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Hillary Clinton Holds Conference Call with Supporters; Anti- Trump Protests Continue Through U.S.; Donald Trump Comments on Retaining Parts of Obamacare; Potential Conflicts of Interests Between Trump Presidency and Businesses Examined; Warren Buffett Discusses U.S. Economy in Wake of Trump Election; Suicide Bomber Hits U.S. Air Base in Afghanistan; Iraq Military Continues Battle for Mosul. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired November 12, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- with open arms, and I love every one of them. This is their farm as much as it is mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield from the nation's capital. Live pictures right now at the White House as President Obama and family wrap up their eight year stay there. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to move in two months.

All right, topping the news right now, after a stunning defeat, Hillary Clinton talks to her donors on a conference call today and says the letters from FBI Director James Comey were just too much to overcome in the final days of the campaign, calling them double whammies leading up to her defeat. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is right now on the phone with us with more details on this call. So Jeff, what more was said?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka. Hillary Clinton was making her first comment to some of the top donors who really funded this effort. These were members of her national finance committee she called earlier this afternoon. And she did explain one of the reasons for her loss, she said, was that series of back-to-back letters from the FBI director during the 11th hour of the campaign. She said the first letter that came on Friday, October 28th, that said he was going to take another look at her e-mail controversy involving some potentially new e-mails from Huma Abedin, she said that simply stopped her surge that she had been enjoying in the month of October. It stopped it cold after her debates, after those controversial words from Donald Trump were echoing everywhere. She said that simply turned off some voters.

But she said, sort of more surprisingly, it was that second letter from the FBI director saying that there was no evidence of wrongdoing that came nine days letter on the Sunday before the election that she said made have been a bigger problem, that it fired up Trump supporters. So it was one of the reasons she gave for her defeat.

Not all of them. She said there were her headwinds she could not overcome, but that was simply one of the reasons that she believes she lost this campaign, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so Jeff, is she kind of making the rounds with this conference call coming after a conference call last night with her campaign staffers, is she sort of making the rounds to people who have supported her, and you know, in different areas with this explanation along with the big thanks for being behind her?

ZELENY: She definitely is. She talked to some supporters last night on a call. She appeared at a thank you party for her campaign staffers last evening and thanked all of them. And that's what the call was today.

It was also a call to urge them to stay involved, to keep fighting the fight if you will. But Fredricka, in any loss like this, certainly a staggering loss like this and a surprising one to many people, there is a lot of finger pointing. And other Democrats I've been talking to over the last several days say that, you know, a good portion of the blame also rests with Hillary Clinton and her campaign themselves, not simply the FBI director.

There were more than 200 counties across the rustbelt that flipped from President Obama in 2012 to Donald Trump in 2016. And many Democrats, a lot of whom were Bernie Sanders supporters, believe she simply did not tap into that economic hurt, if you will, the anger, the fear in the electorate. So the FBI director's letter potentially is one reason of course, but a loss like this, Fredricka, is never born out of one thing alone. So this is just simply one thing that will, you know, we'll be looking at in the weeks and months to come how the Democratic Party rebuilds, because it is as decimated as it has been in generations. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you for that information. Appreciate it.

Meantime, from coast-to-coast, protesters are marching in protest of president-elect Donald Trump. With these demonstrations taking place from New York to Los Angeles, we are finding our reporters are all over, covering this. CNN Brynn Gingras is in Manhattan, Kyung Lah is in Los Angeles. So Brynn, let me begin with you where thousands of people, as I know you described earlier, have turned out and they end up right in front of Trump Tower there in New York City.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, I think thousands is even underestimating it at this point. I think we're well into the tens of thousands of people as they've made their way up from Union Square to this destination right there. You see that big black tall building, that is Trump Tower. We're standing about six blocks from there, so the crowd has reached their destination.

[14:05:05] And, as I said, thousands, tens of thousands of people, because I believe this crowd has swelled as they've made their way up Fifth Avenue. They have literally shut down Fifth Avenue here in New York City, traffic being stopped in every direction as this crowd passes through.

