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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

Donald Trump and President Obama Meet at the White House; Anti-Trump Protests Erupt for a Second Night; Coroner ID`s Bodies on South Carolina Realtor`s Farm; Police: Body of Missing Texas Teen Found

Aired November 10, 2016 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Another night of nationwide protests as Mr. Trump goes to Washington. With just 71 days until his inauguration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We discussed a lot of different situations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The President and the President-elect putting the past behind them, talking hope, success, and a smooth transition of power.

Mysterious Facebook postings surface after the bodies of a couple are found on that suspected serial killer`s land. And now, that man`s former

attorney is talking.

And just days after her mom and sister were killed, the body of a missing Texas teenager has been found. Her boyfriend is in custody, but he is not

talking. And police say murder charges won`t be long.

Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to PRIMETIME JUSTICE.

The post-election whirlwind has begun in earnest for one Donald J. Trump. The President-elect, spending the day in Washington, D.C. First meeting at

President Obama`s house, the White House, scheduled 10 to 15-minute meeting lasted instead about an hour and a half. And afterwards, both of these men

seemed to be on the same page.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our

President-elect is successful.

TRUMP: He explained some of the difficulties, some of the high flying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The Trump train rolled onto Capitol Hill, where White House Speaker -- or House Speaker Paul Ryan showed the President-elect the

inauguration preparations from his office balcony. And there`s what it looked like from their perspective.

Before getting a tour of Capitol from the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, it had already been a busy day. But just how is this busy

transition of power going to proceed?

Stephen Collinson is the senior reporter for CNN politics. He`s with me live now.

All right. Stephen, let me ask a little bit about this day. Cable news was awash with live and breaking events, and every one of them was a

remarkable picture, to say the very least. But talk to me about what was going on behind the pictures.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR ENTERPRISE REPORTER: Yes. If you think about it, that image we just saw on the Oval Office of the President-

elect and President Obama is a really stunning one.

Just three nights ago in one of the final election rallies, the President was saying Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be President, and he

shouldn`t have the nuclear codes. Donald Trump, of course, was the man that led this birtherism crusade that sort of held that President Obama

wasn`t even eligible to be President. So it`s an amazing illustration of the differences between the anger of a campaign and the mechanisms of the

transfer of power.

Now, I don`t think anybody in the White House has suddenly started to like Donald Trump. If you talk to people there, there`s a great deal of shock

and disbelief that Donald Trump will be succeeding President Obama. But, you know, this is something that the President has dictated. It`s part of

his own presidency, he sees, is the peaceful transfer of power to another President. You know, he`s working on a blueprint that was put down by

President George W. Bush. People in the White House were very, very grateful for the way President George W. Bush sort of helped Obama glide to

the job eight years ago, and he`s determined to do the same thing for --

BANFIELD: So let me ask you this, Stephen.

COLLINSON: -- President Trump, even though he would have referred Hillary Clinton.

BANFIELD: OK. And speaking of a former first lady, let`s talk first ladies. Because it is no secret that Michelle Obama was very hurt by the

Donald Trump birther movement that continued for a very long time. And Michelle Obama received Donald Trump`s wife, Melania, at the White House,

as well. Much less fanfare, no video cameras but at least one still shot. Talk about that meeting.

COLLINSON: That`s right. And that must have been an awkward meeting, as well. The first lady and the next first lady, they had tea in the

residence, you know, which is upstairs in the White House where the Obamas lived. They walked out onto the Truman Balcony, which is a spot where the

Obamas have talked about how they, you know, like to spend the end of the day in the summer, looking out over the monuments of Washington.

I think the conversation, by all accounts, they were talking about their children, the difficulty of bringing kids up in the White House. The

Obamas have two daughters, of course, who grew up in the White House effectively. Donald Trump has a 10-year-old son, Baron, who will be

growing up there. I think that -- you know, I doubt they got into politics and talking about all the bad things of the past. But, you know, it`s part

of the deal.

When you`re the first lady, you`re the President, you just have to accept the next President, even if they`re in different parties. But this one,

really, is, you know, as you say, quite a lot different, just because of the vituperative nature of the rhetoric of Donald Trump against the Obamas.

And as you say, Michelle Obama out on the campaign trail, she was personally arguing that Donald Trump is antithetical to everything that

America stands for. So it`s really interesting.

BANFIELD: So from one to two awkward meetings to the third awkward meeting, and that was across the way, outside the White House and over to

the Capitol with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has also been remarkably critical of Donald Trump. And yet there they were today, out on the

balcony, presumably showing him the spot where he will be sworn in, in 71 days.

