so i think that would be a bit of an odd job for mayor rudy giuliani. he has deep experience in homeland security. he understands how the intelligence agencies fit together from his time as mayor. it's a mixed picture. but i think the initial reaction is probably right, andrea. >> we already have controversial choices in the national security sector. let's talk about michael flynn. admired in his combat roles and as a defense intelligence analyst. also came into conflict, was removed as head of the intelligence agency. now in a nonconfirmable post. he's the national security adviser. >> he s. mike flynn worked for me in afghanistan. he was a spush tactical intelligence chief. he led the intelligence fight in afghanistan for us. before that he'd done similarly exceptionally good work intact call intelligence in iraq working for general mckristal. he's well known in the flag and general officer community. can he step up to the strategic level when he has made forays in that direction talking recently about islam as a political entity, not a religion. it's

drew griffin tonight has more. >> reporter: rudy giuliani wants to be secretary of state and rudy giuliani thinks he's better than the other choices. yes, someone asked. >> anyone better? >> maybe me. i don't know. >> he is direct, an unabashed supporter of donald trump and not afraid to repeat and double down on the rhetoric that left no doubt where the president elect stands on the issues. >> islamic extremistis terroris, you know who you are and we're coming to get you. >> his temperament is coming in to question. so are his business ties across the globe. not a direct comparison because rudy giuliani was a private citizen, but the same kind of ties that rudy giuliani found problematic when he labelled clinton foundation and secretary of state clinton as engaging in a play pay to play scheme. >> it is a racketeering enterprise. >> turning the state department for a play for pay operation. >> reporter: he rose to national prominence on september 11th, 2001 and became known as america's mayor but the fame failed to catapult him to a higher political office, despite running for president i

giuliani crooked rudy now or terror taking money from former terrorist groups rudy giuliani. >> rudy out front. he's always out in front of the president-elect embarrassing him out in front talking about everything he's been offered. >> this is a political nightmare for republicans if he had to go through those hearings. >> there's a very strong chance he would not be confirmed. talking to people on capitol hill last week. that was a sense. if trump puts him up as secretary of state nominee would have the most difficult confirmation battle of anybody on trump's roster right now. >> it would be worse than jeff sessions, right? >> far worse than jeff sessions. at least jeff sessions gets the customary senatorial courtesy. rudy giuliani doesn't get that. >> rudy would be a blood bath on the hill. >> no question. anything that donald would give rudy? donald does feel obligation to rudy because rudy was out there more than anything else. >> ed, he shouldn't tell him. rudy will go around telling everyone because he's out front. rudy out front. >> anything that rudy would be interested in s

give youself some credit." >>> rudy giuliani, former new york mayor rudy giuliani's strong play to take on a role within president-elect trump's cabinet could be in trouble. this is what we're hearing, a source familiar with transition talks is telling cnn that close trump confidante rudy giuliani may not be a lock for the position of secretary of state because of his previous business ties in places like qatar and the venezuelan government. that said while speaking to the "wall street journal," the former new york mayor dismissed talk of becoming trump's attorney general suggesting he prefers the secretary of state j job. with me now, rick wilson, a former strategist for rudy giuliani's 2000 senate campaign. you're the perfect voice on this. rick, good to see you. >> how are you, brooke? >> wonderful. my question for you is, you know, with your knowledge of rudy giuliani, does he have the chops to be secretary of state? >> i don't doubt rudy has the chops to be secretary of state but i think you're seeing a game being played out inside the nascent trump administration and you're seeing

how would rudy giuliani do as america's top diplomat? >> i think we have no idea and that's the scary part. you know, we've had condoleezza rice and john kerry, people with very deep national security and foreign policy backgrounds who knew people all over the world. >> madeleine albright. >> madeleine albright. could not forget my partner this business, madeleine albright and also working for her as secretary of state, just people with incredible depth and rudy giuliani has had a very active business practice and legal practice, all kinds of conflicts of interests which would have to get resolved because he's worked for foreign governments which is actually unusual, actually, and he'd have to recuse himself and the office of ethics would have quite a bit to say of him moving forward. >> when you look back at henry kissinger, james baker, this was bob corker's foreign relations chair on "morning joe" this morning who was thought to be in the running for secretary of state. >> i think most people would have an interest. at the same time,

