welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your time on a beautiful day here in the nation's capital. we hope you enjoy our new view. a spectacular view as with you count down 11 days until the inauguration of president-elect donald trump. our new set just steps away from where the president-elect will become president of the united states one week from friday. speaking of the president-elect, pushing back this day after being attacked at the golden globes last night by hollywood icon meryl streep. mr. trump insisting he was not mocking a reporter with a disability back when he launched into this on the campaign trail.

>> written by a nice reporter. now the poor guy -- you ought to see this guy. ah, i don't know what i said. i don't remember. he is going, i don't remember. maybe that's what i said. >> we'll talk a bit about that. plus, it is a huge week in politics. it includes the first trump news conference in more than five months. confirmation hearings for several of his most important and most controversial cabinet choices. now, the russia hacking report certain to come up at some of those, and trump's fellow republicans are openly suggesting the president-elect is naive when he plays down the criminal election meddling and predicts better relations with vladimir putin. >> i don't think it's all that unusual for a new president to want to get along with the russians. i remember george w. bush having the same hope. my suspicion these hopes will be dashed pretty quickly. the russians are clearly big adversaries. president obama's last act.

a big farewell speech tomorrow night. reflections on his eight years in office and, listen here, some candid advice to the very different man about to succeed him. >> my hope is that the president-elect, members of congress from both parties, look made progress, where things are working better? don't undo things just because i did them. i don't have pride of authorship. >> oh, not to be too cynical, but good luck with that. with us to share their insights, cnn manu raju, jackie of the daily beast and -- president obama preparing to say good-bye in chicago. as he prepares to fade away, he is sharing his thoughts on the new guy. >> i have enjoyed the conversations that we've had. he is somebody who i think is

not lacking in confidence, which is i think -- >> some say that about you too. >> that is what i was saying. it's probably a prerecollect quiz -- prerequisite for the job, or you need to have enough craziness to think that you can do the job. i think that he has not spent a lot of time sweating the details have, you know, all the policies that -- >> does that worry you? >> well, i think that can be both a strength and a weakness. i think it depends on how he approaches it. if he -- if it gives him fresh eyes, then that can be valuable, but it also requires you knowing what you don't know. >> i am in a million or more ways fascinated by this moment. you have a president fading from

the scene. he has a healthy ego do. all politicians and presidents do at this point. you have a man preparing to leave the white house giving interviews like this, the big speech tomorrow night to say good-bye. >> the president-elect speaking at trump tower. excuse me. here we go. >> there were some questions about your relationship -- >> well, we'll talk about that -- >> you need to talk more about. who do you trust more, julian s assange or the nsa? >> we'll talk to you about that soon. >> we'll talk about that at another time. yes, we had a great meeting. it's jobs. you just saw what happened with fiat where they're going to build a massive plant in michigan, and we're very happy, and jack and i are going to do some great things. small business, right? >> focus on small business. >> there's been talk -- >> what are your confirmation hearings going -- >> confirmation is going great.

>> they haven't happened this morning yet. >> i think every nomination will be -- they're all at the highest level. jack was even saying. i mean, they are the absolute highest level. i think they're going to do very well. dloo there's some concern about jeff sessions in particular. >> i think he is going to do great. high quality man. dpl . >> thank you. >> can you speak more mr. president-elect -- we'll talk more on wednesday, but -- >> president-elect donald trump, a bit of a surprise coming into the lobby of the trump tower to say hello or good-bye there, i guess, to his guest. ceo of alibaba. the president-elect pops in, you spend a lot of time around the president-elect. he is having these meetings. this is another opportunity for him to say, see, since my election, there are a lot of businesses who think they're going to get a better tax climate, they're going to get a better pro-business environment, and they're moving jobs into the united states. do we read much more into that? >> he tends to do this when he feels like he has an impressive guest and when he feels like he wants to have a photo op of the two of them in front of the camera together. that's the best way to get that

photo op, when he is working at trump tower. his ideal situation is someplace like bedminister where he can be far enough away to not have to talk to the press but still have them see his impressive guest. you'll note he didn't answer any real questions about his feelings about russia or the hacking or anything else that's really leading the news there. it is an opportunity for donald trump to say, look, i'm bringing all these influential business figures in to see me. more like we saw a couple of weeks ago. kanye west. >> it's a surprising amount of restraint, too, for donald trump going -- being asked just about julian assange and about the russia hacking and deciding not to take the bait. not to abc questions when he has not answered any questions about those issues.

