with a new american battle plan but no certain victory. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. thanks for joining us. there's a lot happening tonight on several fronts. we'll have the latest on devastating fires burning in tennessee plus a new controversy over something president-elect trump tweeted just this morning. we begin, though, with the dinner date that just weeks ago few if anyone would have predicted. right now at a new york restaurant not far from here in fact president-elect trump is having dinner with mitt romney. the same mitt romney who did his best to derail trump's bid for the presidency is now a contender for the cabinet position of secretary of state. it is their second meeting. reince priebus, trump's incoming chief of staff, is dining with them. our jim acosta booked a table in the same restaurant and joins us now by known. what's the scene there like, jim? >> anderson, what we can see right now is the president-elect sitting at a table with mitt romney, who i suppose he's interviewing for secretary of

state right now, along with outgoing chair reince priebus. who's going to become white house chief of staff. it's been a warm and friendly discussion, pretty engaging discussion for the last 20 minutes or so since they arrived at this restaurant. inside the trump international hotel. right near columbus circle in fact, just across from our studios at cnn. and from what we can tell so far trump sort of started out the conversation, talked for a good five minutes or so, and then mitt romney chimed right no. right now i can tell you both men are very animated but smiling. it is warm. there is obviously no animosity whatsoever that is left over what from what we heard during the primaries when mitt romney referred to donald trump as a phony and a fraud and donald trump talked about mitt romney's choking like a dog in the 2012 presidential election. we're seeing none of that venom on display here at this table.

the person who seems to be doing the most listening right now is reince priebus. he's having trouble getting a word in edgewise. but pretty elaborate setup in terms of getting this dinner started, anderson. we sat down roughly about an hour before the two principals arrived. secret service swept the room, swept each individual customer at every table to make sure there wasn't any trouble. and then the two men walked right in with reince priebus just before 8:00. as we were talking to you here, we could tell you they are not even on to their first course. so they're having a discussion right now. and from all appearances, anderson, this is a very positive meeting between the president-elect and mitt romney. >> are you part of a press pool? i mean did you just happen to be in this restaurant? >> reporter: i didn't quite make out that question. >> how did you get in the restaurant? like what are you doing there?

did you know they were going to meet there? are you part of a press pool following them? >> reporter: we had gotten a tip, anderson, before this dinner that it was possible that they could be here. so like any enterprising reporter, we decided to go ahead and make a reservation. we had no idea they would be sitting down in this dining room that is part of the restaurant. as a matter of fact there is a bar area and a dining area. they did not go to the bar area. they went to the dining area a couple of tables from where we are right now. 15, 20 feet from where we're sitting right now, anderson. at one point reince priebus turned around and noticed me. i'll be very up front about that. but then went right back to the discussion. they don't seem to be distracted at all by having a reporter in the room. some of his key advance security people were also in the room. they don't seem to be troubled by us being here at all. and we did not disturb them as they came in. they sat down and went right into their discussion.

and i can tell you the most striking thing i can see right now anderson is there is absolutely no sense of any animosity between these two men. they are almost getting along like old friends. at one point i saw donald trump sort of crossing his arms for a good bit while mitt romney was talking. sort of the body language of maybe he's not really liking what mitt romney had to say but went right back to having this very lively exchange. this is probably the most talked about dinner of the transition, and we're watching it unfold right now. >> i assume cnn is picking up the check for you at this restaurant tonight because it's pretty enterprising on your part. was there a meeting at trump tower tonight between the two that preceded this dinner? >> reporter: in terms of what preceded this dinner the only thing that we know of between these two men, anderson, and i'll confess i'm having a little trouble hearing you, was that meeting at the bed minister golf club a couple of weeks ago. that was their last meeting as we understand it.

we were also told by a source that melania trump, the future first lady, and ann romney, the wife of governor romney, were going to be at this dinner tonight. they have not joined us as of this point right now. at this point it's just the three men. the future white house chief of staff, donald trump, the president-elect, and mitt romney, potentially the next secretary of state. >> and the trump team, what if anything are they saying about this, are they saying about mitt romney? >> what is the transition saying about mitt romney right now? >> yes. >> you are hearing a big split, anderson. and there are people inside this transition who will tell you that selecting mitt romney as the next secretary of state makes a lot of sense because that will show the country that donald trump is capable of having thick skin, of getting over past grievances, and uniting the country. that is what is so tantalizing about making mitt romney the

secretary of state. of course you have people like kellyanne conway, newt gingrich, and lots of other supporters inside trump world who just don't like the thought, they're aghast at the thought of mitt romney becoming secretary of state because of all the horrible things that were said about him. i can tell you that the press is now coming into this room now more anderson. the spray as they call it of all this. you're going to have all it. the lead advance is bringing in a small pool of reporters and photographers. so hopefully, maybe our presence here helped open things up for this dinner anderson. there were some rumbles this might occur. so i don't want to take any credit for it. but it is amazing to see. there was that dinner the other night when the family went out, didn't tell the pool about it. that's not the case tonight. the pool was informed about this. and now there's a small pool of reporters and photographers in here getting some shots of this meal. >> we'll continue to check in with you. the dinner taking place caps a busy day in the trump transition. just a short time ago we learned