COLLINSON: Right. It was only a few weeks ago that House Speaker Paul Ryan was effectively accusing Donald Trump of using racist rhetoric. And

now, I think it`s a little bit different because Paul Ryan, a Republican speaker, suddenly sees an opportunity to enact a lot of his goals with a

Republican President in the White House.

Ryan`s, you know, been trying to repeal Obamacare pretty much ever since it was past. Now, he has a chance to do that. Ryan, I think, has a lot of

tax ideas which could match up with some of the ideas of Donald Trump.

So he sees a chance of passing a Republican agenda, but that doesn`t mean it`s always going to be easy. There are some things that Donald Trump

wants to do, massive infrastructure spending, building a wall on the southern border with Mexico, which clashed with the ideological and sort of

political beliefs of the Paul Ryan wing of the party. So the Reaganite wing of the party, the deficit cutting wing of the party.

So I think what we`ll see is -- to start with, I think we`ll see some harmony between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell on the

Senate side, especially as they try and get the Supreme Court Justice confirmed very early in the next administration. But the longer it goes

on, I think we could see some political and ideological clashes. Effectively, the only opposition to Donald Trump, the only check in the

balance is going to come from the two chambers of Congress which are led by his party.

BANFIELD: So the harmony is not on the streets of Washington, D.C. right now. Stephen, I`m just going to scoot away for a moment to show this

picture in full, if I can, of what`s going on outside the Trump new hotel, within earshot of the White House. I don`t know if they can hear it or see

it. I think Donald Trump is probably back in New York City by now, where there are also protests. In fact, there are protests right across the

country again for the second night in a row. You`re just seeing these live camera pictures coming in from the International Hotel.

But I want to take you across the country now, out west now, because Denver is also awash with folks in the streets, calling out their displeasure with

their new President-elect, Donald Trump. And as we saw last night, so far, everything seems to be peaceful. There were scattered arrests across the

country. But here we are in Baltimore. And these protests, by the way, in the streets in the various cities in this union have actually been going on

for a couple of hours.

I want to take you to Portland, Oregon now. Aerial showing hundreds of people who have gathered in Portland, Oregon. And by the way, some of

these shots, we`ve had these gathered together fairly quickly because the protests come online fairly quickly, social media being the driver of

getting hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of people out into the streets.

Let`s go into the center of the country, Minneapolis. Here are the pictures courtesy of our affiliate WCCO of Minneapolis. And while it is

late at night, folks were well into the streets up until and past midnight last night.

Whether this is going to be the new normal or whether this is just a reaction, two days old now, to election results that half of this country

was not happy about. The other half of this country may be celebrating in their very own way quietly in their streets. But, right now, we`re not

seeing the kinds of, you know, celebrations out in the street for the Trump administration, but we`re certainly seeing those who are not happy about

it.

Bernard Whitman is a Democratic strategist and Ben Ferguson is a CNN political commentator. They both join me live. And Ben Ferguson is also a

Republican strategist.

All right. So, Ben, first to you because as a Republican, you know --

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BANFIELD: -- the typical template is for the anchor in the middle of the picture to go to the Republican and say this must be a thrilling day. But

I have been interviewing you for a year and a half.

FERGUSON: Yes.

BANFIELD: And it`s a true "Alice in Wonderland," my friend. I can`t ask you that --

FERGUSON: Yes.

BANFIELD: -- because you`ve had your issues with your candidate. Walk me through how you`re feeling today.

FERGUSON: I`m excited and I think a lot of this started specifically when you saw the temperament of Donald Trump change drastically after he won.

And the way that he addressed the country, which I think was in a really humble way, in a way of saying we`ve got to come back together and heal.

This is over and this is done.

If you would have bet me six months ago, if Donald Trump won the White House, would he go out there and gloat and grandstand and really get in the

face of other people who had been against him, I would have said there was a decent chance. But this is the other pivot of Donald Trump, and I`m

talking about the businessman. He knows how to have a fight, but he also knows how to settle it afterwards and move on.

And I think the words that you saw him say, the way that he interacted with Barack Obama today, should give people genuine hope, that maybe you are

going to see some real change in this country from a man that understands what people were frustrated with. He understand how to get the economy

going. And I hope people actually give him a chance.

I am giving him a chance because I do think what you seen him do, winning fixes a lot of issues. He won. Look how well he`s getting along with

Democrats and Barack Obama. And also, look at how well he`s getting along on Capitol Hill early on.

BANFIELD: OK.

