the commitments he made to his supporters with working with those who disagreed with him and members of congress and reaching out to constituencies that didn't vote for him, i think it is important for us to let him make his decisions. i think the american people will judge over the course of the next couple of years, whether they like what they see and whether these are the kinds of policies and this is the direction that they want to see the country go in. [closing bell rings] my role is to make sure that when i hand off this white house, that it is in the best possible shape and that i've been as helpful as i can to him in going forward and

building on the progress that we've made. you know, and my advice as i said to the president-elect when we had our discussions was, that, campaign something difficult from -- campaigning is different from governing. i think he recognizes that. i think he wants to be a successful president and movingg this country forward and i don't think any president ever comes in saying to himself, i want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country. i think he is going to try as best he can to make sure that he delivers not only for the people who voted for him and the people at large. the good thing is there will be elections coming up, so there is built-in incentive for him to try to do that. but, you know, it has only been six days and i think it will be

important for him to, to have the room to staff up, to figure out what his priorities are, to be able to distinguish between what he was campaigning on and what is practical, what he can actually achieve. you know, there are certain things that make for good sound bites but don't always translate into good policy and you know, that's something that he and his team i think will wrestle with in the same way that every president wrestles with. i did say to him, as i have said publicly, that because of the nature of the campaigns and the bitterness and ferocity of the campaigns, and that it is really important to try to send some signals of unity and to reach

out to minority groups or women or others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign. and i think, you know, that is something that he will, he will want to do. but, this is all happening real fast. he has got commitments to supporters that helped to get him here and he is going to have to balance those and, over the coming weeks and months and years, my hope those impulses ultimately went out, will start to make judgments on that. >> -- [inaudible] meeting with him? >> you know, i think that he successfully mobilized a big chunk of the country to vote for

him and he is going to win. he has won. he is going to be the next president and regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office, this office has a way of waking you up and those, those aspects of his positions or predispositions that, don't match up with reality, he will find shaking up pretty quick because reality has a way of asserting itself. and some of his gifts that obviously allowed him to execute one of the biggest political upsets in history, you know, those are ones that hopefully he

will put to good use on behalf of all the american people. scott. >> thank you, mr. president. you're off to europe which is facing some of the face populist pressures we see at work in this country. when you spoke at the u.n. you spoke about immigration and building walls, what choice do you think the american people made last week and is there a chance for what you called a course correction before europeans make some of their choices? >> i think the american people recognize that the world has shrunk. that it has interconnected and you're not going to put that genie in the bottle. the american people recognize that their careers or their kids careers are going to have to be more die nam i believe. they might not be working at a

single plant for 30 years but thcareers. they might have to get more education. they might have to to retool or retrain. the american people are game for that. they want to make sure that the rules of the game are fair. and, what that means is, that if, if you look at surveys around americans attitudes toward trade, the majority of the american people still support trade. but they are concerned about whether or not trade is is fair. and, whether we have got the same access to other countries markets as they have with us. is there just a race to the bottom when it comes to wages and so forth.

now i made an argument, thus far unsuccessfully, that the trade deal we had organized, tpp, did exactly that, that it strengthened workers rights and environmental rights and leveled the playing field and as a consequence would be good for american workers and american businesses but that's a complex argument to make when people remember plants closing and jobs being off shored. so, but part of what i think this election reflected was people wanting that course correction that you describe and , the message around stopping surges of immigration, not creating new trade deals that may be unfair. i think those were themes that played a prominent role in the campaign. as we now shift to governing, my

argument is, that we do need to make sure that we have an orderly, lawful, immigration process but that it is orderly and lawful that immigration is good for our economy. it keeps the country young and dynamic. we have entrepreneurs and strivers coming here willing to take risks and that is part of the reason why america historically has been successful. it is part of the reason why our economy is stronger and better positioned than most of our other competitors is because we got a younger population that is more dynamic. when it comes to trade, i think, you know, when you're governing it will become increasingly apparent that if you were to just eliminate trade deals with mexico, for example, well, you

