et cetera, et cetera. i think the american people understand that there's something profoundly wrong in this country when you have a small number of billionaires who have all the power in this country. and that's what the democratic party has got to stand for. >> we get to the issues, was it a serious discussion about serious things? good, give yourselves a round of applause. happy new year to you. and to everyone who made this town hall possible and it's more than you may just be thinking about what you see up hiere on the stage, this is just the beginning of a very special week here at cnn. tomorrow you have president obama's farewell address. wednesday you have president-elect donald trump holding his first full-scale news conference in months. and later on, wednesday night, van jones is going to host another edition of his town hall series the messy truth. and then jake tapper here at the george washington university with the republican speaker of

the house, representative paul ryan. our thanks to george washington university and to all of you at home for watching and participating. good evening, thanks for joining us. a big night tonight and a big week for president-elect trump. about an hour from now, a cnn town hall with bernie sanders. chris cuomo has the honors. the audience just arriving. the incoming administration certainly to be a topic. the transition team late today making it official, naming trump's son-in-law, jared kushner a senior adviser to the president. the first of many headlines to come this week. the president-elect also called an actress with three oscars and 19 nominations in total overrated. more in the hour ahead. we begin with jim acosta. so the president-elect's son-in-law. what are you learning about his plans to avoid conflicts of interest, and do we know, is he even legally allowed to take

this position according to anti-nepotism laws. >> reporter: donald trump made a major announcement, tapping his son-in-law jared kushner to be a senior adviser to the president. there was a lot of discussion inside the transition for several weeks. but early this afternoon, transition officials held a conference call with reporters and basically laid out the case that yes, they believe jared kushner is legally able to serve as an adviser to the president given that he is the son-in-law. they say it does not violate anti-nepotism laws. those are the laws put in place in the 1960s after john f. kennedy tapped his brother bobby kennedy to be attorney general. later congresses and lawmakers decided that that was no longer something that should be done in this country, so laws were changed. but according to these transition officials, essentially, the president has broad discretion to appoint whom ever he chooses to serve as an

adviser, that is essentially the legal framework they're going with here, but to satisfy some of the conflict of interest laws that jared kushner would be subject to, they say he's going to be selling off most of his assets, resigning from positions he has with his companies and with the new york observer newspaper here in the city. it is all a part of a very big move and shakeup inside the transition today. we also learned that ivanka trump, the president-elect's daughter, she will not be taking on a position in the administration right away. although, she will also be selling off some of her assets and resigning from some of her positions to remove that appearance of a conflict of interest. but democrats up on capitol hill, the ranking democrat on the house judiciary committee, john conyers, is saying hold on. he's asking for the justice department under the obama administration to take a look at what any of this is lyle. and while the president-elect is taking these steps, he is at the same time avoiding some very big questions on russia and his own potential conflicts of interest

in the upcoming white house. with inauguration day closing in, donald trump is trying to change the conversation away from the cloud of questions hanging over his looming presidency. >> we'll talk about that on wednesday. >> reporter: asked by reporters about russia's attempts to middle in the election, he punted. >> we'll be talking to you very soon. >> reporter: a key question for trump is whether he believes the intelligence report that says russia tilted the election his way. advisers aren't offering much clarity. >> he's not denying that entities in russia were behind this particular hacking campaign. >> reporter: but suggesting it doesn't really matter. >> there's no smoking gun when it comes to the nexus between these hacking activities and the election results. >> reporter: over the weekend, trump tweeted having a good relationship with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. only stupid people or fools

would think that is bad. part of a softer tone towards moscow that worries democrats and rpepublicans. >> if after having been briefed by intelligence leaders donald trump is still unsure as to what the russians did, that would be incredibly unnerving to me because the evidence is overwhelming. >> reporter: a slough of hearings for cabinet picks are getting under way. senate minority leader chuck schumer is making his case by reprising a letter from mitch mcconnell do harry reid. >> they're almost exactly what democrats requested. mr. president, i don't bring this up to play gotcha. i'm doing it to show that our requests are eminently reasonable and in fact have been shared by leaders of both

