hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in aleppo, syria. 11:30 p.m. in kabul, afghanistan. wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you very much for joining us. up first, the trump transition. waiting to hear the latest choices from president-elect donald trump for his administration. more announcements we're told are expected soon answer the trump administration begins to take shape, sources described some of the in-fighting within the transition team as very, very intense, but donald trump says the process is running smoothly. former congressman newt gingrich, former speaker of the

house, a trump insider downplayed any divisions. >> the begins of any transition like this has turmoil, it's just the nature of the process, and i think that trump is very decisive. he's a very good ceo. and i think what you're seeing is -- will become clear over the next two or three weeks as they build out the cabinet. >> our correspondent sunlen surfoti is outside the trump tower on fifth avenue. sunlen, update us. what's happening today? what should we be expecting? >> reporter: well, wolf, again today trump tower has really been a hotbed of activity. a lot of people coming in. eric trump. don jr. senator sessions to name just a few. and trump transition officials seem to be shifting into overdrive today. to down it play these reports, not only accounts of there being tension within the transition team and in-fighting within the

transition team but a little behind the eight ball, a little off to a slow start in their transition, given that it is now one week since election day, and this is something that kellyanne conway, one of trump's top advisers addressed when she walked in this morning. >> you don't form a federal government overnight. these are very serious issues and appointments and very serious consideration from his perspective, presented with any number of choices within each of the agencies and departments, and he's making those tough decisions, and if anything has obviously more choices than one to fill in each position. we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to many of those positions. >> across the board transition officials really trying to protect this image that everything is calm and everything is really steady inside, even though there are many sources including from transition officials inside those closed doors that are saying otherwise. wolf? >> some of the new york city

marian, big deblasde blasio jus with a meeting with the president-elect. what did they discuss? >> reporter: yes. about an hour meeting according to the new york mayor who came out and talked to reporters afterwards and provide add laundry list of things he clearly came ready to talk to donald trump about today. of course, these guys had a storied relationship, not always have gotten along. just last year donald trump called mayor de blasio, a maniac, the worst new york mayor ever. and trying to turn over a new leaf. talked about regulation of wall street, donald trump's policy of stop and frisk, reinstating that, and believing that drive as wedge between policing and the community and vowed for him not to go forward with that, and interesting he addressed the tone and rhetoric of his campaign and seemed to plead to him to address that going

forward. here's bill de blasio. >> i also raced concerns about some of the messages and some of the rhetoric that for so many people have been hurtful. and i let him know that so many new yorkers were fearful. and that more had to be done to show that this country can heal that people can be respected. >> and another smaller topic, but a big local issue here, wolf, that a lot of people on these new york streets care about is the traffic and how traffic has been really affected in the weeks since the security print he pri perimeter has been set up around trump tower. they would address this going forward, it was said. >> sunlen serfaty at trump tower. discuss conflicting reports of what's happening inside donald

trump's transigs team. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thanks very much. >> talk about you right now. what's the latest that they basically cut you off? you were on the transition team leading up to the election, but anybody who had been named by chris christie, who had been chairman of that transition team, all of those people, you and several others, were dumped. what happened? >> well, you know, there is a natural place in the transition. so just if i can explain quickly. we got there about five months ago, chris christie named as transition leader, who put people together he thought could hand of different portfolios, the economic side, domestic policy, national security. >> you were for national security? >> asked to head up the national security. we gathered really good people, say, making mexico pay for the wall. if you wering go to do that, what would it look like? going to build the wall that protects the southern border and

reen gau re-engages of patrolling the southern border how would you do it? all of that was done and ready and complete the day of the election. so that part is ready. i think the transition in that regard is much farther along. this is the human resources part of the fight going on. >> why did they say, you know what? congressman, it's over for you? >> again, there is -- obviously they wanted to go a little different direction. that's what they told me. >> is it over for chris christie, too? >> i don't know if it's over or not. he still holds a position. >> he has a title, but not seen. no visibility. mike pence, the vice president-elect, he's now in charge of the transition. chris christie has sort of disappeared. did they say to him, it's over? >> well i don't know what they said to chris christie. i do know that this is not an unusual thing, and i will tell you i had a great conversation with the vice president-elect today. they're still looking for that input, still looking for people to contribute in a positive way.