>> he has not answered questions on those topics. >> it's also an example of how he likes to take these questions on his own terms. he would rather address some of these issues over twitter where he has, you know, his own platform that is unfiltered and his words and no disent. >> exactly. >> or at the news conference where, you know, he is going to be selecting who he calls on and they're things he wants to talk about. today this is about his high profile guests and all of the progress he thinks he can make as president in trying to bring jobs back, but if this is not the venue where he wants to take this question, he just won't take it. on the other hand, he will take a call from a reporter in the middle of the night or sometimes unsolicited call a reporter in the middle of the day when he feels like it's to his advantage to do so. >> that is it. we're going to get to this throughout the hour. that is, again, i mentioned at the top of the show, i'm fascinated. we have a two-term president leaving. we have a new president who has washington on edge, including his own party coming in in just 11 days. he is getting a lot of advice. he is getting a lot of advice from republicans. he just melt with the senate

majority leader mitch mcconnell. he is getting a lot of advice from his own people and advice from outsiders, whether it's on russian hacking or when and when not to answer questions. he is also getting a lot of advice from the outgoing president to remember the history the president has tried to be more polite. listen p to him here trying to tell donald trump, sir, the world you are about to enter into is very different from anything you could present e comprehend. >> there's a difference between govern and campaigning so that what he has to appreciate is as soon as you walk into this office, you are now in charge of the largest organization on earth. you can't manage it the way you would manage a family business. you have to have a strong team

around you. you have to have respect for institutions and the process, to make good decisions because you are inherently reliant on other folks. >> he is being very polite. his language is very measured. if you paid attention to what president-elect trump has done and the history with president obama, you get the sense he says you can't run it like a family business. you have to have respect for institutions in the process. the president is trying to say something that's a lot more pointed than the language -- than those words convey. >> it's fascinating to watch. what you get from president obama is it seems like he is really trying to leave some channels of communication olympic between him and donald trump that he actually feels like when he leaves office, he might actually have some ability to influence donald trump and sort of help him figure out how to be president, but implicit in what he is saying is really a rejection of donald trump's entire approach to governing because when he says governing is not like campaigning, donald trump is still we see in attack mode, almost cob instantly.

he is in a defensive crouch. that's not a way you can be president, but by saying it in this way i think president obama is trying to get in a much tougher critique of trump than it sounds like he is making. >> and the question is will it filter through to the president-elect? a lot of republicans would watch that interview or watch us replay that clip and say, come on, they made the same criticism of president obama early on, that the early obama -- or early months of the obama white house that he forgot that he wasn't campaigning anymore. >> still, the way obama went into the white house, it's different. it seems like president-elect trump really does want to shake things up. he is encouraging his nominees who will become, in theory, secretaries to go in and change the organizations that they're taking over, and he is going -- what it seems like and what it sounds like is that he is going to sort of let them have a long leash. he is not going to be involved in their day to day. we'll have to wait and see how much they do it, but they think they have a mandate to really -- to change it in a different way, to really shake things up and

change the way how washington works. everybody says -- this seems a little different. >> it will be so interesting. obama talking about respecting the institutions. how does he deal with the institution behind us? congress. the way that obama dealt with it in 2009. he essentially let members of congress write the stimulus bill coming in. he let them lead on the health care approach. he did not want to come in with a heavy hand and draw up a big bill and try to push it through because they thought that would backfire. it's what happened in the clinton years. they changed up their approach. what does donald trump do coming in? does he let members of congress kind of draft and write his agenda, or does he try to come up with something and try to get public support and republican support behind that? i don't think we know that, and a lot of it also will deal with mike pence and his role on capitol hill. >> yeah. i think it will be interesting to see how far donald trump is willing to put himself out there on something like repeal and replace for obama care. i mean, we saw him firing off warnings on twitter last week, says and essentially it put republicans on the hill on notice. be careful what you replace this with. be careful that you're not stripping people of all of their

