"wolf" starts right now. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's noon in baton rouge, louisiana. 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in aleppo, syria. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up first, president-elect of the united states rallies republicans in louisiana. look at this. live pictures from baltin rur right now, we're we're waiting for the president-elect donald trump to take the stage. attending a get out the vote rally for republican candidate kennedy running for re-election. live, coming by, stand by. coming up soon. earlier met with paul ryan over trump tower in new york city.

ryan's leadership crucial for the president-elect to turn his campaign promises into policies. >> very exciting meeting. i really enjoyed coming up here, meeting with the president-elect. had a great meeting talking about our transition, excited about getting to work and hitting the ground running in 2017 to put this country back on track. thanks, guys. >> trump has major openings to fill in his cabinet. among them, secretary of state, secretary of energy. director of national intelligence. secretary of state of agriculture, and director of veterans affairs. secretary of state of veterans affairs, i should say. let's get a preview of what we expect to hear from the president-elect, our national correspondent r colonel is in baton rouge awaiting president-elect. unusual for a president-elect to campaign for someone else. tell us the significance of this rally. >> reporter: wolf, the significance is that it shows that the trump administration is not taking any chances. they want as big a majority as

he can possibly get in the u.s. senate when they take office in january. if john kennedy is successful tomorrow and polls so it's heading in that direction, that means republicans have a four-seat majority. and the president-elect has already talked about a pretty am beshs agenda and will neambitio agenda and needs every vote to push that through. and the tour, thank you toushgs the president-elect is on, holding what are very much campaign rallies thanking the people that came out and supported him and louisiana was one of those states that voted for donald trump in a big way. and it's also a state he visited back in august while floods ravaged this area. he made the controversial decision to come here, even though leaders in this state thought it wasn't a good idea. of course, president obama at that time deciding not to come. today many of the speakers here already nathanking donald trump for making that visit and reminding him there's a lot of work to be done. >> what it's next on the thank

you tour after louisiana, ryan? >> he's going to head north to one of the most important states that handed the election to donald trump. and that's michigan. a rally taking place later tonight in grand rapids. and you expect him to, perhaps, roll out other appointments. people from michigan that have been supportive of trump's campaign, but, again, just thank those supporters who pulled out this historic election upset, and michigan of all states that delivered the race to donald trump, perhaps one of the most important. wolf? >> thanks, ryan nobles' in baton rouge. once again, we're standing by to hear from the president-elect and will have live coverage a that coming up. we're learning president obama is ordering a full review of russian hacking activities related to the u.s. presidential election. let's go to our white house correspondent michelle kaczynski. michelle what else have we learned about this major development? >> reporter: hi, wolf. obviously the white house wants to take a bigger and broader

look at this issue than the ffb before the election. the information out now is limited, but we expect to hear from the white house any minute now during the daily briefing and can ask for questions. what they describe this as, a full review. what does that mean? you know, going beyond what the fbi did, again, before the election. when they released a statement through the intelligence community and through the department of homeland security saying that they believe that the russian government was behind those hacks. including the dnc and the clinton campaign, and they believe that russia was trying to influence the election. so this review could encompass a broader period of time through basically now. it's expected to be turned around pretty quickly and on the president's desk before the inauguration of donald trump. and listen to what we've been hearing from some members of congress. i mean, some of them have already had classified briefings. they've been alluding to there being much more information. they've been asking the white

house to release some of that publicly, and to share more with members of congress. they've been suggesting that the russian government may have wanted the trump campaign to win. so all of this could be incorporated into this report. it will also be interesting to see how much of it is released publicly, and the white house did mention yesterday that once its finished, you know, they've been looking at this issue. they could release some more to the public. we are getting a response from the russian foreign ministry. what they're saying -- "we are also very interested in understanding what they accused russia of. many times the ministry of foreign affairs and foreign minister lavrov asked americans to provide full information. but nerve her any response." you know, when the fbi's assessment came out before the election, wolf, remember russia called the allegations of hacking ridiculous. obviously, the white house feels much, muchtily an that, named and shamed russia already and now we expect that review to go

