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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Speaks at Campaign Donors Dinner; Trump: I'm Proud of My Cabinet Picks; Trump-Pence Inaugural Events Underway; Trump's Promises for Day One; Religious Leaders Taking Part in Inauguration. Aire 9-10p ET

Aired January 19, 2017 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sonny Purdue. He came into my office two months ago, since then I saw 10 people that everybody liked, politically correct and I kept thinking back to Sonny Purdue a great, great farmer. He loves to farm. Knows everything about farming. Knows everything about agriculture. He's been successful in farming. He knows the good stuff and the bad stuff.

But people came into my office and they said, "I'm really wanting the job." I said, "Let me ask you a question, do you have any experience with farms or agriculture?" "No, sir, I don't." I said have you ever seen a farm? The one gentleman who is a great guy, we'll find something else, OK? But I can't make him Secretary of Agriculture. But we just named Sonny Purdue. So I want to congratulate you. Secretary of Agriculture.

When I was leaving, I just saw General Kelly and when I was leaving he's just to put it in the most basic terms, he's in charge of our borders. And they had on all of the stations that lots of things are happening along the borders like this tremendous security all of a sudden, and even before he gets there, they're saying, "Wow, what a difference. What a difference."

You know, I was very honored to get border security, all of the border patrol agents, they endorsed Trump. We had 16,500. ICE endorsed Trump and they know what's happening or they've already started because General Kelly is going to do an unbelievable job in keeping us all safe.

And speaking of safety, we have General Mattis. Now, I don't know if he likes being called "Mad Dog Mattis" so I will not call him "Mad Dog Mattis." I'll just call him General Mattis. But he's here some place. He is going to keep us safe. In fact, it was the shortest senatorial interview I've ever seen. I think they are afraid of him, actually. But just in case you have any question, don't worry, he's going to pass.

But the Cabinet members are doing really fantastically. I've watched most of it. I've heard most of it. They have really, really done a good job and I was very proud of them. I'm very, very proud of my picks. There's not a pick that I don't love. And if there was, I'd tell you right now. Probably would, actually. I want to thank the Cabinet for being here. I want to thank all of the senators that I see. You're here. I want to thank all of our donors, big donors, small donors. There are donors that got really, really generous the day after the election was won. I have a couple. They got so generous. "Hi, Don, I just want to tell you that I just sent a big check. Oh great. He should have sent it a week before. That's OK. We love you too. They are now officially a member of our party.

You know, we've picked up hundreds of thousands and millions of Republicans, not only did we do great in the election. You remember we cannot get to 270. They were right. We got to 306. You cannot get it. I know CNN, I was watching. I was watching all of them in all fairness. All of them. The main networks, the cable networks, although, Fox has treated us very well, I have to say. Very well, very well, very well. And when I say well, by well, I mean fairly. But they were saying, "You cannot get to 270."

I went to Maine four times. For one vote and I got it but I didn't need it. But this was a victory for all of us, a victory for all of us and in the audience, by the way, I see my great brother and I see Ann Marie, thank you for being here. I see my sister Marian and David. Where is -- there, right there, who happens to be a Court of Appeals judge. He is tough. She is tough, but highly, highly respected. I see my sister Elizabeth, which is great. I'm so happy you're here. I'm so happy.

[21:05:05] We actually have a very, very good family. We have a family. We have a family that gets along. My sons, look at them standing there. Did they -- I say, "Why aren't you campaigning today?" Eric and Don and Tiffany who was incredible. And Baron is home. But we had a great group of people, right? We worked hard.

In the audience we have somebody that's under no pressure whatsoever because he's got a great quarterback named Tom Brady and a great coach. And a great coach named Belichick, Bob Kraft. So good luck, Bob. Your friend Tom just called. He feels good. He called to congratulate us. He feels good. Good luck. You're going to do great things.

So I just want to thank everybody. We're going to have four incredible years. It's going to be something special. We have in the audience a special person whose worked very hard who married very well, it's my daughter Ivanka. Where is she?

I sort of stole her husband. He is so great. If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can. OK? All my life, I've been hearing that's the toughest deal in the world to make. And I've seen it. But I have a feeling that Jared is going to do a great job. I have a feeling he's going to do a great job. So you work with him.

And one other person I have to thank. So we had actually 18 people said -- 17 people running. It's 18 including Gilmore. Now I like Gilmore because he endorsed me right away. OK. But he was the Governor of Virginia in all fairness. Is he here? Yeah, he's here. So we had 18 people running and we had Reince and I said before, nobody knew how to pronounce his name. It's a crazy name. They call him Reince. Steve Wynn just called him -- he still not pronouncing it right, Steve. But Reince Priebus, now everybody pronounces his name right. He's a star, and I knew that a long time ago. And he had a problem because he sort of liked me. He didn't like me because of my personality, he thought I could win. He thought I could win.

Phyllis Schlafly, the great Phyllis Schlafly. You know who that is. So she's a great woman. Was a great woman. Passed away six months ago. I went to her funeral in St. Louis. And she came out against all of her fellow conservatives and she said "I am not endorsing anybody else but Donald Trump. I don't care what exactly he is. He's like an unknown quality, quantity but he -- he's going to win." And Reince had the same thing. And Reince was taking tremendous abuse and I want to thank, by the way, Phyllis because she went through hell. I'm telling you. Phyllis went through hell in that last one-third of the year and she turned out to be right but Reince had the same thing. And Reince sort of -- I always felt he favored me. It's like a coach who has a player and you sort of favor, but Reince is fantastic. Reince has been an unbelievable leader.

