good evening, thanks for joining us. tonight, breaking news. donald trump is seeking top secret security clearances for the grown children who are advising him as well as his son-in-law, jared kushner. that is what an official in the trump transition effort tells cnn's jim acosta. it means kushner, daughter ivanka and sons donald jr. and eric may be privy to the country's deepest secrets. however, like everything we've seen since election night, it's not business as usual. uproar over trump's choice for top white house job as well as late new reporting on the larger transition which one source describes as a knife fight. that and some words of advice from president obama today. plus, we're following eig i anti-trump protesters taking to the streets again. people protesting in tucson, arizona, as well. we'll bring you late developments there. we begin on the breaking news on the security clearances. joining us new, former ci aa an

fib official, philip mudd. does this surprise you? >> it does. we need to take a step back for a moment. everything about this campaign, anderson, has been usual. take the name, trump, kids' names out, the president-elect relied on people during the campaign for advice. he goes to intelligence officials and says, when i begin to get intelligence briefings, more seriously, as i'm president-elect, i want the same people i relied on during the campaign to be in those intelligence briefings. will you give them a security clearance? put yourself in the position of intelligence professionals. you're going to say, if you think those are appropriate advisers, we will go through the formal process to try to clear them at a serious level so they can sit in on your briefings. i understand it. it is highly unusual, anderson. >> especially if, i mean, his grown children are going to be running his business, the idea was they're running his business and they're not going to be kind

of blending over into advising him in order to keep his business separate, although, you know, traditionally businesses are put in a blind trust. that's not going to be happening, but it does certainly make it sound as if, and your point does as well, that they are going to continue to be advisers to him even on, perhaps, security matters. >> boy, that would make me uncomfortable if you had someone with a top secret security clearance and you had someone who still had active business interests. i'm not here to suggest, anderson, that a child of a presidential candidate can't get a top-secret clearance. i still hold one with the u.s. government. what i want to tell you is if you maintain business interests, there's clearly things you might learn in an intelligence briefing related to the middle east, related to europe, related to asia that might affect your decision-making on the business side. i would argue from the trump side, you have to make a decision, are these individuals involved in a national security process, or are they involved in a business process? don't mix those two. >> david priest, another former

cia intelligence officer, said that the only logic to get a security clearance is holding a national security position. i mean, do you agree with that? i mean, it seems like there's no real other domestic reason to do it. >> i have to agree with david. i know david well. look, what if the president-elect in this case, donald trump, says the national security position is that these individuals are trusted advisers and when i'm dealing with that issue related to iran, north korea, russia, china, i want these individuals whom i've grown to trust during the campaign to be in the room. they may not hold the position of secretary of defense or secretary of state, but the president-elect, and i keep not using his name because i think we need to separate the name out of this and go to the idea. the idea is i want these people whom i trust in the room during those conversations. as sensitive as the conversations i had with them during the campaign, i understand it despite the fact that this is highly unusual. >> now, i mean, there's different levels of security

clearances. a top security clearance, there's, i mean, there's code -- there's, like, secret, top secret, there's code word clearances above that. i assume this would be, what, top secret? do you know what kind of information then they would be allowed to see? could they see the presidential daily brief? >> let me speculate here, anderson. there are three basic levels of security clearance, confident sh confidential, secret, cop secret. from what i understand, they're being requested from the top secret level, same level i have, that's highest you can get in government. there are compartments within that that are even more classified. let me make this simpler. i'm going to guess what the president-elect is asking for, when he's having conversations with, for example, the central intelligence agency about what to do in syria, what we understand about russian intentions, some of that is top-secret information. he wants his children in the room. so there's security classifications that are technical. i think this is even simpler. when he talks to a briefer,

someone who's sent over from the cia, he wants those kids in room. >> fascinating. phil mudd, appreciate you being with us. reminder, what we're looking at and following. protests. sixth straight now in the streets of seattle tonight, in tucson. police confronting a number of marchers in seattle. we'll keep an eye on this and bring you more as it unfolds. meantime, president obama left just over an hour ago for his final overseas trip in office. arrives tomorrow in athens, greece. his first press conference since the election. he had a lot of advice for the president-elect. jeff zeleny reports, he appeared to weigh every single word that he spoke. >> reporter: president obama tonight walking a tight rope, speaking out about the candidate he lambasted and the president-elect to who he must now pass the baton. >> the people have spoken. donald trump will be the next president, the 45th president of the united states. >> reporter: in his first news conference since the election, mr. obama talked about his 90-minute meeting with donald

