i'm sorry, jim acosta. jim sciutto is reporting on the knife fight which i'm going to get to in a moment. with me now, jeffrey lord who supported donald trump, and former clinton white house aide, keith boykin who supported hillary clinton. 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.

up first, let's go to jim acosta. jim, so far in this transition, the trump and obama camps seem to be sticking to their scripts. >> reporter: so far, that's right. white house officials here toll me that their views have not changed on donald trump. but senior administration officials from the president on down are devoting their final weeks in office to ensuring this smooth transition of pow tore the incoming trump administration, and that was very much the spirit in the air here at the white house, as the president and the president elect came face to face. it was an image designed to calm a nervous world. the president and the president elect brush off the political battlefield, sitting together in the oval office, calling on a divided nation to come together. >> most of all, i want to emphasize to you, mr. president elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed, the country succeeds. >> reporter: donald trump offered his own display of restraint and respec

let's bring in jim acosta with the latest on the transition at trump tower in new york city. >> reporter: later on today, john and christine, mike pence will be here to meet with transition officials to begin the process of narrowing down the names filling the most important cabinet positions in the trump administration. among names talked about rudy giuliani for secretary of state and alabama senator jeff sessions for attorney general. top trump officials are defending the selection of steve bannon and kellyanne conway says bannon will make an excellent chief strategist. >> i worked close with bannon. he has been the general of the campaign. you need to look at the full resume. he has a harvard business degree. he has success in entertainment and he was a goldman sachs managing partner. >> reporter: the opposition to bannon is building. house democrats circulating a letter using trump's words against him calling to unify the country and asking how bannon fits into the picture. >> jim acosta, thank you. the issue is steve bannon as chief strategist. the president-elect trump is strongly

that is what an official in the trump transition effort tells cnn's jim acosta. it means kushner, daughter ivanka and sons donald jr. and eric may be privy to the country's deepest secrets. it might not be utterly unprecedented. however, like everything we've seen since election night, it's not business as usual. tonight on top of that, there's uproar over trump's choice of his outspoken, controversial campaign strategist for top white house job as well as late new reporting on the larger transition which one source describes as a knife fight. that and some words of advice from president obama today. >>> plus, we're following anti-trump protesters taking to the streets again. this evening. those are live pictures from downtown seattle. people protesting in tucson, arizona, as well. we'll bring you late developments there. >>> we begin on the breaking news on the security clearances. joining us, cnn counterterrorism analyst, former cia and fbi official philip mudd. trump requesting the clearance for his kids, does that surprise you? >> it does. we need to take a s

i'm sorry, jim acosta. jim sciutto is reporting on the knife fight which i'm going to get to in a moment. with me now, jeffrey lord who supported donald trump, and former clinton white house aide, keith boykin who supported hillary clinton. 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

jim acosta, thanks, jim. team trump crisscrossing the country today.nning mate mike pence will be campaigning in michigan, north carolina and florida. trump's sons also will be making the case for their father with donald j. campaigning in arizona and new mexico and eric trump scheduled to make several stops in michigan. >> eric trump already said some stuff that got a lot of attention. he suggested former ku klux klan leader david duke should be shot. eric trump was on a denver radio station thursday. the interviewer actually suggested that david duke, who is running for senate in louisiana, deserves a bullet to the head. listen to eric trump's response. >>> if i said exactly what you said i'd get killed for it, but i think -- i think i'll say it anyway. the guy does deserve a bullet. i mean these aren't good people. these are horrible people. >> all right. david duke, who by the way endorsed donald trump although the trump campaign doesn't want his endorsement. duke was asked to respond to eric trump's comment. all he would say to cnn is, that's a go

john and christine. >> jim acosta for us.ing the trump campaign is denouncing an official show of support from the official newspaper of the kkk. look at this front page of the paper called "the crusader." they borrow the campaign slowingen of make american great again. they say the way to achieve that greatness is become a white, christian republic. the trump campaign said this paper is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of americans uniting behind our campaign. >> president obama heads to north carolina today to campaign for hillary clinton. the president is now hitting on a new theme on the campaign trail. in ohio he challenged men to think about what he considers the double standard that hillary clinton faces as a candidate. >> you've got the look inside yourself and ask yourself, if you're having problems with this stuff, how much of it is, you know, we're just not used to it. so that, you know, like -- you know, when -- when a guy's ambitious and out in the public arena and working hard, wel

