. >> political analyst david gergen also with us now on the phone. so david, what's your reaction to this choice of reince priebus as chief of staff? >> it's a very promising choice. this chief of staff's job is probably the number two or number three most powerful job in washington these days because so much power is centralized in the presidency as it's changed. and putting someone in there who is going to send reassuring signals to the republican party, to many in the business community and elsewhere, and indeed, the people around the world about what kind of president trump intends to be. this is an important moment, an important choice. i can't stress for you enough that trump -- no one really knows what donald trump will be like. will he be like the campaigner who was often rambunctious, can say brash, often sexist things? or is he going to be someone to settle down and be more in the presidential mode? and there have been other promising signs that have come out, but i think this is the single most promising one about which way he's going to go

former presidential adviser david gergen also joins me. jeffrey lord, let me start with what you heard jim acosta talks about, jim sciutto's reporting.

former presidential adviser david gergen also joins me. jeffrey lord, let me start with what you heard jim acosta talks about, jim sciutto's reporting. okay. knife fights. describing it as a knife fight, in fact saying the confusion, lack of clarity over who's in charge between reince priebus, steve bannon and trump's son-in-law, jared kushner is buffoonery. >> as somebody who worked in the reagan administration, what ronald reagan did was appoint baker as chief of staff, i.e., reince priebus figure, who was very controversial in the day as counselor to the president. he was very conservative, very bannon like in that sense. viewed by the reagans as many people said, as a son. in other words, he had that personal relationship and was sort of in charge among others things with translating ronald and nancy reagan to the rest of the white house staff. >> you managed to make the reagan argument here, jeffrey lord, you always find a way. >> jared kushner would be michael beaver. >> i -- historian always, reagan administration, look, this is dic

david gergen? >> there's a serious conflict of interest and ways the presidents act are not entirely guided by laws but norms, expectations and standards and for him, i'm just -- i'm sorry but for him to sit there and have various kinds of conversations already as president-elect with foreign leaders that include conversations about his business dealings and they're clearly meant to advance his commercial interests violates the norm wes associate with the presidency so i think he's got a serious problem. he could get into a constitutional problem as frank suggested. there are clauses within the constitution. but already i think he's playing with fire now and his sewn supporters -- the "wall street journal," for example, has urged that he liquidate his holdings and put the assets that accrue to him, put those into a blind trust. that seems to me the cleanest solution of this. he cannot have his children running this, have them running around the white house on the phone with foreign leaders when he'

david gergen? >> yeah, i think it will be. donald trump endorsed it. i don't think he's going to make it a daily practice, but i think there are going to be instances in which we arrest people and they'll use these tactics and for -- and all the other things that follow through this. to add to douglas brinkley and carl's point, actually, i think one thing the republican party has to be aware of, as these folks come up for in the senate, with the republican party endorse these people, the republican party is going to own the responsibility for these picks. thk no longer say oh, they are trump people. when the party endorses and puts them in office, the republican party has ownership, and with the consequences to go with it, some of these picks are going to be -- senator sessions, case in point, they're going to be highly controversial, and the center of the political storm for a long time. >> carl, i want to talk do you about general flynn. he is said to be hot-headed, and was fired by the defense intelligence agency, the d.i.a. and has tweeted some ala

back with us, errol louis and david gergen. let's start with the trump video, what was said on camera. this promise of what he would do in his first days in office. what do you make of that? >> well, what you said in the beginning was right, what was not in the statement was as important as what was in the statement. that is, we heard nothing about repealing the affordable care act, so-called obamacare, on day one, and we heard nothing about a wall. the rest of it was sort of to be expected, no big surprises. but nothing as dramatic as one might have thought coming from donald trump. knowing him, he has a lot of drama ahead. >> it is interesting, david gergen is talking about drama right now. donald trump is a guy who during the campaign held rally after rally. he was always on camera, he was always calling in to shows of all kind, did press conferences up until a few months ago, did interviews up until a few months ago. now he's just completely disappeared. you know, he wins the election and for 13 days as president-elect, in

