on facebook you can vote on some of the stories we cover. it airs at 6:25 p.m. at facebook.com. there's a lot of news ahead. i'll hand things over to chris cuomo. cuomo "prime time" starts now. chris, you have a news story with nancy pelosi. >> yes, sir. welcome to "prime time". nancy pelosi the democratic leader is smack in the middle of every political question right now. she'll give you the answers to those. tonight. will congress take up mass shootings, the real deal about real deals to be made with trump? how much will the congress go after the president's taxes? and the concerns with administration. she takes on sessions' firing and the appointment of matthew whitaker. she does not like it. and the biggest question is can

she face down any head winds and take on that speaker's gavel. you have not heard her answer that question the way she will now. it's time to test my friends. let's get after it. january 3rd, that's the big day. it's one the 116th congress will convene. democrats will be in control of the house for the first time in eight years. nancy pelosi is the most important democrat in the house tonight. she could be speaker again. she's going to have to fight for it. like never before. where is her head on all that matters? see for yourself. >> madam leader, it's good to have this opportunity. >> thank you. >> we are living a moment of history. however, we are revisited by something too common. your home state, california, another mass shooting. a dozen lives lost. this time it seems to involve a

veteran. do you believe there's any real chance of bipartisan action from congress that will help address why we have these shootings? >> i do. first let me join you in expressing sorrow over this mass shooting and the loss of the sheriff and every other life lost there. i do believe -- in this congress, the one we're in this minute, there is bipartisan legislation to have common sense background checks to prevent guns going into the wrong hands. it doesn't cover everything, but it will save many lives. it's bipartisan legislation. we've asked the speaker to bring it to the floor. it has bipartisan support. it would win. he wouldn't bring it to the floor. >> why? >> you have to ask him. i think he doesn't bring it to the floor because it will pass. this will be a priority for us in the next congress. >> if there's bipartisan support, why would anybody not want it to pass?

>> we have bipartisan support for the dreamers. we have bipartisan support for comprehension immigration reform, for the equality act and discrimination against the lgbtq community. they won't bring up the bill. we will now that we have the majority. >> you think you can get it past the senate? and the new configuration. >> president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with it you can do almost anything. without it practically nothing. i do believe our strength is in the public involvement. >> it was no surprise the president of the united states would try to distract from the big win for your party in the house. when that came in the form of a big move of firing jeff sessions and putting in as acting a.g. mr. whitaker do you see this as a move not just to distract from politics, but to interfere with

the mueller probe? >> i think the latter is the primary purpose, to interview with mueller. the timing of the mueller investigation -- the timing of it is to distract from the big defeat that the president suffered in terms of our taking the house. >> there was a political motivation. >> do you believe it's constitutional what happened with the attorney general jeff sessions? what's your concern here? >> first of all i think he's been outspoken in saying he wanted to curtail the mueller investigation, that it should be curtailed. article 2 section 2 clause 2 of the constitution says that principals in our government like the attorney general have to be confirmed by the senate. the president appoints with advice and with the confirmation of the senate. that didn't happen. you've seen some of the quotes

today that this appointment makes a mockery of the constitution and the vision of our founders. >> what's your concern about the move politically and what can you do about it? >> our concern is that they will interfere and say the president is above the law. what we can do about it is what many our chairman and ranking members in the house have sent a letter saying we must preserve the documents of the mueller investigation. we must preserve -- the preservation of the documents is essential. leader schumer and i have called upon our leadership counter parts in the congress, mitch mcconnell, to include in one of our bills to say that counsel mueller -- doesn't name him -- generally counsels cannot be

fired without due cause. if they are, they have the opportunity to go to a panel of judges to review the cause of it. if that happens and they are dismissed, they cannot be replaced unless by someone who has been confirmed by the senate. >> is there any sign that you have that mcconnell would ever go for something like that? >> i would hope so. again, public sentiment is everything. this is really important for us to let the -- who knows what mueller will come up with? we don't. none of us have knowledge. >> you do know that public sentiment is not that great when it comes to the mueller probe. many people see it as politically motivated. >> i think everybody cares about our constitution. when they see this -- this is a constitutional moment. i don't see it's constitutional crisis just yet. it's a perilous time.