trying to get this piece right. and i'm clearly going to -- >> what did mike pence, vice president-elect, say to you? did he call you or you call him? >> the vice president-elect reached out to me today and i had called him earlier and through phone tag this tends to happen today, but let me step back. i do this -- this is hard. the first eight days is the most tumultuous in any of these transitions. this is probably the most public affair of the tradition i've seen in my lifetime and i'm not sure that's healthy. i think some of the changes are good. some of the changes i would, maybe would have done a little differently, but what i do this is happening, the substance of the transition is ongoing. those people are showing up every day like they have for five months to put this together sow that the president-elect can have policies ready to go. this is the hr problem. so there is some pushing and shoving and pulling, but this is a normal course of action. now that the vice

president-elect has signed the papers and is firmly in charge of the transition, i think you'll see some of that, those wrinkles will get ironed out. >> once demoted chris christie, who signed papers earlier, so that the outgoing administration, state department, defense department, would cooperate, would work with the team. did the vice president-elect asked to you rejoin that team today? when he spoke with you? >> no, he didn't. i candidly don't think it would be a good idea. >> why wouldn't it be a good idea? you worked six months helping them prepare various individuals for possible portfolios? >> my work was done. honestly. we did all of the policy review, they call them agency action teams. but those teams together. now there's a phase called landing teams where these people will go into the agencies. so on direction now of the vice president-elect, and the president-elect of the united states will go into these agencies and prepare for the -- >> don't you think it would be useful to do all the work for you to be there and help them,

guide them in a specific way? >> well, you know, could i have had something to offer? sure. but i understand, too, they have the right and responsibility to get the team that they feel comfortable with. >> who replaces you? >> i'm not sure i know that. i think it went to new york. i think -- keith kellogg and mike flynn will take over those responsibilities, at least that's the way it was, i was led to believe that. that's great. they're very capable. i do think that the vice president, as you said, elect, would reach out and he still wants my participation and advice and counsel and i'm happy to give it. >> did he ask if you'd like a position in the new add min 12r5i administration. >> he didn't ask me about a position but said don't count it out. that was not the -- >> just talking? you could be cia director? you have a lot of experience and intelligence. >> i wouldn't go that far nor say that's even under consideration mi have no idea.

the purpose, we want your advice and counsel and still want you to participate. what happens in early days everybody starts thinking about themselves and not what is at stake and that national security portfolio to me is incredibly important, same with the economic portfolio. once these hr decisions are worked through, i think you will see the wrinkles ironed out, and a machine up and running. you know, think about it. you don't ask an excavator to put in the windows of the building. they're going through some of these choices. right? they want to make sure the right person is doing the right job in a way that they feel comfortable with. i completely understand that. that's the nature of politics, and the it's just in this time, it's really highly public. so that's what year seeing in a normal, i think in a normal transition you wouldn't see it this public. these things have happened. happened under obama, under george w. bush. i watched those things happen. so this is not completely unusual. i think it's just because you have a guy that has no experience with government at

all. people have -- >> president-elect. >> the president-elect. give him some time here. he is, he's approaching this like a businessman walking in and going to put this, right his ship so it is performing that helps him help the country. i think that's where we're going. i got that feeling from the vice president as well. >> you and the vice president-elect go way back. both incoming freshman congressmen the same you're. you've had a longstanding relationship with him? >> i have. he's an honest, decent man. i have a lot of confidence he'll do great on the transition and all of those vice chairman roles, play a role. advice and counsel. >> i don't see chris christie playing any role? >> i haven't talked to governor christie. >> the one who named you? brought you in? >> he did. >> pretty extraordinary. he brought you in. somebody else called you, said you're out and you haven't had a chance to discusses with think chris christie? technically still listed at the

vice chairman? >> i want them all to succeed. it's too important. end of the day, again, a lot of people will pop up in these things, and thump their chest, they were wronged or righted, they want this, didn't get that. that candidly should be irrelevant going into what is the largest organization in the world, candidly, and as someone joked that you get very low paid ceo. probably the poorest paid you'll ever get to run a very important, large organization. we're going to need all hands on deck. i think we're working through the process of saying, hey, this is too important, people. everybody calm down. we are going to need all hands on deck to get the job done. >> one final question before i let you go. this notion of security clearance, top secret security clearances for the adult children, jared cush nekushner son-in-law of donald trump. is that happening? not happening? >> i don't know exactly how