david gergen, you worked for four american presidents. i remember vividly, i was a young reporter back in 1980, 1980 when jimmy carter was still president of the united states, and all of a sudden, the republicans nominated ronald reagan to be their presidential nominee. they were high-fiving each other in the white house because a movie star, an actor, they thought it was going to be -- he's the president of the united states. they underestimated ronald reagan and you know what? i think it's fair to say the clinton team clearly underestimated donald trump. >> yes. using george w. bushisms, they misunderestimated him. look, in 1980, as you remember, there was a real sense in the country nobody could govern anymore. we were coming apart, things weren't working. here was this least qualified, most problematic figure coming in, this cowboy coming in from hollywood. everybody thought he's not going to do it. you know, then he took over and took over during the transition. if trump can take over the transition and guide it and be in charge of

please stay with me, david gergen. much more of our breaking news, president-elect trump offers role of national security advisor to lieutenant general michael flynn. >>> our breaking news tonight, the president-elect offering position of national security advisor to retied general michael flynn, a top aid during trump's campaign. i want to bring in phillip bump, selena zito, and david swerdlick with the "washington post." phillip, general flynn, controversial pick, what's your take? >> yeah, i think that one of the things we've seen as donald trump has been walking through this process to figure out what his administration looks like, is he remaining loyal to those who were loyal to him early on. he's been a very, very vocal advocate, someone would say probably too vocal, but a very vocal advocate for donald trump and one of the indications we've been looking to for donald trump to temple his gut instinct to some know who can be much more appealing to folks, this may suggest he's going the opposite direction. >> you'r

part of david gergen's point tonight was don't tell me this was an automatic document release. nothing can be automatic 60 days within the time of the envelope of an election. second, we've combed over what was released from mark rich at the end of bill clinton's presidency. it doesn't seem to be newsworthy, just to use the vernacular, it's out there. what has the campaign said about all of this, today's fbi story, if you will? >> reporter: brian, let me give you the official response and then i'll take you inside some of the conversations that i'm having. brian fallon, one of secretary clinton's top aides, tweeted this very strong reaction when it came out. absent a foia litigation deadline, this is odd. will fbi be posting docs on trump's housing discrimination in the '70s? the fact that this twitter account has largely been dormant for quite some time, as you pointed out, the way they're going to use this is to weave it into their broader strategy, really hitting director comey for raising this issue, this new probe over these newly found e-mails. as they have been arguing,

i want to bring in david gergen. talk the me and to our audience about the national security adviser. what role does he play among the president's advisors. how important is temperament here? >> temp earnment is important. the gold standard is brent skull croft, who served under george bush senior as national security adviser. the role then and since has been seen as honest broker. defense department, head of the joint chiefs of staff including the treasury department. the people who compose the national secured advisories to the president and then within the white house there is this coordinating group. and the national security adviser him or herself is the person who pulls all of these other people together. when you have a meeting of the so-called principipleprinciples various cabinet officers the national security runs the meeting. he coordinates, brings you through this agenda. he has aet mooing with the secretary of defense once a week and stays in close collaboration. it is a collaborative role. he would offe

i want to bring in cnn senior political analyst david gergen. david, we saw two separate realities emerge on twitter last night after the announcements of chief of staff and senior counselor. those republicans who praise reince priebus while also ignoring steve bannon's proximity to the oval office. speaker ryan, wisconsin governor scott walker, senator bob corker of tennessee, senator lindsey graham all praising the priebus pick. then republicans who went after bannon, such as chief strategist to republican governor john kasich, john weaver who wrote, quote, just to be clear, news media, the next president named a racist, anti-semite as the co-equal of the chief of staff. not normal. it's not just the liberals who are attacking this pick, david. >> absolutely. it's been well understood for a long time that steve bannon is a scorch the earth kind of guy, sort of burn the house down. some would think now we have bannon plus priebus, maybe only we'll burn half of the house down. we'll have to see. i think donald trump has a history of creating riva