so if rudy giuliani wants a job like second, it could be his. at the same time, you'll siemens and other people who have been through this process in washington before say now to the president-elect is we really need to dig through their background. we can't just take loyalty as the number one qualification. we have to make sure this person can get confirmed and in most administrations you have one or more people who get nominated and have to pull back because of something that comes up during the vetting process. >> howard, we know transitions are messy even though we know president obama has talked highly about going from bush 43 to his administration. that said, when you hear words like "knife fight," "game of thrones" in terms of decision making and lack thereof, confusing buffoonery, does that worry you? >> not especially. this is the toing and froeing of a transition. transitions are by definition challenging and difficult and i think everybody is sitting back and enjoying the kind of palace intrigue that's going on right now but fundament

that doesn't mean that rudy giuliani would not be confirmed. it does not mean he would not make it through the process. it could just set yourself up for a bloody fight. and maybe that's not the first thing you want to do when you take the white house. >> i heard rudy giuliani, when his name came up, or senator rand paul spoke with me earlier today, made it clear he's going to vote against it. potentially he could try to block that nomination. >> you know, look, other people might do the same on the democratic side. look, somebody like -- i mean, that's a perfect example of no matter who you put in there, no matter who is in the white house, you are going to have senators like rand paul on the republican side and maybe even a bernie sanders on the democratic side who used to do this from time to time, against president obama's nominees, will continue to do so. >>> stay with us. don't go to far away. check out the first-ever book from cnn politics called "unprecedented, the election that changed everything." in stores starting december 6th. preo

you know rudy giuliani well. is he qualified to be secretary of state? >> well, he's not a born diplomat. he's a very smart, very strategic, very effective public figure who's kind of a blunt instrument. i mean, this is a man who threw yasir arafat out of lincoln center. he's not cut from the james baker or george schultz world. he's a very surprising choice for a role that calls for diplomacy. >> but is he? because the way you describe him is sort of what donald trump's platform was and those supporters who said shake up washington, drain the swamp, we want something else. >> right. right. you can see why donald trump would be attracted to that personality and also there is an element of political pay back here for giuliani's support in the campaign. you know, donald trump and giuliani have very similar personalities, right? they're very against political correctness, they're not afraid to take very strong kind of antagonistic action towards their enemies. you know, one interesting thing to watch if giuliani gets this job is how the two of them get -- y

he's in type of controversies are not old for rudy giuliani. remember when he ran for president in 2008, his firm giuliani partners came under scrutiny for some of its advising and contacts it took from the government of qatar. certainly all of these international dealings that rudy giuliani, the former mayor of new york, has done since he left office are going to be raising a lot of eyebrows and certainly a concern as they move forward for the confirmation of a top u.s. diplomat, wolf. >> all right. sure there's a lot of vetting going on now. thank you very much. >>> reaction to this and more. u.s. senator rand paul is joining us. he's the republican senator from kentucky. a member of the foreign reses committee and homeland security committee. senator, thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me, wolf. >> what's your reaction to what was just reported about rudy giuliani? former new york mayor. do you think he would be a good secretary of state? >> worrisome, ties to foreign governments. concern for many of us about hillary clinton

you can see on the other side of the coin rudy giuliani lobbying publicly for the position. a lot more public airing of grievances than we would normally expect to see in a transition but it is a high-stakes decision, unique situation because donald trump's own party was lined up against him. the pool of contenders is a little smaller than another republican president would have right now. leland: the phone briefing with sean spicer and the kelly and conway tweet about mitt romney, she talked about how it would be possible to have a secretary state who didn't travel the world as much and stayed closer like henry kissinger did, their response to that tweet was, quote, a lot of intrigue is overblown at this stage of picking a cabinet and president-elect trump meeting with many candidates who share his vision was one has to wonder who shares his vision within his camp, you brought up rudy giuliani, his public lobby, we have never seen an example of that from the wall street journal or. i have traveled in the last 13 years as much as hillary did in the years she was secretary of

