hall next thursday night. that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett out front" starts right now. growing alarm among intelligence officials. why is donald trump siding with wikileaks founder julian assange on the u.s. election pac? and a historically black college divided. the school band set to march at the trump inauguration. will they show up? and a surprising new theory on what sunk the unsinkable titanic? was it fire and not ice? let's go "out front." good evening. i'm erin burnett. growing concern in the intelligence community about donald trump. u.s. officials tell cnn thr alarmed by trump's tweets increasingly so and his public

attacks questioning their work as president-elect trump in a stunning move sides with julian assange against the cia, the fbi, and the rest of the u.s. intelligence community. assange denying the russian government is the source of the hacking that targeted the u.s. election, insisting that the e-mails that were stolen from the dnc, for example, were quote easily attainable. shortly after assange made his case on fox news, trump, who once called wikileaks disgraceful and their actions worthy of the death penalty, took to twitter backing assange against the u.s. intelligence community saying julian assange said a 14-year-old could have hacked podesta. why was dnc so careless? also said russians did not give him the info. officials tell cnn tonight it's a sad day when politicians place more stock in vladimir putin and julian assange than in the americans who risk their lives daily. reactions from republicans who have long considered assange an enemy of the u.s. was swift.

house speaker paul ryan charged assange compromises national security and lindsey graham spoke to cnn and went further. >> this is the guy who's tried to put americans at risk by releasing classified information during the bush years. this is the guy who basically is a fugitive from justice, an accused rapist on the run. for heaven sakes, don't listen to him. listen to the american intelligence community who are patriots. >> jim sciutto, i guess the big question is how afraid are u.s. intelligence officials tonight? >> enormously. there's real dismay inside the intelligence agencies because this criticism from trump has been so brutal, so consistent and very public. and keep in mind these are folks working very hard, sometimes at great risk to handle some of the deepest national security threats to the u.s. including terrorism. and in addition to that, there's also confusion, for instance,

this week with donald trump saying this briefing was delayed when, in fact, the briefing was never scheduled for the beginning of the week because the review's not done and the current president has to be briefed first before the president-elect. dismay, confusion. it's that first one that is really krconcerning to them. they feel under assault. >> part of their as you say feeling under assault, some of them i know are telling you they see trump's public versus private comments, a real dispari disparity. >> that's right. they're saying that you have the twitter storms, which we're all familiar with. when he's sitting down across from them during the presidential daily briefing which he's taking a number of days a week, though not daily, that he is more deferential, he sometimes asks questions that he doesn't dismiss what they tell him in those private meetings. so they have trouble rectifying that private persona and attitude with the very public criticism that they're hearing here. the trouble is that even if the

former is sincere and the latter is just republican assumption, they're concerned when you undermined confidence in the agencies and the intelligence, what happens when you need that intelligence? when they're saying imminent terror attack or north korea is threatening us with a nuclear weapon. that's when the damage is difficult to undo. >> you have to have trust at those moments. no time to think it's about trust. thank you, jim. donald trump's own party, the gop, obviously angry, upset by his support for a man that many consider an enemy of the united states. sara murray is out front. >> reporter: donald trump publicly, vigorously casting doubt on the u.s. intelligence community's conclusion that russia meddled in the u.s. election. appearing to place his rust trust in wikileaks founder julian assange instead. >> wikileaks, i love wikileaks. >> reporter: just days before he's set to hutd l with john brennan, james comey, and director of national

intelligence james clapper, tweeting the, quote, intelligence briefing on so-called, quote, russian hacking was delayed until friday. perhaps more time needed to build a case. very strange. u.s. officials dispute trump's claim there was any delay. the president-elect continuing his tweet storm. julian assange said, "a 14-year-old could have hacked podesta. why was dnc so careless? also said russians did not give him the info." strr different from trump's 2010 stance on wikileaks after the group published hundreds of thousands of classified u.s. documents. >> a disgrace. >> you think it's disgraceful. >> it should be death penalty or something. >> his skepticism towards u.s. intelligence and praise for julian assange, whose site published the hacked e-mails from john podesta highlighting a sharp split between the president-elect and other gop leaders. house speaker paul ryan unleashing a wave of criticism against the wikileaks founder.

