mark: with all due respect to the 21 club thanks for the heads up. on our magic show tonight, chuck schumer tries to pieces party back together and transition team times to make that press vanish. there is a new contender for secretary of state. our friend and colleague msnbc joe scarborough reported donald trump is considering nikki haley . that position over the last few

days seems like it was headed to the former u.n. ambassador john bolton or rudy giuliani. many people have been unhappy with those choices and were able -- eager to see others brought into the mixed. this comes through a mixed of disruptions. many people try to tear down the notion things for going off of the rails. kellyanne conway spent the day bringing a message of calm telling reporters: a government from scratch is tough stuff. -- reporters building a government from scratch is tough stuff. >> the president-elect is very happy with how it is going. he has presented with a number of choices in each of his the appointments. we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to those.

mark: a case that was not getting through donald trump went on his favorite social mega -- social media megaphone. this nikki haley thing is big. no other major personnel news speculated about. where do things stand? john: we talked about this. late, they are not running in terms of making major appointments of who are going to take it jobs. the disarray is these reports of infighting and the fact they seem far behind in terms of doing the bigger job of staffing the government. that is where they are way behind. on the big jobs they should take their time to get it right. they are not behind on that. i agree there are problems

with the transition i covered was 1992. they were scrambling. think if we get a couple of weeks down the road and they haven't made progress, then there is a problem. i don't think a are all that far behind. john: the bottom line is we reported there was no contact going on we fooling the major agencies -- going on between the major agencies. , 2000re recent example was screwy because of the recount. barack obama and his team, they were way ahead of the curve probably behind historical standards. let's talk about nikki haley. it's an interesting thing. a lot of pushback for a lot of reasons. there is discussion of his has had clients.

nikki haley would be symbolically a hugely positive sign. i don't know what she has on foreign policy but the notion of choosing a mainstream republican nonwhite woman in that job would be a huge step on donald trump's part. mark: let's say john sessions is his man in the senate. nikki haley at stake. tom cotton not defense. jamie dimon at treasury. that would get a lot of attention. john: there are a lot of ifs there. mark: that would be a cam that --. -- that would be a cabinet the left would -- john: it would be different from what we have been hearing. donald trump, already has courted controversy bigley.

ruckusesreferences -- have been raised. an nbc news story that says he is requesting top-secret clearance for his son-in-law so he can sit in on the daily presidential security briefing. donald trump disputed a different story he was considering clearances for his adult children. he said nothing about kushner, is pointing to an anti-nepotism role. and then there is frank gaffney the trumpill advise transition team on national security issues. he has been vocally anti-muslim anti-muslimoted conspiracy theorists in the past. trumps team claims he has no

role on the transition team. on a scale of one to godzilla how big a deal are these controversies? mark: still trying to get clarification about why it was so widely reported by many that gaffney was involved. clarify it. doesn't it's a troubling thing. one of donald trump's legacies as a manager is matters of law regarding the foundation, and businesses not buttoned down. on jared kushner he is going to be involved. people can say it is inappropriate. pete williams thinks it is fine. i think the country for the good of public policy should deal with the reality. jared is going to be involved.

let's figure out what the right standards are. what is permissible, what is not? let's not act like this isn't going to happen. he is going to be relying on jared for advice. john: that raises a bunch of things we don't know about the business ventures that are romantic when he have crazy stuff like them putting up profit making stuff for the president-elect. frank gaffney is the key issue here. is he involved or not? if he is involved it is poison. is involved a new his background and they didn't care or they fail to bet him. john: he is poison. if he is not involved, good. mark: but if he ever was. any involvement at all they need to learn. john: especially considering

areas that gaffney is most obvious. mitch mcconnell was reelected. the bigger news was on the democratic side. we heard harry reid taking after donald trump. today his successor, chuck schumer was elected senate minority leader. he announced some new additions to join him in the leadership tame including bernie sanders tammy baldwin, and a rust belt moderate from west virginia, joe manchin. sayingchumer began by weret -- and the democrats ready to work with donald trump on shared ideas. >> we need to be the party that speaks to and works on behalf of

all americans. and a bigger, bolder, sharper edge economic message that talks about how people in the middle class and those struggling to make it there can do better. we have talked about the democratic party in prices -- and crisis. what chucke basis of schumer is he doing? john: chuck schumer has been waiting for a long time to be the leader of his party in the senate. a obviously hopes to do it in political circumstance better than the one he has. with his party in obvious disarray. the proof is going to be in the pudding. how do they fight against donald trump? in terms of the make up of that leadership, that is a big party.

