house republicans will be holding their leadership elections. lawmakers voting on positions like speaker, majority leader, conference chair, current speaker mike johnson is virtually assured to win re-election as leader. he would need a simple majority of the conference. >> president- elect trump said in this morning's meeting with house republicans that he's with johnson all the way. the real test, of course, is on january 3rd when the entire house votes. johnson would need 218 votes, meaning he could not afford to lose more than a handful of republicans assuming they hold the narrow majority in the house. a lot of races still yet to be called. cnn has not officially called the race but it is

trending in republicans' direction. also in washington, president biden is reaffirming his commitment to peaceful transition of power as president- elect donald trump appears to return to the white house. the two huddled inside the oval office, speaking face to face for about two hours. most of that, almostelbehind cl doors. >> and it's been a long- standing tradition for the incoming and the outgoing presidents to meet. of course, until four years a go when then president trump denied that he lost thethe and refused to extend this same courtesy to biden. our correspondents are standing by with more on this. let's begin well mj lee. all hard feelings, it seems, may be set aside today, at least, while the cameras were present. there were smiles. take us inside this historic moment at the white house. >> reporter: it's exactly as you put it. president biden welcomed incoming president trump to the white house just four

years after the former president had declined to extend that same courtesy to then president- elect joe biden when their roles had been reversed. this was a megt inside the oval office that lasted just about two hours. and only four people were in the room. donald trump, joe biden, and susie wiles, and karine jean- pierre just started briefing in the briefing room. this is how she summarized the meeting. she said it was a substantive exchange of views. they talked about a range of domestic and foreign issues. she said that president biden brought up a number of issues that he sees as important on congress's to do list like funding the government of the that it is very important for their to be a peaceful transfer of power between the two administrations. so the president, as you said, clearly choosing to set aside at least for today some of

the tough words that he has used on the campaign trail in recent years against the former president, saying that he believes he presents a stark threat to democracy. so as we wait for that official readout, which should give us a better sense of the range of issues they talked about, just that political dynamic is quite stark. as for just the mood here at the white house, it's been a bit of a hectic and busy day. the staffers i've been talking to made it very clear. emotions have been running high. the idea. former president, now the incoming president coming back to the white house when so many people here inside the building had wanted a very different outcome from the election. as for the president himself, i was told by focus who have met with him in recent days that he has seemed intent on being focused on the work. keeping his head down. one senator karate talked to did say he is quite sensitive to the blame he's getting after the

election. that is something that he's not happy about and feels like has been unfair. guys? >> thank you. we have kristen holmes with us now. this is first time we've seen trump in washington since he won the election. talk to us about the tone that he set as he is laying the groundwork. >> reporter: this is the first time we've seen him in public and now we see him in washington, d.c. a very different washington when he stepped in as president- elect in 2016. he now has command. senate and house. while republicans were in control of the senate and house in 2016. it was not donald trump's republican party. we've spent the last two years reporting on how washington and donald trump's republican party have had a full shift when it comes to the former president and now president-elect. what was most notable, that what we saw on the ground talking going setting that tone was the fact that donald trump appeared to be deferring to

president joe biden. he appeared to recognize the moment he was in. i want to be clear when it comes to setting a tone. he could easily undo that at any time. but i am walking through exactly what happened today that we saw with our own eyes. so what we saw is him landing. he did not take questions from the press underneath the wing there. they were ready for him to talk to the press. he went straight down. the only remarks we saw him give were the ones briefly on camera there. then he went to the white house. there were reporters in the room shouting questions at both him and president joe biden. he deferred to president joe biden. joe biden didn't take questions. donald trump didn't take questions. afterwards, he had an opportunity. he could have gone to the stakeout location outside the white house. there were at least dozens of members of the press waiting for him in case he came out. he did not do that. clearly setting the tone that this is a serious moment