>> i think the guy's a sycophant for russia. he leaks. he steals data. compromises national security. >> reporter: as senator lindsey graham offers this advice to trump. >> not only should he ignore julian assange, he should condemn him for what he's done to our country. >> reporter: assange insists his information isn't coming from the russian government. >> our source is not a state party. so the answer for our interactions is no. >> reporter: as cia director brennan questions his credibility. >> he's not exactly a bastion of truth and integrity. >> reporter: and implores skeptics to wait for the upcoming intelligence report on russia. >> i would suggest to individuals who have not seen the report or been briefed on it that they wait and see what it is that the intelligence community is putting forward before they make those judgments. >> reporter: today vice president elect mike pence is backing up his boss' leeriness of u.s. intelligence. >> i think that the

president-elect has expressed his very sincere and healthy american skepticism about intelligence conclusions. >> reporter: sean spicer, the incoming white house press secretary, said earlier today that his boss' issue is not with the raw intelligence but it is with the conclusions intelligence officials are drawing that russia meddled in the u.s. election. spicer said when donald trump gets a chance to quiz intelligence officials on friday, that's what he wants to focus on, how they drew their conclusions about russia's involvement. >> thanks, sara. now chief spokesman and senior adviser to a coalition in iraq during george w. bush's presidency and jeremy bash, who served as chief of staff to the cia director and the defense secretary leon panetta. jeremy, you believe trump's behavior slamming the intelligence community's conclusion again and again, that russia hacked the u.s. election means the u.s. is headed for a pretty big national security

crisis. >> i do, and i served alongside cia officers at langley. all have dedicated their lives to collecting intelligence. many have risked their lives, and some have lost their lives to go into harm's way to collect intelligence and to bring the fight to our adversaries. and this is not the thanks that they should be getting. they should be listened to. their analysis can be challenged behind closed doors. i think that's entirely appropriate. but they should not be slammed publicly. and i think it really does set up a big crisis because if the president-elect is going to raise his right hand and become the number-one cyber target in the world two fridays from now, if he doesn't listen to the intelligence community, he's going to be targeted by china, by north korea, by iran, and by russia and when he disbelieves his professionals he's going to be defenseless. >> what do you say? is there anything in trump's interest to humiliate the

national intelligence? >> no. it seems to me he seems frustrated that there's this narrative that somehow his election was illegitimate because there are these allegations that there was hacking by a foreign power who may have had an interest in the outcome of the election. but that could be easily addressed saying something like of course if there was hacking or meddling in our election we should get to the bottom of it, i look forward to the briefings from the intelligence community, i'm concerned about it, but any notion that the american voters were unwitting tools of some foreign power this election is absurd and i just don't believe that these millions of americans who stood up and voted for change, their votes shouldn't in any way be delegitimized by accusations of hacking. you can raise questions and be open minded to the intelligence, which he's not doing and should do. >> he's saying again and again it wasn't russia. >> and citing julian assange is just offensive i think to the intelligence community.

as jeremy is saying and policymakers on both side of the aisle. >> if i'm julian assange, jeremy, obviously the crusade against the intelligence community hit a new level with him siding with julian assange today. you just heard him say in 2010 wikileaks behavior was disgraceful and should be punished by the death penalty. then as now julian assange was at the helm of wikileaks. today he's crediting him as an intelligence source saying he's proving russia did not hack the u.s. election. stunning. >> national security republicans have long been on the record decrying the behavior of the wikileaks outfit and by julian assange. they dumped hundreds of thousands of classified documents, compromised u.s. diplomatic missions, our assets overseas. it was shameful and should be condemned by democrats and republicans and everybody. it's a difficult day for the united states intelligence professional when the president-elect responds to and respects and trusts julian

