correspondent kristen welker working the story from our washington newsroom. kristen, what do we know? reporter: brian, we know he has emerged as a top pick to become the national security advisor to president-elect donald trump. transition process saying it is going in that direction but, of course, nothing is finalized until it leaves the mouth of donald trump himself. a little bit of background about michael flynn. he is a controversial figure. he is someone who is seen as having a cozy relationship with russia. there were questions at one point about how he handled classified information, one instance accused of giving classified information to pakistan. true, not the case. in another instance, he was accused of giving classified information to allies. his response to that was there was some confusion there, he absolutely had the green light to go ahead and disseminate the information. bottom line, this is a
turn to two members of our extended family that we haven t seen since the long night s journey into day on election night. the bush 43 white house, steve schmidt, republican veteran of washington and campaign trail, most notably john mccain s effort for president. both are political analysts with us. talking of things we have to discuss. kushner, the general. let s start there, that was the latest story tonight that he s been selected or now dialing back a little bit as a finalist for national security advisor. what do you think? i think this pairing, the two names that emerged tonight, are general flynn and nikki haley, reminds me of the first and only pairing of bannon and reince priebus. one of those picks is reassuring in some ways, nikki haley is viewed as a rising star in the republican party and that donald trump doesn t value job experience in a government job
i will admit coming here tonight wasn t the easiest thing for me. past week when all i wanted to do is just to curl up with a good book or our dogs and never leave the house again. hillary clinton speaking tonight publicly for the first time since she conceded the presidential race to donald trump. children s defense fund. an organization she worked for back in the 1970s. let s bring correspondent conversation. washington tonight as the former secretary of state spoke. kristen? brian. secretary clinton s speech was filled with reflection and raw emotion. we ve heard from her since that we saw her once last thursday when she ran into a hiker who instagrammed out a photo of her
controversial figure. he was at the rnc and chanted lock her up when he took the podium. the background but this is someone who has been a loyalist to donald trump, someone who has been one of his top advisors throughout the entire campaign. you ll recall a number of national security advisors distanced themselves from donald trump. them so he is seen as a loyalist so again tonight emerging at the top of the list for national security advisor. kristen welker obviously not in our washington newsroom but on capitol hill. b, answer that phone and we ll have you back in the broadcast on another matter in a few minutes. kristen, thanks. happened during a conference call with reporters the word that tomorrow donald trump will meet with south carolina governor nikki haley.
the hive of activity down there. it s a big job and president-elect trump is very engaged. federal government meeting with advisors and possible candidates for these different positions i don t understand those reports just like i didn t understand being asked by the press pool if mr. trump is here or in d.c. he s here. theories and have opening communications and he s doing the job of the president-elect. there s plenty of speculation surrounding the influence of jared kushner, trump s son-in-law, husband of daughter ivanka. fate, it was chris christie, now out of the trump transition effort who, as u.s. attorney, prosecuted kushner s father, sent him to federal prison back in 04. here s what trump communications director jason miller had to say about that. reporter: what about the reports that jared kushner has been, people say, purging members of christie allies