amy: president-elect trump gives us a first look at his policy priorities, while democrats decide who will lead the party moving forward. i'm amy walker, tonight on "washington week" -- >> my agenda will be based on a simple core principle -- putting america first. amy: the president-elect lays outs his plan to turn campaign promises into white house pirates -- priorities, including immigration reform. , a comprehensive national security plan and a stop to the t.p.p. >> i'm going to issue a notification of intent to withgraduate from the transpacific partnership, a potential disaster for our

country. amy: but questions remain about possible conflicts of interests between trump's business operations and his duties as commander in chief. we take you inside the trump transition process where loyal allies, former rivals and possibly -- possible some family members are viing to join the new administration. >> which side are you on? amy: bernie sanders offers democrats a reality check about party politics and a plan to better connect with the middle class and nancy pelosi faces a challenge for his leadership in the house. joining us, matea gold of the "washington post," joshua green of bloomberg politics, ashley fox of "the new york times" and -- ashley parker of thetimes and kristina peterson of the "wall street journal." >> this is "washington week." funding is provided by --

additional funding the provide i -- provided by the x.q. institute, newman's own foundation, donating all proceeds to charity and nourishing the common good. the ford foundation, the ethics excellence and journalism foundation. the ewen foundation, committed to bridging communities and the

cooperation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once begin from washington, amy walker. amy: good evening. imagine that thanksgiving dinner for many americans included a political food fight of sorts about the election. tonight we're going to use our indoor voices to talk about the new normal surrounding presidential politics. president-elect trump spent the week interviewing candidates for his cab net. like new jersey governor chris christie, former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and also fierce critics, including rick perry. at least one democrat, congresswoman gabbert, a combat veteran from hawaii met with mr. trump behind closed doors. before we pick about the people the president-elect has picked to join his team.

let's talk about some can yous -- issues that trump backed away from. he called climate change a hoax and said waterboarding was an effective interrogation tool. now he's backed away from a lot of the things he said on the campaign trail. what do you think is going on here? >> he sure did. i think donald trump is always trying to win over the people directly in front of him in the room he's in he understands the "new york times," it's one of the papers he reads every morning and i think this when we went into a room filled with not just "new york times" reporters but columnists and reporters that perhaps skew more liberal, he was trying to win him over and the other thing you know about donald trump is that whatever he says, he deeply believes in that moment. everything he said, he said on the campaign trail and when he

said it he 100% believed it to be true and in that media room, he also, in that moment on tuesday afternoon in the "new york times" also meant it. amy: so how are americans supposed to know which one of these views is going to be the one that holds as president? >> that's the tricky part of donald trump and i think that's something some voters were a little worried about. and even some of his own advisors. they were just like it's up to mr. trump or now president-elect trump and i think it's an open question who he's surrounded with at that moment he's making those decisions. amy: and josh, one of the things we heard a lot from on the trail was the chant of "lock her up and now he also in this interview said he's not interested in pursuing any charges against hillary clinton is. there going to be a backlash from the people who had been supporting this for a while? >> doesn't seem to be a big backlash yet.

the advisors around trump says it doesn't make any sense to pursue this further. he soundly defeated hillary. he's the alpha male and we need to focus on other battles. it was interesting. if you look at the reaction among conservatives, breitbart news, which has been the organ of trumpism throughout the campaign ran a headline that said promises broken and trump said he will not prosecute hillary clinton so it's certainly been noticed among the most extreme elements of the conservative base. offensive kristina, you spend a lot of time on capitol hill. there are also some things missing from president-elect trump, even in the video we saw. we didn't hear a lot about building a wall or some of the other prescriptions he made on the campaign trail. what do you think republicans on the hill are hearing when they see him either go back or not mention some of these campaign promises? kristina: right but there are

many kinds of republicans on the hill. to the extent he backs away from his boldest campaign pledges, that may make life easier for some of the .comleaders like house speaker paul ryan, majority leader mitchell mcconnell who don't necessarily want to be building a wall but there are hardline conservatives, particularly in the house, who are really going to be upset if he doesn't. i think they're willing to give him leeway. that i want to see a tough border enforcement bill but it doesn'ts the -- necessarily need to be a physical thing on the boarder. there's a lot of appetite to bring it up themselves. it may not be the first thing because there's a lot of appetite to repeal and replace the health care law but it's going to be right up there. amy: he did say in this meeting republicans love me now. they didn't always. so could they fall out of love once again with him? >> absolutely. you do see some skepticism on

foreign policy, for instance. but we are in that hundred my moon period on the history

i'm sure that kind of party unity can't go on for that long. amy: there is controversy surrounding trump's international businesses. it operates in many countries. mr. trump said the laws were totally on my side and that a president can't have a conflict of interests. is that true, the president can't have a conflict of interests? this looks pretty conflicty to meche. >> there are a couple of different issues at play. he is right. congress exered the president and the vice president from conflict of interests laws. the reason is, the president has so much power and authority, it would be very difficult to create some kind of wall around his or her interests that that would not conflicts with something that had to do with policy but there are several legal and ethical issues that can come into play. the president is still subject to anti-bribery laws and some believe that if the president brings up a business interest as part of a discussion with a governmental issue from from other country, that could be seen as deliverying a bribe. here's a little known clause that actually speaks directly to something that could impact president trump, which is that a company owned by the president cannot accept something from a governmental official or a company controlled by a foreign government or a foreign