let's talk about rudy giuliani as secretary of state. you have said you are supportive of rudy giuliani for secretary of state. there's also another name out there, john bolton, for secretary of state. you are supportive of him. someone who is not, senator rand paul. he has called bolton totally unfit. he has called giuliani, said giuliani will have a stiff uphill climb. what do you say to rand paul? >> you can put the republicans in a very small car who is going to follow rand paul's advice when it comes to national security. he is my friend, he's a libertarian, he's an outlier. overwhelming majority of republican senators have the utmost respect for rudy giuliani. he led the nation and new york through 9/11. he's a citizen of the world, eminently qualified. john bolton was u.n. ambassador under president bush. he has been my friend for 20 years. he's a reformer. he would turn the state department upside down and make it work better. he knows where the bodies are buried in the u.n. and we see the world very similar. i think overwhelming

why wouldn't rudy giuliani want that? joining me right now communications director for democracy of america. and ceo of american majority ned ryan, and good to see all you guys. we'll get to that in a second. i think rudy giuliani has the background, the qualifications to really perform in that capacity and we need someone with the background to actually really be able to do the best possible job in homeland security but first let me ask you about, ned ryan, this mitt romney thing, general petraeus. do you think there is a chance the general can get it? everybody is so up in arms about mitt romney that it become as very difficult task for him to be able to give it to romney at this point? >> i think so. first of all, kellyanne appearing on tv was no mistake. it is not by chance it was on tv. she had clearance at some level to go on to express her feelings what is taking place. she made very valid point. there is significant revolt on the grassroots with mitt romney as secretary of state. romney was going out of his way to

donald trump and rudy giuliani. where do you find any compatibility between these candidates for secretary of state? >> obviously as you pointed out, candidate romney had a different view of rush why. when i work on the transition, people are not chosen based on a litmus test and what the views it was a much more personal relationship with the president. and then we duked it out in the administration. i suspect it will be a similar process here. that is enormously powerful. 16 agencies. >> well, if he loses the musical chairs game at the state department, he has been very loyal to president-elect trump. they have to find a place for him and that process happens in transitions all the time. i would say and the dni, they have a different job in the inner agency process. they are not supposed to be making policy. it's a different kind of job. they are making policy or the head of the dni, that might be a better place for them. if president-elect trump decides he is not the right fit. >> it has been a career military ca

the trump transition team may be looking to rudy giuliani or mitt romney to fill the spot. >>> we are the diverse america who are alarmed and anxious. >> that is the speech that got the president-elect fired up. the cast of "hamilton" was addressing vice president-ect mike pence who was in the audience. and he had a very different reaction. >>> and president obama had a >> good morning, anne-marie. >> reporter: president-elect donald trump assessed several more contenders for those posts including chris christie, rudy giuliani, and former critic mitt romney along with retired marine corps general james mattis who has emerged as the leading candidate for defense secretary. president-elect donald trump capped another day of high profile meetings in new jersey and more cabinet appointments to come. >> we have made a couple of deals but we will let you know job-seekers who visited mr. jersey governor chris christie. >> a very talented man. a great guy. >> reporter: the former new york mayor rudy giuliani was under consideration for secretary of state. the president-elect is also consideri

>> reporter: wolf, we're laning that several of the leaders of his transition team, including rudy giuliani, michael flynn, newt gingrich, all of them likely to take senior national security roles in a trump administration. they were with him throughout the campaign, but it might surprise that late comers, even some of the never-trumpers aren't entirely off the list, as well. trump adviser and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani now helping to lead trump's transition team. >> donald has been my friend for 28 years. all my work on behalf of him has been out of great loyalty and friendship to him. i can see already how he's going to be a great president, and i'm glad i could play a small role. >> reporter: before the election, dozens of gop national security officials and experts declared in two separate letters that they would never work for a trump administration. but sources tell cnn many of those so-called never-trumpers

verses rudy giuliani . you could knott have a clear difference. they are different kinds of people, there is no question. given the secretary of state, it is an important position and the country's chief diplomat. i don't recall a transition in which camps taken these public stance. i guess social media changes that. the idea that kellyanne conway does seem to take a stand and pushing the rudy giuliani camp verses the romney's camp. we have not seen camp doing this in public. >> correct. >> sure, it is happening behind closed doors. >> i would not go into kellyanne conway's tweets. rudy giuliani has been there by donald trump's side all a long. >> kristen pointed out the term "loyal" and that's the i indication. >> there is been a large out cry for those who's not supporting romney or at least apologizing for some mistakes he made about donald trump earlier in the campaign season. so perhaps that's one of the things that they are looking for. however, the fact that this discussion is happening so openly abo