they'll make that arrangement. if jared kushner is going to play a role, even senior strategy advisory role for the president-elect, i would argue he should get a clearance, only because otherwise you're up and out of the room every two minutes, because lots of those conversations will center around national security, foreign policy, other things. he will probably need that to make, if he's going to play that strategic role. the other children in the family aren't playing that kind of a role, probably not necessary for them and argue probably shouldn't get them. it's all about need to know. again, if he is playing that role he should probably have a clearance. if not playing that role shouldn't have a clearance. >> heard arguments, the wife, adult children, son-in-law, should get some security clearance. because if they want to talk with donald trump, for example, about his schedule, upcoming events, that's classified information until released publicly. you don't want to tip off the bad guys where the president might be traveling, stuff like that. and that's an argument that i've heard made that, yes, they

should have some sort of classified status. >> you can do that, but the president can function in those roles without a high level -- the people he's talking to, without a high level security clearance, and in the intelligence business, they always say, remember one thing. president of the united states can instantly and immediately declassify anything they want. >> and say to his wife, i'm going to chicago next week. that's declassified? >> it is then. >> confident, but not declassified. >> at least not to her. >> mike rogers, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and up next, tangled web of business ties and evolving role for his father-in-law, president-elect donald trump. and on the hill, whether to keep a spending ban in rules put in place by the former speaker of the house, john boehner. we'll be right back.

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originally brought in by chris christie is no longer in charge. we just learned he did have a conversation with the new man in charge of transition, vice president-elect mike pence. said it was a good conversation. we'll hear what that means and get more information precisely on what role if any, the new jersey governor, chris christie, has right now, because he has been sort of invisible, even though he's officially listed as the vice charmin of the transition team. let's bring in our panel to discuss all of this, and the role of donald trump's son-in-law, jared kushner as well. joining us, chief political analyst glorgia borger. martha kumar and professor of a university and political analyst david gregory and cnn political commentator ryan lizza for "the new yorker "magazine. what exactly is jared kushner's role right now?

it's caused conflicting reports. >> that seems to be the question of the day. look, he's very close to the president-elect. he is no fan of chris christie. chris christie prosecuted his father and sent him 20 jato jai. we saul knall knee story. and a group appointed by chris christie are now gone, one mike rogers, with whom you just spoke. so i spoke with a source familiar with the transition who pushed back on that, and said that jared did not organize this, but he certainly wasn't unhappy that the christie people were gone. i think you can play this out for yourselves. i think chris christie is still in touch. i don't think he's running the transition. >> we don't see him walking in and out, these past days over of at trump tower? everyone else in the transition is walking in and out. he's not. >> look, i would not say it is

beyond a possibility that christie could be offered something, but i'm not so sure even if offered something at this point he would take it. this is bad relations at this point, and there's been this purge, whoever did it. there aren't a lot of people with the authority to kind of order that kind of thing. >> whoever involved with christie. >> all arrows point to jared, although there is pushback on it. >> you've studied this over the years. mike rogers said, normal stuff. eight days in to the transition. is this all normal? >> you have a different situation here, because you have a person who has not served in elected office before, and making that transition from being a private person to a public person and trying to put the government together is, is a challenge in way it isn't for people who are elected as president after having served in the senate or having served as governor. they already have people before

served in office with them they can bring in with them who are experts. >> after you get nominated in july until the election in november is where you're supposed to organize, you're supposed to assume you're going to win the presidency. in touch with administration officials and various cabinet posts, agencies, and you're getting everything ready so that if you win, on day one, you've got a transition team in place. you've got people vetted, you've got an organization. that doesn't seem it happened this time. >> well, this time, the 2015 law calls for, on august 1st, the general services administration, to provide space for both candidates for their transition team up to around 100 people. and both the clinton and trump operations did that. so with chris christie leading that transition that they gathered a lot of information. >> but it's extraordinary someone who was leading that transition is then dumped?

and all of the people he brought in are dumped as well? >> that certainly was not the case in 2008, for example. john podesta began in july, and went through the transition, and in, to the inauguration. in the bush administration, you had the early work done by clay johnson, and then dick cheney came in as the head. but there is a lot of information that's gathered early this time. because the government had to begin its operations in may, may 8th. six months before the election. so the information is there. even if the people are gone, there's a lot of information they have gathered. >> i covered several of these transitions, it's extraordinary what's going on and one school of thought says, you know what? they didn't think they would win and didn't spend a lot of time worrying about a transition? >> it's transparently mess pip that's really it.

