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More Anti-Trump Protests Break Out In Several Cities; Casual Cruelty In Schools After Election Day; Trump On 60 Minutes: Social Media Helped Me Win; Trump Fills Transition Team with Family And Loyalists; Working Class Voters Bet on Trump's Economic Plan; Carl Icahn on Raising Minimum Wage; Sting Performs as Paris Bataclan Theater Reopens. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 12, 2016 - 20:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:30] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow. You are live in the CNN "Newsroom." It is 8:00 p.m. here in New York. Its Saturday night, 5:00 p.m. in Los Angeles and cities from coast to coast tonight.

Dealing with a fourth straight night of anti-Trump protests for hours now, thousands have been marching through New York City chanting Donald Trump is not their president. Look at that, thousand of people. This will expose down Fifth Avenue. And then here's Los Angeles just a short time ago, thousands in the street there as well singing, some of them, for unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Brynn Gingras is here in New York City. It is a cold Saturday night. It has been hours on (inaudible), and the protesters there still on the streets in mass. What are they asking for?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yeah, Poppy. At this point it certainly has trickled down from that video you showed your viewers just a few hours ago. There are still a few dozen protesters, still remaining strong right outside less than half a block from Trump Tower where the president-elect is.

And, again, their message is really against the campaign that he ran. They want to stop the hate. They want to avenge about how this election turned out. I mean, if we actually turn (ph) over a little bit, you can see that traffic is now moving from Fifth Avenue.

This is the first time that we've actually seen cars go by in eight hours, because, again, that video you showed your viewers, that is what the majority of the day looks like here in New York City, protesters, thousands of them shut down Fifth Avenue here in New York City where they marched for about two miles to Trump Towers spreading that message and we talk to many of them. Here's what some said the reason of why they came out today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN MEISNER, PROTESTER: Well, this is enormous, definitely, it's big. And I don't know what we can actually do to change things, but we just have to keep coming out and making sure that his hatred and his fear and the anger that he's stirring up or using to get elected doesn't manifest itself in our country.

GINGRAS: What do you think the collective message is?

ANDREA GARCIA, PROTESTER: I think that we are getting together to support each other as a community because this is a huge lose. This is election has set us back and has definitely shown the world that we are not as advanced as we claim we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yeah, a lot of passion coming from these protesters. We have to mentioned, though, the NYPD, how well that they did handle this massive amount of people in this demonstration. They walked alongside in the entire two-mile route. They still are here tonight.

And at times, Poppy, this -- that large enormous group broke out into little individual groups, NYPD walking alongside. They're making sure that they weren't in traffic and really just trying to keep them safe. And we should also say the protesters listened. It seems very peaceful tonight. And we checked in with NYPD, we do know there were minimal arrests, no exact number yet, but certainly a peaceful protests today, massive amount of demonstration, Poppy.

HARLOW: Brynn, thank you very much for the reporting live for us in New York City tonight.

Let's talk with my panel more about what were seem tonight for a four straight night. Joining me is Robert Jones, the CEO and Founder of the Public Religion Institute and the author of "The End of White Christian America". He pen (ph) a fascinating up at "The New York Times" this week. Alice Stewart is the CNN Political Commentator and a former Communications Director for Senator Ted Cruz. And Marc Lamont Hill, the CNN Political Commentator and member of the Green Party, not the Democratic Party like I said incorrectly last hour and a professor at Morehouse College. Thank you guys for being here.

Alice, let me get to you first. Trump tweeted about the protesters a few times this week. He first called them "unfair', he said they were, "professional protesters incited by the media." Then a few hours later, he tweeted that he loved seeing the passion and that he wants to be a president for all. How do you think he should address these protesters? I mean if these continue night after night, what should he do?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think at some point, he then needs to continue to convey that he wants to be a president for all of them. And I think he started doing that when he first gave his victory speech the other night saying that he wants to be a president for all of Americans and he wants to work to unify the party.

[20:05:06] If the protests continue to this level and to the degree that they have been, I think it would be in order for the organizers of these protests to meet with some of the senior advisors on the Trump team to find common ground and see what they can do to move forward, because some of their concerns that they're talking about building a wall, building bridges not walls.