I am seeing people of all different ages. I've seen children walking. I've seen elderly people walking. I've seen people in wheelchairs being pushed by family members as they make their way up Fifth Avenue. And, yes, many messages being spread at this point for this protest. There are people who are speaking out about anti-Trump messages of anti-gay. There are people speaking out in support of women. There are people speaking out just really all centering their message against Trump, saying that they do not want him to be president even though he is our president elect.

So yes, that message very clear at this point, going to Trump Tower. We're going to continue to walk up there to see what it looks like up there because it will be interesting to see how the police keep all of these people contained around Trump Tower where the president elect we're hearing is at this point, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, so we know the destination, Trump Tower. What was the starting point, Brynn?

GINGRAS: The starting point was Union Square. So that's 14th street here, and then Trump Tower is about 58th. So we're talking about the difference of that. And we're talking about the difference of that, and, like I said, while these people are walking and they're still walking, there was one point where the elevation on Fifth Avenue was a little higher, and I couldn't see the end of the line. We've been standing here, just standing here for a good 10 minutes, and people are still walking.

So I think the crowd has certainly swelled as people have made their way through. We've heard people actually chanting, come join us, join this message. And we've been talking to a lot of people, and really, the message is, they don't want the message that Trump had during this campaign to be understated. They want to spread love and not hate and they want the whole country to hear their voices at this point, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much. So we have demonstrators walking more than 30 blocks to that final destination of the Trump Tower, where it culminates there.

Meantime, 3,000 or so miles away in Los Angeles, Kyung Lah is there with the number of protestors who have turned out. How long has their journey been? What's their final destination?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The final destination is a federal building about a mile away from where I'm standing right now. We stopped just you so you can get a bit of an overview of what we're looking at. I have no idea how my people are here, Fredricka. It's very difficult to know.

But this is a thinner section of the line. I want you to take a look all the way down. This is one corner of it. We haven't seen the beginning of the line. We haven't seen the end of it. What I can tell you is that this march, and it has been overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly peaceful, has been completely shutting down all of downtown Los Angeles. They have, from what we can tell, walked at least a mile. There is still another mile left to go.

And you can just tell from the people that we're looking at here, and I'm going to step out of the shot, this goes on and on and on. I want you to also take a look just slightly below. There is a law enforcement presence out here. These are officers from the CHP. The reason why the police are out here and law enforcement are out here is because every single night for four nights in a row Los Angeles has seen protests. They have become violent to some extent. Officers have engaged with the protesters. They've had to arrest 187 people last night.

But this has been very, very pleasant. A lot of families are here. Pregnant women I've seen, a lot of children. And a lot of these protesters have been coming up and speaking with the police officers, shaking their hands, and saying thank you for being here.

But, you know, again, this is a thinner section of the line, Fredricka. I've been standing here about 15 minutes. We have not seen the end of this yet, so it is going to all day as far as we can tell, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kyung Lah in Los Angeles, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much from New York. We'll continue to check back with you.

All this, all this while president-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to transition into the White House. We have live pictures right now of the White House.

Up next, the key players involved and who is being considered in his cabinet. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:12:48] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back, live pictures right now in New York City there, where thousands of people have turned out marching between 30 and 40 blocks, ending up right outside Trump Tower there where inside the president-elect Donald Trump has been meeting with his transition team as they look forward to inauguration just over 60 days away. Meantime, protests there heating up in New York City and protests also across the country from Chicago to Los Angeles. We'll continue to keep close tabs on all of the developments there.

Meantime, since president-elect Donald Trump's win, we've heard very little about the cornerstones of his campaign that many protesters say have brought them to the street, everything from building the wall, making Mexico pay for it, a ban on Muslims, prosecuting Hillary Clinton, repealing and replacing Obamacare. Our Chris Frates has been outside Trump Tower there. So Chris, what more about these cornerstones of his campaign and contrast with the many people who have turned out in the streets?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, we're getting a little bit of a softer tone from Donald Trump. In fact in a "Wall Street Journal" interview yesterday, he said that he may want to keep a couple of key provisions of Obamacare, namely he's interested in making sure that people who have preexisting conditions can continue to get insurance. And he also talked about making sure that children can stay on their parents' policies well into adulthood. And those are two real bedrock provisions of Obamacare. And Donald Trump saying that, you know, he came to that conclusion after meeting with President Obama and talking about Obamacare with his visit in the Oval Office earlier this week.