which it is. it is not just a moment that belongs to him. it belongs to both him and president joe biden. as we continue to stress, not a moment that he afforded to president joe biden four years ago. donald trump saying that he was committed to a smooth transition of power. i cannot stress enough, this is probably one of the most, if not one of the most important moments of this transition. it could have been, maybe not as peaceful of a transition of power but this is that moment that we see how donald trump is acting, how president joe biden is acting and we see this is the start of the transfer of power. >> it sets the tone for the trans. thank you for your reporting. let's discuss withmiller, and kate anderson brower who has written multiple books on the white house including first women. the grace and power of

america's modern first ladies. thank you for being with us. first to you. clearly an historic moment. we've been talking for weeks about the significance of the transfer of power and the importance of upholding this practice that marks the difference taken with democracies and autocracies and there you have donald trump and joe biden smiling and sheikh hands -- shaking hands in front of a lit fair place. >> it's a return to norms. apparently the two presidents, by the way, it is the first time since the 19th century that a former president is about to succeed and become a president. that the presidents were both talking about a smooth transition. and donald trump said, and i very much appreciate it, joe. we all know what happened four sear ago. that was the breaking of tradition. a tradition of peaceful transfer of power. four years later, donald trump seems to be committed, at

left a for the moment torsion as smooth a transition as possible and joe biden has set the tone. it is joe biden who made clear that he wanted to let bygones be bygones for the sake of the country. >> and it's interesting. trump is, he's along for the ride on it here. he is participating. he didn't invite joe biden four years ago. he did take barack obama up on the invitation eight years ago. what do you think about the transition as you're seeing trump make it this time compared to eight years ago? >> right now, maybe the surprising thing is how normal this looks. certainly 2020 wasn't justjust election results. it was covid which resulted in all the separation. eight years ago, you can look at the pictures of donald trump in the oval office with barack obama and he looks surprised. he looks in awe that he's

there for the first time. now he's coming in as a man with a mission. the mistakes he made in thethe material, the things he wants to change and adapt the next time. we'll see how this plays out in the days ahead. >> that scene before the cameras in the oval office was totally normal, right? given historical precedent. what is kind of can i different about this transition, the first lady offered an invitation to the new first lady and she did not accept. >> there is a lot of anger among the staff in the white house. the white house official told me, you can't only love your country when you win, right? there is this seething anger among go the staff, and sadness. it is a break of tradition. a century- old tradition where the incoming first lady sits with the first lady. we saw it in 2016.

this is something that roslyn carter and nancy reagan did. i think it is a missed opportunity. it is a break with tradition and i think it reveals animosity that melania must have. she's written about being upset about the fbi raids at mar-a-lago. it seems unusual. dr. biden gave a letter to be given to melania trump saying she's here for her for the transition. and melania doesn't seem to care what the expectations are that are set before her. >> and she's frequently flouted those expectations. she's doing it again but it is certainly noticeable. trump announced that you're going to have this department of government efficiency. vivek ramaswamy and elon musk are going to be leading. and of course, musk, you know, he's so astoundingly wealthy.

he leads all these companies that have so many lucrative contracts with the government. what kind of conflict of interest questions do you have, specifically about him? >> yeah. as we look at this, it's probably not right to call it a department. it's really the sort of federal advisory council or something like that. presidents have regularly had these kinds of entities. there's no question there are disclosures, conflict of interest forms that have to be completed. tons of payment work. a lot of bureaucracy. there are sunshine laws and open records laws and maintenance requests that have to be maintained over the next several months. to the extent these two men are leading this sort of entity, it will be very illuminating to see what kinds of information gets displayed to the american people. for musk himself, a lot of government contracts. they're things the agencies are doing and i think there will be an interesting question about whether or not he's pressuring certain agencies or not or whether he'll come in and see what he sees and try to

change things regardless of what his own personal conflicts will be. we'll see. >> another unorthodox announcement coming from the transteam is that pete hegseth will be nominated as secretary of defense. he is a veteran, a bronze star recipient. a weekend host on fox news. he doesn't really have a managerial experience that you might anticipate. a traditional dod secretary would have over something like a million employees. what do you make of the pick? >> well, generally speaking, our presidents have selected either somebody who has managed a company, for example, robert mcnamara, or a has spent perhaps some time at a lower level in the pentagon.