you'll see people in the streets because of this firing. should the president go to rosenstein or mueller or something like that, it would be even worse. this is a very important moment. i hope the president is not frivolous about it. this person should not be there because of the statements he's made already. because it's constitutional -- on weak ground in another reason. there are qualified people he could name. there are plenty of people who could be confirmed. >> constitutional issue is one thing. in terms of him having an opinion you don't have to recuse yourself because you have opinions on something. it's because you would have an involvement in the matter. that you have to over see. that's why sessions recused himself. mr. whitaker having opinions is about the probe. is not -- >> he should subject himself to the same scrutiny as attorney general sessions did. the justice department can tell him and they know more about what i can say.

about why he may should recuse himself. >> big victory for the democrats. >> yeah. >> the house, arguably big victory for the president in the senate. everywhere he went in that senate he wound up having some type of success. do you believe there was validation as there was clearly for the democrats, millions of more people came out and voted against this president, but he and what he represents. wound up taking seats in the senate that some people didn't think he would get. do you think there was a show of strength by the president? >> i don't think there's any symmetry here. taking back the house -- when people ask if it's a wave. 23 votes was a wave when you talk about the gerrymandering climate. territory that we had to contend in. from the start people said that's interesting, but you can't win because of gerrymandering.

we leap frogged over those lines and won. not only win, but it remains to be seen how many more we'll win as the votes are finalized. don't forget the governors. my responsibility is to the house. i'm very proud of the work we did. our chairman. that was magnificent. that was our responsibility and very important to get the gavel for the balance of power, equal authority. and our tigs constitution. if the president wants to take

>> i don't think justice ginsburg will step away. let's not predicate anything on that. many people have thought that in the past. justice ginsburg is serving honorably in the supreme court. i think if the president has any appointment for any reason, not

justice ginsburg, that he should support someone who supports the constitution of the united states. he's won the election. you expect he will have people share his views. overturn roe v. wade, guns, immigration, marriage equality, name any issue. it's not a good place for people concerned about this. >> he's going off the list that the federalist society gave him. gorsuch. kavanaugh. >> in the kavanaugh situation he proclaimed that the president is above the law. >> what you can get done. >> this call from the president to you, my reporting suggests that he called you and said nancy i want to make deals. i'm here to make deals. we should make deals. is that your recollection of the call? >> i don't know that he said deals. it was very noisy in that room.

there was a jubilant crowd in the room celebrating taking back the house. >> if you could hear over the celebrating of your victory, what do you recall? >> i heard infrastructure. that came through clearly. he said i'm sure we can come to an agreement on things. we have an obligation to come to common grounds. >> would you work with him to pass legislation or do you believe as many in your party do that you need to be a check on him, you need to investigate him and keep him from doing the things he wants. >> part of what you said. it is our constitutional responsibility to be a check on the executive branch. we have the responsibility to have oversight on the agencies of the executive branch. we intend to implement that. that shouldn't be a cause of any concern because that's the regular order. >> it certainly would. if there's any investigating done of him -- you heard what he said.

he said if they investigate me, i'll investigate them. we both know he will not come to the table with any deals if he feels he's being investigated. >> let's hope the level of maturity will set in. the american people expect results. if we have over sight. they don't expect if he says -- i'm an appropriator. i was forged there in the congress as well as on the intelligence committee. we had oversight over what the federal government did, in terms of appropriations, funding, what we were getting for the tax payers' dollar. was it worth it. should we do something different. that's our our responsibility. i think what he's afraid of is any personal investigation of him. i think democrats will be just wait and see what mueller comes up with. and go from there. he has no right to threaten and say i'm not going to cooperate with them. >> do you think you can trust

