The country and how bannon fits into the picture. John and christine. Thank you. Questions about the lines of the nations business and Family Business. Word that donald trump is considering asking for top security clearance for his three grown children and soninlaw. Kushner was the force behind the scenes for the campaign. According to a source, the president elect has not formally made the request and none of the children have filled out the paper work. Granting clearance raises conflict of interest as the children will run the trump corporation. And at the top of the short list fortre treasury secretary steve mnuchin. He was off to hollywood where he became an investor and movie producer. His recent hits suicide squad and the lego movie. In may, he became the finance chairman of the trump campaign. He has already vetting and recruiting deputies. The treasury secretary oversees banking and government debt. He was sued by the trustee trying to recover money for victims of Bernie Madoffs ponzi scheme. He led the group that bought indymac. After paying millions in fines for the foreclosure practices, he sold it for 3. 4 billion. And the trump transition discussion and joining us is Ellis Henican. The big question is, trying to match what we know already with what will happen. What we know is you have this twoheaded thing in the white house. Chief of staff Reince Priebus. Insiders insider and steve bannon as the strategist. He ran breitbart which a lot of people see as spewing antisemitic rhetoric. He wants to tear up the system. You have this working in opposition already. What does that mean as he fills the cabinet . I think the knife fight word that you used a moment ago is pretty apt. People fundamentally pulling in the opposite directions. It isnt the minuta. That is the kind of person who becomes the treasury secretary. Laura ingraham as press secretary . The entire act is incendiary and hostile to the people. Who will be sitting in the room in front of her. It is a hard place to begin the job as babysitter which is what the press secretary is in a way. Bannon certainly, at this point, the most awesome, i guess, would be a good word to suggest there. He is not the kind of guy that has ever in the history in our lifetimes been in a position as important as chief strategist to the president of the United States. Isnt there always a push and pull at this time . There are 4,000 appointments to be made and which direction to go. Isnt it always like this . Always a moment of jockeying who will have the ear of the president . On steroids. Usually, christine, this is predictable. A huge set of allies that the incoming president has. I look at some of the names on the lists. We have some of them. You have people who supported both candidates or both parties. Its almost as if this is the Third Party Candidate who ran as a republican and this is what it would look like if you saw the picks. They are talking about Ben Bernancke and jamie dimon. Interesting. Dont forget that just being floated and named doesnt mean that person is likely to get the job. There are a lot of reasons to put someones name out there. Flattery is one of them. Always nice to be mentioned. Maybe you want to show im casting a wide net here. It was a small universe of people supporting donald trump from the beginning largely. These people showed fierce loyalty. Many think they should be rewarded. It is not a quid pro quo. They stood up for donald trump. They werent looking for jobs when they supported trump. That would be a bad bet. These people were fiercely loyal to trump. There is also the phenomena we have been watching. President obama out there. There has been no greater ambassador to the world for the future Trump Administration than current president obama. Listen to what the president said yesterday. I also think that he is coming to this office with fewer set hard and fast policy prescriptions. I dont think he is ideological. I think ultimately, he is pragmatic in that way. And that can serve him well. As long as hes got good people around him and he has a clear sense of direction. President obama has always said he respected how george w. Bush left office. This is that on steroids to quote Ellis Henican a moment ago. He would not take the bait on steve bannon yesterday. Ill give you two theories. One, he is giving the incoming president a name to live up to. Thinking donald trump doesnt know how to be president. And if barack obama can be a mentor, maybe he can influence him. The other explanation is that maybe obama said this guy is so different from me. I want to show this difference and emphasize how it is that a grown up and mature individual acts in a situation. I heard people talk about Jeff Sessions. He has been a loyalist. One of the few. Many in his party were bailing like chrrazy. Will he have a big role . I think he will have a big role. I dont know if it is secretary of state. Rudy giulianis name keeps coming up. I dont know whether that will happen. I dont think that is settled yet as far as we can tell. If he wants a big job, hes got a big job. Thats an absurd list. I dont think it will be Richard Armitage or henry paulson. Jeff sessions will get a job if he wants it. State or defense. Attorney general. He is a lawyer. He had trouble getting a federal bench job in the 90s because people said he had a racist past. Look at the sec. It was not full. The chairman is leaving. A lot of work to do. President obama in athens right now. This is the first leg of the final trip as president. Coming up, how he is trying to soothe tensions around the world. Nervous leaders about president elect trump. Is it a force of nature . Or a sales event . The season of audi sales event is here. 