have got a global supply chain. the parts that are allowing auto plants that were about to shut down to now employ double shifts is because they're bringing in some of those parts to assemble out of mexico and so it is not as simple as it might have seemed. and, you know the key for us, when i say us, i mean americans, but i think particularly for progressives is to say, your concerns are real, your anxieties are real. here's how we fix them. higher minimum wage. stronger worker protections so workers have more leverage to get a bigger piece of the pie. stronger financial regulations, not weaker ones. yes to trade but trade that insures that these other

countries that trade with us aren't engaging in child labor, for example. being attentive to inequality and not tone deaf to it, and offering prescriptions that are going to help folks in communities that feel forgotten. that is going to be our most important strategy. and, i think we can successfully do that. people will still be looking to the united states. our example will still carry great weight. and, it continues to be my strong belief that the way we are going to make sure that everybody feels a part of this global economy is not by shutng ourselves from each other, even if we could, but rather by working together more effectively than we have in the

past. martha raddatz. >> thanks, mr. president. some. harsh words you had about mr. trump, calling him tempermentally unfit to be commander-in-chief, did anything surprise you about president-elect trump when you met with him in your office? also i want to know, does anything concern you about a trump presidency? >> well, we had a very cordial conversation and, that didn't surprise me to some degree because i think he is obviously a gregarious person. somebody who likes to mix it up and to have a vigorous debate. and, what's clear is that he was able to tap into, yes the

anxietieses but also enthusiasm of his voters in a way that that was impressive and i said so to him because i think that, to the extent that there were a lot of folks who missed the trump phenomenon, i think, that connection that he was able to make with his supporters, that was impervious to events that might have sunk another candidate, that is powerful stuff. i also think that he is coming to this office with fewer set, hard and fast policy prescriptions than a lot of other presidents might be arriving with.

i don't think he is idealogical. i think ultimately he is pragmatic in that way and, that can serve him well as long as he has got good people around him and he has a clear sense of direction. do i have concerns? absolutely, of course i've got concerns. he and i differ on a whole bunch of issues. but, you know, the federal government and our democracy is not a speedboat. it is an ocean liner, as i discovered wn i came into office. it took a lot of really hard work for to us make significant policy changes, even in our first two years when we had larger majorities than mr. trump will enjoy when he comes into office. and, one of the things i advised

him to do was to make sure that before he commits to certain courses of action he is really dug in and thought through how various issues play themselves out. i will use a obvious example where we have a difference but it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming year and that is the affordable care act. so, obviously this has been the holy grail for republicans over the last six, seven years was, we got to kill obamacare. the now, that has been taken as an article of faith, that this is terrible, it doesn't work and we have to undo it. but now that republicans are in charge they have got to take a look, let's see, we got 20 million people who have

health insurance who didn't have it before. health care costs generally have gone up at a significantly slower rate since obamacare was passed than they did before, which has saved the federal treasury hundreds of billions of dollars. people who have health insurance are benefiting in all sorts of ways that they may not be aware of. everything from no longer having lifetime limits on the claims that they can make, to seniors getting prescription drug discounts under medicare, to free mammograms. now it is one thing to characterize this thing as not working, when it is just an abstraction. now suddenly you're in charge and you are going to repeal it. okay, what happens to those 20 million people who have health insurance? are you going to just kick them

off and suddenly they don't have health insurance? and, in what ways are their lives better because of that? are you going to repeal the provision that insures you have health insurance on the job or you lose your job or you changed jobs or you start a small business you're not discriminated against because you have a preexisting condition? that is really popular. how are you going to replace it? are you going to change the policies that kids can stay on their parents health insurance plan until they're 26? how are you going to approach all these issues? now, my view is, that if they can come up with something better that actually works and, a year or two, after they have replaced the affordable care act with their own plan, that, 25 million people have health