government official. he has a lot of businesses that have dealings with foreign countries. it's also the issue of ethics and perception. there's going to be a lot of scrutiny about whether he is mixing his own business empire with his governmental actions. amy: and where his family fits into this. because we have gerald kushner, his son-in-law, actively involved in this campaign and his daughter ivanka who's been on the campaign trale with him and now sitting in on meetings with foreign leaders. ashley: it's hard to imagine him disentangling his family from government and business. his entire campaign has been so wrapped new this. i remember the first time i heard jared kushner mentioned. i thought what is this son-in-law who doesn't have any exercise in any of this doing?

you can't imagine, and especially someone like ivanka. she was the one most concerned and aware of how the trump depain was hurting the trump brand and her brand personally. what i'm hearing is that she now realizes she has this platform and she's going to use it to pursue it almost the way the first lady would and use it to further her campaign issues. working moms. she's definitely going to be a player. privately to her father and publicly on the issues she really cares about. offensive what can the folks on capitol hill do. they have sort of a watchdog role and do you expect to see them filling that role? >> i think we expected to see republicans playing a big watchdog role when the assumption was hillary clinton would win. so it is changing a little bit.

republicans, a few have said they don't want to let the investigations go on clinton and the email server investigation. jason chavez has said in the house he may look into that. but a lot are talking about the business conflict, whether kushner should may any role, if that violates nepotism rules. they feel they have a toehold by keeping the spotlight on any potential conflicts of interest. amy: we have so much to cover on that but we're going to talk about the people that the president-elect has surrounded himself with, the transition team and we've seen the parade of people going in and out of trump tower, in and out of his golf course in new jersey. it looks and feels a little bit like "the apprentice" when people are coming and going.

sit as misch mark and random as it seems? joshua: i think it is. it's almost like they're walking down a runway auditioning for these different jobs and if you talk to trump officials, they'll tell new candor and off the record, look, we weren't necessarily prepared to win the presidency and we didn't really have a transition plan ready to go in the way that hillary clinton would have. but there is a real debate going on in trump world and i think there are two competing interests. on the one hand, trump very much wants to reward the loyalists who stood by him through all the scandals and the outrage and hat's why you hear people like rudy giuliani or flynn being talked about. on the other hand, people like steve bannon, his senior advisor who want trump to appoint people in a way that will signal to americans this isn't your ordinary republican president

installing donors and friendly conservatives so you have people like michelle reed considered for secretary of education. people like gabbert who the trump folks consider democratic stars and fighter. that's that -- fights. brand that trump wants to bring into his fold so it's not impossible a democrat may be brought in to a high level position. offensive he disavowed these breitbart comments aimed at him but it's hard to separate that because of the cnn items. tell us about steve bannon. whether or not he's going to continue to be a lightning rod for the foreseeable future. >> steve bannon has a fascinating background. he comes from a very elite institutions in this country. he went to harvard business

school. he had a turn on wall street, work frgd goldman sachs. he was an investment banker with his own boutique investment bank in hollywood and was an investor in film productions. he was the director and writer of a lot of conservative movies and has really emerged as one of .he cannyists strategists he's gotten caught up in this controversy about whether that populism serves more strident brand of zeno phobia, even white supremacy because he embraced the term outright. he said before trump's campaign, that he saw breitbart news, which he was running as chairman for the africa lt right. there's no question that people who have been drawn to that cause and movement have come from some of these backgrounds

where there are touting white supremacy and the need for an either no nationalism. that's something that bannon himself has said that he disavowed but we did a deep dive looking at some of his statements. he's often shown a tendency to dismiss influence of these people and say they're going to wash out over time, that's one of the phrases he uses. that i think is what makes people nervous. the fact he hasn't firmly denied some of these elements. if you look at bannon's background, one of the interesting things about this fight is that there have been no republican defenders who have come out and said wait a minute, i know steve banen and i trust him. mitch mcconnell literally just went silent in front of cameras when asked oar -- about steve

bannon. one of the reasons is that breitbart is aggressive in attacking establishment republicans and in turn those establishment republicans feel no obligation. and trump himself was the one who came out and said i don't like this alt right stuff but i think steve is a solid guy. broughthing that's been up is bannon already feuding internally with reince breeb us and where will the power center be? one thing will be to watch if something happens that bannon doesn't like, the white house may put on a good public show and everyone will turn to does he and ask what really think? >> someone likened it to the portrait of dorin gray. you may not be able to see it in the white house but if you look