they weren't prepared. we're talking about the donald trump campaign here. i don't think any of us should be surprised it's not orderly. it was a populist, anti-establishment campaign and now running smack head into, oh, geez. we need people in the establishment to actually run things because they know what they're doing and there's a danger of too many personalities clashes getting in the way of getting competent people in. i think clearly being too disorganized is a danger. i also think there's a real potential problem that donald trump does not want a government, especially key figures, who are lower tier people in terms of their history, qualifications, their talent level. that should be of a concern to all americans if that comes to pass. all of the rest of these things going on i think speaks to, you know, splits politically, splits within the family and his cohort of advisers, which i think we can overstate the importance of at this juncture. he should be given time to form his government and when you're

watching it every step of the way it can look messy e. and in some ways, donald trump named mike pence as his vice presidential running mate. sends a message who he likes, doesn't like. reince priebus in the white house, steve bannon. three appointments. what does that say to you, ryan, looking forward? >> what's happening, we're witnessing a family grudge match, that's preventing donald trump from forming a government. what happened with chris christie is that he was someone that was reported donald trump wanted to be his running mate. a conversation reported that trump called christie said it would tear my family apart if i made you the running mate. in the final decision-making hour when he went with pence. christie was basically skyle ee

and nobody cared about this, and in a war nobody thought they would win. trump was superstitious. didn't want to do transition planning. christie, to his credit, very responsible. put together a team. filled with new jersey political people, and a lot of washington lobbyists and a lot of people, republicans alienated, not part of the trump campaign. trump all of a sudden wins against everyone's expectations and all of the folks in trump tower in new york realized that they had nothing to do with this transition process. jared cukushner realizes his archenemy, chris christie, sent his dad to jail for tax evasion and witness tampering has the most important job. that's what the last week has been about. the new york takeover of chris christie's washington transition. >> and 2000, cheney came in, not unusual to have a big washington insider in pence. more of a washington insider

than chris christie. >> the problem, no coordination by washington, the washington operation run by christie and the new york run by the core trump staff and they are clashing this week. >> and told with a, from a source, and the way it was put to me was, no one put a check on this whole thing. >> yes. >> so they had no idea. what is striking to me is the ins similari insular insularity of this. big money types not onboard on day one, that they are not having input and republicans saying, maybe consult because i was in the bush administration and know how to do x, y and z, they're not being consulted and the trump people are saying, sorry, your noses is out of joint here, but by the way, you didn't support us. it's a matter of loyalty.

>> the whole campaign was -- >> these indications maybe you can help us, david, that mike pence, the vice president-elect, decided to get rid of all the lobbyists brought in? remember, the exchange that donald trump had on "60 minutes"? over the weekend? >> yeah. >> he said, look, these are the people that know what's going on. i got no choice. i don't want the lobbyists. vie to drain the swamp. the swamp from his point of view are these washington lobbyists. >> got to do it gradually. i'm sure people around trump or maybe trump himself said this really looks bad. mike, can you do something about this as re lean into this transition process and you see this. there's going to be a lot of people in the political class who get their nose out of joint how this all comes together because they now want included, closer to power. the message of what trump ran against. the whole mentality he wan against and it's going to make it messy. again, i think we all have to have a certain level of acceptance at how unconventional this is going to continue to be.

it's never going to snap back into form that we recognize. >> the whole lobbyist thing. if you recall, barack obama tried to do that as well. and by the way, a lot of people surrounding donald trump lobbied, and worked on behalf of either foreign governments, or defense contractors, or -- so he's got his own internal issues with lobbying. nothing is ever as black and whites as it seems during a campaign, when you make your list of, you know, promises and say i'm going to drain the swamp, and there you go. >> president obama did say he was not going to let any lobbyists, registered lobbyists come in and serve in his administration. some did. a few exceptions. right? >> he had -- >> by and large, boycotted. >> they were. >> told, including very loyal democrats who worked their whole life for democrats, worked for the president, because they been a registered lobbyist were not allowed to come in. >> right. he had had that rule earlier in his transition and had talked about it on the campaign trail.

so that was something that they were ready for. but in some ways, it harmed them, because it was difficult for them to bring in people from nonprofits, who had worked on particular issues, like la raza, cecilia la raza and they required waivers. >> because they were registered lobbyists for these nonprofits? >> right. >> and lobby for is necessarily -- >> some of the questions here, right? are they ready for primetime you? don't put together a protective pool a small group of reporters that always follow the president or in this case the president looect, bridging the press and a lot of this they don't know how to do. maybe disinclined to do it, and a lot of people in the capital staying saying, whoa. this is not how government gets run. >> certainly will learn. >> this is a category 5. okay? it's coming into washington. and everybody's got to recognize that it's going to be done

differently. >> and fill 4,000 political appointee jobs. which is a lot of work in a limited period of time. stick around. happening now also, house republicans are getting ready to vote on a spending bill which could throw out a key part of john boehner's legacy. up to thrill licapitol hill liv after the break.