him to tell you something, own it, stand behind it and follow it when you just finished a campaign where he was clearly out to get you, clearly trying to tie you to problems on the democratic side? can you work with that? >> i will be the speaker of the people's house and the people will hear the commitments he makes and they'll see whether he can be trusted in that regard. i hope so. as we go forward we want, as i said, an open congress, a bipartisan congress, a unifying congress. we're not here to divide. we're here to unify. if he makes a commitment in the public domain -- that's now we negotiate. >> it happened with immigration. the big meeting. all the smiling faces. love, love, love, love. he came away saying the democrats won't do it. they tricked me. you can't trust them. >> who's in charge there.

>> if he's making a commitment and he reverses it, is he really calling the shots? on the immigration issue that's so political with him. >> you said in the context of your answer i'll be the speaker. i'll be the people's speaker. what is your level of confidence you'll be the speaker of the house? >> total. >> 100%. >> yes. i sent my letter last night. i didn't ask for support. i was too busy winning an election. i didn't think it was appropriate then. to ask members of candidates. how it works is the caucus nominates someone. and they go to the floor. >> do you think there will be another nominee other than you? >> doesn't matter. i had a nominee every time except the first time. >> you don't think you'll have to deal with unusual opposition? >> if i do, that's politics. this is not a day at the beach. this is politics. here i am. we delivered the victory because

we had the best possible candidates. we had the best possible candidates who inspired the grass roots. we owned the ground. all the organization, whether it was about protect our care, protect our environment, all those organizations worked and to elect the people and they want to see results. we have to get moving. without getting into the making of sausage, i feel very confident where i am and i feel encouraged and i have overwhelming support in my caucus. that will go to the floor. >> as we both know, i've known you most of my life. with all you've done and all you've achieved is there any part of you that says, yeah, i'm about to dive into what may well be the most contentious and difficult period of your political life. public life. political life if you are speaker of the house, in direct

opposition to the most powerful man in the world and someone who fights the way we haven't seen in politics? do you have any reservation about whether or not you want this in your life? >> none whatsoever. it's an urgency i can't resist. if hillary clinton had won, our affordable care act would be protected and i could go home. no one in california gets potomac fever. we want to go home. that didn't happen sadly for our country. this is something that all my experience is geared to. all of my legislation. >> do you think you can handle trump on a regular basis the way he is, as personal as he can be? >> i've been the work horse. people say you're not a show horse. i have to be a work horse and a show horse now. i'll be center stage. all these candidates, all the incumbents will be taking their message home. the public will see what this

discussion is about, where we have our agreements and where we have our disagreements and what it means in their lives. >> couple questions what your message is to your party and then to the president and his party. your party first. people come to you you become speaker. they say we've got to impeach this president. democrats demanded it from us all over the country. he's done this and this and this. impeach, impeach. we have to probe him. we have to get the taxes. now's our chance. what do you say? >> what is the motivation? i don't think we should impeach a president for political reasons. i don't think we should not impeach him because we think it's politically piimpeding fors to do so. we have to see what the facts are. they wanted me to impeach george w. bush for going into iraq. i've been not made well for the

president misrepresenting to the country. maybe he didn't. his administration did. i knew i was the adam schiff of the time, not as great as adam. i was the adam schiff of the time. i had all the intelligence. i knew there was no justification to go into iraq. i said the intelligence does not support the threat. are you calling the president a liar? no i was stating a fact. that's the fact. >> you think you can deal with that type of push? >> i advertised as a san francisco liberal which i'm proud to be. with san francisco values. which i'm proud to be an instrument of. i think because i'm a liberal i have a good shall we say communication in our ranks on it. that doesn't mean that people won't be calling for it. it does mean we have to produce

resulting for the american people. that's why we have our for the people agenda. lower health care costs, bigger paychecks, integrity in government, guns, dreamers, equality act. those will be some of our priorities. if there's evidence that the president should be impeached, it should be self-evident to the public and in a bipartisan way. impeachment is -- >> ideally it would be otherwise you might get it through the house, but you would never get it through your senate and what do you have going into 2020? >> president nixon wasn't impeached. they showed him the good. >> and president clinton went through the house, didn't make it through the senate. on the president's side, democrats have been quiet about his signature issue, immigration. i would have to push democrats to say i don't think like what he says about the migrants.

