Really three weeks for some of the top spots. We knew facebook and twitter anxiety now. That wasnt always the case, and the fact is you have to take your time. This is serious business, and he just has all of these different people to interview and to consult with, and until that is done, hes not going to rush to make those announcements. Now, one of these surprising meetings trump met today with hawaii democratic congressman Tulsi Gabbard to discuss, we are told, a possible job in the administration, or is it just get to her point of view . Also on the visitors list, former massachusetts senator scott brown, oklahoma governor mary fallin, former Texas Governor and former opponent rick perry and former labor secretary elaine chao. And met with trump at his new jersey golf retreat during the primaries, mitt romney. During the primaries romney called trump a fraud and trump calmed him a choke artist, but now considered for the top diplomatic post in the trump white house, we are learning. Heres how Vice President elect mike pence described the romney meeting. We spent the better part of an hour together with him, and then i know that the two of them actually had private time together. I would tell you that it was not only a cordial meeting, but also it was a very substantive meeting and i can say that governor romney is under active and serious consideration to serve at secretary of state of the United States. More details on the latest trump transition activitactivit. Jason carroll is outside trump tower in new york. Theres a lot to talk about today, jason. Talk about some of these folks hes meeting with. Some people are saying that might be odd, and some people say that is encouraging. Lets talk about democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Whats the reasoning here . Reporter look, you hit the nail on the head there. Talk about this meeting with her, she a democrat, from hawaii. Not perhaps a logical choice, especially considering donald trump said at one point whoa not consider a democrat for his cabinet, but also listen to what Kellyanne Conway was saying that not everyone that will be here at trump tower or over the weekend at his facility in new jersey, not everyone is a leading or top candidate. Some people trump is meeting with just to take advice or listen to what they have to say. Also, when you consider this about gabbard, she at times had been critical of Hillary Clinton. Was a Bernie Sanders supporterer. And it might look good for appearance sake of him appearing to reach across the aisles, and take a meeting with the democrat. A democrat at this point. So there could be a number of reasons for why hes meeting with her. But i think at this point we just have to say what Kellyanne Conway said, not everyone whos coming through these doors is a leading contender. What about this meeting with mitt romney . How serious is this consideration of him for secretary of state . Reporter i think its very serious. Considering the past problems these two men have had with each other, as you pointed out at one point, romney calling trump a fraud. And trump striking back, basically saying that he choked when he ran for president. But, look, in politics youd be surprised how many times people who have been add odds suddenly come together for whatever reason. You heard trump and saw that trump even tweeted about his meeting with romney. So i think that one is a serious meeting, but once again you know, there were thoughts whether or not wed hear an announcement over the weekend or perhaps even today, or this week. But the campaign, or the Transition Team seems to be in no hurry to name even some of the top spots at this point. All right. Jason carroll, keeping us updated. Appreciate it. Former defense secretary william coing know its what its like to be vetted for a key position. Also a republican serving in the cabinet of a democratic president , bill clinton. Secretary cohen joining us now here in washington. So thank you so much for being generous with your time here. I wonder what you think about his leading contender for defense secretary . This is retired general james mattis. He has pretty good word of mouth. What do you think . I am very impressed with him. Known him a long time. She a great warrior and also a great scholar. So the combination of being in an intellectual and a soldiers soldier or marines marine, jim mattis fits the bill. You have to remember that sect secretary of defense is number two. Directly secretary of defense, directly to the president. The only three people in the chain. Not the chairman of the joint chiefs, not the Vice President , secretary of defense. So the president would have to have obviously very strong confidence in his secretary of defense, and general mattis would obviously have the support of the military, and the challenge there would be, would he be seen as being too subservient to the military, since he served 44 years in the military . Or be able to be the civilian boss of the military in that position . Reporting directly to the president . An issue of normally there has to be a sevenyear lag time between when youre in uniform and the secretary of defense nap would need to be waived. It would. How would that work . Theres nothing i guess its biblical, in seven years, but i think george maershall, became secretary of state and then secretary of defense by the time he left the military. Nothing magical in the seven years. Enough time to say, are you separated enough from the military ethic and culture and part of the community to be the civilian boss . The secretary of defense in civilian rules sboshennates the military to civilian control, reporting directly to the president. So there are a number of issues involved since he is a warrior. The question becomes, if the president were to give him an order that he felt violated the conventions on war, the geneva conventions, if he gave him an instruction to commit an