Donald Trump has been pretty clear that he wants to build a wall and they're concerns about gay rights. He's been pretty clear that he wants to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices, and you're not my president. He's also been very clear that he wants to be the president for everyone.

So I think it's a matter of coming together and finding common ground. And hopefully, as Hillary Clinton said, give him -- "Give an open mind and give him a chance to lead."

HARLOW: Marc, do you see any signs of unity as you here the names being floated right now for Trump's Chief of Staff within (ph) the circle in his cabinet?

MARC LAMONT HILL, PROFESSOR MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: No. A president's cabinets, a president's Chief of Staffs are the first signals of who and what they plan to be if how they plan to govern and what their modelling ambition is of leadership.

So if you tell me that you are going to put Rudy Giuliani as your Attorney General, or maybe the Secretary of State which is desire to me, then you're telling me that you're going to double down on the staff and freeze tactics, the broken windows policing that really plagued New York in the 1980s and '90s and you're going now normal as that around the nations as we did that you're doubling down on what you said at the Republican convention on having a law and order and really draconian of criminal justice policy.

And you tell me that you're going to have Newt Gingrich as potentially your Secretary of State, you scare me, right, because you're now talking about doubling down the same war (inaudible) policies that ginned up the chief staff (ph) of your campaign. I'm scared of every single staffer that he has appointed or should have suggested or leaked to the press what is concluding in the press. I -- nothing has been inspiring about when they say they've done so far.

HARLOW: Robert, what do you attribute this outpouring to you because we did see some protests after Barack Obama was elected twice, but nothing like this. What is this about fundamentally?

ROBERT JONES, CEO AND FOUNDER, PUBLIC RELIGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Well, I think what -- fundamentally, we are at a real transition point in the country and it wasn't just the transition from Barack Obama to Donald Trump. We are at a very demographic and culturally shift in time that I think has cause a great deal of anxiety, first among Trump's supporters and I think now among those who did not support Trump and I'll just name a couple of them. I mean -- so we had our first African-American president. We've also gone from being a majority white Christian country, something very fundamental to many Americans' identity of who the country is to being a country where only 43 percent of the country is white and Christian. We're projected the majority -- minority country by 2044, now, it was been 2050 now -- so we've got the 2044.

And I think this cultural anxiety about the rapid shifts in the country is kind of what was defined this election, really. This election really was -- it was certainly a change election, but I think that doesn't nearly get to it. It was about cultural change and actions to that. It was really one party leaning into it, I think in celebrating those cultural changes.

And in Donald Trump's party, and Donald Trump in particular signaling that he didn't. But, you know, one thing I would say is that Donald Trump could jump out right now and have some real signals, you know. So the difference between, for example, Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon would be hugely different signals sent to the country about the kind of president he's going to be.

And the one thing I was make sure I say here about this protesters is that one of the biggest differences here, I mean, you know, is that we didn't have the kind of policies that instilled fear and vulnerable populations that we have had with Donald Trump with the deporting, you know, promise to deport 11 million people, divide up families, kids waking up scared their parents are going to be deported, those kinds of things, banning Muslims, requiring Muslims to register. These are things that we've never heard from a candidate.

And so, you know, just the way that he's moved on Obamacare, and said, "OK, maybe there's some places here and back off." If he made those same signals on these cultural issues, it would make a huge difference.

HARLOW: And maybe he will. Alice, do you -- after Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election, here's what Trump tweeted. "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided". Now, he is tweeted that these protests are unfair. Your thoughts?

STEWART: Well, of course, he did follow that up with the back and he, you know, appreciate the right to protest. Look, it's a difficult -- this was a difficult election. The dynamics of this election compared to 2012 are much different. And I think what we're seeing here is so far the protesters that have come out have been peaceful. They've been very explicit in what their concerns and demands are. And I think right now is a good thing. I think we should celebrate the factor exercising their right to free speech and doing so in a peaceful manner.