you didn't go toe to toe with about having better solutions to keep america safe. him on how to keep america safe and the border. you say there will be no wall. should democrats take the fight to the president and the american people and say we have a better plan to keep you safe. here is that plan. >> my suggestion is stick with lower health care costs, bigger paychecks and integrity in government. that's going to enable us to do what we need to do on immigration. do not get engaged in a fight on immigration where they're taking children away from their mothers. >> isn't that reason to get involved? >> but not in the campaign. everything is about timing. now we can talk about how we can come together and put together

bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform. it passed the senate a few years ago, but the speaker wouldn't bring it up in the house. that was a sad thing for our country. they wouldn't bring it up. >> you think something happens on immigration? >> democrats have to serve as we always have. we have to protect our borders. our responsibility is to protect and defend. we take an oath when we get sworn into office. protect and defend. we have to protect in a way that protects our borders and honors our values. also recognizes there are 11 million people in this country that we have to address in terms of legalization and perhaps a path -- i believe a path to citizenship. it would be good for our economy. we've had conversations and panels on the subject of the economy, what one thing could you do to boost the economy? different from what you're hearing. comprehensive immigration

reform. this is a bigger discussion than the president using a fear tactic about people 1,000 miles away. how many will reach here? how many will get in under asylum? evangelicals testified to us that the united states refugee resettled program is the crown jewel of american humanitarianism. it's being trashed by the president. >> that's the starting point of the new normal. now that the democrats have power in the house we'll see how it's used. >> we want to unify, not divide. >> everybody says it. let's see how it gets down. -- done. >> that's our intention. we'll here for the american people, not just the democrats. thank you. >> good luck going forward. >> thank you. >> i told you nancy pelosi was going to put a lot on the table.

she did. what does her message mean? i have a great panel for you. we'll get into it and figure out what is code, what is real. where it goes. look at this talent. we'll be right back. ♪ whoa! (phone rings) daddy, mommy's on the phone! hi! how are you guys? at&t proudly offers wireless and tv discounts to military, veterans, first responders and their families. visit att.com/hero. hi. i'm diego. and for me, there is only one choice -- crunch. ♪ delicious 100% real chocolate embracing the lightness of crispy rice. crunch. the chocolate bar all americans love.

- at afor the financialt's time world to stop acting the same old way. you need a partner that is willing to break free from conventional thinking. we are a different kind of financial company. we are athene, and we are driven to do more. ♪ ♪ our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. (buzzer sound) holiday inn express. be the readiest.

but before you do that, you should meet our newest team member, tecky. i'm tecky. i can do it all. go ahead, ask it a question. tecky, can you offer low costs and award-winning wealth management with a satisfaction guarantee, like schwab? sorry. tecky can't do that. schwabbb! calling schwab. we don't have a satisfaction guarantee, but we do have tecky! i'm tecky. i ca... are you getting low costs and award-winning wealth management? if not, talk to schwab. well you remember what happened last year. you can't bring a backup thanksgiving to my sister's house. it's not like we're going to walk in with it. we'll bring it in as we need it. ...phase it in. phase it in? yeah, phase it in.