act, which he deemed to be illegal, would he follow it . For instance, we heard the Vice President elect did not rule out waterboarding, for instance. Theres been talk of that. Would that go on . Well, thats an issue. In the past during the george bush presidency, we had waterboarding and the attorney general gave opinions suggesting that was legal. You had people like senator john mccain and others saying, wait a minute. We dont engage in that. As a matter of policy, it might become important on any one given issue. We had someone who was so important that you felt terrorist action was about to take place you can do that, but a policy he would have to make that call and can he reorient himself away from the military to do that . I have confidence he would and could and would be a strong voice to the president elect with no real background in military affairs and certainly not in the middle east and elsewhere. So as a republican who served under a democratic president , lets talk about, you know, some of the potential options or even not necessarily not necessarily being a republican, but being a different type of republican, serving under donald trump. I mean, some of his biggest critics were republicans. How do when you saw some challenges you experienced, i imagine that you would think that could happen, even with like a mitt romney being secretary of state. Very different views, for instance, on russia. How do you navigate that . What are the difficulties . What you have to say is, look if im going to sign on as your Vice President , as your secretary of defense, we have to have an understanding. I am on your team. I will do everything in my power to make you successful. I will follow every single directive you give to me, unless i feel it contravenes the basic ethics and ideals that i share that would make it impossible for me to carry out the duties. So i would resign. Under those exceptional circumstances, but for the most part, you sign up and say im willing to serve you. You serve at the president s pleasure, and try to make him as successful as possible. Obviously some on the, maybe, lower level . Something not to reside over, questions you have to answer, difficult questions. So there were many issues i voted against president clinton on when i was a senator, and found myself during the stateoff the Union Setting next to secretary rubin, gee i voted against these and now a34r5ppl d applauding. Very unique. Secretary cohen, thank you so much. Appreciate you being with us today. Coming up, president obama praising nancy pelosi as her future comes under question. Her fight to maintain leadership. And a gun naman that shot a Police Officer. One of four shootings occurred in less than 24 hours. Details ahead. Whether its bringing cuttingedge wifi to 35,000 fans. Or keeping a Hotels Guests connected. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. Here you go. Picking up for kyle. You wouldnt put up with part of a pizza. Um. Something wrong . So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . You want the whole thing . Yes, yes live whole. Not part. Aleve. That just tastes better. With more vitamins. And less saturated fat. Only egglands best. Better taste. Better nutrition. Better eggs. Shoe. Now, we are waiting on word of any new cabinet announcements, as president elect Donald Trump Holds in our round of marathon meetings with potential candidates, bringing in the panel to talk it over. Jim sciutto, cnns chief National Security correspondent. Matteo gold a National Political reporter at the Washington Post and annie lowry, contributing editor at new york magazine. Talk about the secretary of defense possibility were hearing a lot about nap is retired marine corps general james mattis. What is the word on the street and how would this be received . Clearly considered very closely for this job. Hes popular with the soldiers. Right . This is a soldiers commander. So he has that support, and also support from both parties. Youve seen a good reception of him from both republicans and democrats in the National Security space. Thats good. But you would have to have Congress Vote on waiver to allow a uniformed general who has not been retired seven years to run the pentagon. Why is this important . Back in 1950, actually 47, passing a law because as a nation, important to have civilian control of the military in the wake of world war ii enacted a law. Interestingly enough, immediately enacts add waiver for George Marshall to the defense secretary, but it was since then, there hasnt been an exception. Held to that rule. You would need to allow, have to have Congress Vote. Of course, he has a majority, the president has a majority to go his way, but to make this exception. It is an important rule in the way our system works. Make a law. Create a waiver. Are more things change, the more they stay the same. Talk about the economy. Jpmorgan, chief jamie dimon, a possibility for treasury. Annie, youve reported on this. Maybe wilbur ross for commerce. What does that tell you about where hes looking to have his economic advisors be . No small amount of irony that he would turn to a major banking executive after hammering Hillary Clinton on her ties to wall street. I do think that the financial district would love it if dimond accepted. Very skeptical of the idea he would. Seems more likely stephen mnuchin, in the lead for that. Something the trump Transition Team answered questions about. Lobbyists are continuing play. And talking about someone in the finance industry. Right . What are your expectations whether it is these names looking at for treasury or commerce but what these names floated signals . Weve seen trump has pulled in a really wide pool and sometime as strange pool of candidates for these positions, but tended to go with people to who hes already been close. I think both jamie dimon and Steve Mnuchin are calming to wall street. Wellknown people, user