what about, like, david gergen? know, david gergen would be on once, and then you'd see katrina pierson and you'd see jeffrey lord and... and then they would talk all over each other, and there was no -- and the same with the debates. if you'd have a two-min-- if you've agreed to a two-minute limit on your answer, your microphone should be turned off after two minutes. >> it'd be really fun being a host in that environment. let's talk about another huge race in the state -- pat toomey, as you pointed out. everybody thought katie mcginty would win. he eked out a 2% win over katie mcginty. what does this mean for him? is he kind of a kingmaker in the state? he's the republican casey wolfe for democrats. what does this mean for pennsylvania? >> yeah, well, that remains to be seen, 'cause pat was not seen as a trump supporter, and the trump people were gonna remember that. so the question is, how much influence does he have with the trump administration? but in washington, he's gonna be a force. he certainly is the king

cnn political analyst, carl bernstein, gloria borger, david gergen, and dana bash. david, i want to get your reaction first to president obama's remarks. you worked inside the white house for republicans and democrats. what do you make of president-elect trump reportedly wanting top secret security clearances for three of his children and son-in-law? >> well, anderson, there have been a number of instances when people who are primarily domestic in nature in the white house have gotten security clearances. normally the chief of staff, for example, gets security clearance. the counsel of the president i would imagine steve bannon would have a security clearance. when i was working in the clinton white house as counselor to the president, i got a security clearance, top secret. so i think that's -- there's a lot of precedent for that. there is no precedent that i know of for children or spouses or anything else to get top security clearances. i would -- it may be legal. i would argue that president trump ought too be prudent about this and maybe if he wants to have one

george washington university, maeve restin, cnn's national political supporter, clinton sweet and david gergen, former presidential adviser to nixon, ford, reagan and clinton and ryan lizza, washington correspondent for "the new yorker." david, i want to start with you. hillary clinton is about to give this big concession speech in just about 25 minutes or so. her closest aides will be in the audience. it won't be a huge affair. what do you suppose she will say? >> i think she will be extremely gracious. in 2008 she suffered a stinging defeat to barack obama and when she pulled out and conceded she was very gracious. that was a speech in which she famously talked about the glass ceiling, said we have at least put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling but she threw her full support behind him. she said in that speech in 2008 i have been in public service for four decades. this is now five decades. this is a woman who devoted her life to trying to make it a better country as she sees it, and i think that she's going to go out that way. she's going to go out on a high note and she will continue

media correspondent brian stelter, former advisor to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and clinton david gergen and domenico montanaro. david, i want to start with you. donald trump says he will no longer move forward with prosecuting hillary clinton. what do you make of it? >> well, i think we should salute him. i think it's a wise gesture and it's the right gesture. she's been beaten up a lot and i think it would have been seen as vindictive to go after her with a special prosecutor, especially after thorough investigation saying there's nothing here on which to prosecute. but, you know, we spent a lot of time recently, carol, knocking donald trump in one way or another. on this one i think he got it right and we ought to say so. >> i thought something that kellyanne conway said interesting about the decision not to prosecute hillary clinton, doe mminico. he would help hillary clinton heal. what does that mean? >> i think that donald trump believes that given that he won the electoral college, that he should have a kind of mandate to try to run the country and get some of his policy agenda th

political analyst david gergen who has been an advisor to four presidents and political commentator angela rye, used to be the executive director of the congressional black caucus. awesome to have you on. steve cortez, pam will l.ela br it up, the list of pros and cons for senator sessions as a.g., especially with the allegations of racism from decades ago. how would you defend him? >> i defend him thusly. if the best they can do is come up with something from 30 years ago, i think it shows this man has an incredible record of public service, attorney general, state of alabama, u.s. attorney and two decade long senator. number one, he denied them and i believe him, i take him at his word, he's shown himself to be a man of honor. secondly -- and this is important -- he didn't lose a full senate vote. he lost in committee. his nomination was killed there. two republicans crossed over and voted with the democrats, one of them, former senator arlen specter later recanted and said it was a mistake. i would also point out two of his current senate colleagues who are vociferously anti-trump, sena