[20:10:04] And I think Donald Trump has been very respectful of that. And as I said, if it continues, I think it would be good for them to meet and find common ground. And I think more than anything as he said, he plans to be a president for all of America. Hillary Clinton says, "Gave him an opportunity with an open mind" and both of them agree. It's time to unite this country. And I do think he's going to work very hard in that direction.

HARLOW: Guys, I have to live it there. Alice and Marc, you will be back with me. Thank you all. Robert Jones, thank you for being on the program. I appreciate it.

A lot ahead for this hour, Donald Trump's election has provoked a sharp response from protesters as you're seeing and some casual cruelty in American schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA FRAZIER, STUDENT'S MOTHER: He walked into the class, her first class in the morning and was greeted with, "Are you ready to go back to Mexico?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We will look at the troubling emotions unleashed after Election Day what it means for some Americans, also the president- elect in his very first broadcast interview since winning the presidency revealing his plans for his Twitter account.

And Kellyanne Conway credited as one of the architect in Trump's stunning victory, tonight revealing new information about the most important post in the Trump administration when we'll learn who will be running the show in the White House. You're live in the CNN "Newsroom."

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HARLOW: President-elect Donald Trump in his first interview since the election explaining to "60 Minutes" how he plans to handle social media and, specifically, Twitter. Here's president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I'm going to do be very restraint if I use it at all. I'm got do very restraint. I find it tremendous. It's a modern form of communication. There should be nothing you should be ashamed of. It's where it's at? I do believe this.

[20:15:02] I really believe that the fact that I have such power in terms of numbers with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera, I think it helped me win all of these races where they're spending much more money than I spent and I won. I think that social media has more power than the money they spent and I think maybe to a certain extent I proved that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That's fascinating, waiting to hear more of that, of course, tomorrow night. But we're also hearing tonight that Trump could announce at any moment who his White House Chief of Staff will be. Let's bring in our Sunlen Serfaty in Washington. So, what are you hearing? What -- who's he going to pick?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question. It does seem that Donald Trump is closing in on making this final decision, the first big pick of his incoming Trump administration. We heard from Kellyanne Conway, his top adviser earlier outside of Trump Tower this evening and she said it would be imminent. But we also know at the same time she said, we likely won't see Donald Trump for the next few days. And certainly our sources are telling us that Monday would be the earliest, so potentially at some point this week we will hear who he'll choose.

Now, it does look like, Poppy, it sound that two tough contenders are in feature Reince Priebus and his campaign chairs Steve Bannon, obviously to very different people who is that -- two very different tones in a Trump administration and it does appear that Reince Priebus is the favorite pick right now.

We know he's a favorite pick among many members of the Trump family, among Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell. We're all pushing for him behind the scenes. Obviously, he's a known commodity here in Washington. He has relationships with those people up on the hill and widely seen as safe bet.

HARLOW: You know, when you also look at what a big role Trump's children played in the campaign, you have to thinks sort of what role if any would they have in the White House. Interestingly, by law, I mean, they cannot serve in any cabinet positions right?

SERFATY: That's absolutely right.

HARLOW: But they could be advisors.

SERFATY: They could be. You know, that law that you're referencing, that's a federal law that dates back to 1967. It says that no public official from the president on down can hire -- someone in a federal capacity may hire or promote a relative. So the big question is I hear what sort of role they will have. Of course, they can still have an informal capacity role like they have in the Trump campaign and also pointing to Jared Kushner, who is Donald Trump's son-in-law ...

HARLOW: Yeah.

SERFATY: ... does this rule would actually apply to him? But it's interestingly they could skirt the rule if they don't pay him, because it says if they appoint this person, a relative, they cannot get paid. So potentially that might be a little opening there, but I think what we will see is what we saw in the campaign that they will have an informal role, obviously Donald Trump trusts his children very closely.

HARLOW: Sure.

SERFATY: And certainly there were some of his top advisors in the informal capacity during the campaign. HARLOW: Yeah. Jared Kushner certainly as he's here on that picture of Jared Kushner walking in the White House lawn this week with President Obama's Chief of Staff just made you think under what kind of role he will have formal or informal in the White House.