parties. >> reporter: now senate majority leader mcconnell insists there will be no holdup. >> everybody will be properly vetted as they have been in the past, and i'm hoping it will get up to six or seven on day one. >> reporter: and we're now getting a sense of just how big this job will be for jared kushner serving as an adviser to president-elect donald trump. he is meeting in the office of paul ryan to go over a tax reform package that they would like to roll out in the upcoming administration once donald trump is sworn in as president. also at that meeting, steve b bann bannon and reince priebus. jared cukushner would not be at that meeting were this not a very important position he's about to take on. >> as big as the week promises to be for the president-elect, a

apparently not too big for a tweet storm. today donald trump responded. more from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> reporter: at the golden globe awards, meryl streep tore into donald trump without saying his name. >> it was that moment when the person asked 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, it kind of broke my heart when i saw it, and i still can't get it out of my hid, because it wasn't in a movie. it was real life. >> reporter: before sunrise, trump responded on twitter. merriyl streep is one of the mo overrated actresses. she is a hillary flunky who lost big. for the 100th time, i never mocked a disabled reporter.

would never do that, but simply showed him groveling when he changed a 16-year-old story to make me look bad. just more dishonest media. for trump, it may be good politics to spar with hollywood liberals. he's right about streep's support for clinton. >> hillary clinton will be our first woman president. >> reporter: but his comments about "new york times" reporter serge cove lesski are the subject of far more dispute. >> i don't remember. >> reporter: it's the latest front in america's culture wars, playing out in elections and spilling over into the theater. on sunday, bill, hillary, and chelsea clinton, receiving several standing ovations as they attended the final broadway performance of "the color purple", a stark contrast from the reception vice president elect mike pence received where he was addressed by cast members

from the stage. a deeply-divided country awaits trump as he waits to succeed president obama. streep was among the celebrities invited to the white house to say farewell. she used her golden globe platform to make a political plea. >> in this instinct to humiliate, when it's modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful. it filters down into everybody's life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. ♪ >> reporter: what's different about this chapter of the country's long-running culture wars is that the president-elect's own celebrity helped him win the white house. from reality television -- >> you're fired. >> reporter: to his own cameos. >> excuse me, where's the lobby? >> down the hall and to the left. >> thanks. >> reporter: trump's fame presided him in politics, yet he drew few celebrities to his side

while clinton surrounded herself with a-list stars. >> and by the way, i didn't have to bring j. lo or jay z. >> reporter: in just 11 days, trump will have the last word, a script hollywood cannot write. there were celebrities here over this past weekend until nearly sunrise on saturday morning, having one last farewell with the president. do not expect that anytime here soon. in the next administration. but there's one thing. donald trump has a long-standing relationship with many stars. one friend told me he wants to be respected, he wants to be liked. but it is good politics for him to be against hollywood, against these liberals. we'll see if that relationship ever heals. >> jeff zeleny, thanks.

let's bring in our totally underrated panel. kiersten, certainly no one likes to be criticized, especially on a national broadcast. does it make any sense that a man who's about to be president of the united states is tweeting about this predawn, responding to meryl streep? >> once you respect that he tweets all the time, it weirdly does make sense given what jeff was talking about. they like this fight with hollywood. i think it works to his advantage to be attack bid someone like meryl streep who is sort of an icon of the left in hollywood, right? and i think what she said was very fair, and i'm not surprised that trump responded the way that he did. >> can i jump in? you know, he spent 16 minutes tweeting about meryl streep and her speech was like six or seven

minutes. but what she said in it was the same thing that moms in ohio and in michigan say to their kids, which is pick on somebody your own size, essentially. >> i agree. >> i'm not sure, my point is, i'm not sure how that makes him look bigger or better or more presidential. >> oh, no, no, no, i don't think it makes him look bigger and presidential. i just think it reenforces this idea that he is under attack by the elites in this country, and he's the person standing and pushing back. i think that what she said was one of the least offensive things you can really say in terms of you want to be totally factual. >> during the election, as jeff pointed out, he did use the fact that hillary clinton was surrounded by well-known celebrities who would show up and sing for her, he wore that as a badge of honor. that seems to be trying to what he's doing, but it does seem this hurts him. if he pretends it doesn't, but if he's tweeting predawn.