benefits and leaving them out there to dry. if you are a republican on the hill who is trying to come up with a replacement for obama care, that's a strong warning. that sends a signal that, look, if you screw this up, i'm not necessarily going to take the blame for it. i might be out there blaming members of my own party if people aren't happy because one of the things trump is really good at is having his pulse on what is popular and what makes him popular. if piemt start to reject or if there is an outcry from people about their options for health insurance going forward, i think that it's a possibility donald trump washes his hands and blames it on the hill. >> he has boxed them in on that point. before we go, you mentioned his use of twitter. when president obama took office, it was a big deal that he said he was going to keep his blackberry. if you want to go back eight years, it was a big deal that he could keep his blackberry so he could keep in touch with his friends. it concerned the secret service. it concerned people who worry about cyber hacking. yes, they worried about it back then too. for donald trump his social media weapon of choice,

technology of choice is twitter. the current president of the united states saying, sir, when you drop the elect, you better be careful. >> clearly this worked for him and it gives him a direct connection to a lot of the people that voted for him. i have said to him and i think others have said to hinl that the day that he is the president of the united states there are world capitals and financial markets and people all around the world who take really seriously what he says. in a way that is just not true before you are sworn in as president. >> i assume he understands. i think he means the advice, and i think he actually means it president to president if you will. you could fill a football stadium for the people to dial it back on twitter, and that ain't a safe bet.

that's not going to happen. >> that's what works for him on twitter, and i think that's the reason that he does it, and so the idea that he would somehow be more restrained like he told an interviewer that he would be right after the election on twitter whether he gets into the oval office seems far-fetched. >> a little far-fetched. everybody sit tight. you just saw donald trump in the lobby of trump tower. he wouldn't take a kwchl questions. he said i'll see you soon. up next donald trump, yes, he will see us soon. holding a formal news conference on wednesday. his first in more than five months. if you got a chance, what would you ask? (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) the joy of real cream in 15 calories per serving. enough said. reddi-wip. (flourish spray noise) share the joy. tech: don't let a cracked windshtrust safelite.plans. with safelite's exclusive "on my way text"... you'll know exactly when we'll be there. giving you more time for what matters most. (team sing) safelite repair, safelite replace.

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>> welcome back. some very big questions for the president-elect this week. how he plans, for example, to separate from his business and avoid big conflicts. that's one question.

his 100 day legislative agenda, that's another one. when trump meets with reporters on wednesday in new york, don't be surprised if this comes up too. >> there was one thing that stunned me. it was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. disrespect invites disrespect. violence invites violence. the powerful use their position to bully others, then we all lose. >> as you might expect, donald trump did not wait very long to respond. early this morning on twitter he tweets "meryl streep, one of the most overrated actresses in hollywood doesn't know me, but attacked last night at the golden globes. she's a hillary flunky that lost big. i never mocked a disabled reporter. i showed him gravel he when he

changed a 16-year-old story that he changed in order to make me look bad. just more dishonest media." >> number one, he could have let this go. number two, he could have said such a shame, i'm a big fan. let me come to this point. if you are donald trump, you're firing back. we could get into his response in a minute. to be in a fight with what he believes to be liberal hollywood elitist, not a bad thing for him in terms of keeping in touch with his supporters. >> absolutely it's not a bad thing. the conservative base loves this. they don't like how hollywood is out of touch and elitist. you saw people rallying to his defense on the right side of the aisle. it's so interesting how quickly he responded. not only did he tweet this morning, but last night he called one of julie's colleagues to push back on the phone so it would get into the press almost immediately. so much of it is a question of how much of it is him not having a very thick skin or how much of it is him wanting to distract from the discussion about the

