relief. they hope that president-elect trump and there goes nic s signal. i would say we appeared to have lost the feed. nic is always such a pro. i m sure he was wrapping up. the president s got a strange job to do. the president has to sell president-elect trump to the world right now. it s clear this is not something that president obama foresaw or wanted to do. now this current president who is really doing back flips right now to smooth this transition and create confidence domestically and internationally goes overseas to tell america s allies and nato allies that trump will be here for them. later this morning, vice president-elect mike pence is talking cabinet positions with donald trump. up for talks today, education
she did not give an official reason for stepping down, but says it is a tremendous honor to lead the sec. she is proud of the agency. white s exit means the sec will be more shorthanded. two of the five commissioners are seated. two of the seats filled. gridlock in washington is preventing the confirmation of obama s nominees. senator warren wrote a letter last month because she he wwasn doing enough. president obama has a few things to say about his successor. president-elect trump. that s next.
the united states. it will be up to him to set up a team that he thinks will serve him well and reflect his policies. and those who didn t vote for him have to recognize that that s how democracy works. reporter: i asked the president what message he this that president-elect trump is sending by tapping steve bannon, the former breitbart news head to be chief strategist and adviser in the white house. breitbart news has championed white nationalist themes. here is what the president had to say. campaigning is different from governing. i think he recognizes that. i think he is sincere in wanting to be a successful president. i don t think any president ever comes in saying to himself i want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half
partnership based on mutual respect. cnn s matthew chance is tracking the latest live from moscow. these men finally talked on the phone. matthew, they talked about what could be a very different future for the nations. reporter: you know, trump, john, he ran on a platform of that tone with russia. he said would it be great if we get on. that is the tone according to the kremlin according to the conversation they had since he became president-elect trump. that is what we will get. he talked about that relationship of quality and building up bridges in a situation that was very poor. we have been talking about a new cold war with russia and the united states. that could be addressed now. the kremlin talked about increasing economic ties. united states has sanctions on russia at the time when it is undergoing economic hardship with the situations in ukraine
angela merkel and teresa may and president hollande and spanish prime minister. the call nato member countries, if you will, will want to know precisely what president obama heard from president-elect trump about nato. how much support will there be? will there be expectation as president-elect trump has talked about. all nato countries will need to step up defense spending to meet that 2% expectation. of course, a lot of nato countries don t do that. britain does, poland does. that message will be listened to. this country has a very heavy debt. the people of greece will listen to president obama about debt