jim acosta is also standing by at the white house. we know mr. has had a contentious relationship with the press and it kind of makes you wonder what the relationship will be like come january, jim. >> reporter: yeah. yeah, carol, the way i have been describing it, it's sort of like we discovered a new species in the animal kingdom. we do not know what kind of president donald trump will be. what we have to go off of if it's what we saw during the campaign, what we saw during the campaign when it comes to his relationship with the news media, i witnessed it first-hand, he referred to the news media as the disgusting media, dishonest media, he called us crooks and thieves and liars and scum and so on. there were reporters covering his campaign who were banned from his rallies, periodically there were reporters i know from "the washington post" and buzzfeed who were simply turned away at times during this election. he had something of a press enemies list and eventually cooler heads prevailed inside the campaign and mr. trump relented and they star

let's start the hour with jim acosta.mp pounding the pavement in the last days leading up to the election. what did he have to say about his opponent tonight? >> reporter: yeah, anderson, we saw a side of donald trump we don't normally see out on the campaign trail. message discipline. he stayed on the attack, on hillary clinton's e-mail saga and even went of her campaign manager, john podesta, whose e-mails were hacked and released by the website, wikileaks. trump using one of his catchphrases from his days as a celebrity on "the apprentice." here's what he had to

jim acosta is work thing part of the story for us. a lot of outrage for us over bannon's appointment. what's the latest? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. first of all, we should point out what we're hearing from a transition source that donald trump has requested top secret security clearances for his adult children and son-in-law, jared cushner, who is an important adviser. as for steve bannon, trump advisers are rushing to his defense, but the bannon backlash is growing. in selecting steve bannon as his chief strategist, donald trump has invited into the oval office one of the leaders of the so-called alt-right. he says he will act as equal partners with reince priebus, who will serve as white house chief of staff. while trump advisers are praising the bannon pick -- >> he's been the general of this campaign. >> reporter: bannon is already coming under fire when he was chairman of breitbart news. for years, he's called for a takeover of the republican party. >> what we need to do is bitch slap the republican party and get those guys

let me bring in our correspondent jim acosta on the phone. jim what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, i think this is a pretty telling move by donald trump here. he is, almost like he did with his vice presidential choice, he's going with a selection here that is going to keep the republican establishment happy. you know, we saw during the vice presidential search, a lot of people in the establishment pushing mike pence over newt gingrich and chris christie, saying this was the safer choice, this is the choice that's going to calm things down in washington, calm things down inside the party. and donald trump was faced with a similar dilemma here -- go with somebody like reince priebus, who is going to absolutely keep the establishment happy, absolutely keep people happy and congressional leadership up on capitol hill, or go with the pugnacious steve bannon, who represents the alt-right, the conservative base, the part of the republican party that is very fired up about the prospect of a donald trump presidency. keep in mind, you know, steve bannon is credited with p

jim acosta is "outfront" at trump tower tonight and jim, trump finally answering some substantive questions and doing so on the record. >> absolutely erin. he's been turning the temperature up. he's been turning it down. that's been the story of this transition. donald trump did leave new york without holding a press conference. but as you said he did sit down with the "new york times" offering answers that reveal he might be ready to put behind him some of that rhetoric from the campaign. today donald trump met face-to-face with one of his favorite target, the "new york times." and the newspaper's reporters were live tweeting the highlights. to all of his supporters calling for hillary clinton to be jailed over her e-mails in the clinton foundation. trump hinted he's leaning against pushing for any sort of prosecution. saying it would be divisive for the country. and a reversal for trump. >> i am going to struck out my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. because there has never been so many lies, so many you have deception. >> reporter: chief strategis

