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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Interview With Ohio Senator Rob Portman; Trump Wins; Clinton Calls for Unity. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired November 09, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:05]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Today, Donald Trump starts being briefed on the biggest secrets this nation has.

A special edition of THE LEAD starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: As I have said from the ginning, ours was not a campaign, but rather an incredible and great movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Democrats thought it was impossible, polling said it was improbable, even some of the Republicans running his own campaign thought it was a pipe dream, but president-elect Donald Trump knocked the establishment down and out, as Hillary Clinton steps aside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Like the most blaring morning hangover in history for the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton calling for unity as the highest and hardest glass ceiling remains firmly in place. And roughly half the voters in this nation are jubilant, while the other half are desolate, many hurt specifically by Trump's own words. Can the nation heal, and how?

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Jake Tapper.

President-elect Trump is about to move into the house behind me for any number of reasons, including specific policy proposals, promises that his voters expect he will implement.

Just some of Trump's promises? Repeal and replace Obamacare, build a wall along the southern border with Mexico and get Mexico to pay for said wall. Deport all 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this

country, including children, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and potentially jail Hillary Clinton, temporarily ban Muslims and immigrants from terror-prone nations coming into the United States, throw out NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and scrap the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, two trade deals that shape what our economy looks like, plus impose tariffs on Chinese and Mexican goods unless those countries give the U.S. more favorable returns.

Mr. Trump also vowed to cut taxes, withdraw from any agreement to try to curtail climate change, tear up the Iran deal, renegotiate NATO, fix infrastructure in the U.S., and to curtain the freedom of the press by changing libel laws.

All of this and more, Mr. Trump said, would make America great again. Now he has a Republican Congress. How much of this stated agenda will president-elect Trump actually achieve and how much will he truly push for?

Let's get right to CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta, who is outside Trump Tower.

Jim, you said early last night that Trump advisers thought they would need a miracle to win. Apparently, the voters provided said miracle.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake.

Donald Trump and his team were huddled behind closed doors in Trump Tower behind me working through the shock of that miracle and also planning for a new administration T. promises to transform the nation, as you just mentioned, and also, as the president-elect likes to say, drain the swamp in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): It's no longer Mr. Trump. It's president-elect Trump. And the incoming 45th president of the United States is so far trying out a new, more unified message.

TRUMP: Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division. Have to get together.

ACOSTA: And that theme is filtering down to his top aides. In response to Hillary Clinton's concession speech, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller did not use the term crooked Hillary and tweeted: "Very classy speech from Hillary Clinton. Important step in bringing our country together."

And Trump's GOP critics are saying the right things, too, from Jeb Bush and George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney. After a campaign that alienated Hispanics, Muslims and women, Trump is sounding an inclusive tone.

TRUMP: It's a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people, it will.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ACOSTA: Even the proposals Trump talked about in his victory speech have broad appeal.

TRUMP: We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We're going to rebuild our infrastructure. We will also finally take care of our great veterans.

ACOSTA: But Trump has also promised a more partisan agenda, repealing Obamacare, building a wall on the Mexican border, renegotiating trade deals, improving ties with Russia, even water-boarding terror suspects.

And he will have a Republic Congress led for now by House Speaker Paul Ryan, backing some of his plans.

[16:05:05]

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard. He connected in ways with people no one else did. He turned politics on its head. And now Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government.

ACOSTA: Trump's administration should have plenty of familiar faces. RNC Chair Reince Priebus and Chris Christie are mentioned as favorites for White House chief of staff, as is Mike Flynn for national security adviser, while top campaign officials Kellyanne Conway and Steven Bannon are likely to become senior advisers.

And sources say Trump's Cabinet could feature Newt Gingrich, Bob Corker, Jeff Sessions, and Rudy Giuliani in powerful positions.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: He went way out to make sure everybody heard him loudly and clearly that he will be the president for all Americans.

ACOSTA: These potential new members of the Trump administration say Americans need to give the man they know intimately a chance.

REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: He is a reflective person. He isn't a bombastic guy that the media tries to portray. He is a gracious, personable guy that has a lot of qualities that make him endearing. He wants to be a great president. And he will be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And now Donald Trump is being swept into the important business of running this country and being president of the United States. He has now been cleared to receive the same national security briefings that the president currently receives, President Obama receives. And speaking of President Obama, he has extended an invitation to

Donald Trump to meet him at the White House tomorrow. And, Jake, I should just point out, it's kind of an amazing scene out here outside of Trump Tower. There are protesters. There is a lot of security. It's almost like the election didn't happen. But, oh, it has -- Jake.

TAPPER: It has indeed.

Jim Acosta, thank you so much.

Joining me now me, the newly reelected Republican Senator from Ohio Rob Portman.

Senator, congratulations on your big night.

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R), OHIO: Thank you, Jake. Good to be on with you again.

TAPPER: So, I outlined Trump's stated policy pledges that he made during the campaign, just a few of them, to refresh your memory, building a wall along the southern border that Mexico pays for, deporting all undocumented immigrants, appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, temporarily banning Muslims and immigrants from terror-prone nations from coming to the U.S.

Are any of those proposals that you would get on board with?

PORTMAN: Well, Jake, even though you are the most fair and balanced guy I know, you missed some of them that I think we can find a lot of common ground.

One would be tax reform that he talked about that a lot. And I have talked to him about it personally. And, you know, I have taken the lead on that. We need it desperately, because jobs and companies are going overseas and investments not coming back here.

So, it's a huge opportunity, $2.5 trillion locked up overseas, much of which could come back if we have the right policies. Then, infrastructure, you did talk about earlier. That's one where I think we can find common ground.

And certainly with regard to health care, I don't know anyone who believe that health care costs at the current rate, the skyrocketing premiums, but also deductibles, is sustainable. So, I think there's an opportunity here for us to get some things done.

TAPPER: One of the reasons that he was able to win the state of Ohio by such a significant margin is because of so many mainly white working-class voters in parts of your state and Michigan and Pennsylvania feeling as though elites in Washington have sent their jobs overseas with these trade deals that have benefited corporations and Wall Street and hurt them.