>> what you have learned about trump, if you attack him, he will attack back. that's what he's shown the entirety of the election, but to kiersten's point, she's exactly right. she said hollywood was vilified. she said hollywood's full of outsiders, and then she characterized trump's supporters as people showing their teeth, laughing at a disabled reporter being mocked, which wasn't the case. we don't need to relitigate that, but that is the juxtaposition that won donald trump this election. trump supporters are showing their teeth and laughing and uncouth and we are the vilified outsiders in hollywood. if you go online, you can see imitations on ted cruz. and he used it on larry king describing himself. i do think that is a subject of debate. >> fact check disagrees with you. >> and liberal fact checkers

disagree 67 disagree. >> he was the one humiliating somebody. when she said humiliation incites humiliation. >> lots of people didn't think it was mocking. >> democrats, here's what i think that there's a rorschach test of what we see differently. if democrats want to win again, this is the exact wrong way. there's a troep that goes now, this is why donald trump won. this is smug. it's pretentious, it is condescending. if you are a liberal living on a coast and you hear, you know, meryl streep say that, you say, she's so right, she's saying all the things that people really feel. if you live in moist of the cin country, >> as someone who likes mma, it's not an art maybe, but i like it. >> in is not how you win the rust belt with apologies to

someone who is from there. in my opinion, going to clj in west virginia from maryland, most of the folks that i know do not identify with meryl streep. this is a turnoff to middle america. >> she wouldn't be such a huge lypopular actress. she's been married almost 40 years. she's bit of a different package than you might otherwise describe as liberal hollywood. >> whether you agree she shouldn't have made the speech, whether you like what she said or not or thought it was just the liberal elite, whatever, it was certainly clearly a heart-felt, you know, thoughtful -- >> why do you bring it up? >> my point is that his come back is she's overrated. it's just kind of, like, really? that's what the come back is? >> i feel like we could say that about so many of his tweets, right, so i don't, i think maybe

to prove matt's point, i found it to be a very eloquent speech, so i guess that makes me a coastal elite. but why did she say it then? where else is she going to say it? >> as president-elect, to be such a raw nerve of emotion is amazing to me in this most powerful position, but that's where we are. en everyone stay with us. we're going to talk about the confirmation battle getting under way tomorrow, starting with designee jeff sessions. then we go back to michigan. we'll hear from voters there who could have kept it blue but stayed home instead. and a story behind the ft. lauderdale shootings, see what authorities are learning about everything leading up to that horrible moment. my arthritis pain used to make my favorite things to do... painful.

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the breaking news tonight. team trump testing anti-nepotism laws, naming son-in-law jared kushner to a senior adviser position. kushner's attorney saying it will not be a obstacle. unlike a cabinet position, a white house adviser does not require senate confirmation. hearings for those jobs get under way tomorrow. back now with the panel. kirsten, clearly the trump team feels anti-nepotism laws do not apply in this case. that the white house is not an agency. >> and they can make their case. here's the problem. part of the reason -- there are many reasons the nepotism laws exist. but one that would apply in this