Now, he had to win because if he didn't win, it was over. He would have been fired. We would have said, "Reince, you're fired, get the hell out of here". But he is an unbelievable leader. He's an unbelievable talent. And he's been my friend and he's been with me from the beginning. So I want to thank Reince Priebus.

And just in finishing up, Tom Barrack called me. Tom Barrack is a very -- where is Tom? Got to be around here someplace. Tom Barrack. He's a very, very successful guy. Colony Capital. And He became my party planner.

In fact, every time I have a party, are you available? I'm having one in about two months, Tom. He and all of his friends they came to me and they said, "We'd like to run." And I said, "What the hell do you know about running it?" Well, between Stephanie -- where is Stephanie? There she is. Stephanie, what a job. What a job you did. Thank you.

[12:10:05] Did he finally come through for you, Stephanie? Tom, thank you, Stephanie, thank you your entire group, thank you. So far it's been perfect.

Now the bigger one is tomorrow at around 12:00. OK? Because we had a thing today. We had a couple of things. Arlington National Cemetery -- I don't know if anyone saw it. It was so beautiful. So many people. So many people. It was incredible.

So we went there and we laid the wreath with Mike and it was beautiful. And then we went to the Lincoln Memorial and had a concert and we thought it would be a small concert and tens of thousands of people where there. It was -- it went all the way to the back. They never had so many people and very few people ever had a concert at Lincoln Memorial. But what they pulled off was incredible. It was an unbelievable period of time. But tomorrow seems to be the big one. And I made a speech tonight at the Lincoln Memorial in front of all those people and all of those live television cameras, I can't stand them. But actually, a couple of them are starting to get honest. But I thought it was a very good speech. And so instead of saying it was a good speech, they're saying, "Doesn't matter tonight. How will he do it tomorrow?" They never give you credit. But tomorrow we have a speech, probably around 12:00. It may rain. It may not rain. I don't care. Doesn't matter.

I mean, the truth is, if it really pours, that's OK. Because people will realize it's my real hair and that's OK It's OK. Might be a mess but they're going to see that it's my real hair.

But we have a speech that I wrote and worked with Steven Miller who's around here someplace and Steven is great. He's been with us from the beginning. Steven and Hope and Corey and so many people have been so great. And I see my Kellyanne. Oh, Kellyanne. Come here. Come here. Come here, Kellyanne. Get up here. Come here, Kellyanne. She's been so great. Wow. So there is no den she won't go into.

When my men are petrified to go on a certain network, I say, "Kellyanne, would you?" "Absolutely, no problem." Then she gets on and she just destroys them. So anyway, thank you, baby. Thank you. Thank you. Be careful.

So this is a celebration of victory. You're my friends, we needed this victory, three weeks before we won, as you know, it was going to be the single greatest defeat in the history of politics. They predicted that this would be the greatest loss in political history, not even modern political history. They said in political history.

And I'll tell you one thing, I outworked everybody. I think I outworked anybody whoever ran for office. I learned that from Belichick, right? But we outworked them. And three, four, five speeches a day, all over the place and that last two weeks and the last weeks specially, there was something that was happening. I told the group today they cancelled their fireworks two weeks out and there was a little story they spent $7 million on fireworks, and they cancelled it and that's because history has proven that if you're going to lose, you don't want fireworks, right? And that was a good sign. And there were other good signs.

But what we did on those last two weeks, and especially in the last week, it was fun and we saw what was going to happen. We were pretty sure we were going to win.

But again, thank you all very much. We'll see you. We have an election coming up in two years. We're going to get a lot of senators and a lot of congressmen elected, a lot. We're going to get a lot of them elected.

Mitch McConnell is here. He's smiling so big. He loves those words.

And we are going to make America great again, greater than ever before.

[21:15:03] Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And there you have it, President-elect Donald Trump, the last evening that he will be president-elect speaking at a donors candlelight dinner at Washington Union Station, not far from where we are tonight.

Good evening again from Washington.

The Trumps tonight capping a very full day on the eve of one for the history books. So I just want to bring in the panel right now. I'm here with Jeffrey Lord, Trump supporter, political commentator, also contributing editor to "American Spectator". Also Van Jones is with us, conservative Trump critic Ana Navarro and Paris Dennard, CNN political commentator and director of Black Outreach during the George W. Bush administration.

Jeffrey Lord, it is interesting on the eve of becoming the most powerful person on the planet, Donald Trump, talking about the election victory and what happened on election night and polls and all of it.

JEFFREY LORD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think it's going to stick in his memory for a long time.

COOPER: I think so, too.

LORD: I think that this -- what you're seeing here is how the next four years are going to go in someway. It will be salted with talk of whatever the issue is of the moment.

COOPER: I assume you mean four and/or eight years.

LORD: Well, actually -- right, right --

COOPER: I don't want you to get in trouble with press. We always say four years.

LORD: Eight years, eight years.