even broader. wolf? >> thanks very much, michelle kaczynski at the white house. discuss the development. the investigation about to begin into russian hacking activities as far as the u.s. election is concerned. lauren fox is a political reporter with talking points memo, joining us as is our cnn politics executive eder mark preft rch and chief political analyst glor yia borger. this oui review, done before january 20th, the inauguration of president-elect trump, and could affect the incoming president depending on the outcome this full-scale investigation? >> you have this unique situation where donald trump said in a recent interview with "time" magazine, let me quote, i don't believe they, referring to the russians, interviewed, and democrats and republicans on capitol hill pledging to investigate this, because they believe they did. you have u.s. intelligence agencies saying that they

believe there was russian interference and now the president of the united states saying, i want a report on my desk before i leave town. the question i think we all is, how much is going to be declassified? how much of that will we actually get to learn about and will that affect donald trump in his attitude towards vladimir putin which we know has been a lot more positive that barack obama. so it's clear that the president wants this proof so that he can hand it over to his successor before he leaves office. >> the director of national intelligence, general james clapper, together with a statement from the homeland security secretary, jeh johnson, in early october, mark, they did put out a statement saying that they were, a high certitude that russians did in fact, were responsible, for hacking the national democratic committee's e-mails, if you will. they were very convinced of that, but they still have not

issued a statement whether the russians attempted to hack into actual election systems in various states around the country. presumably they'll look into that as well. >> yeah. no doubt about it. a couple things. one, they wouldn't have issued that statement if they weren't absolutely certain that the russians were involved in some way as well. >> right. >> we have -- the interesting real part of that, too, as you point out, we haven't heard anything along the lines of their certainty or anything publicly said that they've actually broken into these election systems around the country, and imagine if that happened? i mean that would throw out of entire election system into absolute chaos, because then have to wonder, does your vote count at all? no matter what the outcome is of this report it's going to affect donald trump's presidency. either he'll use it as something to say i was right or have a lot of people saying, look, you were wrong. >> it's also going to tell us about wikileaks and the dnc and

john podesta's e-mails being hacked, and whether, in fact, wikileaks was in some way related to the russians which has been the charge. >> i believe general clapper basically made that point. >> exactly, yes. >> officially, together with jeh johnson, secretary of state of homeland security. >> yes. >> it's interesting, though, that donald trump has been briefed. he gets on average according to our chief national security sci one briefing a week and vice president-elect pence, one every day. that's his desire, the inclination of the president-elect, wants one a week. we're in week five since the election. that is sort of frustrating not only outsiders who want to make sure the president-elect is fully briefed, even some of his own aides. >> something we have to remind viewers. up until thanksgiving he wasn't receiving them at all. something that mike pence was doing, obviously that was not

presence dent. is not what former president-elects have done. everyone wants to make sure donald trump, someone without a lot of governing experience, is able to get up to speed on international security issues, before he becomes the president. >> this meeting today that he did have at trump tower before leaving for baton rouge, once again, we're waiting for him to start speaking at that rally in baton rouge with the speaker of the house, paul ryan. those first 100 days of this new congressional session, that's going to be critically important and croomably paul ryan has told the president-elect, this is what we can do. this is what we can't do. >> right. you know, donald trump wouldn't like this, but it's paul ryan's show. in the congress. >> yes. >> and he's got to walk the president through, the president-elect through, this is what we're going to do with repealing obama care. we'll be able to repeal parts of it, but we can't replace parts of it right away. this is what we're going to be able to do with tax reform. we'll be able to do this, but we

won't be able to do that. this is what we're going to be able to do with immigration. now, it's so important when you legislate to have priorities. and to have an order of things, and we know that obama care is sort of number one, but i think they need to get on the same page about what they can do immediately, and this is where, you know, pence comes in. because pence is the -- trump whisperer and the ryan whisperer. so he can -- and got congressional experience. so he'll be able to kind of help the president-elect through that as well. >> the president-elect is moving rapidly compared to predecessors filling out his cabinet, but we're waiting for the secretary of state. that announcement could come maybe next week. i want you to listen, because there are a lot of names out there. the list keeps growing, apparently. kellyanne conway, who was the campaign manager, now adviser to the president-elect, listen to what she said on cnn "new day" earlier. >> broadening the search, an