assange over that professional. and i think that's going to have to change in the coming days precisely because the president is going to be the president of the entire government and he is going to be responsible for defending the country. julian assange will not help him one single bit. >> as a practical matter, it doesn't serve his interests as the president and commander in chief. the intelligence community will be around long after donald trump is president. they have more information, more time, more relationships on capitol hill, more relationships with the media. you've seen in the past when a president is at war with the intelligence community, the intelligence community often has the upper hand so it's important to not -- >> alienate them. >> it's important to partner with them. >> there's a report from "the wall street journal" tonight that trump is planning to restructure the cia and the office of national intelligence saying trump will be cutting back at staff headquarters for cia and langley, virginia, and increase the number of people in the field.

you were the chief of staff to then cia director leon panetta. is that a good idea or is this just anger at the cia? >> it may be a good idea and there's been long discussion about taking some of the functions in the office of director of national intelligence and moving it to other agencies, having more of a forward presence. there could be some benefit to this. but i don't think it should be used to change the subject from this national security crisis that i think is real hi brewing here. >> but restructuring -- >> there are serious intelligence professionals who believe that dni has caused more confusion in the intelligence community than addressed the problems it was designed to solve. addressing this sort of reorganization of the intelligence community i think there's probably a lot of merit to it. the problem is right now it's in the frame of this story about julian assange and the sort of war against the intelligence community so everyone is sort of histrionic about it. if you take a step back, there are legitimate policy merits to some of the issues.

>> maybe such a suggestion would be better received if you were not saying you trusted julian assange. thank you both. next, the war over obamacare, president obama tells democrats don't rescue republicans with a replacement. plus outrage as the marching band from an historically black college agrees to perform at trump's inauguration. will the college president block their doing so? and a stunning new theory about what brought down the unsinkable titanic. did the ship set sail with its fate already sealed? ry somethin, you get hungry just thinking about it? at red lobster's big festival of shrimp, get your perfect pair for just $15.99. choose 2 of 6 new and classic shrimp creations, like bold new firecracker red shrimp. exploding with flavor? yeah they are. or try new creamy shrimp linguini, and new sweet bourbon-brown sugar grilled shrimp. flavors like these are big. and for just $15.99, they can't last. so hurry in.

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tonight, showdown on capitol hill. president obama and democrats and the goal to block republicans from repealing his health care law. the vice president elect mike pence holding a dueling meeting with his party on how to, well, repeal obamacare and deliver on one of president-elect trump's biggest campaign promises. manu raju is out front. >> reporter: tonight, republicans taking their first steps to dismantle obamacare. but president barack obama is

rallying his party to defend a centerpiece of his legacy. in meetings with house and senate republicans vice president elect mike pence making clear that repealing the law will be donald trump's top priority as president. >> the first order of business is to repeal and replace obamacare, and that was our message today and it will be our message on capitol hill. it needs to be done. >> reporter: in the senate, republicans voted to pave the way for repeal in a matter of weeks. but more questions than answers about what the gop intends to replace it with and that has rank and file republicans increasingly worried. speaking to democrats on a rare trip to capitol hill. sources said obama warned that republicans would pay a steep political price for trying to gut the law. and he told democrats not to, quote, rescue the gop by giving them votes on a replacement plan, worse than the affordable

care act. the president branding the new gop plan, trump care. >> look out for the american people. >> would you work with them in finding a replacement? >> i am not going to cooperate with republicans when they try to repeal a bill that takes away health care for children, prescription drug cost benefits for seniors. they have no plan to protect seniors. so you're damn right we'll fight. >> reporter: getting rid of obamacare was a centerpiece of donald trump's campaign. >> repeal and replace was something terrific. >> reporter: but today even the president-elect is voicing concern, warning in a series of tweets, republicans must be careful in that the dems own the failed obamacare disaster, adding, don't let the schumer clowns out of the web. that last conference in reference to the new leader chuck schumer who called trump's plan, quote, make america sick again. schumer has warned that his party won't work with trump to replace the law if the gop guts