COOPER: All right.

LORD: And maybe more if we repeal -- no.

VAN JONES, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Ivanka Trump and --

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It will be four years that feel like eight years.

LORD: But I really think -- you know, this is -- you've seen a style which I first saw firsthand three years, four years ago now and he mixes issues of the moment with this kind of talk where he's very informal and he calls out people in the audience, he talks to them, thanks them if he thinks they've been great, doesn't thank them -- but this is his style and this is how he's going to communicate. And I have to say, I think -- I used to call Ronald Reagan the great communicator, I think he is a really, seriously a good communicator. COOPER: Van, it is fascinating, whether you believe he's a good a communicator or not, just fascinating the difference between President Obama and how he speaks and communicates, which we've seen a lot of over the last week and Donald Trump.

JONES: I mean, he loves it, he's great at it, he does it. But, you know, there's a backdrop here that I think is also important to note. President Obama could not have come out and spoken that way and been that jovial because the country that he was handed was in a massive crisis. We were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month. We were in two awful wars.

If a President Obama had come out and been that jokey, jokey, the country would have been quite alarmed. It is a testament to what Obama has been able to do positively that he is handing off a country where there is economic growth, where there is enough of a sense that things are secure that you can have a guy come out and be the jokester and chief the night before and I think we are going -- I think we are going to remember President Obama much more fondly in years to come than even we think of him right now.

COOPER: Well he does have a 60 percent approval rating.

JONES: He's at 60 percent right now and I think it will go up.

COOPER: Anna?

NAVARRO: I think what we've learned in the last two and a half months since the election is that Trump will be Trump and will continue to be Trump. He has been relitigating the campaign for the last two and a half months. I think he's going to be relitigating it for the next four years. And, you know, we see him doing what he always does, exaggerate about the numbers of the, you know, concert, beat up on the press, talk about his victories, talk about how everybody was wrong.

So if we were expecting a lofty, poetic, unifying president on the eve of the swearing in, we're not getting it. Maybe tomorrow lightening strikes and we do get it but tonight what we've seen is the same Trump who I suspect had already almost drafted the tweet he's going to send out against "Saturday Night Live" on Sunday morning.

COOPER: But I should point out, that -- all that video to our viewers, to explain is from pool feed. It's not our cameras. It's just one camera that all the -- everybody takes. There were some audio problems with it. That was the problem in the hall and the feed just dropped out, which is why we no longer have the video. Paris?

PARIS DENNARD, FORMER W.H. DIR. OF BLACK OUTREACH FOR PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: I think it's important for the viewers to know the setting that he was in.

LORD: Yeah.

DENNARD: He was in a room with donors and supporters who fought with him and stayed with him and this is a victory lap. He deserves to take this victory lap. Tomorrow will be a different tone. It will be a unifying message. He's going to talk about what he has -- what his vision is for the country. But tonight he is celebrating and he deserves to celebrate and I celebrate right along with. And I was there at the Lincoln Memorial. It was thousands of people there. It was packed out. He deserves this moment and we should give it to him and we should be proud that he is doing this in the -- on the backdrop of what you said, Van, of what President Obama has left him. So he is very fortunate to come into this goodwill.

JONES: One thing I just want to say. I think for people who haven't been to one of those big things on the mall, I was there for Obama where, you know, there were more people there but there were a lot of people there tonight, as well. It's a feeling that is very hard to describe.

[21:19:59] You know, when you're on the campaign trail, you're working, you're knocking on doors, you're making phone the calls, you're working your fingers to the bone, sometimes you have those big, high moments for rally. It's just a lot of work. When all of the people on the campaign get together and you have some of the biggest stars and you have the fireworks, there is a way you -- I mean, I actually felt more excitement the night of Obama's inaugural concert and I thought on the inauguration. That's how much energy there is in a crowd. But I just wanted --

NAVARRO: But this idea --

JONE: -- your folks are happy about that.

NAVARRO: This idea that he's coming into goodwill is not exactly accurate. I had the most surreal moment today as I was flying up from Miami. About half the plane was full of women who were coming up to march the next day. About a fourth of the plane was full of red hat wearing Trump supporters and the rest of us were just praying that World War III would not break out in the plane. I was just happy that I was very close to the exit row.

So I think we've got to be realistic about the fact that this country does need some unifying right now. Let's not gloss over the fact that we are polarized, we are divided and he is coming in with the lowest approval ratings in recent history and something that he should address --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: And that certainly is -- for many people what tomorrow is about, whether you agree with Donald Trump or like Donald Trump or not, then it is a historical day as the peaceful transfer of power that is celebrated.

We'll have more on that. More to talk about in the hour ahead including a look at some of the things candidate Trump promised to do on day one in the White House and whether he can actually do that. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [21:25:03] COOPER: President-elect Trump just finished making remarks at a dinner for contributors at Union Station. He thanked them, nearly one by one. It was like nothing really we've seen in Washington though it was certainly familiar to anyone who've seen a speech from the President-elect. It was the final cherry on top of a very filling day. CNN Sara Murray has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Donald Trump is leaving his gilded Trump plane behind in New York, trading it in for an air force jet as he and his family touchdown Thursday in the nation's capital. He arrived in Washington to spend his last night as president-elect at a story Blair House, a presidential tradition. Friday he'll move into his home for at least the next four years, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

TRUMP: I will see you tomorrow and I'm going to be cheering you on.

