Sources say trump called the 2012 gop nominee mitt romney personally last night to say it wasnt all a game. Tillersons nomination already generating controversy with no formal Foreign Policy experience. The business titan instead forming many Close Relationships by forming massive oil deals, including with Vladimir Putin, sparking criticism from both sides of the aisle. Anybody whos a friend of Vladimir Putin must disregard the fact that Vladimir Putin is a murderer, a thug, a kgb agent. Reporter this has trump and his top advisers continue to attack the cia over their findings that russia meddled in the election. It smells like politics, plain and simple. Reporter trumps camp offering no proof of their claims, as a Bipartisan Group of senators calls for a congressional inquiry. I think we ought to approach all of these issues on the assumption that the russians do not wish us well. Reporter president obama reiterating calls for a review to prevent russia from impacting future elections. This was not a secret running up to the election. The president elect in some of his political events specifically said to the russians, hack hillarys emails. Reporter trumps team says he wont interfere with an investigation. Hes the president of the united states. The legislature can do what it wants. Reporter for his part, trump delays a News Conference where he promised hed address how hell handle the conflicts of interest with his business. Trump tweeting late monday, he will be leaving his businesses before january 20th, and two of his three children, don and eric, plus executives will run the companies, notably no mention of his daughter ivanka, who is likely to step away from the businesses and serve as an adviser to her father. Trump also promising no new deals will be done during my terms in office. And trump will be continuing his thank you tour, heading to wisconsin tonight, then off to pennsylvania on thursday, orlando on friday, and mobile, alabama, on saturday. Also continuing to name names to his administration. We now have gary cohn, who will be the director of National Economic council. Weve got romney mcdaniel, who will be heading up the rnc. Shes the niece of mitt romney and was instrumental in helping him secure the state of michigan. Also reports now that former Texas Governor rick perry is now the top choice for the energy department. Youll remember back in 2011, poppy, he had that oops moment during the debate where he was trying to remember which of the departments he would eliminate if he became president. That department, by the way, he remembered, was the department of energy. Poppy . Well be watching. Jason, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Rex tillersons ties to russia may make his confirmation as secretary of state a pretty tough sell. We already know that, even from how some republican senators are reacting. Lets bring in cnns senior political reporter manu raju live from washington. Good morning. Reporter good morning, poppy. This could be Donald Trumps first big fight with his own party, with 52 republican seats, just three defections could be enough to prevent tillerson from getting the job. Were already hearing pushback from republicans about his ties to russia, from at least four republicans, including prominent voices like arizona senator john mccain. They want to hear more from tillerson first. But if he doesnt win over those skeptical gop senators, that means trumps pick may need support from senate democrats. And thats something harry reid, the outgoing democratic leader, told me yesterday may not happen. I dont know if he can get 50 votes or not. I think it might be hard for him to do that. Did the reports that youre seeing about his russian connections concern you in any way . Its in keeping with trump. Hes already stated he likes putin better than he likes obama, so its obvious he likes russia. Thats fairly concerning to the world and certainly concerning to americans. Its concerning to me. Reporter now, tillerson first will have to win approval from the Senate Foreign relations committee, where republicans have a oneseat advantage. Just one republican defection could be enough to derail the nomination. If the democrats stay united. And already republican senator marco rubio, who sits on that panel, has sharply criticized tillersons ties to Vladimir Putin. So chris, a lot of work ahead before tillerson gets the job. Yeah, other side to the coin. You know, criticizing somebody is very different than voting against them. If the gop holds ranks, they can get any nominee through. Very good to have the reporting. Thank you, my friend. Joining us now is jason miller, the Communications Director for trumps transition team. Good to see you. Chris, good morning. Lets deal with the big bear in the room. Obviously an analogy to russia. Rex tillerson very well known until the business world, respected by the left and the right on different levels. But his relationship with Vladimir Putin specifically is going to be in the cross hairs during this period of scrutiny, especially with the timing of the selection with all of this concern over russias involvement in our election. So what is the word from the president elects team about why tillersons relationship with Vladimir Putin should not be a concern. Well, first what were going to see with tillerson is someone whos been a Business Leader on the world stage, someone whos put together multilateral and bilateral direct deals. Were going to start seeing the world moving to that. Not only has mr. Tillerson put together