it. >> we are telling the republicans if you are repealing, show us what you'll replace it with first. they're repealing. we're not. it's their obligation to come up with replace first and i think we have unanimity within our democratic caucus on that position. >> reporter: erin, shum ears caucus is not completely united. joe manchin, the west virginia democrat, actually skipped today's meeting with president obama and actually met with mike pence separately as he told me earlier in the day that he's willing to work with republicans as they repairing the law or if they do repeal the law, figuring out a replacement. the republican side has their own problems. rand paul was the one republican senator who voted against the budget measure today that will fave way for a repeal of the law. the reason why he voted against it because it would increase the budget deficit. >> thank you very much, manu. you saw her there at the meeting today and she was there with

chuck schumer, debbie salve now. she is the fourth ranking democrat in the senate. off lot of power. democrats at this time don't have the votes to block republican repeal of obamacare. what is your plan? >> you're right. this they want to, they can rip apart the entire health care system. they have the votes in the house and the senate. but they'll pull the thread that unravlgs the entire system. everybody who has insurance through their employer gets new protections, they can't get dropped if they get sick, pre-existing conditions. women now are not rated differently and paying more than men. you can have prenatal care,

opioid addiction help, and all of that goes away for every single person with insurance. we are going to be telling the story and fighting for people whether it's a 22-year-old now on their parents' insurance as they graduate from college trying to get started in the workplace or or a woman who has alzheimer's who desperately needs to have long-term care through medicaid. this is craziness, erin, going on right now here with the idea of repealing and unkraraveling whole health care system creating instability in one-sixth of the entire stability with no plan to replace it. >> let me ask you, because you're listing off things you say work about this, but obviously the bottom line is costs have surged. the house minority leader nuclear weapons said she has one regret about obamacare, and here's what she says it is.

up with thing i would have done about the affordable care act from the start is to message it in a much stronger way. >> that sounds like what you're talking about. you're saying think about this, this, and this, giving those examples. the bottom line, the average premium for the benchmark silver plan was up 22% this year. if you look at north carolina, we sent a reporter there right before the election, there's not one statewide carrier, two others dropped out. now one, a monopoly. 63-year-old retiree says he can't afford coverage. $900 a month increase in premiums. how is this problem one of messaging? >> what we need to do is fix that by adding more competition. this is a private marketplace competition way of providing health insurance. and the way that we can fix that, one of the ways, is in areas where there's not choice in competition is to add a public option like many of us wanted to do at the very beginning so there was a true competition in the marketplace. erin, i think the important thing right now is to understand i'd be willing to walk from this

interview and sit down immediately with republican colleagues who have been trying for six years to say let's improve on the system, let's create more competition, lower prices. i want to tackle issues that relate to small business. but you don't do that by burning down a house when you say you want to renovate it and make it better. you don't start it by burning it down. that's exactly what they're doing. >> so president obama, you know, you met with him today and the goal is to stop this whole repeal in this way, but you just said you're willing to work with republican colleagues. i talked with you the night after the election and you came on, as awful as you felt that day, you came on and said you were willing to work with the president-elect. senator joe manchin said he did not meet with president obama today and didn't do so because he thought it was poison bipartisan efforts to craft a replacement. are you poisoning efforts by meeting with the president? >> first of all, senator manchin voted with us in his voting against repeal without health care replacement for seniors, for children, for families.

we are united as a caucus that this makes no sense and it's totally irresponsible. so what i'm saying tonight is that instead of repealing and creating chaos in the marketplace, if folks want to sit down and work on improvements, i'm all in. our colleagues are all in. we've been trying for the last six years rather than making it a political football to really deal with real issues. what i hate most about this is this isn't politics. this is real-life people right now, somebody with cancer, a child with juvenile diabetes, someone with leukemia who's getting better treatment without caps on their services and that's going to be ripped away. and that's real life. this is not a political game. >> all right. senator stabenow, thank you very much. appreciate your time. next, outrage at a black college in alabama over an invitation to perform at the trump inauguration.

will the band show up? and a hispanic leader who called trump a puff foon and fearmongerer accepting a job with the trump administration. why the abt face. encouragement and milk. with 8 grams of natural protein, and 8 other nutrients to provide balanced nutrition. moms know kids grow strong when they milk life. and 8 other nutrients to provide balanced nutrition. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis. i'm bushed! i've been on my feel alyea me too. excuse me...coming through! ride the gel wave of comfort with dr. scholls massaging gel insoles.