at breitbart, you'll see the ravage of what's going on in the trump administration. amy: we also have to talk about the democrats for a little bit. the republicans are obviously the main event be you the democrats are having sort of their own identity crisis now and some intraparty power struggles. senator bernie sanders is pulling democrats to pull away from identity public. >> i believe the democratic party has got to be firmly on the side of working families taking on the big money interests who today to a very significant degree control our economic and political life. offensive josh, you sat down with senator sanders this week. what's his core edge? josh: i was at a breakfast with reporters and bernie sanders last week and sanders was asked what is your critique of the campaign? the game among reporters is trying to get him to say. i could have won and hillary

miss -- messed up. but if you look at the vote result, it's clear the democrats have lost white working class voters and what is your message to try to bring them back? his answer didn't differ a whole lot from what he said on the campaign. he walked -- talked about minimum wage but there wasn't a specific message aimed at white working class men of the sort who fled the party especially in last election. democrats are going to have to and do they stick with the hillary clinton/barack obama plan of assembling this coalition of the rising groups of young people of minorities or push more in the direction of where bernie sanders and elizabeth warren would like to go, a more populous economic message that in theory ought to be able to appeal to white working class voters who touch -- turned to trump. amy: we're seeing that played

out at the house level. ryan coming out announcing this week that he's challenging nancy pelosi. tell us about what his chances are to do this and then what is he saying about whether the -- where the party at least on the house side goes forward? >> i think he's considered something of a long shot. nancy pelosi has been the leader of house democrats for almost 14 years. she is a fundraising powerhouse and a formidable leader and a lot of people have lined up behind her already but tim ryan is positioning himself as someone from the rust belt who could connect with white working class voters and deliver a sharper economic message. that's something that we've seen on the senate side too. zphart charles schumer, the new senate democratic leader is saying we need to address these concerns from white working class americans that we are being unfairly treated, that the system is rigged against them

with a bolder economic message. i don't think democrats have figured out the identity policy but they're saying let's expand leadership and include everyone. but if you have 10 people in leadership and 48 democrats, someone is still going to have to make the final decision. >> and they did elevate bernie sanders now into a leadership position. >> and joe mansion. >> they haven't confronted where we go now. >> the real question at its heart is what is the agenda the party is getting behind? they seem incredibly focused right now on the mechanics and the messaging. democratic donors who gooptered here in washington were taking stock, stunned. where do we go from here? this message they've been invested in. let's get latinos and women out. coming to terms and reckoning with the fact that they need to

have an agenda that's compelling before they attach mechanic turkeys that. >> they have new leadership on the senate side too. senator chuck schumer very different from outgoing senator harry reid. schumer wants to make deals. not quite as caustic. doesn't rumble up republicans quite as hashly as reid did. >> all this talk about president trump has the senate and the house but one of the real rhythms to watch is going to be between donald trump and chuck schumer. they're both stated deal makers and schumer's people didn't expect that result but he immediately took stock of it. it's a chessboard for him. he looked at the new set of pieces. the one thing they see and recognize in trump, he has the desire to get stuff done and i think they think there will be opportunities for them to team up and do deals.

amy: do you think there's a price to pay for democrats who go along with trump in the way that republicans paid the price if they looked like they were supporting obama or come promising in any way? >> one of the interesting things in the democrat senate, the moderate democrats are the ones up for re-election in 201. they're the ones republicans are going to be courting but also the ones that mitch mcconnell may not want to give legislative victories too so that could be a tug of war. amy: and the other piece of the story, of course, is what does paul ryan do and what is his role now? he seems to have been diminished somewhat. do we see the fight going on on the republican side as well over eficit spending, entitlements, trailed or is this healed by the

win? >> i think it's a since of biding a little bit of time. one thing, the call for conservatives to deal with debt seems to have quieted for now. that is not a top priority we've heard out of president-elect trump but ryan has told associates he is very hopeful that he believes he can get this agenda pushed through. he want to do some kind of entitlement reform. so i do think that they are bullish on getting pieces of the agenda through. the wild card is sort of what ashley mentioned, which trump is going to be in the white house. the trump who's going to do a deal with schumer or mcconnell? amy: i would love to do more but we do have to wrap it up and say that is it for this week but i do want to pause and say on behalf of the "washington week" family, thank you to everyone who sent a condolence card or a note or an email to gwen ifill's family or to the staff.

your thoughtfulness is appreciated more than you can know. our conversation will continue online. washington week extra, where we'll tell you about the frump town -- foundation tech problems. you can find that at ww.pbs.org/ washington week. i'm amy walker. good night. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> x.q. institute.

>> additional funding is rovided by boeing. newman's own foundation, donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. the ford days. cue and patricia you owen, committed to bridging cultural diverages in our communities, the cooperation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

when a judge said, punishable by death, i lost it. >> they're moving. funny. and surprising. inmates perform their own stories. >> when you're in prison for so long, you get used to one costume and it's blue. >> for one of the toughest audiences anywhere. >> we all look like smurfs in here. >> hello, and welcome. i'm swee vu. a kqed