Breaking news to start at the top of the hour. Donald trump is picking Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Frumds choice is unconventional but isnt that what weve all come to expect from the president elect . Plus, trump firing off twitter tirades against his critics, will it have a Chilling Effect on those who disagree with him snl trump voters on one College Campus calling for safe spaces is free speech under fire . What the people closest to the investigation think really happened. There is some big news, good evening by the way, on the transition tonight. What more can you tell us . Tomorrow morning, the president elect will announce who his top diplomat will be. Heres how this all happened. The president elect and Rex Tillerson didnt have a relationship prior to this process. This was actually driven in large part by three people. Robert gates, james baker and condoleezza rice. All people who recommended the president elect should sit down and have a conversation with Rex Tillerson, from that point, im told the two men hit it off, they had similar business backgrounds. And in those conversations, it was where the president elect reached a level of comfort with Rex Tillerson than he hadnt with anyone else. Hes reached a point where hes going to name the ceo of the Oil Giant Exxon to the secretary of state position tomorrow. What does that mean for the other candidates . Mitt romney taking to facebook this evening, to say it was an honor to have been considered for the secretary of state position and saying he had high hopes for this. It was a shock based on what we saw during the primary process, during the general election process it was a shock that the president elect was willing to bring mitt romney in at all. The two did have a phone conversation this evening, where the president elect expressed his sincere thanks clearly the two thinking much higher than the other. Rex tillerson will be the selection. The big question now is, what is the plan for the trump transition operation goingforward to secure this nominations eventual confirmation. There are democrats that are wary of Rex Tillersons backgrounds. There are republicans who are wary of his connections to russia. Because of his role in exxon, he has those connections. Already, senators like john mccain, have expresses concern about those connections, they will need to be addressed not just nor that confirmation, but to get through the committee. Why this delay . Theyre not ready . Is kind of the short and sweet answer to it, the reality is, the president elect has been focused, you talk to his advisers on his cabinet picks. Thats been evidenced by these constant stream of people who have been going in and out of trump tower over the last couple weeks. This is an important process, this is a crucial process to what his presidency will look like, how hes going to separate the real conflicts of interest that his business brings to the table every day. It was the president elect who announced this News Conference. He made a big deal about this december 15th announcement, with specifics about how he was going to separate himself from his business. That will no longer be happening. They simply werent ready. This is a very complicated process, we have never seen a president elect come to office with this many potential conflicts, this wide array of business interest and they havent finalized the structure to remove the president elect operation ali, and pass down the business to his children, the big question is, even if he takes himself out of the operational duties, he hands it to his children, will the conflicts of interest disappear in most likely no. And because of that fact, there are some concerns inside the trump operation about if the president elect is willing to go as far as he should, those concerns coupled with the fact that the lawyers arent there yet, mean this will be postponed until january. No News Conference and there hasnt been one since july 27th. No announcement about the business dealings that have raised Major Concerns about conflicts of interest. Youre a pro, i dont know who was talking loudly around you, but i would have surely lost my concentration, you kept right on going. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. Now to bring in todd gitland. Also, carl bernstein, and nationally syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager. Carl, Rex Tillerson getting the nod for secretary of state, hes very close to vladimir putin, is that a good idea . It depends hon how he performs and what he tells the senate at his confirmation hearings. Theres going to be a lot of problems raised in terms of carbon emissions, epa policies, and then theres also this whole question of the russians. The russians are looming large and larger over the Trump Presidency and there are basic questions that need to be answered. Especially about perhaps Donald Trumps conflicts of interest in russia. Does donald trump have a lot of loans, through his various businesses. In russian hands . His son, donald trump jr. Has been trumps personal ambassador to russia, this needs to be looked at. I think one of the things that were really learning here is trump is controlling this process of forming his new administration brilliantly, with no interest