case, if you have somebody on the staff who is related to the boss, and that person isn't doing a good job or giving bad advice, it's very hard to go and say, mr. president, your son-in-law is completely screwing this up. and so it actually affects other people. so i think that's just something that they should consider. they have to obviously pass muster with all the legalities and he has to divest probably from a lot of his businesses and all the conflicts of interest. even if they get past that, they have to consider these other assets. >> the president wants people who he trusts implicitly and who they have a track record with, and jared kushner is somebody who has had donald trump's ear throughout the election and has proved his worth. >> that's right. i think he has the president-elect's ear the most. not only that, i don't fear him

being approached by staff members. and he is beloved by the early trump campaign, by the late trump campaign. people loved to work with him and he had the president-elect's ear from the very beginning and got limb -- him to this position. i think it's unfair for folks to try to say now you have to separate yourself from your most senior adviser. it is square with nepotism laws. there's a 1990s appeals court case that suggests it only applies to federal agencies, not white house staff. conflict of interest will be the area that has to be honed in on. millions and millions in property holdings and although conflict of interest doesn't apply to the president-elect, it applies to jared kushner. but with wilmer hail a very good law firm. >> democrats that are raising objections about this. the courting gave the green light for hillary clinton to run health care for then president clinton. >> and i think your point about the people around him and feeling comfortable going and talking, either about the president or to the president is really an important point from a psychological point. from a legal point of view, this

was resolved, or at least somewhat resolved. i think the biggest point is this question about conflict. so he says today that he's going to step down from the kushner companies, that he will divest himself of some of his holdings. that is very interesting. because what is donald trump going to say? because even if conflicts of interests don't apply to the president, there is an appearance and especially as it relates to the area of foreign policy, where jared kushner apparently is going to be advising the president. and is the foreign policy of the united states for sale, meaning will jared kushner and his holdings, the president and his holdings, benefit from decisions that the president is making? >> and that's because donald trump hasn't released tax returns, a lot is unknown about his connections to foreign businesses. this is not going away for donald trump. >> no. that's the real concern. if you're rooting for donald trump, if you want donald trump to succeed, you would have to be worried about conflicts of

interest, having to do with business, maybe he could have -- maybe he could get things done and it would be brought down by scandal. jared kushner, if you're rooting for donald trump, you should be rooting for him to have this adviser. i think he's a force for good. if bad people are whispering in donald trump's ear, if they're the last person to talk to him, bad things might happen. i think jared brings balance to the force. you have steve bannon and the established reince priebus. this is a member of the family who is really trusted. it would be silly to say because you're the son-in-law you can't talk to him. that's ridiculous. >> he was the bridge between the outsiders and -- >> a lot of balance. give trump credit for in many ways balancing out these voices. coming up, new details about the deadly shooting on friday. the suspect was in court for the first time today. what we learned about him and what happened, next.

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breaking news in orlando tonight where the search is on for a man suspected of killing a police officer. dozens of schools were on lockdown, hundreds of officers searched for suspect markeith lloyd. police say he shot and killed a police officer. and later, a deputy died when his motor vehicle collided with a vehicle while looking for lloyd. a rye ward of $60,000 is offered for information leading to his arrest. and the man charged in the deadly shooting at the ft. lauderdale airport was in court today. now, there is disturbing video of when the shooting started.

boris sanchez was in the courtroom today. he joins us with the latest. what have we learned, boris? >> reporter: the proceeding this morning lasted 10 to 15 minutes. the shooter walked in, looked around and sat at the defense table and kept his head bowed for most of the hearing, except to answer a few questions from the judge whether or not he knew his rights and the seriousness of the charges and whether or not the court should appoint him an attorney. he said yes. the judge asked him about his finances, which he revealed he was unemployed, he hadn't been working since november when he was a security guard for a company in alaska for almost two years. he also revealed he only had $5 to $10 in his bank account. after that, the judge appointed him an attorney. he's due back in court next week. all of this on the heels to have release of that gripping video from tmz, a video we're about to show you and some viewers may find it disturbing.