there's a third category of people. those are people who have been on the committees in congress that have dealt with military matters. generally, the three buckets you might choose someone from. in the case of mr. hegseth, he has an historic military background but he the managerial experience. nor would one call him a defense intellectual. nor has he been elected to congress to think about military affairs. so he's an unusual choice, to put it mildly. keep in mind, presidents usually get the people they choose and donald trump has a mandate to shape the pentagon as he wishes. >> so those are some of the folks we expect he may be having around him. there is also the influence of the family. it seemed like during trump's first term, it was ivanka trump who was, perhaps, the

favored child. she had an office. now it seems like it is donald trump jr. who has ascended to this prominent position. how do you see his role in this administration, to be influential with his father? >> it does seem like he's replacing ivanka and go jared. look at eric trump's wife. >> a lot of people would say she was critical to him winning this election. so i think trump will reward them for that and reward certain people in his orbit. it seems like ivanka and jared will stay clear. a lot of people looked at ivanka as someone had a would be a liberal voice, a mod rating voice. that did not turn out to be the case. she didn't have that kind of influence over her father. it seals like donald trump jr. might because he's a huge presence on social media. he's a celebrity in his own right and he seems primed

to take center stage. >> and he's very much in the voice with his father, too, with what he says. appreciate you. ahead, any minute, the house will be casting leadership votes. but with republicans' majority still uncertain, some members are openly questioning whether speaker mike johnson should stay in power. one person who isn't the president-elect trump. that may be the real voice that matters here. then some new reporting about president trump's position to pick pete hegseth for secretary of defense. plus, inflation worries ramping up again. it just ticked up. a warning that it could get a lot worse. we'll discuss.

right now, cnn has a major projection to bring you in the battle for control of congress. one week and one day after election day, cnn can now project republicans will hold on to control of the house of representatives. this is based on projections that we've made combined with an analysis of results from house races across the country. in arizona's sixth district, in california's 41st, ken calvert, the republican incumbent will also win re-election. that gives republicans the

magic number of 218 seats needed to control the chamber. >> so democrats failing to win enough seats to reclaim the majority. and this is an important development for the gop which as we said, we can now say will control both chambers of congress and the white house. that gives president- elect trump the ability to carry out his agenda, assuming that he keeps all the members of his party in line because it will be a slim majority there in the house. so let's discuss now. manu, he has all of these levers of power. >> reporter: yeah, single party rule is back in washington. remember, that's what joe biden had right off the bat. that's what donald trump had right off the bat in 2017 and 2018. he had single party rule then. he will have single party rule again. this is a republican party that is much different than it looked like last time he was in

town. there were more critics of donald trump back then. fewer critics now. and donald trump will be able to work his will over the house gop, no question about it. this is very much a trump republican house. the house had very few competitive districts. millions of dollars were spent in key districts lake in california and new york, in the suburbs, places like arizona. places where they thought they could pick up seats. places joe biden won, in some cases, by double digits in 2020. given donald trump's gains, the republicans' down ticket were able to ride his coat tails. also the ability to shape and drive legislation on the floor. put whatever they want on the house floor. then it will go to the united states senate, now run by the incoming senate majority leader, johnathan. the senate will be a

different complication. democrats will be needed to pass most legislation. nevertheless, a huge boost for the gop. now that we can project that the house will stay in republican hands. guys? >> and manu, there have been some questions about whether house speaker mike johnson would retain leadership of his conference in that chamber. chip roy of texas suggested that he might face a leadership challenge. of course, that came before we heard donald trump's endorsement of speaker johnson earlier today. what are you hearing about his chances? does he have the votes? >> reporter: yeah, look, today donald trump said to his colleagues to gop members, he supports mike johnson staying on. and they had a leadership forum this morning. no challenger emerged from mike johnson meaning he is poised this afternoon to be nominated by his conference to be the next speaker of the house. here's the catch. on the house floor in january, he needs to be able to keep, to get 218 votes, meaning