insurance and it is cheaper and better and running smoothly, i'll be the first one to say, that's great. congratulations. if on the other hand whatever they're proposing results in millions of people losing coverage and results in people who already have health insurance losing protections that were contained in the legislation, then, we're going to have a problem, and i think that is not going to be unique to me. i think the american people will respond that way. so, i think on a lot of issues, what you're going to see is now comes the hard part. now is governance. we are going to be able to present to the incoming administration a country that is stronger, a federal government

that is working better, and more efficiently, a national security apparatus that is both more effective and truer to our values. energy policyies that are resulting in not just less pollution but also more jobs. and i think the, president-elect, rightly would expect that he is judged on whether we improve from that baseline and on those metrics, or, things get worse. and if things get worse, then, the american people will figure that out pretty quick. and if things get better, then, more power to them. i will be the first to congratulate them. >> mr. president, you had talked specifically about his temperment. do you still have any concerns about his temperment?

>> as i said, because, athena asked the question, whatever you bring to this office this office has a habit of magnifying and pointing out and hopefully then you correct for. this may seem like a silly example i know myself well enough, i can't keep track of paper. i'm not well-organized in that way. and so, pretty quickly after i'm getting stacks of briefing books coming in every night, i say to myself, i've got to figure out a system because i have bad filing, sorting, and organizing habits. and i've got to find some people who can help me keep track of this stuff. now, that seems trivial but

actually it ends up being a pretty big piece of business. i think what will happen with the president-elect, there will be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them because, when you're a candidate and you say something that is inaccurate or controversial, it has less impact than it does when you're president of the night. everybody around the world is paying attention. markets move. national security issues require a level of precision in order to make sure that you don't make mistakes. and i think he recognizes that this is different. and so do the american people. i will take just a couple more questions. then i get out of here.

nadia. >> thank you, mr. president. president-elect trump -- iran nuclear deal which your administration worked very hard to -- [inaudible]. what it are you concerned if he alters part of this and what would you advice since he said i is open to advice. syrian regime is -- [inaudible] you talked passionately two years back about -- you warned against killing of civilians. many criticize you for short comings in this area. are you you willing to -- [inaudible] the next trump statement that you won't support the syrian opposition, thank you? >> iran is a good example of the

gap i think between some of the rhetoric in this town, not unique to the president-elect, and the reality. there was a really robust debate about the merits of the iran deal before it was completed. and i actually was pretty proud of how our democracy processed that. it was serious debate. people of goodwill were on both sides of the issue. ultimately we were both able to persuade members congress, at least enough of them, to support it. at the time, the main argument against it was, iran wouldn't abide by the deal. that they would cheat. we now have over a year of evidence that they have abided by the agreement. that is not just my opinion.

it is not just people in my administration. that is is the opinion of israeli military and intelligence officers who are part of a government that vehemently opposed the deal. so my suspicion is when the president-elect comes in and is consulting with his republican colleagues on the hill, they will look at the facts. the facts preventing iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon would be hard to explain, particularly if the alternative were to have them freed from any obligations and go ahead and pursue a weapon. keep in mind this is not just an international agreement between us and iranians. this is between the p5 plus 1 and other countries. some of them are our closest allies, and,.

for us to pull out would require us to start sanctioning those other countries in europe, or china or russia still abiding by the deal, because from their perspective, iran had done what it was supposed to do. so it becomes more difficult i think to undo something that is working than undo something that isn't working. when you're not responsible for it, call it a terrible deal and when you are responsible for the deal, then preventing iran from getting nuclear weapons, you're more likely to look at the facts. that is going to be true in other circumstances, for example, the, there has been a

