State right now, along with outgoing chair Reince Priebus. Whos going to become white house chief of staff. Its been a warm and friendly discussion, pretty engaging discussion for the last 20 minutes or so since they arrived at this restaurant. Inside the Trump International hotel. Right near Columbus Circle in fact, just across from our studios at cnn. And from what we can tell so far trump sort of started out the conversation, talked for a good five minutes or so, and then mitt romney chimed right no. Right now i can tell you both men are very animated but smiling. It is warm. There is obviously no animosity whatsoever that is left over what from what we heard during the primaries when mitt romney referred to donald trump as a phony and a fraud and donald trump talked about mitt romneys choking like a dog in the 2012 president ial election. Were seeing none of that venom on display here at this table. The person who seems to be doing the most listening right now is Reince Priebus. Hes having trouble getting a word in edgewise. But pretty elaborate setup in terms of getting this dinner started, anderson. We sat down roughly about an hour before the two principals arrived. Secret service swept the room, swept each individual customer at every table to make sure there wasnt any trouble. And then the two men walked right in with Reince Priebus just before 8 00. As we were talking to you here, we could tell you they are not even on to their first course. So theyre having a discussion right now. And from all appearances, anderson, this is a very positive meeting between the president elect and mitt romney. Are you part of a press pool . I mean did you just happen to be in this restaurant . Reporter i didnt quite make out that question. How did you get in the restaurant . Like what are you doing there . Did you know they were going to meet there . Are you part of a press pool following them . Reporter we had gotten a tip, anderson, before this dinner that it was possible that they could be here. So like any enterprising reporter, we decided to go ahead and make a reservation. We had no idea they would be sitting down in this dining room that is part of the restaurant. As a matter of fact there is a bar area and a dining area. They did not go to the bar area. They went to the dining area a couple of tables from where we are right now. 15, 20 feet from where were sitting right now, anderson. At one point Reince Priebus turned around and noticed me. Ill be very up front about that. But then went right back to the discussion. They dont seem to be distracted at all by having a reporter in the room. Some of his key advance security people were also in the room. They dont seem to be troubled by us being here at all. And we did not disturb them as they came in. They sat down and went right into their discussion. And i can tell you the most striking thing i can see right now anderson is there is absolutely no sense of any animosity between these two men. They are almost getting along like old friends. At one point i saw donald trump sort of crossing his arms for a good bit while mitt romney was talking. Sort of the body language of maybe hes not really liking what mitt romney had to say but went right back to having this very lively exchange. This is probably the most talked about dinner of the transition, and were watching it unfold right now. I assume cnn is picking up the check for you at this restaurant tonight because its pretty enterprising on your part. Was there a meeting at trump tower tonight between the two that preceded this dinner . Reporter in terms of what preceded this dinner the only thing that we know of between these two men, anderson, and ill confess im having a little trouble hearing you, was that meeting at the bed minister golf club a couple of weeks ago. That was their last meeting as we understand it. We were also told by a source that melania trump, the future first lady, and ann romney, the wife of governor romney, were going to be at this dinner tonight. They have not joined us as of this point right now. At this point its just the three men. The future white house chief of staff, donald trump, the president elect, and mitt romney, potentially the next secretary of state. And the trump team, what if anything are they saying about this, are they saying about mitt romney . What is the transition saying about mitt romney right now . Yes. You are hearing a big split, anderson. And there are people inside this transition who will tell you that selecting mitt romney as the next secretary of state makes a lot of sense because that will show the country that donald trump is capable of having thick skin, of getting over past grievances, and uniting the country. That is what is so tantalizing about making mitt romney the secretary of state. Of course you have people like Kellyanne Conway, Newt Gingrich, and lots of other supporters inside trump world who just dont like the thought, theyre aghast at the thought of mitt romney becoming secretary of state because of all the horrible things that were said about him. I can tell you that the press is now coming into this room now more anderson. The spray as they call it of all this. Youre going to have all it. The lead advance is bringing in a small pool of reporters and photographers. So hopefully, maybe our presence here helped open things up for this dinner anderson. There were some rumbles this might occur. So i dont want to take any credit for it. But it is amazing to see. There was that dinner the other night when the family went out, didnt tell the pool about it. Thats not the case tonight. The pool was informed about this. And now theres a small pool of reporters and photographers in here getting some shots of this meal. Well continue to check in with you. The dinner taking place caps a busy day in the trump transition. Just a short time ago we learned that former wall street executive and hollywood producer Steven Menuchin is expected to be named as trumps