Axios

Donald Trump's pow-wow with tech leaders last month was "a very constructive meeting," Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told Business Insider in Davos.

Why he cares: Cisco filed approximately 2,250 H-1B visa applications since 2012, according to Labor Department data. H1-B visas allow companies to hire high-skilled immigrants to fill specialized jobs if they can't find the talent they need in the U.S. Trump has criticized companies for using the visas to hire entry-level workers at lower salaries to cut costs.

Spotted in Donald Trump's office:

Trump is famous for often saying too much, but the president-elect's interview with Axios was noteworthy for some of the things he didn't say…

On deporting more than Obama: "Well, he deported — there were a lot of deportations. People don't realize it. There were a lot of deportations, and we're not asking for new laws. We're not asking for a lot of new things."

On the necessity of lying: "I don't want to answer the question because it's — it gets to, you know, a different level than what we're talking about for this interview."

On a specific book recommendation: "I like a lot of books. I like reading books."

On his last mistake: "Well, it could be maybe just minutes ago when I let you guys interview me. [Laughter.] You know, that's probably my last...no, you make wrong calls, but they have to be wrong so that they don't have huge impact and they have to be wrong so that you can adjust."

Apple CEO Tim Cook will move iPhone production back to the U.S. because he sees it as the right thing to do, the president-elect said in an interview with Axios.

"I really believe he loves this country and I think he'd like to do something major here. And I told him, I said, 'Tim, it's going to be a big achievement the day you start building some of your big plants in this country instead of other countries.' And I think he's got his eyes open to it. I think he's got his eyes open to it." — Donald Trump

Axios interviewed President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday.

The big picture: He's clarifying three controversial interviews he gave this week.

• On telling the Times of London that he'll "start off trusting both" Putin and Merkel: "All I said was that I give everybody an even start; that's all I said... So, I give everybody an even start; that right now, as far as I'm concerned, everybody's got an even start...I think people start off on a somewhat equal footing."
• On telling the Washington Post that he wants "insurance for everybody": "[T]here are many people talking about many forms of health care where people with no money aren't covered. We can't have that. Now, whether it's Medicaid block grants or whatever it may be, we have to make sure that people are taken care of and it's going to be a very important part to me."
• On telling the WSJ that border adjustment, the central part of Paul Ryan's tax plan, is "too complicated": Border adjustments are "still on the plate," but lower priority than health care.

Rest of the details from the interview below:

Bloomberg has a smart chart today on which of the 200,000 "new" jobs announced since the election are because of Trump. The answer: not many.

Trump's doing:

• 1,800 at pledged by Lockheed Martin at plant where F-35 is built
• 3,000 at Bayer announced after a meeting with Trump (pending approval of Monsanto merger)
• 700 at Ford which the company's CEO called "a vote of confidence in Trump"
• 1,100 at Carrier, but only 700-800 jobs were going to move to Mexico--1,000 jobs still going

Perspective check: even if Trump was responsible for all the announced jobs, it would be just 0.1% of the 145 million in the U.S.

Trump is adding to his Goldman crew, per Axios' Mike Allen. Jim Donovan is Trump's first choice for undersecretary of domestic finance. The others:

1. Dina Powell, head of philanthropic investing at Goldman, will be Trump's economic assistant.
2. Steven Mnunchin, former partner at the firm, will be Treasury secretary.
3. Gary Cohn, former Goldman Sachs President, was named to the top White House economic post.
4. Stephen Bannon, former M&A banker, will be chief strategist.
5. Jay Clayton, who advised Goldman during the recession, was nominated as SEC chairman.
6. Anthony Scaramucci, who began his career at Goldman, will be Trump's top advisor and White House liaison.

Trump's election win has also helped bolster Goldman shares, which have flirted with an all-time high as investors anticipate laxer financial regulation, lower taxes and pro-growth policies, according to the WSJ.

I don't like to lie, no. I don't like to lie, no. It's something that--it's not something that I would like to be doing. — Donald Trump in interview with Axios.

Is it ever ok to lie?

I don't want to answer the question because it's--it gets to, you know, a different level than what we're talking about for this interview.

Donald Trump is not concerned about the size and reach of Facebook, because it's a good way to get his word out when he is "treated so dishonestly by the press." He would, however, like to see its monopoly diluted by competition.

I have a feeling you will have more competition over the years. I'd like to create more competition over the years because I think it's very important to have that.

In his interview with Axios, the president-elect walked back comments from an earlier chat with the Wall Street Journal in which he said he thought a tax reform strategy called "border adjustment" was "too complicated."

Trump said that the Journal's piece "didn't totally reflect [his views] accurately." He told Axios the idea is "certainly something that is going to be discussed" in negotiations with Congressional Republicans over their forthcoming corporate tax reform plan.

November 2014: "Deportations are now at a record low. Obama manipulated the numbers to lie to the public that they were at a record high. Secure the border!"

December 2015: "Criminal deportations in the U.S. are the lowest number in many years. We are letting criminals knowingly stay in our country. MUST CHANGE!"

June 2016: "I have never liked the media term 'mass deportation' -- but we must enforce the laws of the land!"

Yesterday to Axios — on potentially deporting fewer than Obama: "I find that hard to believe, but I will say that the Obama administration deported many people. We will be doing that also, but they deported many people. A lot of people don't know that, but many people were deported under the existing laws."

Speaker Paul Ryan, a skeptic of Donald Trump throughout the campaign, tells us their relationship is getting better and more productive each day.

"We're very, very different people. He used to call me a Boy Scout, which I actually personally took that as a compliment. I'm not sure he meant it that way, but it's something we joke about with each other every now and then."

Why this matters: Trump insiders tell us the president-elect has a better vibe with Ryan than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "I keep explaining to all who listen, the Senate works a little more slowly than the House," Ryan said. "They use sun dials as watches over there."

The president-elect has told Lockheed Martin the $380 billion fighter-jet program must shrink, Bloomberg reports.

Trump has been aggressive in pushing defense contractors to cut cost. On Tuesday, he met with Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg to keep pushing for a lower-cost Air Force One replacement.Also worth noting: Trump has asked Boeing to price out a possible substitute for the F-35, though that seems unlikely. Still, it shows extraordinary market intervention before even taking office.

Trump's pick to lead the Department of Education faced tough questions from the Senate on Tuesday.

• She said she "has never believed in" conversion therapy.
• When asked about ways to make public college available to everyone, as Bernie Sanders has suggested, she dodged with: "I think we also have to consider the fact that there is nothing in life that is truly free."
• When asked if she would not support the privatization of education, she dodged again with: "I'm hopeful we can work together."
• She said "I will not be conflicted. Period," when it comes to her family ties to education companies.
• She refused to say that guns don't belong in schools.

Potential Supreme Court nominee Judge William Pryor spoke with Trump today, per an AP report. The Alabama-based judge serves on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and may be be tapped to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Trump also floated Diane Sykes for the seat. He's expected to make a decision within his first two weeks in office.

Alabama Connection: Pryor was the state's attorney general from 1997 to 2004. Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's AG pick, was his predecessor in the job. Both are Mobile natives and are said to have a close working relationship, according to the AP.

Would Pryor be a sticking points for Democrats? Maybe. Democrats fought back when George W. Bush nominated Pryor to the 11th Circuit. Bush then appointed him during a recess in 2003, and ultimately Pryor was confirmed (53-45). SCOTUSblog details Pryor's legal opinions; we sum them up below the fold.