MURRAY: The magnitude of the duty that lies ahead as the next commander in chief evident at his first official inaugural event. A wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

With taps echoing in the background, Trump and his soon to be vice president, Mike Pence looked on hands over their hearts. The somber moment giving way to celebration later in the afternoon at Trump's inaugural concert as military bands played against the backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial. Part of Trump's effort to highlight the Armed Forces throughout his inaugural festivities.

TRUMP: I also have to thank our incredible military talent right here. Thank you. Stand up, please. You guys were great. Thank you very much.

MURRAY: Trump, a billionaire businessman turned reality television star is no stranger to the spotlight and even he wasn't sure this day would come.

TRUMP: Who would want to leave the White House, right? You're in there -- no, seriously. Who would want to leave the White House? Although, I'm building a hotel right next door, which is also located on Pennsylvania.

You know, I have my alternative if this doesn't work out, I'll still be on Pennsylvania Avenue.

MURRAY: But Friday surely marks the biggest stage of his lifetime as he prepares to take the oath of office and deliver his inaugural address. Aids say Trump is personally writing his remarks and still honing his final draft.

SEAN SPICER, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think it's going to be less of an agenda and more of a philosophical document, a vision of where he sees the country, the proper role of government, the role of citizens.

MURRAY: But amid the pump and circumstance, questions still linger about whether Trump and his team are prepared for the challenge ahead.

TRUMP: We have a lot of smart people. I tell you what. One thing we've learned, we have by far the highest I.Q. of any Cabinet ever.

MURRAY: Trump will head to the White House as many of his Cabinet nominees are still awaiting Senate confirmation. And gaping holes persist in key leadership roles across the government. Trump's team down playing those challenges as they insist the next president is prepared to kick off his agenda on day one beginning with executive actions.

SPICER: It's going to be a robust, not just day one, but I think day -- first week, first month and probably first term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Sara Murray joins us. Now, Trump said tonight he's going to unify the country. Do we expect that to be a strong theme of the speech tomorrow?

MURRAY: Well, that's right, Anderson. He did make a point to say that today but when you ask aids over and over again will Donald Trump focus on unity, does he understand the unease that persists among some Americans, they really tend to divert from that message. They don't seem to be hitting on that as a major theme, rather than saying he wants to layout his vision for the country, how he is going to make Americans lives better. It seems like he wants to show Americans that they can trust him more than try to explain it to them with any kind of sweeping rhetoric and what we're expecting to be a relatively short address tomorrow.

COOPER: Sara Murray. Sara, thanks. As the President-elect mentioned a moment ago with everything else going on, there are Senate confirmation hearings underway. Today it was the Treasury and Energy Department nominees. If confirmed, they'll be part of a very different kind of Cabinet from the outgoing one. Now, whatever else you think of the choices, it is visibly less diverse. Just one African-American. And for the first time in decades, zero Latinos.

Back now with the panel. That actually is the panel with the highest I. Q. on cable television in history except for me, which brings down the meeting. So I'm sorry. I apologize for that.

But, Ana, I do want to start out with you. Obviously, you have no fan of Donald Trump. There are zero Latino Cabinet nominees. Does that matter? Is that important? I think this is the first time since 1988 that there has --

NAVARRO: The first time since Ronald Reagan that no president has appointed a Latino to a Cabinet. It's disappointing in many ways. I think it's very important for there to be a representative Cabinet. I think it's so important for little boys and girls who are Latinos, who are African-Americans to look up to people who are in these positions and who have this platform and this public. I think it's so important for communities to feel represented and they have a seat at the table. I think it's important to hear from the different perspectives. There are different perspectives.

[21:30:03] It is very different to be an immigrant than it is to be a poor African-American or a rich white person. And so, you know, I -- and then today I hear my friend Sean Spicer say, you know, it's not about appointing somebody because of their one ethnic --

COOPER: Let me read the quote. That's what I was going to read. Sean Spicer said "That there's -- on the Cabinet there is a diversity in thinking and diversity of ideology. So it's not just about skin color, ethnic heritage."

NAVARRO: He said it's about the best and brightest. Do not tell me that Latinos aren't 17 percent of the United States and they are not among us best and brightest.

COOPER: Jeff?

LORD: I wrote a column about this. In terms of Dr. Martin Luther King and his speech at this Lincoln Memorial, just the other day I wrote this and my point was that his vision was that famous sentence that he wanted Americans, he wanted his children to be judged by the content of their character and not skin color and we have gotten into this. And just to take Ana's point, the first Mexican-American general -- attorney general of the United States, a Bush appointee was practically driven out of town by Democrats.

JONES: Let me just --

LORD: And all I'm saying to you is we talk this game but then some conservative Latino or conservative black or conservative woman gets here and they do everything they can to take this down.

JONES: I can't argue with you on that point but I can argue with you on this kind of -- he contextualized Dr. King. Dr. King wrote almost a dozen books and half of them, he's speaking out about the need for affirmative action, the need to include more people and people take this one line out of context and I think this is not fair to him.