lot of talk about possibility of undoing this international agreement. you have 200 countries that signed up to this thing and, the good news is. the good news what we've been able to show over the last five, six, eight years. that it is possible to grow the economy really fast and, possible to bring down carbon emissions as well. it is not just a bunch of rules that we set up. you've got utilities that are putting in solar panels and creating jobs. you have got the big three automakers who have seen record sales and are overachieving on the fuel efficiency standards that we set. turns out that people like not having to fill up as often and save money at the pump, even if

it is good for the environment. you've got states like california that have been moving forward on clean energy agenda, separate and apart from any federal regulations that have been put forward. in fact 40% of the country already lives under, in state that are actively pursuing what's embodied in the paris agreement and the clean power plant rule. even states like texas, that, you know, politically tend to oppose me, you've seen, you have seen huge increases in wind power and solar power around you've goat some of the country's biggest countries like google and walmart pursuing energy efficiency because it is good for the bottom line. what we've been able to do is embed a lot of these practices

into how our economy works and made our country more efficient, it helped the bottom line of folks, and it cleaned up environment. the paris agreement now says china, india, and other countries that are potentially polluting, come on board. let's work together so you guys do the same thing. and, the biggest threat when it comes to climate change and pollution, isn't going to come from us, because we had only 300 million people. it will come from china, with over a billion people and india with over a billion people and if they are pursuing the same kinds of strategies that we did before we became more aware of the environment, then our kids will be choked off, and so, again, do i think that the new administration will make some changes? absolutely. but these international agreement, the tradition has

been you carry them forward across administrations, particularly if, once you actually examine them it turns out that they're doing good for us in binding other countries and behavior that will help us. all right? last question. justin. i'm sorry. you're right, you're right about that. with respect to syria, in benghazi we had an international mandate. we had a u.n. security resolution. we had a broad based coalition and we were able to carry out support mission that that achieved the initial goal preventing benghazi from being slaughtered very quickly. it is no secret. you know this region well. syria is much more messy situation with proxies coming

from every direction, and so, i wish that i could bring this to a halt immediately. we have made every effort to try to bring about a political resolution to this challenge. john kerry has spent an infinite amount of time trying to negotiate with russians and iranians, and gulf states and other parties to try to end the killing there. what you're asking do we have the capacity to carry out the same kind of military actions that we did in libya, the situation is obviously different. we don't have that option easily available to us. and so is we're going to have to continue to try to pursue as best we can a political solution

and in the interim put as much pressure as we can for the parties to arrive at humanitarian safe spaces and cease-fires that alleviate the suffering that is on the ground. i recognize that that has not worked and, it is something that i continue to think about every day. we continue to try to find some formula that would allow us to see that suffering end. but i think it is not surprising to you, because you study this deeply, that if you have a syrian military that is committed to killing its people indiscrimminantly as necessary, and it is supported by supported

by russia that has substantial military assets on the ground and actively supporting that regime and iran actively supporting that regime and we are supporting what has to be our number one national security priority which is going after isil, in mosul and ultimately in rack car, that the situation is not not e same as he was in libya. some took steps -- i indkated that was the right things to do, i indicated before in the aftermath of that campaign, i think the world community did not sufficiently support the need for some sort of security struck sure there and now as is a situation we have to get back into a better place. i have given you, okay.

last question is justin zinc at bloomberg. >> thank you, mr. president. >> -- next couple months as you prepare for the trump administration, 3/4 of million documented immigrants provide information about themselves as part of the deferred action program. is there anything you can do to reassure them or shield that information, from the incoming trump administration considering his stance on immigration and the second is, administration maintained that legal restraints put on you by congress -- [inaudible]. unconstitutional infringements on your rights as commander-in-chief considering the gradual transfer you pursue under a trump administration. is this now the time to sort of test that theory by moving the

detainees to -- [inaudible] >> both excellent questions. on the deferred action program that we have known as daca that relates to dreamers who are currently benefiting of these provisions, i will urge the president-elect to the incoming administration to think long and hard before they are endangering the status of what, for all practical purposes are american kids. these were kids who were brought here by their parents. they did nothing wrong. they have gone to school. they have pledged allegiance to the flag. some have joined the military. they have enrolled in school.