there was an unusual amount of chatter among democrats about not being for pelosi. in the election. that's the truth. most of the candidates who came out strong against nancy pelosi did not wind. what she will do with all that power. i have an excellent group to really dig into where the house goes from here. it's great to have you all. let's start in terms of impression. you heard the interview. what's your take away? >> this is a confident nancy pelosi. she comes out with a big list of

things she wants to see accomplished. she knows full wells the realities in washington. there are significant limits on what can be accomplished with a democrat house and a republican senate. she talked about doing things on gun control. that's not going to get out of a republican senate. she talked about a bill concerning the special counsel. adding it to a must pass spending bill. not going to happen with this republican senate. she knows that full well. what we're probably going to see is a lot of investigations. she suggested over site. she's trying to tamp down talk of impeachment and is making it clear the detract ors will not be able to stop her from getting the speakership. come january. when the vote comes down to four. the question will be the math on that specific. >> m.j., you see the balancing act going on. i call it crudely so. deal making versus ball breaking. she's light on this second one,

this other side of the scale. don't talk about impeachment. shouldn't do it for political purposes. over site, yes. she knows with this particular president it won't be seen as oversite. it will be seen as an attack. >> the irony is there's a view of her that she's an extreme lib r liberal. mono, you know this when you look at her record and her work on capitol hill, the thing she's best known for for the people who have followed her closely is she's a pragmatist and someone that's skilled at getting to 218 votes. she doesn't want to start this new session with democrats controlling the house out there saying they want to get after impeachment. she knows that's not politically viable. at least not right now.

we're going to see this clash for house democrats as they take on this new power between what they sort of want to do to come across as a govern party. do they want to try to tackle things like infrastructure, lowering drug prices, things they think they can get some buy in on. from republicans. then the trump accountability piece of it, wanting to hold the investigations, throw out subpoenas and try to hold accountable the people close to trump and trump himself possibly. those things are definitely going to clash. when the second piece of it creates a toxic environment, even more toxic than we're seeing now, will republicans on capitol hill feel pressure to not look as though they're reaching out to the other side and cooperating with democrats. >> charles? >> what you're seeing is the american government is about to grind to a halt again. >> you think so? >> absolutely. what nancy's doing is

positioning a messaging campaign about the priorities that the democrats will set, not believing they'll ever be passed by the senate, but that's not the point. this is about how do you set up for the next wave when the senate map is much more favorable to the democrats than this year and when the president is actually on the ballot and saying he's on the ballot like he did. you put forth through legislation even if it doesn't make it through the senate. you say these are democrat priorities and you don't shrink away from your institutional responsibility of oversight. she kept saying that. it's important for all of us as americans to remember it's not on the about trump and pelosi. it's about how the constitution says the house should operate.

they have to do this. we can't worry about whether he's going to get angry. he's been angry. he's going to stay angry. he'll get angrier. i don't think we appreciate the degree to which this man wakes up every day worrying about his freedom, his family, their wealth and his reputation. this is all consuming to him. the russia investigation is all consuming for mueller. mueller wakes up in the morning every day thinking about who he's going to call before a grand jury, what am i eventually going to do? this is a big thing. this is not a president who is going to act like politicians of the past. >> that's true. this will be the first time he has a real foe. nancy pelosi is kind of like a tasty cake -- remember all the good things wrapped up in one. she's a woman.

she has all the problems for trump wrapped up in one. she's a better politician than he is. she will fight you 24/7, 365 days a year. in ways you never imagined. she knows nothing but focus. >> the challenge for her is where the new members come from. they come from more republican districts. more blue dog democrats in there. do they want to go toe to toe with the president the way that pelosi and most of the liberals in caucus who still dominate this caucus, will she listen to the moderate members who want to put the breaks on some of these issues or will they put her foot on the gas. to appease hr her base. that's going to be constant and she'll have to deal with it. you need 218 votes to get anything through the house.

it's a pretty narrow majority she has. she can't afford a lot of losses on the house floor and the big question will be if she can maintain that majority going into 2020. from say the same republicans. >> let's take a break. we'll come back. stay with me and let's talk about what we believe and what we know is going to be the first step for her. what's the first big battle? we'll take that on right after this. i just got my ancestrydna results: 74% italian. and i found out that i'm from the big toe of that sexy italian boot! calabria. it even shows the migration path from south italia all the way to exotico new jersey! so this holiday season it's ancestrydna per tutti! order your kit now at ancestry.com

hi. i'm sparrowhawk. and this is my crunch. ♪ delicious 100% real chocolate embracing the lightness of crispy rice. crunch. the chocolate bar all americans love.