Do you agree with his basic construct of that, that these trade deals are the reason why some of these parts of the country are in such bad straits? PORTMAN: I think we should be tougher on trade enforcement.

As you know, I have taken on a lead on that. I just won by 21 points in Ohio, 15 points ahead of Mr. Trump, in part because I have actually accomplished things that help our steelworkers, paper workers, tire workers in Ohio. And that's to go after these countries that send their products here illegally, because they dump it below their cost or they subsidize it.

I have also taken the lead on the currency manipulation issue that he's talked about a lot. So, yes, I do think people want to have a fair shake. And I think that's understandable. And people are smart. They look at what's happened.

So, it's not just the trade agreements. We only have trade agreements with 10 percent of the world. We actually send most of our exports from Ohio, 60 percent, to that 10 percent. That's not really the issue as much as it is the fact that trade is not on a level playing field now. And I think people want to see that trade enforcement.

And I think that's one reason he won Michigan and Ohio, certainly. And I think that's something he can deliver on, because I do think there are a lot of members of Congress who would like to see a more level playing field, expanding exports, yes. That's a good thing, but also ensuring that we are cracking down on unfair trade coming our way.

TAPPER: CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward is in Moscow, Russia, right now gauging to president-elect Trump.

Officially, in Russia, the Kremlin and President Putin issued a polite congratulations. Privately, we're told officials are delighted, one politician even popping open a bottle champagne. There was a round of applause in the Duma, the parliament.

[16:10:02]

Does that concern you at all, or do you agree that the United States and Russia should be closer allies?

PORTMAN: Well, it would be great to be closer allies.

It would be important, you know, for global peace. But I think we need to be careful with regard to some of the specific policies. As you know, I have taken a role on this Eastern European issue of pushing back against Russia, not just Crimea, but also what they're doing on the eastern border of Ukraine.

And I think the sanctions are appropriate. So, yes, of course we want a better relationship with Russia, with China, with other countries around the world. And there is an opportunity here. This could be a fresh start.

Does that sound familiar? But we have got to be sure that it's based on the right kinds of policies and that it's in our national security interest. TAPPER: After that "Access Hollywood" came out, you said that you

were not going to vote for Mr. Trump, you were going to write in Mike Pence. I am assuming that you did that. What do you want...

PORTMAN: I did.

TAPPER: ... to see from president-elect Trump going forward, so that he can unite the country and bring senators like you and Democrats who have been offended by things he's said into some sort of unity, into a moment where the country comes together?

PORTMAN: Yes, it's not about me or even my colleagues. It's about the American people.

What I want to see is what I saw last night. I thought he gave a terrific speech, because he talked about the fact that we need to come together to solve problems. And he said he is going to reach out to every American. In fact, he said, for those who haven't voted for me, I want your guidance and I want to your ideas. I like that.

I also thought that Hillary Clinton's comments were very hopeful, when she talked about keeping an open mind, this is a fresh start.

And then President Obama also, as you know, spoke this afternoon and set pretty much the same tone with his remarks.

So, I think there is an opportunity now, Jake. And, look, I think it's in everybody's interests because it's the right thing to do, but I also think it's what the American people want. Our campaign was premised on the legislation that I had actually gotten passed that's helping Ohio workers, helping Ohio families right now.

That's what they wanted to hear about. They didn't want to hear a bunch of political talk. They wanted to know, what have you done for me and what's your vision going forward? And so I am hopeful that Democrats, Republicans alike will understand that this is the right thing to do and it's not bad politics, and let's figure out a way to find common ground going forward.

I know that voters don't want a replay of the last four or eight years.

TAPPER: Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, thank you, and congratulations again, sir.

PORTMAN: Thanks, Jake. Always great to be on with you.

TAPPER: Keep an open mind and give Trump a chance, that from Hillary Clinton as she bowed out of a brutal 15-month race -- the concession and her call for unity next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[16:16:47] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

While millions of American families are thrilled that finally someone who cares about them and their needs is heading to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, there are also many, many Americans who are desolate about the glass ceiling remaining unbroken. A lot of little girls and boys swallowed tears with their orange juice this morning. Hillary Clinton came the closest any woman ever has to becoming an American president. But after an extraordinary campaign cycle, yesterday, the former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state fell short.

And while Clinton put off her concession speech for several hours overnight, when she did speak today, she apologized to her supporters and urged the country to give President-elect Trump on open mind and a chance.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now.

Brianna, the Clinton camp went into election night firmly expecting a win.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Jake. And they ended the night, you can only describe it as crestfallen and many of them in tears today, audible sobs as Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton ending her run -- shocked, saddened and gracious.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

KEILAR: Apologizing to those who worked on her campaign.

CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

KEILAR: With a nod to young supporters and to women.

CLINTON: Especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

KEILAR: As polls closed Tuesday night, cheer gave way to concern, then disbelief and tears at Clinton's election night party. Battleground Florida, where the campaign was confident about victory, going red. North Carolina doing the same. Then, the blue firewall went up in flames. Trump scooping up reliably Democratic Wisconsin, surging in Michigan, still too close to call, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton consistently led in the polls, ending her hopes as it turned red.

Gathered beneath the glass ceiling of the Javits Center, her supporters expected a triumphant sequel of her 2008 concession speech.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Instead, workers emptied confetti cannons of unused metallic confetti meant to imitate shattered glass, Clinton falling short of her goal.

CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

KEILAR: In the end, the polls were wrong, almost all of them. And Clinton irreparably damaged by her own deeds, including the use of a private e-mail address and server while secretary of state.

CLINTON: The server will remain private.

[16:20:03] KEILAR: President Obama's argument that Clinton would protect his legacy not enough.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. Everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team.

KEILAR: Clinton also urging unity but acknowledging the hurt her supporters feel.

CLINTON: This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And though not widespread there is some finger-pointing going on within the Democratic Party, Jake. I spoke with Jonathan Tasini, Bernie Sanders' top surrogate, one of his top surrogates and also a biographer of Bernie Sanders, he said, you know, we told the party Bernie movement, and they would not listen. He said, no, they had to anoint her. It was like an alcoholic family not willing to have an intervention.