i don't think that rudy giuliani is a pick to the right but other candidates might. normally there would be an obligation to reach out and bind the nation's wounds. we're not seeing that. we are seeing it tonally but not substantively. >> thank you very much. i a appreciate it. >>> up next, donald trump's election energizing the so-called alt-right movement. >> we just won the lottery. we just stole america back from the establishment. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. the mistay connected.elps us the microsoft cloud offers infinite scalability. the microsoft cloud helps our customers get up and running, anywhere in the planet. wherever there's a phone, you've got a bank, and we could never do that before. the cloud gave us a single platform to reach across our entire organization. it helps us communicate better. we use the microsoft cloud's advanced analytics tools to

giuliani primarily from rudy giuliani. are they considering other names? are we down to these two. >> these are pretty much the final two. i think there was general john kelly whose name was floated earlier in the week. he may be under consideration for other national security diplomatic or defense posts. what the incoming trump administration is really trying to do here is broaden the number of people in these senior posts who have military combat experience because it's their thinking that if you have people who fought in wars making decisions about whether or not to commit the united states to more wars, that that's a better thing. that makes people on the civilian side of the military very nervous because there's a long tradition of having civilian control of the military in our country. going back to the secretary of state issue, you know, rudy you could tell from that sound bite he's still in it. he wants to make sure he does everything he can to persuade donald trump to pick him. that's why he was on his best behavi

giuliani , thank you for being with us. >> rudy giuliani will be joining "hardball" tonight with chris matthews. stay tuned for that. >> i am joined by hughes hewet, he's the host on salem network. i want to start condolences to you about the world serioes. we were standing on the eve of the seventh and you told me how the cubs are going to lose. >> yeah, there was the rain. >> it was all the rain. >> it was the rain. >> all seriousness of what we were just discussing in this news in several outlets today about the fbi and a split there. >> comey has got to get control of the ship again. is that alarming to you? >> no, thea number of them are saided th persuaded that hillary clinton got a free pass this summer. >> he had a validly investigation into secretary clinton and the foundation, doj backed off. there is tensions between political apipointee from the dj and investigators believing they ought to be pushing harder. the weiner's laptop really broke it opened. if huma abedin had not hooked up to it, we would not be talking about it. all of this heat is secretary clinton's doing. it

giulia- rudy giuliani is a candidate for secretary of state. we're hearing about heturmoil o the transition people. what's the latest? >> reporter: there's been a lot of it. i have to say one week after an election, especially a tumultuous e lerklection it's nl that surprising. a number of thing have happened today. the headline on all of it is the second high profile republican establishment figure my rodgers, former house intelligence committee chairman is out. he was seen as reassuring figure to many republicans, especially on the issues of national security and was thought on the short list for cia director. he's gone. of course he was hired by chris christie, who, as well, was demoted. so the question is why, what's going on with the transition. the story they certainly want to put out is this is all about a blinding of the campaign staff, that traveled around the country with donald trump and the transition staff that was put in place to figure out what was going to happen in the event he won, but there is also a question as to whether al

we are hearing names like rudy giuliani as well. how might the tone influence the decision making of a donald trump for transition team? >> i don't know if they are going to be hearing it or not, actually. maybe if there's enough protest outside his properties, it will make an impact on the kids. this is difficult because there's no experience any can rely on. you have to write about government in transition. you don't want to pretent this is a normal situation where you have a candidate who has said and done the things he did in his campaign. i don't think we can forget it. he won fair and square, but you cannot forget about what he said with his attacks on minorities and other groups in the united states. >> even if he says we will win, win, win. even if he says we will be unified, i will get us there? >> another quick point, by this point if president-elect barack obama had a press conference in chicago to show how far behind they are, there isn't, if there is a presidential inaugural committee, i don't know it. if there is a who

rudy giuliani was an early backer of donald trump. and part of any transition is rewarding those people who have been loyal, whether it's -- >> that's right. >> good or not. >> there is nothing unusual here about what's going on. donald trump is in the moment of putting his stamp on the government of the united states. it's going to be a trump government. that's the way it works. the old saying from the andrew jackson days goes, to the winner goes the spoils. this is how it works. >> what do you make of kushner, the stories that he's at center of a lot of this infighting, that some people describe things as a knife fight, clearly a purging of chris christie. >> somebody is putting that out too. i never met jared kushner. i hate going after family. i don't. kids are impressive. i'm sure the son-in-law is impressive. they're not children but adult children who are now assuming real power and influence. i suppose that makes him a target. i'm not ready to cast stones at him. this is clearly coming from inside trump land. people are attack

