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Trump Signals Possible Compromise On Obamacare; Pence Now Leading Trump's Transition Team; Policy, Cabinet Picks First Key Tests For Trump; Man Shot During Anti-Trump Protest In Portland; Mexicans Concerned About Trump Presidency; President-Elect Donald Trump And The Media; Questions Rise over Future Between Trump And Media; Trump Weighs Top Contenders For Chief Of Staff; Protecting Trump Tower. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired November 12, 2016 - 11:00   ET

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


(CROSSTALK)

[11:00:02] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Things that make you go "hmm," huh?

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, exactly.

WHITFIELD: All right, you guys, good to see you. Thanks so much.

PAUL: Thanks, Fred. You too.

WHITFIELD: For now let's get through today. From the nation's capital, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The NEWSROOM starts right now.

Outrage turns to violence as anti-Trump protesters clash with police in Portland, Oregon.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Officers had to use flash bangs to break up crowds after protesters began throwing objects at police. Meanwhile, the hunt continues for a gunman, who shot and killed one person during that protest and then fled the scene.

It is part of a wave of anti-Trump protests sweeping the nation, most of them peaceful. Protesters marching through the streets of major cities blocking traffic, chanting slogans like, not my president.

This as President-elect Trump signals that he may be open to compromising on some of the campaign promises that propelled him to victory. Most notably, his pledge to gut the Affordable Care Act, in fact, repeal it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- which you say you're going to repeal and replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered?

TRUMP: Yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that.

TRUMP: Also with children living with their parents for an extended period we're going to very much keep that. Adds cost but it's very much something we're going to try and keep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's going to be a period if you repeal it and before you replace when millions of people could lose --

TRUMP: We're going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine. It's what I do. I know how to do this stuff. We'll repeal it and replace it. We're not going to have like a two-day period or a two- year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced, and we'll know, and it will be great health care for much less money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So the change in tone comes as President-elect Trump shakes up his transition team. Vice President-elect Mike Pence now leading the operation, flanked by a team of vice chairs that include everyone from congressman to Trump's own children.

Chris Frates is following that story for us. Joining us live from outside Trump Tower, in the big apple, which has become somewhat of a fortress, as Trump and his team continue to work there -- Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, that's exactly right. Mike Pence taking over the transition, becoming the chairman of this government in waiting. Chris Christie had chaired this since May. He gets bumped back to vice chairman. He's joined by a lot of other campaign confidants.

Guys like Steve Bannon, who was the campaign chairman, also Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman. Both of those guys in the running to be the White House chief of staff. Now, the Christie camp saying, look, this isn't a demotion, that oftentimes the vice president-elect will take over that transition effort.

But, you know, they point to Dick Cheney as an example of that. But you know, Dick Cheney didn't have a big cloud hanging over his head like Chris Christie does with his Bridgegate scandal.

If you remember, just recently a couple of his top allies were found guilty in closing lanes around the George Washington Bridge, which caused huge backups in a New Jersey Town, whose Democratic mayor didn't endorse Chris Christie for governor.

That was some political payback by some of his top allies. Christie, of course, says he didn't know anything about it, wasn't involved in it. But when Republican National Committee spokesman, Sean Spicer, was asked what happened to Christie, here's what he told our own Michael Smerconish earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk transition. What happened to Governor Christie?

SEAN SPICER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't know. I know that, obviously, you know, Mr. Trump has a ton of faith in Governor Pence and his connections and his stature in Washington. He's been a very successful governor and he's been a very successful member of the House of Representatives. And I think, now that we're in that phase, he obviously wanted to look at some of the people that would lead that transition more carefully and more thoroughly and he made a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Donald Trump also tweeting this morning about uniting all America -- all Americans in this time of transition, and also, talking about winning. So he's trying to put a good face on this, as he tries to continue to unite the country after what was a very divisive election.

But lots of shake up inside the Trump world, and all of Washington, Fred, watching this parlor game, to try to see who's making these decisions and who's going to eventually be in this Trump administration -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Frates, thank you so much, from New York. We'll check back with you.