depending on the final number, we doj have the final number of house republicans. let's say there are 222 republicans. that means he cannot lose more than four republicans in order to become elected speaker of the house. i caught up with one of his main detractors. marjorie taylor green who pressed johnson. yesterday criticized him for not having a bigger house majority. >> we should have a major majority, a super majority. we don't. and we don't have that, i think, based on the performance of this congress. this congress has had a lot of failures in the eyes of our voters and the eyes of the american people. the american people gave a mandate last tuesday of the times of policies they want, the agenda they want. that's president trump's policies that he laid out on the campaign. >> is speaker johnson to blame? >> yes, his leadership, unfortunately, he

fully passed the biden- harris agenda. >> reporter: now, johnson told me yesterday he's not concerned about the votes in the house. he thinks he will ultimately get there. he believes donald trump will help him get there. it shows a razor thin house republican majority like they had at the beginning of this congress and throughout this congress, it led to the ouster of kevin mccarthy. the question will be will those detractors like her fall in line behind him. >> thank you so much for that report. let's discuss now with jeff zeleny and david. just to be clear, he didn't fully pass the biden- harris agenda. he helped sync a key part of it which was the bipartisan deal struck in the senate with joe biden to effectively help donald trump on that

issue. i just think we should say credit where credit is due, marjorie taylor greene. let's talk about, this is a key moment. we've seen this coming but now it is here that republicans are also controlling the house. >> the trifecta is official. the presidency, the house, the senate. it is common in american history that when a new president comes in, they do have both chambers. that's not an uncommon thing. we've seen them try to utilize that to get through their big ticket agenda items before perhaps a mid- term election can deliver another result. this majority will be narrow. you just noted, we got to this by projecting two more races. that gets them to the 218. there are nine outstanding races right now. four of which republicans currently hold the ahead in. but not clear that those leads are all going to hold. let's say most of them do. you're talking about a majority of 221, 222. probably at the maximum. there was a great moment, i don't know if you saw this morning with president

trump when he was talking to house republicans. he walks in, he takes the stage. he los angeles to the leadership team and says, what are you? plus 4, plus 5? the leadership team was like, uh -- that may be wishful thinking here where we are in these outstanding races. the trifecta is here. this is a republican party including on capitol hill. much more in donald trump's image than the republican party he found in 2017. there is no doubt about that. as you just heard from marjorie taylor greene, when the margins are this narrow in the house, every voice matters. >> as we saw in the last congress, that can have discombobulating effects for the house. >> that's probably a good word. it's a much narrower majority than the presidential result indicates. if you were just to look at that. they were pretty confident

going into this. hakeem jeffries never said it but a lot of democrats thought he would be the house speaker. that is not the case. we are seeing a dramatic difference. the seed change, you can feel it in washington with the former president meeting with the current president of the white house today. on the senate side, coming up on the house side, this is donald trump's washington. no doubt about it. however, he made a good point for two years. the house is so on a razor's edge. that could certainly change in the second half. >> the narrow majority last term was such a headache for the speaker. >> which speaker. [ laughter ] >> however, when they control the white house and both chambers, is it going to be a little bit of a different story? is it easier for trump to crack the whip and get people in line in the white house? >> a quick answer. yes. there's no doubt especially

when it is in the image of trump. i think it is much easier. >> i think who is in charge matters. you just saw john thune, newly elected, saying how it is important to pursue donald trump's agenda, donald trump's agenda. i wonder as some of the maga acolytes express apprehension about him as leader, if there is a place for him to perhaps be a guardrail as we described in the past, some of trump's more extreme ambitions. >> and you saw john thune's leadership team elected around him. including from oklahoma. you mentioned the immigration bill that had a bipartisan -- he was the leader on the republican side of that bipartisan effort. there he was today on this, in this leadership team pledging that donald trump's agenda will be their agenda to get through. >> i didn't see rick scott. in leadership team. am i correct? >> he lost out.