that former wall street executive and hollywood producer steven menuchin is expected to be named as trump's choice for treasury secretary and billionaire investor wilbur ross is expected to be tapped for commerce secretary. earlier team trump named former labor secretary elaine chao to head the transportation department and representative tom price for health and human services. let's talk about it now. cnn political commentator and republican strategist ken madden joins us. gloria borger. and "usa today" columnist kristen powers. kevin, i want to start with you. you obviously have worked very closely with mitt romney. what do you make of them reaching out to mitt romney? of the relationship they have on what they said about each other during the campaign? >> well i think the initial outreach had to do with sending a message to a lot of republicans that donald trump was interested in uniting the party. and genuinely interested in getting some insights from

somebody like mitt romney who has spent a lot of time working on national security and foreign policy issues. and i think what that first initial meeting did was show another side of mitt romney, the side of mitt romney that donald trump endorsed during his 2012 campaign. there was an existing relationship there before it frayed during this 2016 cycle. so i think that this particular event, what's interesting about this is the nature of it. burying the hatchet is something you do over dinner. and it is a very personal -- breaking of bread is very personal, particularly when you have your spouses there. i think this is an indication that reince priebus is helping broker this burying of the hatchet between the two men. >> but how real do you think is the possibility that he could be named secretary of state? if there's only been -- the last meeting was a while ago and this is now a dinner meeting, that's not naturally a substantive meeting. >> i think it's very possible. one thing i found interesting is

as much as there are those inside the trump world in opposition to the idea of mitt romney being named secretary of state, nobody is declaring that it absolutely won't happen. and if there were folks inside that world that wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to that's what they would be predicting. and they would be dismissing the idea outright. and they're not doing that. i think it's very much a possibility. but donald trump does have a blessing here in the simple fact that he has a number of candidates for the secretary of state position that are very good, very qualified and have a lot of support amongst people inside -- inside the republican party. >> and gloria, it's easy to read too much into a dinner. one side will say well he hasn't had dinners with any of the other interviewees. although obviously he's spent a ton of time with rudy giuliani among them. he met with general petraeus just yesterday. senator corker, he's obviously met with as well and others. but at the same time it's easy to read too much into something like that.

>> well, look, i think this is high profile and they know it. and inviting mitt romney back for dinner, i was told by a source in the transition is meaningful. that was the word my source used. and i think if you're looking at this it is meaningful. these men could not be more different. they've said an awful lot of stuff about each other. i don't expect they're ever going to be best friends. but i think what they are coming to and maybe i'm wrong is some kind of mutual respect. and i think what trump is going to demand from mitt romney is loyalty and trust. and i think, if i had to guess, that that's kind of the backdrop for all of this given the words that milt romney spoke about donald trump including calling him a con man. and i think that he's trying to, as donald trump does with his gut, sort of feel out somebody to see if he's a team player. and one thing i should point out is that sources in the romney world have kind of gone dark on this.

and kevin, you know this better than i do. but they're dark. mitt romney isn't talking to them. they're not talking a lot to us. and romney's not lobbying for the job. nor has he asked anybody to lobby on his behalf for the job. so if he gets it it is clear to me he wants this job or he wouldn't be having dinner there tonight. if he gets it, great. if he doesn't get, it he'll go back to his life. >> even if he's not the pick it does help donald trump to not only have a relationship with mitt romney but to be seen to be consulting him. >> yeah, no, i think this is -- we don't really know what donald trump is up to here. we don't know how serious he is about romney or if he's just doing this to make it very clear that not only did he win but now the person who was tearing him down is basically coming and, you know, sort of being a is up plikant, bending to his will.

and that makes donald trump -- probably makes him very happy and makes him look strong and it very easily could be what he's doing. or he could be serious about it. we don't really know. as gloria said the romney people have been incredibly quiet. aren't saying much so we don't know what mitt romney is actually thinking. i think if he doesn't get it, it will look pretty bad for him to have gone this far and sort of turned around on everything that he said and then basically to have been treated -- like trump's like a cat playing with a toy. >> kevin, along those lines, they approached him. and yet you have in an unprecedented way people from the transition team coming out, you know, throwing shade and attacking governor romney. >> right. and they were an unconventional campaign that was very successful, and i expect they will be an unconventional transition, i hope successful and an unconventional presidency. they air a lot of their