trump saying he spoke to the president-elect about the weight of the job. >> this office has a way of waking you up and those aspects of his positions or predispositions that don't match up with the reality, he will find shaken up pretty quick. >> reporter: the president said he would work with mr. trump to make the handoff as smooth as possible. suggesting some of the biting language during the campaign was done for effect. >> i don't think he is ideological. i think ultimately he's pragmatic in that way. >> reporter: but the president was candid about some of the weaknesses he sees in trump. including his temperament. >> i think what will happen with the president-elect is there are going to be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them. >> reporter: the president pointing out that mr. trump often made false statements and

relied on misleading head lienh on the campaign trail. >> when you're a candidate and you say something that is inaccurate or controversial, it has less impact than it does when you're president of the united states. >> reporter: the president has seen defeat before. after the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. >> i'm not recommending for every future president that they take a shellacking like i did last night. you know, i'm sure there are easier ways to learn these lessons. >> reporter: no laughter today as the cornerstones of his legacy, obamacare, to climate change policy, are at risk in a trump administration. asked about those questioning trump's right to rule, the president said simply, "trump won." >> hopefully it's a reminder that elections matter. and voting counts. and so, you know, i don't know how many times we have to relearn this lesson because we ended up having 43% of the

country not voting who were eligible to vote, but it makes a difference. >> jeff zeleny joins us. president obama seems pretty committed to this measured tone. is there any reason to think that's going to change? >> reporter: anderson, i think he wants to give donald trump the benefit of the doubt, no question, and send a signal to democrats out there to give the guy a chance. and it's on the eve of going on a foreign trip, as you know, and frankly, he has some work to do there. he has criticized donald trump agreszively on foreign soil. do not expect him to do that. anderson, i checked with one of his top advisers after his news conference. i was struck by the measured tone of it. and they said the president is going to try and do what george w. bush did to president obama, and not say a thing, stay out of politics. acknowledged that could be quite a challenge. >> jeff zeleny. i want to bring in a number of people who witnessed presidential transitions. cnn political analyst, carl bernstein, gloria borger, david gergen, and dana bash.

david, i want to get your reaction first to president obama's remarks. you worked inside the white house for republicans and democrats. what do you make of president-elect trump reportedly wanting top secret security clearances for three of his children and son-in-law? >> well, anderson, there have been a number of instances when people who are primarily domestic in nature in the white house have gotten security clearances. normally the chief of staff, for example, gets security clearance. the counsel of the president i would imagine steve bannon would have a security clearance. when i was working in the clinton white house as counselor to the president, i got a security clearance, top secret. so i think that's -- there's a lot of precedent for that. there is no precedent that i know of for children or spouses or anything else to get top security clearances. i would -- it may be legal. i would argue that president trump ought too be prudent about this and maybe if he wants to have one of his children, but there ought to be a clear division, a very clear division between who gets security clearance and who runs those companies, those enterprises. he needs to keep, avoid that.

we've just gone through a huge controversy about the clinton foundation and if we now have children running around with security clearances and also doing business deals around the world, that is a terrible idea. >> carl, i mean, it is the same children, again, they're adults, but the same adult kids who are going do be running the businesses are the ones who are being apparently requested to have a security clearance. >> it's astounding especially just this soon after the election and it's wrong. imagine if you're the president of the united states, your kids have these security clearances, the cia comes in and briefs them. you can use that information to enhance your businesses, decide i'm going to open a new boutique in riot because of what i heard in the cia today in the briefing. it's just wrong. it sends the wrong signal from the first days and it goes back to this idea that we had during the campaign of business first. and especially as david gergen says, if chelsea clinton were