incredibly diverse group of individuals by their backbound and experience. very donald trump to have a number of people in, not make it a cage match between two people played out on cable tv. ridiculous. the secretary of state position. >> your reaction? you're raising your -- >> and broadcast, and -- >> playing out on twitter and on the internet in many ways like an "apprentice"-style transition. i'm surprised. good for the media, perhaps voters as well, these folks are going up in the elevator, watch them go up, come down. very transparent. come to cameras, make a couple comments and walk away. to your point, whoa, mitt romney and eminent, then is grew and grew and grew. one of the most interesting names, bob gates. is it real? is bob gates really in the mix for this and would he even take it? former defense secretary.

former head of the cia. somebody who had very strong words against donald trump. somebody who bipartisanly served george w. bush and barack obama. so who knows what donald trump is going to do. >> whatever bob gates said about donald trump during the campaign, nothing compares to what mitt romney said about donald trump during the campaign and mitt romney according to all indications is still high up on the list? >> certainly. one of the most interesting parts how this cabinet race played out and i call it a race because of all the coverage of it and how long it's sort of taken, members on the hill are up for cabinet positions and reporters are chasing them asking for details of the meetings and they have to answer all of these questions, and there are so many questions whether or not mitt romney is really still at the top or is there somebody who might jump ahead of him? >> this is donald trump's show. it's not as if people are going in for these interviews and getting pre-interviewed by reince priebus or whoever, steve bannon, whoever else it is. this is donald trump in his

office, interviewing people. and casting his cabinet. >> right. >> and i think nobody knows what donald trump is going to do until donald trump announces it. i think he talks to an awful lot of people about his decision, and he questions people. what do you think i should do? what do you think i should do? what do you think i should do? but in the end, he's going to decide whether mitt romney apologized enough to him, or whether he'd like another businessman, or whether he'd like to go back to something who's already served in government, in a cabinet position. i mean, these are things he's kind of taking in now, and we don't know how it's going to turn out. >> we may know as early as next week. >> well, one would hope. >> don't go too far. watch this. live pictures from baton rouge, louisiana, where the president-elect will be speaking very, very soon. warming up the crowd over there right now. we'll have live coverage of president-elect trump once he starts speaking. also --

bombings continuing in aleppo, syria, as we speak, despite a so-called cease-fire agreement. this among reports hundreds of people disappeared trying to flee the city. the state department spokesman in paris, standing by. we'll discuss this and more right after a quick break. lunch is ready! campbell's spider-man soups. made for real, real life. thanks mom

once again, president-elect donald trump, taking the stage in baton rouge, louisiana, fairly soon we're told. rallies louisiana voters, his goal, for the last senate race of the year. full report, you'll see remarks live here on cnn. stand by for that. other important news we're following now including

frightening new numbers coming out of syria. the united nations says there are now reports of hundreds of men missing after they crossed from rebel-held eastern aleppo to government-controlled areas. they also believe there may currently be around 100,000 civilians trapped in areas under the control of armed opposition groups in and around aleppo. the total number of displaced people from the fighting in eastern aleppo, we're told right now, has already risen to 40,000. all of this happening during what is being calmed a pause in the fighting. this morning, russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov caulked about the latest shelling in aleppo. >> translator: after human tags paus pause, strikes continued in aleppo. >> senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is

in aleppo for us, one of the few american correspondents that can be there. you were there overnight. any break that you could see in the shelling? >> reporter: not very much, wolf. s announcement's this alleged humanitarian pause came very late last night. maybe an hour or two, a little let shelling. some mortars still fired. the in middle of the night into today, all hell broke loose over the eastern parts of aleppo. relentless shelling and gun battles going on, hearing mortar shelling and now especially in the evening hours we are hearing more and more planes in the sky and also some very heavy munitions dropped as well. a couple of minutes ago a plane made a very low pass over our position and then apparently bombed some sort of rebel position in, very close to us. so if there was a humanitarian pause, it certainly wasn't one that was very long, and all of this, of course, happening, wolf, as more and more people are still trying to leave those