known. A feeling there will be financial dereg gratiulation on or another, eager to pull back pro zivision of dodd frank. Not people upsetting wall street and surprising if trump went with dimond, simply because hes shown hes tended to want people in his cabinet hes been personally close to before. Im sure you guys heard what the president said in lima, peru. Asked about, you know, basically what he was talking about, what kind of former president hes going to be . Which is always so fascinating. And he indicated when it came to governing, legislative objectives, hes not going to weigh in and say thats a bad idea. This is a good idea. But he said he would speak out if the new administration reaches certain values, or ideals. What do you make of that . Is that him sort of warning, or is that him answering democrats who want limbhim to be more active in a sort bench of people who can be a mouthpiece . A little of both. Definitely i heard grumblings from democrats he was incredibly gracious and spent so much time with trump. Clearly, thats his job, his role to be. Very odd dynamic. The former president here in washington while his youngest daughter finishes school while his successor right down the street. Going to be a very strange environment. A big departure, too, for george w. Bush. Basically disappeared from the scene. Different seks in that president obama is leaving office, a fairly popular president. Right . 55 Approval Rating and listen, the country is pretty divided in 2008 as we remember, but this is a particular divided time, and heres a president who while he clearly respects the process, as we saw with that support. The meeting with trumpet s et cetera, very concerned of some of the trump appointments. And did a very good job, he described, on the transition, making it go smoothly and also on this, right . One thing we know about donald trump, he is not swayed by strong argument with the other side. You get adversarial with him he digs his heels in harder. One thing president obama has indicated a willingness to do, be the guy 0 to call up and sweet talk him a little bit. Right . Not Many Democrats will be willing to do that with donald trump. And bizarrely enough, president obama might be the one that can. And i think that youve started to hear a lot of folks start to think about that. Right . Getting on this guys side, is that the key to getting any policies, changing his mind about . Very supportive. Some said more hopeful than optimistic, certainly his language notable. Thank you all so much. Coming up, as democrats try to find postelection footing, nancy pelosi is challenged by a congressman who says change is needed at the top. How many seats do we have to lose before we make a change . Im pulling the fire alarm here. Next, Nancy Pelosis fight to retain power in the house. Oh, thats lovely. So graceful. The corkscrew spin, flawless. His signature move, the flying dutchman. Poetry in motion. And there it is, the baby bird. Breathtaking. A sumo wrestler figure skating . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money heather saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Right now democrats are looking ahead to the path forward, to the future that could mean a major change at the top. A major battle is brewing for the House Minority position, nancy pelosi challenged the First Time Since 2010. Ohio congressman tim ryan making a a play to unseat her when that vote happens next wednesday. I spoke with congressman ryan short time ago. I want to ask the question to my colleagues. How many seats do we have to lose before we make a change . Weve lost 68 seats since 2010. Is it 80 seats . 90 seats . Whats the number that forces us to do things differently, and so im pulling the fire alarm here. I want to talk more about this now with new york congressman gregory meeks, also the chairman of the house Congressional Black Caucus pac. I should say. You just heard congressman ryan. I think he seems weak of the fact he has an uphill climb on this but has to be this discussion. That the democratic bench is so shallow. What do you think about that point he makes . Its good. To say democrat was not disappointed coming out of the november 8th elections, we were. Therefore, anytime you have a disappointing election, theres nothing to celebrate. Youve got to sit down, talk, strategize and got to plan. You cant act like youre just going to do the same thing or theres going to be you know, what the game plan, if its the same, figure it out, talk, be more inclusive. I think the dialogue and conversation were having among ourselves as a family is tremendously important so we can move forward, because 2018 will be a very important election time. Both for us on the, in the House Democratic side, as far as the house side is concerned and the dp dnc, two different subjects and coverses. You have not publicly taken a position who youre supporting. Put that out there. Talk about president obama, because he has all been endorsed nancy pelosi. Lets listen. I cannot speak highly enough of nancy pelosi. She combines strong, progressive values with just extraordinary political skill. So, i mean, its basically endorsing nancy pelosi. Her challenger is making this point that the discussion needs to happen. You agree with that. You say that is important. President obama arguably while popular is someone who contributed to what is a shallow democratic bench. He wasnt a party person. That wasnt as much as priority. Some people may wonder if he looks back and wishes that he had paid a little more attention to it. So with him, with that in mind, hes weighing in on that. You know what do you think about this, and about the attention that needs to be paid to building that democratic bench . Yes. I think hes absolutely right. Theres no harder worker. No smarter person. No person that knows how to plan better than nancy pelosi. She has been fantastic in that regard. The fact of the matter