getting this, the republicans would be yelling, lock chelsea up. it's wrong. >> dana? >> i was talking to a government official, former government official, i should say, involved in intelligence earlier who said actually by text, what did they need access to the classified information for? what clandestine operation is ivanka going to run?" tongue in cheek, but it goes to the heart of the question, it's totally understandable what we heard from phil mudd before that these are his top advisers. what david gergen was saying, also, domestic staff often gets clearance. but children who are not on the payroll but rather are dealing financially with their own business, that's another question. just the definition of secret is something that could cause, "serious damage to national security." scary stuff. >> gloria -- >> this also belongs in a blind trust. i think we ought to get that out

there right away. >> right. although that's not a legal requirement. >> it's not. >> but traditionally that is -- >> a businessman is not putting these huge holdings into a blind trust on its face is wrong. >> we have a lot more on that tonight as well. gloria, i mean, to phil mudd's point which is, you know, if these are some of his top advisers, he wants to be able to discuss information with them. to you, is that a conflict or is it the fact they're also involved, they're running his business? >> well, of course first of all it's a clear conflict if they are running his business. usually this type of top secret clearance is given because of the job you have in the administration, as david was pointing out earlier, if you are the chief of staff to the president, you would get a top-secret clearance. let me -- let me, you know, since we're all sort of trying to figure out why the president-elect might want this, i think, and i've learned this through talking to his family, they talk all the time. i think he might be doing this

to protect himself in a way or ask for it to protect himself because he talks to them about everything. he's used to consulting them about everything and there is this matter of talking about classified information when you're not supposed to be talking about it or sharing it is breaking the law just as he, you know, talked about hillary clinton sharing classified information on her e-mails. so if donald trump wants to talk to his kids about decisions, important security decisions he is making, he has to protect himself and have them have security clearance. >> it's an interesting idea. i mean, dana, do you think there's some truth to that, that in free-willing discussions, this protects him in case he says something? >> no question. like i said, i get that. we all have respect for the fact he has such confidence and trust in his adult children that they really are his top advisers and

obviously his most loyal supporters. but, you know, what i'm thinking, as we're discussing this, maybe david, maybe you guys know, what about a spouse? i mean, presumably a spouse is somebody who has, you know, who is a president's closest confidant and maybe sounding board and i don't think that spouses get top clearance. i might be wrong. >> i don't think hillary clinton had top-secret clearance during the first couple of years of bill clinton's administration, and i looked it up only going back to sort of the first couple years so i'm not sure in future years and i'm not sure about michelle obama, particularly since you co-habit with somebody, they may decide to give you clearance in case documents, you know, are in the private, you know, private confines of your home and your living quarters. so i think we have to investigate that, but it's kind of unheard of for your children, particularly ones who are --

>> yeah. >> -- prohibited from serving because of nepotism rules. >> david, you know, we heard from president obama today saying that he believes the president-elect is more prag pragmatic than ideological, worried his temperament might be in some instances but generally the president seems to be steering away from criticizing the president-elect. >> yeah, he was very restrained today. i think he remains hopeful, not optimistic, but hopeful that donald trump will temper some of his proposals. i thought it was very important, anderson, that he said today that he was going to europe and he would be telling leaders there, and giving them reassurances about donald trump's commitment to nato and trans-atlantic partnership. that is a -- that's a major deal. that's a very big help for donald trump in a europe that is extreme lly skeptical, some way terrified about what's coming. i thought that was positive. at the same time, you know, he did urge him quietly in a restrained way, he urged him to send signals of unity and i think what he was really talking

about, the president was talking about is calling on donald trump to speak out, to give assurances to so many people who remain so deeply distressed, scared, you know, various groups whether they're jews or muslims or gays or others, women who feel disempowered. as urgent as his appointment are is to give reassurance to the country he'll respect people's rights. coming up next, the controversy on the left and some extent on the right over steve bannon as one of trump's top advisers, ties to the so-called alt-right movement. we'll take a look at his career in media. later, how all the lawsuits involving donald trump will affect his term in office. and we'll, of course, continue to follow new anti-trump demonstrations unfolding as we speak in two major american cities. [ cough ]

