Confirmation chaos, raising questions about the new administrations readiness to resume power. Some nominees facing ethical questions as others under scrutiny for what appears to be a lack of readiness for said agency. The Biggest Issue may be that hundreds of highlevel jobs, not the top jobs but just underneath remain unfilled which raises the question is who exactly is running this government starting at noon tomorrow. On the question of ethics, trumps treasury secretary pick Steve Mnuchin, grilled on the hill today about omissions in his Financial Disclosures. And, of course, his lucrative work on wall street during the foreclosure crisis. When pressed, he acknowledged his Company Acted improperly by foreclosing on military families. Is it true that one west independent audit firm said that it violated the Service Members civil relief act by initiating foreclosures on 54 active duty military families . Yes or no. We unfortunately did foreclose on certain people in the military. It was unfortunate. It was inappropriate. We responded to those people and made them whole. As i said, every Single Person had the opportunity to have their mortgage reviewed, and we corrected any errors. One thing Steve Mnuchin didnt run into were questions about his relevant experience. That he handled pretty well. Trumps pick to run the energy department, rick perry, was grilled today about qualifications for the job where hell oversee the Nations Nuclear arsenal. Today perry confronted his infamous oops moment from the 2012 campaign because one of the cabinet agencies he wanted to get rid of in 2012 was the energy department. Thats the one he couldnt remember at the time. Here is perry today dealing with that moment. My past statements, made over five years ago about abolishing the department of energy, do not reflect my current thinking. In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the department of energy, i regret recommending its elimination. On questions about who exactly is running things tomorrow, trumps Incoming White House press secretary says theyve asked numerous obama officials to stay to help fill in gaps at highlevel positions. By the way, that does happen frequently. This includes positions at the department of defense, state and treasury as well as a Top National Security post as well. Still, the Washington Post reports today that out of 690 positions that require a Senate Confirmation trump as named just 29. New york times reports his Security Team off to a slow start. Obama administration wrote 275 briefing papers for the Incoming Administration and nobody knows whether any of anyone in the next has read any of it. Today trump defended his cabinet picks in a way only trump can do it. We have by far the highest iq of any cabinet ever assembled. I am joined by bush 43s white house chief of staff, also somebody who helped run the transition out of the white house for bush 41. Thank you very much. Good to be here. The transition process after 9 11, you helped lead a team, if i am understanding of basically professionalizing the president ial transition where it became mandatory to the nominees actually get money and resources, essentially so there is a continuity of government issue that isnt a question. How concerned are you about the next 24 hours . President bush did a remarkable, nonpartisan thing for the country. He said, well make sure whoever succeeds him. He did it in the end of the first term. All 9 11. I want to make sure the president understands the burdens and has a team relatively prepared to step in the moment he becomes president. Right. He put that infrastructure in place, and there were remarkable people who made a difference in getting that together. Josh bolton near the top of the list. It was a great gift to president elect obama, and president obama doubled down on it and did even more. Congress responded by providing resources. There is no excuse for a president elect not being prepared to take the baton today, in terms of having an opportunity to be prepared. Here we are. Look, cabinet secretaries having problems, thats nothing new. Every administration has some of that. Lets set that aside. I want to talk about those other heads. 690 people that, you know, essentially coos, cfos, ctos to use business speak, of every one of these agencies, we dont have names yet. Clearly the operation within a department or an agency is managed not by the cabinet secretary, or the director of the agency, its by the chief of staff, its by the deputy secretary. Its by the assistant secretaries. Those people are all in positions that require that they get confirmed by the United States senate. Yes, there are career people right now getting ready to be acting and will help do the job. President trump should respect them. Theyre professionals. They want it to work. But it will be a big challenge to have this whole government recognize that its got to function not only on day one, on minute one. Right. And look, you hate to say this, but every new president gets tested early. There are a lot of people around the world reading these clips. How concerned are you by this president getting tested by an unknown, rogue, you know you got that guy on the other side of the dnz that likes to play games. Even with george w. Bush, you always have a 100day plan and you want to keep to it. You have to keep to it and Pay Attention to Everything Else going on in the world. We had a submarine under a japanese