for just fifteen ninety-nine at red lobster. you get all the shrimp you want, any way you want them. and now savory parmesan shrimp scampi is back! new sesame-ginger shrimp is here, too. but hurry in, endless shrimp ends november eighteenth.

whooo! want to get a move on your next vacation? tripadvisor now lets you book over a hundred thousand tours, attractions, and experiences in destinations around the world! like new orleans! from cooking classes, to airboat tours,, tripadvisor makes it easy to find and book amazing things to do.

and you can cancel most bookings up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. so your whole trip... will be smooth sailing! we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. the story about what the democrats will do jumps ahead of how much power do they have. the narrative could be changing in two states trump won. the election is not over. one is arizona. you remember you have the democrat leading the republican mcsally in the battle for the seat vacated by jeff flake. that was a long time coming. we thought the last counting had vote density left for mcsally. that was wrong.

in florida governor rick scott holds a thin lead. in the senate race. scott is suing alleging rampant fraud. he says democrats is trying to steal the election. we have the right panel for this. let's bring them back. let's set this up with what rick scott -- we were saying i'm surprised this is pretty clean. a clean race. there's none of the ugliness we expected about the fraud. now rick scott is making a play. listen to what he said. >> the people of florida deserve fairness and transparency and the supervisors are failing to give it to us. every one should be concerned there's rampant fraud. happening in palm beach and broward county. >> everyone should be concerned there's rampant fraud.

going on in the community. not subtle. >> prove it. that's what lawsuits are about. now you have to actually produce some proof. he needs to prove that. what we see proof of is the opposite. it's actually voter suppression and not fraud. he has this -- i'm very curious and interested. as an american and a voter, i want there to be no fraud. i have yet to hear any of these republicans who say there's rampant fraud in america, including the president, find proof of it. prove it >> everything about this is political to point out the obvious. the fact that he is singling out palm beach county and broward county, that is not a mistake. that is political. he knows those are heavy democrat counties. for him to say there could be fraud, you're totally right. there has to be a little more meat on the bones. scott won both of his governor races i think it's worth

remembering by a single percentage point. it's not as though it's so ludicrous this idea that he might be in a close race in the senate. he's had tough races before. he knows that too. >> when you hear this, you want to give the governor the benefit of the doubt. maybe he knows something. then something else happens that takes away from the benefit of the doubt. what is that? the president tweeted. law enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with election fraud. in broward and palm beach. florida voted for rick scott. once again, everything that you shouldn't have in a tweet. he doesn't know what he's talking about. he could, right? he's got access to the best investigators in the government. he could find things out. that's not what he's doing it. he's watching fox. he's saying law enforcement it's a scandal he's calling it. we don't know that. we don't know the information. he's saying scott won.

the impact? >> his campaign manager also tweeted it wasn't just florida that was the effort of democrats to steal the election, but also arizona without offering any proof of that. the real issue is that there's significant concern within the republican party that these seats, particularly arizona, could go democrat. that was not the viewpoint after tuesday night. i was talking to republicans and democrats tonight. they don't know where either of these races are going. it's so significant. each senate seat so significant. we could be talking about the 51/49 republican senate. that's a massive shift. depending on the margin it will make it easier or harder for the democrats to take back the senate 2020. that's why this is so significant how it plays out >> political malpractice from the president and scott?