besieged areas, while that fighting is going on. as you mentioned, tens of thousands apparently already tried to flee. we saw many of them yesterday when we were out in those areas. they are very weak in very bad condition but say at this point in time they have no other choice, wolf? >> based on everything you're seeing, we mow know the military is advancing in eastern aleppo. how much direct military assistance are they getting from the russians in terms of bombing? >> reporter: you know what? in terms of bombing, it's unclear. russians claim she haven't been flying missions over the city of aleppo. that is unclear. we are hearing jets dropping very heavy munitions and it's really not clear whether or not the syrian air force would be able to do that. also, one of the things we have to take into account is that the russians do have a much larger military presence here on the ground than many people know and, also, that the russians at least publicly commit to. they -- what we've seen on the ground here have been sniper

teams. we saw, we see russian soldiers inside buildings. seen russian troops in adviser roles, also very close to the front line as well. we've seen russian helicopters in some areas here in and around aleppo. certainly the russians have a fairly large presence, a big adviser presence and also are very much a part of the battle going on here, and which really seems to be going into a final stage right now, wolf. >> in favor of the syrian military. all right. thanks very much, fred pleitgen. be careful over there. we'll stay in close touch with you. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry said this week he still hopes to convince syria's warring factions and their backers to return to the negotiating table before the city of aleppo is completely destroyed. he's meeting with foreign ministers in paris tomorrow to try to achieve that goal. let's discuss the latest developments with the state department spokesman john kirby, in wears with the secretary of state. john, thanks very much for joining us. we know the secretary did all right meet with the russian

foreign minister, sergey lavrov. they met in hamburg yesterday. did anything at all come of that meeting? >> well, it was -- it was a follow-on a continuation of discussions they have had over now many weeks here about the situation in aleppo. they also spoke again by phone, and what they've agreed to do, the outcome of the meeting yesterday in hamburg and then the conversations that followed it over the phone once we arrived in paris is that, and the secretary talked about this tonight, we are going to send a team, you u.s. team to geneva to commence technical talks with the russians to try to get at a cessation of hostilities to stop the bombing, allow for humanitarian aid to get in and safe passage for those trying to get out. they are in harm's way right now. we're trying to put a framework in place so they can leave safely and fairly and not have

to fear for their lives. we never wanted anybody to leave aleppo because we didn't want the city to be under siege as it has been. >> we know the syrian military is going after all sorts of sites in aleppo, around aleppo. i'll ask what i asked fred pleitgen. what is the russian role as far as you know, john. right now, how much of a military offensive are they taking part in this assault? >> i think fred's reporting very much tracks with what we know and what information we have about russia's role. make no mistake, whether or not russian tech tackle aircraft are dropping bombs i know they claim they are not, we are still holding them responsible for that. they have influence over the assad regime they're not willing to stop the bloodshed and agree with fred's assessment, they have military trainers and advisers on the ground, they are

there, assisting and targeting some of the syrian regime is using to go after their own civilians, hospitals and schools inside aleppo. they have a role to play, they have a responsibility for what's going on in aleppo "we have been not but candid and clear to them privately and publicly about that. >> and the syrian military battles in aleppo, receiving from iranian forces and lebanese hezbollah forces? >> like i said, we know certainly that iran has an influence as well in what's going on. there in syria and with the assad regime. they, too, have a presence inside syria, from what we can tell, certainly more of a, an advisory in addition, if you will, but we know there's an influence in a not positive way certainly in what's going on in syria at large. but, again, by and large, the responsibility falls on russia's shoulders here.

