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Sixth Day of Anti-Trump Protests Expected Today; Trump: Many Protesters are "Professionals"; Concerns Rise Over Trump's New Right- Hand Man; Obama Holds Afternoon News Conference; Trump: Some of "Wall" Might be Fencing. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 14, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:31]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Week one in Donald Trump's America, a sixth straight day of protests expected today against the president- elect.

Thousands poured into the streets to disown the next American president and a polarizing election that has fueled racial tension and reports of minorities being harassed, Mr. Trump, downplaying these demonstrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: I think in some cases you have professional protesters and we had it. If you look at "WikiLeaks," we -

LESLEY STAHL, CBS "60 MINUTES": You think those people down there were -- professionals?

TRUMP: Oh, I think some of them will be professionals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Today, Mr. Trump has only fueled racial concerns with the hiring of his campaign CEO Steve Bannon has close ties to the alt- right fringe, including white nationalists. His rise to bring the right-hand man to the president is stirring deep concerns in Washington and beyond. We have a lot to cover. Let's begin though in Washington with CNN's Phil Mattingly. Good morning.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. If you were surprised that Steve Bannon is now on his way to the White House, you probably haven't been paying very close attention the last six weeks to Donald Trump's campaign. Steve Bannon was the campaign chairman and also an extremely close advisor, an extremely close advisor in a small group of very close advisors. And people around the Trump orbit always said and always thought that Bannon would eventually head into the White House and continue some kind of role there. That said, the blowback, also very predictable when you look across the board at what Steve Bannon has done over the course of his career, it has been fierce, it has been fast and it has come not just from Democrats, not just from certain civil rights groups but kind of across the board. Republicans included.

One thing we have seen, groups immediately firing back. Groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, Carol, said, "Trump should rescind this hire. In his victory speech, Trump said he intended to be president for "all Americans." Bannon should go."

The Anti-Defamation League, also putting out a statement saying, "It is sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the 'alt-right' - a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists -- is slated to be a senior staff member in the people's house."

Now Carol, that's just a small sampling of what we have heard. And you can also hear it talking to people in former administrations, both Democratic and Republican, kind of scratching their head by this move and frankly, in some cases, outraged by this move. But it's also interesting in the wake of Donald Trump's interview last night on "60 Minutes," where he said this about some of his supporters harassing minorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm very surprised to hear that -- I hate to hear that. I hate to hear that --

STAHL: But you do hear it.

TRUMP: I don't hear it -

STAHL: You are not seeing this?

TRUMP: I saw, I saw one or two instances.

STAHL: On social media?

TRUMP: But I think it's a very small amount. Again, I think it's --

STAHL: Do you want to say anything to those people?

TRUMP: I would say don't do it. That's terrible, because I'm going to bring this country together.

STAHL: They are harassing Latinos, Muslims -

TRUMP: I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, stop it -- if it helps. I will say this, and I will say it right to the cameras. Stop it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And Carol, if there's been one consistent theme to Donald Trump's public remarks since his shocking election, it's been about bringing the country together. I think that's what you have heard from both Republicans and Democrats wondering why this hire would be made, particularly his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, the RNC chairman, also named yesterday. That is the kind of hire that people are citing as a really good example of somebody who wants to figure out how to make things work in Washington, Bannon, less so.

But as I noted, Carol, and it's important to note as we watch hires come out over the next couple of days. Donald Trump was very close to his internal campaign apparatus. The expectation is that most, if not all of those folks will make their way into the White House, Steve Bannon leading the way. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly reporting live from Washington. Interestingly enough, President Obama will hold a news conference today and he will open it up to reporters' questions, kind of unusual, right? Let's head to Washington, to the White House and CNN's Athena Jones. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This is the president's first chance to really respond in a long and more thoughtful way to the results of last Tuesday. We did hear from him in the Rose Garden the day after the election. And we heard from him briefly after that meeting on Thursday with President-elect Donald Trump. But this is the first chance to actually answer questions about many of the things that he's feeling about the results of the election. And also the impact it could have on his legacy, on many of his policy achievements over the course of these eight years.

As you've mentioned, he's having this press conference right before he departs on his last major international trip. He's traveling to Greece, to Germany and to Peru,

[10:05:16] where he will be talking to world leaders. What will be his message to world leaders about the future under a Donald Trump presidency? So there are many, many issues that could come up. Everything from how he feels about how the election went down, what went wrong, whether he feels personally insulted, that for instance, that black voters didn't come out the same level for Hillary Clinton as they did for him. He may also be asked about Donald Trump's plans to dismantle many parts of his legacy. And also of course, about foreign policy and some of the changes that could be in store under Donald Trump. So there are a lot of topics to discuss this afternoon at that press conference. Carol?