fishing boat at first. Then the plane landing in hanan island. Milosevic. Floods in the mississippi. They arent in the plan. You have to be nimble enough to meet all the responsibility that a president has, not just the ones you plan for. You and i had an interesting because i was previewing something i may touch on on sunday an interesting extra challenge that donald trump has with the executive branch staff. First of all, the executive branch. Thousands and thousands of employees all living within a 50mile radius of washington, d. C. Why does he have the extra challenge . First he has to recognize that the executive branch of government will be team trump. All of those they know they work for the office of the president. They work for the president. Regardless of who it is. Article ii in the constitution. He owns all of article ii. Congress only owns article i and they pay for article ii. So those people will be on his team. He has got to be a team leader with those people. Hes got to learn to govern with those people. The proximity of those who work in washington to wash means that they have to live within 50 miles of the city. And its a terrible city to commute to, but thousands of people do it every day. If you take a look at how they voted, they didnt vote for donald trump. Most of the communities did not. They didnt vote for donald trump, but they are on his team and they want to be on his team. Some may have different passions about it. Are you concerned that there may be an attempt to politically purge . I hope that wont happen. Youre just saying dont do do this. Dont do it. Inspire them. Lead them. Motivate them. Educate them to the priorities. They want to be your partners. Andrew card. Always nice to see you. Thanks for being here. Several of trums cabinet picks have aimes seemed a bit unprepared for questio raised both by republicans and democrats. Here is a quick sampling. Do you think the russians were behind hacking into our election . I have done no research into that. I know just what the media says about it. Do you think you could get briefed anytime soon . Well, i will need to. I think you do too. Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal . I would not use that term. Theres so much information out there. It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putins military has conducted war crimes in aleppo. I find it discouraging your inability to cite that which is globally accepted. I am talking about the debates on proficiency and growth. I was asking to clarify on this is a subject thats been debated in the Education Community for years. It surprises me that you dont know this issue. Lets bring in tonights panel. By the way, youre seeing donald trump there. Is he singing . I think he is singing along. Stephanie cutter. Was Deputy Campaign manager for president obamas 2012 campaign. Also worked in the obama white house. Sara fagan. Cnbc contributor and perry bacon, nbc news senior political reporter. Perry, these folks worked in the white house. You have covered the white house. Is this transition feeling sort of typical bumps and bruises, or do you think this is a little extra something going on . I think its since donald trump is new entity who hasnt been in government, i think youre seeing that. In terms of the people, we dont have as many confirmed or names as we had before. Thats an issue the career employees will still be working there. I dont think it means the government is unprepared for anything that happens. Its just a little unusual. When they fired christie, they literally threw the baby out with the bath water. They threw out all this work that now theyre paying a price for. There is truth to that. Theyre a little behind in part because they didnt believe they were going to win, or at least many people within the Trump Organization didnt believe he was going to win and then they switched transition heads relatively late in the process. Just because people havent been named doesnt mean there isnt a work chart in place and people rey too. Thats an important distinction thats not that is lost on some people. You can staff this relatively quickly once you get some key leadership in place. Stephanie, some of this reminds me of the clinton transition in 93. Then, it had been 12 years since there had been a democrat. They didnt have a long list of people and they had similar problems. Seemed as if it was a little haphazard. They came from a small state so they didnt have a long infrastructure the way george w. Bush, large state, had a large infrastructure. Some of that is what trump is running into, dont you think . Some of this is just the normal transition process, but a lot of it isnt. You know, i was part of the transition in 2008. We happened to be in the middle of an economic crisis. I was on the economic team. And we started meeting with the Relevant Agency heads and senior teams almost immediately after the election. And what i hear from the Current Administration, current until tomorrow, is that so many meetings havent occurred. A lot of contact hasnt even been made. While it takes a while to get your nominees in place, to get the nominations done and maybe name some of the top roles, there should be senior enough teams already meeting with these federal agencies to knowing how to take over on day one. Thats not occurred. There are two other dynamics at play. In part this is very much an outsider administration, much more so than either of our