FERGUSON: I think it`s going to be very interesting and shock some people.

BANFIELD: I always say it could be an alarming one-day trend because --

(LAUGHTER)

FERGUSON: It could.

BANFIELD: -- we`re making some pretty sweeping comments after a real quick meeting and a very, very quick press opportunity. So. Bernard, some of the

things I just picked up from Ben, that his temperament changed drastically, and that also we should have some genuine hope. Do you have any of that?

BERNARD WHITMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look, the onus is on Donald Trump to reach out across the aisle and recognize that more than half the

country did not vote for him. People are upset. They`re angry. They`re frustrated. They`re scared and I think --

BANFIELD: Yes, but what about you? I see those protesters out there. You`re a Democrat strategist. This is day two. And now you`re seeing some

of the language, at least, in this very quick snapshot in their first meeting.

WHITMAN: Look, I happen to --

BANFIELD: Are you encouraged by it?

WHITMAN: I happen to be personally an eternal optimist. I`m pragmatic and I`m a realist. He is going to be our President, and we have to figure out

a way to work together.

But it also says to me the Democratic Party needs to do a better job of reaching out, reaching out to all communities. We clearly did not have a

strong resonant message for White folks who don`t have a college education. We need to figure out how to communicate to people across the spectrum.

And, but at the end of the day, it is the responsibility of Donald Trump to reach out to people who he has neglected, who has been racist and sexist --

FERGUSON: Well, let`s --

WHITMAN: -- and misogynistic against. It is on him --

FERGUSON: All right. Let`s --

WHITMAN: -- to bring this country together. He has to inspire hope and not fear.

BANFIELD: You know, Ben, I`m going to bring you in a minute. I`m going to bring you in a minute.

FERGUSON: Let`s be clear --

BANFIELD: Hold on, Ben. I`ve got another --

FERGUSON: OK.

BANFIELD: I`ve got a whole big show, and I`m going to get you in on that in a moment. I just want to make sure our audience knew what they are

watching right there because we`re hopscotching around. I think that was - - the last picture was just Denver.

And, listen, I`m getting a lot of reaction, people on Facebook, et cetera - - this is Portland, Oregon now. I`m getting a lot of reaction from people who are saying, fine and dandy, you`re all out there hitting the streets.

Did you hit the polls? Because if you didn`t hit the polls, you have no business being out there in the street. You can only protest if you

actually did the ultimate protest, which was, you went to the polls and you chose your candidate.

So we`re going to continue to go around the country, from Portland, Oregon, right across to the East Coast, as well. A couple of protests happening as

well. This is Baltimore. That`s Trump Tower, New York City. Also the Trump property in Washington, D.C. And I have a whole lot more live shots

to show you as well.

Plus, how about moving forward? Are we ever going to get off the street and back into some kind of accord instead of widespread discord, coast to

coast?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: He`s been President-elect Donald Trump for only two days now, and those two days have also been ripe with images in the night streets

across this country of protesters. Protesters in the tens of thousands, city to city, marching the streets, sometimes very peacefully but often

times very, very vocally.

This is Washington, D.C. outside of the Trump property in the nation`s capital. And this is a scene that`s repeating itself right across the

country. I actually want to take you to New York City, if I can. Actually, you know, let`s listen to this for a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Start talking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

(CROWD CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I agree.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calm down, calm down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I am a survivor of sexual assault. And the last time my pussy was being grabbed, it was in the back seat of a car is when I

was dragged out of a club.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: OK. Like I mentioned last night, and I will repeat it tonight - - we have Stacey here. Stacey, your face says it all. The language out of many of these protesters and sometimes the signs is definitely not fit for

prime time television. There are a lot of people who are very angry. Sexual assault, repeatedly a major issue on the campaign trail after that

"Access Hollywood" bus video was released.

But you`re in the heart of New York City right now, especially right across the street from Trump Tower, which is also his headquarters. Tell me about

the scene there.

STACEY NEWMAN, CNN PRIMETIME JUSTICE PRODUCER: Well, Ashleigh, they`re calling this the White House on Fifth Avenue. And as somebody who has

lived here for years, I`ve never seen anything like this. There`s gridlock down here, and there are literally protests right across the street from

the front entrance of Trump Tower.

What I`m hearing from some of the people there, believe it or not, a lot of these protesters are young high schoolers, and we are hearing that they

have gotten into it with some of the actual Trump supporters. I walked by there a little bit earlier, and a Trump supporter and an anti-Trump

supporter were actually going at it, screaming at each other in their faces. And two high school students told me they actually were attacked a

few blocks from here, and police did arrest some of the protesters.