a leadership team from bernie sanders and elizabeth worn to joe manchin, if that group can hang together that is the right kind of a face for the party to foot forward. -- to put forward. mark: bigger, sharper message. thatneed specific policies address working-class voters they can propose. and maybe even work with donald trump on. john: i agree. mark: all of this rhetoric. >> this is not the time to put forward policy proposals. this is transition. he is just announcing his team. mark: i would today. none of this stuff matters. it is better than nothing but you still have leaders in place. they did not change the leaders. john: if he did not have that spectrum across that he would be getting hammers.

too far left. mark: it's better than nothing. john: donald trump ditching the media. we had a spy on the inside. ♪

his: donald j. trump gave best old us left last night after reporters for informatik campaign that he was in trump tower and locked up for the took it on the host -- and went on the lam. correspondent, seen here hovering behind the

president-elect was there. we caught up with ms. smith and asked her to file this report. >> my colleagues and i were having dinner at the 21 club. there was a famous person behind us. ivanka trump and her husband. then came the entire trump clan. it wasn't exactly a standing ovation. maybe half a dozen people clapped for him. burger and a$36 bloody mary. we did hear him talking about a female press secretary. john: not telling the press for is a major rake and protocol and won the correspondents association called unacceptable. this was not the first time he has shunned his traveling press corps. told reporters

that a protective paul has not been set up yet and journals will have all of the access they have ever had under any president. every incoming president claims he won the election by going over the press corps been bridles. enter donald trump who has argued more than any predecessor the msm is irrelevant and his privacy was sacrosanct. what is going to happen with donald trump? will he be brought to heel by the press like every other past resident or can he be the guy who says screw it, i'm going to do what i want? mark: i'm optimistic but the press has to be diligent and we need to talk about it in terms of the public interest. -- we have to be with the president-elect because it is our job to cover him in the world in which we live.

the kennedy assassination, 9/11. john: the reagan assassination. mark: what i don't want is for this fight to become such a lightning rod that we don't think about all of the areas in which we need to fight so there is the coverage the american public deserves. joe: the press -- john: the press has obligation to hold donald trump accountable against all of the norms we expect from every resident. this is not a more important norm. this is a norm. it is not that we are voyeurs or heant to be keeping tom's, is the most powerful and person -- he's the most powerful person in the world. if something happens to him, the world has to know. publicmportant that the

deserves to know the and the president should be respectful enough of the public that elected him to say ok, this is the price of being president of the united states. i will willingly and even gladly. mark: i go back to the clinton experience. 1993, that white house started to change things. they closed access to the white house. when i said to the clinton people you can't do this, this has never been done they said we doubt care. when not playing by those rules. some of the rules are arbitrary. some are antiquated. but the basic function must be allowed. they cannot cut off the public's access to the president of united states. they have to adhere to the norms because they are norms for a reason. the president cannot be out clubbing without people knowing where he is.

mark: we will talk to someone who wants to be the next head of the dnc after these worlds -- words from our sponsors. ♪

mark: as the democratic party regroups after their election shellacking, the race to lead the democratic national committee is on. from the great city of columbia, south carolina, mr. chairman. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. mark: tell us why hillary clinton lost the presidential election. when she won the popular vote but lost with the electoral college. a lot of that has to do with

this election, people wanting to feel like they mattered. that african-americans who had been saying black lives matter. you had young people, even bernie democrats saying their voices did not matter. you had working-class folks saying donald trump is speaking to us because we do matter. the democratic party has to get back to making sure people understand we are listening and we appreciate them and know that they do matter. that is where the fight is about the future of the democrats. mark: whose fault is that? >> i don't know if there is one individual. simmering probably be close -- because our state parties have not gotten the love and support that they desperately need. the frontline of having a strong