agenda going forward. russia, his conflicts of interest, you name it. it's him just having a gut reaction to respond to these things. that's going to be interesting going forward. >> it's more to me, and please correct me if i disagree, but it's more to me that you are calling the "new york times" and saying let's talk about this and say sort of a new york city street brawler. >> it speaks to this narrative of he wants to come in as the underdog. they're all insulting me. they're all, you know, disrespecting me and not taking me seriously. it's ironic, obviously, because this is a man who has been in the hollywood mix for many, many years himself. it's drew his supporters do view hollywood as a negative. they view them as elitist liberals and much of hollywood did support hillary clinton in the campaign, so it's not a misplaced attempt, but, again, i think it's more about creating this narrative of being in this defensive crouch, and he is hitting back the ahis critics even before he takes office. >> doesn't donald trump want to be accepted by these people? i think there is a part of him

because he was at the same awards shows as them. >> isn't he a liberal hollywood elitist a couple of years ago? >> that's why he, to sarah's point, he stands in front of cameras with kanye west. i think he likes to be surrounded by famous people. not to put him on the couch, but there is a little bit of resentment there that these people will not accept him, they've never expected him, and now he has the power to shun them on twitter. >> it is impossible to go back to the video and he was talking about your colleague and not think he is mocking a disabled person. >> if you have ever seen him and ever seen what mr. trump did there. maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt. he kaulsz people stupid and clowns, and he lost the benefit of the doubt and the way he handles people. this morning kellyanne conway, his campaign manager and his counsellor in the white house, was asked on cnn and fox news about this moment. especially about the campaign moment. how could you say he wasn't mocking him? listen to this.

>> you can't give him the benefit of the doubt on this and he is telling you what was in his heart. you come what's come out of his mouth rather than look at his heart. >> i'm concerned that somebody with a platform like meryl streep is also, i think, insighting people's worst instincts. >> let's take these in reverse order. i'm concerned people like meryl streep have a platform and she's insighting people's worst intickets. hello. donald trump had a platform, and just slap them and get them out of here or something like that. here's one for world leaders. listen closely to the future counsel to the president of the united states if you are a world leader. you can give him -- can't give him the benefit of the doubt on this, and he is telling you what was in his heart. you want to go on what's come out of his mouth rather than what's in his heart.

is she telling us not to believe what he said. >> i think it goes back to his supporters took him seriously but not literally, and everyone else the other way around. you can't just go on his words or what he says, you can't watch a clip of him on the campaign trail and hold him to that. you have to think about what he is trying to say and what does he believe? that's impossible. particularly for somebody who talks about the dishonest media and we can't be trusted and no reporters can ever be trusted to sort of interpret any of this or give it any context, would he really want us to be trying to look into his heart? >> the other thing is we have literally seen donald trump do impressions of a number of people. he did impressions repeatedly throughout the campaign. it's not just what he is saying, but also what he was doing.

yes, we know politicians say one thing and do another. this was what donald trump was not supposed to do as an outside the box candidate. this is a different situation. you're seeing it and hearing it. it didn't seem like there's a whole lot of ambiguity there. >> the question is, though, that's the point president obama was trying to make in the clip we made earlier. there's a difference coming from the campaign for president when you do things like that. you can move markets or change geopolitical relationships. up next, big there, tried that. advice. listen in just a moment. millions of you are online right now, searching one topic. that will generate over 600 million results. and if you've been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers like where to treat, can feel even more overwhelming. so start your search with a specialist at cancer treatment centers of america.

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welcome back. thanks to vladimir putin and donald trump, the obama presidency is winding down on a rare moment of bipartisanship. >> we have to remind ourselves we're on the same team. vladimir putin is not on our team. if we get to a point where people in this country feel more afint with a leader who is an

adversary and views the united states and our way of life as a threat to him, then we're going to have bigger problems than just cyber hacking. >> quite frankly -- >> back to trump tower. sorry to interrupt there. donald trump speaking to reporters again. >> it's going to be very, very easy to do. >> have you already started that process? >> yes, very much so. a lot, but it's really a very simple -- >> can you tell me about the role that you expect ari -- >> we'll talk about that on wednesday. >> how do you plan to repeal and replace obama care? >> you'll see. one of the great men. you know that, right? >> will he be involved in the inauguration -- >> where are you rieb on -- >> did you deliver a package to mr. president trump? >> what did you two of you