In fact, I want to give you a sense of how Donald Trump explained it. He says that he thinks he can repeal and replace Obamacare and make sure that nobody loses their coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask you about Obamacare, 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?

[14:15:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that?

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there will be a period, if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose --

TRUMP: We're going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: This isn't the first time that Donald Trump has talked about making sure that people with preexisting conditions can continue to get insurance. He mentioned it back on the trail in February, but certainly this is a bit of a softer line than we usually heard from Donald Trump on the campaign trail. He mostly sold the idea of repealing and completely replacing Obamacare. Now we're seeing there might be some wiggle room there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, so Chris, among the people inside, we're hearing that filmmaker Michael Moore maybe inside, and people might recall that he predicted Donald Trump would win, and then even "The Huffington Post" is reporting today that Michael Moore has said it is his belief that Donald Trump would not carry out his entire four years. What do you know about whether Michael Moore is indeed in there, and if he is standing by what at least "The Huffington Post" is reporting?

FRATES: Right, so what I can tell you about Michael Moore is that he did come through here, Fred, and he took a bit of a roundabout tour through Trump Tower with one of the reporters here. He scrawled a note and left a note for Donald Trump, and also has since left the building. And since he left that building I can tell you that security around Trump Tower has really increased. You can see behind me a number of police officers here, Fifth Avenue shut down, as our own Brynn Gingras has reported because she is with the protesters.

On the other side of that protest, starting to be able to see the crowd as they come up and the streets around Trump Tower, you know, Sixth Avenue is closed, all the way down Fifth Avenue. So lots of streets closed, lots of security here as these protesters mass. We'll see how the day comes from here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Chris Frates, thank you so much outside Trump Tower.

Coming up, we'll talk about Trump's decision to put his children in charge of his business, what's next for that empire. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:55] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington D.C. But pictures right now out of New York City where anti-Trump protests continue. You're looking at how thousands of people there have been marching through the streets there, walking between 30 and 40 blocks. Final destination, outside Trump Tower. Here is what protesters told CNN about why they are marching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe everything he says is dangerous and is just the fire starter for so many other hateful, hateful incidents across this nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The amount of division that we are not ready yet to unify, and that's really depressing in a lot of ways. I know I don't is any control of that right now. I think what is happening now with the chants against Donald Trump is really important and really revealing about the United States. But I'm really hoping that in the coming weeks and in the coming months and the coming years, we can really work together instead of work apart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that it is OK to express this in a peaceful manner where everyone is like here for the same reason like this. I think going to violence is just like one step forward, two steps back, and like not really advocating what people are trying advocate for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll keep a close watch on all of this sweeping the country, protests from Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York there.

So as Donald Trump prepares to move into the White House, he will not only have to figure out who will make up his cabinet, but also what to do about his worldwide business empire. Trump has stakes in more than 500 companies and now he is preparing to cede control of his sprawling business network to his children. What's unclear is how much actual distance this will put between a President Trump, his policy agenda, and his global empire. Let's bring in CNN money correspondent Cristina Alesci. Good to see

you again. So first, explain for us what Trump is doing as he hands it over the reins to his kids.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That announcement really tries to resolve a big problem for Donald Trump. It's a question about whether he can make the conflicts basically disappear. And it is not really clear that he can. And it all comes down to this agreement, or this arrangement that he announced. And it really falls short based on the conversations that I've had with ethic experts.

Look, there is almost nothing in that agreement that meets the standards that ethics experts want to see. Here is what happened. Trump wants to avoid criticism for backing policies that could directly boost his bottom line, like, for example, supporting tax breaks for developers. Now, a spokesman for the Trump Organization says the new structure will, quote-unquote, "comply with all applicable rules and regulations." Well, guess what? There are almost no rules that actually dictate how a president or vice president handles conflict.