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welcome back. you're looking at protesters out tonight in seattle and tucson, arizona. the sixth straight night of anti-trump marches. we'll check in shortly with gary tuckman in tucson, get the very latest from there. given all that and the rest of the news today, it's hard to imagine president obama isn't a little happy to be aboard air force one right now, putting mile after mile between himself and washington. late new word as we mentioned, sharp conflict within the trump transition effort, conflict and controversy over one of president-elect trump's top white house picks. more on both of that tonight from our jim acosta. >> reporter: in selecting stephen bannon as his cheap strategist, donald trump has invited into the oval office one of the leaders of the so-called

alt right movement, combination of conservatives, populists, white supremacists and anti-semites. bannon will act as, quote, equal partners with rnc chair reince priebus as white house chief of staff. >> i worked close with steve bannon, the general of the campaign. >> reporter: coming under fire during his time as chairman of breitbart news which featured anti-semitic and white supremacist material. >> the guy i know is a guy who isn't any of those things. he is a guy who is pretty -- he's very, very smart. very temperate. >> no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here! >> reporter: the bannon pick could inflame anti-trump protesters and rattle a nation that's witnessing a rise in hateful rhetoric like the reports of churches vandalized with neonazi messages and attacks on minorities which trump told "60 minutes" must come to an end. >> i am so saddened to hear that

and i say stop it. if it helps, i will say this, and i'll say it right to the cameras, stop it. >> reporter: on the issues, trump so far is signaling a potential softening on sensitive topics suggesting he won't work to outlaw same-sex marriage. >> these cases have gone to the supreme court, they've been settled and i'm fine with that. >> reporter: but on another front, roe v. wade, trump said he'd appoint antiabortion judges and if it's overturned, it would be up to the states to decide. >> well, they'll perhaps have to go to another state. >> reporter: as for trump's signature campaign issue -- >> don't worry about it, we're going to build wall, folks, don't worry. >> reporter: president-elect sounds open to something less than a wall along the mexican border. >> so part wall, part fence? >> yeah, could be some fencing. >> jim acosta joins us from outside trump tower. late reports tonight there have been some disagreements within trump camp regarding key cabinet positions. what do you know about it? >> reporter: anderson, i think

is part of the jockeying that's expected when a new administration comes in and is filling key cabinet posts. some of my colleagues are reporting it's been described as a knife fight inside the trump transition meetings. i was told last week that there were some disagreements going on between the so-called, you know, never-trumpers that are starting to make their way into some lower-level positions in trump transition with people who are with donald trump all along and saying they don't want those never-trumpers filling important roles with the administration. anderson, they are making some progress toward naming some important positions, putting people in some important positions. we're told that the secretary of state job could go to either rudy giuliani, the former new york mayor, or john bolton, the former u.n. ambassador under george w. bush. i was told just earlier this evening from a trump transition source that naming john bolton to that position might use up a lot of political capital in the way that this source described it. that's an indication that donald

trump may be leaning toward rudy giuliani and giuliani for his part, he was speaking at a "wall street journal" ceo conference earlier this evening. he was asked who would make a good secretary of state. he said john bolton would make a good secretary of state but he also said he would be a better one. getting to that jockeying that's going on inside this transition, anson. >> all right. jim acosta. thanks. more on steve bannon, more specifically on his work running breitbart. he leaves a legacy in provocative headlineses. details on that and a little history from our tom foreman. >> behave yourself. behave yourself. behave yourself. you are freaks and animals. you're freaks and animals. >> reporter: from the beginning, breitbart has been confronting liberals, media, activist, the political establishment, believed to be shutting down conservative voices. >> do you even know what you're protesting? how much are you getting paid? >> reporter: that's the late andrew breitbart who built the

hugely influential right-wing media empire before his unexpected death in 2012. and these are the kind of headlines breitbart churns out these days. birth control makes women unattractive and crazy. gay rights have made us dumber. the site called a conservative columnist a renegade jew and asked would you rather your child had feminism or cancer? at the helm for breitbart news until recently, steve bannon. >> we need to have a fight in the republican party for the soul of the conservative -- >> i agree with you. >> reporter: former navy officer, former investment banker, according to bloomberg the most dangerous political operative in america and now adviser to the president. >> look, the media is the guard of the permanent political class, all the consultants that come after you, the permanent political class' consultants, they're all in bed together. >> reporter: so how did he get there? early investment in the "seinfeld" tv series led bannon to a wealth of cash and experience in media which he