COSTELLO: Should be fascinating, Athena Jones reporting live for us. Thank you so much. So perhaps, President Obama will find a way to help Mr. Trump unite the nation, but two more demonstrations are planned today in Tucson and in Los Angeles. And on Sunday, the protests spread to the football field. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver, Mike Evans, took a knee during the national anthem, telling reporters it's his way of protesting the president-elect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE EVANS, WIDE RECEIVER TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: I don't want to you know, disrespect, you know, the veterans or anything. The men and women that served this country, I'm forever indebted to them. But the things that have been going on in America lately, I'm not going to stand for that. You know when Ashton Kutcher comes out and said we've been punked then I'll stand again. But I won't stand anymore. It's not about the Republican Party or Democrat Party or anything like that. You know, it's just who he is. It's well-documented what he's done. And I'm not going to stand for something I don't believe in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So let's talk about this and more. Joining me now, Patricia Murphy, columnist for "The Daily Beast" and "Roll Call," Matt Viser, the deputy Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe," CNN political commentator, Andre Bauer, he's the former Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina and he supports Mr. Trump, also joining us, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. Welcome to all of you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So Andre, there are more protests being planned, especially out west. And you heard what that Tampa Bay Buccaneer said. Your thoughts?

ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: If Hillary Clinton had been elected -- I'm a continued optimist no matter what. And I would look for the good things in Hillary Clinton and look forward to at least giving her an opportunity to show. I think if you have seen anything from Donald Trump, he's shown unbelievable humility after winning this election. He's actually even looked at compromise. He's looked at softening on Obamacare, meeting with the president. I think he's tremendously shown leadership and the country should come together. Anybody that is holding hostility or wants to go out and protest now, they're welcome to do that, but I'm not sure what they -- I haven't seen a goal towards accomplishing anything. I haven't seen where they had a directive or something they would like him to respond to. It's just we are opposed to it, we don't like it and this doesn't really change our move our country forward in any way.

COSTELLO: And Maria, I do want to ask you that question. What are these protesters exactly want?

CARDONA: Well, I think that the president-elect would do himself a big favor if he actually tries to maybe bring some of these leaders of these communities who are so scared and so concerned because you know, I will agree with Andre on one thing. Donald Trump has said the right things. His speech on election night was magnanimous, what he said on "60 Minutes" that he wants to be the president for everybody. But guess what, five minutes of nice words is not going to make up for 15 months of what has been insults and language based on bigotry and racism and misogyny. And so, he should bring people together, -- have leaders come to the White House, of all of these communities of color who are scared, concerned about what a Trump presidency would mean. He should make a national speech, Carol. He should put policies and I think substance behind what he says in terms of wanting to be the president for all Americans -- and not just the president for the supporters that brought him in. COSTELLO: So in light of that, President Obama - is going to hold this news --

BAUER: But Carol -

COSTELLO: Wait a second because I want to ask this of Patricia because I'm curious. President Obama is going to hold a news conference later today. And reporters will ask him questions and I'm sure there will be questions about the protests. What response -- what responsibility does Obama have to sort of quiet things down out there?

PATRICIA MURPHY, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, I think that we will, if he's asked about it, I certainly think that we will hear the president address the protests but I think he will also stand firmly behind people's right to protest. This was such an emotional election. These emotions don't turn off. They don't go away after an election, especially when the election is such a surprise to those protesters. They didn't think this day would come. So I think the president will acknowledge their right to do that but certainly, he will say there's no place for violence. There's certainly no place to be irresponsibly protesting. I think if he's asked about it, he will certainly address that but he won't take away these people's right

[10:10:16] to feel the way they feel and to respond the way that they feel like they need to respond as long as there's nothing illegal about it.

I do think that Donald Trump, the biggest surprise to me last night was when he looked straight into the camera and told people who are harassing minorities to stop it. That's not anything any of us heard him say during the campaign. And so I think that he gets credit for that. And I think it will be interesting to see how he deals with this.

COSTELLO: And Matt, he has softened his rhetoric even when it comes to building this big, beautiful wall, right? Because if you look on his website, you know, he says he's going to build this big impenetrable wall. And he's going to have Mexico pay for it. But that's not really what he said on "60 Minutes" last night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAHL: Are you really going to build a wall?

TRUMP: Yes.

STAHL: They're talking about a fence in the Republican Congress. Would you accept a fence?