Let me tell you what my experience has been. I actually build stuff, lead stuff, run stuff and I am always shocked by how smart I'm not until I get some young person whose, you know, who got tattoos and she's a lesbian and she knows so much more about things I didn't even know I didn't know about and better off.

LORD: Exactly.

JONES: And so I don't think that your party does itself much service when it completely (inaudible) ideas.

LORD: But has nothing to do with her skin color or sexual orientation.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: But, Van, it also isn't the party -- be fair here. George W. Bush had Mel Martinez, had Carlos Gutierrez, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush. This is a Donald Trump issue. This is not a party issue.

JONES: I don't agree. You may want to get in here. Let me just say this, I think that there -- there's a split in the Republican Party. There are people like yourself and others who I do think have nuance view but I do think you have -- people have taken up residence in your party that make the point that Jeff makes every time that we're just somehow coloring by numbers and our points aren't valid.

COOPER: Paris?

DENNARD: I think at the end of the day, we have to remember there are 4,000 positions that still need to be filled by this administration. I promise you I know for a fact that Hispanics will be in those key positions, but we can talk about having one Hispanic or somebody that looks like you on the Cabinet. But what I'm more concerned about and I know what Donald Trump is most concerned about is having somebody who has an understanding of how to do what needs to be done to run the government and run these agencies --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: But here is the problem --

COOPER: Let Paris finish.

NAVARRO: OK, go ahead.

DENNARD: At the end of the day, what's more important is having somebody in there who has an understanding rather than having a Hispanic face in there just for the fact of having it.

NAVARRO: OK. But you're going to tell me that Ben Carson is the best person with an understanding on housing in the United States of America?

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: You're going to tell me that Betsy DeVos who's hearing felt like she's falling on her head as a baby has got the best understanding of education in the United States of America?

DENNARD: Well this is interesting. How could you -- hold on --

COOPER: OK.

DENNARD: How are you going to criticize Ben Carson for being the only African American --

NAVARRO: Oh, no, no, no --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: I want -- no, let me tell you what I want. I want a qualified African-American. I want a qualified Hispanic.

DENNARD: Who are you to qualify Ben Carson? What do you know about his background?

NAVARRO: Well I think he's a wonderful surgeon. I think he's a very qualified --

DENNARD: Do you know about the businesses that he's done and community development that he's done in Detroit --

NAVARRO: No. What is his housing experience other than he lived in a house once? I mean what -- you know, Betsy DeVos does not know what ideal was.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: -- they can take guns to schools so that they can kill grizzly bears maybe in Florida.

DENNARD: That's not true. That's not true.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: OK, let --

NAVARRO: I do not accept that there is not one qualified Hispanic who can be in the Cabinet. None of us want token anything on there. We want qualified people --

COOPER: But isn't -- but I mean -- but any corporation is made better -- I mean a newsroom is made better when you have diversity of backgrounds, diversity of experiences --

JONES: Can I ask Paris a question?

COOPER: Yeah.

JONES: So you kind of put a false choice there and I want to give you a chance to get out of it. You said either you kind of go with what we have or we have some worthless token but why not a great Latino? Your party's great achievement is you've got some of the best Latinos in public office, period, puts Democrats to shame. Why not pick one?

DENNARD: Like I said before, there are 4,000 positions that have yet to be filled. And so you can take your token and be happy with the token but I'd rather have somebody --

JONES: I think that's a choice.

DENNARD: No, it's not.

JONES: You got amazing Latinos in your party and they've often skipped over. It looks weird --

[21:35:00] DENNARD: They have not been skipped over.

COOPER: All right, we got to leave it there. We're going to have more ahead. Just ahead, Trump's promises for day one in the White House. You heard Sean Spicer say they're going to hit the ground running. The question is how far will they get when they do? We'll take a look at that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Washington on the eve of the Trump administration. We've been getting signals all day that the early agenda will be ambitious. The President-elect underscoring that thought tonight. Dana Bash has more on what he could do on the very first day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to be a very busy first day.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What Donald Trump will do on his first day in office should not be a mystery. Candidate Trump talked about it non-stop, from immigration --

TRUMP: On day one, I'm going to begin swiftly removing criminal, illegal immigrants from this country.

BASH: -- to guns.

TRUMP: My first day it gets signed, OK? My first day. There's no more gun free zones.

BASH: -- to trade.

TRUMP: Day one, we are going to announce our plans to totally renegotiate NAFTA. On trade, I'm going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country.

BASH: Should we expect all or any of those on day one or Monday when he said he's going to start the real business?

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: I think you can expect that a President Donald Trump is going to hit the ground running on day one, come Monday morning. And the first week, there will be a series of executive actions, both putting executive orders into place, repealing some executive orders and continue to work very energetically with the Congress to both repeal and replace Obamacare simultaneously.

BASH: On this day one situation, the question is whether or not any of these specifics are going to happen.

PENCE: They may. We're laying out now a series of executive orders and actions, which may actually span over the first several weeks of the administration.

BASH: Can you give me a hint as to one or two of them?

PENCE: I could but I want to keep the surprise there.

BASH: Some things would be surprising if the President-elect did not do them.

TRUMP: On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall.

BASH: Trump sources say they're still finalizing which executive orders he will sign or as he says, Obama executive orders he will unsiunsign since the inauguration is on Friday, he says many of the actions are likely to wait until Monday.