differences publicly. and the odd thing is i don't have a lot of criticism for that. we've always asked that people in the political world be more ginn, be more transparent of what they say publicly matching what they say privately. and kellyanne conway and others have been very vocal about that. but they have always finished their statements by saying there's only one person who makes the decision and that person who makes the decision is president-elect trump and and & if he makes it that they'll support it. >> kirsten it was interesting because monica langley from wall street journal was on last night and saying based on her reporting that nothing kellyanne conway was saying publicly was going rogue. that its wall done with donald trump's knowledge and forethought. and if that is in fact the case, which it seems to be her reporting has been very accurate, it's very telling and interesting that he would want that message out there. and to kevin's point i think it is a valid argument that we always call for transparency. the airing of differences certainly is transparent. >> i think that that's true, but

i do think that there is an element of is this a very nice way to treat somebody who you're considering for a very high post in your administration? and just the public nature of this is very interesting. the fact that jim acosta got a tipoff that he was able to go there and see this. they're doing it in public. i would have expected it would be in a private room. it's very clear that trump wants everyone to see this. >> well, and so -- >> sorry. go ahead, gloria. >> it's a reality show. he does want all of us to see it. and mitt romney is a big boy. if he didn't want to go he didn't have to go. >> it also adds to the drama and adds to the conversation, and donald trump loves that. likes that. that is something -- >> yeah. >> we should also point out a few moments ago gloria, carrier, a big air-conditioning manufacturer, sent a tweet and i want to read it. it says, "we are pleased to have reached a deal with president-elect trump and vice president-elect pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in indy. more details soon." that decision, they had a decision to move jobs to mexico. it was a big talking point for

donald trump on the campaign trail. he was very critical of it. this is obviously something which they were negotiating and it's a big win for him no matter how you slice it. >> sure. and we don't know the details of the deal or the conversations. but i would have to guess that what donald trump and mike pence were talking about is easing regulations, changing up the tax code to make it more beneficial for carrier to keep its plant in the united states. and that also that perhaps donald trump wouldn't impose heavy tariffs on companies like carrier in the future who did decide to move some jobs over there. i don't know exactly what was part of it. but i guarantee you something like this is going to be part of donald trump's economic plan, which would be more favorable to business, and then keep companies like carrier here.

it's a big win for donald trump. he promises in the campaign. he's not even in office and he worked to get it done. and the other day i think he tweelted about it saying we're very close. >> he tweeted on thanksgiving saying even on thanksgiving we're working on this. >> right. >> the carrots and sticks. we don't know which was used in this or some combination thereof. ahead the president elect thinks people who burn the american flag should lose their citizenship or be thrown in jail. we'll get to the constitutional issues that raises and also why he decided to start tweeting about that this morning. why is he doing that in the first place? is it to distract from other issues? we'll look at that. and also tonight a live update from gatlinburg, tennessee. raging wild fires have killed at least three people. we'll have the latest on what caused the fires. the fight to contain them, which is ongoing. and the destruction they're causing. >> oh, god. oh, man.

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"nobody should be allowed to burn the american flag. if they do there must be consequences perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail." we'll get to the issue of throwing someone in jail for constitutionally protected actions. but first the question of why donald trump was even tweeting about this in the first place. seems to stem from a small liberal arts college in massachusetts. miguel marquez tonight joins us. so can you just explain first of all what's been going on at hampshire college since the election? >> reporter: this has been a riotous time. the day after the elections

students upset not only about the outcome of the election but the rhetoric leading into it and some of the hateful acts that they saw immediately after. were protesting. they lowered the main flag at the campus to half staff. the next night, which happened to be the very early morning of veterans day, someone pulled that flag down and burned it. there's now an investigation into ongoing, of what happened there. a week later the board of trustees and the college president decided to take the flag down because the protests weren't stopping. and they said this in a statement. they wanted to focus the college's efforts on addressing racist, misogynistic, islamophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-semitic, and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and we're rhetoric and behaviors." this was in response to some things you saw after the election, some instances of hate across the country. >> and understandably there have been counterprotests from veterans, correct? and others. >> reporter: veterans

extraordinarily upset this is happening. not only veterans here but people from the town, people from surrounding towns. very big protests here over the weekend. they are promising another protest if this is not wrapped up this coming weekend. the school trying to do everything they can at this point i think to get students to the place where they feel they can raise this flag again. and keep in mind it's only one flag. there are several flags around the college. they are flying but the one main flag in the college is not. >> have students had any reaction to donald trump's statement this morning? >> reporter: this is a very small school in a very small town and i think they are blown away by the magnitude of the backlash to all of this. the protest this past sunday, another one planned. we spoke to one student who is a trustee here at the school, sort of like being on the student government.