rudy giuliani is critical to be the attorney general. the most important agency in this government is clean up that justice department and because this president is going to come under all kinds of attacks. lou: you know, you keep saying the most important and i'm sure you're right but all i can think of, i look at that government right now. there is such a bureaucratic morass beneath the face we've seen for almost eight years, get rid of those faces, that is the top of it, and the next three or four levels, there's still a tremendous, a tremendous mess to clean up across nearly all of the departments of the federal government. >> here's what i did in the reagan days. they asked me what kind of notice should we give the political appointees, i said give them a week. when i was a ford appointee, carter gave us two weeks, i want to show i'm tougher to be here. we wrote a letter, have you one week to keep them. and get them out. if they are there, they are there, they function, settle in and want to make sure your people aren't captured by

rudy giuliani, former mayor of new york city. who have had diametrically opposed views of donald trump during this campaign. let's take a walk down memory lane here. >> donald trump is a phony. a fraud. >> i am sick and tired of the defamation of donald trump. >> donald trump lacks the temperament to be president. >> he has the temperament to win. >> mr. trump's bombast is already alarming our allies. >> he is a man who's not afraid to say radical islamic terrorism. >> let isis take out assad, he said. this recklessness is recklessness in the extreme. >> donald trump has the intellect, the stamina and the strength to confront our enemies. >> now donald trump tells us that he is very, very smart. i'm afraid that when it comes to foreign policy, he is very, very not smart. >> kayleigh mcenany, you have one guy essentially saying that donald trump is the best thing ever. then you have another guy pretty clearly saying that donald trump may be one of the worst things ever, at least one of the worst things running. these are two guys

rudy giuliani is critical to be the attorney general. the most important agency in this government is clean up that justice department and because this president is going to come under all kinds of attacks. lou: you know, you keep saying the most important and i'm sure you're right but all i can think of, i look at that government right now. there is such a bureaucratic morass beneath the face we've seen for almost eight years, get rid of those faces, that is the top of it, and the next three or four still a tremendous, a tremendous mess to clean up across nearly all of the departments of the federal government. >> here's what i did in the reagan days. they asked me what kind of notice should we give the political appointees, i said give them a week. when i was a ford appointee, carter gave us two weeks, i want to show i'm tougher to be here. we wrote a letter, have you one week to keep them. and get them out. if they are there, they are there, they function, settle in and want to make sure your people aren't captured by the team that is

to rudy giuliani, frankly. you want somebody who will go out and be a very tough negotiator for america and represent american interests in the way that trump campaign i think probably you rudy is a better pick, and has the right temperment because we'll need somebody who is fighter. the world is not going to change just because we show up and say please. if that was going to work, secretary kerry would be -- meghan: vice president-elect mike pence had a lot good to say. >> two men were completely focused on the country. completely focused on what is best interests of the united states and america standing fall in the world and reviving our economy at home. i was frankly very impressed. meghan: james you covered the state department extensively. could you wager who you think they will end up picking? >> if i choose one let's say and other becomes secretary of state, fly around on their plane, yeah, you're not getting a ride back from cairo, thanks so much. this is a fraught subject. both are accomplished men. b

rudy giuliani doesn't seem to have drawn any line at all. he consulted for the government of venezuela. qatar, and for shady iranian dissident group. those are just three we know about. now, the trump transition team may decide they don't care, that his qualifications of his loyalty warrant and being pushed for this job, despite the conflicts. it's just how much do they want to create friction with the incoming to confirm them in the midst of all of these things they have to do. a safer choice would be ambassador john bolton who, again, has enemies on capitol hill, but not as many direct conflicts getting through. >> rapids paul and rudy giuliani had harsh criticism for john bolton as well. >> more of a policy than personal. >> let's talk about the transition right now. because the reports have been that there is turmoil in the trump world. mike rogers was axed from the transition team. maybe because he had ties to chris christie. is there real turmoil that will keep this transition from getting its job done? or are those just growing pains,