david gergen, let me begin with you, on cnn.com someone wrote it like this in reference to the fbi and doj. "another casualty of 2016 has been the mystique of the fbi. the fact that it appears that not everyone is on the same page." >> the leaks have been horrendous. >> leaky. >> very leaky and there ought to be some way to put a stop to it. it ought to be a firing offense if you're caught leaking because the leaks are confusing, depressing and unfair to mrs. clinton but there have also been some leaks against mr. trump so both sides have reason to be rarngry but where is the leadership of the justice department and fbi to crack down on this? you have to put people under pressure and say you leak, you're gone. >> it's not just donald trump who has been saying the "i" word, impeachment, impeachment. >> and there's no basis for that. >> we've been doing the checking. there isn't that we've seen. so manu my question is with the cacophony from republicans on impeachment, of all people, you know, you have darrell issa who is essentially saying to all these calls of "lock her up" to put in t

that goes with the territory. >> david gergen, thanks as always. all right.'s head to berlin. 30 minutes from now president obama and angela merkel will be holding a press conference. this is the second leg of obama's last trip as president at least overseas. we will be taking this live when it begins. >>> at least 21 people are dead after the syrian air force continued its bombing of rebel-held aleppo for a third straight day. more than 40 air strikes targeted the city. trapping people beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings. the bombings come after nearly three weeks of a relative lull in attacks. cnn's will ripley is following the story live in turkey. hi, will. >> reporter: hi, carol. since this bombing campaign by the syrian regime has resumed, just in east aleppo, more than 100 people have died, dozens more have been injured. the only remaining pediatric hospital along with another major hospital and blood bank were hit, affecting the ability to service literally tens of thousands of patients and deliver hundreds of babies and deliver hundreds of bags

"outfront" david gergen, mark preston, dana bash. kayleigh mcenany. bakari sellers. paris stenar the and george cord anyway. thanks all for being with me. obviously at this point the electoral, that is over. but that is still a victory for her to be able to say she has new hampshire. >> right. >> for her supporters. i heard a yes -- >> she lost though. the bottom line is she's lost twice and she's got nowhere to go from this. to maria's point though they did pick up a senate seat in new hampshire which is critical. democrats are going to do have a lot of trouble in congress going into 2018 where the odds are stacked against them. no matter what happens in the trump presidency in the next couple of years, democrats have an uphill battle but the fact of the matter she wasn't able to excite her base in key states. so. >> and we're going to talk much more with a definitive electoral college win. the popular vote right now still indicating that she'll have that. that split we've only seen once this century with al gore. dow futures plunging last night. traders outside of

back with me ash i fleisher, kerstin flowers and david gergen.estion is what will trump's priorities be in office. listen to what he said on his d.c. tour. >> a lot of priorities. >> what are the top three? >> people will be very happy. >> we have a lot. we're going to look strongly into immigration, and we're going to look at the border. very important. >> he's promised on day one to repeal obamacare and replace it with something terrific. is that right place to start, ari? >> well, it is, don. when you become the president and you ran on certain promises and especially for the people who support you, you need to do what you said. if you're not going to do what you said you're going to danger your entire presidency. the hardest part about being repealing obamacare. that's a one sentence piece of legislation, but republicans are going to need to replace it and i would not advise republicans to repeal it without having the replacement follow at the same time or at least by the same effective date. but the other things he needs to do -- and i'm for

do we have david gergen with us as well? okay. we don't have david gergen with us. i thought we might. matt lewis, in terms of the scope of this plan to begin with on day one, how ambitious is this? >> well, i thought it was somewhat reserved. obviously it hits his core messaging around nationalism, make america great again, get manufacturing going here again. part of that is rolling back, you know, onerous regulations, you know, there's a book by robert hineland, "the moon is a harsh mistress" there's a whole house of congress devoted to canceling bad laws and there's a regulation that donald -- there's something donald trump is actually proposing that every new regulation they will roll back two previous regulations. so this is something that could spur the economy. i don't think it was the most charismatic video i've ever seen, but, you know, this is a guy who's telling the american people basically what's consistent with what he ran on, what he was elected on. >> but erroll, it's not tax cuts, it's not rolling back obamacare, it's not building a wall, not deport