by definition if they're part of this program, they are solid, wonderful young people with good character and, it, it is my strong belief that the majority of the american people would not want to see suddenly those kids have to start hiding again. and, that's, something that i will encourage the president-elect to look at. with respect to guantanamo, it is true that i have not been able to close the darn thing because of the congressional restrictions that have been placed on us. what is also true is we have greatly reduced the population.

you now have significantly less than 100 people there. there are some additional transfers that may be taking place over the next two months. there is a group of very dangerous people that we have strong evidence of having been guilty of committing terrorist acts against the united states but because of the nature of the evidence in some cases that evidence being compromised, it is very difficult to put them before a typical article iii court. and that group has always been the biggest challenge for us. my strong belief and preference that we would be much better off closing gitmo, moving them to a different facility that was clearly governed by u.s. jurisdiction. we would do it a lot cheaper.

and just as safely. congress disagrees with me. of i gathered that the president-elect does as well. we will continue to explore options for doing that. but keep in mind that it is not just a matter of what i'm willing to do. one of the things you discover about being president is, that there are all these rulings and norms and laws, you got to pay attention to them. and the people who work for you are also subject to those rules and norms, that is a piece of advice that i gave to, to the incoming president. i am very proud of the fact that we will, knock on wood, leave this at administration without significant scandal. we made mistakes. there have been screw-ups but i

will put the ethics of this administration and our track record in terms of just abiding by the rules and norms and keeping trust with the american people, i will put this administration against any administration in history and the reason is because, frankly we listened to the lawyers and we had a strong white house counsel's office. we had a strong ethics office. we had people in every agency who, whose job it was to remind people this is how you're supposed to do things. it doesn't mean everybody always did everything exactly the way it is supposed to because we got 2 million people working in the federal government. if you're including the military. so, we had to just try to institutionalize this as much as we could. that takes a lot of work, one of my suggestions to the incoming

president that he take that part of the job seriously as well. again you wouldn't know this if you were listening to some news outlets or some members of oversight committees in congress but if you actually look at the facts, it works. and this is just one example of the numerous ways in which the federal government is much better today than it was without people really knowing. you look at va. people remember the legitimate problems that were publicized in phoenix. it was scandal -- scanlous what happened. what happened we brought in well over a million people who are getting benefits that weren't getting it before.

driven the backlog for disability benefits way down. cut homelessness in half, just made the agency more work better, not work perfect but work better. and one of the mottoes i always have with my staff was, better is good. perfect is unattainable. better is possible. around so we will try to share lessons that we learned over last eight years with the incoming president. my hope is he makes things better. if he does we'll all benefit from it. all right? , thank you, everybody. you guys, some of you who are traveling, get a chance to ask more questions. all right? [shouting] >> that's it. melissa: there he is goes, president obama wrapping up a news conference at the white house. i'm melissa francis. david: i'm david asman. this is "after the bell." we thank you for joining us. of course we had no responsibility for the length of that press conference president

always comes late and he spends more time answering questions than most presidents i ever covered. melissa: i know. he said at the beginning there were a lot of political issues he wanted to get out of the way and clear the brush i think he said from underneath before he goes on the road so that reporters can get a lot of political questions out of the way and he really did talk about everything there from obamacare to syria. david: he is going to go to greece. i think he stops first in greece. then he goes to germany. then he is going to a meeting in peru. this is before he travels. the shock of the donald trump election is not only been felt here but has been felt all around the world and he is going to assure and he says assuage those people overseas who might be a little nervous about donald trump. should be nervous about their jobs. think of "brexit" and donald trump. these are establishment politicians like angela merkel in germany and all the others. they are shaking in their boots. blake burman joining us from the white house. blake, what were your biggest