He had some specific choice words for the former chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that I cannot repeat on your family program.

TAPPER: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. And thanks for the consideration to the children watching today.

Today, Hillary Clinton is once again yielding to the will of the people, continuing a tradition of conceding to the winner. "Obviously, I would rather have won," Vice President Walter Mondale said in 1980. "But I also see a reason to rejoice, for we are privileged to be a democracy. For a dozen or so hours today, the American people quietly wielded their staggering power."

I want to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

First, Doris, your reaction to the election results.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it obviously surprised me like it did everybody else. And I think what's been hopeful today is just listening to the speeches of Trump and then Obama and Hillary. A classiness of accepting this peaceful transition of power in a way we might have worried about before this election would have happened. So, that gives anybody who's on any side of this I think a good feeling about our democracy, at least at the moment.

TAPPER: As of the latest results that I was looking at, Trump did not reach the total vote number achieved by either Mitt Romney or John McCain, trailing behind by one million to two million Americans. The problem was not so much a surge for Trump but Clinton failing to reach Obama's total by something like five million or six million.

Was this election, do you think, about Trump's strength more or Clinton's weaknesses?

GOODWIN: Oh, it's probably about both. But I think the hardest thing for the person who lost, which is Mrs. Clinton right now, is to imagine that it was in part about her weaknesses. You know, you think about what we feel about politicians and we somehow get very cynical about them.

And yet, they put themselves forward in front of the country and the loss is monumental. Everybody in the world knows that she lost this election right now, and yet she handled it with a grace and with a classiness. Her emotions were clear within her.

I mean, I know from other presidents who have talked about it. President Bush Sr. said it hurts, it hurts. And President Ford said, it's harder when it's close because then you keep saying, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. And I'm sure the Clinton campaign is saying, what if we didn't have the e-mail problem, what if we handled the Bernie situation differently.

It's really painful. And you've got to give them a certain degree of emotional support and understanding and really empathy for this moment that she is facing right now.

TAPPER: When President Obama took office in 2009, Democrats controlled the House, they controlled the Senate, they controlled 29 governorships. This January, Republicans will control the building behind me, the White House, the Senate, the House and at least 33 governorships.

What happened, and do you think that that reflects at all on President Obama's legacy?

GOODWIN: Well, I think clearly we're going to have to look back to that mid-term election in 2010, because as you say, the Democrats came in with that control. Health care got proposed. Somehow during that summer before the midterm elections, it was never explained in a way that people understood it. Perhaps there weren't simplified enough bullet points.

And they were able to talk about death panels that year. The Tea Party got going. The Democrats lost that election. They lost the state houses and then they lost the whole reapportionment that happens in that decade time.

So, I think, looking back at that moment, that's going to be a hard moment for the party and for the Obama people to look back, even though they have accomplished so much in between those times.

TAPPER: I know we're just writing the first draft of history right now, and you are not a first-draft of history type person. You are a years and years of research type person. But what do you think happened last night? A lot of people reaching out to people in the media saying, I didn't expect this at all.

[16:25:03] What happened?

GOODWIN: I think, if I were to look at it historically, that what happened is the country was changing in ways that a lot of people were not happy with. It had to do with the loss of jobs, but more importantly the loss of themselves and how they felt they were part of a middle class with upward mobility and no longer felt that. Lots of immigrants were coming in from abroad. There was a feeling that there was a huge gap between the rich and poor.

And somehow, Donald Trump told a narrative, told a story, that touched those people. We will make America great again, as if somehow we were going to go backward and create a world that no longer exists. And you saw the huge divide between rural and diverse areas. So, people who felt like something had happened to their lives were able to project the problem onto other people, whether they be immigrants or people in the cities.

And somehow he was able to tell a story that made those people feel like I'll make America the way it used to be and the way you want it to be. And that story won out over the idea of being stronger together. It's always about a narrative. And that's in a certain way how people respond to a very complicated campaign.

TAPPER: Donald Trump, of course, didn't just win the White House. He will have a Republican Senate, a Republican House, a chance to affect the Supreme Court for years to come, at least one Supreme Court justice, maybe as many as four.

What does our nation's presidential history show when presidents have all of those other bodies on the same side, in the same party?

GOODWIN: Well, the interesting thing is it sometimes shows that hubris sets in. That you then think you have even more of a mantel than you actually do and you may move the country too quickly into a direction they're not ready to move it. So, the cautionary thing will be that when it happens, as it did for Roosevelt in 1936, and he moved to court packing because he wanted to get everything done and he had this huge mantel to do it.

So, I think warnings should be there that even though it allows you to move in a way you can't when you have a broken Congress, the one thing the country will be interesting to see is we've been decrying gridlock, the fact that neither party could get together. Now, one party is going to have a lot of control. Let's see whether they use it in a measured way, whether they're able to gain to their popularity because of it or whether they move too quickly, too fast in directions that the other half of the people who didn't vote for them are not going to feel bad about, and then they could lose ground in two years in the midterm election. These things come in cycle. What goes around, comes around.

TAPPER: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much. Always an honor to talk to you.

GOODWIN: Thank you, Jake. Me to you.

TAPPER: President Obama said repeatedly Donald Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But now that Trump is president- elect, how will the rest of the world work with Mr. Trump? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[16:16:47] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

While millions of American families are thrilled that finally someone who cares about them and their needs is heading to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, there are also many, many Americans who are desolate about the glass ceiling remaining unbroken. A lot of little girls and boys swallowed tears with their orange juice this morning. Hillary Clinton came the closest any woman ever has to becoming an American president. But after an extraordinary campaign cycle, yesterday, the former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state fell short.

And while Clinton put off her concession speech for several hours overnight, when she did speak today, she apologized to her supporters and urged the country to give President-elect Trump on open mind and a chance.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now.