discuss? >> there are some wonderful things in this country. >> such as? with lbma? >> with jobs. >> are you expanding lbmh here at all? >>. [ inaudible ] >> what do you make -- >> some products of 25 years -- we are going to expand with the success of the product, and we're going to do that here in colorado or texas. we are looking at two places. >> some republicans now say there's no replacement plan. are you worried about the repeal -- >> nothing to worry about. that's going to all work out. we'll be talking about it on wednesday. >> is there a plan now, or there

will just be a plan on wednesday? >>le president-elect of the united states escorting another one of his meetings guests. be he is meeting with a number of businessmen there today. a man there with a high fashion company. donald trump, a little bantering with reporters, but as we saw at the top of the hour, also when questions came up about the big substantive stuff, he says either wait, wheat gel to that or push it away. again, it's the -- i know we had a long campaign and people think they know everything there is to know about donald trump based on the campaign. you are always learning about your president and your politicians even if they're in office for eight years like a guy who is about to leave. what is it about him? his guests can come down and leave, but he and you mentioned it earlier, he enjoys part of this, but then he pulls back from part of this. >> well, he does like to be able to show off that he is bringing all these people to him to trump

tower, whether it's to be informed on an issue or whether it's for an interview. that is part of the reason he has liked to use his other properties for these meetings. he likes to be able to have that interaction on camera, and also, remember, donald trump nsz how media works. he knows. >> he is good at playing that game and being aware of what part of donald trump it's going to make it on television because he watches it. >> which is why he tweets so much too. he knows he needs something to fill the void. we have to take his tweets and literally even if his advisors don't want to take them literally because this is the president, soon to be president of the united states issuing a view that will affect this country, will affect how people on capitol hill think about his

agenda going forward, will affect what world leaders think. that's one of the reasons president obama urges him to caution what he says. people won't believe even if he is saying something his advisors are saying don't take literally, look into his heart. people are going to take what he says literally. >> i hope i got the name pronounced right. bernard arnault. >> october. >> never too early, my friend. let's go back to what we were talking about. i don't think he timed that one. we were talking about playing the -- president obama, the sound we were going to play that we interrupted with senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina. there's pretty much bipartisan agreement here that, yes, russia did meddle in our presidential elections. yes, their intent was to help donald trump and that, yes, they went up as high as president vladimir putin. there will be a public hearing tomorrow, the director of national intelligence, the cia director, several others, including the fbi director testifying again before

congress. donald trump, am i right, is largely on an island here? >> absolutely. i mean, he is -- he and his advisors are the only ones who haven't actually acknowledged in a very concrete way that this was an effort that was carried out by putin to affect the election. what he has said and is also true of the intelligence report that came out last week is that there is no concrete evidence that their efforts had a concrete impact on the vote tally. that is to say voting machines, ballot casting, counting of votes. that's not the same thing to say that coverage, the narrative of the election, the conversation around hillary clinton and donald trump, didn't have any impact on the contest. certainly by refusing to acknowledge that this is actually happening, what he is doing is down playing the importance of it. he is the only one who is not expressing outrage. >> that's what scares -- >> if he comes away from this briefing and is still not

outraged by this and still not convinced, that's very unnerving to me. >> that's what scares both the foreign policy hawks on capitol hill and the intelligence community. you won. you won. in 11 days you'll be sworn in right there on those steps behind me. this is a big deal. this is a foreign government. not just any foreign government. a government that not only does not have the united states interest at heart, but that takes territory from its neighbors, that supports assad in syria, and if you don't take the putin thing seriesly, we might have a problem. >> they're still fixated on the fact of legitimacy, and they're still fixated and you hear them go back to it with interviews with kellyanne conway and interviews with other donald trump surrogates. they go back to the fact that this was the dnc's fault and that this was -- this is -- they're trying to delegitimatize trump's presidency. >> maybe some democrats were initially. this is about the future. not about the past. >> there's one way, though, the republican leaders are protecting him in that they are preventing select committee from going forward to investigate the russia hacks further.

they want to do it through the existing legislative committees and why that's significant, when you have a select committee it draws headlines and is expansive. investigation goes very deep. >> i still think he has many critics including mccain graham. still time. we'll see what happens there. up next, it is a big week for the incoming trump administration. you heard the president-elect talk a little bit about it, this but not just for him. for the men and women who he is hoping will lead the big cabinet agencies. as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again?