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plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. outrage at one of talladega college in alabama founded by former slaves invited to perform at president-elect trump's inauguration. a fierce debate erupted among students and alumni. now the college president is under pressure to pull the band from the parade. victor blackwell is out front from talladega college.

>> reporter: talladega college's tornado marching band is at the center of a social media firestorm. p historically black school facing backlash after it was announced a band would perform during donald trump's inaugural parade. many african-americans still offended by trump's campaign including his unorthodox appeal for black voter support. >> you're living in poverty. your schools are no good. you have no jobs. what the hell do you have to lose? >> reporter: response on the twitter and facebook to the participation immediate and emotional. there is no honor in performing for one of the world's most racist people, donald trump, one writes. another right writhing shame on you. others feeling the band members should participate in the parade. one woman writing that she's proud of this school for breaking the barriers of racism, another urging students to go for it. >> really? seriously? no. >> when shirley ferrell heard

about her alma mater's potential role in the inauguration she started a petition urging the college to withdraw. so far there have been more than 1,300 signatures. a member of the band launched a counterpetition saying this parade is not about politics. it's about seeing first hand the process of a transition. still, ferrell thinks it's a bad idea. >> we're the oldest historically black college in alabama. we have a reputation of fighting for fighting for freedom and equal rights and justice. he doesn't stand for any of that. >> reporter: ferrell was at the 2015 rally in birmingham. she was beaten, punched and kicked by several white men in the crowd. >> trump from the podium seemed to encourage that with his words and behavior. >> reporter: trump doubled down several days later. >> maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing. >> i don't want the school to

look even give the appearance of supporting him. >> reporter: the hashtag talladega college trends on twitter but is the battle over the band such a hot topic here? we asked people in talladega, the center of this controversy, should the band march? >> i think it would be good exposure for talladega college. >> reporter: you think they should go? what do you think? >> yeah, they should go. >> it's great to have them represent him, you know, try to put him down that he's against black people which he's not. >> it all boils down to what is good for the college and his students. they need it. >> victor, pretty amazing report. will the band show up? there's no answer tonight. >> reporter: still an unanswered question. the president of the college said the final decision has not

yet been made. that's what he said when the backlash started rolling in. we were told all morning that an announcement would come sometime after lunch from the president on camera on campus. well, lunchtime has come and gone and most folks are wrapping up dinner and still no answer. to make it more bizarre, we learned that the president is not even in alabama. he's actually in orlando huddled up with members of the board of trustees and they tonight still cannot come up with a decision. i can tell you two things. the band is on campus and they're rehearsing for something and someone with the inaugural committee tells us 150 members of the band have undergone that u.s. secret service clearance. now they just need to know if they're going or not. >> thank you, victor. keith, you heard victor's report. the president of the college said he'd make a decision today to cameras, did not, said it would be by lunch. now it's dinnertime. he's huddled up at the board of

trustees. they're struggling with this. what should the school do? >> my father, grandfather, siblings attended historically black colleges. it's a difficult question. it's an opportunity for the school to send a message they won't support intolerance. think about this four years ago the u.s. supreme court had a case in alabama about voting rights and they struck down a part of the voting rights act because of an alabama case. just two months ago jeff sessions was nominated the u.s. attorney general by donald trump from alabama and he supports that decision against the voting rights act. just today the naacp president was arrested protesting jeff sessions who is again from alabama. i think people from alabama above all understand why it's important to stand up fagainst donald trump and his bigotry. >> ben?