and that's jeff sessions and rudy giuliani. as katie pointed out, trump has no guiding ideology or known principles that he applies to foreign policy. but what he does have is this overriding sense that loyalty matters. rudy was loyal to him. rudy went on tv and said really nice things about him -- >> and absurd things. remember what he said over and over, hillary's sick. look at her. and when i would challenge him on that, he would so -- >> that goes a long way with trump. when trump was in the fox hole and the campaign looked like it was going to lose by 20 points, rudy stuck by him. and you cannot overstate how much that means to donald trump. >> not only that, but in the primary, he actually paved the way. he and chris christie were the one who is gave him credibility as somebody that should be taken seriously, that could win a republican primary. and that's what i think rudy giuliani really brought to trump. >> do you think he gigged up the new york offices of the fbi to get them all excited? i always wonder. you're ready

>> the family, rudy giuliani there? the people -- rudy giuliani maybe as secretary of state. >> i don't know. he said they shouted at him saying we won, you loss. i don't know. >> is david ignatius still here? >> yes. >> david, the tone of elliott's letter, what do you hear among his peers in washington? same sort of thing? >> i think there's a lot of anguish among republicans about whether they should serve, consider serving. elliott is a very principled person. i heard one of my heros, close friend of mika's dad this week at a special lunch in his honor turn to a crowd of former top officials in the government and say i know you have reservations. i know you have concerns. i do too. you must help this man somehow to govern the country. it was an appeal from the person who more than anybody else represents our tradition of bipartisan foreign policy saying somebody is going to have to help him run the country and run the world. very moving moment for all of us. >> senator ted cruz was seen entering trump tower yesterday

fox news confirms rudy giuliani is a topic for secretary of state. we will have all the latest developments. good morning i am a lauren simonetti. nicole: good morning i have sent seven. egg sac surgery consented to blue-chip index up another 21-point and doubtless a record high. u.s. stock market futures this morning been out there as once again. dow futures at 22. s&p futures up by the lauren: and a lauren: and asia, the nikkei has risen 9% since the u.s. election last tuesday. check that out. the shanghai composite down a 10th of 1%. nicole: oil prices on the rise of 2% overnight on renewed hopes of an opec production cut. oil 4445 a barrel. lauren: also tracking rising bond yields as bond investors expect a shame at donald trump's economic policies will push inflation higher. the other in the 10 year treasury at 2.19%. nicole: facebook and google want to ban takes this from their website. lauren: or tries to get millennial synods the subcompact eco-sport. nicole: a thrilling comeback victory for the new york giants of the cincinnati bengals. all

rudy giuliani is critical to be the attorney general. the most important agency in this government is clean up that justice department and because this president is going to come under all kinds of attacks. lou: you know, you keep saying the most important and i'm sure you're right but all i can think of, i look at that government right now. there is such a bureaucratic morass beneath the face we've seen for almost eight years, get rid of those faces, that is the top of it, and the next three or four levels, there's still a tremendous, a tremendous mess to clean up across nearly all of the departments of the federal government. >> here's what i did in the reagan days. they asked me what kind of notice should we give the political appointees, i said give them a week. when i was a ford appointee, carter gave us two weeks, i want to show i'm tougher to be here. we wrote a letter, have you one. and get them out. if they are there, they are there, they function, settle in and want to make sure your people aren't captured by the team that is t

rudy giuliani was a good mayor of new york. i discussed foreign policy with him over the years and i found him kind of congenial. i agreed with him most of the time on foreign policy. he's a serious guy. i'm not sure he would be my first choice but i think it's a reasonable selection. >> do you think that there's a problem, a confirmation problem in that he would have to recuse himself from countries and leaders with whom he's had contracts? >> i think he would sell his part of the firm or step away from the firm, i should think. that's judiciarily been down. i assume rudy giuliani would do that. >> finally had mike flynn for national security adviser. >> he was respected by many people when he was head of the defense intelligence agency in government. he's been pretty extreme since then and done some things, did some things pro putin i didn't like. he'll be national security and dealing with donald trump and powerful. a lot for me depends who the secretary of state is, who the secretary of defense is, who the head of cia is. t