Brianna, the Clinton camp went into election night firmly expecting a win.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Jake. And they ended the night, you can only describe it as crestfallen and many of them in tears today, audible sobs as Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton ending her run -- shocked, saddened and gracious.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

KEILAR: Apologizing to those who worked on her campaign.

CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

KEILAR: With a nod to young supporters and to women.

CLINTON: Especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

KEILAR: As polls closed Tuesday night, cheer gave way to concern, then disbelief and tears at Clinton's election night party. Battleground Florida, where the campaign was confident about victory, going red. North Carolina doing the same. Then, the blue firewall went up in flames. Trump scooping up reliably Democratic Wisconsin, surging in Michigan, still too close to call, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton consistently led in the polls, ending her hopes as it turned red.

Gathered beneath the glass ceiling of the Javits Center, her supporters expected a triumphant sequel of her 2008 concession speech.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Instead, workers emptied confetti cannons of unused metallic confetti meant to imitate shattered glass, Clinton falling short of her goal.

CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

KEILAR: In the end, the polls were wrong, almost all of them. And Clinton irreparably damaged by her own deeds, including the use of a private e-mail address and server while secretary of state.

CLINTON: The server will remain private.

[16:20:03] KEILAR: President Obama's argument that Clinton would protect his legacy not enough.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. Everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team. KEILAR: Clinton also urging unity but acknowledging the hurt her

supporters feel.

CLINTON: This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And though not widespread there is some finger-pointing going on within the Democratic Party, Jake. I spoke with Jonathan Tasini, Bernie Sanders' top surrogate, one of his top surrogates and also a biographer of Bernie Sanders, he said, you know, we told the party Bernie movement, and they would not listen. He said, no, they had to anoint her. It was like an alcoholic family not willing to have an intervention.

He had some specific choice words for the former chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that I cannot repeat on your family program.

TAPPER: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. And thanks for the consideration to the children watching today.

Today, Hillary Clinton is once again yielding to the will of the people, continuing a tradition of conceding to the winner. "Obviously, I would rather have won," Vice President Walter Mondale said in 1980. "But I also see a reason to rejoice, for we are privileged to be a democracy. For a dozen or so hours today, the American people quietly wielded their staggering power."

I want to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

First, Doris, your reaction to the election results.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it obviously surprised me like it did everybody else. And I think what's been hopeful today is just listening to the speeches of Trump and then Obama and Hillary. A classiness of accepting this peaceful transition of power in a way we might have worried about before this election would have happened. So, that gives anybody who's on any side of this I think a good feeling about our democracy, at least at the moment.

TAPPER: As of the latest results that I was looking at, Trump did not reach the total vote number achieved by either Mitt Romney or John McCain, trailing behind by one million to two million Americans. The problem was not so much a surge for Trump but Clinton failing to reach Obama's total by something like five million or six million.

Was this election, do you think, about Trump's strength more or Clinton's weaknesses?

GOODWIN: Oh, it's probably about both. But I think the hardest thing for the person who lost, which is Mrs. Clinton right now, is to imagine that it was in part about her weaknesses. You know, you think about what we feel about politicians and we somehow get very cynical about them.

And yet, they put themselves forward in front of the country and the loss is monumental. Everybody in the world knows that she lost this election right now, and yet she handled it with a grace and with a classiness. Her emotions were clear within her.

I mean, I know from other presidents who have talked about it. President Bush Sr. said it hurts, it hurts. And President Ford said, it's harder when it's close because then you keep saying, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. And I'm sure the Clinton campaign is saying, what if we didn't have the e-mail problem, what if we handled the Bernie situation differently.

It's really painful. And you've got to give them a certain degree of emotional support and understanding and really empathy for this moment that she is facing right now.

TAPPER: When President Obama took office in 2009, Democrats controlled the House, they controlled the Senate, they controlled 29 governorships. This January, Republicans will control the building behind me, the White House, the Senate, the House and at least 33 governorships.

What happened, and do you think that that reflects at all on President Obama's legacy?

GOODWIN: Well, I think clearly we're going to have to look back to that mid-term election in 2010, because as you say, the Democrats came in with that control. Health care got proposed. Somehow during that summer before the midterm elections, it was never explained in a way that people understood it. Perhaps there weren't simplified enough bullet points.

And they were able to talk about death panels that year. The Tea Party got going. The Democrats lost that election. They lost the state houses and then they lost the whole reapportionment that happens in that decade time.

So, I think, looking back at that moment, that's going to be a hard moment for the party and for the Obama people to look back, even though they have accomplished so much in between those times.

TAPPER: I know we're just writing the first draft of history right now, and you are not a first-draft of history type person. You are a years and years of research type person. But what do you think happened last night? A lot of people reaching out to people in the media saying, I didn't expect this at all.

[16:25:03] What happened?

GOODWIN: I think, if I were to look at it historically, that what happened is the country was changing in ways that a lot of people were not happy with. It had to do with the loss of jobs, but more importantly the loss of themselves and how they felt they were part of a middle class with upward mobility and no longer felt that. Lots of immigrants were coming in from abroad. There was a feeling that there was a huge gap between the rich and poor.

And somehow, Donald Trump told a narrative, told a story, that touched those people. We will make America great again, as if somehow we were going to go backward and create a world that no longer exists. And you saw the huge divide between rural and diverse areas. So, people who felt like something had happened to their lives were able to project the problem onto other people, whether they be immigrants or people in the cities.

And somehow he was able to tell a story that made those people feel like I'll make America the way it used to be and the way you want it to be. And that story won out over the idea of being stronger together. It's always about a narrative. And that's in a certain way how people respond to a very complicated campaign.

TAPPER: Donald Trump, of course, didn't just win the White House. He will have a Republican Senate, a Republican House, a chance to affect the Supreme Court for years to come, at least one Supreme Court justice, maybe as many as four.

What does our nation's presidential history show when presidents have all of those other bodies on the same side, in the same party?

GOODWIN: Well, the interesting thing is it sometimes shows that hubris sets in. That you then think you have even more of a mantel than you actually do and you may move the country too quickly into a direction they're not ready to move it. So, the cautionary thing will be that when it happens, as it did for Roosevelt in 1936, and he moved to court packing because he wanted to get everything done and he had this huge mantel to do it.