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Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Ask your dermatologist about otezla today. Otezla. Show more of you. A few minutes ago, air force one landed in athens. President obama on the final foreign trip of the presidency. This is part of a tour which takes him to germany and peru. The goal now is to ease Global Concerns about president elect trump. The current president is hinting he is serving an unlikely ambassador for the next president. In my conversation with the president elect, he expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships. So one of the messages i will be able to deliver is his commitment to nato. International diplomatic editor nic robtson is live in athens with us. What do people want to hear about president elect trump . Reporter they like to hear there will be stability and continuity and they can rely on the United States as a strong partner. A partner that president obama talked about there. In nato, president obama will deliver that message in a couple hours. He will meet with the greek president and Prime Minister. When he gets to germany later in the week and meets with the chancellor and the president president and italian and spanish Prime Ministers. The message of reassurance that he is talking about that the president elect trump will continue with the understanding that nato and the Transatlantic Alliance is important as important to europe as the United States. Here in greece, however, people are hoping to hear something about debt relief from president obama. They hope president elect trump listens to that as well. This country is mired in debt. Thats what the people feel. Greece had to deal with huge waves of refugees from the middle east. Hundreds of thousands over the past couple years. President obama likely to reiterate the message we heard from him before when he was speaking with the italian Prime Minister last month. That greece, italy and germany cannot expect to share the burden alone. Why is that important to the incoming president , president elect trump . Why . Because we remember a year ago those attacks in paris, isis attacks. Some of the attackers posed as refugees and came through greece. Hoping greece helps europe, helps the United States. Beautiful shot, Nic Robertson. Nic, thank you. After months of blasting canada, president obama is now urging americans to give president elect trump a chance. In his first News Conference, president obama fielded questions about his successor. He answered for the most part in complime complimentary terms. Athena jones as the latest. Reporter good morning, john and christine. President obama spent the press conference touting the achievements on health care and climate changes. After months spent slamming president elect trump as unfit to be commander in chief, the president declined to continue to question the qualifications. I asked if he still thought trump was unfit to lead. The people have spoken. Donald trump will be the next president. The 45th president of the United States. And it will be up to him to set up a team that he thinks will serve him well and reflect his policies. And those who didnt vote for him have to recognize thats how democracy works. Reporter i asked the president what message he thinks president elect trump is saying with the appointment of steve bannon. Breitbart news has championed white nationalists themes. Campaigning is different from governing. I think he recognizes that. I think he is sincere and wanting to be a successful president and moving this country forward. I dont think any president ever comes in saying to himself i want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country. I think hes going to try as best he can to make sure that he delivers. Not only for the people who voted for him, but for the people at large. Reporter the president also offered trump advice because of the nature of campaigns and bitterness surrounding the campaigns, it is important for trump to send some signals of unity and reach out to minority groups or women or any other voters who may not have been donald Trump Supporters and may be concerned the direction of the country. I should say he also sounded hopeful saying he found trump during his 90 minutes discussion with him in the oval office to be non ideologue. Back to you. Athena jones, thank you. Monday night football. Giants trying to accomplish something they have not done in three years, but they would have to get past the Cincinnati Bengals first. Coy wire with the bleacher report. Thats next. Everything your family touches sticks with them. Make sure the germs they bring home dont stick around. Use clorox disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. So i wanted you to have the ring to match. At jared, we only sell one piece of jewelry. The Engagement Ring of her dreams you had designed just for her. In fact, with Custom Design Services in every jared. Anything you can imagine, our expert jewelers can create. Something completely original, completely unique. Completely her. Custom design thats why he went to jared. All right. The giants won a nail biter on monday night