they have the largest influence over assad and the regime, and have been unwilling to dwluz us in a constructive positive way, rather backing and supporting assad's brutality inside and around aleppo. >> move to another serious issue right now. china. i want you to listen to what the president-elect donald trump said last night about china and then we'll get your reaction on the other side. >> one of the most important relationships we must improve, and we have to improve, is our relationship with china. you have the massive theft of intellectual property putting up fair taxes on our companies, not helping with the menace of north korea, like they should, and the at-will and massive devaluation of their currency and products. other than that, they've been wonderful. right? >> all right. so let me get your -- you're the spokesman for the state

department. talk a little about what the president-elect just said, and it follows, of course, his receiving that congratulatory phone call from the president of taiwan. >> right. well, obviously, i'm not going to be engaging in a rhetorical debate with the president-elect, and i'd rather really not get into debating what he says, as he's preparing to take office. our rule with the state department is to make sure these ready and prepared for those duties and we stand by, of course, to help in any way we can. what i can say, wolf is that we understand our relationship, our bilateral relationship with china is extremely consequential. president obama called it perhaps the most requestal bilateral relationship we have in the world and secretary kerry believes the same thing. it is a complicated relationship. no question we still have major concerns with china when it comes to cyber space, and when it comes to certain matters of trade, certainly, we have concerns with china over tensions in the south china sea and other issues in the east

asian-pacific region. that said, we also look for wayance and there are ways we found common interest and cause with china. climate change, for instance. china, one of the first big countries to sign up for the paris agreement. iran deal. china at the table securing that iran deal to stop iran from developing nuclear weapons. so there are ways, and there are things, we can and should continue to work kind of constructively with, with china. >> in the neighborhood, stay in the neighborhood a moment, john. the korean peninsula. we know the government in south korea has fallen now. the impeachment gone forward. north korea seems to be taking rather provocative steps including reports of cyber warfare against various elements inside south korea. some u.s. officials have told me the situation there in the korean peninsula is extraordinary, tense right now. give your analysis. >> well, we would agree. obviously the situation in the peninsula is extremely tense and

it's perilous. this have a sheep in pyongyang continues to pursue nuclear weapons capabilities, continue to conduct tests, launch missiles, all in direct contradiction to u.n. security council resolutions against that kind of activity. and you saw the u.n. act, again, on additional sanctions, the united states followed suit. with additional unilateral sanctions. talking about china forgot to mention you know china also as member of the u.n. security council has been willing to put pressure on pa yoyongyang to st this behavior. a big stake here, it's on their border. they have limited amount of trade and are cognizant of that, but we have seen china step up, try to use their influence, seen them try to implement sanctions. some of the stiffest we've seen in more than 20 years now against pyongyang. implementations of sanctions is not always consistent. we continue to work with china on that. remain as concern.

yes, the situation on the peninsula is perilous and dangerous add wand why the unitd states has a robust presence on the peninsula and we take requirements to the republican of korea so very, very seriously. that is not a concern that will go away soon, and certainly this is something that you can certainly expect that the next administration is going to have to stay focused on. >> and quickly, on the war against isis right now, senior u.s. military official tells cnn that perhaps as many as 50,000 isis fighters have been killed since this war against the terror group began. do you want to elaborate on that? >> well, i'm not in a position to confirm that particular number. i would certainly defer to my colleagues at the pentagon and in the military, but what i can say, though, wolf is that we have made a concerted effort on the military front and there's many fronts against isis. it isn't just a military campaign, but on that military

campaign we have made a concerted effort to try to decimate their leadership and take their fighters off the field, try to consult off the ways they are funding and resourcing their own recruits efforts and we have seen success. i can't speak to the numbers but we know we've killed thousands and thousands of this fighters and taken out some of their top leaders and will continue to the dot that. but it is a network. we're mindful of that, they still have the ability to recruit. on that front i will tell you we have seen some success in terms of our ability to counter think pernicious narrative and recruiting efforts, online and elsewhere. we have seen them now struggle to get people in to the organization. we have seen them struggle to retain people inside the organization. they had many fighters fleeing, can't handle the pressure and stress of being under constant combat by the coalition. we are seeing some success. they haven't, by the way, gained any territory since may of last year. this is an organization --