take wais from what we just saw? reporter: keep in mind it was three days ago since the president and president-elect sat down here at the white house as president obama himself just said moments ago. it has just been six days since the election. so this was his first chance to kind of up drought from his perspective at least, how that meeting went. he described it as between the two, free flowing useful conversation. he said it was cordial meeting between the two. interesting to hear it described that way. once you know the past that we do, these two have had over last several years. the president emphasized to the president-elect that gestures matter. the president saying that he suggested to the president-elect that he reach out in an attempt to unify the country, to hose who necessarily did not support him. president obama also saying that he felt that the president-elect is not idealogical. says he thinks he is pragmatic but also said that he has concerns about the incoming

president, the 45th president of the united states. president obama trying to smooth out any of those concerns to those in his wing by saying that he learned once he got into office that, that traveling the ocean i believe the analogy he said was not a speedboat, rather than an ocean liner of the point being that it takes time here in washington to get things done but he also ended, as you heard him there, by saying that my hope is that he, speaking of the president-elect, makes things better. by the way, david and melissa,o, some soul-searching there from the president or at least the start of it about what democrats need to do going here on forward. he tried to make the point, it appeared that quite possibly, democrats, maybe even the campaign of hillary clinton, did not work hard enough. president obama saying one of the reasons why he won iowa for example, was because he was all over there and saying that it is time to compete everywhere. i should mention john podesta,

the campaign chairman for hillary clinton. david: walked into the west wing a little while ago. walked out. i wanted to ask him about the statement by the president. he politely declined speaking with us. liz: no doubt. no doubt. david: a lot of finger pointing going on these days. blake, thank you very much. let's bring in today's political panel. brad blake man, assistant to president george w. bush and julie roginsky, democratic strategist. we were watching about for return policy problems donald trump would have to face. he went through a list. he went through benghazi. he talked about the russians and what they are doing in uniting with syria making it much more difficult to have peace there. he talked about the iranians coming in. melissa, and i said, isn't he outlining failures of his administration? there was russian reset supposed to insure our relations with russia, that we could achieve what we wanted together. there was the iriranian deal was

supposed to make iran a more compliant power, at least our friend not our enemy. they're now our enemy. what he was doing outlining failures of his own administration. >> he did exactly that. president trump will inherit much more dangerous world than existed four to eight years ago. that is the fact. that will be challenge of president obama to assure our allies and puts fear in our enemies. we need a strong military to do that. we need to focus on foreign policy and allies in sync with us. these are the challenges president trump will have to have earnings brad, more than anything, more than anything we need a strong economy. >> no question. david: both democrats and republicans agree on that. without a strong economy you can't do much at all. the question how he goes about implementing what he thinks will strengthen our economy. tax cuts, deregulation, et cetera. will he do it in a bully move in first one one days because he

has republicans controlling the house and senate or will he try to reach across the aisle? quickly, brad. >> i think he will do both. he will be aggressive and try to reach across the aisle. dirty word in this town is compromise. i think it's a word used not only in spirit but indeed. david: not, used by a lot of democrats. the president did in his favor but outside the white house today there were a bunch of protesters. i think we have what they had to say. let's play that sound bite if which can. >> we're here to demand that democrats refuse to negotiate with a racist -- [inaudible]. that's right. >> and we need new leadership in the democratic party. david: now, that is the kind of protest, julie, that we're seeing all across the country. if those people couldn't hear, she said we're here to demand the democrats refuse to negotiate with a rash shift fascist. we also have a "politico" article, this big to-do,

mighting taking place at fancy hotel in washington with george soros and nancy pelosi and others, liberals plan full-on trench warfare against donald trump from day one. that doesn't sound like compromise. >> well you know, frankly i love these crocodile tears republicans are crying. i'm old enough to remember few years ago mitch mcconnell said, number one priority as senate majority leader was making sure barack obama was one-term president. he tried his best to do that. not like this is new to the democratic party. i can't speak for the rest of the party. here is how i look what will happen next few years. where we can agree with donald trump, heartened to see he wants to put in a big infrastructure program, i'm very curious to see whether some conservative republican programs never wanted another infrastructure program or stimulus program will go along with him. david: a lot of people have problems with it, absolutely true. >> if he does that, count me in, i would love to see it. however if he espouses views of his new top aide, steve bannon