In contrast, other officials in the executive branch have to U.S. financial conflict of interest statute and get rid of the businesses that potentially clash with their duties.

There is, however, a longstanding tradition that presidents and vice presidents eliminate conflicts. So the only way you can do that according to these experts is sell his assets, put the proceeds in what is called a blind trust run by someone with no connection with the family, and any arrangement that falls short of that exact structure is really not viable, according to the experts that I spoke to, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, very complicated, but there is a little bit of time, right, in which to work it out.

ALESCI: A couple of months.

WHITFIELD: Perhaps, all right, Cristina Alesci, thank you so much in New York.

All right, there are a few people in this country who know business better than Warren Buffett. Coming up in the next hour, Poppy Harlow's exclusive one-on-one with the billionaire investor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:15] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington.

So just in in the last hour, Hillary Clinton speaking out, telling donors on a conference call that the letters from FBI Director James Comey were just too much to overcome in the final days of the campaign. Comey abruptly announcing that there were no wrongdoings with just days left to the election. Remember, there were two letters from Comey since the summer. So let's bring in Republican strategist Alice Stewart and CNN

political commentator Patti Solis Doyle, who is also a former presidential campaign manager for Hillary Clinton. All right, good to see both of you ladies. So Patti, you first. Is this call a reflective one of Hillary Clinton's campaign, or is this a call to sort of set the stage potentially for the next Democrat?

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, I think she does owe it to her donors to get on the phone with them, and I'm sure she will see them in person as time goes by. I mean, people put a lot of time and effort and blood, sweat and tears into this race. So I think they want to hear from her.

But we don't know what happened yet, Fred. I think we know two things for sure. One, Donald Trump's voters over performed and Hillary Clinton voters underperformed. And we need to figure out why and what happened. And I think within the next months, Democrats are going to dive into the data and try to figure it out.

And the other thing I think we know is that this was definitely a change election. And for Hillary, she has spent, you know, 30 years in public life working in government, working in Washington. And she was very much the embodiment of what Trump voters were voting against. And so I think we'll know more as the months come, but I think that's what happened.

[14:30:02] WHITFIELD: Alice, how important is it for Hillary Clinton to make this call to reveal her thoughts to try to assess all that went wrong, what happened, what potentially could be next?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Generally a lot of times, these calls are more than anything to thank the supporters, thank them for being there from the very beginning. However, the news takeaway is much more juicy than what the actual purpose of the call is. Generally to express, you know, her appreciation and the campaign's appreciation, and hopefully they stay engaged in the process.

However, the most notable take away is what they're saying about what happened in the election, and while it was a devastating loss, I mean, everyone's heart went out to her, she left everything on the field. They worked so hard. And I think the reality, no one this outcome.

WHITFIELD: Does she also run the risk of sour grapes in this explanation by saying it was a double whammy that it impacted the campaign, and perhaps precipitated the defeat?

STEWART: I don't believe her defeat had anything to do with James Comey or unfair media or the woman card or Electoral College. It all boiled down to personal e-mail server. And that is what culminated in the original investigation and the original statement we had back in July from James Comey, the subsequent one, 11 days before the election, and then the one just a few days before. So it is easy to put the blame on James Comey, but I view that as the arsonist blaming the match for the fire because I think in the end, if she had more time, we still would have gotten to this conclusion.

WHITFIELD: So the July and October letters nail in the coffin, or do you see otherwise here?

DOYLE: Look, certainly, and she has admitted this, putting -- using her own server was a mistake. But I also think there was a lot of incoming that frankly the Trump campaign didn't have. The WikiLeaks thing, you know, it was just a drip, drip, drip, drip of more and more e-mails being exposed, private e-mails being exposed. And I don't think it was one single event in isolation. I think it was all put together. Whether it was the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Inc., and the e-mail server are, the debate questions, the DNC having their thumb on the scale. Just all of this stringed together was much more cause than a Comey letter or one single event.