BANFIELD: All right. And I should also mention that Stacey has been sort of moved away from one of the areas that the media had gathered at Trump

Tower. But you could see a lot of barricades being put up. Sand trucks have been there for quite a few days now. So the security situation on

Fifth Avenue, one of the busiest areas of New York City, and Stacey will attest, it is a busy, touristy area too. And it is definitely adjusted for

the new normal in New York City.

Stacey, stand by for a minute. I want to go right to a very different environment, a very different location, but nonetheless a very busy

location today, and that`s the White House. Our White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, is standing by live.

It sure is quiet where you are. But I know you said earlier, when I was watching you, Michelle, on CNN, that you could hear protesters from your

location in the north lawn, too.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, tonight and last night. They come and go. And last night, especially, the crowd got pretty

big. I mean, there were a couple hundred people out here from what we could see getting noisy. But for the most part, not disturbing anything.

Although last night, it necessitated a pretty big police and Secret Service presence, I mean, to the point that they closed roads down and were keeping

other people walking around away from the protesters for their own safety.

So there were some concerns about some rowdiness and possibly some allegations of some drunkenness within these crowds. But tonight, it was

very peaceful. There were people chanting. Not quite as big as last night, though. It seems like it`s something --

BANFIELD: I`m just --

KOSINSKI: -- that`s going to come and go outside the White House for some time.

BANFIELD: I`m trying to read some of the signs, Michelle, as you`re speaking. To the right of the screen is where the live meandering camera

shots of the protesters, these shots in Washington, D.C. And I keep saying to our audience, look, I have to give you a warning that some of these

signs --

KOSINSKI: Right.

BANFIELD: -- could be pretty "R" rated, some of them "X" rated, and so can some of the speakers, as well. Just as I was trying to drive out of New

York City last night, I was surrounded in protesters. It took me an hour to go a couple of blocks. And I heard more profanity than I`ve heard in

the streets of New York in a long time. And that`s saying a lot.

KOSINSKI: Yes.

BANFIELD: So I`m just going to beware -- I want our audience to beware if you got kids. There is a lot of salty language and a lot of salty signage

that will hit that screen.

So I want to bring back Ben Ferguson and Bernard Whitfield if I can because as I scanned those signs, guys, I did see those -- I had to read fast, but

I did see those who were angry about racism, some angry about homophobic rhetoric, others angry sexist rhetoric.

This is a live picture from Portland, Oregon. Our affiliate KOIN-TV bringing in these pictures to us. And it seems it`s really replicated

almost to the image, with to speaker and, you know, the mobile amplification and the signs and the marching.

But, Ben, as we were going to break, you were taking issue with what Bernard was saying. And I think this all has to do with unity and how to

move forward from this.

FERGUSON: Yes. Well --

BANFIELD: I know you said this is a bit of a kumbaya day today, but it was just a day and it was just a couple of soundbites.

FERGUSON: Well, and here`s the point that I think should be made. This was a free and fair election. Democrats need to do a better job of

policing their own here. You did not see a bunch of Republicans out after Barack Obama won in 2008 or 2012. You didn`t see them burning the flag.

You didn`t see them out there saying that people are going to die over this election. You didn`t see people out there, Republicans out there, holding

up these types of vulgar, disgusting signs.

And Democrats should do a better job of reminding people, hey, we had a free and fair election, we lost. If you don`t like it, first of all, did

you show up to vote? I would love to know the percentage of the people out there, how many then did not go vote that actually could have voted?

And the other thing that`s here, this is grandstanding. I think we should be careful not to legitimize this too much, the fact that we just had an

election. If you don`t like the outcome, you should have fought harder. You should`ve taken more friends to the polls. But this is what is -- this

is disgusting, what we`re seeing here.

And Democrats are the ones that, if they truly believe in unity, they truly believe in coming together as so many of them claim they were going to --

Nancy Pelosi, the President, and other Democrats have come out -- then go out and talk to these protesters and say, hey, we had our day. We lost.

It`s time to unify this country. And not allow this to continue to get out of control.

BANFIELD: So, Bernard, listen, I do -- I think Ben makes some really good points. I just want to add one other points to what he said and that was,

you shouldn`t be out there on the street if you didn`t vote. I`d like to know how many of those people out on the street actually went to the ballot

box. I got this in my inbox today, from Black Lives Matter in New York, saying, "I ain`t voting until Black lives matter."

Well, that just sounds counter --

WHITMAN: Listen, I`ve --

BANFIELD: -- counterproductive.

