abe is. So this is going to be very much a classic icebreaking opportunity for both of these people. Lots of icebreaking. Japan a country, arguably with one of the most pressing questions for trump and that is what is his position on nuclearizing asia. You remember during the campaign he said he may allow u. S. Allies to acquire nuclear weapons. Hes since denied that position but its certainly a question for the powers here. Because words like that from the leader of the free world, they have an effect. He said it during a town hall and an interview. Yes. Thank you very much. It almost cost him his voice. Thats your problem when your voice is your calling card. Sports caster joe buck joins me to talk about his super strange addiction and how it nearly put him out of a job. For partners in health, time is life. We have 18,000 people around the world. The microsoft cloud helps our entire staff stay connected and Work Together in real time to help those that need it. The ability to collaborate changes how we work. What we do together changes how we live. What makesheart healthysalad the becalifornia walnuts. R . The best simple veggie dish ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. The best simple dinner ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. Great tasting, heart healthy california walnuts. So simple. Get the recipes at walnuts. Org. My budget used toespecially downer. Around the holidays. I made a list of everyone we need to get gifts for this year. But thanks to fingerhut. Com, we can shop over 700,000 items from brands like samsung, kitchenaid and lego. All with low monthly payments. Just click on over to fingerhut. Com for the credit you deserve to get all kinds of great gifts. [ drums playing ] lets wrap this one last. We asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. Travel with my daughter. Roller derby. Now give up half of em. Do i have to . This is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. But, if we start saving even just 1 more of our annual income. We could keep doing all the things we love. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Here is jack tapper digging in, number 23 for the bears. Obviously home plate hasnt been watered down in, oh, three or four months. Baseball pants are dirty. Swing, a ground ball. Right side. Jck is busting it down the line. A slide into first. They teach you to never do that. Jake missed that lesson. But safe with anothe hit for jack tapper. Welcome back. That was the legendary sports caster joe buck calling my son jacks Little League atbat. We were going to play when he called the cubs winning the world series but that was way too expensive. He is out with a new book about his life, career and his legendary father. Its called Lucky Bastard he joins me now. Welcome to the lead. Thanks for being here. Ive done a lot of big events in my life. Ive been lucky to do those. To actually call jack tapper with the smash that he hit and him running as fast as he thought about for a little while down the First Base Line and sliding . I mean, thats thats gold right there. So you have been there to call some of the biggest moments in sports history. The red sox breaking their curse, the giants becoming the one against the patriots. Where does the cubs win rank for you in the pantheon of Sports Events . I have two daughters. I love them both equally. I think one of them is my favorite, but i am not allowed to tell either one which one i think that is. So its hard to really differentiate all these different world series and, thank god i have been lucky enough to sit there and call all these. I think with the history involved for both teams and the fact that the world series hadnt even been at wrigley since right after world war ii and they hadnt won since before world war i, since before the titanic sunk. It was pretty special. Ten innings in seven games. Number one. Lets get down to selling you some books. Those of us who just finished marathon election coverage may be able to identify with this. You write that you once called a touchdown while going to the bathroom. Please explain. Yes. Well, i am kind of at the mercy of the engineering and blueprint plans for these different stadiums. So life is good when there is a bathroom close to the broadcast booth. When the bathroom is, like, you know, hook and ladder system and some sort of pulley deal and youve got to sprint and run through the press box, elbow your way through Sports Writers to get to the bathroom. Ive got like a twominute window to sprint there, get it done, sprint back. And, well, one time in milwaukee where the packers used to play one home game a year, i i couldnt hold it. I couldnt get there. I had to start in the booth while there was a timeout, and the timeout finished before i finished, and then somebody Sterling Sharpe scored a touchdown, and i was still going as i called the touchdown. You dont even want to know whats going on here at the cnn studio on election night. I cant even imagine. The story getting the most buzz from the book, you nerl lost your voice, your meal ticket, because of your addiction to hair plugs. You wrote my voice felt thin, weird and hopeless kind of like Lindsay Lohan and i knew my voice wasnt coming back in a matter of hours. Tell us about it. It must have been really quite awful. Yes. That was in a sneak peek. They took a page out of my book. As you can see with the Lindsay Lohan reference, my book is a little bit tongue in cheek. I would be a psycho if i was addicted to hair plug surgery. I guess i am addicted to the result of it, but its a barbaric, awful procedure. When i went under, they put a cuff down my throat. It holds the breathing tube in place. And it was misplaced. It sat in my laryngeal nerve for six hours. When i woke up the nerve wouldnt fire and my vocal chord was paralyzed. I couldnt talk. I sounded like i was dying every time i opened my mouth. That coincided with divorce and, you know, big events coming up. It was a lot of pressure. I think i told the story because, you know, somewhere out there somebody can identify, even if theyre not calling world series or super bowls. Joe buck, thank you very much. The book is fantastic. Highly recommended. Hopefully were selling a few right now. Hope to see you soon. Thank you. Follow me on facebook and twitter. Thats it for the lead. I am jake tapper. I turn you over to one mr. Wolf blitzer. He is right nextdoor in the situation room. Thanks for watching. Happening now, lost in transition. Donald trump takes two twitter and sends out his top surrogates to knock down reports of infighting, indecision and ignorance in his president ial Transition Team. But sources tell cnn things are not going as well as the president elect suggests. So who is right . And is Donald Trumps soninlaw the cause of any of the drama behind the scenes . Commander in tweet. The president elect returns to twitter, this time to attack the New York Times, denying its reports of transition turmoil and that foreign leaders are having a hard time getting in touch with him. Will trump be the first president to take his case and his complaints directly to the people via