So, I think warnings should be there that even though it allows you to move in a way you can't when you have a broken Congress, the one thing the country will be interesting to see is we've been decrying gridlock, the fact that neither party could get together. Now, one party is going to have a lot of control. Let's see whether they use it in a measured way, whether they're able to gain to their popularity because of it or whether they move too quickly, too fast in directions that the other half of the people who didn't vote for them are not going to feel bad about, and then they could lose ground in two years in the midterm election. These things come in cycle. What goes around, comes around.

TAPPER: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much. Always an honor to talk to you.

GOODWIN: Thank you, Jake. Me to you.

TAPPER: President Obama said repeatedly Donald Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But now that Trump is president- elect, how will the rest of the world work with Mr. Trump? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[16:16:47] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

While millions of American families are thrilled that finally someone who cares about them and their needs is heading to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, there are also many, many Americans who are desolate about the glass ceiling remaining unbroken. A lot of little girls and boys swallowed tears with their orange juice this morning. Hillary Clinton came the closest any woman ever has to becoming an American president. But after an extraordinary campaign cycle, yesterday, the former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state fell short.

And while Clinton put off her concession speech for several hours overnight, when she did speak today, she apologized to her supporters and urged the country to give President-elect Trump on open mind and a chance.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now.

Brianna, the Clinton camp went into election night firmly expecting a win.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Jake. And they ended the night, you can only describe it as crestfallen and many of them in tears today, audible sobs as Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton ending her run -- shocked, saddened and gracious.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

KEILAR: Apologizing to those who worked on her campaign.

CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

KEILAR: With a nod to young supporters and to women.

CLINTON: Especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

KEILAR: As polls closed Tuesday night, cheer gave way to concern, then disbelief and tears at Clinton's election night party. Battleground Florida, where the campaign was confident about victory, going red. North Carolina doing the same. Then, the blue firewall went up in flames. Trump scooping up reliably Democratic Wisconsin, surging in Michigan, still too close to call, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton consistently led in the polls, ending her hopes as it turned red.

Gathered beneath the glass ceiling of the Javits Center, her supporters expected a triumphant sequel of her 2008 concession speech.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Instead, workers emptied confetti cannons of unused metallic confetti meant to imitate shattered glass, Clinton falling short of her goal.

CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

KEILAR: In the end, the polls were wrong, almost all of them. And Clinton irreparably damaged by her own deeds, including the use of a private e-mail address and server while secretary of state.

CLINTON: The server will remain private.

[16:20:03] KEILAR: President Obama's argument that Clinton would protect his legacy not enough.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. Everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team.

KEILAR: Clinton also urging unity but acknowledging the hurt her supporters feel.

CLINTON: This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And though not widespread there is some finger-pointing going on within the Democratic Party, Jake. I spoke with Jonathan Tasini, Bernie Sanders' top surrogate, one of his top surrogates and also a biographer of Bernie Sanders, he said, you know, we told the party Bernie movement, and they would not listen. He said, no, they had to anoint her. It was like an alcoholic family not willing to have an intervention.

He had some specific choice words for the former chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that I cannot repeat on your family program.

TAPPER: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. And thanks for the consideration to the children watching today.

Today, Hillary Clinton is once again yielding to the will of the people, continuing a tradition of conceding to the winner. "Obviously, I would rather have won," Vice President Walter Mondale said in 1980. "But I also see a reason to rejoice, for we are privileged to be a democracy. For a dozen or so hours today, the American people quietly wielded their staggering power."

I want to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

First, Doris, your reaction to the election results.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it obviously surprised me like it did everybody else. And I think what's been hopeful today is just listening to the speeches of Trump and then Obama and Hillary. A classiness of accepting this peaceful transition of power in a way we might have worried about before this election would have happened. So, that gives anybody who's on any side of this I think a good feeling about our democracy, at least at the moment.

TAPPER: As of the latest results that I was looking at, Trump did not reach the total vote number achieved by either Mitt Romney or John McCain, trailing behind by one million to two million Americans. The problem was not so much a surge for Trump but Clinton failing to reach Obama's total by something like five million or six million.

Was this election, do you think, about Trump's strength more or Clinton's weaknesses?

GOODWIN: Oh, it's probably about both. But I think the hardest thing for the person who lost, which is Mrs. Clinton right now, is to imagine that it was in part about her weaknesses. You know, you think about what we feel about politicians and we somehow get very cynical about them.

And yet, they put themselves forward in front of the country and the loss is monumental. Everybody in the world knows that she lost this election right now, and yet she handled it with a grace and with a classiness. Her emotions were clear within her.

I mean, I know from other presidents who have talked about it. President Bush Sr. said it hurts, it hurts. And President Ford said, it's harder when it's close because then you keep saying, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. And I'm sure the Clinton campaign is saying, what if we didn't have the e-mail problem, what if we handled the Bernie situation differently.

It's really painful. And you've got to give them a certain degree of emotional support and understanding and really empathy for this moment that she is facing right now.

TAPPER: When President Obama took office in 2009, Democrats controlled the House, they controlled the Senate, they controlled 29 governorships. This January, Republicans will control the building behind me, the White House, the Senate, the House and at least 33 governorships.

What happened, and do you think that that reflects at all on President Obama's legacy? GOODWIN: Well, I think clearly we're going to have to look back to

that mid-term election in 2010, because as you say, the Democrats came in with that control. Health care got proposed. Somehow during that summer before the midterm elections, it was never explained in a way that people understood it. Perhaps there weren't simplified enough bullet points.

And they were able to talk about death panels that year. The Tea Party got going. The Democrats lost that election. They lost the state houses and then they lost the whole reapportionment that happens in that decade time.

So, I think, looking back at that moment, that's going to be a hard moment for the party and for the Obama people to look back, even though they have accomplished so much in between those times.

TAPPER: I know we're just writing the first draft of history right now, and you are not a first-draft of history type person. You are a years and years of research type person. But what do you think happened last night? A lot of people reaching out to people in the media saying, I didn't expect this at all.