transformed into political battering rams. >> he was sitting at the desk -- >> reporter: producing films to promote the political right, uncovering anthony weiner's sexting abouts, exploiting the birther controversy around president obama, bedevilling democratic contender hillary clinton. >> you have to understand how the clintons who proclaim that they support all your values essentially have sold you out for money. >> reporter: but bannon's aggressive use of the breitbart brand is under renewed scrutiny. civil rights groups point to incendiary headlines as evidence bannon is pushing a white supremacist alt-right agenda while his allies brush the complaints aside. >> they now want to come back and say anything anybody ever published in breitbart is steve bannon. that's baloney. >> reporter: with his role in the government only loosely defined, it's hard to guess at his impact. this is undeniably a heady time for bannon after years of sniping at the government from the outside, he is now as inside as anyone can be.

anderson? >> tom, thanks very much. let's bring back the panel. new york one anchor, erroll lewis. kayleigh mcenany. van jones. with us, conservative talk show host, dana loesch, once worked at breitbart. dana, did i introduce you? >> that's okay. >> dana bash here as well. dana, as somebody who knows steve bannon, worked for steve bannon, what do you make of all this? one man described as, quote, one of the worst people on god's green earth. >> he definitely wouldn't be my pick, anderson, thanks for having me. definitely wouldn't be my pick to advise the president-elect and, you know, like so many people, i want to give voters a chance and i want to give the president-elect a chance and i think that you need to give the new administration the best shot that they have so they can hit the ground running and unfortunately i don't think it's with this choice. i was pleased to see reince prebusinespr prieb priebus, a lot of credit due to him after the victories on

election night. steve bannon, there's a reason why the website has a high turnover rate there and there's a reason why i have a history with steve bannon and, of course, andrew breitbart was a friend and mentor. i have the highest regard for him. steve, it speaks for himself. >> kellyanne conway this morning denied bannon had connections to the so-called alt-right movement or would bring any of those views into the white house. what's your take on that? does he have connections to the alt-right movement, are liberals making a bigger deal of this than it really is? >> i don't know personally if he has connections to the alt-right movement. i think that there are probably individuals in that sphere. i know there are some individuals that have written for the site that they don't really say necessarily that they're representative of that particular movement, but whether you're representative of it or not, and i want to remind viewers, too, that it's such a fringe of the right, it's such a tiny fringe. it does not represent all of conservatism or all of republicanism. however, i do think that there

are certain individuals that maybe perhaps tongue in cheek do kind of play to that particular audience because maybe it's for click bait, maybe it's just to get more traffic, more content, whatever it is, but it doesn't look well. >> i want to bring in kayleigh, you're a trump supporter obviously. have been really from the get-go. a lot of people point to headlines on breitbart, you know, it could just be click bait, you know, controversial headlines on all these websites, get more clicks than other things. newt gingrich i think made the point saying, look, you can't say steve bannon is responsible for every article that's publ h published on breitbart. is that true or do you have concerns about bannon? >> i think what newt gingrich said is absolutely right. steve bannon wrote none of those articles whose headlines we shosho showed. to some of them, there's a deeper story. the renegade jew headline, the guy who wrote it, david horowitz, say i, myself, am a jew, i, myself, have sat by steve bannon, i've never heard anti-semitic views whatsoever. i have no concerns about steve bannon because he was appointed by donald trump who's a leader i believe in, someone who's called for unity time and time again.

i think that you will see the left, those in the clinton campaign or those on the left try to demonize steve bannon. they've tried to do the same thing to ronald reagan, tried to do it to donald trump. now new attack dog is steve bannon is going to be subject to the attack. >> look, steve bannon came on with kellyanne conway, clearly did a good job compared to the last campaign manager they had, paul manafort, on getting donald trump on message. why shouldn't donald trump keep the guy close to him who was able to kind of steer him to the presidency? >> well, just to clarify, steve bannon, himself, boasted that breitbart news is the platform for the alt right. let's be clear what the alt right is. a re-branding of white nationalism and has a strong race of racism and anti-semite. i'm frankly appalled that anybody -- forget being on the stop, he shouldn't be allowed to have clearance to get into the white house as a visitor. now, let's pull this back a little bit. there's a context to this. donald trump ran on a platform of hate, bigotry, racism against