he gets to actually vote with the trustees on a lot of matters pertaining to the school. here's what he had to say about the -- donald trump tweeting about this. >> like today what donald trump has said, the president-elect of the united states, that those who burn the flag should be jailed or lose their citizenship. what does that say about our first amendment? what does that say about freedom of speech? i think those are much more complicated issues and those are much more important than talking about a small college in the middle of massachusetts that has burned a flag. >> reporter: what's interesting about that young man, eduardo sandiego, he is undocumented. he has a full ride scholarship to this college. he came to the united states when he was 16 years old. he grew up the last several years in -- outside of atlanta in georgia. he was not able to go to school there. he was able to go to school here. he was top of his class. he's on the board of trustees. he's a student on the trustees

here. and he is undocumented. so feels very, very passionate and feels that the president-elect is tweeting specifically and threatening specifically him. as for the flag burning he doesn't think it should have happened. he sees it as a symbol of opportunity for this country and hopes it will go back up soon. anderson? >> miguel marquez, thanks so much. a lot to talk about. cnn political commentator and trump supporter alice stewart. is democratic strategist and pro clinton super pac adviser paul begala. cnn political commentator and "usa today" columnist kirsten power. jeffrey lord. cnn political commentator and republican consultant margaret hoover. cnn political commentator and former congressional black caucus executive angela rye. and cnn senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. good night, everybody. before we talk about why donald trump is tweeting this out, not just what was happening at hampshire but also the politics behind it or media strategy behind it, just the legality of this. this has been asked and answered

by the supreme court. the constitutionality of the american flag as distasteful as burning the american flag is. >> two things actually in that tweet have been settled by the supreme court. one is the more famous issue which is in 1989 and 1990 the supreme court said there is a constitutionally protected right to burn the american flag. it is protected under the first amendment. the other thing the supreme court has said is that the right to citizenship is a constitutional right. so a court can't take it away from you. it's like having the right to a lawyer when you're charged with a crime. the court can't sentence you to no lawyer in court. so they can't take away your citizenship. they can put you in jail, they can execute you. they can take away your right to vote. but there is no such thing as a sentence of taking away your citizenship. >> jeffrey lord, as a trump supporter does it concern you at all that the president-elect of the united states in a single tweet has gone against two parts of the constitution? two things which the supreme

court says are constitutionally protected as distasteful as they may be. >> first of all, i should say i do part company with him on this. i'm a strong believer in the first amendment, which is why i'm with justice scalia on this just as i was with justice scalia on citizens united. the same thing. free speech. politically speaking i do think that this probably helps him. there is a lot of, for obvious reasons, very emotional attachment to the american flag. >> but do you think he understands -- do you think he knows that in a single tweet he said two things which are -- >> i honestly don't know. but i think it's good -- he has -- i mean he's now president elect of the united states. and all year we had people saying, you know, when he does these things he's not going to get elected. he does them i think for a reason. they stir conversation. they get issues out there. they help people vent in some case. >> well, i think you raise an interesting point. they stir conversation. paul begala, i want to go back to something you said last

night. you can talk about it again. it steers conversation and it takes conversation away from other issues. in fact, this takes conversation away from his last tweets, which were completely factually -- there's no evidence of what he tweeted -- >> false. >> -- about millions of illegal voters voting for hillary clinton. now the discussion switches to this. which is kind of an age-old obvious issue which is going to galvanize a lot of people. >> and a very popular position. jeffrey's right. it's not the law of the land, it's not what the constitution says but most americans abhor flag burning. if we could we would outlaw it. but we can't because we have freedom in this country. but i think in this case, it's just a theory, i think he's trying to distract from some of the appointments he's making. today he seems to be stocking his cabinet with washington insiders. and good for him. he has a perfect right to pick his team. elaine chao, a former cabinet member in the republican administration of president george w. bush. >> married to mitch mcconnell. >> the wife of the senate

majority leader. but a very accomplished woman on her own. fully deserving of at least a full vote. she seems qualified to me. this -- dr. price, congressman price from georgia. a long-time -- chairman of the house budget committee. long-time washington veteran. apparently now the choice for health and human services. so he's going right to the establishment for picking his cabinet and this could annoy his base. so what's he do? he throws something out for the base. and oh, by the way, i'm going to take away your citizenship if you burn the flag. and that's going to help keep the base loyal to him even as he -- he doesn't drain the swamp. he's just bringing in new alligators. not even new ones. bigger alligators. >> an alternative. maybe there's no game theory here. maybe this is not a big strategic sort of gotcha. maybe he was watching a cable news channel that had a segment about hampshire college on this morning and their flag burning and maybe he tweeted about it three or four minutes afterwards. >> that's too scary. one myth, one hope that this

guy's not nuts. okay? >> that happened. i didn't just create a scenario that. that actually happened this morning. and so what happened was donald trump, as we know, gets on the twitter, isn't restrained, has gotten his twitter feed back clearly because it's unlikely that any of his senior advisers would have -- >> there was a fox news report shortly before he had tweeted out -- we don't know if there was a linkage there. but he certainly watches the shows, as we heard him talking about a little bit. he was tweeting about this show last night minutes after one of jeff zeleny's reports. >> and i'm getting tweets now because he's at dinner with mitt romney. >> one of the things to keep in mind also, he put out a tweet on this, and we're talking about this 12 hours later whereas he put out several press releases on key appointments and they're not getting the attention. with regards to the flag burning issue it's important to keep in mind the majority of americans agree it's despicable and disrespectful.