SERFATY: Exactly.

HARLOW: Sunlen, thank you for the reporting from Washington.

SERFATY: Thanks.

HARLOW: Donald Trump's election greeted with jubilation by millions of Americans who supported him. Also, greeted by protests from those who don't, and also moments of intimidation and hate by some.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the same school student handed out deportation notices, said it was a joke.

FRAZIER: It's not a joke. It's not funny. You're making fun of my family. You're making fun of my friends and it hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: When we come back, a closer look at some of the troubling harassment unleashed since the election. You're live in the CNN "Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:22:34] HARLOW: Welcome back. Fears of hate and bigotry and hate crimes have turn into reality for some Americans following this divisive election. Our Tom Foreman has more on that for us tonight. Hi, Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, ever since the election, there's been talked about rising level of fear among some people out there. But, there is now evidence that perhaps there's cause for anxiety on both sides.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA."

FOREMAN: Far from quenching the bitterness of the long campaign, the final vote has inflamed passions with anti-Trump protesters flooding the streets in more than two dozen cities, cursing the president- elect, burning his effigy. Simultaneously, acts of intimidation and the hate by pro-Trump forces are also flaring. At a middle school in Michigan, a cafeteria chant of "Build the Wall."

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Build the wall. Build the wall.

FOREMAN: At a Minnesota high school, graffiti "Go back to Africa, whites only, Trump." And in North Carolina, similar words, "Black lives don't matter." In various sites around the northeast, police report Nazi teams' pro-Trump graffiti. An African-American doll hang up on a college campus and the door to a Muslim prayer rooms scrawled with the president-elects' name.

There is no reliable way to measure the true motivation behind all this recent incidents or to know yet if this represents a significant increase since law enforcement tracking of hate crimes requires extensive investigation first.

But in California, more examples, a Muslim woman says her head scarf was yanked by an attacker. Authorities don't know if it was politically motivated, her take.

ESRA ALTUN, ATTACKED WHILE WEARING A HIJAB: It's a weird coincidence that if it wasn't a hate crime, it's a weird coincidence that it happened right after Trump became president-elect.

FOREMAN: At a West Coast High School, a mom says this is how her daughter's day started.

FRAZIER: She walked into class, her first class in the morning and was greeted with, "Are you ready to go back to Mexico?"

FOREMAN: At the same school, a student handed out deportation notices said it was a joke.

FRAZIER: It's not a joke. It's not funny. You're making fun of my family. You're making fun of my friends and it hurts.

FOREMAN: Still, the protests against Trump and his supporters while largely peaceful have been undeniably bigger and have brought their own ugliness, cases of vandalism, arson, arrest and pain.

[20:25:07] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a couple of officers injured, some went to the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Not my president. Not my president.

FOREMAN: Through all the hard words, one clear message is coming through. Although the battle ground votes have been counted, the battle rages on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: It may be a while before there is a true measure of the fallout of this election or a good indication of when it's going to all calm down. Poppy?

HARLOW: Tom Foreman, thank you for the reporting.

Coming up, there are 16 men and women officially on Trump's transition team helping him get through the major, major duty of assuming power as president. And who does he surround himself with? Well, four of the members of the team are the Trump family. They certainly have different opinions on who should be Trump's right hand man or woman. Who will he task as Chief of Staff? We'll talk about it live next in the CNN "Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has just over two months to pull together an array of White House staff positions, cabinet secretaries and political appointees. As a true political outsider, many are wondering what a Trump administration will look like. Will there be new faces? Or will Trump surround himself with Washington insiders? Meanwhile, Democrats trying to figure out how they lost and who will lead their party forward?

Back with me, CNN Political Commentator Alice Stewart and Marc Lamont Hill. So, Marc, let me begin with you. Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, that's a four members of the 16 member transition team. Clearly, he is comfortable with his family. He trusts them implicitly. But four family members, is that a lot?

HILL: It's a bit much. I mean, the truth is they would be informal advisors either way.

