I decided, i guess it was, about ten days ago, november 29th, that the whole thing was becoming kind of very confusing and very difficult for the president elect and my desire to be in the cabinet was great, but it wasnt that great. And he had a lot of terrific candidates. Well, giuliani said the one name he does not think should fill a cabinet post is mitt romney. Lets get that. Lets listen. I probably agree with newt and be Mike Huckabee and a group of other very loyal supporters of president elect trump. I thought mitt went over the line in the things that he said about donald trump. You can make friends and make up, but i would not see him as a candidate for the cabinet. Well, thats for sure. Anyway, the state Department Post is one of the last cabinet posts that remains unfilled. An announcement is expected next week on that. Meanwhile, were watching a stage in grand rapids, michigan, where donald trump is set to address supporters at another thank you rally this hour. Well monitor his speech and bring you any major news out of it. We begin tonight with giulianis desire or decision to take his name off the list from secretary of state. What does it mean for the transition . Nbcs Kristen Welker is in grand rapids, tonight. Kristen, i get the feeling that Rudy Giuliani really, really, really wanted to be secretary of state. He campaigned for it. It would have been a hell of a decision, but what happened . Reporter look, i think a couple of things happened, chris. I think, one, trump world was divided. Weve been reporting on this for weeks. You had a lot of people who thought that mitt romney would be Rudy Giuliani would be great. Hes a longtime loyalist. And then you have people who have been campaigning against mitt romney. On the other hand, you have people who were expressing concerns about Rudy Giuliani, that he was too much of a hardliner, that he wasnt enough of a counterpoint to someone like a michael flynn. And then, of course, you had his background. The fact that there were questions regarding his past business dealings. Now, Reince Priebus has been very clear, all of that checked out. Still, chris, i think it left a shadow over Rudy Giuliani. And the bottom line is, and you heard Rudy Giuliani refer to it himself, the fact that it was becoming complicated for the president elect. That there were these two factions within trump world. Some who were fighting for romney, some fighting for Rudy Giuliani, and i think ultimately, he felt as though it was getting too complicated. Just as he said. And i think the president elect felt as much, as well. I also think other names have emerged, as top contenders, including Rex Tillerson. He is, of course, the ceo of exxonmobil. Hes someone who has done business deals in russia, in the middle east. And i am told that president elect donald trump and his top advisers are increasingly impressed by Rex Tillerson, and of course, he met with mr. Tillerson several days ago. So i think the fact that you have the president elect expanding his search, and you have all of these complicating factors around Rudy Giuliani, ultimately, Rudy Giuliani and the president elect felt as though this was the best decision and that it wasnt going to be Rudy Giuliani. But youre absolutely right, it is a stunning moment. Because for quite some time, a lot of people thought that it could be Rudy Giuliani. And now, tonight, a very different outcome, chris. Ive got one more thought. Youve watched trump, and i think theres sympathetic goiomn here. He doesnt mind being accused of too conservative or right wing. But i do think he wants to avoid any distraction in the first hundred days. The president only gets a little bit of time to get something done, as we all know, even from reagan and people like that, successful president s. Only get a few months. He doesnt want to have that tainted by some wild goose chase scandal problem, whether its giuliani. Hes in the same business in a rougher way, to chris christie. Goodbye, chris christie. In fact, goodbye to all your people. I dont want any problem you on the bridge. Is that whats going on . He just doesnt want any scandal story, true or not, to distract him from his oomph right up front, when he gets when hes inaugurated. Reporter i think youre absolutely right. And look, we saw that with Michael Flynns son, right . He was putting all of these conspiracy theories out on social media and he was fired, effectively, from advising his father. And so i think youre right. That was a real concern for the president elect. And just to play a little bit of chess here, chris, tonight, president elect trump is going to appear with the state party chair, rhonda mcdaniels. She is president elect trumps leading candidate to be rnc chair. If she, in fact, does become the rnc chair, would he have would he want two romneys in key positions . By all accounts, the answer to that would be no. And again, tt underscores that were increasingly looking at candidates like a Rex Tillerson to fulfill that allimportant position of secretary of state. The transition is very insistent upon the fact that hes not going to rush through this decision, because it is so vitally important and that they are expecting a decision some time next week, but it might not come next week. Hes going to make the decision, when he feels as though he has made the right one, chris. Okay, denying romney the secretary of state job, but giving his daughterinlaw the rnc job is like not giving you your big present for christmas, but