and first jim acosta joins us from

jim acosta in new york.hank you. >>> joining us now, trump campaign senior communications advisor jason miller. jason, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> going into election day. donald trump was down in the national polls a bit. his path to 270, as i think you acknowledge, is narrow. what does trump need to see happen tonight in order to win? in other words, which states are the most important battleground states right now? >> wolf, let me back up one second to north carolina, with the intro that i had from jim acosta here, who -- at this point in the game, i mean, this is election day. i am not sure who these anonymous sources are or if they exist. here is the reality in north carolina and here is why, if you are a trump supporter, you should feel really good right now. trump has absentees and early voting on election day and we have big turnouts on election day to bring in the win. in the state of north carolina, the combined votes right now for republicans were 140,000 votes better

jim acosta, cnn, new york. >>> the counting is still going on. latest figures show hillary clinton's lead is growing. she has 64 million votes compared to 62 million for trump. a 2 million vote difference comes out about 1.5% of the votes cast and the new tallies do not change the fact that trump won the electoral college and election. clinton's supporters say it calls into the trump mandate. this comes among calls for a recount. a group of computer scientists are talking about hacks in three states. tom forman has more. >> reporter: trump edged hillary clinton by less than 28,000. in pennsylvania, out of 6 million votes, advantage was 60,000. in the count in michigan still remains too close for cnn to call the race. but now some political activists say in counties using electronic voting, hillary clinton appears to have mysteriously under performed. compared to areas with paper ballots by as much as 7%. according to what they told top clinton aides urging official review. they did not provide prove of hacking, but that could tip wisconsin and if

let's bring in jim acosta for the latest. >> reporter: john and christine, donald trump continued to try to make a comeback in the last week of the campaign at a rally in north carolina. he once again attacked hillary clinton for the e-mail controversy. he saluted military veterans and talking about his own bravery. here's what he had to say. >> they are so much more brave than me. i would not have done what they have done. i'm brave in other ways. i'm financially brave. big deal. >> reporter: if there is one subject donald trump is hesitant to touch is president obama. after days of attack, trump said the president should be back at the white house doing his job. a far cry from the personal attacks on the president in the past. >> thank you, jim. in pennsylvania this morning, there is still the whiff of irony wafting through the air after the surprising speech of the campaign, a trump who said we're all too cruel on social media. this is melania's first public speech since cleveland. she said social media is too mean and too filled with insults based on looks and intelligence. dana

. >> jim acosta, thank you. >>> donald trump is tweeting he's seriously considering ben carson. the dr. carson's spokesman tells cnn the retired neurosurgeon is honored by trump's insistence that they take a cabinet post and will spend the holidays thinking it over. >>> michelle rhee said she will not be pursuing the role of secretary secretary. the former chancellor of washington, d.c. public schools she met with trump last week despite heavy criticism from the education community. on tuesday, she tweeted i appreciate my opportunity to share my thoughts on education with the president-elect of the united states. our job as americans is to want him to succeed. >>> meantime, jared kushner revealing he played a pivotal role in the election of his father-in-law by setting up a secret data operation. ku kushner called some friends silicon valley. working to unify fund-raising, messages and voter targeting to get the most out of a lean marketing budgets. and it really had to help in battleground areas. if you look at a place like orlando and florida, hillary clinton spent $27 million

let's start the hour with jim acosta. trump pounding the pavement in the last days leading up to the election. what did he have to say about his opponent tonight? >> reporter: yeah, anderson, we saw a side of donald trump we don't normally see out on the campaign trail. message discipline. he stayed on the attack, on hillary clinton's e-mail saga and even went after her campaign manager, john podesta, whose e-mails were hacked and released by the website wikileaks. trump using one of his catchphrases from his days as a celebrity on "the apprentice." here's what he had to say. >> in a newly released e-mail, john podesta has been caught saying we have to dump all of those e-mails. can you believe this? that's wikileaks. and he also said -- and to me this made a big, a big statement. john podesta, i tell you what, if he worked for me, i would fire him so fast. he is such a nasty guy. i would fire him. like "the apprentice." john, you're fired! >> one other thing that donald trump did by seizing on this e-mail controversy, an