so supposedly between mitt romney and rudy giuliani. some of trump's core supporters are really upset that mr. trump is even thinking of mitt romney because of the awful things that mitt romney said about mr. trump in the run-up to the election. so, what do you think might happen? >> well it's certainly very interesting and it represents an inherent tension that is going to be a theme of donald trump's presidency throughout. and that is he has to balance between this very angry base that elected him as the republican establishment, who he has to work with on capitol hill, and really get along with about he represents both wings of the party and so you have a lot of establish republicans who really do want to see mitt romney in there. they feel he would be a better representative for the republican party and for america abroad and question whether or not rudy giuliani can get confirmed by the senate because of his previous ties lobbying for all kinds of countries that don't have great human rights records, don't have great records with t

i think some of the criticisms of rudy giuliani are unfounded. he's someone who certainly proved his loyalty both to president-elect trump and to the party. and has a vast array of foreign policy knowledge. but that's it. the three other candidates are, good, too. donald trump is in a position of taking and weighing the opinions of a lot of people and doing what he's supposed to be doing, despite the belief he wouldn't be acting this way before he was elected. >> why do you think, joe, it's gotten so public, so public? >>, yeah i mean, certainly i think some people shouldn't be, you know, airing their dirty laundry on television. that might be a prudent thing to do. donald trump is a transparent person. the doors to trump tower are open for all to see. when you people people like david petraeus walking through the front door, you can't keep that secret. the transition team has been very open about who they're seeking for different spots. frankly, i think it's sort of good we're having a public debate about some of the candidates themselves. >> hi

rudy giuliani former prosecutor with ties to law enforcement, now admitted he had knowledge of the fbi director's announcement last week. >> all i heard were former fbi agents telling me that there's a revolution going on inside the fbi and it's now at a boiling point. i had expected this for the last -- honestly, i thought it was going to be about three or four weeks ago. i did nothing to get it out. i had no role in it. did i hear about it? you're darn right i heard about it. i can't even repeat the language that i heard from the former fbi -- >> an interview on "hardball" a few moments ago giuliani denied having any information about the fbi. >> i had no idea that jim comey was going to do what he was going to do the day that he did it nor did i ever think he was going to do it. what i did know, which is quite true, for about four months, is that the fbi was very, very upset about the way jim comey had handled the case. but i heard that from former fbi agents, not from current fbi agents. >> you have no inside information, as of this moment from the fbi? >> correct. >> two democrati

from rudy giuliani making a public play for secretary of sate. he, too, may have been a candidate for attorney general in the sense that he had prior to be new york city mayor. the laws something he knows. that's not something he's not interested in and wants to be secretary of state. another person missing from capitol hill who's expected to play some kind of role in the trump administration is jeff sessions who's been an ally of trump from the early moments. she was involved in his immigration plan. there were different posts where his name gets associated with from department of defense to homeland security or attorney general, both of those positions would have direct responsibility of implementing immigration policies. he's been very closely involved in the transition working to assemble the name. jeff sessions is one of those names are also being talked about. >> and senator bob corker. >> yes, he of course is the chairman of the senate form relations committee. there was a brief moment of time where he was interviewed and went to visit tru

you two know rudy giuliani extremely well. he's someone who was solid behind donald trump, who president-elect trump really came to rely on. during the years, even when giuliani was mayor of new york, i think trump had a lot of respect for how he didn't put up with, you know, much guff. i think he liked that. you're seeing people around giuliani who are pushing for an announcement of some kind. >> so now there's talk that rudy giuliani wants secretary of state or that he will become secretary of state, but the other name in contention is former ambassador john bolt bannon. so rudy giuliani was at an event last night and asked about this. let me play this for you. >> john would be a very good choice. >> is there anybody better? >> maybe me, i don't know. >> okay. he's being coy, sort of. what do you think is going to happen? >> look, i think that trump values loyalty above all else. rudy giuliani has been a scrapper for him, a street fighter for him. if he then wants to turn out to be the chief diplomat, it might make you scrat

rudy giuliani is critical to be the attorney general. the most important agency in this government is clean up that justice department and because this president is going to come under all kinds of attacks. lou: you know, you keep saying the most important and i'm sure you're right but all i can think of, i look at that government right now. there such a bureaucratic morass beneath the face we've seen for almost eight years, get rid of those faces, that is the top of it, and the next three or four levels, there's still a tremendous, a tremendous mess to clean up across nearly all of the departments of the federal government. >> here's what i did in the reagan days. they asked me what kind of notice should we give the political appointees, i said give them a week. when i was a ford appointee, carter gave us two weeks, i want to show i'm tougher to be here. we wrote a letter, have you one week to keep them. and get them out. if they are there, they are there, they function, settle in and want to make sure your people aren't captured by the