TRUMP: I consider the first day because we'll also be doing some pretty good signings and I think what we'll do is we'll wait until Monday.

BASH: Some of Trump's day one promises have been broad and vague.

TRUMP: On my first day, we're going to immediately terminate every single unconstitutional executive order signed by President Obama.

[21:40:00] BASH: The big question is what Trump will do about one of the most controversial Obama executive actions, allowing undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to stay. Republicans have talked tough about reversing that but actually doing it and potentially allowing millions of people to be deported could be quite different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And we're back with Dana Bash and Jeffrey Lord and also Juliette Kayyem, our national security analyst, author of "Security Mom".

Dana, you're hearing something about a particular executive order on immigration.

BASH: That's right. What the piece ended with, the question about what he's going to do about here in Washington, they call it DACA, but -- and the real world, it means the people who came here as children -- President Obama signed an executive order saying that those undocumented people who came here as children could stay and could stay legally. And this has been an outcry for Republicans saying you've got to, you know, get rid of this on day one.

I am told that the likely scenario is that Donald Trump will do a new executive order giving that an expiration date. Maybe it's six months. I'm not entirely clear and I don't know if they are yet on what the expiration date is. So that kind of allows for those people not to feel that they're going to be deported right away and allows the people who work in this building Congress to actually do what they're supposed to do which is legislate, which is the whole reason why President Obama felt he needed to do it by executive order.

COOPER: Juliette, you tweeted something yesterday. I want to read what you wrote. You said, "Michael Flynn, the national security advisor, had one job, ensure U.S. is ready on day one. No staff in place. Spent time on conspiracies and fighting intel agencies. One job." JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: One job.

COOPER: You worked --

KAYYEM: I worked the transition for Obama. You have one job if you're the national security advisor. All the background noise goes away, the campaign is over. You make sure -- not just that the President is ready on day one but that the United States is ready on day one.

COOPER: So what's not --

KAYYEM: First of all, staff, briefings, all the transfer of confidential information. So the national security agency had to change their transition papers, which were classified to unclassified because all these people were coming in and being replaced and no one had security clearances.

At the agencies, you have Cabinet officials. You have no deputies announced. And so it's not like it's a confirmation issue. Clearly there's no names. So that's -- you know, they have one opportunity to ensure the American public that they were ready to govern and be competent in that governance and to assure our allies that we were ready on day one.

And so the failure to have a transition, at least in the national security arena that inspires confidence by many people including the fact that you can't get staff to stay, people are being asked in the last week please stay, you know, the Obama people is really disheartening.

The second issue is even worse, which is something will happen. It will be North Korea. It may not be Friday. It will probably be by the following Friday. They will test a missile, whatever else. You want a president who is going to have experts around him who are his, not Obama's, who can advice him, who know the information, know what China has been doing, know what Japan's reaction is going to be. You know, you can't just sort of think I know everything because you don't. No one does.

COOPER: Jeff? About that?

LORD: Well, yeah. I mean, these people having been in the administration, you get your own people, you get them in. Sometimes it takes time but to your point, I mean, I personally know somebody who has been handling the transition issues in the domestic department who is a former member of the Bush 41 administration at that department. And is very knowledgeable about what he's doing and is collecting all the information, you know, going back there to find out what's going on and what they're trying to do in the department, et cetera. So these people are there. They're on the ground. They're working. I mean, this is a transition. This --

COOPER: You're saying --

KAYYEM: Well, I think the landing teams are called landing teams and they arrived on day one. The landing teams -- they're literally transitional. They are not going to be the bodies that are going to run the agency. So think about the national security agency. It has two deputies. There's only one now. The other one left. And then there's senior directors. Those are -- the senior directors are key because they run a bunch of staff on specific issues, say, transnational crime, North Korea, Russia. And they also direct the departments, DOD, CIA, all of them to do what's necessary to align with the president's agenda.

We don't have a president's agenda and then you don't have a staff that can get the agency to work. This may be fine, you know, if you think, "OK, well we don't want to get involved with conflicts, but we're going to be on defense relatively."

COOPER: Dana?

BASH: But it's true that at a place like the National Security Council, they might not have the political leadership in place but there are military shades and others who do have the expertise who are still working in the White House.

COOPER: Same with the CIA? I mean if you have --

KAYYEM: Right. There's expertise --

BASH: Absolutely.

KAYYE: I think what's important --

COOPER: Of career people.

LORD: This is --

KAYYEM: -- that there's expertise and authority. Expertise absolutely right. It's authority. Authority to make the decisions to advice to know what to do. The president can't do everything.

[21:45:05] LORD: This is --

KAYYEM: You have to have deputies, undersecretaries --

LORD: Right, right. This is an executive's executive. I mean his -- one of his big selling points was his business. I mean, he didn't get to run this business by not being a good executive. So might it be different than the Obama administration which began with a -- somebody who'd spent four years in the United States Senate and never been an executive in his life? Sure, sure, it will be different. So that's a decision that's been made --

COOPER: The question is how much -- and I don't know the answer to this, how much carry over is there from the business world to when you're dealing with multiple countries and serve international crisis? I don't know the answer.