dividing these instrument -- david: julie, please, that hasn't already happened? brad blakeman. al sharpton in the white house 87 times. "black lives matter." >> stop, stop, i won't stop the fact we have had a racial divide created over the past five or six years because the dividers, people like al sharpton and huge racial divider in the white house. >> david, wait, wait. david: no, julie. brad, go ahead. >> i stood on the mall when barack obama was inaugurated. i listened to inaugural address about hope and change. is biracial president. if anybody had opportunity to bring us together it is him. he squandered it. that is the shame we live in, more divisive world than when president obama took overs specially in the inner cities of america. david: giving me a wrap. >> donald trump is going to change it. david: julie, last word. go ahead. >> do not normalize, steve bannon, not al sharpton, never official role in the white

house. david: al sharpton visiting 80 times to the white house had any meaning at all in our racial policies? >> i'm not a fan of al sharpton. al sharpton was not sitting outside the oval office writing policy. david: he is indeed doing exactly that, julie. don't be so naive. >>ee, my goodness, healed on. the fact lot of efforts by the federal government to take over law enforcement from civilian governments, from local governments, and that is going to stop with donald trump administration. >> good. david: that was started by the way by al sharpton, by the entire group of "black lives matter," people. that was their idea. they got the implemented by president through executive privilege. >> go ahead, brad. david: i will give you last word. >> look it is absolutely right. the president has federalized a lot of this and so it stands on his doorstep. donald trump will return the rule of law and rule of order to the local administrations which where it belongs. david: will be very interesting to see. quickly, julie, go ahead.

>> happy to see you guys endorsing sanctuary cities and localities now. david: we'll see what happens. >> very happy to hear you don't want federalization. david: you're right, julie. that is really tough question. but there are a lot of tough questions. luckily not my job. it is donald trump's job. >> god bless. he got the car keys. david: he got a god bless from julie. now to the markets. trump rally continues. dow closing at a brand flue high for the third straight session. adam shapiro is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. of course not all indexes were up, adam? >> no, s&p 500 was off what, a quarter point essentially flat. nasdaq fell 19 points. when you talk about the dow, david, it hit an all-time high during the trading session. they will take a record close. we could be heading towards dow 19,000. i say that with a capitol c on the could. there might be optimism. look what happened with warren buffett. we got recent regulatory filings with the sec he is going back into airlines.

he hated airlines since 1989. he had a bad experience what was known as us air. he bought shares in delta, american, united continental, united airlines. i guess he flies first class because he is optimistic about the airlines right now. you can see those stocks how they performed today. one other thing to keep in mind, he cut his holdings in walmart 68%. so, perhaps not very optimistic about the holiday sales season. 25% he cut his holdings in kinder morgan. finally, russell 2000, hit a record close. good day on wall street. david: russell 2000, a lot of small businesses represented in that. a lot of people think small business will do well under donald trump that will be his number one priority. after president-elect donald trump labeled hillary clinton a crook throughout his campaign and vowed to have a special prosecutor look into her server, trump kind of softened his tone when asked about it last night. take a listen. >> i'm going to think about it.

i feel that, i want to focus on jobs. i want to focus on health care. she did bad things. >> i know. but that special prosecutor? >> i don't want to hurt them. i don't want to hurt them. they're good people. i don't want to hurt them. david: gregg jarrett, former defense attorney, fox news joins us. gregg, wants to focus what he wants to, get the economy going and put this behind him. what do you think? >> well, i wrote a column. there are several avenues he could take, be a gracious statesman. move on. forgive and forget. the problem is he made some promises on the campaign trail. he adamantly told his supporters he was going to have his attorney general appoint a special prosecutor. so now, how can he not? he will be accused of being a liar or a panderer, if he doesn't do it. on other hand, if he does do it, he will be accused being petty and vindictive and seeking revenge.