football against the bengals. This was their fourth win in a row. Coy wire has the bleacher report. The giants are on fire right now. Their six wins matches the total wins in the past two seasons. They have not looked this good since the super bowl run. Odell beckham jr. Freezes the defender like the mannequin challenge. Catches the pass from eli manning and channels michael jackson. This was the moment right here. Giants gamble on fourth down early in the fourth quarter. Look at this. Touchdown. Rookie sterling shepard. Eli manning had three touchdowns in the giants 2120 win over the bengals. Rob gronkowski is injured, but conflicting reports on how bad he is. First, gronk punctured his lung sunday night. Now the report is suggesting it is not that severe. Gronk will go through more testing. He said this is one of the hardest hits of his career. He is like ill be all right. I have two lungs. Status is unclear. Good news for berman, they play the 18 49ers. And the clippers are winners of seven straight. They are putting a beatdown on everybody. Including themselves. Jordan goes in for the hug. But dang, a little too hard. That was the only headache all night as the clippers cruise to the 12795 victory. If you are tired of the mannequin challenge, too bad. Gonzaga student section pulled it off before the game against San Diego State that we had to show you. Reporters, cheerleaders, students all frozen in time. If you like that one, how about this under water mannequin challenge. The university of Pacific WomensWater Polo Team taking it to a whole new level. Christine, you love that one. No bubbles or anything. I love that one. How many times do they have to do that . Good stuff for you. I want to know how many fads can i miss . Can i completely miss . The mannequin challenge. The last one. Get your partner in crime and bust one out on social media. Big. Strong. Coy, thanks so much. Four key cabinet posts for the Trump Administration which could be named as early as today, but its not easy. One insider describes the process as a knife fight. Thats coming up. I just want to find a used car without getting ripped off. Start at the new carfax. Com show me used trucks with one owner. Pretty cool. [laughs] ah. Ahem. Show me the carfax. Start your used car search at the allnew carfax. Com. whispers rocket at clorox 2 weve turned removing stains into a science. Now pretreat with clorox 2 watch stains disappear right before your eyes. Remove 4 times more stains than detergent alone. they tell me im wrong to want to stand alongside my, my love whoa, talkin bout my love transition trouble. The trump Team Fighting over key cabinet positions and questions of who is really in charge. Security clearance for the kids. A source tells cnn that trump wants to let his Adult Children in on some of americas secrets. President obamas First Priority on his final trip to europe. Calming fears about the next president. Welcome back to early start. Im christine romans. Im john berman. 30 minutes after the hour. Nice to see you this morning. Later this morning, Vice President elect mike pence goes to trump tower to talk cabinet positions with president elect trump. Up for discussion, department of education and commerce and state. This meeting comes along with a knife fight over key appointments to the posts. A source tells cnn that the sharp split pits republicans like Reince Priebus priebus against outsiders like steve bannon. These men will share power inside the white house and then there is trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner who played a huge role in the campaign and now in the transition. Leading to results that one source calls baffoonary. I want to bring in jim acosta with the latest at trump tower in new york. Reporter john and christine, mike pence will be here at trump tower to begin the process of narrowing down the names that will be filling the most important cabinet positions in the new Trump Administration. Among the names talked about former mayor Rudy Giuliani as secretary of state and Jeff Sessions for attorney general. Top Trump Officials are defending steve bannon as strategist. Kellyanne conway says bannon will make an excellent chief strategist. I worked closely with mr. Bannon. You need to look at the full resume. He has a harvard degree. He is a former naval officer and former Goldman Sachs managing partner. Reporter and many ask how bannon fits in the picture. John and christine. Thank you, jim. New questions about the lines with the trump Family Business and americas business. Donald trump is considering asking for top security clearance for eric, don jr. And ivanka and Jared Kushner. In the transition team, the president elect trump has not made the request and none of the children have filled out the necessary paper work. This raises conflict of interest questions because the children would run their fathers corporation. Let us break down all of the comings and goings with greg valliere. Greg, great to see you this morning. Lets talk about the markets and what the markets want from the incoming Trump Administration. So far, they are getting mixed signals. Reince priebus, the insiders insider. That is a calming force, but then there is steve bannon. An outsider who ran breitbart which has antisemitic rants. And my issue is donald trump can do whatever he wants. For us who under estimated him, we do that at our own peril. I think if he hires his kids, he has the bannon co