what he's proposing, hillary clinton did the exact same thing in 2005 with the flag burning act which would require a year in prison as well as a $100,000 fine for burning the flag. what he's proposing is not unusual. and i think with regard to the key appointments today why would he want to distract from that? him appointing tom price in that position single-handedly at the beginning of the -- >> to her point, angela, it may not be unusual but it still doesn't make it constitutionally promote. >> that's exactly right. and i think we have to start talking about this as this is our incoming commander in chief. this man should understand constitutional law. it's fine for him to say the supreme court ruled in texas versus johnson and i don't agree with that. but i think it is curious, it's not what's in the 140 characters. it is the mindset behind what's in the 140 characters on twitter. the reason we talk about this over and over again is because it actually is legitimately scary to many of us who feel like -- i know anderson feelings, i'm sorry, but we feel like we potentially elected a dictator. someone who thinks he does not

have to be accountable to constitutional law, he doesn't have to be accountable to the legislative branch, he thinks he can just come in and do some crazy stuff. >> kristen, it is -- we are in uncharted waters with a president-elect who is continuing to tweet just as he did maybe a little less but as he did during the campaign. i mean, when i first heard that he was tweeting about something that was on this broadcast a number of tweets, again, factually incorrect tweets last night, i kept thinking, doesn't he have like a briefing book on isis to be reading last night at 10:00 or 9:00 or 8:00? >> he's turning those away those briefers. you know that. there's been reports he's not receiving the briefers he's obligated to receive. >> there is a huge amount of information that for him to be absorbing now and thinking about and the fact that he's watching shows -- i appreciate he's watching the show. he doesn't have a nielsen box. it doesn't really help. but what is he doing? >> that was true during the campaign -- >> but i get the campaign --

>> okay. even then he should have been probably been boning up on what's going on. so i think it is concerning that he continues to do this. but in terms of the substance of what he said i think that revoking the citizenship part is very concerning. i oppose -- i believe that people should have -- i believe in the constitutional right of free speech, and so i would have a problem with banning flag burning. but i think that -- >> jeffrey lord over here. >> to alice's point, to be fair to him, democrats have supported this and even though it is constitutionally protected there have been repeated attempts to have constitutional amendments. so if he supports that that's actually -- i don't support it. i disagree with it. but it's actually not really out of the mainstream. it's the revoking the citizenship that's a problem. >> it's a question of why? i want to believe that there is a strategy and now you guys are convincing me there is not and he's going to have to nuclear codes in a few weeks. >> we're going to have more with our annual. and another target of the president elect tweets and retweets. senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny for a report he did on the show last night. trump retweeted multiple attacks

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good for a door. and a network. comcast business. built for security. built for business. if you're following along with the president-elect's controversial tweets the latest was the suggestion that people that burn the flag as we talked about should have their citizenship revoked or be thrown in jail. we were talking about that before the break. but last night there was another target. cnn senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny. this was after jeff reported on this program last night, correctly i should add-a that trump's tweets alleging that millions of people voted illegally had no actual base nis fact and the president-elect has not offered any evidence. six minutes after jeff's report

trump retweeted a bunch of attacks including "jeff zeleny just another generic cnn part-time wannabe journalist cnn doesn't get it they will never learn." and the president retweeted this one from a 16-year-old boy in california. "jeff zeleny. pathetic. you have no sufficient evidence that donald trump did not suffer from voter fraud shame!" then trump added "bad reporter." jeff zeleny responded to trump on twitter. "good evening. have you looked for examples of voter fraud? please send our way. full-time journalist here. still working." that he is. he joins me now. so did president-elect trump respond to your tweet, jeff? >> no, anderson. mr. trump did not respond to that tweet. but thousands of his followers did. and they believe him when he says that there was a lot of voter fraud that happened in the election. but, you know, this is not about us. this is about looking for this

evidence of wide spread voter fraud. and we're talking widespread. he said millions of people voted illegally, if not for them he would have won the popular vote. and it seems to me that is what this is all about here. sort of day by day the popular vote, the tally is increasing slightly. hillary clinton is now up by just over 2 million. and that is agitating, i'm told by people who have spoken to transition officials and the president-elect, and that is one of the things behind this. but i think it gets to a larger point here as well. the context to this is interesting. we've seen a pattern throughout mr. trump's successful campaign. he tries to sort of demonize and distract. and this is one of the latest things here. but so far he or his aides have not provided any evidence that millions of people voted illegally. >> those tweets have also gotten some criticism from a politically ally of his, right? >> they have. in fact several republicans we talked to today on capitol hill simply didn't want to talk about this at all, the flag-burning