[11:05:04]All right, so, is President-elect Trump backing away now from the signature issued that carried him to victory? Since his win, we have heard very little about several cornerstones of his campaign, including repealing Obamacare, building a wall, a ban on Muslims and prosecuting Hillary Clinton.

Things that you heard him promise on the campaign trail and now, of course, you heard in that "60 Minutes" interview, he did talk about repealing Obamacare, although, we also heard language that really emphasized a change, modifications of the existing affordable health care plan.

So let's talk more about all of this with CNN political commentator, Ryan Lizza, here with me in Washington, and director for the University of Virginia Center for Politics, Larry Sabato. Good to see both of you, Gentleman.

All right, so Ryan, you first because this has been a cornerstone, repealing and replacing. That has been the mantra. And now he is talking about making modifications. So does this exemplify that it's one thing to make campaign promises, it's another once you're an elect to see whether you can execute these things?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think he was vague enough, frankly, about how he defined Obamacare and what parts of it he was going to repeal and what he was going to replace it with. I mean, frankly, he never specified.

So on that, and that is an area where he's right in line with Republicans in Congress. There's not a lot of daylight and there are a lot of competing versions among Republicans, at least on the repeal side, it's going to be a pretty big challenge for them to come up with the replace.

Frankly, since Obamacare started, the Republicans have been able to take advantage of the fact that it's never been wildly popular and use it as an issue, but they haven't been able to spell out specifically what the replace mechanism would be.

And so, in the "60 Minutes" interview in the "Wall Street Journal," he's saying, well, I want to keep the popular things, and that is the insurance company regulations that you can stay on your parent's plan until you're 26 years old. Everyone wants that. That you can --

WHITFIELD: The pre-existing conditions.

LIZZA: Excuse me, pre-existing conditions, right? The stuff that nobody -- that was always popular and the Republicans signed on to. There are other parts of Obamacare that sort of -- that's one leg of a three-leg stool. So it will be interesting to see how they take care of the other two legs in Obamacare.

WHITFIELD: So, Larry, the Obama administration had always said this affordable health care plan could be modified. That it would be made better over time. Is this now President-elect Trump's attempt at rebranding what we've known to be Obamacare?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, Fred, let's hope so. At least the early indications are that President-elect Trump is trying to find at least a bit of middle ground.

Because I think he recognizes, first of all, he had a very narrow victory and he lost the popular vote, and by the way, that gap is growing daily. Hillary Clinton is very likely to finish with a popular vote plurality, much greater than that enjoyed by Al Gore in 2000. He lost the race to George W. Bush. That has consequences.

And second, I think it's pretty obvious from all the demonstrations and riots or whatever you want to call them around the country that the nation is on a hair trigger. And I don't think that's how President-elect Trump wants to enter office. So, this -- this is a good sign.

You know, deep down, it's hard to say exactly where he is, but I've always had a hard time believing that he was as far to the right as some of his campaign rhetoric and positions led us to believe. So, this ought to be encouraged because we've got to hold together as a nation.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then you know, on the wall issue, could Trump use an executive order? And we're talking about, as a candidate, he had great criticism for President Obama for the use of that tool, but now there are discussions, potentially, that in order to make the wall, to help finance it, Donald Trump might use executive order?

LIZZA: Yes, once a president expands the use of his powers, the next president usually doesn't give them up, right? The nature of the executive is you push it, and the next president gets to take advantage of the same way you pushed it.

On the wall, if he's really going to build a 3,000-mile wall on the border and the way that he described during the campaign, he's going to need funding from Congress to do that. Now, there are other aspects of immigration --

WHITFIELD: Even though the promise was Mexico's going to pay for it?

LIZZA: Right. If that is really going to happen, he could in a one- on-one negotiation, I suppose, with Mexico, get them to pay for it. He's also talked about using remittances, cracking down on remittances from Mexicans to Americans and changing some of the visa structure. So using money from visas from Mexicans visiting the United States to pay for the wall.

[11:10:07]So he does have some wiggle room, but it's a really expensive wall, the one that he describes. He's going to build it as described and Mexico's going to say, sorry, we're not actually going to pay for it then he's going to need Congress to help him.

Now this could be like the Obamacare example, where he starts to define the wall differently. When he says, I didn't mean a physical wall everywhere, we're going to beef up the wall here and there and use aerial drones to provide security and all the other -- if he redefines it as border security and not a 3,000-mile wall that would be a lot less expensive.