let's talk about rudy giuliani. has been openly asking, pleading for on some level, campaigning for the secretary of state position. for the better part of a week, the position trump transition officials were confirming he had the leading role toward getting. when asked today, donald trump, the president-elect, about whether or not rudy giuliani was in line for the secretary of state. he nodded and said, also some other things, as well. a hedge there and good reason why. we talked about it all day yesterday, poppy. mitt romney coming in under active consideration for secretary of state. still a lot of questions about whether that's a real position, real possibility. no question at all, the president-elect is intrigued by the possibility. that may mean rudy giuliani might not be in position for that, poppy. >> phil, all right, so let's play a little game here, if you will. that is, let's assume that it is between giuliani and mitt romney for secretary of state. you've also got to think, you know, what message would d

rudy giuliani has little foreign policy experience. he made it clear this is something he is interested in. he was in a "wall street journal" forum where the issue of the attorney general's post came up. he said i'm not going to be the attorney general. he didn't say that about the secretary of state post. here's part of the conversation here. >> they reported the choice for secretary of state. i'm going to ask you about it. >> john would be a good choice. >> anybody better? >> maybe me. i don't know. >> politico is reporting about some of the potential conflicts of interest that could hold up a potential appointment of rudy giuliani. his paid consultant with foreign governments like qatar and those that could pose issues. >> peter alexander and we told you we would bring you harry reid. there he is. let's take a listen. >> that's i trillion dollars and some say $3 trillion. that's in need of help and repair. it's an automatic job creator. each time we try to do something over the decades on infrastructure, we are up against obstructio

i think rudy giuliani would have trouble getting confirmed. if you spent the last, essentially, four years prosecuting hillary clinton and her husband of all the ways they made money and what they did, rudy giuliani is no better. for republicans to confirm rudy giuliani after he went out insulting latin america governments and european governments and making money with all the people he is working with -- >> i think it's worth mentioning petraeus here. that's unbelievable. he was out on the campaign trail talk about how petraeus -- how hillary clinton should have gotten the petraeus treatment. which is basically an admission that petraeus misused classified information. mishandled classified information. now you're going to put him in one of the primo spots. >> trump loves generals. part of this is the tone you pick. right now people on the national security team are more hard-liners. it would be hard to see mitt romney if he's on the team how does he sit down with the national security adviser general michael flynn when he says things like th

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rudy giuliani was an early backer of donald trump. and part of any transition is rewarding those people who have been loyal, whether it's -- >> that's right. >> good or not. >> there is nothing unusual here about what's going on. donald trump is in the moment of putting his stamp on the government of the united states. it's going to be a trump government. that's the way it works. the old saying from the andrew jackson days goes, to the winner goes the spoils. this is how it works. >> kuchner at the center of this in fighting, that people describe things as a knife fight, clearly a purging of chris christie. >> i never met jared kuchner. i hate going after family. i don't. kids are impressive. i'm sure the son-in-law is impressive. they're not children but adult children who are now assuming real power and influence. i suppose that makes him a target. i'm not ready to cast stones at him. this is clearly coming from inside trump land. people are attacking the president-elect's son-in-law. >> how common is that in a transition at this st

the former new york mayor rudy giuliani was under consideration for secretary of state. the president-elect is also considering former rival mitt romney for the post. the two spoke for over an hour saturday. >> i would tell you that it was -- it was not only a meeting, but also it was a very substantive meeting. >> reporter: many democrats remain concerned about those already offered key roles in trump's administration, including attorney general nominee jeff sessions. the alabama senator has been accused of making racially insensitive remarks in the past. >> he's going to need a very thorough vetting. many of those statements are old but still troubling. >> reporter: reince priebus talking about. has earned bipartisan praise for nominating mike pompeo as cia director and along with sessions the kansas representative would need to be confirmed by the senate. trump's tran circumstances team says rick perry will meet with trump later today and is being considered for a cabinet post including defense, energy, and veterans affairs. >> hena daniels in new york, thank you so m