thing in particular was something that no republican wanted to talk about. but newt gingrich has been a diehard supporter of donald trump. and he did ab interview with susan paige of usa today this evening or this afternoon and he said something that was very interesting. he said the president of the united states shouldn't be randomly tweeting without having someone else checking it out. you wonder what else he's doing. so gingrich called it his biggest mistake so far in the three weeks since he's been elected. but one other friend i talked to explained it like this. they said it's been 22 days since donald trump has had a campaign rally. so he misses that applause and enthusiasm that really kept him alive here. so he's getting some of that at least electrically by looking through some of his supporters' messages but of course he'll be going back out on the road on thursday for a big rally finale. i'm sure that will pump him back up. >> given there is no evidence that the claims trump made on

twitter, no actual facts, where did he get the idea that millions of people, millions of people voted illegally? randi kaye tonight following the digital trail. >> reporter: this appears to be the original source of donald trump's so-called evidence for his claim that millions voted illegally. the twitter feed belongs to the greg phillips. whose twitter handle is jump vote. back on november 11th phillips tweeted "completed analysis of data base of 180 million voter registrations. number of non-citizen votes exceeds 3 million. consulting legal team." two days later, "we have verified more than 3 million votes cast by non-citizens." phillips is the founder of votestand, a voter fraud reporting app. i reached out to him on twitter asking him to provide me the source for his information and any relevant data, but he responded, "no." why not? when do you plan to share it and how i asked. his response -- "as i've said from the beginning, i will release the data, methods,

analysis to the public. no media spin." he never said when that information would be released. when i asked phillips for an interview, he sent me this article from cnn.com calling trump's claim about millions voting illegally false and writing, "cnn seems to have already made the decision." how gregg phillips could possibly verify that millions voted illegally just three days after the election is anyone's guess. the "washington post" reported phillips started making these claims even before data on voter history was available in most jurisdictions. none of that has stopped websites like info wars from picking up on phillips' tweets. >> i'm your host. thank you for joining us. >> info wars is the brainchild of radio host alex jones, who "rolling stone" once called the most paranoid man in america. jones has suggested that the 9/11 attacks and the boston marathon bombing were inside jobs by the u.s. government. jones also argued those involved

in the sandy hook elementary school shooting were really actors and that nobody was actually hurt. he even claimed the apollo 11 moon landing was faked. if donald trump based his voter fraud claim on what he read on info wars, it wouldn't be the first time. when trump argued that thousands and thousands of muslims in new jersey celebrated the 9/11 attacks, he tweeted a link to info wars. and info wars helped fuel the rumor that president obama is an isis supporter, something trump later suggested too. it remains to be seen whether the conspiracy-driven website remains a go-to for the president-elect. >> your reputation is amazing. i will not let you down. you will be very, very impressed i hope. and i think we'll be speaking a lot. >> reporter: randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> and back with the panel. jeffrey lord. i've got to go to you. as a diehard trump supporter,

this is the man who's going to be president of the united states. going -- following info wars talking about -- >> right. >> -- it was an inside job. >> i don't know anything about info wars. what i do know is this. in 2014 john fund, whom many of us know here, formerly with the "wall street journal" and now with national review online, wrote an article called "non-citizens are voting." in which i'll just read one sentence. in 2005 the u.s. government accountability office found that up to 3% of the 30,000 people called for jury duty from voter registration rolls over a two-year period in one of the 94 current u.s. district courts were non-citizens. and he goes on at length here with other examples. my point is clearly this is happening. now, millions -- >> that doesn't say those people actually voted. >> no. but they shouldn't be on registration rolls. >> there's dead people on registration rolls. we know registration rolls have lots of problems. >> they shouldn't be there, period. >> again, there's no evidence 3 million people voted illegally. >> i understand that, anderson. but the answer is we don't know.