mexicans. he targeted people. so it's not a surprise, i mean, it's fine to target bannon, but it is the man at the top that's responsible for that. he's the one that generated this hate and anger among people in the country. it's the reason there are protests in the street and the fish is rotting at the head. that's where it's coming from. >> van, last night the spokesman for senate minority leader harry reid, "it's easy to see why the kkk views trump as their champion when trump appoints one of the pedalers adlers as his t aide." >> i think it's really important that we not adapt to absurdity. a big part of the impact of the trump movement has just been to drive the national standards further and further down so that we got to a point where just the fact that donald trump could read a teleprompter without insulting half of the country was a massive achievement and when you're talking about white house hay poiappoint pts, somet know a little bit about, we tend

to hold people to very high standards. the idea we would now say, well, you put out a publication that, you know, gave aid and comfort and a platform for anti-jewish bigots and for white nationalists but you didn't actually write all the articles, therefore, you're okay? again, that's not the standard. the standard is this is the highest office in the land. it is the biggest honor on planet earth to work in that building and we should have the best and bannon is not the best. in fact, he represents the worst of america. >> i want to bring back our panel in a moment. we got to take a quick break. those anti-trump protesters are on the streets for night six. this demonstration in tucson. we'll hear from some of the students behind it shortly. we'll be right back. ♪ p is for privileges.

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before the break, van jones was talking about the appointment of steve bannon as a top white house adviser. he said it's the highest honor on planet earth, paraphrasing van here, choosing bannon dishonors the office. i want to get kayleigh mcenany's take. >> we selectively picked part of bannon's resume. this man was a naval office on the pacific fleet, special assistant to the planning officer of naval operations in

pentagon. got his mba from harvard. this is someone who's very qualified to work in the white house. donald trump only picks the best. that includes steve bannon. he picked reince priebus to be the counterbalance. it's easy to focus on a few headlines on breitbart and not tell the whole story of the man. >> there's a difference between experience and temperament as well, and someone who's known him for a number of years, i know all of these individuals, and i've known them personally for a number of years, it's not just -- i think that people are taking exception to not just a few headlines on breitbart. there's a reason as i said earlier why there's such a high turnover rate. there are a lot of individuals. ben shapiro who has spoken out. there are a lot of individuals who left the site and say this is a little bit about temperament as well and, look, everybody was divided in the primaries. now that the general election is over, people who want what is best for the country would like to see someone -- this isn't an issue of qualification. this is an issue of temperament. emotional temperament i think. i know the base would like to

see the administration be as successful as possible and like for trump to be surrounded by the best people possible. not someone who kind of goes off for a lack of a better way to put it, gets angry and has a reputation around washington, d.c., as being incredibly vindicti vindictive. >> there are other -- >> let kayleigh respond. >> there are other character witnesses, though, dana, respectfully. kellyanne conway has come out and said he's been great to work with. you've had reince priebus saying he's great to work with. >> he may be, but there are a lot of people that would -- >> talk about anti-semite -- >> one at a time. no one hears it when you talk over -- one thing we know about donald trump, he certainly believes in loyalty very strongly and steve bannon came on at a time when he need eed hp and clearly has been a whisper in druonald trump's ear and in donald trump's opinion deserves to be -- for that loyalty. >> that's sort of the, i don't know if dichotomy is the right word. between what -- i think

basically what kayleigh is saying and what dana is saying could both be true in that he could have a temper, he could have temperament issues in the past and obviously issues that dana had with him in the workplace. but at the same time, somehow found a way to have a calming influence on donald trump, the candidate. and by all accounts of people i've talked to who were kind of around it was the guy who donald trump saw as an equal partner and somebody who could take his phone away from him. >> which other people weren't able to do. >> which other people weren't able to do. >> erroll, we heard that it's a knife fight going on. how much of that, though, is just, i mean, that's way transitions often are. no? i mean, it's a lot of people jockeying for very powerful positions. a lot of people competing interests who want things. >> this is the chance of a lifetime. it was a chance that people didn't necessarily prepare for because we know that even up until the last minute, the campaign, itself, did not know or expect to be victorious. so all of a sudden, things have to change. the head of the transition is