>> when you offer a statement like that and no proof, you're abusing your power. you're abusing the press in a way because we have to figure out if there's truth in it. it's sucking away resources from other things. that we could be or should be shedding lights on. there's only 24 hours of the day. people are asleep eight hours. he comes out and says this and we have to take a part of this program. >> right. >> this is a tactic. this idea of using information as a weapon -- not information. using falsehoods. >> they're using suggestions. >> conspiracies as a tactic, as a weapon. >> yes. it is and we saw the white house press secretary put out info wars information. i mean, that jack ass on info wars they took his video and wanted to use it. you don't need to know anything else.

it's frankly a waste of time. if there's no proof we only know what you show. everything else is a scare tactic. i'm not going to waste your time. thank you very much. you're laughing at me. something else you may have noticed is missing in the news cycle. it was all over the place. building up to the election. you should not worry about anything else but this, national emergency. you're like what? exactly. where's the invasion? where's the emergency? get to the border! grab your loved ones! we know what it was about. let's do that next. (music throughout)

don't be a sucker. that propaganda film that warned americans of communist conspiracy theories. that phrase needs to be revived. here's why. the president couldn't warn you enough about the urgency and complexity about the caravan. an invasion that had women clutching their petticoats out of fear. no wonder her got clobbered by women voters playing him that way. it was the same from the mothership fox. now crickets. a passing mention about the caravan last night. the caravan has caravanished.

credit writer on cuomo "prime time." it wasn't me. great line. >> d. lemon is here. >> i know you were afraid about the caravan. i told you it was going to be okay. just like that with the election poof. >> i don't watch enough to know how much they're covering it. i have the networks on in my office. i remember when i would look up and see the caravan coming and the people are coming. they're going to be taking your jobs and doing all this. now you don't hear anything. they've gone back to their old thing of demonizing us. cnn is doing this. msnbc is doing that. they have to have a foil. to be quite honest we told you -- the people that are called fake news told you you were being played. there was no immediate threat. these people are hundreds of miles away. there was no immediate threat.

it gets me that yesterday the president said we don't want those people coming in illegally. they're not breaking the law. what they're doing is they're doing it right. they're coming here claiming political asylum. we get to decide if they come >> some of them may try to come over illegally. for the most part, if they're telling you we're on the way, we're going to come in, we're going to claim political asylum, that is actually the process. those people, they bought it hook, line and sinker. oh, my gosh, we should be putting up barbed wire. >> some people took it as fuel for their own fire of righteous indignation against the trump administration. he got sha lacke shelacked in t across the country. the caravan is coming. you are going to have a big, big population of migrants coming. are you ready to handle it? the president isn't talking about that. he isn't talking about his plan.

i'll tell you why, one reason, other than him dipping in and out of things out of convenience. you need mexico to deal with this effectively because really, ideally, you do want to deal with this before they enter the united states. why? a lot of the claims may not be sufficient. the volume is a lot. you are going to have problems with tracking. there's no question about that. but you don't have the relationship with them right now to have them be accommodate i have of this because of the way the president has treated them. so his talk is a problem two different ways. >> that is a problem when you don't really have a conviction, right? when you go back between being a democrat or republican, or saying you're going to do one thing one day and do another thing the other day. let's be honest here. i mean, he needs a foil, right? so whatever is politically convenient or expedient for him, that's where he goes. it worked to stir up his base, that oh, my gosh, these scary people are coming. and so now that he -- whatever happened during the midterms, he doesn't have to discuss it now.

but i tell you what, this is role reversal because i'm going to say to you something you would say, you're always looking at the positive side more than i am. we're the united states of america. i think that we can handle people coming over in any way that they come over if we really put our attention and our efforts into it. >> if congress looked at it. there are situations you don't want to have to deal with. you need time to process these people coming. if you want to keep families together, you have to change the law to do it effectively. i had nancy pelosi not, very happy for the opportunity to go over things. she says they have a plan. that has to be part of the plan and we need to hear about it sooner a rather than later. will we? we'll see, but we'll be watching. >> recount, recount, recount. it's getting interesting in florida and in georgia. you won't believe how close it is, and it keeps changing every minute. that's -- we're going to be focusing on that tonight coming up. >> smart. all right, d. lemon, i'll see you in a second. so, the closing argument is about something we just don't want to deal with, but we see