WHITFIELD: And so now it is not just an issue of Hillary Clinton, how does she recover. I don't hear too many conversations about whether she would seek any other public office. This was it, but maybe it is sinking more of herself into the Clinton Foundation in a global reach way. But does this set the stage for what's next for a Democratic Party which, too, is suffering from defeats as a whole, showing divisions within the party? Does this help set the stage, what Hillary Clinton has to say in terms of the what's next for the party?

DOYLE: Like I said before, I  think the party needs to take a breath, figure out what happened, and then come back and fight, because I do believe that the Democratic Party is on the right side of history here. They're fighting for the right things.

I hope that Hillary takes some time to reflect and to rest and to sleep. Her entire life she has lived by the motto of do all the good you can for all the people that you can for as long as you can. And I think that's going to continue to sort of guide her in whatever she does next.

WHITFIELD: How does this move on, move forward?

STEWART: I think the DNC is in a critical junction in terms of who will the next head of the DNC. I think there's been --

WHITFIELD: There's names of Howard Dean or may Congressman Ellison.

STEWART: I think Ellison would be a tremendous pick. I think he has got the right vision for the party, as you would know much greater than me. But I also think it needs to be a full-time position, someone that can be completely dedicated to running the party.

This clearly, as you indicated, it was a change election. Exit polls show that seven in 10 people wanted change. And Hillary Clinton represented the same. Donald Trump represented change. And that was also a factor in the outcome that we had.

But I think the Democratic party will do, like both parties, there will still be a postmortem on both sides, but they're certainly going to look at ways to make sure they are inclusive of all the voices and making sure that the party is on a sound footing in the midterms and certainly in 2020.

WHITFIELD: That interview with Jane Sanders with Wolf saying it is too soon to be thinking about 2020. But we know how the political cycles go, even before inauguration day already parties are thinking about 2020.

DOYLE: It isn't too soon to be thinking about 2018. We need to win back some more seats in the Senate, some more seats in the House. We need to win back state legislatures. We need to build from the ground up.

[14:35:08] WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, ladies. Appreciate it. Patti Solis Doyle, Alice Stewart. Thank you.

We want to take you back to New York City, and, look, there is filmmaker Michael Moore amongst the anti-Trump protesters gather outside Trump Tower, and we understand he went inside the building. Let's listen to what he has to say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think the message is clear? Do you think everybody is getting the am message across?

WHITFIELD: We'll have much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington D.C. So Donald Trump's election caused quite the commotion in Wall Street, Dow futures dropped 900 point at one point. But the reaction was short-lived. The markets wrapped up the week on a positive note, up 5.4 percent, hitting a record high.

And in a CNN exclusive, billionaire Warren Buffett says he has confidence in the market, this after throwing big sport behind Democrat Hillary Clinton, donating his time and money to her campaign. So what is his take on Donald Trump's stunning victory and postelection surge on Wall Street? CNN anchor Poppy Harlow landed that exclusive interview with the so-called "Oracle of Omaha" as she joins us right now live. So Poppy, what more did he say, and why is he so optimistic?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It's a good question, Fred, right, because even though they call him the Oracle of Omaha, he did not see this coming, just like a lot of America.

[14:40:03] He was one of the biggest supporters of Hillary Clinton. He came out backing her two years ago before she even formally launched her campaign. So I went to Omaha this week for the first interview he has done in months, and really the first time he spoke publicly about the election and get his take on the markets and what a Donald Trump presidency means for the economy, and if he will support a president Trump. He said no question of course I will support him. He said it is very important that the American people coalesce behind Donald Trump as president.

I said President Obama called you, Warren, for advice on the economy a lot. If President Trump calls you, would you help him as well? And he said no question. Of course I would take that call and help. Here's more of our conversation. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: You are the eternal optimist. You're the one that wrote the opinion piece in the middle of the great recession saying bet on America.

WARREN BUFFETT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Do you feel optimistic about America right now, a divided America?

BUFFETT: A hundred percent.

HARLOW: Why?

BUFFETT: It is -- this is a fantastic country. In my lifetime, I was born in 1930, the real GDP per person has gone up six for one. Here we were, just about the most advance country in the world when I was born, and one person's lifetime, six for one. There's never been anything like it. We have $57,000 of GDP per capita. Family of four, $228,000, they don't get it, but this system will produce more and more stuff and better and better stuff and services.