[20:30:00] And in many respects, from what my sources tell me, those were people who helped pull Donald Trump back to earth. They were people who he would actually listen to and who could actually restrain him, so to some extent, you want them in the mix. But what you don't want is for them to be among the actual primary team. They're going to be involved, one way or the other.

He could have sent a message to America that he wanted a team of rivals, that he wanted people who had challenged him not just sort of psychologically and emotionally but also ideologically. He had an opportunity to a have a range of people here. But let's be honest, there aren't any surprises. I had no expectation that Donald Trump would do that. I think Donald Trump is going to be looking for an echo chamber, not a team of rivals. And that's one of the most disappointing parts of this first week of President-elect Trump's status.

HARLOW: I mean, Alice, Mark is harkening back to Lincoln. And, you know, Trump said in the final weeks that this is the party of Lincoln. We have to retake our party. Team of rivals, what do you think? Is he potentially going to do that, or are we going to see Newt Gingrich, Senator Jeff Sessions, Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie sort of surrounding him, which is the opposite of the drain the swamp message?

STEWART: I think we'll see. I think his first step in putting Mike Pence at the head of his transition team is a phenomenal step. Mike Pence has a great reputation and great record. He did a great job in terms of bringing members of Congress on board that were very, very hesitant to support Donald Trump throughout the primary process. And he's a great unifier.

And the next big step that will really be very telling is his chief of staff. And, of course, we know that there's been some finalists named with regard to who that may be. Of course, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway. And from my understanding is that there are some frontrunners that are out there, and there's some push back from those of the outside with some of them.

Some feel that Bannon is too far to the right wing and the alt-right. And there's fear with Reince Priebus having -- the Priebus and Speaker Ryan is more of a palace coup with the head of the government, and they fear that. So there's a little push back, but understanding that we could have a chief of staff announced in the next couple days.

HARLOW: Before I get to Mark, any chance -- I mean, you were the communications director with Senator Ted Cruz. Any chance he helps out in any way?

STEWART: Well, certainly, Ted is enjoying what he's doing now as senator in Texas. But at the end of the day, any time you're asked by the President-elect to do something, you're going to want to serve your country.

HARLOW: That is always the --

STEWART: So if the right opportunity came along, I would imagine --

HARLOW: That is always the answer when someone is considering something, it is I'm very happy doing what I'm doing right now. So, all right, we'll watch and see.

Mark, I want to get you take, though, on this on Clinton because she spoke earlier with donors on a telephone call. And she partially blamed the letters from FBI Director James Comey about her e-mails to the Congress for the loss. You know, not putting all the blame on it, but I heard her campaign also speak to it. It was something they could not overcome. Do you like hearing that, or do you think they need to look more internally?

HILL: They need to look internally. Look, letters from the FBI saying that you might be under investigation don't help. We could debate back and forth whether Comey's announcement helped, just as we could argue whether it hurt Trump officially in July. But the key here is that the American people sort of had their minds made up when those letters came out, when those announcements were made.

The American people didn't trust Hillary Clinton. Some of it is well- founded, some of it probably isn't. Some of it is downright sexism, some of it is partisanship, and some of it is fair. At the end of the day, the Democrats didn't put forth the right candidate. And we have to be honest about that.

Donald Trump was a populist candidate. It was a populist election. That's why Bernie Sanders was so popular and so desirable as an alternative. The Democrats put forth an establishment candidate in a populist election. It doesn't work.

HARLOW: So Bernie would have beaten Trump? Do you think Bernie Sander would have beaten Trump?

HILL: Looking at the election results and how wrong all of us were, I can't say that anybody would've beaten Trump. But I certainly know that the reason Hillary Clinton lost did not come down to James Comey. It did not come down to the last four months.

HARLOW: Right.

HILL: It was month after month of people simply not wanting Hillary.

STEWART: I want to agree --

HARLOW: I got to leave it there. I'm out of time, Alice. I promise you'd get that first answer next time. I'm so sorry.

STEWART: OK.

HARLOW: Guys, thank you very much.

HILL: Thank you.