WHITFIELD: And so, Larry, really quick, hypocritical?

SABATO: Well, you can define it that way. I like to think of it as practical and probably within the country's interests. And Ryan is absolutely right. Look, there's never been a president who kept all of his campaign promises and fulfilled them in precisely the way he described them on the campaign trail.

Because the purpose of the campaign is to get votes and the purpose in office is to govern, and believe me, there are two very different things, frequently.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ryan, Larry, thank you so much. We'll have you back. Stick around.

A reminder, don't miss House Speaker Paul Ryan tomorrow morning on "STATE OF THE UNION." Jake Tapper's exclusive interview is at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Hillary Clinton acknowledged the tough days that she has been having, while trying to bestow a sense of calm to campaign volunteers. Take a listen to a conference call that they all had last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Look, I'm not going to sugar coat it. These have been very, very tough days, for all of us. I hope that you will all take some time to regroup.

It's important that you understand that, you know, there's still a lot to be done in our country, by people like you, who are so, so important to us.

And I hope that, you know, you'll take some time with friends and family, or do what I've been doing, take your dogs for a walk, if you have dogs, or, you know, whatever else gives you some real pleasure.

This is a tough time for our country. I think we've seen how people have been reacting to the events of this election and I know that we've got to be reaching out to each other, to keep it clear in our own minds that what we did was so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Hillary Clinton's thoughts there, three days after a big loss for her. She says that the thoughts of her aides is actually what has been keeping her lifted. She made her first public appearance since conceding last night, in Brooklyn, at that staff campaign party.

And then, of course, you saw the pictures of her on a walk where she just happened to run into somebody who was walking on the same trail and they snapped that photograph and you saw that, that was the day after the election.

All right, up next, anti-Trump protesters take to the streets for a third night since the election and more are planning to gather today. We'll have a live report right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:43]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the nation's capital. Police in large cities are on high alert this weekend after a third night of anti-Trump protests broke out across the U.S. This is video in Los Angeles. Most of the marches and rallies were peaceful, but in Portland, Oregon, tensions exploded.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: One person was shot and police are still looking for the gunman. A protest in Miami, Florida, demonstrators held signs that said, build bridges, not walls. And in Atlanta, protesters burned an American flag outside of the state capitol.

That's where we find CNN's Polo Sandoval, who has been tracking these protests all night in Atlanta. So Polo, what more do we know about, let's go, you know, across the country over to Portland, Oregon. What more do we know about that shooting?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. We do understand that things went down early this morning, Fred. That there were several demonstrators that had gathered on a bridge there in Portland, at one point, an individual pulls out a gun, shots are fired, and we're told that one man was actually hit and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

But of course, the key there is that a search for a suspect here, police are still trying to track down that individual that pul1ed that gun. But again, that person that was hit is expected to be OK.

And this followed what was a very violent night, though, there, in Portland, as police clashing with some demonstrators, the mayor of the city, just a couple of days ago after seeing a similar situation like this play out on the streets of the city, said that a majority of those demonstrators have remained relatively peaceful.

It is those individuals that the mayor, Charlie Hales, has called anarchists and are really disrupting what should be peaceful demonstrations there. He's the one who said that they are the ones who are drowning out the voices of those individuals who say that there's not necessarily anything that can change about the outcome of the election.

It's what they are protesting, though, are some of the policy suggestions that have been proposed by now President-elect Trump on the campaign trail. So, again, people are getting ready for what could be another night of demonstrations, not just in Portland, but also in other cities across the country -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Polo Sandoval, we'll check back with you as things unravel today or unwind today. Thank you so much.

All right, up next, it was the cornerstone of his campaign, but since Election Day, we've heard very little about it. Will President-elect Trump deliver on his pledge to build a wall? A live report from Mexico City next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:23:05]

WHITFIELD: All right, this morning, the Taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide blast that killed four people at the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. The attack happened in the early morning hours at Bagram airfield.

A coalition official says the bomber detonated a suicide vest near where people were gathering for a run. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says two U.S. service members and two U.S. contractors were killed and 17 other U.S. service members were wounded in the attack.