welcome back. remember that famous bridge to nowhere in alaska? a 223 million dollar illustration of government excess? shut down in 2011 by banning port projects like that bridge,

but this hour the still republican-led house of representatives could move to undo that ban. our senior political reporter manu raju joins us from capitol hill right now. why do republicans want to overturn that ban? the ban on these appropriations called earmarks? >> reporter: right, wolf. actually, a lot of lawmakers from both parties believe they've seeded too much authority to the executive branch eliminating this kind of spending what critics cog pork barrel projects. saying it's a job of congress to direct that money to key priorities, whether it's bridges, roads, other projects back home in their districts, and in their states, and also believe politically it helps them. they can point to funding they've brought back home when they campaign for re-election. the critics, there are ample size of them, particularly conservative critics, believe that this breeds corruption, conflicts of interest. special interests could get money, as well as donors, and

that's one reason why there's been a lot of opposition from conservative groups to bringing back these so-called earmarks, but this vote is happening behind closed doors, wolf, and also by secret ballot. so we're not quite sure how this could turn out. member s could say they voted oe way. because it's a secret, we'll never know how they voted. could be close, wolf. >> interesting. they want to get rid of these so-called earmarks as a republican administration is coming in suggesting republicans don't trust the administration as much as they say they to? >> reporter: it would undercut donald trump's key campaign promise to drain the swamp, because as we know, these kind of projects would be a windfall for lobbyists in washington, who would be pushing very hard to ensure that a lot of these projects are included in these appropriations bills, in order that their clients get funded. so in a lot of ways it would undercut donald trump's main

campaign theme, but there's a lot of members of congress who believe that it's their job to direct spending, how they see fit, wolf. >> sounds we'bureaucratic but significant with the taxpayers' money. thank you. let us know how it turns out. coming up, new questions surfing over rudy giuliani's business past and whether this should disqualify him as a potential secretary of state. we'll discuss, when we come back.

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issues involving the vice presidency of the united states. both men are about to emerge. they've also had lunch there. they're going to be speaking to reporters. we'll have live coverage and see what the vice president and the vice president-elect have to say. meanwhile, rudy giuliani is a top contender to become the next secretary of state in the trump administration. the former new york city mayor has been a major critic of hillary clinton's time as secretary of state, citing conflicts of interest because of her ties to the clinton foundation. but giuliani himself could end up with some major conflicts of interest himself if they goes through a confirmation process because of his own paid consulting work involving foreign entities. our chief investigative reporter drew griffin has looked into the story. drew what have you learned? >> reporter: wolf, rudy giuliani became a famous politician mayor of new york city during that terrible terrorist attack on 9/11, but when he left office

three moss after the attack that fame and reputation began earning him a lot of money. he turned it and translated -- could never turn it into a higher office but did after the attack go out and start making a lot of money. he became extremely rich doing it. he began giving speeches worldwide. he created actually joined a huge law firm and create add security consulting company. he sold his services basically, wolf, across the grlobe. that is coming back to haunt him. he did business with the government of qatar, security contracts in chile, mexico city and representing city of venezuela's state-run oil company, and an explanation, would ev wolf for all of these an all legal deals that made them tense of million tens of millions are dollars but hard to explain, his own sharp words about the clintons and

their overseas business. >> the clinton foundation to me is a racketeering enterprise and the state department was a pay for play organization. the clinton foundation is a fraud. that's classic pay to play. she did favors for those very people who gave money to the clinton foundation. >> i think it's -- >> turning the state department into a pay for play operation. >> you can argue, wolf, that the particulars are just not the same, but i know senator rand paul told you yesterday, giuliani's business deals raise concerns about his confirmation, if selected for the secretary of state position and senator paul, of course, you know is a republican. i'm sure democrats would look at all this overseas business and try make any confirmation very tough for rudy giuliani. wolf? >> as you know, if you represent foreign entities, foreign governments here in washington, you have to register with the justice department as a foreign