demoted. chris christie is out, mike pence is in. all of a sudden, everything, the stakeses go up quite a bit. so, yeah, there's going to be quite a lot of jostling and that's part of what works against the bannon selection. there are a lot of outside groups and lot of people marching in the streets. a lot of people have very good reasons to be suspicious of that entire alt-right movement and, again, breitbart was the platform for it. that's bannon's words. >> right. >> you know, when you see the head of the american nazi party saying, gee, i'm surprised he supported him but i like the kois. that's a problem. he's also got a lot of other sort of rivals who for very basic careerist reasons would love to see him shoved aside. >> dana, before you go, i want to ask you a quick question, when you heard president obama today say he thinks donald trump is pragmatic more than ideological, as a conservative, did that worry you? that was a concern among many conservatives early on, here's a guy who's going to make deals and maybe sacrifice ideology. >> i think some, anderson, that's a good question, some might be concerned about it, however, there's a lot to be

encouraged with a lot of the choices that the president-elect has been making with regards to his cabinet. people that with the exception of steve bannon, people who are going to be influencing him and i think that may override him. he can be pragmatic and not be ideological, however, a lot of the individuals with whom he's surrounding himself are actually ideological. so it might be a good complement. >> all right, dana, thanks for being on. president-elect trump facing an unprecedented number of civil lawsuits. one involving trump university. a trial set to go this month. will it actually go forward? we'll look at that ahead.

add this to the list of things that sets donald trump apart from any other president-elect. he's also facing doesee ining d lawsuits, some involving trump university. drew griffin tonight reports. >> reporter: the biggest lawsuit facing the president-elect are actually three. all surrounding his trump university. two class-action suit in california, one $40 million lawsuit filed by new york's attorney general. all basically alleging the same thing. >> trump university. >> reporter: trump's real estate

university wasn't a university. trump's hand-picked real estate experts weren't hand picked by trump and exposed by a cnn report, trump's so-called real estate experts like top trump seminar instructor james harris weren't really real estate experts at all. >> do you remember ken ywhen yod this, at 29 i became the top 1% broker in the country. i build homes in atlanta, georgia, and i used to live in beverly hills. >> yes. if i said those things, they are true. i did live in beverly hills and -- >> we have no record of you ever living in beverly hills. >> okay. well -- >> we can't find your broker's license anywhere. >> okay. >> i have no idea what homes you built in atlanta, georgia. you build homes in georgia? >> i'm not prepared to answer those questions today. >> reporter: last week in san diego, federal judge gonzalo curiel urged both sides in the first class-action lawsuit to settle the matter, given the fact trump's about to become president. instead, trump's attorneys filed

a motion to delay the actual trial until trump becomes president. political attorney steven kauffman says the real strategy may be to delay the suit even beyond that. >> who knows what's going to happen once he takes office after january 20th that might further prevent him from participating in the trial and allowing his attorneys to conduct the trial at that point in time. i imagine a delay at this point would lead to further delays once he becomes president. >> reporter: the lawsuits against his school are just the beginning. there are dozens of lawsuits pending against trump and some filed by trump like the two restaurants that decided they wouldn't open in trump's new old post office hotel in washington after trump made disparaging comments about mexicans. trump's suing them. they're suing trump. then there's the republican consultant suing because she claims tweets calling her a real dummy ruined her reputation.

some trump protesters are suing trump claiming his security team at trump tower assaulted them last year. his companies face suits involving sexual harassment allegations, golf membership battles and even a fight over tips at a hotel. all of this going on at the same time the president-elect is trying to form a cabinet, set a political agenda and, oh, yeah, turn over his entire business empire to his kids. earlier this year, trump's personal attorney told us he had already begun that task and it wasn't going to be easy. >> there are real issues there that have to be addressed. >> because legally i don't think he can run the trump organization while president of the united states, correct? >> yeah, i can't go into the details. there's obviously a lot of intelligent people who are working on these issues. >> reporter: it's a lot to handle, why stephen kaufman thinks he should move to settle any lawsuits pending and file no