WHITMAN: No, that`s an abrogation of civic responsibility.

BANFIELD: Yes.

WHITMAN: I hope everybody voted. But here is what really bothers me. You have potentially the next Attorney General of the United States who would

be in charge of prosecuting protesters complaining that they`re crybabies. You have people like David Clark, the Milwaukee County Sheriff, who`s

rumored to possibly have a spot in the administration, saying these are tantrums from anarchists.

Do you know why people are upset? Do you know why they`re angry? Because Donald Trump used racist, sexist rhetoric. And one of his first jobs, when

he assumes the presidency, is to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice. Do you know who that is likely to be? William Pryor --

FERGUSON: We had a free and fair election, you know.

WHITMAN: Excuse me, Ben. Ben, I allowed you to speak. Let me talk. William Pryor has called Roe v. Wade the worst abomination in

constitutional law history. People are frightened. They`re scared that we`re going to go back to the days of back alley abortions where women died

for exercising their freedom of choice, where gays are not going to be able to marry again. I mean, this is real fear where Muslims are going to be

deported, where Latinos are --

FERGUSON: This is not true. This is fearmongering and you`re sponsoring it.

WHITMAN: This is not -- are you kidding me, Ben? This is exactly the rhetoric that Donald Trump used to win the election.

FERGUSON: Hold on. No, no, no. Let`s be clear. Let`s be clear. Donald Trump allowed a transgendered man to come into his building and to use

whatever restroom gender --

WHITMAN: Oh, thank you, Donald Trump. Thank you so much.

FERGUSON: No, no, no. Listen, this is where -- hold on, I have to take you to task here. You can criticize some things if you want to. But let`s

be clear, Donald Trump, on the transgender, gay and lesbian issue, is probably, at this point, the most progressive Republican we`ve ever seen

going to the White House.

WHITMAN: No. Come with me. He has promised --

BANFIELD: All right. Guys --

WHITMAN: He has promised to appoint --

BANFIELD: OK. I have to --

WHITMAN: -- a Supreme Court Justice who would overturn the Federal Marriage decision.

BANFIELD: I`m only going to take over --

WHITMAN: And that is disgusting.

BANFIELD: I`m going to take over for a moment here. I don`t like to interrupt, but we just want to make sure that people are aware of what

they`re seeing on they`re screens. This is Baltimore right now. It looked like there was some activity between police and protesters.

I`m going to take a quick break and I`m going to take you back into these protests in a moment. And we`re going to talk about what`s next in terms

of appointees. Four thousand jobs need to be filled. Who is going to get them?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:29:25] BANFIELD: More than a dozen cities tonight, alive with protesters in the streets for a second night. If you saw the images last

night, well, strap in and get ready for tonight as well. This is Portland, Oregon. Let`s listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- you guys are sore losers. You don`t engage with them at all. So we are going to march eventually to the LGBTQ solidarity

event. I hope that you guys all join me. If you don`t, I hope you have a beautiful action here. I`m going to open up the mic to some of the trusted

people I need to talk. And then, eventually, we`ll head out that way. Thank you, guys.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Pretty peaceful stuff. We`ve got some aerial shots. But for the most part, everything has been quite peaceful. We saw something

looking pretty excited in Baltimore for a moment, but it didn`t seem to pan out into anything violent. This is our signal from KTVT in Dallas, Texas.

Hundreds gathering there as well.

And in Baltimore, it`s hard to make it out, but I think there was a police line at one point where the protesters were either going past or going

through. I can`t tell, though. It was a little bit dark. We have to be careful with some of these images. I must tell you right now.

Sometimes we go to aerial shots when we hit signage that is a little too graphic and we`re not able to show that on television, or at least we try

to avoid it the best we can. By the same token, we`re trying to give you the raw unvarnished look of what`s happening out there in the street.

Ben and Bernard are back with me, republican and democratic strategists. I just wanted to talk a little bit about filling these jobs. Ben, it has been

said that Donald Trump will fill the 4,000 or so plus jobs in this new administration, mostly with loyalists. And that in fact, aides have been

combing social media to make sure that whomever is going to be appointed doesn`t have any kind of background of criticizing Donald Trump.

He`s in a job that he`s bound to be criticized daily by the minute for the next four years. Is that the best strategy? Don`t you want the best people

opposed to someone who may have had something ill to say about?

FERGUSON: You want people first that are I think truly believe in you and are not going to just go for a power job. And then end up being leakers of

information and undermining what you`re doing. Everybody that I know in politics, whether it be on a local, state or national level checked social

media before they hire people to see who they really are.