correspondent jim acosta has details. jim, it's striking how much he's emphasizing unity. >> reporter: absolutely. typically these kinds of videos coming from politicians don't work, but this comes at a very important time for this president-elect, because donald trump in this video -- >> we've just finished a long and bruising political campaign. emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight. it doesn't go quickly, unfortunately. but we have before us the chance now to make history together, to bring real change to washington, real safety to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities. so important to me and so important to our country. but to succeed, we must enlist the effort of our entire nation. this historic political campaign is now over. but now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country and restore the full promise of america for all of our people. >> reporter: brianna, that video comes along with the news that we've had today with nikki haley being tapped

cnn's jim acosta who got a reservation for him at jean-goerges, so he could get an interview. >> president-elect trump and the manufacturer carrier in indianapolis striking a deal to keep 1,000 jobs in indiana. during his campaign, trump blasted the plans to close two plants in the states and opening a factory in mexico. he tweeted i will be going to indiana on thursday to make a major announcement concerning carrier ac. cnbc reports carrier received new inducements from the state of indiana. translation -- money. that means taxpayers in the state could be on the hook. it's also unclear how many jobs will be save. carrier said close to 1,000 will be saved but 2100 work at the factory. this is a big win for donald trump. he's making good on his promise to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas. carrier makes air conditioners and furnaces. it's owned by united technology and also a company that makes huge jet engines and as has a huge contract with the government. what implicit threat, if you're carrier, you don't want to enrage this administration. >> fascinating to find out what is in the de

up first, let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. m, you've covered trump for many months, and we're beginning to get some hints of potential compromise. >> that's right, wolf. that remains to be seen, but to be trump or not to be trumped, that seems to be the question. in that interview you mentioned, donald trump seems to be tempering his fire breathing agenda from the campaign. but make no mistake, trump is still being trump as his administration takes shape. just days after the election, a shakeup inside the trump transition team. vice president elect mike pence has bumped chris christie down to vice chairman as he takes over the transition. and rudy giuliani, mike flynn, newt gingrich, and dr. ben carson. sources say the move comes over whether the team should hire anti-trump republicans, not to mention the unfolding bridge gate scandal in new jersey. >> mr. president, it was a great honor being with you. >> reporter: another surprise comes one day after donald trump met with tpresident obama. trump is now open to keeping some po

now, cnn's jim acosta live at trump tower. jim, this statement from donald trump, which just bypasses the media, delivers the statement with no questions asked, is this something do you think that we're going to see from donald trump going forward? >> i think so, john. keep in mind, donald trump has bypassed the news media to a large extent already. we are now 13 days after the election, he has not held a news conference with the news media. president obama, for example, during his transition, his first transition back in 2008, held his first news conference with the media three days after he was elected president. and so, donald trump is not taking to the news media so far. perhaps he'll do it tomorrow. and just as unconventional as his approach is with the media, has been his cabinet selection process. it's been sort of like an episode of cabinet apprentice. we've seen a number of cabinet prospects parading in front of the cameras all day long, even a few surprises were there. tulsi gabbard, the democratic congresswoman from

that's where we find our cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, it doesn't matter they have work tomorrow morning. they stayed up late for trump. >> absolutely. and some of the people here in this barn here in leesburg, virginia waited five or six hours. it's a pretty chilly temperatures for donald trump to show up. but they got what they were waiting for. donald trump came out here after midnight and really lit into hillary clinton once again referring to her as corrupt, as dishonest, as somebody who a public can't trust. it is really his closing argument in this campaign. it's interesting to note, poppy, ever since that jim comey letter came out earlier today, donald trump has been sort of treading, lightly treading carefully around this subject. he hasn't really gone after the fbi director and hit him right in the nose. he has really just been sort of complaining that there is no way the fbi could have conducted a real thorough investigation in its last week and a half since jim comey announced eight or nine days ago that they were sort of

jim acosta is joining us now. jim, this is turning out to be a pretty sensitive issue. give us the latest. >> reporter: absolutely. as you know, wolf, jared cushner is a very important, close adviser to donald trump. he took that stroll with the white house chief of staff when president-elect was visiting with president obama last week. you noticed in that tweet from donald trump when he said he's not seeking security clearances for his children, he did not talk about his son-in-law. kellyanne conway was here at trump tower here today, she was asked whether or not jared cushner is going to be receiving that security clearance. she said, i don't know. and then the question was asked, would that be appropriate? she says, it's appropriate for whoever is going to get the presidential daily briefing to have a security clearance. it's not just appropriate, it's necessary. that'sanne conway. elijah cummings has fired off a letter to mike pence, saying this is inappropriate, this is not the way a presidential daily briefings are supposed to be handled. and a quote from that let