[16:25:03] What happened?

GOODWIN: I think, if I were to look at it historically, that what happened is the country was changing in ways that a lot of people were not happy with. It had to do with the loss of jobs, but more importantly the loss of themselves and how they felt they were part of a middle class with upward mobility and no longer felt that. Lots of immigrants were coming in from abroad. There was a feeling that there was a huge gap between the rich and poor.

And somehow, Donald Trump told a narrative, told a story, that touched those people. We will make America great again, as if somehow we were going to go backward and create a world that no longer exists. And you saw the huge divide between rural and diverse areas. So, people who felt like something had happened to their lives were able to project the problem onto other people, whether they be immigrants or people in the cities.

And somehow he was able to tell a story that made those people feel like I'll make America the way it used to be and the way you want it to be. And that story won out over the idea of being stronger together. It's always about a narrative. And that's in a certain way how people respond to a very complicated campaign.

TAPPER: Donald Trump, of course, didn't just win the White House. He will have a Republican Senate, a Republican House, a chance to affect the Supreme Court for years to come, at least one Supreme Court justice, maybe as many as four.

What does our nation's presidential history show when presidents have all of those other bodies on the same side, in the same party?

GOODWIN: Well, the interesting thing is it sometimes shows that hubris sets in. That you then think you have even more of a mantel than you actually do and you may move the country too quickly into a direction they're not ready to move it. So, the cautionary thing will be that when it happens, as it did for Roosevelt in 1936, and he moved to court packing because he wanted to get everything done and he had this huge mantel to do it.

So, I think warnings should be there that even though it allows you to move in a way you can't when you have a broken Congress, the one thing the country will be interesting to see is we've been decrying gridlock, the fact that neither party could get together. Now, one party is going to have a lot of control. Let's see whether they use it in a measured way, whether they're able to gain to their popularity because of it or whether they move too quickly, too fast in directions that the other half of the people who didn't vote for them are not going to feel bad about, and then they could lose ground in two years in the midterm election. These things come in cycle. What goes around, comes around.

TAPPER: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much. Always an honor to talk to you.

GOODWIN: Thank you, Jake. Me to you.

TAPPER: President Obama said repeatedly Donald Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But now that Trump is president- elect, how will the rest of the world work with Mr. Trump? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[16:16:47] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

While millions of American families are thrilled that finally someone who cares about them and their needs is heading to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, there are also many, many Americans who are desolate about the glass ceiling remaining unbroken. A lot of little girls and boys swallowed tears with their orange juice this morning. Hillary Clinton came the closest any woman ever has to becoming an American president. But after an extraordinary campaign cycle, yesterday, the former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state fell short.

And while Clinton put off her concession speech for several hours overnight, when she did speak today, she apologized to her supporters and urged the country to give President-elect Trump on open mind and a chance.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now.

Brianna, the Clinton camp went into election night firmly expecting a win.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Jake. And they ended the night, you can only describe it as crestfallen and many of them in tears today, audible sobs as Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton ending her run -- shocked, saddened and gracious.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

KEILAR: Apologizing to those who worked on her campaign.

CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

KEILAR: With a nod to young supporters and to women.

CLINTON: Especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

KEILAR: As polls closed Tuesday night, cheer gave way to concern, then disbelief and tears at Clinton's election night party. Battleground Florida, where the campaign was confident about victory, going red. North Carolina doing the same. Then, the blue firewall went up in flames. Trump scooping up reliably Democratic Wisconsin, surging in Michigan, still too close to call, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton consistently led in the polls, ending her hopes as it turned red.

Gathered beneath the glass ceiling of the Javits Center, her supporters expected a triumphant sequel of her 2008 concession speech.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Instead, workers emptied confetti cannons of unused metallic confetti meant to imitate shattered glass, Clinton falling short of her goal.

CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

KEILAR: In the end, the polls were wrong, almost all of them. And Clinton irreparably damaged by her own deeds, including the use of a private e-mail address and server while secretary of state.

CLINTON: The server will remain private.

[16:20:03] KEILAR: President Obama's argument that Clinton would protect his legacy not enough.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. Everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team.

KEILAR: Clinton also urging unity but acknowledging the hurt her supporters feel.

CLINTON: This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And though not widespread there is some finger-pointing going on within the Democratic Party, Jake. I spoke with Jonathan Tasini, Bernie Sanders' top surrogate, one of his top surrogates and also a biographer of Bernie Sanders, he said, you know, we told the party Bernie movement, and they would not listen. He said, no, they had to anoint her. It was like an alcoholic family not willing to have an intervention.

He had some specific choice words for the former chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that I cannot repeat on your family program.

TAPPER: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. And thanks for the consideration to the children watching today.

Today, Hillary Clinton is once again yielding to the will of the people, continuing a tradition of conceding to the winner. "Obviously, I would rather have won," Vice President Walter Mondale said in 1980. "But I also see a reason to rejoice, for we are privileged to be a democracy. For a dozen or so hours today, the American people quietly wielded their staggering power."

I want to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

First, Doris, your reaction to the election results.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it obviously surprised me like it did everybody else. And I think what's been hopeful today is just listening to the speeches of Trump and then Obama and Hillary. A classiness of accepting this peaceful transition of power in a way we might have worried about before this election would have happened. So, that gives anybody who's on any side of this I think a good feeling about our democracy, at least at the moment.

TAPPER: As of the latest results that I was looking at, Trump did not reach the total vote number achieved by either Mitt Romney or John McCain, trailing behind by one million to two million Americans. The problem was not so much a surge for Trump but Clinton failing to reach Obama's total by something like five million or six million.

Was this election, do you think, about Trump's strength more or Clinton's weaknesses? GOODWIN: Oh, it's probably about both. But I think the hardest thing

for the person who lost, which is Mrs. Clinton right now, is to imagine that it was in part about her weaknesses. You know, you think about what we feel about politicians and we somehow get very cynical about them.