HARLOW: The system works regardless of who the --

BUFFETT: The market system works. It doesn't work for everybody.

HARLOW: Clearly.

BUFFETT: It works in aggregate.

HARLOW: Let's talk about the markets, long term, the market reaction to all of this, to president-elect Trump. What do you expect it to be long-term given the policy proposals he has laid out if he carries through with them?

BUFFETT: Are you talking about the stock market?

HARLOW: I'm talking about the stock market.

BUFFETT: Yes, the stock market will be higher 10, 20, 30 years from now, and it would have been with Hillary and it will be with Trump.

HARLOW: So all of these predictions that the market would tank under president Trump?

BUFFETT: They're silly.

HARLOW: Silly?

BUFFETT: They're silly.

HARLOW: Let's dig into some of the proposals that Donald Trump has put out there, the economic proposals and your take on them. He has suggested and proposed instituting a 35 percent tariff on good imported from Mexico and China to this country. A lot of business leaders say it would cause a trade war, that would cause a recession. What do you say?

BUFFETT: Well, I think it is a bad idea, a very bad idea. But I'm not going say it will cause a recession. Any time you start playing around with retaliatory type trade things, it is very likely you're going to have -- the other side is going to play too. That's been the history.

The problem for trade, and this is why you need what I would call an instructor in chief as president, because you cannot blame anybody that lost their job because industry, their industry moved abroad because it was comparative advantage. It was some other country. You can't expect any of them to say I'm for free trade because it helps the society as a whole. It does help the society as a whole. But the benefits are very diffuse, you know. I may buy stocks I have, the underwear I have a few cents cheaper because of the comparative advantage of some other country producing it. But I don't get down every time I go to Wal-Mart and buy them, I don't say, oh, thank God for free trade.

HARLOW: Does it worry you then to hear Donald Trump say he will scrap NAFTA, which he'll have the power to do as president?

BUFFETT: We'll see what happens. It is true with the Republicans in control of the Senate and House --

HARLOW: You don't think he'll do it?

BUFFETT: He has to go through the House and Senate. He has to get support. There will be a lot of -- and this is not exclusive to Donald Trump. There are a lot of things in campaigns that don't happen after the election.

HARLOW: Donald Trump ran on the platform of being a billionaire businessman, arguing that that gives him the unique ability to help all of the Americans, the millions of people who are struggling in this country who cannot get by on one job, who cannot support their family, and they believe he is their answer. Do you think that Donald Trump is a good businessman, because you certainly went after him on his business record during the campaign?

BUFFETT: Yes. Well, he had some major failures, and he was very good at licensing. He was very good at things that involved the promotion of his name. Actual operation of the businesses in the 1980s, 1990s, it left him essentially bankrupting, you know, multiple companies. But he -- I would say he understands business. But his record has been better at licensing and putting out his own capital.

[14:45:05] HARLOW: His publicly traded Trump Casino empire, no major U.S. company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy more. Are you concerned about his ability to operate big businesses?

BUFFETT: He isn't operating businesses. I don't have to worry about him running a business at all. He is the one that has -- know, that doesn't really in my judgment determine whether somebody makes a great president. Harry Truman went broke in a haberdashery store near Kansas City or in Kansas City. I mean, he wasn't much of a businessman. He turned out to be a terrific president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: So Fred, that's a little taste of what Warren Buffett had to say to me in that sit down interview. He also spoke about the U.S. economy because so many people look at him for his wisdom on the economy long term, and he surprised me with his answer, saying U.S. economy right now, he actually thinks it is slower than a lot of Americans say and feel it is. So we dig into that as well, coming up, Fred.

WHITFIELD: We look forward to all of that. Poppy, thanks so much. In the next hour, Poppy's one-on-one with Warren Buffett.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

The Taliban claiming responsibility for a suicide blast that killed four people at the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

[14:50:00] The attack happened in the early morning hours at Bagram airfield. A coalition official said 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 16 other U.S. service members and one polish soldier was wounded in the tack.