the man seen in this terrifying video obtained by tmz pulling a pistol from his waistband and firing at ft. lauderdale's airport is now charged with three federal crimes. two of which carry a possible death penalty. five people were killed in that violent attack friday. his family told cnn that his personality changed dramatically after his last deployment to iraq. all this as questions emerge regarding his mental health and how he was able to gain access to the weapon used in the massacre. investigators say he fired approximately 10 to 15 rounds, aiming at his victim's heads. >> my husband was shot in the face. the guy next to him was shot in the cheek. >> reporter: police say this 9 millimeter handgun had been confiscated in november after he walked into an fbi office in alaska to tell them he was

hearing voices and being influenced by isis. but after a mental health evaluation, the gun was returned. >> how is that possible? under existing law, mental illness can only be grounds to take away somebody's weapons if a court has ordered you involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. if you're merely surrendering voluntarily, that does not deprive you of the right to have weapons. >> reporter: it's a loophole that baffles the shooter's own family. >> translator: how are you going to let someone leave a psychological center when they're hearing voices? >> reporter: court documents show he has confessed to planning the attack. he recently began selling his possessions, including his car. friends and associates noticed more erratic behavior, all leading up to friday. >> there was no escape. i just began to pray, pray that my children wouldn't lose their

mother. >> reporter: families of the victims are providing images of their loved ones killed in the attack, including mothers, fathers, and grandparents. those left behind no doubt wondering how things could have been done differently. >> are authorities any closer to finding out the motive? >> reporter: they're not revealing if they are or not, anderson. from what we understand, he told them that this was a planned attack. but we still don't know exactly why he chose to do this in ft. lauderdale. cnn spoke with a brother of his in puerto rico who told us he has two half brothers and half sister there. still, that doesn't explain why he would go to florida to carry out this attack. just ahead, more breaking news. a big endorsement for attorney general nominee jeff sessions. new details about the case sank

his nominee for a judicial appointment years ago. also coming up at the top of the hour, cnn special town hall with vermont senator bernie sanders. cnn's chris cuomo is moderating that. children: grandpa! i never want to miss these moments due to my pain. i live for this. arthritis used to get in the way. but now with blue-emu maximum arthritis cream, i'll never miss another hug. blue-emu maximum arthritis cream. beat the pain and enjoy life.

more breaking news tonight. condoleezza rice, the first african-american woman to serve as secretary of state, has endorsed senator jeff sessions to be the attorney. sessions' confirmation hearing is scheduled to be held tomorrow. secretary rice's endorsement is noteworthy, because sessions' controversial record on race has

sparked intense opposition. tonight, a closer look of a chapter of his past that is almost certain to come up at his hearing. drew griffin tonight reports. >> reporter: she's 80 years old, sharp as ever. still not afraid to speak out against injustice anywhere. evalyn turner and her deceased husband turner lived the civil rights movement. >> throughout the nation, even in canada, there were marches through the streets of towns and cities. >> my husband is second in line, the guy with the white cap. you can see him on all the pictures. he was running, trying to help an old lady that had fallen down. >> reporter: she stayed home that day, albert often told her if he got arrested, she had to take care of the kids. albert turner formed the perry county civil league, building political power in the black community. >> they didn't want us to be in

charge. there's more black folks in perry county than white. >> reporter: in 1984, albert and fellow civil league member, spencer hogue, began a new absentee campaign that led straight to the confrontation of her lifetime. the confrontation that brought her face to face with the man now poised to become the next attorney general of the united states. >> every time they mention that man's name, i can't stand him. >> reporter: that man's name is jeff decisions. alabama's u.s. senator. who in 1984 was the u.s. attorney for southern alabama. and the man who tried to put evalyn, her husband, and spencer hogue in prison for decades. they were called the marion three. >> we were just trying to help people. we had been helping people for over, i don't know how many years. >> reporter: jeff sessions did not see it that way. based on complaints he said came

from black voters who said their absentee ballots had been tampered. he indicted the marion three on 29 counts of voter fraud. the charges carried so much potential prison time it still scares her to this day. >> if anybody going to put you in jail for 250 years, how would you feel? >> reporter: the defense attorney fact sheet said race was a factor. our contention that this is a one-sided investigation designed to intimidate black voters. civil rights leaders from across the country rallied behind the marion three. to them it was a clear case of a u.s. attorney trying to prevent blacks in alabama from gaining power. national figures came to their defense, witnesses for the prosecution began changing their stories. sessions would later explain his two-lawyer federal prosecution team was understaffed and unprepared to handle the defense.