sorry, an organization that is very much on the ropes and very much suffering significant casualties and significant influence trying to move forward. >> nice to see the traffic behind you on heading -- >> sorry about that state department spokesman joining us from paris. see you back here in washington. good luck with the efforts to stop fighting in aleppo and some sort of pause or cease-fire, at least, because ten mp of thousands of people including a lot of children are in danger and critically, at a critical point indeed. john kesirby, thank for joining us. and a firing at th the bagr air base. the round did not land inside the base in afghanistan. no one injured. secretary of state carter made an unannounced visit to the base met with the afghan president

assuring the u.s. will remain committed to the country. the u.s. still has nearly 10,000 troops in afghanistan right now. coming up, democrats staging a revolt over a spending bill that could lead to a government shutdown. will that happen? we'll have details, and, remember, we're standing by. donald trump getting ready to speak in baton rouge, louisiana. looking at live pictures from baton rouge. once he goats that microphone, cnn will have live coverage. ♪ think of your fellow man. ♪ lend him a helping hand.

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president-elect donald trump hoping to boost the republican senate majority. any minute taking the stage at a get out the vote rally in baton rouge, louisiana, where the nation's final senate race is underway. there to help the republican candidate john kennedy, and if that, if he succeeds in tomorrow's runoff election, as looks, the poll, pretty likely. republicans wind um with 52 seats in the u.s. senate compared to 48 for democrats including two independents who side with the democrats. going live to trump rally once he gets to that microphone. stand by. meanwhile, here in washington, democrats are threatening to block a must-pass short-term government funding bill. west virginia senator joe

manchin and other democrats say they want improvements in miners' health inchuns provisions. if the bill is held up it could lead to a government shutdown, at least a temporary one. joining us, manu raju. what do they want changes and how likely there possibly to be at least a temporary government shutdown? >> reporter: well, we're not expecting a shutdown at this point but you really never know. the two sides are no closer to a deal at this point. what the coal state democrats are asking for is a year-long extension of an expiring health insurance program for retired coal miners and their spouses. in this bill, this must-pass spending bill a four-month ex-tense and want something with more certainty for a year. now, mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader, took to the floor this morning and said, look, there's a four-month extension to this bill. we can negotiate a longer term deal in april. here's what he had to say.

>> -- ready to pass this legislation delayed for storm recovery, in many of our states and, of course, fair to pass this legislation, failure to pass this legislation means a shutdown of the government. over what? we've funded health care for miners through the end of april. >> now, this fight is being led by joe manchin, a west virginia democrat, who's up for re-election in 2018, and actually under consideration for a possible cabinet post from donald trump. they have a meeting actually scheduled for monday, and joe manchin has been on the phone all morning calling folks along with other coal state democrats who are up for re-election in 20108 including brown of ohio, casey of pennsylvania. it's unclear whether or not they have the 41 votes, wolf, to block this spending bill from going forward, but republican senator of west virginia plans to side with democrats to vote against this bill, and also rob portman of ohio is saying he's

undecided right now about whether or not to side with democrats. so it could be close right now. the question is, do they have the appetite to shut down the government? dick durbin, number two senate democrat, doesn't think they have the appetite and doesn't know where the votes are at this point. >> we'll watch together with you. manu, thank very much. coming up, the president-elect of the united states filling up his cabinet. next task, picking a supreme court nominee. timeline, a short list what it means for the court, plus -- donald trump will arrive any minute now in baton rouge, louisiana. looking at live pictures at the rally. he'll speak there shortly and we'll go there live once he starts. generosity is its own form of power.