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is at trump tower. jim, has the prime minister of japan arrived already to see donald trump? >> donald trump will be sitting down shortly with the prime minister of japan, shinzo abe, for his first meeting with a foreign leader since winning the presidency just last week. but, wolf, donald trump also is tending to some domestic matters, namely filling his cabinet. and he is considering names at this point that are very surprising and suggest that he knows he has some fence-mending to do. in all the comings and goings at trump tower, a signal is being sent that the president-elect just might be ready to put the scorched earth campaign behind him and perhaps engage in some healing. in addition to his meetings with foreign policy heavy weights like henry kissinger, donald trump has been sitting down with some of his biggest rivals and toughest critics from the primaries. south carolina governor, nikki haley, under consideration for secretary of state. former texas governor rick perry, and ted cruz, a conten

jim acosta has the latest. jim, donald trump is staying on message and he's hammering away at hillary clinton. >> reporter: he is, wolf. donald trump will be crisscrossing the country over the next 72 hours in the hopes of keeping his momentum going. but with election day approaching, trump may have run into a traffic jam on the road to the white house. that a hillary clinton presidency will be a bad flashback to her husband's problems during the '90s. >> aren't we tired of this stuff? she's likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding in a criminal trial, our president. america deserves a government that can go to work on day one and get it done. >> reporter: trump insists clinton's latest e-mail controversy makes her unfit to lead members of the military, like the medal of honor recipients he addressed in north carolina. >> to think of her being their boss, i don't think so. and you know, they're incredible patriots, they would never say a thing. but i know what they're thinking. it's not for t

jim acosta is in wilmington, ohio, where trump is now. jim, this is mr.it to the buckeye state since the convention. what are we hearing from the republican candidate today? what is his closing argument? >> reporter: hey, jake. if we're in an airport hangar, we must be in the final stretch of a campaign. donald trump will be here in just a few minutes in wilmington, ohio. he is making that closing argument to voters. it is basically all about hillary clinton, saying that the former secretary of state is unfit to lead this country because of her latest e-mail controversy. that fbi investigation into her e-mails. it's a message he delivered to voters earlier today in another battleground state, new hampshire. here's what he had to say. >> she illegally destroyed federal records, including 33,000 e-mails, which she deleted after getting that subpoena from congress. if she were to win, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. what a mess. she's likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding in a criminal trial, our president. amer

more on all of that now from our jim acosta. >> reporter: don't tell mike pence vice presidents do

which is why they are both there tonight, along with cnn's phil mattingly and jim acosta. m, first, with the trump campaign. >> reporter: it's the election surprise nobody saw coming. donald trump sticking to the script. >> good job, by the fbi. >> reporter: gaining in some key battleground polls across the country, the gop nominee is showing an un-trump-like message discipline, consistently hammering clinton's e-mail mess along with her campaign manager, john podesta, unearthed by wikileaks. >> she should look at him and say, podesta, you're fired. but she can't do that. she probably needs him as a witness in the criminal case. >> reporter: he's even offering a restrained response to president obama, who's pounding trump every chance he gets. >> why isn't he back in the office? sometimes referred to as the oval office. >> donald trump will turn washington upside down, day one. >> reporter: the trump campaign is staying on point in the ad wars, buying expensive spots during the world series and unveiling the stinging new attack on clinton's ties to disgraced ex-congressman,