whatsoever in showing us a really open, truthful picture of what he is up to. And thats really our job in the press to develop a story. That has to do with the real truth of whats going on here. Dennis prager, what do you think of that . I didnt quite understand the last comment. I understood the previous ones, i dont understand what a truthful open process of appointing your cabinet means. Hes told the country who hes considering. Transparency, what is that . I dont understand what that means . When you pick your cabinet, you pick your cabinet, hes told the people who hes considered, we know everybody or just about everyone i assume that hes met with, i dont see that as an issue. As for russia, i would just asked professor gitlan dw. Did it disturb you when the Obama Administration did essentially nothing when russia an exed invaded and annexed part of the ukraine called crim crimea. Now when theres no damage done that we can show, we can only anticipate, the left is almost hysterical about russias influence on donald trump. If youre asking me, im not the left myself. What do you make of Rex Tillerson and to carls response as well. This is a man that has one value. The acquisition of reserves to pump more fossil fuel remnants into the atmosphere, to make life increasingly uninhabitable. I see him as yet another pick by trump who likes himself. Nothing that distracts from anything but power. Thats who hes comfortable with. Theyre replicas of himself. I hope that the media, instead of just covering the news meaning just reporting what his people are saying, id like to know how anybody knows that he is sincere in his conversation with mitt romney. I would like to see some excavation here, i dont mean of oil, i mean of a very an enormous corporation of which tillerson has been chief. Not only russia, but dozens of other countries. Its a private government of its own. Will we see information about tillersons practices . About how he is . Hes obviously not a diplomat. Obviously not anything but a deal maker toward the end of increasing the payoff to exxon mobil stockholders. Are we going to get a serious look at the man. It seems to me that both in terms of what happened in crimea and the horrible rape of the ukraine by russia, there are plenty of people on the left and right who condemned it, to look at this new presidency in terms of right and left is a great mistake, that what we really need here i think is a kind of unified attempt particularly by the press the mainstream press, the left press, the right conservative press to try to learn as much as we can about these people, about donald trump, and what this new presidency is. How is this new secretary of state going to deal with somebody like mike flynn who clearly is not qualified to be the National Security adviser to the president of the United States. Thats why i moved on, were sticking with this administration. The other administration is over now, pretty soon. I do want to move on to talk about trump cancelling the press conference for this week. Is he dodging the press because he doesnt want to answer many of these questions . Especially about conflicts of interest . I dont know why hes cancelled it. Unlike my colleagues on this panel. I cant tell the future as well as they can. They know how these people will interrelate, all i can say is, he cancelled it, i dont know why he cancelled it, maybe he feels he has nothing to gain, just as Hillary Clinton felt she had nothing to gain by having a press conference. I also have no idea why he cancelled fp im not terribly worried about the cancellation of a press conference. I think we can make too much of that. What we need to know is what are the conflicts of interest. And is there any reason whatsoever that he should not divest himself, totally, the whole idea that his family is going to continue to control these interests while hes president of the United States. I dont think the country had this idea that he was going to be the president of the United States and the Trump Enterprises was going to continue to go on. In this regard, there was an extremely thoughtful article today which really wasnt left right in this instance. You would appreciate it. The wall street journal has some prominent lawyer describe how there is no perfect solution to the problem of Trump Enterprises. If he needs to divest it all in some ipo, lets say, then you have the security and exchange commission, where you have his trump that is, being the person who appoints the commissioners. So theres literally nothing that can be done that except an honest administration, i dont think hes going to wake up every day and worry about whats happened to trump. Im not theres no way to know. Let him speak. It would have been nice if our journalism had explored the problem of trump as administr e administrator of a vast business empire, at the same time he was running for president of the United States. Why did we have to wait . We did that a number of times on this show, and got called nonpartisan. If i had a hat i would tip it, it was not very prominent in the hometown newspaper the New York Times i have to say. The Washington Post did a lot of terrific reporting on this question. Trumps children are an extension of donald trump, the idea that they are going