it took the jury just a few hours to return the verdict. the headline would say it all, the marion three acquitted on all charges. evalyn turner, the last living member of the marion three, says to this day she believes the prosecution and the federal prosecutor were motivated by race. >> sessions has not changed. have you ever known a leopard to change his spots? i haven't. every time i see one, his spots still there. zebra, still striped. sessions, still a racist. >> reporter: there is another side to this story, and it comes from a most unexpected voice. albert turner, jr., evalyn and albert's son, now a county commissioner himself, and he supports jeff sessions for the next u.s. attorney general. >> i feel that he's qualified

for the position, and i think that he has not shown any reason to me when it comes to the prosecution of my father and my mother and mr. hogue, that that should not be the reason he should not be confirmed. >> reporter: turner says the case against the marion three developed from local perry county political infighting, not racism and not jeff sessions, he says. blacks in power and a white district attorney just wanted his dad out of politics. >> in part, you had blacks who didn't like my father, who, you know, felt that he was too influential in this community when it came to politics and other aspects of perry county's life, and they sought to make sure that he -- his influence was diminished by putting him in jail. >> reporter: a spokesperson for

jeff sessions says what happened in the failed federal prosecution of the marion three is simple. >> sessions again was bring thing case on behalf of officials in his state, so he went forward. and a jury of his peers found them innocent. the system worked. >> i don't think jeff sessions did it because my father was black and he was trying to do anything to harm blacks. >> reporter: but there was harm done and albert turner's 80-year-old mother can't bring herself to forgive jeff sessions for what he did, prosecuting the marion three. >> he never said, i'm sorry that i put you through that, that it was my job. he hasn't told me that. and why should i forgive him? but i know in order for me to get to heaven, i'm going to have to forgive him, but i'll never forget as long as i stay black. i will not forget it.

>> so drew, the mom believes sessions is a racist who tried to destroy her family, yet her own son supports him. >> reporter: albert turner, jr., says jeff sessions was being pressured to bring the case. based on political infighting in alabama. the fbi thought they had a case that really fell apart at trial. but since then, turner says he's gotten along with sessions. the senator has always been there to listen to his concerns. so politically speaking, they have since worked together. but his mother bristles at the mention of jeff sessions' name. >> how has it affected their relationship? >> reporter: clearly, it is strained, especially over this nomination. albert turner wants his mom to forgive, but it really hurts her. it's hard on both of them. >> has sessions apologized ever? >> reporter: she said mr. sessions tried to give her a hug in washington once, a ceremony sessions set up. she rebuffed him.

she says she certainly has not gotten an apology. >> drew griffin, thanks. just ahead on the eve of president obama's farewell address, we asked van jones to go to detroit to ask voters there what they think would be the president's legacy. stick around for that. we'll be right back. when it comes to healthcare, seconds can mean the difference between life and death. for partners in health, time is life. we have 18,000 people around the world. the microsoft cloud helps our entire staff stay connected and work together in real time to help those that need it. the ability to collaborate changes how we work. what we do together changes how we live.