>> but does it scare you that the president-elect is listening to info wars? >> right. >> no. you listen to all kinds of people all over the place. ronald reagan got pinned for having friends who were members of the john birch society for heaven's sake. >> they believe 9/11 was an inside job. >> right. of course. >> they believe sandy hook is all crisis actors. people i've interviewed, their followers terrorized the families of these people. >> i'm not going to vouch for info wars. i don't listen to info wars. >> but the president-elect seems to. >> right. but what i'm saying other presidents, our good friend and i wish he were here to defend himself, our good friend van jones had his problem with the obama white house because he was accused of just that. unfairly perhaps i think knowing van jones. but nonetheless there he was in the obama white house. >> first of all it was unfair. i think van said -- >> i agree. >> trump is talking to him right

there. we just watched it. it's not the same thing. you can't compare it. >> he's no longer a candidate. he's the president-elect of the united states. should his behavior -- i mean, should his behavior change more? do you think it's sunk in that he is president-elect of the united states? >> clearly we've seen a dramatic slowdown in the tweets without a doubt. and i think the tone has changed slightly. i think with regard to this voting tweets he's put out he should put a little bit more attribution to what he's talking about if there is some. i have seen some reports -- >> because his tweets last night about jeff zeleny seemed to imply that he can say whatever he wants and it's up to reporters to disprove him. again, he is the president -- he's going to be the president of the united states. should the president of the united states be putting out false information or information which he doesn't even have any proof of? >> attacking -- >> if you want your doctor you can keep him? >> again -- >> false information, right? >> you can argue that that was done for political purposes.

but this is talking about donald trump now. it doesn't worry you at all? >> it's different. you have someone who is not just putting out information. he's actually attacking people. he attacked the cast of "hamilton." he attacked jeff zeleny, a cnn colleague. >> that's called free speech. >> no. hold on. >> margaret. >> here's the problem. a lot of republicans are stuck in this position of -- look, there's this hopeful moment that republicans never thought they would have. right? even republicans who didn't support donald trump feel that maybe there's an opportunity to get real policy through. >> of course. a huge opportunity. >> and then we have these totally dichotomous experiences of really -- yes, having real concern about some of the sentiments and ideas that he's expressing through twitter, the propaganda and the lies and the falsehoods he's propagating. that is serious concern. >> it's not even the ideas necessarily. it's just the impulses to

continue -- >> and what it represents. >> -- in this way when, again, i just keep coming back. again, i'm happy he's watching the show. but shouldn't he be reading a book, "the looming tower" you know, by lawrence wright about the history of al qaeda or -- >> you said it's free speech. but free speech doesn't mean it should be undisciplined. free speech doesn't mean you should attack a person. free speech doesn't mean it should lack the character -- >> jeffrey, i want you to be able to respond. >> in fairness every president does things their own way. reagan specifically was accused of not reading his briefs. and you know what they did. they showed him movies. >> i remember you saying that. >> okay. so all i'm saying is donald trump is going to bring his own individual style. let's just give it a -- >> i'm just not sure watching cable shows late at night and tweeting about them is the best use of the president's time. >> and lying about the results. he lost by over 2 million votes. the popular vote. over 2 million votes. and he's lying. >> he's met with over 60 foreign policy leaders and foreign leaders since he's been elected

president-elect. so he is getting information. whether it's sitting down and reading a briefing book, he is talking with people and absorbing information. >> and this deal with carrier which we want to talk about just ahead, we'll have more on that, our breaking news,'s the air-conditioning and heating company carrier announce they have reached a deal with the trump team to keep jobs in indiana. we'll talk about that ahead. when it comes to healthcare, seconds can mean the difference between life and death. for partners in health, time is life. we have 18,000 people around the world. the microsoft cloud helps our entire staff stay connected and work together in real time to help those that need it. the ability to collaborate changes how we work. what we do together changes how we live.

we catch flo, the progressive girl," at the supermarket buying cheese. scandal alert! flo likes dairy?! woman: busted! [ laughter ] right afterwards we caught her riding shotgun with a mystery man. oh, yeah!

[ indistinct shouting ] is this your chauffeur? what?! no, i was just showing him how easy it is to save with snapshot from progressive. you just plug it in and it gives you a rate based on your driving. does she have insurance for being boring? [ light laughter ] laugh bigger. [ laughter ]

. >> it looks like the president elect has made progress on something he talked about a lot. a company tweeted tonight we are pleased to have reached a deal to keep close to 1,000 jobs in indiana. paul, someone who worked hard to defeat donald trump. this is something he talked about on the campaign trail and say i made a difference. >> if true, it's terrific. let's see the details. i think we have a right to check the details. because sometimes mr. trump sometimes gets a little over his ski tips, but if true, this would be an excellent example. >> it is a tweet from the carrier themselves. >> look, i'm trying to be gracious as i can be.