All right, now back to politics here. President-elect Donald Trump says border security will be a top priority in the first weeks of his administration. That includes getting to work on the promise that helped propel Trump's campaign to victory, building a wall on the southern border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Number one, I'm building a wall, they're not coming in anymore. Number two, immediately -- we're building a wall -- in our case, look, that wall's going to start very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what's the feeling in Mexico on whether Trump c make good on his promise? Let's go to CNN's Ed Lavendera. He's live for us right now in Mexico City. What's being said there, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, as you might imagine, you talk to many people here on the streets of Mexico City, they find the whole notion that Mexico will pay for this wall as rather ridiculous.

And government officials, even though the top government officials have struck a very even tone, conciliatory tone with Donald Trump, there is really no illusion or no one's under the illusion here that Mexico will ever pay for this wall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We're going to build a great wall -- the wall just got 10 feet higher -- maybe someday they are going to call it the Trump wall.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The border between the United States and mexico stretches the nearly 2,000 miles, nearly 700 miles of it is already covered with some form of border wall, or steel fencing. But Donald Trump wants more.

TRUMP: On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, of course, it can be done --

LAVANDERA: Professor Michael Dear is an expert in city and regional planning and the author of the book "Why Walls Don't Work."

MICHAEL DEAR, AUTHOR, "WHY WALLS DON'T WORK": A large concrete structure, which might be 25 feet high, which should be very intensive in terms of resources and money.

LAVANDERA: In fact, CNN has surveyed a number of civil engineers, architects and academics about what may be most feasible. The wall would most likely need to be made of pre-cast cement wall panels, 25 feet tall, 10 feet wide, 8 inches thick, requiring 339 million cubic feet of concrete.

The panels would be held together by 5 billion pounds of reinforced steel, with an estimated cost of at least $10.5 billion and possibly much more. Trump supporters say they can't wait to see the beginning of the border wall construction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wall will get built and Mexico is going to pay for that wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he'll try to build a wall and I think he'll try to secure our borders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If people want to come into the country, they should do it legally.

LAVANDERA: But in Mexico, the idea of a wall is often shrugged off as a bump in the road north. Jose Torres Hernandez says he's illegally crossed into the U.S. many times to find work picking fruits and vegetables.

He says a wall might make crossing over a little harder, but immigrants like him would always find a way to find work to feed their families.

And Armando Flores Gutierrez says he's crossed the border 25 times, starting when he was just 16, to work farm fields all over the U.S. He says keeping people like him out of the country will only hurt the U.S.

(on camera): He says if he tries to remove all of the Mexicans from the United States, Donald Trump will realize what a huge mistake that is and how much the U.S. economy depends on Mexican immigrants.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Fredricka, a joke you often hear on the streets is if the U.S. builds a wall 20 feet tall, 25 feet tall, you would instantly create a market for 21-foot ladders. That's how many people view all of this right here in Mexico City -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ed Lavendera, thank you so much from Mexico City. We'll check back.

All right, up next, Donald Trump's history with the press, pretty hard to forget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Terrible. Horrible. Unbelievable. Illegitimate. Disgusting. Scum. I'm not running against Crooked Hillary. I'm running against the crooked media. That's what I'm running against. It's true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a question.

TRUMP: I think the political press is among the most dishonest people that I've ever met.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So will this relationship be any different president-elect and the media. We'll discuss that with our panel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington, D.C. So President-elect Donald Trump has been very honest about his opinion of the media. Throughout his campaign, he blasted the press with claims of being dishonest, liars, crooked. So, what will happen between the relationship between a new president and the White House press corps and the media at large? Brian Todd has more.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, in a new interview, President-elect Trump suggested that the acid-laced rhetoric that he used during the campaign, which many believed helped get him elected could be toned down.

Mr. Trump said things are different now, striking, considering the relentless attacks he made on the media for the past year and a half.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): After months of openly sparring with the media during the campaign --

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT ELECT: A bunch of phony low-lives -- they're disgraceful -- bad people. Bad people.

TODD: His supporters joined that fight. Now, new questions about how Donald Trump will treat the media as president. Questions fueled by Trump's team's ditching of the traditional pool of reporters assigned to cover him when he came to Washington to meet with President Obama. The head of the White House Correspondents' Association complained.