all the time, and shame on us. super market, synagogue, yoga studio, bar. it's just in the last two weeks, all mass shootings, what will it take for us to actually make it stop? we've already seen what it will be. i have a closing argument for you on this. please listen, and then come back to me and let's discuss it next. (nicki palmer) being a verizon engineer is about doing things right. and there's no shortcut to the right way. so when we roll out the nation's first 5g ultra wideband network, it'll be because we were the first to install the fiber-optics and small cells, and upgrade the towers that will change the way we learn, work and live. and i'll always be proud that we're not just building america's first 5g network. we're doing it right. - at afor the financialt's time world to stop acting the same old way. you need a partner that is willing to break free from conventional thinking.

we are a different kind of financial company. we are athene, and we are driven to do more. well you remember what happened last year. you can't bring a backup thanksgiving to my sister's house. it's not like we're going to walk in with it. we'll bring it in as we need it. ...phase it in. phase it in? yeah, phase it in.

footnote about how good my team is. i say my susan, my writer susan came up with the line. she says, it wasn't me. she says it was the broadcast producer vaughn. maybe it was lie llah. look how she share. i'm blessed to have great people. let's discuss something that is a curse on us all. california, we just had an historic shooting. it was the worst mass shooting in a week. think about that. 12 lives stolen by a thief that visits us weekly. this is our new normal. broken families, survivors processing their pain, coming on tv in a genuine effort to let us know who was lost and to remind us of the price we are all so damably willing to play. and i've been there, staring

into these searching eyes dozens of times in more states than that. and the loved ones, their search for meaning, they arrive at the obvious realization. we have to stop this from happening to anyone else. we all say yes, we join you. 80 to 90% plus in poll after poll agree that who gets a gun should be handled better. and then you go vote this past tuesday in the midterms and the issue is nowhere. no one even really ran on it. and if you won't vote on it, if it's not your priority, if you can't own that part of it, how can you convince anyone in power to care about it? you can't. and when we say the obvious, stop the shootings, as soon as you say that, it's like hiking the ball in a football game. the nra scrambles to reinforce the status quo. know law would have changed this. good guys with the guns, that's the answer. look at all the laws in california. this is about mental illness if

it's about anything, and we're all on board with being a part of addressing that as long as it has nothing to do with restricting access. and if you push any of their tendencies on this, ug get the ugly est side of political discourse imaginable. equal outrage on both sides. there is no other side to stop the shootings anyway you can. here's the proof. anyone being honest must answer the central question the same way. and here's the question. can we do better than this? you know the answer is yes. you know the answer is yes. so, why don't we? we can't even have a conversation. the only consensus there is is in a cannard. first, i would like to offer my thoughts and prayers, because that's what you do when you offer "thoughts and prayers."

you mock those who lost loved ones because if you gave it any thought at all, you would never walk away from any of these without figuring out a better way to deal with them. and prayer, you think leaving it to god is the answer? we pray for strength. we pray for wisdom, for resolve, but we clearly don't want to act on any of those here. so what are you praying for? what would it take? how about a stadium full of children of the most influential people in our society, all holding puppies. what if they were all shot and killed. would we act? oh, don't be ridiculous to suggest -- is it, is it ridiculous? more ridiculous than doing nothing? time after time? listening to these people pouring out their pain, crying along with them saying you care? you know, the answer to the only question that matters, we can do better. and we all have to live with doing nothing. and the next time is coming, and

more and more you, me, our leaders, we're all becoming part of the problem. think and pray on that. thank you for watching. cnn tonight with don lemon starts right now. /s >> i have been told the lord helps those who help themselves, and the last couple times we've had these shootings and i skays thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers, why do we do thoughts and prayers is this >> anything is what you do. >> but like you said, we can't even have a conversation because people say, what are you, anti-religion? anti-god? that's the dumbest argument. that's not what we're saying. before you get to the thoughts and prayers before you have to pray for the people who sadly lost their loved ones or suffering from this or injured or what have you, maybe you should be doing something to prevent it instead of, oh, our