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get through. well, get ready for the confirmation rush or blur here in washington. eight hearings over three days this week. then we'll continue on into next week. the question is can donald trump get his key choices through. at least when it comes to the national security team he wants them all in place by the time essentially the day trump is inaugurated. democrats have complained about the fast pace. democrats have complained there are too many hearings at the same time. you can't attend. they've also complained some of the ethics review is not done yet. we got to move along? >> the democrats can certainly prevent nominees from being confirmed by january 20th. they do have the power to delay the senate schedule, so mcconnell will need cooperation from chuck schumer in order to get six or seven nominees confirmed, which is their goal by inauguration day. it's uncertain whether or not democrats will cooperate on that yet because of their concerns about the paperwork, the have they say that there are four

nominees that have not submitted their ethics paperwork, signed off yet before their hearings have gone forward. they do not have the power to block these nominations because they themselves change the senate filibuster rules in 2013 so to insure that 51 senators could vote to confirm nominees, there are 52 republican senators, and right now there are no nominees other than rex tillerson in which republican senators are feeling a little squimish about. unless some republicans start to -- trump will probably get his cabinet. >> we'll hear from the president-elect on wednesday. this is a great chance these confirmation hearings to see what has been discussed in the transition meetings. what about dwegt mexico to pay for the wall or what are you going to do about voting rights. so on and so forth. there are negotiations. some of the schedule may change to accommodate concerns from both parties that if you are on two or three committees, you can't get to them all. jeff sessions, the attorney general pick. he starts tomorrow. john kelly, the general john kelly, homeland security pick supposed to start tomorrow.

then rex tillerson for state, elaine chow for transportation. deross for education. one of the -- all of these hearings asking tough democratic questions. betsy devoss is facing them, and then on thursday general james mattis. wilbur ross, and dr. ben carson at housing and urban development. if you are the democrats, to manu's point, you probably don't have the votes. >> right. >> income one, we're going to see which ones do they pick to fight the most, and more importantly, to me i think on what themes? the democrats are lonely now. they're in the minority in the house and the senate. they lose the white house. what are we going to see or who are we going to see plant a flag that tells us this is what to watch for the direction of the democratic party going forward? >> i am watching to see where some of the nominees separate for trump. particularly on the siesh of russia. russia will be a big deal with mattis, with kelly, with tillerson certainly. i think there's going to be -- that's going to be a big focus in seeing what trump has said and whether these nominees agree with them because there are many controversial topics, and i think that's going to be the thing i'm going to be focussing

on and democrats are really going to hone in on places where they do not agree with the president-elect. >> i think on some of these other, you know, nominees, it's ant opportunity for democrats to knock them around, and this is the consequence of losing an election. you know, if you don't like pruitt for the e.p.a., sorry. you lost the election. donald trump was never running on great ambitions to battle climate change. he chose a cabinet nominee who reflects those priorities and certainly this is another one i think we can expect to fight on. we, of course, know environmentalists are vocal on this nominee, and we will see where the democratic party is head odd this issue. we have a good idea already. like manu said, the democrats really boxed themselves in when it comes to these no, ma'am nags where. >> it is going to be interesting to see the split. there are going to be moderate democratic senators who will be inclined to vote for some of the nominees. joe manchin saying he will support jeff sessions. heidi hydecamp told our

colleague that she is open to rex tillerson as secretary of state. there are a lot of possibilities where you will see the split between the liberals and moderates. >> how much of this becomes a proxy banner about trump himself, those that are not senate confirmed? mike flynn, controversial. also his son-in-law, the new york magazine profile that calls him essentially the president's son-in-law. the in-law president. they don't have to face senate confirmations. a lot of questions about how will they deal with their conflicts of interest? do the other guys in the chair, do they become a proxy for that? >> i think they do become a proxy somewhat for that. as you say, there's no way for them to really get a word in on those. they're not senate confirmable. it's up to donald trump who he wants to have in those positions, although there is an issue that he is his son-in-law, and there are anti-nepotism rules. donald trump doesn't think that applies to him. oftentimes you see the confirmation hearings focus on