to impartially conduct his business without regard to the profits that can be generate d with regard to their fathers presidency is ridiculous. I read that piece, and i thought it was a first rate piece. It seems to me, some kind of total divestiture of his holdings. And out of the family. Cash out. We know that mr. Trump has not been generous as a contributor. As a philanthropist. Perhaps this is the time for him to pivot and give it all away. Let me ask you this. Todd, you havent had todd, you havent had much time to speak, i have to get on to other things. Donald trump already got a lot of good press when he tweeted two weeks ago, he was going to leave his great business in total to focus on running the country. Is a perception more important than the reality, is he going to have i just tweeted it out, i can give the information, instead of having the press conference where it may seem real . I think its evident that trump thinks he can speak over the heads of the mob, the adoring mob, and go directly to his people. And his people dont care whats on cnn, they dont care whats in the New York Times or Washington Post. He believes that he can lock in, kind of mind meld. And that any institution that presumes to count that is not in his field of magnetism can be discarded. Its part of the waste of america that is to be dismantled because its in the way of his project, which has to do with wealth and power period. Stay with me, everyone, when we come back, the voters on one College Campus calling for safe spaces. Its not liberals, its trump voters. This is your daughter. And she just got this. Ooh boy. But, youve got hum. So you can set this. 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Ask your doctor about toujeo®. Share the spice of life. Voters on one College Campus calling for safe spaces in the wake of the election. Its not the voters you may think. Speaking of freedom of speech, student who is voted for trump at the university of michigan wrote a letter asking for campus wide safe spaces, its shameful to live in a nation where individuals are afraid to voice their beliefs for fear of being shamed. Nobody has died, the United States has not died. Democracy is more alive than ever. Simply put, the American People voted and trump won. Why do you say safe spaces would be a Bad Development . Youre asking me, safe spaces was invented by students of the left, whenever theres a conservative speaker on the campus. Who came to speak at various campuses and deny that there is a rape culture for example at the campus, the kids, and i would say children retreat to places with stuffed animals, play dough and other literally toys to play with to comfort them. They feel they should never be exposed to someone from the right. There is, however, a legitimate factor here, that kids who did vote for trump are ostracized and feel quite not micro aggressed against, but loathed and hated on the campus. Im still against the safe space, even for conservative students. The university should be a safe space for everybody, there shouldnt be any play dough stuffed animal safe places. Youre a professor initially that question was meant for you. What do you think . I think safe spaces are highly overrated. If there are Trump Supporters at the university of michigan who are dismayed because other students dont agree with them, i say, stick up for what you believe. Dont go wining to the administration. Thats supposed to be what soft left people do. I agree. Come on. I think we all agree on this. One at a time. Something that everybody on this panel agrees on. Only for the left. The safest space is a free debate and respect for real debate, this is nonsense thats been going on on campuses, and all those who have engendered it. What has happened to College Campuses where kids or students need safe spaces now, when i was growing up, there were a lot of people who hated me, not because of my ideology or politics, just because of who i was, the color of my skin. But all of that build up my armor. I think campuses should be free places where people who feel abused or in need of support can talk with their peers. They shouldnt interfere with the public life of the campus. They should occupy the center of the campus. They have the perfect right to meet and do what they like. If they want to play with toys. What they dont have a right to do is to demand. Im speaking with anyone regardless of color or ideology. They dont have a right to be insulate insulated. Where do you draw the line. We live in a world in which black students have been abused. Its not the trump people who have had swastikas painted on their environment. Its not them who are being threatened with raich, so i think you know, im not im not somebody who thinks that students dont have rights for selfprotection, and i think that the university at large is must be deeply committed to sustaining the zig knit at the and safety of every student. Its an assault on every student. Where do you draw the line . Do you draw the line with Richard Spencer, the right nationalist who spoke at texas a m . Do you draw the line with that . When i was at the university of michigan, george linken rockwell came to speak. He did not convert a sole so my knowledge, he was part of a series of okay, they were into cont