KAYYEM: I think if there is a Trump doctrine or one that we can envision, I think he does view foreign policy as transactional and binary. Russia is good, China is bad, Mexico is bad, Canada is good. NATO is bad unless you listen to other people, maybe it's good. It's very binary.

Foreign policy is a bunch of frenemies, to be honest. China, we don't like, you know, on this issue but boy, do we really need them about North Korea? And Russia, we don't like about this issue but boy, do we need them on this? Same is true of Mexico.

And I think that this idea of not -- we can't view foreign policy as transactional. It is a series of --

BASH: And here's the good news on national security. President -- then President Trump will have his national security team, Defense Department --

KAYYEM: Right.

COOPER: Right.

LORD: In place.

KAYYEM: And the CIA --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: We got to leave it there. Jeffrey, Juliette, Dana, thanks very much.

There are six religious leaders who are going to be taking part in tomorrow's inauguration ceremony. I'll speak with three of them coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: During tomorrow's historic inauguration, six religious leaders will participate in the ceremony, reading scriptures, leading prayers. Tonight we're honored three of them join us. Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Reverend Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, excuse me.

Reverend Graham, you have been -- you've gone through this experience before, George W. Bush, also with your father with -- was it the first or the second Bill Clinton inauguration?

REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM, PRESIDENT, BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION: Second.

COOPER: The second. What is tomorrow about? Because I'm getting angry tweets from Democrats saying, you know, you're talking about this like it's normal day, it's a historic day, you're talking about the transfer of power, which that is what it is. I mean, whether you like Donald Trump or not, this is a -- whether you voted for him or not, he is the president, this is a historic day. What do you want the message tomorrow to be? GRAHAM: First of all, Anderson, our country needs prayer. And I think we need prayer more today than anytime in our nation's history. Our nation's in trouble, Anderson. We are so divided and we need to be able to come together. And think the only one who can do that is God. We need to call on God. And so tomorrow is a great privilege for me. I think speak for the rest of us to be able to read scripture and call to call on the name of Almighty God and ask him for his blessing on this administration, on our country.

[21 50:07] It's a great thing. And I appreciate very much that President-elect Trump has asked for the clergy. Six. I don't know how many were in the last inauguration but this is quite a number --

COOPER: Right.

GRAHAM: -- to have six. And it's an honor.

COOPER: And Rabbi Hier, you are only Orthodox rabbi ever to be involved in an inauguration, is that right?

RABBI MARVIN HIER, DEAN AND FOUNDER, SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: That's correct.

COOPER: And only -- though the last time a rabbi was involved was --

HIER: 1985, the Ronald Reagan.

COOPER: What do you plan to say tomorrow?

HIER: Well I think that -- I agree that prayer is very important. What I plan to hit is the theme from Psalms, "The heavens belong to God but the earth was given to man." And, you know, when you're busy and you get a telephone call, it's different if your wife is calling. Because your wife is your life's partner. So when we call on God, it depends who's calling. If man is God's partner, then God will take the call. But nobody is born -- when a person is born, they don't collect social security. And the reason for that is they didn't do anything. They don't deserve the social security. When man becomes God's partner, God takes the call.

COOPER: And Reverend Rodriguez, you didn't -- you weren't out campaigning for Donald Trump. I read a pre-interview with you, you said you had a come to Jesus moment after he had already been elected. Is that right?

REV. SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL HISPANIC CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE: Come to Jesus moment.

COOPER: That's what's called in the pre-interview. I don't know if it's the term you would actually use.

S. RODRIGUEZ: More of a moment of clarity as it pertains to immigration and the Latino community. I had -- I suffered from great angst and I have gastritis to prove it, as it pertains to the rhetoric that took place in the campaign, particularly on issue that impacted the Latino community and immigrants. And then I saw a pivot without a doubt. There was a change in tone.

COOPER: From Donald Trump?

S. RODRIGUEZ: After the election. The Sunday after the election. A major interview on another network, and then subsequently another magazine, "Time Magazine", and very positive about the immigrant community, about DACA. We held a conference call with the transition team, great fear in churches about will our, you know, our worshippers be deported? Will be these families be impacted? We had a great call with the transition team, a very positive affirming call about the Latino community and the immigrant community for that matter. So Dorothy (ph) were not in Kansas anymore. I was invited. Why not? Why not pray, lift up the name of Jesus? I'm an Evangelical. And why not talk about being light in the midst of darkness?

COOPER: To those who have -- who aren't going, there's a number of Democratic leaders who are, you know, are not going. John Lewis, you know, icon of the civil rights movement has said that he's not a legitimate president. Even to citizens who don't want to watch or don't feel like it's their day. What would you say to them?

GRAHAM: Well, first of all, Anderson, this is a part of the process and there are always winners and losers in every election. And I don't think we should just decide to stay home because our team lost. You know, we live in a day where many young people today, everybody gets a trophy. They play soccer and even the losers get trophies but that's not the way the world works. And so you have winners and losers. And our country has made a transition. It's moving a little bit different direction. And I think all of us need to come together.

And I would encourage those in the house who decided to stay home to rethink it and come because it's about America, it's not about them. It's about our nation moving forward. And let's give Donald Trump a chance. And if he doesn't do a good job, there's election in four years and they can run their candidate and maybe they'll win. But if they win, guess what? I think we should still come together and regardless who wins. And let's work together because this is our home, this is our country.