>> i put this in the same category as sports. we see how sports has been able to heal communities, bring people together, get people to look bast the color of someone's skin. what an incredible opportunity for these young college students to be able to show off their talents, their heritage, their history on a national stage that in many ways is bigger even than donald trump. look how hard they've worked. they'll be watched by people all over the world. i think it's sad politics is coming into this and people are trying to take away from this moment from them. they should look at barack obama. barack obama will show up for the inauguration because it's smooth transition and it's history. so is george bush, who did not support from what we understand donald trump. you show up. so is hillary clinton and bill clinton. even though she lost the election.

>> florida a&m, historically black college, not showing up, gambli gambling, hampton, howard university. they are not slated to participate. >> i think that's sad. i think we should break down walls and barriers every time we get a chance. what an incredible way to do it by showing your talents and performing. this has nothing to do with the politics, and i think some people are hijacking these college students' moments. one of the young ladies in this band talked about how she wanted to go. this is going to raise the profile not only of what they've accomplished as a group but as individuals. they get to go to the nation's capital and see a smooth transition of power, something the rest of the world is going to watch. >> i think one way to raise the school's profile is for the school to make a strong statement they won't support bigotry. let me finish as i let you finish. donald trump is not a normal president-elect. he's a racist, sexist, misogynist, narcissistic, xenophobic bigot.

because of that he has been extremely divisive, especially to african-americans. he has not yet apologized for his disruptive behavior against the first african-american president of the united states for questioning his birth certificate. so, yes, obama will be there because the president of the united states has an obligation to be there. these students are not obligated to attend and i support and applaud their decision if they choose not to. >> hold on. ben, let me ask this first. keith raised the issue of whether this was intolerant of intolerance or being tolerant of intolerance to attend. the radio city rockets, ben, they were summoned, scheduled to perform. marie claire, the women's magazine, is releasing a transcript of an audiotape they say they have of a meeting between the dancers and the owner. i want to read one exchange to you, ben, because i think this is important. a rockette, you hear her asking, i mean, it just sound like you're asking us to be tolerant of intolerance. the owner of the rockettes says,

yeah, in way, i guess we are doing that. what other choices do we have? what else would you suggest? he's saying that is what i'm asking you to do. >> i disagree, but two, we have to look at the message we're sending to these performers, these kids in college. are we saying every time you don't get your way in an election you go to name-calling and call the other person a racist and bigot and everything else you've heard tonight coming from keith or respect the fact there are other people in america that have a different perspective and viewpoint and it doesn't mean they're an evil racist or bigoted person? we need to have people come together not sit here and say, well, i didn't get my way so therefore i'm going to go home with my band, take my toys with me, and i'm not going to show up for what is a pretty great day in america and instead you name call and say he's this and he's that and he's this. think about the opportunity for these kids. >> you spoke very long. let me get in here quickly.

donald trump is not a normal person. he's not a normal candidate. >> you keep saying that but he's the president-elect. >> let me finish my point because you're disrupting me here. the reality is these people have an opportunity to make a statement because donald trump is being disruptive. he's not treating the american people or mexicans and mus lips amend african-americans and people of color with respect. when donald trump starts to act respectful towards the people of this country, we'll start to act respectful toward him. until that time, he doesn't deserve our respect. he's behaving like an immature child. >> the young african-american girl that's in the band that says she wants to go and perform at the inauguration, are you telling her -- >> i'm telling people can make up their own minds about going but i'm telling you this is an opportunity -- it's a missed opportunity if this school doesn't stand up and say something to challenge donald trump. and, yes, everybody has their own view but it's still a missed opportunity. >> we're a waiting on the board of trustees and the president of

talladega college to make their decision. obviously struggling with that, now at least four or five hours late with the promised decision. next, a prominent latino who called trump a buffoon during the campaign now a trump adviser. what changed? we'll talk to him. and a school officer body slams a female high school student to the floor. what happened? ♪ don't just eat. ♪ mangia! bertolli. so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing, even a rodent ride-along. [dad] alright, buddy, don't forget anything! [kid] i won't, dad... [captain rod] happy tuesday morning! captain rod here. it's pretty hairy out on the interstate.traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. getting word of another collision.