JEFF MASON, PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION: To be there in case news happened, to be there in case something happens to him, it is important for us to be able to fulfill our responsibilities as journalists and to tell the story of what's going on and to inform the public.

TODD: On 9/11, if reporters weren't traveling with President Bush, the public may not have known certain details of where the president was. There could have been worrisome information gaps on the day President Reagan was shot.

During the campaign, Trump blocked the media from traveling with him. He blacklisted journalists who had been critical of him. He threatened to sue "The New York Times" for reporting on his taxes, threatened to sue NBC for the "Access Hollywood" tape release, but didn't follow through. Still, the media's not blameless in the relationship.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, NPR NEWS: I think that there were a lot of mistakes along the way by the media. I think the media failed to treat Donald Trump seriously, even as they covered him intensely and gave him an extraordinary amount of air time during the primary campaigns.

TODD: And analysts say, Trump's public disdain for reporters may well have helped him at the polls. Now Trump is showing signs of flexibility. In his first interview as president-elect, telling the "Wall Street Journal," he'll change his overall tone, quote, "It's different now."

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The dynamics of a campaign are inherently different than governing. A campaign is a daily clash. Governing is different. Governing is leading, governing is showing example. Governing is giving people a leadership role that makes people say to Congress do what the president said.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Media watchers say it's an open question whether Donald Trump will be more receptive to the media and allow them more access as president, but for now, a Trump spokesperson tells CNN they expect to operate a traditional pool for reporters and they're asking for patience as they navigate the transition process -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Brian. Let's talk more about this, the impending relationship between President-elect Trump and the media. CNN political commentator, Ryan Lizza, is with us. We're also joined by CNN politics reporter, Eugene Scott, and University of Kansas journalism professor, Jonathan Peters.

All right, good to see all of you. OK, so Ryan, you first. Because, when President-elect Trump made his way to Washington, we already saw examples of him ditching the press, ditching the press in New York on the way to D.C., then not informing or ditching the press on the way to Capitol Hill.

And then, on the departure. Is this the start of more to come? Does that kind of set the stage of what it's going to be like covering President Trump?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, look, we should look to how he treated the press in the campaign. We shouldn't assume that it would be any different. He said that he wanted to open up libel laws to make it easier to sue the press, and in that excellent package put together, he repeatedly degraded and described the press in the most --

WHITFIELD: Liars!

LIZZA: Yes, I mean, scum. That's never happened. And in one of his first tweets after he won, basically, his first substantive comment after the election besides just sort of platitudes about coming together was an attack on the media the other night.

WHITFIELD: The media's at fault for the protests.

LIZZA: So I think everyone should be a little worried. He's no longer a presidential candidate. He's no longer a private citizen. He's now president of the United States. He's now the most powerful person in the world.

So he described the press that way, it takes on a completely different cast. And I know he has people around him that don't approve of that. I know he has people around him that try and reign him in. When Kellyanne Conway came into the campaign, one of the first thing she did as campaign manager was to get him to remove the blacklist against a lot of journalists, who were not allowed into his rallies.

So I think it's good that they said that not having a press pool was a mistake and they're going to fix that. Let's see if that happens.

WHITFIELD: So Eugene, there's a decorum, a relationship built between a president, especially, and the White House press corps. They have to get along, so to speak, but the president will set the tone or is it the White House press corps that will help set the tone?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER On this point, considering some of the things that President-elect Donald Trump has said about the media, I think it really is on him to set the tone. He can stop attacking the media if he chooses to. He had the power to eliminate the blacklist, which was a great move forward.

But he also can encourage people in his administration to respond differently than perhaps they did during the campaign. What we know about Donald Trump is that he knows how to work with the media.

This isn't new. He knows how to use them to get the ideas that he wants for as a businessman, now it's his time to do that as a policymaker.

WHITFIELD: And so, Jonathan, you know, there is some history, right? There's significant history between the White House press corps in particular and the president, how a bond, a relationship is built. Sometimes, it's also tenuous. We've seen that with George W. Bush. We saw that on occasion with President Clinton. But what is your expectation of how the relationship will begin and perhaps how it will continue?