TRUMP: For certain areas, I would. But certain areas, the wall is more appropriate. I'm very good at this. This is called construction. --

STAHL: So part wall, part fence? TRUMP: The fence will be - Yes, it could be some fencing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So could be some fencing. And then of course, he reiterated that he wanted to get the undocumented immigrants who committed crimes out of the country, maybe two or three million of them. Is that a softening of the language, Matt?

MATT VISER, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Yes. I mean, you have a sense right now, I mean, everybody's getting used to this new reality. I mean, I don't know that Donald Trump himself even thought a couple hours before the election results that he would definitely win. So I think he himself, and you see it from his Twitter feed and how he responds to the protesters. Even that is shifting. So I think that he and his policies we're going to find out whether - what he talked about on the campaign trail is sort of an opening a bid on a bargaining table, or whether those were hard and fast. I think as much as we know about Donald Trump, he is a deal maker and he wants to make deals. And so you can see his rhetoric's beginning just shift now on the wall and on immigration. --

BAUER: Carol --

COSTELLO: So Andre, we all heard you on these softening of the stances he has that worries minorities, but then on the other hand, Steve Bannon, his chief strategist. --

CARDONA: Yes, exactly.

COSTELLO: White nationalists embrace this man. He runs "Breitbart" that had headlines like -- let me just pull one up, it featured headlines like "Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew." So I think that when minority groups look at Steve Bannon as Trump's chief strategist, right? And look at the softening of the rhetoric, they're really confused.

BAUER: Well, a couple points here. Number one, when Obama got elected I didn't feel the best and he told me elections had consequences. So he was a little, more stern than our president- elect. But when I endorsed Donald Trump back in February, I thought he could win. You said you didn't think he could win. I don't think he took all this time off from work to go run to be second place. He's not a second place guy. For the last 40 years he's brought people together as a businessman. Black, white, minority -

COSTELLO: So what does that have to do of Steve Bannon?

BAUER: -- people of all different genders. And he's made things work. And as a businessman he's going to make the presidency work and he's going to go down as one of the greatest presidents in history of this country.

COSTELLO: But how does Steve Bannon make a presidency work when we are in the midst of this great divide in America, and we are, and you can see that minority groups are afraid? How does that unite the country?

BAUER: Steve Bannon has a business. He has a certain demographic customer. And he works with that customer, and so all of us can find ways to pick apart anybody. You can find ways to pick me apart, you can beat me down but all of us are great qualities, too. And Steve Bannon has some great qualities. I think he's part of the reason Donald Trump got elected. He got him on message - and he drove that message on --

COSTELLO: But I think and I don't mean to keep interrupting but I'm just trying to understand. So an African-American person might say, you know what, Steve Bannon has embraced white nationalists, that kind of cancels out all the good stuff that's out there about Steve Bannon. I mean, do they have a point?

BAUER: Again, we can all find things we disagree with people on. But I think you have seen this administration. I don't see anything you can criticize the last week about Donald Trump. He has done everything to come together to start the healing, to move forward. And I think it's very progressive and people ought to be excited about that he hasn't taken a hard tone. In fact, he's actually softened his tone. He's met with Obama. They spoke very kindly of each other. It looks like the transition will be very fluid and so this is an exciting time for all America whether you supported Donald Trump or not.

CARDONA: Well - Andre, the problem is I think what you can point to, that cancels out a lot of that, is the hiring of Steve Bannon. And as much as you want to give him sort of an equivalency with you know, anybody else, everybody -- and you're right, everybody has faults and everybody has great points. Steve Bannon is known as a leader of the alt-right. And that is not a criticism coming from other people. That is something that he has said himself. And so that scares African-Americans--

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BAUER: Well, in this point in time, people of America don't care about alt-right or alt-left --

CARDONA: -- that scares Latinos, that scares a lot of -- minorities who have been insulted not just by Steve Bannon but from the president-elect himself.

[10:15:16] So the president-elect himself is going to have to do a hell of a lot better than just the nice words that he has put forward, especially when he has hired Steve Bannon to be his whisperer in the White House.

COSTELLO: And I just want to get this last point and before I go. And I want to address this to you, Patricia. The people who voted for Donald Trump say this country has become overly politically correct and it's time to right the table. And sometimes it takes extreme measures to do that. And maybe that's why they would accept Steve Bannon. True? False? MURPHY: Well, you know, we can't lump all of Donald Trump's supporters into one bucket but certainly the white nationalists who support Donald Trump want Steve Bannon in there. And I think that this is going to be the constant tension of a president Trump is the head versus the heart, the need to govern versus the desire to please people who are on the fringe of the right. And I think that there are members of Congress hopeful but worried about the direction this could go in. There are Republicans hopeful but worried and there are Democrats who are just scared. So I think that Donald Trump has a lot of leadership and a lot of managing to do and having Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon be co-equal whisperers in his ear sets up a really difficult situation for any manager. But ultimately Donald Trump is the leader and he's going to decide who he listens to and what direction he takes us.