choice for treasury secretary and billionaire investor wilbur ross is expected to be tapped for commerce secretary. Earlier team trump named former labor secretary elaine chao to head the Transportation Department and representative tom price for health and human services. Lets talk about it now. Cnn political commentator and republican strategist ken madden joins us. Gloria borger. And usa today columnist kristen powers. Kevin, i want to start with you. You obviously have worked very closely with mitt romney. What do you make of them reaching out to mitt romney . Of the relationship they have on what they said about each other during the campaign . Well i think the initial outreach had to do with sending a message to a lot of republicans that donald trump was interested in uniting the party. And genuinely interested in getting some insights from somebody like mitt romney who has spent a lot of time working on National Security and Foreign Policy issues. And i think what that first initial meeting did was show another side of mitt romney, the side of mitt romney that Donald Trump Endorsed during his 2012 campaign. There was an existing relationship there before it frayed during this 2016 cycle. So i think that this particular event, whats interesting about this is the nature of it. Burying the hatchet is something you do over dinner. And it is a very personal breaking of bread is very personal, particularly when you have your spouses there. I think this is an indication that Reince Priebus is helping broker this burying of the hatchet between the two men. But how real do you think is the possibility that he could be named secretary of state . If theres only been the last meeting was a while ago and this is now a dinner meeting, thats not naturally a substantive meeting. I think its very possible. One thing i found interesting is as much as there are those inside the trump world in opposition to the idea of mitt romney being named secretary of state, nobody is declaring that it absolutely wont happen. And if there were folks inside that world that wanted to make sure that it wasnt going to thats what they would be predicting. And they would be dismissing the idea outright. And theyre not doing that. I think its very much a possibility. But donald trump does have a blessing here in the simple fact that he has a number of candidates for the secretary of state position that are very good, very qualified and have a lot of support amongst people inside inside the republican party. And gloria, its easy to read too much into a dinner. One side will say well he hasnt had dinners with any of the other interviewees. Although obviously hes spent a ton of time with Rudy Giuliani among them. He met with general petraeus just yesterday. Senator corker, hes obviously met with as well and others. But at the same time its easy to read too much into Something Like that. Well, look, i think this is high profile and they know it. And inviting mitt romney back for dinner, i was told by a source in the transition is meaningful. That was the word my source used. And i think if youre looking at this it is meaningful. These men could not be more different. Theyve said an awful lot of stuff about each other. I dont expect theyre ever going to be best friends. But i think what they are coming to and maybe im wrong is some kind of mutual respect. And i think what trump is going to demand from mitt romney is loyalty and trust. And i think, if i had to guess, that thats kind of the backdrop for all of this given the words that milt romney spoke about donald trump including calling him a con man. And i think that hes trying to, as donald trump does with his gut, sort of feel out somebody to see if hes a team player. And one thing i should point out is that sources in the romney world have kind of gone dark on this. And kevin, you know this better than i do. But theyre dark. Mitt romney isnt talking to them. Theyre not talking a lot to us. And romneys not lobbying for the job. Nor has he asked anybody to lobby on his behalf for the job. So if he gets it it is clear to me he wants this job or he wouldnt be having dinner there tonight. If he gets it, great. If he doesnt get, it hell go back to his life. Even if hes not the pick it does help donald trump to not only have a relationship with mitt romney but to be seen to be consulting him. Yeah, no, i think this is we dont really know what donald trump is up to here. We dont know how serious he is about romney or if hes just doing this to make it very clear that not only did he win but now the person who was tearing him down is basically coming and, you know, sort of being a is up plikant, bending to his will. And that makes donald trump probably makes him very happy and makes him look strong and it very easily could be what hes doing. Or he could be serious about it. We dont really know. As gloria said the romney people have been incredibly quiet. Arent saying much so we dont know what mitt romney is actually thinking. I think if he doesnt get it, it will look pretty bad for him to have gone this far and sort of turned around on everything that he said and then basically to have been treated like trumps like a cat playing with a toy. Kevin, along those lines, they approached him. And yet you have in an unprecedented way people from the Transition Team coming out, you know, throwing shade and attacking governor romney. Right. And they were an Unconventional Campaign that was very successful, and i expect they will be an unconventional transition, i hope successful and an unconventional presidency. They air a lot of their differences publicly. And the odd thing is i dont have a lot of criticism for that. Weve always asked that people in the political world be more ginn, be more transparent of what they say publicly matching what they say privately. And Kellyanne Conway and others have been very vocal about that. But they have always finished their statements by saying theres only one person who