JONATHAN PETERS, JOURNALISM PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS: I'm willing myself to be hopeful, but I'm afraid that that hope will turn out to be misplaced. I think that all early signs point to a Trump administration that would be hostile to the press, perhaps uniquely so.

And I think there's a lot of noise here, but what interests me is a singular question, and that would be, what could he as president do to change U.S. media law or restrict journalism practice?

And if you break that question down into a couple of component parts, could President Trump open up our libel laws? No, probably not. States create nearly all libel laws. They are subject to First Amendment limits.

Trump couldn't require states to change their laws any more than he could require the Supreme Court to change its First Amendment jurisprudence or require Congress to rewrite the First Amendment.

In a different area under the Freedom of Information Act, he alone couldn't amend the law, but he could affect its implementation. And last, could president Trump track down on public affairs reporting? Possibly, most likely in the area of national reporting if his DOJ prosecute a journalist under the Espionage Act or tried to obtain injunctions against publication.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, you know, libel laws, making change that seems like a distraction because you're talking about the presidency and the use of your media, which is your primary tool in which to talk to the American people, who you are leading.

So you know, Ryan, talk to me about how this will be a delicate tight rope if, perhaps, it starts out one way, doesn't it behoove the president, doesn't the president know that, you know, as the commander-in-chief supporting the number one, you know, constitutional right, you know, freedom of the press, there has to be a respectful relationship that goes forward.

LIZZA: There does, but I've never seen a White House and a press corps over time where the relationship actually gets better. It usually gets worse. And so the fact that it's starting off on such a bad foot from the campaign is a little bit ominous.

I mean, generally, what happens in a White House? You get very, very frustrated with the media coverage, because the media tends to be critical, adversarial. And every president complains about the press. Usually in the beginning, it's more of a honeymoon --

WHITFIELD: Every president tried to break the ice by spontaneously coming out into press room, instead of the White House spokesperson, essentially breaking bread to say, you know what, I'm here for you, I'm here to answer questions. You saw George W. Bush do that, you know, very well. You saw President Obama do that very well, do you expect to see a President Trump feel comfortable doing that?

SCOTT: Well, we certainly hope so. He's someone who's clearly comfortable with people, but this could be a move that he could implore to get his message out to many of the millions of voters who are not on the Trump train, as of yet.

[11:40:07]This will be an opportunity for him to say, I know you thought my ideas were problematic and you didn't buy into them, but let me tell you how I really can make America great for you, as well. The media can help him with that.

LIZZA: I don't think he thinks traditionally about the media that he needs us to get his message out. I think his view is that there are --

WHITFIELD: He just did. He did just benefit from that, tremendously.

LIZZA: But I think he thinks between Twitter and Facebook and his own avenues, that he can get his message out, without the traditional media.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll talk more on this, Ryan Lizza, Eugene Scott, Jonathan Peters, thank you so much, Gentleman. Appreciate it. All right, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The transition team for Donald Trump is hard at work. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington, D.C.

And one of the major choices for President-elect Donald Trump is his chief of staff. Right now, two names, top of the list of contenders, Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, and Trump campaign CEO and executive chairman of Breitbart News, Steven Bannon.

While both men played major roles in the Trump campaign, their backgrounds and political styles couldn't be more different. Here now is CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On election night, the person Donald Trump praised more than anyone else was Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

TRUMP: Tell you, Reince is really a star and he is the hardest working guy.

[11:45:06]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 the time you did this, Reince.

BASH: Even surrendering his victory speech microphone to Priebus.

TRUMP: Amazing guy. Our partnership with the RNC is so important to the success and what we've done.

BASH: It is true that the RNC had more influence over Trump's campaign than any in recent history. Priebus started to build ground operations and voter files in key states three years ago, which Trump used and benefited from, big-time.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: We spent the last four years building a nationwide ground game.

BASH: In the last few months of Trump's campaign, Priebus personally played an outsized role, from helping lead debate prep to traveling extensively to help keep Trump focused and disciplined.

PRIEBUS: We're so honored to be working with Donald Trump.