COSTELLO: All right. Patricia Murphy, Matt Viser, Andre Bauer, Maria Cardona, thanks to all of you. --

CARDONA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. More on the cabinet backlash, Trump's top strategist, the right hand man with ties with the white nationalist movement. I'll ask the president of a hate watch group if he's worried, next.

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[10:20:59] COSTELLO: Chief of staff -- the chief of staff pick Reince Priebus says he's not concerned about Steve Bannon's role in the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN RNC: The Steve Bannon I know is a guy that is really on the same page with a lot of the -- almost everything that I agree with as far as advising President-elect Trump. I mean, he was a force for good on the campaign. He is very wise and smart. He's a London School of Economics, Harvard Business School. People don't know that he was a ten-year naval officer at very high levels advising admirals in the navy. So I haven't seen any of these things that people -- are crying out about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So let's talk some more about this. I want to bring in Richard Cohen. He is the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Thank you so much for being with me this morning. So we have been talking a lot about Steve Bannon. You know, used to run "Breitbart." -- He said he's a member of the alt-right. White nationalists embrace him. What do you know about Steve Bannon?

RICHARD COHEN, PRESIDENT, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: Well you know, Bannon said he is providing a platform for the alt-right. And the alt-right is nothing more than white supremacy rebranded for a digital age. You know, he's been their mouthpiece. And Mr. Priebus is saying -- I feel sorry for Mr. Priebus because now he's made a deal with the devil. You know he has to support Bannon. But I think anyone who goes to the "Breitbart" website and look at the kinds of things that are out there, I think would be shocked.

COSTELLO: So I have heard people say you know, we have checks and balances in this country so why are we worrying so much, this is just one voice in Mr. Trump's administration.

COHEN: Well, you know, the white supremacists on storm front today are saying that Bannon has Mr. Trump's ear. And I got to say, it's not entirely surprising what Trump has done. Trump ran a racist campaign from the first day that he came down that escalator at Trump Tower. He brought Mr. Bannon in not simply because Mr. Bannon is smart, not simply because Mr. Bannon is talented but because Mr. Bannon himself is a white nationalist. So it's disheartening to see him in the administration, especially after Mr. Trump said oh, he was going to bind the wounds of division. It's disheartening but quite frankly not entirely surprising.

COSTELLO: For a lot of Trump supporters, they don't believe that Mr. Trump ran a racist campaign. He was just saying things that needed to be said, that needed to be out in the open so that we could deal with it as a nation, to even the playing field.

COHEN: Look, when you start calling Mexicans, rapists, when you say that we should ban Muslims from the country, when you say horribly misogynist things and when you mock the disabled, I don't see how people of good will can defend you.

COSTELLO: So in real world terms, because your organization keeps track of the number of minorities who are harassed in this country, so what are you seeing?

COHEN: We are seeing a lot of ugliness and it's widespread. We have tracked more than 300 incidents since Mr. Trump was elected of anti- immigrant vitriol, of vandalism, you know, anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-LGBT and it's incredibly widespread. We are seeing it at Walmart. We're seeing it on the street. And we're seeing it most especially in schools and universities.

COSTELLO: So how much has it spiked? Is it just in a few cities across the nation? Is it -- like how would you characterize it?

COHEN: It's really something that we are seeing across the country from New York to California, from Michigan down to Florida. It's very, very widespread and very, very ugly. I wish Mr. Trump would speak out forcefully. Yesterday on "60 minutes," he had said he had seen one or two instances of it. He must not be reading the newspaper or getting his news feeds because it's quite widespread.

COSTELLO: Now, some Trump supporters might suggest that you are ignoring the attacks on Trump supporters out there on the part of minority groups.

COHEN: Well, we are not. We have them on our website as well. So we are not ignoring anything. But the attacks from the Trump people are much greater. And let me say, it's not surprising. [10:25:16] White supremacists out there are celebrating Mr. Trump's election. You know, people are saying he's given them new hope. Some white supremacists, very prominent white supremacists have told their people go out and make people feel unwelcome. Go out and make them feel afraid. And unfortunately, that's what's happening.

COSTELLO: Richard Cohen thanks for stopping by. I do appreciate it. "Saturday Night Live" usually aims for the funny bone but this weekend it went for the guts, some were moments reflecting on Trump's win and Clinton's loss.

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