Meantime, an update in the battle for Mosul, Iraq. Iraq's military says it is pushing deeper into the eastern side of the ISIS stronghold, and Shia led fighters are closing in from the west. Their main goal is to cut supply lines to ISIS from inside neighboring Syria.

So when Donald Trump becomes commander in chief, the war on ISIS will be front and center on his foreign policy agenda. And on the campaign trail, Trump said he, quote, "knows more about ISIS than the generals do," end quote. And he is also promising swift action for defeating the terror group. Here is what he said he would do on his first day in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So we're going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction. They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, CNN's Phil Black is live for us now from Erbil, Iraq. So what do we know about what would be Trump's war on is? PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, we know that Trump

favors continuing to hit ISIS militarily. He was hinting at that there. But what that means in a sense of more of the same of what we're seeing here in Iraq and Syria as well. That is, air strikes very likely with some support for local forces on the ground and limited American troops on the ground as well. That's what is happening now.

The question is to what extent he would be prepared to ramp up any of that, because ultimately, the goal is to kill ISIS' ability to project, organize, and inspire terror attacks in United States and other countries as well.

Now, Syria in particular, and what Trump does there with ISIS will be interesting. We know that there is this expectation that President Trump will have a cozier relationship with Russia as president. So therefore some believe that President Trump and President Putin could do a deal that would see them fighting ISIS together in Syria, which could in a sense be more efficient militarily, perhaps, but there would be other consequences with that. And likely consequence would be the continued rule that President Bashar al Assad in Syria. We know that's Russia's stated objective. It is something that would upset many people in Syria that have risen up against Assad. It would upset people around the world who believe that Assad is responsible for crimes against humanity, and it would also upset many of America's regional allies, Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia, which oppose the Assad regime. So there would be complexities there if President Trump were to pursue a closer relationship with Russia in tackling ISIS, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then what other reaction has there been on this world stage and particularly from terror groups?

BLACK: Yes, well, so from extremists there are many of them that have reacted with something close to glee at the idea of a president Trump. It comes down to a domestic policy. That is his stated intention of limiting or restricting Muslims from traveling to the United States at least temporarily.

Now, a lot of extremist groups really like the idea of this because they believe it will show that the United States is anti-Muslim, that it will alienate Muslims around the world, that it will create a divide, drive a wedge between American and Muslims. It can be used a rallying cry, recruiting tool, that sort of thing.

Now, that is if President Trump follows through with that policy to the fullest possible degree. But even people here in the region understand there is a difference between what Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail and what he may actually do once he moves into the Oval Office.

WHITFIELD: All right, Phil Black, thank you so much from Erbil, Iraq.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:57:56] LISA LING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have you had any close calls?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, probably like about two years ago I had to fire my service weapon, came out for a 911 call for a male armed with a gun. So we pull up, go to stop him, took off running. He stops and he pulls out a gun, so fired my weapon one time. No one got hurt that night.

LING: You don't fire your weapon offer, do you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I mean, it is rare for cops to fire their weapons. The majority of cops don't even fire their weapon at all in their whole career.

LING: Really? From what we see on TV, cops are firing all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's only a small percentage. I've been here 16 years and that was the only time.

LING: Wait a might be, you've been in the department 16 years, you only fired one time in your career?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, besides the training we have to do.

LING: Outside of training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Outside of training correct, yes.

LING: One of the things that surprised me t most about this experience was learning about how many times the police officers that we spent time with had fired their weapon on the job. One of them has discharged his weapon, and it happened only one time in a 16-year career. And that just really surprised me because I think the perception is that police officers are constantly and haphazardly filing their weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, watch "This is Life" with Lisa Ling.

And we end our four hours together today with this. First lady Michelle Obama gracing the cover of "Vogue" magazine, of course December issue. Renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz capturing her, a vision in white here. And in the article inside the "Vogue" magazine there, Obama gives a candid conversation about her feelings on her final days as first lady. A must read, and now probably a collector's edition.

All right, that's going to do it from me. From the nation's capital, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks so much for joining me. I'll be back in Atlanta tomorrow. Much more of the newsroom continues with Poppy Harlow right after this.