giving you a Stocking Stuffer in with the animals. Great analogy. Well, last night, donald trump praised the men and women hes chosen for his cabinet. I believe were in the process of putting together one of the great cabinets that has ever been assembled in the history of our nation. Do you like it so far, everybody . What a crowd pleaser. Anyway, Anthony Scaramucci is executive board member of the trump transition, itself. Hes the guy. And usa todays senior political reporter, heidi przybyla, also joins us. Heidi, thank you for this. Lets listen to what anthony has to say and if theres any factual corrections you want to get into, we will make sure the reporting is available to our audience. Anthony, this guy, trump, and ive known him for 20 years, i dont dislike him or anything. Some of the things he says, i make clear i dont. But lets talk about some things. Generals somebody said this was going to be like seven days in may. Youve got the general running the defense department, running the National Defense department, why all the brass . We have a civilian government. First of all, i think these guys are terrific guys and lets just call them for what they are. Theyre civilians now. A few years out. Theyre civilians that have valorously served the country. Lets make that clear to everybody. And one of the great things about these guys, you think about the guys hes put in place, they get along with each other. And youre going to need support on that border. And general kelly is probably going to help the Mexican Government with the drug and gun cartels, which will reduce crime in the United States and drug trafficking. So to me, i think its a harmony of a lot of great things, chris. And this is something about mr. Trump that i think everyone knows. Hes absolutely fearless about finding the people that have the highest aptitude, that can go into the specific jobs and be the most efficacious at them. But cabinet ministers arent supposed to be yes, sir types the. Have you met im just saying. Generals dont just go, yes, sir, snap to. Theyre supposed to be collegial, challenging the president. So theres a Real Community there of thought. Well, first of all do you think generals are going to be first of all, theyre not generals anymore. Secondly, have you met these three guys . Because no, i havent. Because i sit right next to general flynn all day. And i wouldnt describe him as someone who isnt a challenging sort of a guy. Moreover, john kelly and i know each other from benz, another terrific person. General mattis, i dont know personally. Mad dog what do you think of that nickname . He likes warrior monk. Lets go with warrior monk. Hes one of the most well read generals in the history of the United States and hes a brilliant leader. And ill tell you something, you cant find anybody in any of the Armed Services that dislike so youre not worried about civilian control. Youre not worried this is going to be too many generals . Im not worried and i can give some Historical Context here from general washington through Andrew Jackson through eisenhower, you get less casualties when you put these guys in charge. Im not against one or two, but this is a lot. And Andrew Puzder is the ceo of several major fast food chains and earlier this week he spoke about using machines to replace some functions of human workers. Here he goes. Machines are always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late. Theres never a slip and fall. Or an age, sex, or race discrimination case. Well, with of course thats true but hes the labor secretary. Isnt the Labor Department wasnt it created to look out for the interests of actual human being workers . Of course it is. Hes just not for robots but, you know, youre trying to present him as sort of callous, right . But hes not really a callous guy. I know the guy personally. He loves the working class community. One of the reasons why he was given this job is that were not talking about a 15 an hour job. Were trying to get 60anhour jobs. One of the big problems here talking about robots, theres no robot manufacturing in the United States, chris. How about paying people 60 an hour to make these robots . The robots are coming no matter who you put so it doesnt bother you when you go to laguardia and see nothing but computer basically, laptops, a whole bunch of laptops where you order your donuts, hamburgers, coffee . Theres no human beings working there, or hardly any. We can look through history at the Industrial Transformation and see a Brighter Future for the people who used to be doing that at laguardia. But whos going to fight for minimum wage in this administration . Nobody. The Labor Department wont do it. The secretary he named is opposed to minimum wage. I think the biggest advocate will be the president elect. But hes against it. Hes really not against it. He says he wants to make it a statebystate decision. Hes told people the minimum wage . Yes. Hes told people on this network and other networks that it should be higher than it is now. But what he doesnt want to do is have a onesizefitsall for all 50 states. What about this guy, pruitt, the ag down in oklahoma for the oil patch. This is the Environmental Protection agency. Its the one agency of government whose job it is to protect the environment. And this guy defends the oil patch. Hes against all this regulation. He wants to defend the oil industry. Hes obviously got to get confirmed and in the confirmation process, well learn he wants to strike a balance