HARLOW: Good discussion. I appreciate it. Coming up, Donald Trump based his presidential campaign on his business acumen. When it comes to deals, the man he trusts above all else, Carl Icahn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I take a guy like Carl Icahn, I'd like you to watch over the deals that are being made with China because we're getting killed on trade. Believe me, we will be so good. You should get a guy like Carl on. Very smart, great negotiator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Mr. President-elect, we thought that was a great idea, so we had Carl Icahn on this show. We talked to him about what Mr. Trump will do as President for the middle class. Who wins, who loses in a Donald Trump economy. Carl Icahn with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:38:34] HARLOW: Welcome back. President-elect Donald Trump's road to the White House ran straight through the Rust Belt states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania where many working class voters felt left behind by the economic recovery and were eager to find a candidate who can bring back the blue collar jobs that helped build the middle class. They're betting that man is Donald Trump.

Well, billionaire investor Carl Icahn is one of Trump's biggest supporters on Wall Street. I spoke with him, Friday, about what the President-elect can do for those Americans.

And let's move on to what Donald Trump has said while he was campaigning about hedge fund managers. And he said they won't be happy with his tax plan because he would be force them to pay the same income taxes as everyone else. I mean, the signature proposal of that is closing the carried interest loop hole. Listen to what he said on MSNBC back in August.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP (through phone): We are going to simplify the tax code, take away some of the deductions, and hedge fund guys have to pay up. Now, I'm going to lower taxes, but these hedge fund guys are making a lot of money -- I mean, I can tell you I have friends that laugh about how little they pay. And it's not fair to the middle class and the middle income people.

And the middle class, we're destroying that and, you know, that's what built this country. And we are destroying the middle class in this country. So I will have a plan. The hedge fund guys won't be happy, but pretty much everybody else is going to love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Do you support that move?

CARL ICAHN, FOUNDER, ICAHN ENTERPRISES (through phone): I agree 100 percent. In fact, I might have even spoke to him about things like that. Today, there is no reason in the world -- and I have said that to my good friends. I mean, some of them don't agree with me. Some laugh about it and do agree. You know, friends I have in the Hamptons over the years.

[20:40:06] It is crazy to have carried interest. It is just ridiculous. That hedge fund that you have a hedge fund and you pay the long-term rate. So that's 100 percent right. These are the problems that we have under the Obama administration. And what's ironic, you would think, if you want to talk about political, why do you get the carried interest?

HARLOW: I don't think you can blame the carried interest loop hole on the Obama administration. I mean, this country hasn't -- you know, there's been some deadlock in Congress. They haven't gotten a comprehensive tax reform done since, you know, 1980.

ICAHN (through phone): Yes, but you don't need comprehensive tax reform to change the carried interest. What I mean, look, the carried interest is a small thing. However, you don't need comprehensive tax reform to repatriate $2.6 trillion. I blame gridlock. I blame the inability to act.

HARLOW: So --

ICAHN (through phone): I did work on trying to get -- it was ridiculous not to get repatriation of the $2.6 trillion. You don't need comprehensive tax reform for the government to simply say, let's take that $2.6 trillion back. And everybody agreed with me. You probably could just ask.

HARLOW: Carl Icahn, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Donald Trump keeps saying -- he said it throughout the campaign -- we need Carl Icahn, we need Carl Icahn, we need deals like his. He would make the best deals. What is it about you that America needs when it comes to making the best deals for the American people? What --

ICAHN (through phone): He -- look, I don't know. And, you know, he did say that a couple of times. But I think it's the fact that, over the years, I think simply, literally simply, and you know, just look for the obvious. Like repatriation. Look for the obvious. Get businesses to spend. And at the risk of being a moderate, over the years, I have gotten an annualized return of about 28 percent of my money, which is pretty good. Maybe that impressed him to some extent.

And the reason I say that is I hope that they will take some of my advice. And, you know, I say it because I'd like see some of my advice taken, which is simply to go in and literally get rid of a lot of the regulatory agency positions. EPA has done some crazy things and some good things. You must stand up to them and get rid of that stuff. And I hope they'll listen to me on that.