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as of tonight, none nominated in trump administration's are latino. you made headlines earlier this year calling donald trump a buffoon. javier, i appreciate your time. i want to talk about the breakdown of the administration because it's crucial. given what you said about donald trump before, i want to ask you what's changed and give viewers a chance to hear the context of what you said about donald trump back in august. here you are. >> donald trump began his political career by denouncing immigrants, denouncing the hispanic community. >> immigrants or illegal immigrants? >> illegal immigrants, immigrants, the hispanic community, period. he has denounced them for the last year. they had amazing choices in jeb bush, in john kasich. they elected a buffoon instead.

>> has your opinion of him changed? shoo here's where we find ourselves today. there was the rhetoric, harsh rhetoric, that took place during the campaign. today we're dealing with the reality that the process has taken place and at the end of this donald trump was elected the 45th president of the united states. i'm going to to and our association is going to do exactly what we asked of the trump team. we'll honor those results and we'll try to find ways to collaborate and move this nation forward. i have offered my advice and counsel. they have taken it on a variety of issues and we're particularly interested in making sure that the voice of american small business is heard loud and clear by this new and incoming administration. in that context we're doing exactly what president obama has done. offering an opportunity to give this new administration a chance to succeed. we're going to do what we can and we're going to -- you know,

where it adds value we'll advise and offer the counsel we think is needed. >> since you said that this summer, since trump has won, he has come out and doubled and triple down on some of the most controversial things he has said that affect immigration, the latino community. here he is. >> we will build a wall. you know that. we'll build a wall. that's right. we're going to build a wall. on immigration, we will be the administration that ended illegal immigration. we will construct a great border wall. we'll have a great wall. a real wall. does the wall not matter to you now or are they telling you something different in your conversations? >> our conversation with them has been centered around the reality of what they're going to have to deal with if you're look agent the mass deportation of

some 11.5 million people, you will have to incur at great expense new jobs. you're going to have to add some 200,000 new government jobs just to get that done. you will have to charter over 30,000 buses a year to move these people from point a to point b. detention beds will go from 38,000 where we are today to over 420,000 to house these people while they're going through the process. you will have to charter 17,000 private airplanes to move these people back to their point of origin and the list goes on. our counsell has been you need to pump the brakes and look at this thing. again, there was the rhetoric of the campaign but this is the reality of the president -- >> and those are some powerful statistics that you have. before you go, i have to ask you about the cabinet because you're advising him, he so far does not have a hispanic nomination for th his cabinet.

clayton is the most recent for the fcc. is this concerning and does that it need to change? >> of course it's concerning. i'm a 56-year-old hispanic in america today. i'd love to see a hispanic in the cabinet. more important to me and my association that now represents 4.1 million hispanic-owned firms that collectively contribute in excess of $668 billion to the american economy, what's more important to us is that he has a cabinet that understands the needs and the challenges of american small business. and i have seen some pretty good signs of individuals who are going to take a business approach to fixing some of the thorniest problems we have, people like rick perry, people like steven mnuchin and others that i think will bring that business kind of sense to if i canning -- fixing some of these issues faced by american st. paul business and i'm ep couraged by what i'm seeing there. >> javier, thank you very much. next, caught on tape, a female student slammed to the ground by a school officer, students