between the two things. Heidi, give me a portrait of how you would describe the competition of this new administration. Generals, billionaires, as i said in bernie accent. They all seem to fit a pattern. Rich guys or generals. I think anthony is right about the general aspect of it. I went back and looked and obama had also appointed about three generals at or about this time. And mattis and kelly get great reviews. But i think the broader issue is whether we are seeing kind of a cabinet version of what we saw with the tea party in congress, which is where you have a whole flank of people coming in Whose Mission is unclear as to whether build up these agencies and fulfill their Current Mission or to basically claw them back and kind of claw back the government itself. Like with the Environmental Protection agency. The word the name of it is to protect the environment. And you have a Climate Change denier in charge of that. Betsy devos is very much against public education. So, i think there is a question just about the broader mandate. And what trump sold on the campaign trail. There is a pattern here. The Environmental Protection agency, you get a guy whos basically an oil patch guy and doesnt believe in all of this regulation. You put a head in charge of the education department, devos is a fine person, but not a big advocate for public education. Okay, so, actually, i think, again, youll have to go to these confirmation hearings and what youll find with her, shes an advocate for students. Shes trying to look for the best solution for students across a broad Cross Section of the country. Im the product of a public school, so i can tell you about betsy. She wants very robust public schooling. Do me a favor . Yeah. Promise me john bolten will not be in charge of the United States foreign policy. Because donald trump ran against these stupid wars. And to put bolten in there in any capacity, youre putting the biggest war hawk in the country in charge of war and foreign policy. Would he do that . Is that possible . Bolten . Well, listen, i dont want to rule anybody out, but i think the process has been fascinating for me to observe from my seat. You know what im talking about, dont you . I do. Trump ran against these stupid wars. Youre suggesting hes a neocon. He is one what i will tell you about the president elect, hes trying to find people that are not subscribed to any anchored ideology. Well, look beyond john bolten. Im allowed to editorialize here. Scaramucci, great to have you on. And heidi, thank you, as always. When we come back, well continue to wait for the beginning of dronald trumps bi rally out tonight in grand rapids. Were watching it live. Plus, president obama orders a full review of electionrelated hacking. This is big news. What effect did it have on the election . Were the russians involved . And lets check out what the intelligence agencies have to say about russias role here and whether they are to blame for these hacks. This is something donald trump has repeatedly ignore ordinary denied. Thats a big story, coming up next. The russian role. And another addition of vintage trump coming up tonight. Youll hear from him tonight in michigan, but its his past interviews where hes been the most revealing about the kind of president hes going to be. Finally, let me finish with something that needs to be said about the American Hero we lost this week, with john glenn. This is hardball, the place for politics. [burke] at farmers, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a rodent ridealong. [dad] alright, buddy, dont forget anything [kid] i wont, dad. [captain rod] happy Tuesday Morning captain rod here. Its pretty hairy out on the interstate. Traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. Getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. December 14th, 2015. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum hashtag stuffy nose. Hashtag no sleep. Hashtag mouthbreather. Just put on a breathe right strip. It instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. Shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. Breathe right. Well, we continue to watch that podium there in grand rapids, michigan. The latest stop on Donald Trumps thank you tour. Well be monitoring what trump says tonight at that rally, and keeping an eye out for any news he might make. Well be right back. 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 adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. He wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. With his army shirt looking all nice. And then people just say, thank you for serving our country and im like, thats my dad. Male vo no one deserves a warmer welcome home. Thats why were hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. Im very proud of him. Male vo comcast. Welcome back to hardball, where were continuing to keep an eye on that donald trump rally in grand rapids, tonight. Well be monitoring, as we often do, to find out if theres any news in. In the meantime, president obama has offered a full review of the cyberattacks carried out against the Democratic National committee and other political entities during the 2016 campaign. Wow, this is necessary. The u. S. Intelligence community has already blamed russia for the hacking, but the review will compile a more complete dossier of evidence for the president before the end of his term. This is a quick win. He wants to get it done before he leaves office. Heres how lisa monaco described it at