state for donald trump, who is there this hour and so is cnn's senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, trump is really trying to bite his tongue to avoid going off message. what's the latest? >> reporter: that's right. that's right, wolf, donald trump is trying to bust through one of the hillary clinton's firewalls here in north carolina. as he is closing in on clinton in the polls, he is being ever so careful to avoid any controversial comments that could derail his comeback. it's the election surprise nobody saw coming, donald trump sticking to the script. >> good job, by the fbi. >> reporter: gaining in some key battleground polls across the country, showing an unmessage-like discipline. hammering hillary clinton's e-mail mess as well as revelations about her campaign manager, john podesta, unearthed by wikileaks. >> he must be a bad guy. i don't know him. to say the things he said about her, she should look at him, say podesta, you're fired! but she can't do that. she probably needs him as a witness in the criminal case. >> reporter: he is even offering a restrained response

thank you, jim acosta.ate it. >>> mark, to you first, hillary clinton and donald trump crisscrossed the country today to turn out every last vote they can with big events. clinton at 46%, trump at 42%. what does that tell you? >> the national poll of polls has been pretty consistent over the past few days. i think dan rather said it in the last hour, and he would be right. when you get closer to election day, the polls tend to be more reliable. they tend to be more spot on, quite frankly, they seem to be tracking with what we're seeing in the early states. now, that doesn't necessarily mean that hillary clinton is going to win by four percentage points. or for that matter, is she going to win all of these states, what it does show is that even in light of the comey letter we saw a week ago, that she was able to hold her own and build back a little bit of the momentum she had lost when that letter came out. >> what do you think of the clinton coalition tomorrow if she wins? >> i think that the balance in the

to jim acosta outside trump tower. jim, you said early last night trump advisors thought they would need a miracle to win. apparently the voters provided said miracle. >> reporter: that's right, jake. donald trump and his team were huddled behind closed doors in trump tower behind me working through the shock of that miracle and planning for a new administration that promises to transform the nation as you just mentioned and as the president-elect likes to say, drain the swamp in washington. it's no longer mr. trump. it's president-elect trump. and the incoming 45th president of the united states is so far trying out a new, more unified message. >> now it's time for america to bind the wounds of division. have to get together. >> reporter: that theme is filtering down to his top aides. in response to hillary clinton's concession speech. senior trump advisor jason miller did not use the term crooked hillary. trump's gop critics are saying the right things too, from jeb bush and george w. bush and john mccain and mitt rom

jim acosta, thanks very much. let's get more. republican senator james risch of idaho is joining us, a key member of the foreign relations committee and the intelligence committee. senator, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. i know you're in new york but things are well in hand here in "the situation room" in d.c. >> excellent. who is your first choice among the final four, let's say? >> well, you know, first of all, i have a couple really, really good friends in the final four. i was chairman in mitt romney in both of his campaigns. i sat next to bob corker for years and years on the foreign relations committee. i mean, each of them bring incredible things to the table for donald trump to choose from. and so, you know, i have been in this situation. as governor i had to do a transition. the last thing he needs is me looking over his shoulder telling him which way to go. he has a couple people there anyway who i think are outstanding people. >> looks like you like two of the final four. are you satisfied with what we h

jim acosta. >> reporter: i talked to a source familiar with the discussions who says mitt romney, the 2012 nominee, is now seriously considering the prospect of joining donald trump's administration as secretary of state. i've been told we're not likely to get a decision on this until perhaps early next week and that romney will be talking about this with his family members over the thanksgiving holiday weekend. mitt romney's family is probably his closest advisers so it's not surprising he's doing that. >> jim, donald trump met with the "new york times" and softened a number of his hard line campaign promises. what can you tell us? >> it was striking he didn't have a press conference before leaving town in thanksgiving but he had a news conference with the "new york times," they peppered him back and forth for a good long while about basically all the questions we've had from his business interests overseas to whether he would lock up hillary clinton or urge prosecution of the former secretary of state. we put this up on screen there from the great maggie haberman at the "new york ti

jim acosta, thank you so much for that report. joining me now is republican congressman chris collins from new york. he's a member of the trump transition team. he was the first house member to endorse donald trump for president congressman, thank you so much for being with us on this holiday weekend. okay. so president-elect trump is facing a lot of opposition as you are fully aware of the possibility of picking mitt romney as secretary of state. you are a member of his transition committee. should the foreman opposition of mitt romney qualify him for this position or not? >> clearly, what i will tell you, donald trump, president-elect trump will make this decision, he and he alone. we need to respect that. i certainly will. >> i'm not asking for you to endorse mitt romney. it's this concept whether it's mitt romney or someone else who might be discussed for another position. this idea that someone has been very vocally outspoken. are you someone who got on the trump train very early, but some people never did. should that disqua