administrations. And so there is a i think there is some skepticism meeting with the Current Administration and also there is skepticism about meeting with the bush administration. Thats part of the problem. So in the National Security front, for example, many bush National Security advisers signed letters opposing donald trump. Right. The trump team doesnt want a lot to do with those people. Thats partially understandable. But on the other hand, there is a lot of knowledge there to be gained. That happened a little bit in clinton world i remember in 93. They were like, oh, we dont carter people here because they were afraid of the stigma of carter people at the time. There were some people who were worthy people, perry. There is some of that. This bush thing the bush thing is important. The trump people are, you signed the letter, you wont be working here anytime soon. The other thing. Not reading the preparation memos. I think something that happens in nigeria, the u. S. Has interests in all kinds of countries in the world. I wonder about the countries that are not in the news every day, what the depth of knowledge is there. We have a lot of interest beyond the big headlines. I think the other thing that is causing a little bit of problem is understanding who is in charge. Right. There seems to be an executive council, per se, with priebus, bannon, now jared kushner, with some Foreign Policy going through kushner. Leader contacts. Steve bannon setting the longterm policy. I think thats creating disruption in the National Security space as well in terms of who is in charge in setting policy. The National Security already you can tell the flynn mattis thing will be an issue. General flynn. The general rivalry you cant tell me. Mattis kind of reports to flynn. Flynn used to have to salute mattis. Thats awkward. Its likely a dynamic that will only build. My experience i did not work closely with the defense secretary but defense secretaries and generals particularly dont like to be told what to do. And certainly general mattis, so accomplished, probably doesnt feel he needs to be told how his agency should be staffed. Quickly on this larger issue of does any of these cabinet any of them really in trouble or not . I think on paper you could say, geez, seems to be a little bit of a challenge for price, a little bit of a challenge today i thought Steve Mnuchin handled himself better than expected. Theyll vote against sessions, devos. Those two. I think there will be unified opposition but i dont think their ideological problems even ben carson, who i didnt think was qualified for the agency did okay in the hearing and will probably get approved. Steve mnuchin is always the one i thought politically could become problematic to confirm. They should all be confirmed short of a revelation coming out that republicans are to back away. How hard should democrats fight some of these . Should they pick one . Messaging . A problem is that a lot of these, mostly guys 13 of 15. 13 of 15. Yeah. Havent been fully vetted. So and were rushing the nominations through the senate. We dont have a full picture about what their conflicts of interest or where their investments are. Thats a problem. I think in six months well know that problem. We will. I think they will regret this speedy vetting process themselves, because stuff slipped through the crack. There are rumors that some are having second thoughts because of the News Coverage and the Financial Disclosures and the coverage on their personal lives. The headlines have been disastrous on his nominees. Going through the Senate Finance committee, not fun. Building bridges. What the countrys mayors want to hear from the president elect. A live look at the America America great again welcome to washington concert. Hearing 3 doors down. President elect trump expected to speak this hour. When he does well bring you the remarks live. Well continue the split screen. Trump has been singing along at times. Well be right back. Not see under my skin i wont tell every damn thing that i could not tell my friend s not a banner that goes on a wall. Its not something you do now and then. Or when its convenient. Its using stateoftheart simulators to better prepare for any situation. Its giving offshore teams onshore support. And its empowering anyone to stop a job if something doesnt seem right. At bp, safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. We know you love politics. We know you love music probably more. So well listen to the concert for a little while longer here. Enjoy. Its 3 doors down on the lincoln memorial. Thank you so much. God bless you, my friends. I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind i left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time i watched the world float to the dark side of the moon i feel there is nothing i can do, yeah i watched the world float to the dark side of the moon after all i knew it had to be something to do with you i really dont mind what happens now and then as long as youll be my friend at the end if i go crazy then will you still call me sureman if im alive and well, will you be there holding my hand ill keep you by my side with my superhuman might kryptonite you called me strong, you called me weak, but still your secrets i will keep you took for granted all the times i never let you down you stumbled in and bumped your head, if not for me then youd be dead i picked you up and put you back on solid ground if