That doesn`t worry me or surprise me at all. I also think Donald Trump is very smart here. You look at Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager.

Remember, she was around Ted Cruz. Until Ted Cruz dropped out. He went and found her because he thought she was the best woman for the job to run his

campaign after he has had some serious issues with his first two campaign managers.

So I think he can overlook those things here. There are a lot of positions that need to be filled. I think he`s going to find smart people and he`s

gonna find the right people. And you`re going to have political outsiders, which is exactly what he needs if he wants to get things done in

Washington.

BANFIELD: That`s a great point.

FERGUSON: If he don`t want to get things done, go back to the same people that have been there.

BANFIELD: I`m going to add Sarah Huckabee to that list as well. He brought Sarah Huckabee on board after.

WHITMAN: Yeah, who was not with him early and critical.

BANFIELD: Right. So, Bernard, the issue is, I asked a couple of people strong republican aides and insiders in the past if they would take a job

in the Trump administration. And the answer was, not likely. So there`s that issue as well. Should those republicans who spoke ill of Donald Trump

who were not in the Donald Trump camp come around and say maybe I can do more good than harm?

WHITMAN: Here`s what worries me. You have Trump surrogate like Omarosa who said, we are keeping an enemy`s list. That scares me. You have the fact

that he really did not plan at all for the transition. There`s a talent deficit.

There`s literally a flight of talent away from Donald Trump, because they`re worried about being associated with someone who literally has no

policies, no programs, no real agenda -- excuse me, Ben. He talks about creating jobs.

FERGUSON: I didn`t say anything.

BANFIELD: I think that was -- my apology. I think what that was is that we were showing images from the protests.

WHITMAN: Sorry about that. Sorry, Ben.

BANFIELD: No one was able to find the source of the sound. So, let`s be clear there.

WHITMAN: My concern is here is he`s fundamentally unprepared for the office. He hasn`t thought through what plans, what programs, what policies.

How is he actually going to bring these jobs back? Who is he gonna get as secretary of commerce? Who is he gonna get as secretary of the treasury?

He talks about wanting to bring all these manufacturing jobs back. How is he going to do that? Who is gonna be secretary of health because he said,

you know what, we are gonna repeal and replace Obamacare? What is he gonna do when 20 million are thrown out of health care because Obamacare no

longer exists?

BANFIELD: Hold on, Ben. I have to hit my brakes. My directors and producers are very good about this, and they want me to be good about it, too. I`ll

give you another opportunity to speak in a moment. I just want to show you the scenes again in Baltimore that you`re just looking at.

We`re trying the best we can to go all around the country and show you the scenes from all of the various cities that have people out on the streets

tonight. It`s too many to list at this point, and too many to name, but there are hundreds of thousands of people out there.

Understandably, half the country voted for Hillary Clinton, half the country voted for Donald Trump. At least the half that decided to vote at

all. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Back with live pictures. I want to take you to the streets of Denver right now, where protesters are out on the streets there. A single

breaks up every so often that you simply hear the voices from Denver. Let`s listen.

CROWD: Our streets! Our streets!

BANFIELD: The scenes you`re seeing there are in cities right across Baltimore, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, L.A.,

San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Washington, Oakland, Redding, Pennsylvania, Columbus, Knoxville, St. Louis, Boulder, Eugene, and the list

goes on and on.

And every so often, a new video signal will come into our offices. If that happens, I will bring it to you as well. Keeping in mind that sometimes, we

have to do some very quick editing on the fly due to the nature of some of the signage and the nature of what some people are saying.

I want to bring back Ben Ferguson and Bernard Whitman. One of the questions I have as we look at these scenes on the streets, guys, and as we look at

the effort in the oval office between the president and president-elect to show that maybe we can have a unified front going forward.

What happens, Ben, with the cries from the campaign trail to "lock her up" to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton? Are these

the kinds of things that may disappear or should Donald Trump continue in that effort and stoke the fires of the people you`re seeing on the screen?

FERGUSON: Yeah, I don`t think you`re going to see Donald Trump move forward on that. The reason why, it`s because it`s a distraction at this point. The

American people prosecuted Hillary Clinton and they decided that she was untrustworthy and unfit to be the president.

If congress wants to continue to look into some of the things the FBI or they want to at the Clinton Foundation, so be it. But if they go to

Washington and their top priority is to go after Hillary Clinton, it is going to not get the legislative agenda done that Donald Trump needs to get

done so that the American people say, okay, he`s doing a really good job. Donald Trump wants to win.