let's begin with our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. >> reporter: you never know with donald trump as unpredictable as he is. donald trump's advisors are more chatty with reporters today, reassuring the public that the transition is not coming off the rails. the president-elect even got in on the act himself, pushing back on one of his favorite targets, the news media. still trying to master the art of the transition, donald trump and his team are going on offense, fighting back against reports that planning for his presidency is in a state of disarray. president-elect took to twitter, proclaiming very organized process taking place as i decide on cabinet and many other positions. i am the only one who knows who the finalists are. >> and all of the dishonest press -- >> reporter: trump is back to blaming the media after complaints of infighting and score settling inside the transition. the failing "new york times" is so totally wrong on transition, trump tweeted. it is going so smoothly. sources say jared kushner was pushing out officials who work for chris christie who jaile

first, let's go to jim acosta.s trump promises to leave his businesses, he's moving ahead with efforts to fill his cabinet. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. donald trump is assembling a cabinet of the wealthy and well connected and he's not finished yet, eyeing mitt romney as secretary of state. i'm told their dinner was a net positive, but the president-elect is making other moves that could counter some of these optics with an announcement he plans to make the presidency his full-time job. under growing pressure to sever his ties with his real estate empire, donald trump took to twitter, not to start a new controversy but to end one, announcing i will be holding a news conference to discuss the fact that i will be leaving my great business to focus on running the country. that comes just one week after he pointed out presidents are technically exempt from government of conflict laws. >> in theory, i don't have to do anything. but i would like to do something. i would like to formalize something, because i don't c

let's discuss with jim acosta and brian

we begin with our cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta. the president-elect has shown he doesn't really like criticism but that's not stopping him when it comes to building his cabinet. >> reporter: that's correct. he has done what many critics thought he was incapable of doing, and that is bringing in one of his harshest critics into his cabinet. as donald trump settles in for the thanksgiving weekend, the president-elect is making room at the table for some surprising cabinet picks. for starters, his choice for ambassador to the u.n., one of his toughest gop critics, nikki haley, saying in a statement the south carolina governor and daughter of indian immigrants is a proven deal-maker. and we look to be making plenty of deals. she will be a great leader representing us on the world stage. explaining her decision to step down as governor, haley said, when the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation and to our nation's standing in the world, that sa calling that is important to heed. >> when a

. >>> cnn's jim acosta has more on the transition to the white house including of trump's hint of a compromise on obama care. >> just days after the election, a shake-up. vice president-elect mike pence has bumped kiss christie down to vice chairman. along with jeff sessions, former new york mayor rudy giuliani, newt gingrich and dr. ben carson. sources say the move comes after in-fighting of the transition of whether the team should hire previously anti-trump republicans, auld never trumpers. not to mention the bridgegate scandal in new jersey. >> mr. president, it was a great honor being with you. >> another surprise comes one day after donald trump met with president obama. following his conversation with the president, trump is now open to keeping some portions of obama care, something he vowed to repeal during the campaign. trump told "the wall street journal," either obama care will be amended or appealed and replaced. >> a continued protests against the president-elect flaring up across the country. >> look, i think everyone needs to take a deep breath. >> reince priebus ratcheted up th