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in the weeks since the election, van jones has been talking to voters in several crucial states, including michigan, a democratic stronghold that this year turned red, but not by much. on the eve of president obama's farewell speech, van jones takes us to detroit. it's the soul of the auto industry, which president obama helped save during the great recession. here's what voters in motor city told van. ♪ >> detroit, michigan, with over 80% of its residents, african-american, it's the blackest big city in the country, and those voters usually come out big and strong for the democrats.

in fact, they helped make michigan a blue state going all the way back to 1992 when hillary clinton's husband bill clinton first ran for president, but in 2016, that blue wall came crashing down, hillary lost the state by just 10,000 votes. if she had gotten anywhere near obama-like numbers, just in detroit, she would have won michigan. so, what happened? i begin my search for answers here at church. all four of these mothers lost their sons to violence. why didn't detroit, with all the pain and suffering here, with all obama did for the auto industry, why didn't detroit come out for hillary clinton? >> maybe because people thought it would just be a landslide. you know, especially after watching the debate. it's like, hillary, she, she won

the debate, and it's like, well, why do it? you know, she's going to went anyway, so i think it was a little complacency. >> and i think trump accomplished her credibility enough to make you even question it. like, it questioned me. i wrote in a candidate. >> i think the party failed us, period. i think the democratic party failed us, because they were so sure that trump could not become the president, that they didn't do, they didn't put in the work. >> do you think that the clinton campaign saying over and over and over again he can't win, he can't win, do you think that depressed turnout? >> yes. >> if hillary clinton had won, she would have been the first female president coming after the first black president, but all of you didn't support hillary clinton. >> i didn't per se support her on a personal level, just because she was a female. i am a female.

i just don't think a female is ready to run the most powerful country in the world. you know, emotional, she can push it, we got too much going on within our dna. >> now you got emotional trump, who has fits on twitter. >> i think that it's not, definitely not a gender thing, you know, because equally, one can do it. the other one could do it as well. i think that hillary was running the country when clinton was in office. >> thank you. she was. >> and obama, i think that michelle, you know, who does he go to to consult him. men are just as emotional. i voted for hillary, not because i wanted the first woman to be the president, like i thought a woman would see what we were going through and push our agenda, that would say, you know, i feel you. >> you're talking about a

situation where people are being killed every day. >> mm-hm. >> and yet you have a black president. you have president obama who is there. what's disconnect there? do you feel he did all he could do to handle this situation? >> i think with the misconception of black president we had more expectation from president obama than we should have. i think being the high chief that he did what he could do. could he have done a little more? absolutely. but he had a republican legislature. he had, you know, a lot of fight against him. >> trump did come to detroit, you know, he got many speeches where he came and said i care about black people, after the all, what the hell do you have to lose, when he said that is correct how did that land with you? >> ignorance, arrogance. no compassion. >> i clap.

>> why? >> because it's true. and truth hurts. it's like a sore. what do we have to lose? we've been running a democrat for 40 years. has anything really changed? so what do we have to lose? let's try something different, because what we're going with is not working. it's obvious, it's not working. >> but you didn't vote for him. >> right. i was related to his campaign. >> when he said what the hell do you have to lose, did you feel insulted? >> i absolutely did. >> why? >> because you got me down here. you don't have no thoughts about who we are as a people or i am as a person. when you say what do you have to lose, you're saying i don't have anything to again with, and we have a lot. our capacity is huge. >> i tell you what, i've never got a date by saying look at you, you got nothing, go out with me, what do you have to lose? most of you don't feel like that. look at you. your clothes are raggedy, your

car is terrible. what have you got to lose? go out with me! i don't think that's going to work. >> oh, my goodness. >> i think we had a better chance with hillary continuing on with some of the things that obama did, at least we had a chance of what we have to lose, we have a lot to lose. all the things that obama put in place. we're losing all of those things. >> so you have this group here in detroit. and there are groups like this all across the country, this almost invisible army of mothers who are trying to stand up. and other groups, with other issues, trying to stand up. in this new era of trump, what do you think is going to happen with all these different groups? >> the organizations will unify. because we have this new president, and i don't think that his sights are on our issues. and all the community activists on the ground doing the work will come together. then we'll be a force to reckon with.