with me now dana bash, david gergen. mary kat ron hammond and washington bureau chief of "usa today" who can put her 10th campaign in the history books. good morning everyone, i know everybody is bleary eyed. we've all stayed up too late. some people are enthralled by the news today and are so excited. others are just working through it. david gergen, let me turn to best and the president. and all have been gracious and i think they've seat good tone for opening days, but everybody knows there are a lot of big fights coming. a lot of big fights. >> on the tremendous victory, dana bash, let me turn to you. you were up in the wee hours on tv working through all of this, this history that was made and one thing i think it's important pointing out is that through this election cycle, donald trump crushed two political dynasties in the bush family and the clintons. >> that's a really interesting point and a great way to put it, brooke. i didn't think of it that specifically but you're exactly right. in fact, somebody was joki

fareed zakaria, thanks, we're back with the panel, john king, david axelrod, david gergen, dana bash, van jones, kayleigh mcenany. van, you talked a lot of young people out there, that gentleman earlier explaining his position very, very well. >> yeah, the structure of this is going to be the far left in small numbers but loud and sometimes getting a lot of attention but small and bernie sanders and black lives matter. that's the structure of what you could call an anti-trump resistance in the streets that will play itself out. >> does it burn itself out? >> it's going to get cold and finals are coming. [ laughter ] >> because he was saying he wanted to come out because he woke up feeling fear and he wanted to get rid of it. >> the most important thing i want people to hear is fear. he said the word fear four or five or six times. i don't think people understand -- it's an inkblot test, i agree. trump said some things that were good and some things that were off the cuff but those things that were off the cuff landed like a bomb. >> to quote one of my favorite democrats, the only thin

said that it happened, even though she had chosen not to speak last night. >> so is it strange david gergen that hillary clinton chose not to speak last night and won't speak until later this morning? >> well, it caused some comment, but i think it would have been better had she come out last night. she could have done the same thing john podesta did, give a brief statement, listen you've all been waiting here a long time, i'm sorry to have kept you, the votes are being counted let's talk again in the morning. i think that would have been a better way to do it. i think she should get some slack on this. i'm sure it was a devastating blow to her to start with. it was also extremely late at night. and this morning's going to be fine. >> so i want to post this question to you because you've been around a long time, served under four presidents, put this election into context for us. how -- you know, how historic this really is for our country? >> well i think there are two things about it that make -- you know, that really give us pause this morning. the first, of course, was swrust the fact t

and david gergen, who's adviser to four presidents including reagan and clinton. jackie, let me start with you. trump releasing a video outlining his agenda for day one. i saw him today. he is doing this his own way, not trying to go through the media, do press conferences. things like that. he's doing it very differently. not even doing a rally. straight to the camera talking about his priorities. >> it reminded me of what he used to do when he use to sit at his desk and talk about things before he was even thinking of running. this is a medium that donald trump is very comfortable with. that's what he seems to be going with. the beginning of this -- of this whole process. things that make him comfortable. he's at trump tower. he's in bedminster, keeping everything close to vest. we don't know the results until he decides to tell us. hopefully this isn't an indication of how the rest of trump administration is going to be, a little more open, a lot more open. as you said, there really is nothing to base any of this on. >> david gergen, this is the thing, when you

us to discuss, cnn political reporter nia-malika henderson, elise labat, david fahrenthold and david gergenand historian professor at princeton university, julian zelzer. also, patrick healey. you had to wait so long for your introduction -- we just spoke to senator lindsey graham of south carolina, and were talking about the fact the governor of south carolina, governor haley, is at trump tower today for meetings. this is a really interesting meeting. she was critical of donald trump during the primaries. donald trump was critical of her. now we are hearing she could be up for secretary of state. how real is this? you have some reporting. >> right. this is a real meeting. what trump advisers say is that he very much wants to get a feel for her and see if she's willing to be a team player, willing very much to follow his lead, if she was secretary of state, for instance, how she would work with mike flynn if he was national security adviser. but a couple of -- one adviser particularly made a cautious note. this adviser said not sure how president-elect trump is going to feel about governor