And yet, they put themselves forward in front of the country and the loss is monumental. Everybody in the world knows that she lost this election right now, and yet she handled it with a grace and with a classiness. Her emotions were clear within her.

I mean, I know from other presidents who have talked about it. President Bush Sr. said it hurts, it hurts. And President Ford said, it's harder when it's close because then you keep saying, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. And I'm sure the Clinton campaign is saying, what if we didn't have the e-mail problem, what if we handled the Bernie situation differently.

It's really painful. And you've got to give them a certain degree of emotional support and understanding and really empathy for this moment that she is facing right now.

TAPPER: When President Obama took office in 2009, Democrats controlled the House, they controlled the Senate, they controlled 29 governorships. This January, Republicans will control the building behind me, the White House, the Senate, the House and at least 33 governorships.

What happened, and do you think that that reflects at all on President Obama's legacy?

GOODWIN: Well, I think clearly we're going to have to look back to that mid-term election in 2010, because as you say, the Democrats came in with that control. Health care got proposed. Somehow during that summer before the midterm elections, it was never explained in a way that people understood it. Perhaps there weren't simplified enough bullet points.

And they were able to talk about death panels that year. The Tea Party got going. The Democrats lost that election. They lost the state houses and then they lost the whole reapportionment that happens in that decade time.

So, I think, looking back at that moment, that's going to be a hard moment for the party and for the Obama people to look back, even though they have accomplished so much in between those times.

TAPPER: I know we're just writing the first draft of history right now, and you are not a first-draft of history type person. You are a years and years of research type person. But what do you think happened last night? A lot of people reaching out to people in the media saying, I didn't expect this at all.

[16:25:03] What happened?

GOODWIN: I think, if I were to look at it historically, that what happened is the country was changing in ways that a lot of people were not happy with. It had to do with the loss of jobs, but more importantly the loss of themselves and how they felt they were part of a middle class with upward mobility and no longer felt that. Lots of immigrants were coming in from abroad. There was a feeling that there was a huge gap between the rich and poor.

And somehow, Donald Trump told a narrative, told a story, that touched those people. We will make America great again, as if somehow we were going to go backward and create a world that no longer exists. And you saw the huge divide between rural and diverse areas. So, people who felt like something had happened to their lives were able to project the problem onto other people, whether they be immigrants or people in the cities.

And somehow he was able to tell a story that made those people feel like I'll make America the way it used to be and the way you want it to be. And that story won out over the idea of being stronger together. It's always about a narrative. And that's in a certain way how people respond to a very complicated campaign.

TAPPER: Donald Trump, of course, didn't just win the White House. He will have a Republican Senate, a Republican House, a chance to affect the Supreme Court for years to come, at least one Supreme Court justice, maybe as many as four.

What does our nation's presidential history show when presidents have all of those other bodies on the same side, in the same party?

GOODWIN: Well, the interesting thing is it sometimes shows that hubris sets in. That you then think you have even more of a mantel than you actually do and you may move the country too quickly into a direction they're not ready to move it. So, the cautionary thing will be that when it happens, as it did for Roosevelt in 1936, and he moved to court packing because he wanted to get everything done and he had this huge mantel to do it.

So, I think warnings should be there that even though it allows you to move in a way you can't when you have a broken Congress, the one thing the country will be interesting to see is we've been decrying gridlock, the fact that neither party could get together. Now, one party is going to have a lot of control. Let's see whether they use it in a measured way, whether they're able to gain to their popularity because of it or whether they move too quickly, too fast in directions that the other half of the people who didn't vote for them are not going to feel bad about, and then they could lose ground in two years in the midterm election. These things come in cycle. What goes around, comes around.

TAPPER: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much. Always an honor to talk to you.

GOODWIN: Thank you, Jake. Me to you.

TAPPER: President Obama said repeatedly Donald Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But now that Trump is president- elect, how will the rest of the world work with Mr. Trump? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[16:16:47] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

While millions of American families are thrilled that finally someone who cares about them and their needs is heading to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, there are also many, many Americans who are desolate about the glass ceiling remaining unbroken. A lot of little girls and boys swallowed tears with their orange juice this morning. Hillary Clinton came the closest any woman ever has to becoming an American president. But after an extraordinary campaign cycle, yesterday, the former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state fell short.

And while Clinton put off her concession speech for several hours overnight, when she did speak today, she apologized to her supporters and urged the country to give President-elect Trump on open mind and a chance.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now.

Brianna, the Clinton camp went into election night firmly expecting a win.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Jake. And they ended the night, you can only describe it as crestfallen and many of them in tears today, audible sobs as Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton ending her run -- shocked, saddened and gracious.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

KEILAR: Apologizing to those who worked on her campaign.

CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

KEILAR: With a nod to young supporters and to women.

CLINTON: Especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

KEILAR: As polls closed Tuesday night, cheer gave way to concern, then disbelief and tears at Clinton's election night party. Battleground Florida, where the campaign was confident about victory, going red. North Carolina doing the same. Then, the blue firewall went up in flames. Trump scooping up reliably Democratic Wisconsin, surging in Michigan, still too close to call, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton consistently led in the polls, ending her hopes as it turned red.

Gathered beneath the glass ceiling of the Javits Center, her supporters expected a triumphant sequel of her 2008 concession speech.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Instead, workers emptied confetti cannons of unused metallic confetti meant to imitate shattered glass, Clinton falling short of her goal.

CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

KEILAR: In the end, the polls were wrong, almost all of them. And Clinton irreparably damaged by her own deeds, including the use of a private e-mail address and server while secretary of state.

CLINTON: The server will remain private.

[16:20:03] KEILAR: President Obama's argument that Clinton would protect his legacy not enough.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. Everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team.

KEILAR: Clinton also urging unity but acknowledging the hurt her supporters feel.

CLINTON: This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And though not widespread there is some finger-pointing going on within the Democratic Party, Jake. I spoke with Jonathan Tasini, Bernie Sanders' top surrogate, one of his top surrogates and also a biographer of Bernie Sanders, he said, you know, we told the party Bernie movement, and they would not listen. He said, no, they had to anoint her. It was like an alcoholic family not willing to have an intervention.