>> what would you say to donald trump if you had a chance to? >> i feel that he needs to really search his soul and his heart. take the blindfold off and tap into the world. everything and everybody, not just his circle. come out of the circle. he might tap into care. he might feel our love that we have for our loss that we had, and he might gain some compassion. >> and van jones joins me now, cnn political commentator, david axelrod. i love these pieces that you're doing, talking to people and listening most importantly, and also i like hearing your dating advice, but in truth, the democratic party, who are the leaders of the future for the democratic party.

we're talking to bernie sanders tonight, elizabeth warren obviously, but is there another crop of people? >> there always is, there always is, but i tell you what, you're going to have to listen. those moms have gone through the worst things you can imagine, they lost a child, not to a police officer, to another african-american. and neither party is speaking about it in a way that got to them. they said they wanted this treated like ebola. where is the help? there are issues out there and ideas out there that don't show up in the polling data, and when you get out there and hear it, it moves you. and i've been moved to listen to these voters. >> beyond who should lead the party, what do you think the party needs to do? the democratic party over the course of the next two, four years? >> i think in a sense, van has given us a map here. the democratic party has to respond to the real problems of real people, with real solutions. it's not enough to be

anti-trump. there'll be plenty of battles with donald trump for sure, but the party also has to offer something different. i think part of the problem that the clinton campaign faced, she had many, many ideas, but it didn't add up to anything that people could digest or feel was real. these folks have been hearing from politicians for years, but the problems haven't improved. and the party has to get down at the grassroots level and really work through these problems with people and come up with viable solutions, real solutions to try and deal with these problems, and if the democratic party does that, the democratic party will come back. >> it's interesting, president obama, van said in an interview, that he didn't spend as much time on the democratic party as he should have. he said basically, he was too busy between being president and commander in chief. do you think that's true? >> you know, look, i think that at the time, coming off that 2008 campaign, there was such a movement, and it was really a movement, don't forget, that had gone around the democratic party to elect obama.

so we've said don't give our movement to the democratic party. we want to stay independent. so organizing for america was this independent force alongside the party. you look back now, and you think, maybe we should have put that inside the party, because the party waned and waned and waned. we lost the house. nobody noticed. we lost the senate, nobody noticed. we lost 6,000 democratic seats and nobody noticed it until november that the democrats were in trouble, because we were so excited about obama. so i think looking back, yes, there should have been more attention to building the democratic party up. >> and in terms of president obama's speech tomorrow in chicago which obviously we're going to be bringing to the viewers, what does hillary clinton's loss mean for his legacy? he campaigned hard for her, so did michelle obama? >> yeah, and obviously, that's going to be a sad coda. but it doesn't reduce the impact of some of the things he's accomplished.

he's taken the country in a different place, even on this health care debate. it's not going to back to where it was. he's changed the terms on the debate, and that's true on a lot of issues, so i don't think that all is lost because this election was lost, but it certainly was an unhappy end to the story. >> what happened to all, during the campaign, all the democrats were talking about the vaunted data machine, all the operations about get out to vote. nobody's seen a machine like this. what happened? >> well, as it turns out, and as we always should have known, the machine only works as well as the product. and if people aren't enthused about the candidate then the machine isn't going to get you across the finish line, and i think there was, first of all, bad data. there was an assumption for example in michigan that she was well ahead. that turned out not to be true. >> yeah. >> so there's going to be a lot of soul searching about that, anderson. >> david axelrod, van jones, thank you.

remember, the messy truth. and looking ahead at the trump that does it for us. thanks for watching. "early start" begins now. breaking overnight. a never before seen before by a sitting u.s. senator. cory booker will testify against his colleague. he is not the only one. jared kushner's new role in the father in law's white house. that is not stopping democrats from challenging the move. i'll tell you how. and an epic rematch goes down to the final seconds. clemson and alabama battling to the finish. we will show you who emerged as kings of college football.