agent. do you know if rudy giuliani or members of his team registered as foreign agents? apparently did not have to. was not representing those agencies in relation to the united states. mostly he was advising them on security issues, helping them structurally within their organization. so he was not required to register. >> and finally, what about his ties to an iranian exile group? until four years ago the state department considered to be a terrorist organization? >> reporter: that group is getting a lot of press now, even called this mysterious iranian group. they'll really not mistearous at all. is confusing. they were part of the iranian revolution and quickly fell out of favor with the ayatollah, or kicked out of basically of iran living in exile. their leadership in paris. they've got lots of bipartisan

support on capitol hill. ed rendell spoke to them, howard dean spoke to them. you know, obviously rude y lly giuliani has spoken on their behalf and secretary clinton dropped them from the foreign terrorist organization. that's not as big a problem. they're a confusing group considered more of a cult group nowadays, wolf, but that won't get in the way as much as his business deals with. >> good reporting. thanks very much. up next, democrats delayed their house leadership elections. what the move might signal for the future of the party and the longtime leader in the house of representatives, nancy pelosi.

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house minority leader nancy pelosi says she wants to keep her job, but some house members are pushing for someone other th than nancy pelosi. ruben gallego is one of the members who is concerned democrats need a different type of leader to deal with donald trump's presidency. congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> why are you concerned about nancy pelosi staying around as

the democratic leader in the house? >> i'm not saying nancy pelosi can't stay around as leader, but we are asking she has to start taking reforms and changes that are important for the future of this caucus and the democratic party. business as usual has not worked and this is not an issue of us going left or right. this is about us either going backwards or moving forward. and we need to be moving forward for the american citizens right now and we don't feel that that's occurring under current management right now. >> yesterday she was told that she wasn't going to be reelected, they're going to delay that vote for a couple of weeks. are you trying to send a message that maybe it's time for new leadership? >> i'm trying to send a message that we need to do some radical change within this caucus and if we're going to have leaders, no matter who it is, they should do three things that are important -- number one, we need to have a focus on the future. that means that this caucus has to have more power down to these

younger members. we'll be here and living through the trump years for many years and we're going to have to be the ones lieding the fight and we're closer to the ground for many of the people that are affected by what's going on with this economy. number two, we're also asking that we have a grass-roots movement up to assure that from now on instead of just coming in at the last minute to these races and trying to recruit people to run, that we're working in the communities and making sure we're finding the righteople to run for office and building them so we have all these members of congress ready to go on these election years. lastly, we want to campaign on values. it's -- it's clear that just saying the other person is bad is not going to win us elections but we need to focus on explaining to the person that is the steel worker, that is the latino in arizona, the democratic party is the party of the worker. we're here to protect you from wall street. we'll be here to make sure you have an opportunity of the american dream like anyone else. and that cuts across all demographic lines. right now i don't believe that we're having that message, that's why we're not having

success we want. any leader, whether leader pelosi or anybody else needs to adapt that type of i think strategy in order for us to have success in the future. democrat. >> democratic representative tim ryan, his name has been floated as a potential opponent to nancy pelosi when you vote down the road. would you back ryan or do you have someone else potentially in mind? >> again, it depends if they're willing to listen. just because we have a new leader coming in and they're not necessarily going to change of the reforms and keep things the status quo, i don't think that will bennet caucus whatsoever. i will look at everybody thinking about running but they have to answer at least those three fundamental things about where we're going as a caucus. because we've seen this time and time again. we're always coming up short and, again, our success is just not happening in this business as usual here in congress is not going to work out for democrats. >> right now do you have confidence nancy pelosi can move you in the direction you want to see democrats in the house go? >> i'm going to keep myself open to that, wolf.

i want to make sure that, you know, she clearly listens to many of us that have been asking for these types of reform. this is not the first year we've talked about this but i hope she's listening loud and clear to understand that we do care about this caucus, we care about the future of this country and this is why we're asking for these types of changes. >> your gains, the democrats' gains in the house, very very minor this time in the senate, very minor in the state races, legislators, governors races you guys bottom line did not do well. very quickly, what's the biggest reason why? >> we have to get people to come out to vote for something, not against someone. and for too long i think we were focusing on trying to convince people that some person is bad or donald trump is bad but we need to give them some inspiration for them to come out. give them hope that all their hard work is going to pay off and that the american dream has not left them. until we do that, we're always going to be racing to the bottom. >> representative gallego, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me.

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top of the hour, you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me. we begin with the president-elect pushing back. donald trump insisting his transition is under control while a source says that trump's son-in-law is at the heart of the infighting are overblown. trump took to twitter and wrote this. "very organized process taking place as i decide on cabinet and many other positions. i am the only one who knows who the finalists are." and it's possible we all may know who some of those choices could be as