He won the election. Now he wants to win on the legislative issues in Washington. So I think it would be a very bad decision for him to go up

there and to focus on Hillary Clinton. He just beat her. The American people said we cannot trust her. Move on to the other issues like

Obamacare, the Supreme Court, et cetera.

BANFIELD: Okay. So there are other issues as well. Bernard, you heard it as well as everyone else that his biggest campaign rhetoric was to build a

wall, to deport those who were here illegally. He said they all got to go. Ban on Muslims until we figure it out. I feel like those are the kinds of

things that the people on the screen are also going to be up in arms about.

WHITMAN: I think there are lots of reasons for Donald -- for these people to be protesting Donald Trump. He maligned so many different groups over

the course of his 15, 16-month campaign for the presidency. I think it`s amazing to me. He talks about immigration. One of his signature lines was,

we`re going to build the wall and Mexico is going to pay for it.

Newt Gingrich walked that back today and said, you know what, Donald Trump is not going to focus on making Mexico pay for the wall. That was just a

pathetic campaign ploy to have someone like Newt Gingrich walk that back. I think his own supporters are going to be really upset about that.

I think his own supporters are gonna be really upset when their manufacturing jobs don`t come back. I think people that are going to be

kicked out from Obamacare are gonna be really upset when they don`t have health insurance. I think people.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITMAN: I think people who have preexisting conditions are gonna be really upset when suddenly they can`t get health insurance without Obamacare.

BANFIELD: Okay, Ben, real quick on the Obamacare.

FERGUSON: We`ve got to be intellectually honest about Obamacare. No one has been kicked off of anything yet, okay, and they said very clearly that they

are going to replace it with something. Donald Trump has also said there are some fundamental issues in Obamacare that he`s okay with, for example,

getting health care with preexisting conditions.

Ben Carson who is a neurosurgeon who understands hospitals is going to be I think instrumental in redoing Obamacare and making it better, so to say

that all these people are going to lose their insurance is based on no truth at all.

BANFIELD: One of the signs we just saw -- let me introduce myself. We are America, too. So that is the voice from half of those who voted for Hillary

Clinton. The other half is not represented on the streets right now, but they were represented in the results of that election with president-elect

Donald Trump.

As we look at these pictures going out to break, how many of the things that were promised in those raucous rallies and out on the campaign trail,

build the wall, Muslim band, Obamacare got to go, how many of those things will president-elect Trump deliver to his most ardent supporters?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A cacophony of those distressed by the presidential election in the United States, specifically the election of one Donald J. Trump as the

45th president. Pictures live to you right now from the streets of Denver, one of several dozen cities that are alive with voices just like this.

For the most part, we have seen nothing but peaceful protest. This is the scene. Like it or lump it, because half the folks voted for Hillary, half

the folks voted for Donald Trump, and the people you see out there did not vote for Donald Trump. This Denver picture I should tell you, by the way,

about 4400 people agreed to come out in a Facebook pitch to bring people out to make their presence heard.

They are meeting at the capital building in Denver, whether they`re marching from there or to there, not clear as these pictures are sort of

live and they are moving all the time, just as they are across the country in a number of different cities that we`ve seen awash with protesters for

the second night in a row since Tuesday night. Wednesday morning is very, very late realization that Donald Trump had won this election.

I want to bring Ben Ferguson and Bernard Whitman back. Look at the pictures. The old post office building in D.C. that is now the Trump

International Hotel. That is within shouting distance with the White House there. So guys, as we look at these pictures and hear these voices, I just

want to ask about the impending plan for the Trump administration.

There were a lot of things said on the campaign trail. There were a lot of things promised on the campaign trail, specifically a lot of people who are

out there with rainbow flags say that gay marriage is at risk. And Ben, I want to ask you about that. Because if we`re talking about unity going

forward, once again, if Hillary Clinton`s prosecution isn`t helpful for unity, is rolling back gay marriage helpful for the unity issue?

FERGUSON: One, I don`t think it`s going to happen. I think you look at Donald Trump and the words that he`s said, he criticized the bathroom laws

in North Carolina. He made it very clear that Caitlyn Jenner was able to come into his own hotel. He`s not going to waste, I think in his opinion,

time on that.

He`s also has talked about it being a states right issue. I don`t think you`re going to see this rolled back. This ultimately was a Supreme Court

issue. Are you going to be able to switch the Supreme Court, are they even willing to rehear this issue? I think this is a pretty much at this point a

settled law. He`s going to move on to other things.