HARLOW: I want to talk about the minimum wage because, I mean, Carl Icahn, as you know well, so many people across this country continue to struggle. Even when the unemployment rate goes down, there are far too many people not getting by, even working 40 hours a week. Donald Trump has said, quote, "The minimum wage has to go up." He's also said it needs to be left to the states.

He won so now this country needs specifics. What do you think the minimum wage should be state by state? Say, here in New York City versus Des Moines, Iowa. I mean, what's a living --

ICAHN (through phone): I'm certain -- as I say --

HARLOW: What's a living wage?

ICAHN (through phone): As I say, look, I look at the big picture. The minimum wage should go up. I am not the person to go in to every state and tell them the details. I'm not going to -- you know, I got 10 companies I run. I'm not going to go into that. It should go up.

HARLOW: OK.

ICAHN (through phone): But you know what's going to make it go up? I'll tell you what's going to make it go up, get businesses to spend, to build bricks and mortar again.

HARLOW: Right.

ICAHN (through phone): And that's what will get the minimum wage up. Get good jobs. You don't have the jobs for the middle class.

HARLOW: Let's listen on that point of jobs for the middle class, something that Donald Trump said about bringing back specifically manufacturing jobs. He said this a month ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want to see the day when Apple will make their iPhones in this country instead of making them in China and Vietnam and all over the place, OK? And believe me, if I'm President, that's going to happen. And I use Apple as an example, but in all fairness, Apple makes all its products all over the place. They're not making them here. Mostly in China, now Vietnam, which is becoming very strong for this. They're going to start making them here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Carl Icahn, you made a lot of money on your investment in Apple before you sold out earlier this year. What do you make of what he says? I mean, do you honestly think Apple is going to make their iPhones here?

ICAHN (through phone): I doubt it. And I don't presume to go in and say that Apple should make their iPhones in the United States unless it makes sense for Apple to do it. So we, as a country, must make it make sense for Apple to do it. And that's what --

HARLOW: OK. How do we do that?

ICAHN (through phone): And I think that's what Donald is saying. Just what I said, incentivize companies. It may not be simple to get Apple to do that. I mean, they're so entrenched. So you can't take one example, but you can say that we can incentivize business, or giving them a much better actually on depreciation. And this is what I think Donald is doing in his tax plan.

HARLOW: And on trade deals, should President Trump scrap NAFTA altogether? Would that be good for business, good for the American people?

[20:45:05] ICAHN (through phone): You know, I'm not going to get into the details of the trade deals. I don't agree with Donald completely on the trade deals that he's taking about. And I'm not sure that Donald is -- well, I'm not going to get into what Donald is saying.

On the trade deals, you have to tread a little more carefully. But what I will say is, that a lot of the things he says is right about the trade deals. I think, the last eight years, we gave away trade deals. In other words, we are the biggest customer of China, for instance, in textiles. We buy all their textiles.

Now, if I were doing a deal with China, I would just simply say to them -- it just makes sense in a negotiation saying, you know, China -- if it was business, you say, you know, China, I'm one of your biggest consumers of your goods. Now, I want you to do something for me.

HARLOW: All right. Coming up next after this break, much more with Carl Icahn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Billionaire Carl Icahn was cited often by Donald Trump on the campaign as the type of businessman who will boost America's economy. I spoke with the famed activist investor about Donald Trump's temperament. And with so much promise to so many, I wanted to know who can expect to win and lose in a Trump economy.

[20:49:59] Let's talk about temperament. Temperament is something that came up a lot in this campaign and election. And the American people voted. Their voice was heard, and they voted for Donald Trump. And they chose him and his temperament.

And the things that Donald Trump -- some of the things he said while he was campaigning, some of the demeaning and misogynistic things he said about women, for example, or minorities, are you comfortable with a President Trump using the same language?

ICAHN (through phone): Well, all I can really say is that I've known Donald for a number of years. I have never seen a real problem with his temperament personally, you know, and I've known and I've never seen that. I also will say, if you go back over different periods in our history where there have been elections, you've seen a lot of things said. I certainly can find a number of things Hillary Clinton said that if you really want to replay them, you might want to criticize. But that's not the issue.