>> i think really to build on your point there, it was a really interesting portrait of character there. i made it so clear, it felt like you could have had a drinking game out of that. it was interesting, the characters who are in that senate leadership. i wonder, you know, if it is not, if it is not a blind ballot, can they really push back? at times, mitch mcconnell, he tried harness the power in trump. he tried to do his own thing sometimes. do you see a thune- led republican congress doing that? >> i do not. i think we will get a sense of that in the confirmation hearings. those will not be secret ballots. the president will be given i think considerable latitude to fill his cabinet with who he wants. barring any, you know, backgrounding in the hearing process. no. i think that johnathan,

thune, that's the environment in which he's living and i think that will be the order of the day. >> i'm curious about the other side. democrats are starting to gather on capitol hill again and some of their conversations have to do with where to go next. >> this will play out in a bunch of different chapters. there's not one convening of the democrat party. they've decided how to move forward. one will be on capitol hill. it will be no doubt democrats come february or march will identify one of donald trump's initial legislative efforts as the thing they are going to galvanize opposition around. and we saw it 20 years wlag the democrats found themselves in a similar situation in 2004. he wants to privatize social security accounts. democrats galvanized around that and that began their process of winning back the senate in

2006. we will also see sooner a battle for chairman of the democratic national committee. that will be a proxy for some of these conversations. and we see some of those potential fought presidential candidates just dipping their toes in the public waters. lake gavin newsom was talking about how to sort of trump- proof his state. >> thus the next cycle begins. we appreciate you both. thank you so much. we'll be right back.

we're keeping our eye on republican news. republicans keeping control on the house of representatives. that is welcome news for president- elect donald trump coming on the same day he visits washington, d.c. and as we learn more about who will serve in his administration. among those names, former arkansas governor mike huckabee who is trump's choice for u.s. ambassador to israel. huckabee is a staunch defender of israel who has argued in the past that there is, quote, no such thing as a palestinian. and today, when huckabee was asked if the trump white house would support annexing the west bank by israel, he said, quote, of course. joining us now, a co- founder of the uncommitted movement in

the democratic primaries in opposition to the biden administration's policy on the war in gaza. thank you for being with us. i want to ask but dearborn where you're from. voters cast their ballots for donald trump. as the new sort of white house shapes up, what are you hearing from members of your committee? >> thank you. it's great to be on with you. i come from a xhu that is experiencing the great level of pain and grief as they were being asked to make a very difficult calculation about a political reality where president biden has been funding and sending weapons to a netanyahu government that is harming and killing members andand civilians routinely, systematically against international law. so in that really difficult moment, at a time when the harris campaign was not

providing any clear separation from the disastrous biden policy, donald trump showed up to our community and lied to our faces. he took advantage of people's pain and said that he would be the pro- peace candidate. now, here's the reality where president biden has funded netanyahu's mourdous campaign to a point where, it's clear what is happening. it looks like ethnic cleansing. it is an ethnic cleansing campaign. and mike huckabee was just named as the guy who will oversee the final stages of that campaign. so the message now is to president biden. you have to do something about. this president biden, stand up for once to netanyahu before donald trump successfully gets away with pinning this legacy of this ethnic cleansing campaign on you and you alone forevermore. >> what would you like to see president biden do given that in a couple months, donald

trump will be in the white house? >> yeah, i think we have to look very clearly at what is around the corner. as you just mentioned, mike huckabee will be the person named by donald trump as the ambassador to israel. this isn't just someone who said there is no such thing as a palestinian. this is the same guy who said the palestinian state is a fantasy. he said the u.s. should fund building illegal settlements on the west bank. a term that he refuses to use. the same guy who considered buying a stolen home on stolen land in the west bank. this is the same guy who visits illegal settlements and says they're part of israel. given that that is what we know is around the corner, the cornerstone of the policy in the middle east has been unconditional support for netanyahu. continuing to send him weapons without any conditions. now is the time to stand up to benjamin netanyahu. even today, the senator

said that he's concerned that the 30- day deadline the biden administration just missed giving israel time to improve the humanitarian condition in gaza, he's concerned it was a political attempt. prove us wrong, president taahu. now is the time to do it before donald trump accelerates the mass killing campaign that is harming and killing our own family members. >> abbas, it's hard to quantify the impact that the uncommitted movement had on this election. we saw that some 18% of the vote in dearborn went to third party candidate jill stein. i wonder what impact you think it had and whether you have any regrets, perhaps. if you think it might have contributed to donald trump taking the white house.