new ones, no lawsuit against "the new york times," no lawsuits against women who accused him of sexual harassment. >> if i was his lawyer, i would suggest he stay away from the courtroom as far as possible. i can't imagine any good would come out of testimony given in a court of law about the actions of the president of the united states. >> drew joins us now. this motion filed late this afternoon in california is another attempt by trump's lawyers to postpone the trial on trump university, right? it's supposed to start, what, just two weeks? >> yeah, anderson. the judge pretty much stated he wants to get this over with. he either wants a settlement which he's recommending or a trial. trump's lawyers are really pushing the idea that things changed on tuesday which is why they refiled this motion. you know, they are actually arguing that for the good of the country, it's a matter of great public importance, they write in this afternoon, that they

postpone this. judge curiel has not ruled. currently it's set for trial two weeks from today. president-elect donald j. trump listed as a witness for both sides. anderson? >> we'll see if something happens in the next two weeks. our breaking news, anti-trump protests taking part in the sixth straight day in two cities tonight. our gary tuchman spent time with the students who organized the demonstration in arizona, contrary to what president-elect tweeted last week. gary tuchman reporting, they are not professional protesters. details on that, straight ahead. whoa, this is awful, try it. oh no, that looks gross what is that? you gotta try it, it's terrible. i don't wanna try it if it's terrible. it's like mango chutney and burnt hair. no thank you, i have a very sensitive palate. just try it! guys, i think we should hurry up. if you taste something bad, you want someone else to try it. it's what you do. i can't get the taste out of my mouth! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. shhh! dog, dog, dog. what powers the digital world? communication.

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country. we will all come together and be proud. we asked our gary tuchman more about who organized tonight's protests and why he did it. he joins me now. gary? >> reporter: anderson, hundreds of people here in the middle of the university of arizona campus right now, a rally against donald trump. not just students, but also people from tucson. it's been very loud and rambunctious. the people are about to start marching through the campus and through the city of tucson, but the whole idea for this rally started off very simply. contra ferrara is a public health major and wants to become a clinical epidemiologist, but her mind these days is on donald trump. >> i didn't go to class, i was in shock, i had a meltdown the night before when i found out the election results. >> reporter: in the hours that followed, she had an idea. she would become the organizer of an anti-trump rally. >> i decided hild create a

facebook event and see -- a public facebook event, and whoever wanted to come were more than welcome. >> are we going to do it like -- >> reporter: she brought together other students she knew who felt the same as she did. they made posters and signs at a local art gallery. they discussed strategy, coordinated with the city and university police. initially, a handful of people replied on facebook they would come. within a few days, the number climbed to over 1300. >> i'm very angst. i'm the first speaker. i'm a very social butterfly. you can ask anyone that knows me, but when it comes to a crowd, i have very bad stage fright. >> reporter: there are a lot of smiles and plenty of laughter here, but it all belies the anger. these are the six other people who have been leading the organizational effort with khadra farrah. >> just because the rug was ripped out, this is a reminder that we have to keep fighting. >> reporter: do any of you see

anything good about donald trump? >> the only thing good out of this election, him being our president-elect, is that it's really forcing people to come together, especially marginalized people and form solidarity. >> reporter: these students have seen images of the other anti-trump protests around the country, and are aware of what's being said about them. >> one of the things donald trump tweeted recently about demonstrators is that they were, quote, professional protesters. are any of you professionals? >> no, not at all. >> in the morning. >> any of you getting paid anything to do this? >> not at all. >> he said during some of his rallies that people get paid $1,500 to disrupt his rallies. >> i wish! >> have any of you heard from anybody above you who is getting paid to bring you to the rally? >> not at all. >> everyone, one, two, three. >> whoo! >> reporter: these students say they know nothing will change the results of this election,

but think as long as everything stays calm, their rally will accomplish something by allowing their voices to be heard. >> i would say the hardest thing about setting this up is the possibility that it could go left. the possibility that there would be disturbers, agitators, people who aren't happy that this is happening. >> reporter: you mean, trump supporters? >> trump supporters. >> reporter: and non-trump supporters. >> and non-trump supporters. >> so gary, how have things gone so far tonight? >> reporter: anderson, as we speak, the march is just beginning right now and expected to last for the next hour. everything has been very peaceful so far. the only slightly tense moment came when a man standing with a huge confederate flag and a sign that said "you're a bunch of crybabies" people started arguing back and forth, but everyone stayed calm after people saw that confederate flag. >> gary, thanks very much. much more ahead on tonight's

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