this is how the bully public ought to be used. i think that's great. if you're beating up on the big corporation and you're the president, that's what people would like to see. i'd like to see less of beating up on college kids or reporters, but if this is true, i want to know what you referred to earlier in the shows. what give aways and benefits and gains. but it's good news. >> now, we've been critical of donald trump. tonight i think it is important to point out, out, you know, this -- he can rightly crow about this and point to this and say look, i'm not even president yet and i'm already making a difference just by having conversations. >> sure. and he and mike pence are expected to go there and make the big announcement this week, which i think is good. this goes to show that some of his economic policies, which would encourage businesses to keep their manufacturing plants here and the jobs here on american soil are working. and i do think this is a good sign and hopefully he'll be

able to flesh this out and 4 # incentivize other jobs and businesses to keep jobs here in america and i think he deserves a lot of credit for it. >> the term hasn't escaped donald trump's lips yet, but when you see something like this, you think, at least i do, historically, franklin roosevelt and the hundred days. i mean, i am guessing here that the first hundred days of the trump administration are going to be filled with action, action, action. >> this is all -- this has mike pence -- this has mike pence written all over it, right? obviously, this is mike pence's state. he has relationships with his manufacturers, working with them all the time. he was clearly there working on the deal for his boss. but it does say something to the argument of trump surrounding himself with abled tacticians, politicians, but also people who can get deals done and make him look good. this is like one good category, and the other thing is, what we're going to see, and this is the beginning of a major shift in economic policy on the republican side. >> but it's easy -- i mean, it's easy to point to mike pence. but i think also, if in fact, is true, and we don't know the details, you've got to give

credit to donald trump. he's the one out on the campaign trail was talking about it. >> and directed mike pence to -- >> let me push back on this a little bit. initially, the conversation was about 2,000 jobs. this is about saving half the jobs and leaving them here on american soil. >> you're moving -- >> no, this is what they said! >> 2,000 jobs was the point. and it's not 2,000 jobs. the other part is, initially, he talked about imposing tariffs. he talked about penalizing companies that wanted to do this. it's clear from the deal that they at least began to discuss, he's talking about, any lower your tax bracket or lower your tax rate, rather, will you keep the jobs here? >> we don't know that. >> that's what's being -- >> we don't know -- you could also say, there was some comment last night that perhaps there was a threat of carrier's other businesses being affected if they did this. so we don't know how this deal, whatever the deal was -- >> and we also don't know what congress is doing. to paul's point, that's the big point here. we don't know what's going to

actually end up happening. >> but for years, democrats have been campaigning on this. democrats have been calling for laws to punish corporations and to shift jobs overseas, reward corporations to keep jobs here. now, a republican president-elect is doing something democrats have called for for a long time. >> but in trump's defense, what stopped. you know, president barack obama from making the phone call? >> the phone call, yeah. republicans tried to pass laws, but democrats blocked it on the hill. >> this is what americans want to see. someone who picks up the phone, sees a problem, and fixes it. >> i don't people care if it's a carrot or a stick, the fact is they're keeping jobs here in america. just ahead, more breaking news. the national parks service says people are to blame for the raging wildfires blazing in eastern tennessee. the death toll now stands at the three. walls of flames, thousands have fled from their homes, some barely in the nick of time. >> oh, shit. why is every cabin on fire?

i want to get to the latest breaking news about the wildfires raging in eastern tennessee. at least three people now confirmed dead. the fires, which started yesterday, destroyed more than 250 buildings, forced thousands of people to flee their homes, as walls of fire were closing in. this video captures just some of the terror. >> everything is burning around us. every cabin, everything.

there you go. we're not going to make it across that road. shit! oh, [ bleep ]. oh, shit. >> you're good. >> wow. it's okay. [ bleep ]. hit the gas! hit the gas! >> fires just all around that vehicle. here's brian todd with the latest. >> reporter: an orange glow fills the night sky as one of the many fires burns in and around the tennessee resort towns of gatlinburg and pigeon forge. officials say severe drought and hurricane-force wind gusts combine to fuel a, quote, perfect storm. >> those winds of that nature, it is common to pick up embers of fire and take them greater than a mile away. at the same time we were facing that challenge, those high winds

were knocking down trees, those trees were hitting power lines, and they were falling on this very dry, extreme drought-like condition, and everything was catching on fire. [ sirens ] >> reporter: the fire forcing mass evacuations, sending residents and tourists into nearby red cross shelters. popular area attractions were under threat, including ripley's aquarium of the smokies, which houses 1,500 animals and marine life. and the dollywood theme park. at least 150 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, including this 16-story hole complex in gatlinburg. a guest shot this video before escaping. >> but all of the previous fires i've been part of could not have prepared me for what we have experienced over the past 24 hours. >> what's the latest on how this fire started? >> reporter: well, anderson, a short time ago, i talked to a

national parks official and she told me this set of fires was human caused. i pressed her several times on whether that means this was arson. she would not go there. she said it is human caused and under investigation, but a few minutes later, she did tell me, we would love to catch this person. so maybe while they're not ready to draw the line directly yet to arson, they seem to be getting pretty close to that. >> brian todd, thanks. >> guess who's coming to dinner. president elect trump has dinner with reince priebus and mitt romney. what's on the menu? donald trump gets what appears to be a big win, a deal with carrier that will keep nearly 1,000 factory jobs