what david gergen was saying, also, domestic staff often gets clearance. but children who are not on the payroll but rather are dealing financially with their own business, that's another question. just the definition of secret is something that could cause, "serious damage to national security." scary stuff. >> this also belongs in a blind trust. i think we ought to get that out there right away. >> right. although that's not a legal requirement. >> it's not. >> a businessman is not putting these huge holdings into a blind trust on its face is wrong. >> we have a lot more on that tonight as well. gloria, i mean, to phil mudd's point which is, you know, if these are some of his top advisers, he wants to be able to discuss information with them. to you, is that a conflict or is it the fact they're also involved, they're running his business? >> well, first of all, i think it's a clear conflict if they are running his business. usually this type of top secret clearance is given because of the job you have in the administration, as david was pointing out earl

(david gergen, democrats, especially, who will question the fairness of the current system of the electoral college." the electoral college was created before there was a popular vote. and despite outcries.. many analysts don't believe the system will change any time soon. to get rid of the electoral college.. congress would have to pass a constitutional amendment.. then 38 states would have to ratify it. hillary clinton is off--- after a tough loss. she says she just wants to move forward... (hillary clinton/(d) former presidential nominee) "i still believe as deeply as i ever have that if we stand together and work together with respect for our differences, strength in our convictions and love for this nation, our best days are still ahead of us." during her concession speech.. "little girls".. telling them they are valuable.. and that they can achieve their goals.. ohh to be a fly on the wall in the white house today... president obama is meeting with president elect trump... obama says trump won... fair and square... so america needs to support him. (president obama) "we're not democrat

david gergen, you see that map. steep path for trump. he needs michigan but he also needs florida and north carolina, new hampshire. he needs a lot of states that right now in the most recent polls he's down in. >> it looks like mission impossible from a distance, but if you really think about what happened in one of those states earlier this year, in the primary in michigan, you know, experts said that hillary had a 99% chance of winning that democratic primary against bernie sanders. guess who won? bernie sanders. so you can't count michigan out. and you can't count out some of these other states. i think we have a very good sense of which direction it's likely to go. until we see the votes, this is such a strange year. who would have imagined that donald trump would even be here the night before this election? >> and patrick, you know, and they both have been, you know, flanking the country. but donald trump today obviously with fewer surrogates, five states, florida, north carolina, pennsylvania, michigan. that says everything you ne

did you expect this, david gerg gergen? >> no, we had an unprecedented election yesterday and now we've got an unprecedented protest. i think of who the very strikes ing that in both cases, we had a massive protest vote yesterday that brought the offensive of the presidency to donald trump and now we're having the county protest. this is a very divide the country. mr. trump will not have a honeymoon and we're in for some rough times ahead. it's going to take an enormous amount of effort on his part, as well as others to come to this with good will because anxiety and the fear is deep. it's beyond anything i've ever seen in a presidential election, don, i must tell you. i have not known people to say listen, i'm desperately anxious, i do need to move, are they going to deport my family, am i going to lose my healthcare. there are a lot of people on the losing side who are extremely unhappy tonight. >> gloria borger, this is what many people have been talking about, the fear, i think our country is used to tacking left to rig

. >> and david gergen, i think one of the things that had to have been motivating president obama had to have been, what will my words mean and how will they affect the country. millions of americans are scared of what a trump adminisation might mean for that. what would you advise president obama to do? i assume what he did. sdplz i thought he and he would it hope echld very wishes him well and that he hopes. it was a velvet glove with a steel fist inside. this is a man who is extremely proud of his own administration, does feel like he accomplished a lot, and he wants to make it clear that he has strong, sharp differences so when protect starts to want and president obama served notice that he's not going to walk off the world stage and just let all these things be ripped apart. he will willingly engage in conversation and argument to convince the american people it is not wise to do these things. you're going to destabilize the world. he's going to be going and facing a group of europeans when he gets to europe in the next 24 or 36 hours that's very, very skeptical. i was surprised