The issue is this country must take a different approach. The country must go in and be a friend to business. And for eight years, we have been anything but that. And now, this is our hope, that you have to do it. And if you don't do it, we will definitely lose our hegemony and we're going to lose it fast. Because without them --

HARLOW: Carl, you are --

ICAHN (through phone): -- we can't compete.

HARLOW: Carl, you are a businessman. A businessman means money. Who's going to make money under President Trump? Who's going to lose money?

ICAHN (through phone): That's a great question. And I've never really thought about it. But I will say this, that I really think there are a number of businesses that will benefit. Smart businesses. Guys willing to invest. Guys that are willing to take the chance and will invest when they get better breaks from the government. So if the government incentivized a smart businessman, smart CEOs are going to take advantage of higher -- lower -- higher depreciation rates, and they're going to invest in the capitalism of our country and in labor.

HARLOW: OK.

ICAHN (through phone): Meaning there are a lot of skilled laborers out there that can't get jobs. I think that's going to happen. And if that happens, we do have factories here. Some areas, we can't use them, but we do have a lot of factories and we could do what Donald's saying.

HARLOW: But you --

ICAHN (through phone): We don't have to take what --

HARLOW: Here's the thing those --

ICAHN (through phone): Go ahead.

HARLOW: Those men and women around this country who run, you know, small to medium-sized businesses, who import goods from Asia, for example, or from Mexico and construct them here and then sell them to the marketplace, if they're slapped -- if a 35 percent tariff is slapped in all those things, they're not going to make it, right? So who loses?

ICAHN (through phone): Well, if you're importing a lot of goods, possibly. If you're importing a lot of goods from China. And some of these goods, really, if you compare them to the American goods are sort of inferior. I'm not saying all their goods are inferior, but some of them are inferior.

Yes, I think there's going to be pressure on some of those companies. If you take the distributors of automobiles, such companies as AutoZone, O'Reilly, those companies -- AutoZone, you know, they import a number of their brakes, for instance, from China. I don't think the quality of those brakes are as high as the ones that we use. And you know --

HARLOW: So --

ICAHN (through phone): So I don't have an agenda in saying it, but it's a small example of what you're talking about. And so I think it's going to be better --

HARLOW: Who loses money in a Trump -- who loses money in a Trump economy?

ICAHN (through phone): Who what?

HARLOW: Who loses money in a Trump economy?

ICAHN (through phone): Well, I just gave you an example of what I think some of these distributors that do buy a lot of goods, that some of the goods are fine. Some of them literally are not as fine, and they're not as good. And if you put a tariff on those, yes, they'll be some losses. I just gave you examples in the automotive distribution business, the way they keep importing goods that I don't believe is well made, that they're going to lose money. And I think, well, that should happen. I mean, I think they're getting a free ride for a long time in many companies.

And so, therefore, there's going to be a change but it's a change for the better. You're going to see a lot more manufacturing done in this country. I think that is what you want, isn't it? You got a middle class that really is not literally employed at good salaries. And therefore, what you have to do is make it -- is, rather, incentivize companies to build these companies to manufacture and give them better jobs. And that could be done by the government instead of the government putting more and more and more and more regulations, so, of course, you're going to make those stuff in China.

HARLOW: Carl Icahn, I appreciate you joining me very, very much. It's important to have your insight. Thank you.

[20:55:06] Up next, a poignant moment at the Bataclan Theater in Paris tonight, the site of the vicious terror attack a year ago. But tonight, a celebration of light with Sting. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back live to the CNN NEWSROOM.

"ANTHONY BOURDAIN PARTS UNKNOWN" is next. But before we go tonight, tomorrow marks one year since the terror attacks in Paris claimed more than 130 lives. The Bataclan Theater was where 89 people attending a concert were murdered when ISIS-linked terrorists burst in and gunned them down.

Fast forward one year to tonight at the Bataclan, legendary artist Sting performing and remembering the lives lost before performing to a house packed with survivors and families of the victims. Sting's first song of the night, the ballad "Fragile." We're going to listen in tonight as we leave you.