party is the grassroots level in the state party. we have to invest in state parties. in south carolina the only way we breakthrough is if we have a national partner that can help us and provide resources, the talent and know how. we have the muscle down here in south carolina but you have to have the partnership. john: a large part of the electorate, the part that was in favor of bernie sanders, looks at the wiki leaks e-mails and other pieces of evidence and says the dnc was corrupt and rigged the entire process to give clinton the nomination. do you agree with that? ofi think there was a lot longtime relationships people have with the clinton administration, probably was too close. i even had a friendly

relationship with a lot of folks in the campaign. but i also had a lot of friends on the bernie sanders campaign as well. even some of my staff. one of the things we have to do is make people trust the system again. the only way that we do that is by showing them. show them that we respect them, that we are going to invest in them. that is how you get them to come back to the party. joe: what would you do in a concrete way to reassure the party that feel like the dnc has been stacked against them? to make them believe the dnc was playing fair going forward? is, going thing forth. you can't go back and clean up whatever happened at that time. all you can do is tell people look at what we are going to do

and work with us to build that. think youngings, i people want to make sure their voices are heard. instead of just making the copies and coffee, they want to have a seat at the table. we need to add a millennial chair, one of our vice chairs is under the age of 35. the dnc needs to add that voice to the table so young people have a seat. i think there are things we have to do with our state party. we have to amp up and increase the amount of money we are giving to state parties so they can be innovation centers for those things we can do on campaigns. we have a fellowship where we built a bench of talent. trained one person from every county by having 250 young people across the state trained

to run for office, run our county. those are the types of things i think if we did them in the states we could strengthen that so it doesn't matter if you have a charismatic leader like barack clinton, youary can touch people and get the vote out. mark: some people who were in the race like you formally. handicap the race. who is the front runner? >> right now, this is the thing. whomever is the next year has to be a full-time chair. 24/7 dedicated to running the dnc. who is the frontrunner? >> i don't know if there is a front runner. i think it is wide open. i don't know if there is a front runner because many members i'm talking to say we are trying to listen to everybody. we want to see who is going to

be in the race. then we will make a determination. mark: well debbie wasserman schultz go down as a good chair, a great chair or a bad chair? >> there were positive aspects of dead be's chairmanship -- debbie 's chairmanship. mark: like what? >> do i need to say? the fact that you have a lot of people who are upset with the dnc. debbie was helpful here in south carolina but a lot of folks did not feel that way. i consider debbie a good friend. i know she tried but in the end we have to move on to build the next generation. john: we only have a few seconds left. the importance of the party is to focus on the base and building up the base or focus on

the center of the electorate. where is the future in that regard? >> you win elections by addition and not subtraction. that is base, that is also reaching out to working-class people in rural america where we lost over the past few years. it is addition, not subtraction. donald trump is going to disappoint a lot of people through -- who voted for him. mark: thank you for a much. good luck in the race. steve schmidt joining us right here, right after this. ♪

>> welcome back. with us now is lis smith, who worked as the depaut presidential campaign manager.

she is sad because boris epstein is not here. instead of boris, we have republican steve schmidt, nbc political analyst. lady and gentlemen, good to see you. there is some dispute about how messed up the trump transition is. what do you think? messed up or basically par for the course? >> messed up. he was a chaos candidate. nothing he has done so far has calmed anyone's fears. how much is it trickling down to normal people? not that much. i need transition. you float a lot of trial balloons, but it seems like all the warring factions in his camp are throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. they are already saying it has broken down into a nice fight. they have to get their act together and project confidence. >> you don't need knives for

spaghetti? what is going on over there? >> it is a knife fight. it is disorganized and chaotic. one would expect nothing less. we will have a clearer sense a couple of weeks from now. one encouraging sign is they said they are going to drain the stwaump. i think it is entirely possible it was news to them that the transition team was stocked floor to ceiling with washington lobbyists. now it is going to take a week or so it get them all out. that is consistent with his message. we will know in another tweak or two. >> joe scarborough is reporting nikkei haley is under consideration for secretary of state. what do you think of that possible pick? leader as an impressive in south carolina. her handling of the confederate flag controversy, she is someone as you look ahead, someone who is a serious candidate potentially for future higher office. i have no idea if she knows