COOPER: Rabbi, what are you going to be thinking about as you're standing up there tomorrow?

HIER: Well I think about the fact that the United States -- as a Jew, look what's happening in Europe. Jews are uncomfortable, many want to leave. United States remains the greatest democracy in the world. So when people criticize me for accepting, my answer to that is 364 days a year is enough for political posturing on both sides. One day every four years reserved for America is -- it seems to be a very logical. And other thing is, you know, like a seesaw and it's a tit for tat. So once you have so many congressmen on one side that have decided to sit out the election, there are those on the other side who say, "You know what, we're going to get even." So maybe four years from now or eight years from now, the cameras are on the Republicans who decide to sit out, the loser of all of this is American democracy.

[21:55:17] COOPER: Reverend Graham, do you have any advice for these two? You've been out there.

GRAHAM: Well, I think just be very careful and know what you're about to say because a lot of people are watching. But, you know, for me as an Evangelical Christian, I want the world to know that God is real and He has a son and that son is Jesus Christ who took our sins and died on the cross for our sins and God raised to life. And I want people to know that they can confess their sins to God and ask His forgiveness, to put their faith in Jesus Christ and that their sins would be forgiven and their hearts can be healed. And our nation needs to have its heart healed. We are a broken nation.

So tomorrow is an opportunity to call on God and ask for His help.

COOPER: A lot of healing to be done. Gentlemen, thank you so much.

GRAHAM: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Really an honor to talk to you. I really enjoy it. Thank you.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

COOPER: A lot to look forward to tomorrow. Now another in our continuing efforts to bring you perspectives on the new administration that are -- not what you might expect. Tonight, two immigrants, one from Mexico, both of them Trump supporters. CNN's Martin Savidge reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Born in Mexico, Mariano has never forgotten the day his parents told him they were sending him to relatives in America for a better life.

MARIANO RODRIGUEZ, TRUMP Supporter: Yeah. I was nine years old actually.

SAVIDGE: Trapped in communist Czechoslovakia, Andrea will never forget her first sense of America, drifting from the clean clothes of a visiting relatives open suitcase, laundry detergent.

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Smell -- it smells so nice.

SAVIDGE: Today, Mariano and Andrea are married and raising two daughters in Arizona. Still in love with America. They also love Donald Trump.

How did you feel on election night?

A. RODRIGUEZ: I cried.

M. RODRIGUEZ: Oh, yeah, we are -- it was probably 2:00 in the morning and we were the only ones up in our neighborhood and I'm sure everybody heard her celebrating.

SAVIDGE: The couple has never been shy about their Trump support. I asked the obvious, how is it that two immigrants who yearn to come to this country for so long would be so supportive of a man who is perceived at wanting to, if not prevent, greatly restrict people like yourself coming to America?

M. RODRIGUEZ: Initially that just got why I consider a bad press.

SAVIDGE: By that he means Trump triggering the immigration debate when he called Mexicans entering the country illegally murders and rapists.

Didn't you take personal offense to that? You're from Mexico.

M. RODRIGUEZ: No. Not at all.

SAVIDGE: Besides being immigrants, Andrea and Mariano are conservative brought up with strong beliefs about faith, family and right and wrong.

M. RODRIGUEZ: It's not that I'm opposed to, you know, people coming over, but what I want is for them to come over here legally.

SAVIDGE: You think that wall should be built?

M. RODRIGUEZ: Yes --

A. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. China has a wall. Hungary has a wall. Everybody --

SAVIDGE: Didn't you run away from walls, I mean, when you were seeking freedom, when you grew up and got away from communism?

A. RODRIGUEZ: Right, because in my world, the wall didn't have a door. This wall will have a door.

SAVIDGE: Will have a door.

A. RODRIGUEZ: That's the difference.

SAVIDGE: Andrea and Mariano say immigration reform is needed, and they believe that Trump is just the man to do it.

Your support goes beyond just the vote. You want to work in his administration.

M. RODRIGUEZ: Oh, I would love to. My wife actually told me or found online that they were taking resumes during the transition. So I got my resume together and I sent it.

SAVIDGE: So far he hasn't heard back but he had a response from one of his neighbors in a note found by their seven-year-old in the neighborhood lending library the keeps in their front yard. "Congratulations," it reads. "It's a great day for the KKK and Neo- Nazis everywhere."

M. RODRIGUE: Maybe you should educate yourself about the use of fascism in 20th century Europe, but maybe that's just what you want.

A. RODRIGUEZ: So it was kind of like a knife in my back that somebody can portray me like this because they know us, they we lived here, we lived here for eight years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Well for instance she's an artist and an avid supporter of works in the LGBT community. He's an architect and has an openly gay brother. They both strongly support same sex marriage. They live in a college town and they live in a community in which they're very involved.

Looking at them would say they must have voted Democrat. They didn't. It shows you how complex this election year has been. People's choices made not by political connections. Anderson?

[22:00:00] COOPER: All right, Martin Savidge, interesting report. Thanks, Martin.

That's it for us. I appreciate you watching. CNN TONIGHT with Don Lemon starts now.