BASH: Those pushing for Priebus say he's the ideal chief of staff for several reasons. He can organize the White House and be a good gatekeeper, crucial traits for that job. And they point to the relationships he has with Republicans, who run Capitol Hill, especially House Speaker Paul Ryan, a longtime close friend from Wisconsin. Priebus even brokered their first meeting this spring.

(on camera): Do you feel like a couple's therapist?

PRIEBUS: No, you know what, you wouldn't say that if you're in the room.

BASH: But those very bonds Priebus has with GOP leaders give Trump pause. They didn't want Trump to be president and though Priebus often acted as a go-between during the campaign, which ultimately helped Trump, sources close to the president-elect say he isn't 100 percent sure Priebus is loyal.

TRUMP: When you're a star, they let you do it.

BASH: Especially since, as party chair, Priebus had to publicly criticize Trump more than once when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out he said, quote, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner, ever.

Another contender for chief of staff, Steve Bannon, was always a steadfast Trump loyalist. He came from Breitbart, a conservative publication that spends as much time attacking establishment Republicans as Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party and get those guys, you know, heeding, too, and if we have to, we'll take it over.

BASH: Bannon became Trump's chief executive officer during the third campaign shake up and sources say immediately had the candidate's ear. In fact, Bannon too began traveling with Trump extensively in the waning weeks of the campaign.

Although he sometimes fed Trump's worst instincts, sources say he also had enough credibility with the candidate to convince him not to send damaging tweets or retaliate against critics in a way that will distract from his core message.

For that reason, even if Bannon is not chief of staff, Trump sources say to expect in some capacity, he will be around a Trump White House. Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, more discussion about the transition team. Don't miss former New York City mayor and top Trump supporter, Rudy Giuliani, live on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper, tomorrow morning, 9:00 m. Eastern Time. We'll be right back in the NEWSROOM, from Washington, D.C.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:04]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington. So, Trump Tower, the massive 58-story skyscraper in New York City is where President-elect Donald Trump calls home. That is also until he moves to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on inauguration day.

With increased tourists, traffic and hundreds of protesters protecting the tower has not been an easy task for security. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, the residents of the president-elect, Trump Tower is a fortress ringed by tight security, the center of an increasingly worrisome question, how do you secure a 58-story skyscraper, smack in the center of on the one of the world's busiest cities?

It's a question made even more difficult by the fact the building's atrium is a public space, increasingly difficult to monitor, law enforcement officials say. In the building itself, a target of a suction cup climber seen as potentially vulnerable to any of number of threats from surrounding towers and streets.

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Because it is so dense, you know, the damage it could cause is potentially immense. They are going to have their work cut out for them for quite some time.

MATTINGLY: The FAA already moving to protect it from the air, issuing temporary flight restrictions that extend nearly 3,000 feet up and two nautical miles out. In the wake of election night, new cement barriers and cement-filled dump trucks lined busy Fifth Avenue, pushing cars and the public further away.

Now, a Secret Service presence throughout the building and a regular presence of more than 100 NYPD officers surrounding the property, a debate between Secret Service and NYPD officials still ongoing where even more restrictive actions to take.

Concerns exasperated by the now constant presence of protesters, a group given their own pen, across the street from the building's main entrance. Phil Mattingly, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, much more from Washington. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:58:05]

WHITFIELD: All right, a brand-new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN" with Anthony Bourdain coming your way. He's headed back to Japan with one of America's most well-known chefs. Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": OK, so look. Any excuse to come to Japan is a good one. I feel healthier already. For a reason. It's awesome. This episode we are going back to Japan with (inaudible) Takayama, probably the greatest and most respected chef in America. His restaurant in New York is certainly the most expensive restaurant in America -- that's so beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BOURDAIN: We are going back to Japan with him to find out why -- what happens next? Where it all came from and where it's going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Watch the brand-new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN" with Anthony Bourdain, tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

All right, first lady, Michelle Obama quite the force on the campaign trail, now grazing the cover of "Vogue" for its December issue. The renowned photographer (inaudible) captured this image, a vision in white. In the article, Michelle Obama gives a candid conversation about her feelings on her final days as first lady.

We have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.

Hello again and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington. Anti-Trump protests erupt across the country once again. Some of them with violent results.