>> with thank you for the question. it is clear that it did not outperform in 2020 in a single county of all the counties of these united states of manager, that the democratic party has a much bigger problem on its hands than just one issue. i can tell from you my own experience on this one issue, we mobilize people to participate in the democratic presidential primary as a way of keeping them engaged. if we flex people power, our democratic leaders will change the policy. and it doesn't make any sense that in that work, as we made a very public offer to vice president harris, that we would mobilize vote orders her behalf in order to beat donald trump. democratic party leaders rejected that offer. my own assessment is that that really inexplicable reality that i was experiencing, my fellow organizers were experiencing, being disempowered from engaging our communities to

block donald trump, it seems like that kind of prioritize go, neither the donor class nor the working class was happening all across our country in one directing community after another. i think the problem the democratic party has is systemic. we have to take power away and give it to the working class. show the american people we're willing to fight for them. >> we have to leave the conversation there. we appreciate appreciate you sharing your perspective there. thank you for joining us. >> we'll be right back.

new today, the fbi has arrested the person who allegedly leaked classified intelligence for israel's plans against iran. it is so sensitive, it was only meant to be seen by the so called five eyes. >> zack, what are you learning about this alleged leaker? >> they have charged him in connection with this alleged leak. the israeli war plans, u.s. war plans with plans to retaliate against iran for its attack on israel. and he is described as a u.s. government employee. we've learned through sources that he is an employee of the cia which he holds a top secretsecret clearance which is presumably how he had access to these highly sensitive documents that u.s. officials were very concerned about when they first surfaced earlier this year. and he is described as someone

who was in cambodia. we're not sure what he was doing there. prosecutors are trying to move him hospital in virginia hoping he can stand trial there. this is just the latest in a series of classified leaks that we've seen in recent memory. you might remember the military officer who was charged and ultimately pled guilty to leaking documents about the ukraine war. he pled guilty and has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. this speaks to the ongoing threat. the insider threat that the u.s. government is grappling with as they try to protect the nation's top secrets. >> more to come, obviously. thank you. coming up, a new report shows a bump in october and possible concern for the economy as trump prepares to return to the white house. we'll have that next.

there is new data today showing inflation hit a bump in october. it rosa bit after it had slowed down for six months straight in the u.s. and still the economists say the underlying trend is good news for most americans so keep that in mind that inflation is still cooling down. >> walk us through the numbers and what is driving this tick upward. >> well, this was a step in the wrong direction. it's being viewed as a temporary setback. so we learned today consumer prices increased by 2. 6% year over year in october. that is acceleration from the prior month. 2.4%. that was a three- year low. the first time in seven months that we're seeing the

inflation rate tick higher. what is encouraging is when you zoom in, month to month, prices were only up by .2%. that was in line with expectations. and it does suggest that part of the driver here is just tough comparisons from a year ago when inflation was cooling rapidly. there are also some increases that are hopefully going to be temporary. electricity and airfare went up significantly. also, so did used cars. that may be driven to a demand strike related to cars that were destroyed by the hurricanes. the good news is that some things have gotten cheaper. we saw prices decline for clothes, gasoline, and even eggs. 6% down month over month. and when we look at the bigger picture, and the trend, it is clear things have definitely improved from two and a half years ago when inflation was at 9%. that was a nightmare. it is also clear that the last mile of improvement is going to be a little bit challenging and it has gotten bumpier. one last point is even

though the rate of inflation is down, prices are not down.ot people are still spending about $1100 a month more than they did in january 2021 for the same goods and services and that's all because of higher prices. paychecks are up, too, but often not by enough for people to really feel like they're getting ahead. and that is part of the frustration here. >> thank you so much for that update. still ahead, republicans clinch the house of representatives. we'll talk about the impact.