the words of the nominee. what you said in the past, what your position was in the past, and i think this time to a greater degree than we've seen before, it's really going to be about what donald trump has said about the issue that you are in charge of. with tillerson and with general kelly and mattis, that might be russia. certainly there will be a lot of debate over the wall and immigration policy for general kelly who is taking over or is in line to take over dhs. i think, you know, we're going to see a lot of attempts to make trump expand political capital. while there may not be a successful effort to block them, i think because they can't stop people like flynn and they can't stop people like kushner from taking those key roles, this is where they're going to stake their ground. >> you get your benchmark for the debates that follow on in the weeks and years ahead. the incoming president is worried the opposition party is trying to delegitimatize his presidency. 12 hours. which means, you're controlling your cough on your morning commute. and later when you're joking with beth... even when most cough medicines stop,

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>> we close every day by asking our reporters to share from their notebooks and get you ahead of the political news. >> john, republicans in congress have mostly fallen in line behind didth donald trump since he was elected president, but there's one faction that is creating some problems and probably problems are signs of things to come, the libertarian minded members of the house and senate republican conferences. people like justin amoss from michigan who have criticized trump for some of the deals he believes are picking winners and losers in the economy, like that carrier deal that he announced late last year. even republican rand paul creating problems for the senate republican leadership saying he is going to vote against the pending budget that would pave the way to repeal obama care because it increases deficit spending. paul himself talking to donald trump trying to convince him to repeal and replace obama care in the same day it is repealed. that is a strategy that republican leadership does not want to do. watch for that faction to be potentially problematic for republican leaders and donald

trump. >> woe learned that donald trump's team has taken an unusual hard line against allowing the political appointees that president obama has and serving as ambassadors around the world to stay even a day after the inauguration. what's also true is that they're finding it somewhat challenging to recruit ambassadors for these positions overall, and so the question is will they be left without envoys in key places throughout the world and also it raises questions about who is donald trump going to turn to to take some of these important posts in countries that have really vital relationships with the united states. >> you probably just created in volunteers out there with that reporting. jackie. >> i mean, some of the trump nominees might not have their paperwork in, but the trump team is saying that they're ready for these hearings. they have had 30 practice hearings. 15 the first week of january. they've been subjected to some 2,600 questions. they've had 70 hours in mock hearings. while they know these are going to be contentious, but they're making sure that their people

are ready for whatever -- >> we'll be listening for the answers. especially on the big policy questions. sarah. >> let's just talk about the irony for a second. donald trump spent the entirety of president obama's presidency questioning whether he was born in the united states, which, of course, many saw as an effort to delegitimatize america's first black president. well, now people close to donald trump say they would be surprised if we ever see him fully acknowledge that russia hacked u.s. political institutions, that they attempted to interfere in the u.s. election, and this is because donald trump sees this as one way to delegitimize his victory. he believes this is all a political ploy, and he is so competitive that he doesn't want to give an i inch on this subject or even hint that there is any possibility that he could be president because of some sort of outside influence. now, if he appreciates the irony in this, there is really no indication. i spoke to someone who is close to him, and i sort of compared the two situations and in terms of the question about obama's

birthpla birthplace, he says that's all behind us now. >> it took until 199220 begin the new streak, bill clinton, george w. bush, and barack obama. big difference, jefferson, madison, monthen row, all from the same party. they called it the democratic republicans in those days. they're also all from virginia. a more recent streak went democrat and then republican and back to democrat. control of the congress went back and forth over the most recent streak too as americans seem to favor stability in the white house, but also divided government. a new republican chapter begins on those steps next friday. we'll see how long it lasts. just a reminder, want to understand the new washington, tune in for a cnn special town hall. former candidate bernie sanders sits down with chris cuomo to answer questions about how

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>> hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up first, our critical week ahead with just 11 days until the inauguration. the trump transition team faces a jam packed schedule. confirmation hearings for some of the president-elect's key nominees begin tomorrow. he thinks they will all do well. here's what he told reporters just a little while ago. >> confirmation is going great. >> they haven't started yet. >> i think every nomination will be -- they're all at the highest level. jack was even saying, i mean, they are the absolute highest level. i think they're going to do very we