deals with countries like russia, china, hes worked in the middle east. Every theater you can imagine in the world, he has deep financial, institutional ties where hes worked with these Different Countries to go and develop deals. The ties are the concern though, right . That his relationships, other than a diplomatic background, his business background means that his pocket was tied to his participation, especially in russia. We have to be able to go in and talk to people and have a dialogue. Thats the thing that were going to have with tillerson. Someone who can go in and understand what its like to work with finance ministers, someone who can go in and understand what its like to work with different leaders. A country doesnt necessarily have to be our best ally. That doesnt mean they have to be our enemy from day one. Thats the type of relationship tillerson will bring. So why didnt you pick Rudy Giuliani . He travels all over the world, not doing it just for a big exxon. He does it consulting about security and things that are germane. Why not him . Someone like Rex Tillerson really has proven himself on the world stage. Hes someone that when he sat down with the president elect, he impressed him right off the top. He was someone that the president elect said this guy is a worldclass businessman. Hes a worldclass, absolute negotiator. And thats the thing, we have to get back to winning for americans. Someone who can put together good, tough deals. Rex tillerson has actually stood up and said no to Vladimir Putin. Hes also someone who has the president of putin, where he can put together, find ways to Work Together on common fronts. We talk about isis and defeating radical islamic terrorism. This is an issue where tillerson has faced it in iraq, kurdistan, talking about the Different Things exxonmobil was dealing with, the safe it i and security of people. Hes seen what the destabilization can do to these countries. So the concern is the reason hes done deals with putin is because hes close to him. He got awarded that order of friendship thing that he doesnt see Vladimir Putin as the malefactor that American Government officials see him as. But weve had everyone from former nba coach to the former. Of canada, bishops, different people have won this award. This isnt anything big. Were talking about in Rex Tillerson someone who people know. His word is his bond. When he goes in, he negotiates tough. Hes known as one of the toughest negotiators in the entire planet. But when he goes in and gets that deal just the same way hes been fighting for shareholders, he now will start fighting for the american citizen to make sure that were getting good deals. So hes someone who can put these deals together, who can sit down across the table and represent not just the administration but our country on the world stage. Can he be tough on russia . Hes fought against the sanctions. If these hearings go the way they may about russias involvement in this country, the intel is pretty clear. If there are more sanctions that come, are we going to have a secretary of state who says, whoa, whoa, whoa, lets note put more sanctions on russia. He said these sanctions were ineffective and werent being properly executed. Thats one of the things mr. Tillerson said. Be careful who you hurt with your sanctions. He talked about how theyre ineffective and he didnt think they were going to work. Lets also talk about the common goals that we have here. We talk about defeating radical islamic terrorism. We talk about standing up to isis. What we have in Rex Tillerson is someone who on this when has he stood up to isis . Hes trying to protect his oil fields and pipelines. He understands what destabilization will do to these countries. Hes seen what it will do to people and how it will hurt people. Hes seen the security risk. Can he shift from profits to people seamlessly . Thats what hes worried about now, his deals, not people. No, hes always been about people. You have to look out for the safety and security of your people. Youre talking about your employees. He goes to places that have oil, not that have human crises. Hes not a humanitarian. Hes a businessman. Thats what he is. People are people. Youre going to stand up and look out for people wherever you are, talking about the safety and security, making sure people are okay. What can you cite in his record where he went to a place to help the human condition and not exxons Business Condition . A growing economy in a stabilized geopolitical structure within a country is something thats ultimately going to help people. True. Thats something where were going to see everybody lifted up. Lets talk about the breadth of experience Rex Tillerson has. You talk about putting multicountry deals together in africa, for example. Or getting a pipeline through multiple countries. We talk about being a leader of exxonmobil, someone whos worked on pipelines going into places like china, malaysia, thailand. Hes worked all over the entire world. The other thing, too, is lets talk about how good of a person he is. Not only is he figuratively a boy scout, the guy is literally a boy scout. He led the National Boy Scouts of america for ten years, won rave reviews for that. Hes someone who we can count on and we can depend on to fight for us on the international stage. Yet, the main focus is going to say lets see how that performance and background came to bear in russia. Right now, to take a line that you guys love, you got to call the enemy what it is. Radical islam. You dont seem to be talking that