BANFIELD: Let me get Bernard now.

WHITMAN: The problem is, it`s not a states right issue, it is now a federal -- for the federal government to say gays and lesbians have a right to

marry. I need to know if Donald Trump was being serious when he promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn that decision.

Do I need to live her, go home, propose to my boyfriend now, get married less in a year or two? We don`t have the right to do that. I need to know

these things. And also, Donald Trump owes it to the American people to come clean about things like the deportation force.

Is he actually going to round up all of the illegals and deport them? People have a right to know, was he actually serious or is he going to roll

back and walk back to the business.

BANFIELD: That`s a big question. Just real quickly. I do have to wrap this up for one particular reason, that is that there are a lot of people who

voted for Donald Trump because of these things he promised. I think they will be watching like a hawk to see that their champion delivers to them

what they wanted.

He said make America great again, which in their mind was when those things did not exist. So I think this is going to be intriguing going forward. By

the way, more protests from Washington, D.C. This is all over a vote. A vote that happened on Tuesday.

FERGUSON: A free and fair vote.

BANFIELD: Free and fair vote, without question. There was no complaint from democrats that there was vote rigging, although there was a lot of

complaining that there was limitation on a lot of people voting in democratic areas.

All right. I want to switch gears to a different kind of vote, if I can. This is very important vote in these walls. And it`s under way right now

for the CNN hero of the year. So I want you to meet one of this year`s top ten, Harry Swimmer.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY SWIMMER, ONE OF TOP CNN HEROES: Mitey Riders is an equine-assisted therapeutic riding program. We work with special needs children. And I`m a

very lucky man to be able to do that. I met a little girl, nonverbal, deaf, wondered what she would be like on a horse.

So I said to the grandmother, how about if we bring her out to the farm and let me see what she would do on a horse. I brought her out here and put her

on a pony and she just lit up like a candle and I said, this is what I wanted to do.

These children come to me with all kinds of disabilities, verbal and nonverbal. They gain so much from doing something that other children don`t

do that they can do. When the children are on the horse, you can`t tell they`re disabled.

They ride like anybody else. These children come to me every day with open arms and I love every one of them. This is their farm as much as it is

mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you.

SWIMMER: And I love you, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Just a matter of hours after Donald Trump, the president-elect, met with the president of the United States in Washington, D.C., cities

everywhere across the country erupted for the second night into protests in the streets.

The image on your screen right now, peaceful protests in Philadelphia, and I will report that the protests we have covered tonight have been lock step

peaceful.

There has been very loud proclamations made from the streets, some of them not fit for television, but for the most part, many saying that this is

just something they wanted to do out of pain and out frustration for the result that they did not want to see.

Bernard Whitman and Ben Ferguson are back with me. Bernard, I`ve got to ask you, what will it take? How long will it take? Will anything mollify the

people that we`re looking at on our screen?

WHITMAN: It`s incumbent upon Donald Trump to get out there and say I will be the president for everyone, not just once, but repeatedly. I think that

he has to pledge in the first 100 days of his administration to welcome those into the White House that he disagreed with, people like Latinos,

undocumented Americans, Muslims.

He needs to welcome these people and he needs to inspire hope and not fear. He needs to bring people together and not divide them. He needs to build

bridges, not walls. And he needs to listen to people with opposing views, instead of shouting them down. That I think will begin to heal the country.

BANFIELD: So the straight talking politically incorrect guy, Ben, the supporters of Donald Trump absolutely revere, and you could see it in those

rallies. They loved the bombast. They love the aggressive thought.

That stuff doesn`t play well on a world stage with someone like Kim Jong-un out there who could take things literally, and it doesn`t play with those

folks out on the streets. So does your candidate, does your president-elect have to change his style, upset.

FERGUSON: I think he already has. I think actually where you`re going see Donald Trump probably be the most bombastic is with people within his own

party if they get in the way of the agenda that he was sent to Washington to do. I think that`s where you may see the biggest wars.

He`s not going to waste time going out there and acting like he`s still campaigning. You saw, as soon as he won this, he`s going to work and going

to do the things he said he was going to do. He`s going to focus on job creation.

BANFIELD: Sorry, we`re out of time.

FERGUSON: He`s gonna focus on Obamacare.

BANFIELD: All right. I got to stop it there. You know what? I could go on for four hours but my show is over. Thank you so much, Bernard and Ben.

Thank you, everyone for watching. We`ll see you right back here Monday night, 8:00. Stay tuned. "Forensic Files" starts right now.

END