anything about national security issues, anything about the complexity of the world. we will find out in hearings, but someone far outside the realm of the national security establishment that one would think to as you look to fill that post. >> what do you think of the prospect of a secretary haley as opposed to a secretary julie uan from the standpoint -- giuliani -- >> it is less frightening to ear a haley than a bolton or giuliani. what qualifies her to sit down with national leaders. the unfortunate thing about trump is he hasn't surrounded himself with a lot of heavyweights on his side. how is he going to handle an international crisis? when he is tested with an international crisis, don't you want him to be surrounded with some foreign policy

heavyweights? she doesn't qualify as one. again it goes back to me saying that they are throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. >> sticking with foreign policy because it is a specialty of yours, if you look at the range of names that have been fletted not just for secretary of defense, but others. can you discern better now what the trump ideology is, what trump actually believes? or do you look at this range of names and say i still don't have any idea what this guy actually wants to do on the basis of what we have seen so far? >> there is no way to look at any of those names and have any idea what the agenda is or the governing philosophy at any level. john: to put it simply, right? >> some of the names floated really are the political equivalent of the cast of the cantina scene from the "star wars" movies. you have people that simply are not confirmable.

i think it bears mentioning today. warren hatch shot down the notion that they are getting rid of the filibuster. they can lose three votes on any nomination. john mccain and lindsey graham are going to take a very tough line about people who have deluded sensibilities about the intentions of vladimir putin. > you have markowsdi and susan collins. when people say the republicans have control of the house and the senate, they are not looking at the never trump reps. but they are throwing out a lot of random names. kovak scares me the most. >> what is going on in your circles now in terms of kind of accounting for why she lost and what the fall-out of that should be? >> first of all, i think people are start to go come to terms with the fact that she --

starting to come to the terms with the fact that she lost and not just the fact that trump won. my fear is some people are taking the wrong lessons from this. they are saying it needs to be either/or, that we either need to talk to the white working class or talk to latinos and black voters, that we need to go with the standard people or clinton people. we need to learn a lesson. we saw all the democratic heavyweights, the dnc throw its betty behind one very flawed candidate, not eye lou any emergence of a robust debate. we should have a chair debate across the country. let's go to the states that hillary lost that the democrats should have won and have an open debate. i don't have a favorite in the chair race. jaime harrison is a good guy. i have done work. but we need to have a robust debate about where we go going

forward. >> how many will if the trump administration reaching out to democrats? > an enormous upgrade with skip schumaker with chuck schumer replacing hardy reid. donald trump will have to work effectively with democrats. the notion that this is a monolithic block is wrong. this is the closest we have ever been to a european style coalition government. the trump party and the republican party, though cousins, are not the same party. when trump says we are going to spend $1 trillion on an infrastructure package. you have a lot of republican members laughing outloud. there is no appetite in the conservative wing of the party to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. his coalitions and his ability to work effectively are going

to be tested. this is why the bannon issue is such a serious one. if democrats refuse to let up, and i think democrats will refuse to let up on that question, it is going to cripple at a fundamental ability to have coalitions. it poisons the sauce. >> i want to stay with you as we have been doing this with our friends, mike murphy and bill, people who were incredibly competent. for weeks there was no possible way trump could win, stake their reputation on it. i was wrong. i will say it again. you were really wrong. why were you wrong? >> it was a lack of imagination. i never thought it possible that six million democratic voters who supported ibrahimovic would sit this election out. i understand estimated her deficiencies as a candidate.

i called donald trump very early in the primaries, thought he would be the nominee. >> right. >> but i did not think that at the end of the day, that the american people would vote for someone who was so unprepared and demonstratively so through the debates, that had the type of character deficiencies that he had, and i was wrong about it. the anger of this country is something else, and i do think that you now will see a lateral line define politics. and above that line, people who benefited from the technology revolution and globalization. we heard from people below in both parties who have been left behind by it. >> you were wrong, too. why were you wrong? >> you know, maybe out of optimism that people would vote for donald trump. but i gave in to the same plot -- the same flawed assumptions that others did.