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it's been nearly ten months since u.s. supreme court justice antonin scalia dies leavinge ii vacancy on the bench. president obama nominated someone who got no clearance. now the next u.s. supreme court donald trump. he floated 20 nominees but could decide to go with someone not named publicly. what kind of nominee is trump looking for and how could it change the highest court in the u.s.? a cnn legal analyst is with us, supreme court biographer joining us from california. talk a little about some of these names he's floated. a big list. i want to talk about three in particular. joan larsen, from the michigan

supreme court. william pryor, searchrves 11th circuit court of appeals from alabama and on the circuit u.s. court of appeals. what do these three picks say about the president-elect's thinking which it comes to the united states supreme court? >> all conservatives and all people who we suspect might be against abortion rights. these are the -- the kind of things he's told us us, wolf. in the mold of antonin scalia. wants someone who would roll back abortion rights and send the matter to the states. and all three of these individuals are known for conservatism. one of them, you mentioned first, michigan justice joan larsen, was a scalia clerk, and right after his death on february 13th, she wrote a pretty compelling opinion piece talking about how closely aligned she was with justice scalia. the other two individuals, judge

pryor and judge sykes, are both on appeals courts. judge pryor in alabama. judge sykes in wisconsin, and donald trump during the campaign singled out both of them. you know, it's interesting you talked about what a big decision this is. think of how different this is than these cabinet picks we're saturdaying to see, wolf. those are for four years, possibly eight at the most. these are individuals who will be on the supreme court now for life. so they would have an affect on all of our lives long past donald trump's tenure in the white house. >> yep. in their 40s, could be on the court 30, 40, maybe 50 years, depending on their health. but in the short term, joan, what are some of the big decisions the court is expected to hear right now in the next couple of years? >> that's a great question, because these individuals will take on what we've got now and also what could come down five, ten years. think about transgenocider rights. back in 2015, the court for the

first time declared a right to same-sex marriage. and we've had other issues come up from that. some sexual identity and sexual orientation and there's a case before the justices now on a young man from virginia's challenge to policy about transgender bathrooms. so you've got that before the court. there are cases coming up on immigration rights. big topic under donald trump's new administration, i'm sure. we've got that death penalty. i think given his position on abortion rights, we're going to see that issue back up. i know you remember, wolf, end of last term, justices by a 5-3 vote rejected a challenge from people in texas to roe v. wade way very restrictive abortion regulation. the justices struck that down with justice kennedy flipping or

that and it looked like abortion was going to be secure for a while but not with the election of donald trump in november. those kinds of challenges will head this way, too. >> he definitely will name one, maybe two or even three over the next four years if he's reelected. joan, i have to leave it there but clearly this is one of the most important decisions any president has to make. thanks very much, joan biskupic joining us. we have live pictures coming in from baton rouge once again, president-elect trump will be taking the stage any moment now. his goal, to rally louisiana voters for the last senate race of the year and to boost the republican majority in the u.s. senate. we'll go there live. but first, we're also remembering american space pioneer john glenn. a look back at his incredible life and career right after this. i'ts your tv, take it with you. with directv and at&t, stream live tv anywhere data-free. join directv today starting at $35/month.

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go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week. together, we're building a better california. >> before we go, a look back at the truly extraordinary life of john glenn. he was a world war ii fighter pilot but he may best be republicaned as a nasa legend,

the first american to orbit the earth in 1998 when he was 77 years old he agreed to return to space for nine days to test the human aging process. i interviewed him shortly before his trip. he was at the national air and space museum here in washington sitting in front of an iconic relic from the space race of the '60s. you're standing in front of something very historic as far as you're concerned. >> it's the "friendship 7" that i flew in which was a one-person spacecraft which was the biggest one we could put up and it has a likeness of me. annie is fobd of telling people to come over at the air and space museum and see the other dummy. that's the one behind me here. >> how does she feel about the new adventure you're about to embark on. >> annie and our children were cool about this to begin with but the more we talked about the importance of this for so many people and the opportunity i have to contribute the more they've come to support it.

you think yourself mother, father, brother, sister, husband going into space, people would have their reservations but they're for it and i'm all for it certainly. >> john glenn was 95 years old. truly great american. that's it for me. the news continues right after a quick break. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

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. hi, everyone, i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me on this friday afternoon. we have major developments breaking right now from the current president and the future one. first, let's begin with donald trump ahead of a stop on his thank you tour. president-elect trump just returned to the campaign trail rallying voters not for himself but the last senate race m in the nation, it's a runoff between louisiana republican john kennedy who he's there rooting for over democrat foster