Well talk with the former head of the intelligence agency. General Keith Alexander is with us as we look at mm mm. For more on the trump transition, with me, newt gingrich, former speaker of the house, and a fux news contributor. Thanks for joining us. Its great to be back with you. Broadly speaking, how would you characterize the transition so far . We had a great conversation last week with Steve Mnuchin and wilbur ross who seems focused on tax reform, rolling back regulations, but broadly characterize what we have seen so far . President elect trump first of all has been very methodical and looked at absolutely first class people and has picked people who will be tough and intelligent and have a lot of experience. His choice of betsy devos for education is remarkably powerful because she spent years of her life fighting for the right of poor children in neighborhoods with bad schools, to have the choice of going to a better school. Shes spent a great deal of her own personal money in this crusade to help poor children. You can hardly have a better person as secretary of education. At the same time, elaine chaos ability to understand the federal government will bring her a very important secretary of transportation at a time when a very Large Infrastructure Program is going to be a key part of the make America Great jobs program that trump is in favor of. I look around. General mattis is as good as anybody i have worked with in the Defense Department in the last 30 years. Hes a remarkable person. I am delighted they could talk him into doing it because hes a total patriot, and he will bring a very calm, very measured approach to that job. Hes very respected across the entire defense establishment. And congress has to pace a waiver, but im confident it will go through with virtually no opposition because jim mattis is such a remarkable guy. I look at what hes done up until now, wilbur ross is a brilliant guy, and knows how business works. Has proven it himself. Steve mnuchin was described to me as one of the smartest finance people in the world, and the treasury secretary is an operational job. You have to make it work every day. Its not theoretical, and he will bring great experience and intelligence to making the job work. The idea that donald trump is tweeting this morning about companies leaving the country and there will be consequences. Theres some debate about that. I understand making america, you know, the most favorable place to do business, and making the tax code so attractive that you dont want to leave. But to Warn Companies that there will be consequences, do you worry about this kind of tone . No, i dont, because i think hes trying to jar the system. You know, he isnt going out and saying im going to pick on you individually. Hes saying look, theres a class of behavior which were going to have a response to and were sending a install this is going to be different, and it is going to be different. This is something people ought to get in their heads. Hes going to intervene. Every governor in the country intervenes to keep factories in their state or intervenes in order to convince someone to invest and build a factory in their state. Trump understands what the governors understand, which is were in a Worldwide Competition with mexico, with china, with other countries. And hes going to work very hard to figure out, and this is part of why he picked wilbur ross and Steve Mnuchin. He wants to figure out how do we create an environment in which its so desire nl to be in the u. S. , and so expensive not to be in the u. S. , so yex pkt to see them take some steps to make it harder to import and easier to export as part of their general strategy. Thats what he said in the tweet this morning, basically saying there will be a tax on our soontobe Strong Border of 35 for those companies who leave the country, produce goods overseas like in mexico, much cheaper, and then try to get the products back into the u. S. And the only question is, does that tax apply to everybody . If youre toyota or mercedes, are you also going to pay that tax . I suspect the tax will apply to all imports. And at the same time, i suspect hes going to create a rebate so if youre the mercedes plant in alabama, you get money back if you ship your cars out of the company. But youre going to pay a tax to get the cars into the u. S. Isnt that 35 potential tariff the one thick that business and individuals were afraid of about his trade talk during the campaign, newt . Isnt that what we have been worried about . Then he said he was going to use it as a tool. Is it just a tool and a threat . Or are we going to see a real disruption in terms of our trading partners with this potential tariff . Look, i think this again goes to the heart of trumpism and why he was elected. Were running 600 and 800 billion a year deficits. If you cut that in half, that means you have disrupted a number of countries. If you actually turn it into a surplus over the next ten years, you have really disresulted a number of countries. The question is do you want to keep running huge deficits and costing american jobs but having Cheaper Products . Or are you prepared to pay a little more for imported products but have dramatically more american jobs . These are very disruptive moments in American History and so far the