that young, latino and black voters would turn out against donald trump despite the fact that hillary clinton wasn't really articulating a reason do that. this is something democrats need to learn from. we need to give everyone a reason to turn and vote for democrats going forward. >> do you believe that children are our future? she is not even lening. >> literally, they are. >> i have to ask you one more question. i know we are running over but i want to come back to this. you, in addition to being wrong about this election, you also have been very critical of trump's temperament and suitability for the office. others are now grappling with how now to confront him as confront. do you continue to be a crit im ic -- a critic or temperamental grounds? how do you look at this as to how you should confront trump or accommodate yourself? >> it was a legitimate election

result. this is how we pick our leaders in the united states. however, the authoritarian impulses that we saw in the primary, the use of a twitter account to intimidate, particularly towards a free press, cronyism, corruption, incompetence. people need to be prepared to speak out against it. look, the stakes are very, very high, as someone who has been around a president of the united states and i have had that honor in my life, the immense power of this office is something that everybody, whether they were friend or foe to him in the campaign, needs to think very seriously about. he is now the most powerful person in the world. he has the destiny of our nation in his hands. he has the authority to end life on this planet if he chooses to do so. that is a real thing. so as we think about a trump

candidacy. when he is right -- a trump presidency, when he is right, support him. when he is wrong, oppose him. >> lis smith, steve schmidt, you are both awesome, although you were wrong. i probably relied you. i blame you when people say i was wrong. i listened to schmidt. we will continue this transition talk. if you are watching us in washington, d.c., you can listen toe us on the radio. we'll be right back.

>> the trump transition speeds along. we are joined now by two reporters who are awaiting his arrival in january.

casey hunt is on capital hill, and jennifer jacobs is in our d.c. bureau. i want to talk to you about the republican leadership in the house. there was all this talk leading up to the election that paul ryan might lose his job, and then all of a sudden he was unanimously reelected. how did that happen? >> funny how that works. it is the one thing that seemed to help republican unity coming out of the trump election. the freedom caucus, the right wing conservative agitators that frusted john baner, had been contemplated a challenge to speaker ryan in the event that clinton won the election. but trump getting elected made unity among house republicans kind of the imperative. i have to tell you the mood of the room when house republicans met, they all goes those make america great again hats sitting on their chairs and walked out of the caucus wearing them. people inside the room told me the mood was solid. people were very happy to be

back and to be in the situation that they are, but it was not use fourth quarter. you would expect if one party won the presidency and also controlled both houses of congress, the celebration would be hard to continue, and that is just not the case. a lot of republicans are still nervous about exactly what this means. donald trump has not exactly won this election on conservative policies necessarily. they are talking about spending $1 trillion on infrastructure. it is not clear how to replace the health care plan. there are so many questions up here. i think house republicans have gotten to a better place over the last seven days, but it started off pretty confusing. >> jennifer, i want to ask you about ted cruze. he was a supporter of trump early on in the nomination fight, and then they were bitter rivals, insulted him at the convention and endorsed him again. now his name has been floated for attorney general. what are the prospects that

could happen? what has the reaction been since that notion became part of the dialogue? >> they needed him to come up. it was kind of an audition yet. there has been a lot of lobby intrigue. reporters are staked out and they are watching who goes up that elevator to talk to trump, and ted cruze was the first. at first they were denying it had anything to do with a cabinet post. they said it was trump wanting to promote his agenda. but then that transition team keeps floating names. i was told late last night that yeah, sure enough, we are discussing him for attorney general. cruze didn't necessarily know that when he showed up, but he was indeed being auditioned. they were asking him questions about who would he recommend for undersecretary positions for justice and homeland security. so they were weighing to see how they got along with him. when i asked today what has the reaction been to the news that you guys are considering him?