makes the decision and that person who makes the decision is president elect trump and and if he makes it that theyll support it. Kirsten it was interesting because Monica Langley from wall street journal was on last night and saying based on her reporting that nothing Kellyanne Conway was saying publicly was going rogue. That its wall done with Donald Trumps knowledge and forethought. And if that is in fact the case, which it seems to be her reporting has been very accurate, its very telling and interesting that he would want that message out there. And to kevins point i think it is a valid argument that we always call for transparency. The airing of differences certainly is transparent. I think that thats true, but i do think that there is an element of is this a very nice way to treat somebody who youre considering for a very high post in your administration . And just the public nature of this is very interesting. The fact that jim acosta got a tipoff that he was able to go there and see this. Theyre doing it in public. I would have expected it would be in a private room. Its very clear that trump wants everyone to see this. Well, and so sorry. Go ahead, gloria. Its a reality show. He does want all of us to see it. And mitt romney is a big boy. If he didnt want to go he didnt have to go. It also adds to the drama and adds to the conversation, and donald trump loves that. Likes that. That is something yeah. We should also point out a few moments ago gloria, carrier, a big airconditioning manufacturer, sent a tweet and i want to read it. It says, we are pleased to have reached a deal with president elect trump and Vice President elect pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in indy. More details soon. That decision, they had a decision to move jobs to mexico. It was a big talking point for donald trump on the campaign trail. He was very critical of it. This is obviously something which they were negotiating and its a big win for him no matter how you slice it. Sure. And we dont know the details of the deal or the conversations. But i would have to guess that what donald trump and mike pence were talking about is easing regulations, changing up the tax code to make it more beneficial for carrier to keep its plant in the United States. And that also that perhaps donald trump wouldnt impose heavy tariffs on Companies Like carrier in the future who did decide to move some jobs over there. I dont know exactly what was part of it. But i guarantee you Something Like this is going to be part of Donald Trumps economic plan, which would be more favorable to business, and then keep Companies Like carrier here. Its a big win for donald trump. He promises in the campaign. Hes not even in office and he worked to get it done. And the other day i think he tweelted about it saying were very close. He tweeted on thanksgiving saying even on thanksgiving were working on this. Right. The carrots and sticks. We dont know which was used in this or some combination thereof. Ahead the president elect thinks people who burn the American Flag should lose their citizenship or be thrown in jail. Well get to the constitutional issues that raises and also why he decided to start tweeting about that this morning. Why is he doing that in the first place . Is it to distract from other issues . Well look at that. And also tonight a live update from gatlinburg, tennessee. Raging wild fires have killed at least three people. Well have the latest on what caused the fires. The fight to contain them, which is ongoing. And the destruction theyre causing. Oh, god. Oh, man. This holiday, the real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give your loved ones ancestrydna, the simple dna test that can tell them where they came from by revealing their ethnic mix. Youll save 10 and theyll have a new story to tell. Order now at ancestrydna. Com and save 10 . I am totally blind. I lost my sight in afghanistan. If youre totally blind, you may also be struggling with non24. Calling 8448442424. Or visit my24info. Com. Our progressive direct rate. We let you compare great deals for reals . And our competitors rates sidebyside, so you know youre getting a great deal. Saving the moolah. [ chuckles ] as you can see, sometimes progressive isnt the lowest. Not always the lowest jamie. What are you doing . Im being your hype man. Not right now. You said i was gonna be the hype man. No, we said we wouldnt do it. Im sorry, we were talking about savings. I liked his way. Chaching talking about getting that moneeeey talking about getting that moneeeey savings worth the hype. Now thats progressive. Nobody should be allowed to burn the American Flag. If they do there must be consequences perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail. Well get to the issue of throwing someone in jail for constitutionally protected actions. But first the question of why donald trump was even tweeting about this in the first place. Seems to stem from a Small Liberal Arts College in massachusetts. Miguel marquez tonight joins us. So can you just explain first of all whats been going on at Hampshire College since the election . Reporter this has been a riotous time. The day after the elections students upset not only about the outcome of the election but the rhetoric leading into it and some of the hateful acts that they saw immediately after. Were protesting. They lowered the main flag at the campus to half staff. The next night, which happened to be the very Early Morning of veterans day, someone pulled that flag down and burned it. Theres now an investigation into ongoing, of what happened there. A week later the board of trustees and the College President decided to take the flag down because the protests werent stopping. And they said this in a statement. They wanted to focus the colleges efforts on addressing racist, misogynistic, islamophobic, antiimmigrant, antisemitic, and antilesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and were rhetoric an