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us now. jim, the trump campaign is energized tonight. what's the latest? >> reporter: absolutely, wolf. with hillary clinton dealing with new questions about her e-mails, donald trump appears to be gaining momentum at just the right time, staying on message and reaching out to republicans who have rejected his campaign to come home. the question is can he keep that going? pulling into a pennsylvania gas station one week before election day, donald trump's campaign is hardly running on empty. >> the teamsters are all me. you know that. >> reporter: with the race tightening trump is eager to flip the state that's been a democratic firewall, appearing with his running mate mike pence for a tag team assault on an issue that rallies republicans. the health care law gop congressional leaders tried dozens of times to kill. >> when we win on november 8th -- [ cheers and applause ] -- and elect a republican congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace obamacare. have to do it. >> reporte

it is a campaign promise. >> and jim acosta joins us. i understand president obama is standing by what he said on the campaign trail about donald trump. what did the administration say about their difference? >> well they still exist big time anderson. i talked to a senior white house official today who basically said listen, people at the white house, including the president, they have not changed their minds about donald trump. some of the people here are absolutely mortified that he's going to become the president of the united states. what they are committed to is the smooth transfer of power that's coming up on january 20th. and they are working towards that. but you heard donald trump say today he's looking forward to having the president's counsel. in the future. i bounce that off a senior administration official and that person said that would be, quote, unbelievable. so while this was a good image to show the world today of the president and the president elect getting along with each other there in the oval office. make no mist

. >> and our jim acosta asked donald trump whether romney will be his secretary of state. the answer, quote, well, we're going to see what happens. there's a lot to get to. mark preston, dana bash both here this evening. hello to you, both of you. mark, i'll start with you. you have some new reporting on donald trump delivering on his campaign promises and also on this, what happened at trump tower. what can you tell us? >> let's just start out in indiana, though, first. donald trump had made a big deal about keeping manufacturing jobs here in the united states. something that helped him win. we saw from united technologies today, which is the parent company of carrier, they put out a tweet that said we are pleased to have reached a deal with the president-elect trump and vp-elect pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in indy. let's just talk about this a little bit. there were 1400 jobs on the block in indianapolis. there were another 700 in a town nearby. carrier about a year ago said they were going to move these jobs and shut these plants down. we're seeing right now that

but inside the tag you see "made in the usa." >> jim acosta joins us now from trump tower. ted cruz met with president-elect today. do you know the details of that? >> reporter: yeah. one of the more remarkable meetings donald trump had here at trump tower today. cruz spokeswoman put out a statement after ted cruz left here saying that ted cruz is essentially embraced what they're calling this mandate to drain the swamp in washington. for ted cruz to use that kind of catch phrase from donald trump shows you how far that relationship has come. and i should point out there's a little bit of late breaking news. earlier today we were reporting that the transition process from the obama administration to the new trump administration had frozen because the white house did not have the proper signature on key transition documents. they had chris christie's signature on those documents. i'm now told by a white house official that, yes, mike pence has signed those documents. now that process, which was frozen earlier today, can start moving forward again. so one piece of good news f

so it was getting complicated. >> jim acosta, thanks. perhaps the person who can make the most impact in a trump presidency, other than trump himself, is the chief of staff. the two men who are said to be leading contenders are reince priebus and steve bannon, who ran breitbart.com. dana bash has more. >> reporter: on election night, the person trump praised more than anyone else was reince priebus. >> i'll tell you, reince is really a star. and he is the hardest working guy. and in a certain way, i did this -- reince, come up here. where is reince? get over here, reince. boy oh, boy oh, boy. it's about time you did this, reince. >> even surrendering his victory speech microphone to priebus. amazing guy. our partnership with the rnc was so important to the success in what we've done. >> it is true that the rnc had more influence over trump's campaign than any in recent history. priebus started to build ground operations in voter files in key states, three years ago, which trump used and benefited from big-time. >> we spent the last four

today, as jim acosta reports, it was a different story. >> repter: today, donald trump me met face toace with one of his favorite targets, "the new york times." and the newspaper's reporters were live tweeting the highlights. to all of his supporters calling for hillary clinton to be jailed over her e-mails in the clinton foundation, trump hinted he's leaning against pushing for any sort of prosecution, saying it would be very, very divisive for the country. it's a reversal for trump, who shattered presidential campaign enormous by threatening to imprison his opponent repeatedly. >> i am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. >> on his chief strategist, steve bannon, who's been accused of showcasing racist views on his breitbart news site, trump said, it's very hard on bannon. i think he's having a hard time with it, because it's not him. and trump even moderated his stance on global warming, which he once called a hoax, telling "the times," i think there is some conne