sentiment in the congress and the president ial election, even secretary clinton was against the trade deal she had been in favor of because she found it was politically unsustainable. You make a great point. Let me move on to taiwan. What do you make of this . He says she called him, and of course, im going to take the call to, you know, answer the congratulations tone. But this is being looked at as a real pushback and a message to china. How do you see it . I love this. I love this at every level. First of all, i like the idea that if the freely elected leader of 23 Million People, this is the third time that the taiwanese have had an election in which the Opposition Party has won. So they actually have a genuine free government. This is the first woman elected in her own right without having a husband or a father who was president before her. Shes a totally legitimate figure. She calls you. Now, understand the old establishment, the old timid state department, the old rules, we would have turned down the phone call on the rules we dont want to offend the dictatorship of beijing. Trump said, if she wants to talk, ill talk to her. Hes talked with the freely elected leader of a country. Now, the second thing i like about this is it cuts straight across all of the state department ideas. Nick burns, a big guy in the state department for years, said im afraid trump is not listening to the state department. I tweeted, i hope not, we elected him not to listen to the current state department. Lastly, its a good signal to the chinese. Beijing does not dictate who an american president speaks to. And they need to be under no illusions. Donald trump is different, not hostile to china, but at the same time, hes not going to kowtow and do what the chinese want. This is very inexpensive, lowkey way of doing that. At the same time, china is responding. Are we going into the new presidency with an already hostile tone to a country that is supposed to be one of our most important allies . China . Theyre not one the chinese currently are trying to establish control over several islands in the north china sea where theyre claiming the right to establish an air corridor they will control. Theyre inventing islands in the South China Sea where theyre trying to establish a claim of sovereignty over the entire region. You know, we need to be clear. The chinese are not our enemies, but they are our natural competitors right now. Theyre behaving like competitors and we dont need to go into some kind of cold war, but we need to be calmly and cheerfully firm that the United States in fact is not automatically going to do what beijing wants it to do. And of course, this is going to be a job also for his next secretary of state. Do you expect that position to be announced this week . There was a report yesterday that now romney and giuliani are out. Whats your take on whos going to take that role . Let me Say Something i have learned spending the last two years studying donald j. Trump. I have known him for many years but starting in january of last year, i talked to him about running and ever since we paid pretty close attention. No one knows. Theres only one person who knows who is going to be secretary of state. That person may not have yet made their mind up. When they do, it will be the person they want. It could be giuliani, it could be romney, it could be petraeus, it could be senator corker. It could be ambassador john bolton. Lots of talented people out there. What im impressed with and i hope everybody will take note of this. This has been his hardest decision for a lot of reasons. A very hard job to fill because each guy has strengths and also has weaknesses. And whats been impressive to me is his patience. And methodically, calmly going through. He knows some of us are deeply opposed to romney. That hasnt stopped him. He knows theres people strongly in favor of romney. That hasnt automatically moved him. He knows giuliani has many support supporter. Im one of them. That doesnt automatically get him anything. I have admired the very deliberate, very calm way in which trump has gone through this. Hes been very methodical. As you know, i am not a fan of romneys, but if they have had several long meetings and had several deep conversations, and with this call from taiwan, for example, i think trump is indicating how central he will be to relations around the world and that hes not going to be the state departments automatic puppet. I think in that kind of setting, whoever he ends up picking is somebody ill support because i think trump is the person who has to have a vision of his administration and his cabinet. And he deserves some respect for having really very methodically worked this problem. Really extraordinary whats happening before the inauguration. So much activity. Mr. Speaker, great to see you. Thanks so much. Always a pleasure. Newt gingrich there. President elect trump is not skipping a beat when it comes to working with congress. What can we expect from january and beyond . Well talk with Cathy Mcmorris rodgers next. Follow me on twitter. Let us know what you would like to hear in the upcoming interviews. Were looking ahead right now on sunday morning futures. Well be right back. Listen, sugar, were lettin you go. Its that splenda naturals gal, isnt it . Coffee look, shes sweet, shes got natural stevia, no bitter aftertaste, and zero calories. All the partners agree . Even iced tea . Especially iced tea. Goodbye, sugar. Hello, new splenda naturals. Goodbye, sugar. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempasĀ® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. 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What does that mean from the new administrations first 100 days and beyond . I want to bring in Washington State congresswoman Cathy Mcmorris rodgers. Newly appointed covice chairman of the trump pence president ial Transition Team. Good to see you. Thank you for joining us. Great to be with you. This role, new role as vice chair of the trump transition announced this past week, tell us about that role and what youre doing. Well, im really thrilled to be joining the Transition Team as one of the vice chairs. Were meeting on a regular basis and this is the team identifying the best and brightest across the country for president elect trumps consideration, and realize, there are over 400 positions that the senate will have to confirm. Over 4,000 positions within the federal government. So were meeting on a regular basis, identifying the priority positions, and then the chairman of the Transition Team, Vice President elect pence, is the one that is guiding us through this and helping us identify what these positions are, and hes just looking for names. Anyone whos interested should go to greatagain. Gov, submit their resume and get in. A lot of positions, 400 to be confirmed. 4,000 throughout government. Let me ask you about the priorities there, congresswoman, because theres a lot of debate about the meetings that trump is having. Romney comes to mind. How important is it for the team to have Something Like a team of rivals . People on the other side, people who may have been critical of donald trump along the way. Is that a priority in terms of who youre speaking with in these meetings . I am encouraged. When you look at president elect trump, hes looking at a broad base of people from around this country. Really seeking the best and the brightest. I think that that speaks very highly of him, and those hes appointed are ones we can really be proud hes putting in these positions. People that have a record of success, can hit the ground running. I think that this is going to speak highly does speak highly of him and will continue to serve him well in this process. And i would also note that he is ahead of schedule. When you compare this transition to other transitions, the people that hes appointed today, the positions that hes already nominated someone, he is operating at a record pace. Lets talk about what you believe is doable in terms of getting through congress and actually becoming law. Steven mnuchin, the incoming treasury secretary last week told me the first 90 days after the inauguration, hes going to be trying to implement tax reform. Mike pence told the wall street journal that in the first 100 to 200 days, theyve got plans aimed at fulfilling Core Campaign promises, jump starting Economic Growth. Realistically speaking, what do you think passes congress and what will we see in terms of some of the first new laws . Right, well, obviously, this is an amazing moment that we have been given. Theres a lot to be done. This is our opportunity to think big and reimagine this federal government. The conversations about the first 100 days, the first 200 days, are under way right now between the trump, new trump administration, the house, and the senate. We have a lot of work to be done. We want to hit the ground running. You look at some of these priorities, whether its the repeal and replacement of obamacare, yes, tax reform is a top priority. We want to get this economy growing. This is a president elect who campaigned and really connected with the working men and women of america. And that is going to be our priority, to lift the tax burden, the Regulatory Burden, the skyrocketing cost of health care. Those are all going to be priority items for this new administration and the new house and senate. One of the bills that just passed the house, the 21st century cures act, tell me how that fits in, funding rnd for lifethreatening diseases . Yes, 21st century cures. This is legislation we have been working on for over three years, brought bipartisan support. This mixture that america continues to be the leader in medical innovation. You think about personalized medicine, the amazing scientific discoveries and the collaboration we need to have taking place in america. This is an important legislation that will insure that america continues to be the leader in medical innovation and that the jobs and the Research Stay right here in america. Real quick, we know that a lot of announcements are expected this upcoming week. Will we learn who secretary of state is this week . You know, theres a lot to be done. I think president elect trump is the only one that knows that answer. But i have been encouraged by the approach hes been taking. Congresswoman, good to see you. Thank you for joining us today. Great to be with you. We appreciate it very much. Were talking about rolling back regulations next and tax reform. Those are the two priorities for the new administration in terms of getting that economy moving. Can they get it