i go crazy then will you still call me superman if im alive and well will you be there holding my hand ill keep you by my side with my superhuman might kryptonite oh no, no, no, if i go crazy, then will you still call me superman if i am alive and well, will you be there holding my hand ill keep you by my side with my superhuman might kryptonite yeah if i go crazy, then will you still call me superman if i am alive and well will you be there holding my hand ill keep you by my side with my superhuman might kryptonite no, no, no, no, no oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh [ cheers and applause ] thank you 100 days made me older since the last time that i saw your pretty face 1,000 lives have made me colder, and i dont think i can look at this the same but all these miles that separate, disappear now when i am dreaming of your face here without you baby youre still on my lonely mind think about you baby, and i dream about you all the time im here without you baby, youre still with me in my dreams and tonight its only you and me oh, yeah the miles just keep rolling, as the people leave their way to say hello hello, my friends ive heard this life is overrated, but i know that it gets better as we go im here without you baby, but youre still on my lonely mind i think about you baby, and i dream about you all the time im hear without you baby, but youre still with me in my dreams and tonight, girl, its only you and me everything i know, and anywhere i go it gets hard but it wont take away my love and when the last one falls, when its all said and done it gets hard but it wont take away my love whoa, whoa, whoa im here without you baby but youre still on my lonely mind i think about you baby, and i dream about you all the time im here without you baby, but youre still with me in my dreams and tonight, girl, its only you and me oh, no [ cheers and applause ] god bless you, my friends, and God Bless America [ cheers and applause ] founded in 1922 by chief of staff of the army, general john j. Pershing, these active duty musicians play an Important Role in Events National and international significance. Under the command of timothy j. Holten and serving our nation through music. Please welcome the United States army band pershings own. [ cheers and applause ] and now, joined by his dance crew, the rocketbots, please welcome back ravidrums. We come together where do we come tother america, how you feeling . It is time we came together. We are better together. Peace and love is it. Walking around with a new york heart Walking Around with a new york heart musical dance from utah became an internet sensation with one of the most viewed Youtube Channels on the planet. Please welcome, the piano guys. [ performing the song she dont know shes beautiful ] na, na, na, na na, na, na [ cheers and applause ] okay, america. Its time to put all our differences aside. Its time to unite our hearts, our minds and our voices as one. Because when we do, its going to be okay. Doubt is a broken record that plays inside my head, try to turn it down but i cant quite drown it out im tortured every day, these neverending worries pulling on my sleeve so many times now i was forced to tap out, all the walls would fall down around me, all anybody would tell me is all that bad news, how its going to fall through but no matter what they say or what they said its going to be okay its going to be okay no matter what you been through, here you are no matter if you think youre falling apart its going to be okay whoo and there is a battle raging in your heart, but you must win it comes for all of us saying we are not enough so fight for your lives the worlds going to try to sell you some lies so many times now, i was forced to tap out all the walls falling around me, all anybody would tell me is all that bad news, how its going to fall through no matter what they say or what they say its going to be okay its going to be, going to be okay no matter what you been through, here you are no matter if you think youre falling apart, its going to be okay okay its going to be okay its gonna be gonna be okay okay gonna be gonna be okay yeah whoo no matter what youve been through, here you are no matter if you think youre falling apart, its going to be okay its going to be okay all right. If you love americ we need to stand up and w need to all lift our voices together as one. Were going to split you down the middle here, and were going to all sing along in harmony. This side over here, this is what i want you to sing. Listen to this. Here we go. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Here is the second part. Here it comes. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me hear you sing it now. Whoa, whoa, whoa louder. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Keep on singing. Over here, who have we got . Let me hear it now its going to be okay hear we go, its going to be okay. Keep on singing. One, two, three, four whoa, whoa, whoa its going to be okay whoa, whoa, whoa, its gonna be okay whoa, whoa, whoa keep on singing. Whoa, whoa, whoa, its gonna be okay whoa, whoa, whoa, its gonna be okay whoa, when, whoa its gonna be okay whoo [ cheers and applause ] thank you. God bless america. [ cheers and applause ] once again, please welcome, ravu drums. Ravidrums. Idrums. Shine like the sun celebration in the name of love if they play music up in heaven we shine like the sun we shine like the sun [ cheers and applause ] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome again, the United States army band pershings own. [ cheers and applause ] i dont like to break up a good John Phillips souza march but thats the former drum major. Lets talk a little politics here. Everybody agrees what he should say. Some call for unity. He also needs to be credible in trumps language. How do you strike the balance . Its a unique opportunity for a president to bring the country together, but also to remind his supporters why theyve worked so hard for him. You see thousands of people on the mall excited. They want to hear the trump they voted for. Right. There is also an authenticity about donald trump thats served him very well in the campaign and will serve him well, i think, in the future. He cant get too highwinded because its not him. You also dont want the speech attacked for being, you know, the worst inaugural speech, for him going off script. So its going to be fascinating to watch. I think obama had a similar challenge. Everybody maybe his Everybody Loves his speeches, so they thought the inaugural address had to be the greatest thing ever. Neither inaugural address is in his top five. No. But they were true to form. Of who he was. You know, used to unify the country, lay out vision and bring everybody into that vision. It will be interesting tomorrow. Trump never gives a speech without naming an enemy or criticizing someone. It will be interesting to see who he bases his negative rhetoric on tomorrow. He is incapable of giving a speech without having an enemy. Can he for a day like the other speeches, the country is so terrible can he be positive on the america . One thing hes unifying about is jobs. All americans left and right are pro Economic Growth and jobs. Lets try that as a unifying message. Lets let toby keith give it a shot now. Im all business in my suit im dressed up for success my head down to my boots i dont do it for the money, i got bill that i cant pay i dont do it for the glory, i just do it anyway im damn good under pressure, being all i can be i cant call in sick on mondays when my weekends been too strong i work straight through a holiday, sometimes all night long when the wolf growls at the door because im solid, stead and too down to the core and ill always do my duty no matter when the price i counted up the cost, i know the sacrifice people i dont want to die for you but if dying is best of me banner freedom dont come free im an american soldier, an american by brother and sister i will try to take a stand when liberty is at jeopardy, ill do whats right on your front line with peace tonight americas gonna im an american oh, yeah. Im an american soldier, an american besides my brothers and my sister i will take a stand where liberty is in jeopardy, ill do whats right im out her on your front line people american soldier, im an american an American American soldier behalf of my family, my fans and my fans air force, marine and the coast guard, thanks for back obama for your service, thanks for the 45th president of the United States, donald trump, i salute to you. [ cheers and applause ] my old man spent his life working on the land dirty hand and a clean soul breaks his heart seeing foreign cars, where in cotton grow got to walk through in the back usa nothing he cant fix, he is just made in america he loves his wife, shes decorates on the fourth of july saying every day is Independence Day he goes and teaches school, say the pledge allegiance an ya red, white and blue flying gh usa he wont by nothing he cant fix, wd 40, he is just made in america born in a high land, raised up a family, got red, white blue flying high on the farm. Back in it says usa. He want bay nothing he cant fix he aint prejudice, hes just made in america made in america made in america oh, my old man is that old man made in america [ cheers and applause ] go country. Here we go a man come on, somebody got shot, somebody been abused. Somebody blew up a building, stole a car, somebody down moved too far never get too hard my family told my back in my native down, man has to answer for the way he done take down the road in texas, found a tree, hang them high in the street all the good people saddle up when i dont get hammered in raise up our flags against evil forces for my horses, you Better Believe it doing, a lot of corruption, crime in the street. Its time for law men of the law to run them down to the ground i dont let them take em down saddle up boy thats draw a hard line sing a tune and well get smashed at the inaugural celebration raise up flags against evil force and what you got. Whiskey for my fan and beer for my horses you should always find, saddle up boy lets draw a hard line gun smoke settle, tune and well get drunk in a american saddle raise up our glass against evil forces whiskey for my man, and beer for my [ cheers and applause ] this song is for my oneeyed father who came back from the service with one eye never compedbout it my whole life. All stuff i do for the great mighty ufo and the work they do for us. I would like to do this thong for him. American girls and american guys will always stand up and salute and always recognize when we see glory fly, theres a lot of men dead so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head my daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye he flew a flag out, my mother, brother sister and me to grow up and live forever in the land of the free this