bush, david gergen, an adviser to four presiden presidents, and ron meacham. let's hash out this conversation right now. what's your take on whether donald trump's children should be granted top security clearance? >> that gives me a lot of pause, don. i don't understand why. i understand they're advisers to the president-elect. and that's fine and good. you have to make a sharp line when you enter into the government. particularly when you deal with the most important secrets, only the people who need to know should know what the secrets are. if his children are not working in full time positions, they should not have access to clearance. >> is there any precedence for this? >> i don't think so. there may be something i'm not aware of, but most presidents manage to keep -- particularly since president kennedy, managed to keep this compartmentalized. they keep family close, and informal advisers close, but the actual flow of classified information is something that's institutionalized. david would know well. >> do you think this is likely to happen, especially

i had an early phone call like 6:30 in the i sound like david gergen. this would be the oddest imitation of all time. >> jimmy: okay, all right. >> but i saw him for months on cnn. he's probably the smartest of all people who cover everything. hillary clinton has to make up her mind [ laughter ] i mean, she has to make that speech of her life tonight. i believe that she will do that. secretary clinton is a very smart woman. she surrounded herself with time of her life. >> jimmy: that's good. that's very good. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, only about 800 people got it, but they loved it. >> then i bit my lip this morning. i was talking out the side of my mouth. oh, my god, i sound like david axelrod. and i'm not coming out and being like david frey or anything. but the democrats need a consensus of who they want to be. >> jimmy: that's very good, yeah. i feel like i'm reliving the election. >> i'm ne thanksgiving? >> they're all coming. >> jimmy: the whole family's coming? >> yeah. 30 of them. >> jimmy: 30 of them. will you cook? >> yeah, we do everyth

i appreciate that, i want to bring in david gergen, cnn's political analyst, rebecca byrd. let's talk about these names being floated. mitt romney for secretary of state, general mattis for defense secretary. gabbert meeting with trump. are we seeing signs trump may go beyond loyalists? >> we may. let's see how it comes out with mitt romney versus rudy giuliani, i think that's going to be a major test. it will be a surprise to me if he offers it to mitt romney. it will be a bigger surprise if mitt romney accepts. general mattis would be an excellent choice for him. i talked to a number of people who have been in the defense arena. they have enormous respect for him. he's seen as not a loyalist, but will become a loyalist. >> is it striking to you at this point, it's been all older white men, and how important is diversity to have a diverse cabinet? >> i'm sorry? i'm not sure where that was directed. >> it was you, david about. >> okay. well, i fit the old white guy category. the -- listen, i -- i think it's extraordinarily important to have a diverse cabinet, what we know f

. >> david gergen, i want to bring you in. director comey said he won't make any clarifications or giving any updates. do you think he should? >> yes, i do think he should give clarifications and updates before the election. i think it's urgent that he do that. i have respectful differences with fareed where we started on this. he is right it's tradition that the fbi director usually stays out. there are exceptions, but in this case, had they had said we are not going to prosecute, especially after the attorney general met privately with bill clinton there was widespread skepticism whether it was a fair and impartial decision. the supreme court doesn't hand down decisions, say yes or no. it adds an opinion so you under the context and why the decision was made the way it was. i thought director comey did the right thing when he explained why he and not and why the fbi did not recommend prosecution. i also thought he was cornered in this particular situation with huma abedin's laptop in discovering these e-mails that had he not

. >> david gergen? >> i agree with what fareed just said it goes back to the watergate era, and there was a time in the clinton years, when you felt every other cabinet officer had a special prosecutor on his or her tail. it was awful, i sort of felt that in the obama years, which are remarkably scandal free, we got away from this trend toward special prosecutors and criminalizing everything, now we're getting back into it. and nothing has been more objectionable than these cries by donald trump if he's president, he's going to lock up hillary clinton, all these cries about lock her up. i think we're leading down a bad path. it's going to make it much more difficult for her to govern. at the end of the day, we need a president who can govern effectively. >> when we come back, why do some democrats call the fbi's james comey, public enemy number one. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your offi