so he created his own dilemma. david: somebody who might solve that for him, gregg, and this is just a thought from left field, is the current president of the united states. he is still president. he will be president until january 20th. >> right. david: couldn't he in the interrim, two-month period grant her a pardon and take it off the table for donald trump? >> a president can grant a pardon to anybody for any reason. you do not even have to be charged with a crime. remember richard nixon. the interesting thing is, hillary clinton has insisted all along she did nothing wrong. if she is grant ad pardon, for anything she did, she can reject that pardon. the u.s. supreme court says if you want your day in court, you can reject a pardon. in fact nixon thought about it. in the end he didn't do it, probably because he knew he was dead bang guilty. david: i bet she would take it, don't you, gregg? >> i think so. because part of her problem is, there are some different alleged crimes. david: right.

>> you have email. you have classified documents, the foundation and then you have perjury referral. he has obstruction of justice for destroying documents. the list goes on and on. david: i bet donald trump takes it off the table so he doesn't have to deal with it. >> sure. david: putting more money in the hands of businesses particularly small businesses, tax, regulations health care. what a trump administration could mean for entrepreneurs all over the country. zane tankel, highly opinion ad applebee's ceo, sounded off on what the president-elect's agenda means for small businesses around the country. ♪ ♪ ♪ how else do you think he gets around so fast? take the reins this holiday and get the mercedes-benz you've always wanted during the winter event.

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>> preparing for a trump presidency, a lot of small businesses anticipating major policy changes once donald trump takes office allowing them to keep more money in their pockets, here with us.

apple metro ceo, mike dunne. trump says he is primarily for small business, been dealing big huge. but do you believe him, first priority? >> i believe all his intends are there. it is who the team he puts together. i know kushner a little bit. he was big advisor thre threw this whole thing. thing. >> we know all of hissa adviser advisers. -- his advisors, they are big business owner. >> we cannot legislate a middle class, you have to develop and earn it and create jobs, and. they understand that. it is one thing to read it in a textbook.

i too went to work as you know. and i think that he surrounds himself looks like early on with the right kind of people. david: small businesses have a very small profit margin they just barely make it. if you add-on higher taxes, which this past administration has done. if you add more regulations, you are cutting down their profit margin to nothing, if it goes negative, they go out of business. >> it has been an abom a-- so, we're excited, i talked to other business people, i'm on the board of an energy company. so much like the marketeed it, booming up in business. starting a business is incentive. stay with us, breaking news that may come in, chief of los angeles police department will

not help deport immigrants under trump. this is interesting. you may have -- it is california, los angeles, california almost like a different country. they were solidly for hillary. do you think there will be a push back from the clinton supporters in places like new york and l.a.? >> sure, change is awkward, change is change, donald trump is a change agent, president parent compan trump is, we're seeing push back. set el down -- we have to settle down, see where it is, any change we're in the middle a revolution. >> you voted for president obama once, you voted for mitt romney second time, how about this time? >> i hesitate to tell you, i did not vote, i voted on the down column. >> for n neither one. >> they lacked what i wanted.

davidavid: are you more encouraged. >> the majority of rules will be my personal president, i got an e-mail from someone this morning who said will you work for him? >> "risk & reward" starts right now. >> she successfully mobilized a big chunk of the country to vote for him, he is going to win, he has won, he is going to be the president next. >> don't be afraid, we're going to bring our country back, but certainly don't be agreed i'm going to bring this country together. liz: moments ago, president obama held a press conference to disadministration to president-elect trump, after 5 days of demonstrations, today high school opportunities in states on both sides of the country, walked out of class to protest trump's elections. welcome to "risk & reward" i