talk about russia. You have the president elect, whos denying without any basis of proof, the Intelligence Communitys assessment that russia was involved with the hacking that took place during our elections. He says its ridiculous. Now you have a man whos going to be secretary of state who gets the order of friendship medal from Vladimir Putin, a man called a murderer and a bully by a u. S. Senator. You loaded that one up. Lets talk about call it what it is. Radical islamic terror is the enemy. Do you see Vladimir Putin as the enemy . You threw out like four or five they thinings. Do you see Vladimir Putin as enemy . I dont think we have to look at him as the enemy immediately. Immediately . He just helped hack u. S. Elections. It would be insane to come in on day one before weve started sitting down, negotiating with people, looking for places where we can Work Together, and start taking people off the table and saying theres no way we can work with these people. What about on the basis of what hes done . Hes not an unknown. Hes very well known. This is where we talk about president elect trumps America FirstForeign Policy. Were going to look out for americans. Were going to look out for where we can actually Work Together he just tried to hack into and affect the u. S. Elections. Lets talk about the reuters report this morning where even dni hasnt embraced the cia report. Clapper came out on october 7th and said this is what russia does. Why would you deny this, jason . The attempts to delegitimize president elect trumps win is just silly. What have i just said . Listen, let me say it to you nice and straight, man to man. Donald trump won the electoral college. He is the next president of the united states. Huge, huge. Biggest republican win since 1988. Dont worry about your political cover. Why wont you call this what it is . October 7, clapper comes out, the head of the dni, and says this is what russia does. It has all the signatures of it. Theyre trying to increase some types of influence in our election. You say its ridiculous. Why . The reason why donald trump won this election is because he had a whos talking about why he won it . Youre trying to delegitimize the election. No, im not. Im trying to get you to see russia for what it is. You have real blinders on about this. No, im talking about very simply donald trump won this election, now were moving on. What were talking about today is how were going to reestablish americas place in the world on the international stage. Thats what Rex Tillerson is going to do. Why are you running away from a simple proposition . Vladimir putin directs the actions of russian intelligence. You just had the u. S. Intelligence say that russia tried to negatively influence our elections, and you say, we won, we won, we won. Why are you defending russias actions . Thats what makes all this so suspicious. American intelligence agencies cant even agree. They have tons of on the ground intel. Nobody is questioning why he won. Nobody is questioning that. Im telling you, this is going to the level of bizarre. He won. I just said it to you. Nobody is questioning that. Im saying why defend what russia did in our election . What im defending is the fact that president elect trump is putting in a secretary of state whos going to stand up and represent us well on the international stage. Rex tillerson is someone whos stood up and told Vladimir Putin no. Hes also someone who has stood up and been able to find ways where he can Work Together on things. Hes going to find where we can work with other countries to defeat radical islamic terrorism and isis. Hes someone who understands the importance of a stable geopolitical environment to grow economies and look out for human safety. The other thing, too, the way he understands and has these relationships with finance ministers as we talk about all these difficult leaders. We talk about something thats almost better than knowing government officials around the world. In a lot of places youve had administrations or regimes who have gone and changed over the years. In many cases, the Business Leaders, the people who Rex Tillerson has been dealing with, have been the same. He has these relationships where he goes in and sits down, the trust has already been built there. When he fights for americans, were going to have someone whos proven on the international stage. Jason miller, appreciate you making the case for the president elects nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. Always good to have the conversation with you. Thanks, chris. Poppy . Good conversation, guys. Thank you. President elect donald trump says he doesnt need to have the daily Intelligence Briefings every day. We want to know what he said on those calls. What are they like . Why are they daily . Joining us, someone who used to give that briefing, next. Your Insurance Company wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. President elect donald trump has been getting the daily intelligence briefing only about once a week. So president obamas offering advice to the president elect. Here it is. It doesnt matter how smart you are. You have to have the best information possible to make the best decisions possible. And my experience with our intelligence agencies is that they are not perfect. Theyd be the first to acknowledge that. But they are full of extraordinarily hard working, patriotic, and knowledgeable experts. And if youre not getting their perspective, their detailed perspective, then you are flying blind. All right. Lets bring in cnn cou