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tonight caught on camera, outrage after a video shows a school resource officer body slamming a 15-year-old girl to the floor. [ bleep ] you hear her hit the ground. the video does not show what led to the ip accident or what followed which obviously is important. the police department says the officer was responding to a fight. tonight that officer is on paid leave. boris sanchez is out front. >> reporter: the six-second video is shocking. a high school resource officer

body slamming a 15-year-old student. >> i feel every time i look at it like -- it's embarrassing. >> reporter: a second video captures the incidents leading up to tuesday's incident involving officer ruben dos santos and jasmine. the teenager says she was trying to break up a fight between her sister and another student in the cafeteria. >> i see my sister fighting and i see them both on the ground and trying to get my sister. that's when officer santos came and picked me up and slammed me on the ground and i was out. >> reporter: dos santos, a local cop who's been the resource officer at the high school for four years, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. the north carolina state bureau of investigations confirmed to cnn it has been called in, but they declined comment other than to say it was an ongoing investigation. >> that's not how you handle a child.

she's only 100 pounds. he could have killed her. >> reporter: the student's mom is outraged and says her daughter suffered a concussion. >> the school is supposed to protect children when they go to school. my child was not protected. my child was hurt by an officer that body slammed her for no reason. >> reporter: the school's principal sent out a letter to parents writing in part, "i, like many of you, am deeply concerned about what i saw on the video. the safety of our students is always our first priority." she also writes, "two years ago our school district enacted a unified agreement with all local law enforcement agencies that provided training and a clear understanding of the duties and responsibilities of school resource officers." however, it's unclear if officer santos received that training. despite several attempts, cnn has not been able to reach ruben

de los santos to tell us his side of the story. important to point out, officer de los santos was wearing a body camera and it was rolling during the incident. however, we may never see that footage. officers have yet to release it. part of the reason why is because last year the state of north carolina changed the law to make that body cam footage harder for the public to access. we would need among other things a court order, approval from a judge to be able to get our hands on that footage, erin. >> boris, thank you very much. next, jeanne moos with the new theory behind the mystery of the titanic. what if it wasn't the iceberg? what really brought down the unsinkable ship? the big wireless icompanies lure you in with great coverage. but then charge you a really high price to use their cell towers... ...not cool. straight talk wireless uses the same towers, but only charges half. you get the same 4g lte networks... ...so your phone works in more places... ...for a lot less. it's time to ask yourself... ...why haven't i switched?

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what it was not an iceberg that sun it can titanic but a fire? here ease jeanne moos. >> is the world's most famous iceberg being put on ice? >> iceberg straight ahead! >> reporter: did fire and ice team up to sink the titanic? that's what a new documentary scheduled to air later this month on the smithsonian channel says. >> new evidence of an overlooked evidence afflicting the super ship. >> look at this anomaly in the hull. wow. >> reporter: titanic expert says recently uncovered photos show a 30-foot mark on the titanic's hull. >> the first thing that struck us was this was the exact location not only are where the iceberg strikes but also where there had been a spontaneous

cold fire through the main voyage in 2012. >> he says surviving firemen from the ship spoke about the fire when they reached land. >> ef one of them said there was a serious fire on board. >> even if we never heard about it from leonardo or kate. more like frying below decks. it's believed the cold fire had burned for days as crew members tried to put it out. >> that level of temperature is robbing the steel, it's losing 75% of its strength. >> reporter: weakening the hull right where the iceberg hit. the fire theory isn't new. it's been smoldering for years. it was addressed briefly at the official inquiry but played down. some on social media mock the resurrected theory. bull. the lookout was teching at the time of impact. do you think the iceberg is getting a bad rap? >> it was not the iceberg acting alone. the iceberg had co-conspirators, if you like.

>> reporter: it would be ironic if fire would take some of the heat off the iceberg. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> can't wait to see that. thanks for joining us. see you tomorrow. anderson is next. good evening. thanks for join us. the growing divide between the eyes and ears of the country and the next president of it. and new reporting on what could be the president-elect's plan to restructure big pieces of the intelligence community including possibly reshaping the cia. we'll talk to the reporter who broke that story coming up. meantime again, mr. trump cast doubt on the agencies in question on their consensus that russia hacked the democratic party and hillary clinton's campaign chair. instead he appears to be placing his faith in the man he once said should face the death penalty. wikileaks founder julian assange who published what the hackers stole. this comes less an taddei after a tweet seen as a slap at