they said strong. >> let me stay with you on the security clearance story. what is the deal there? >> it has been the focus of the day today on push back. a lot of transition team members have been defending him saying he doesn't have a personal vendetta against chris christie. they got along well. there are other reasons why hese cristie folks and lobbyists are being pushed out. there was questions about whether he would get the top secret classified clearance to attend the presidential briefingings. they just wanted to be prepared and asking what the procedures for that would be if that were something necessary or wanted. it wasn't authorized with the team, but person went ahead and did it. they said it was a simple innocent mistake. >> democrats, a lot of action

on capital hill with senator schumer and his new leadership slate. the party is is still kind of a mess though they moment. talk about how things are on capital hill with the democrats? >> just about the only thing they are united on is steve bonnon. they all think he should go. but democrats are facing a pretty bleak couple of years. on the senate side, they can't find anybody to lead the campaign send toler committee and holding the 25 seats they have up next cycle. there is a hole there because it is really an impossible job to have to do. schumer is trying to corral everyone who could possibly be a problem for him into one room, so he added joe mansion and bernie sanders to his leadership team. it is not quite keep your

enemies closer because they are on the same team, but there is an element to that going on. he wants to make sure the people that could potentially cause the most trouble for him are in the room not outside of it. that is of what you are seeing. he said these people are young in senate years. there isn't just a lot of fresh blood for democrats on capital hill right now. that is true on the house side now. nancy pelosi is facing this unexpectedly stiff resistance to her simply becoming majority leader again. he she has ruled with a pretty iron fist as democrats have described to me, and the frustration with her is real. but there is not necessarily somebody who is stepping up, a person to channel that frustration in a way that could actually be a threat to her. it looks like she is likely to continue, but none of this solves the democrats' overall problem, which is it is not clear who the next gen ration of leadership for them is.

there is this feeling that the clintons kind of stifled anyone else from running for president. the hill leadership has been the same for many years now, over a decade really, and a lot of the younger members feel really frustrated. now you have this division based on geography. you have essentially the coastal wing of the party versus the middle wing of the country. one person put it to me who can walk into a union hall and be taken seriously. not push people around but seem like a big deal. of course the implication is that nancy pelosi is not that person. you can read into it the reasons for that. but that tension is going to define the democratic back and forth for a while. as you guys know very well, democrats are often a little less top-down in their leadership, so i think there is risk here that there is going to be a lot of intraparty back and forth for quite a while. i don't see how this gets

solved in immediate term. >> a quick question. your sources in the democrats and republican appear, what adjectives would you use to describe how they are feeling right now post election? >> if you ask the trump team, they say they are one week removed from the most brutal campaign in history -- >> i am asking about the mood of the people you are dealing with. are they excited or scared? >> the trump people seem excited. >> how do republicans and diems on capital hill seem to you? >> i think the diems feel like they are pretending they are not despondant, which is something a winning battle. i think republicans are confused but determined i would say. they are trying to figure out how to push their way through it. >> good. >> that is how i feel most of the time. confused but determined. you kasey doctor thank

both. john and i will be right back.

>> welcome back. sop tonight hillary clinton makes her return of sorts. ever since she gave her concession speech the day after election day, she has been largely out of sight. tonight she gives a speech in washington. john, what will you be looking for? >> the children's defense fund will feel like home for her. she has a long association with that organization. we have heard what she said in private. we have some reporting on it. i think it will be a very good look for her to stand up and say you know what? i lost this election and here is my self analysis for why. >> predict right now. will she say she won the popular vote? >> i think there is about a 99.743% chance she will mention

that. >> john and i will be right back.

>> grab your internet contraption and go to bloomberg politics right now. a story up there about what senate republicans could do to slow trump's cabinet nominations. bloomberg technology is back. john and i will be back here tomorrow same time same channel. until tomorrow, sayanara.

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>> that proposal countered and flew in the face of all that was , the about new york city ultimate city of immigrants. the place has succeeded because it was open for everyone, the place else generation after generation -- filled on generation after generation of immigrants. mark: the iranian president said his country remains committed to a landmark nuclear deal. president trump has criticized the deal which cap's iran's nuclear activities. u.s. secretary of state john kerry today made an appeal to all nations to continue the fight against climate change. at a u.n. climate summit in morocco, kerry said failure be, quote, a betrayal of devastating consequences. president-elect trump has called climate change a hoax and pledged to cancel the paris deal limiting greenhouse gases. bob dyl