He had some specific choice words for the former chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that I cannot repeat on your family program.

TAPPER: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. And thanks for the consideration to the children watching today.

Today, Hillary Clinton is once again yielding to the will of the people, continuing a tradition of conceding to the winner. "Obviously, I would rather have won," Vice President Walter Mondale said in 1980. "But I also see a reason to rejoice, for we are privileged to be a democracy. For a dozen or so hours today, the American people quietly wielded their staggering power."

I want to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

First, Doris, your reaction to the election results.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it obviously surprised me like it did everybody else. And I think what's been hopeful today is just listening to the speeches of Trump and then Obama and Hillary. A classiness of accepting this peaceful transition of power in a way we might have worried about before this election would have happened. So, that gives anybody who's on any side of this I think a good feeling about our democracy, at least at the moment.

TAPPER: As of the latest results that I was looking at, Trump did not reach the total vote number achieved by either Mitt Romney or John McCain, trailing behind by one million to two million Americans. The problem was not so much a surge for Trump but Clinton failing to reach Obama's total by something like five million or six million.

Was this election, do you think, about Trump's strength more or Clinton's weaknesses?

GOODWIN: Oh, it's probably about both. But I think the hardest thing for the person who lost, which is Mrs. Clinton right now, is to imagine that it was in part about her weaknesses. You know, you think about what we feel about politicians and we somehow get very cynical about them.

And yet, they put themselves forward in front of the country and the loss is monumental. Everybody in the world knows that she lost this election right now, and yet she handled it with a grace and with a classiness. Her emotions were clear within her.

I mean, I know from other presidents who have talked about it. President Bush Sr. said it hurts, it hurts. And President Ford said, it's harder when it's close because then you keep saying, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. And I'm sure the Clinton campaign is saying, what if we didn't have the e-mail problem, what if we handled the Bernie situation differently.

It's really painful. And you've got to give them a certain degree of emotional support and understanding and really empathy for this moment that she is facing right now.

TAPPER: When President Obama took office in 2009, Democrats controlled the House, they controlled the Senate, they controlled 29 governorships. This January, Republicans will control the building behind me, the White House, the Senate, the House and at least 33 governorships.

What happened, and do you think that that reflects at all on President Obama's legacy?

GOODWIN: Well, I think clearly we're going to have to look back to that mid-term election in 2010, because as you say, the Democrats came in with that control. Health care got proposed. Somehow during that summer before the midterm elections, it was never explained in a way that people understood it. Perhaps there weren't simplified enough bullet points.

And they were able to talk about death panels that year. The Tea Party got going. The Democrats lost that election. They lost the state houses and then they lost the whole reapportionment that happens in that decade time.

So, I think, looking back at that moment, that's going to be a hard moment for the party and for the Obama people to look back, even though they have accomplished so much in between those times.

TAPPER: I know we're just writing the first draft of history right now, and you are not a first-draft of history type person. You are a years and years of research type person. But what do you think happened last night? A lot of people reaching out to people in the media saying, I didn't expect this at all.

[16:25:03] What happened?

GOODWIN: I think, if I were to look at it historically, that what happened is the country was changing in ways that a lot of people were not happy with. It had to do with the loss of jobs, but more importantly the loss of themselves and how they felt they were part of a middle class with upward mobility and no longer felt that. Lots of immigrants were coming in from abroad. There was a feeling that there was a huge gap between the rich and poor.

And somehow, Donald Trump told a narrative, told a story, that touched those people. We will make America great again, as if somehow we were going to go backward and create a world that no longer exists. And you saw the huge divide between rural and diverse areas. So, people who felt like something had happened to their lives were able to project the problem onto other people, whether they be immigrants or people in the cities.

And somehow he was able to tell a story that made those people feel like I'll make America the way it used to be and the way you want it to be. And that story won out over the idea of being stronger together. It's always about a narrative. And that's in a certain way how people respond to a very complicated campaign.

TAPPER: Donald Trump, of course, didn't just win the White House. He will have a Republican Senate, a Republican House, a chance to affect the Supreme Court for years to come, at least one Supreme Court justice, maybe as many as four.

What does our nation's presidential history show when presidents have all of those other bodies on the same side, in the same party?

GOODWIN: Well, the interesting thing is it sometimes shows that hubris sets in. That you then think you have even more of a mantel than you actually do and you may move the country too quickly into a direction they're not ready to move it. So, the cautionary thing will be that when it happens, as it did for Roosevelt in 1936, and he moved to court packing because he wanted to get everything done and he had this huge mantel to do it.

So, I think warnings should be there that even though it allows you to move in a way you can't when you have a broken Congress, the one thing the country will be interesting to see is we've been decrying gridlock, the fact that neither party could get together. Now, one party is going to have a lot of control. Let's see whether they use it in a measured way, whether they're able to gain to their popularity because of it or whether they move too quickly, too fast in directions that the other half of the people who didn't vote for them are not going to feel bad about, and then they could lose ground in two years in the midterm election. These things come in cycle. What goes around, comes around.

TAPPER: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much. Always an honor to talk to you.

GOODWIN: Thank you, Jake. Me to you.

TAPPER: President Obama said repeatedly Donald Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But now that Trump is president- elect, how will the rest of the world work with Mr. Trump? Stay with us.

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[16:16:47] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

While millions of American families are thrilled that finally someone who cares about them and their needs is heading to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, there are also many, many Americans who are desolate about the glass ceiling remaining unbroken. A lot of little girls and boys swallowed tears with their orange juice this morning. Hillary Clinton came the closest any woman ever has to becoming an American president. But after an extraordinary campaign cycle, yesterday, the former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state fell short.

And while Clinton put off her concession speech for several hours overnight, when she did speak today, she apologized to her supporters and urged the country to give President-elect Trump on open mind and a chance.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now.

Brianna, the Clinton camp went into election night firmly expecting a win.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Jake. And they ended the night, you can only describe it as crestfallen and many of them in tears today, audible sobs as Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton ending her run -- shocked, saddened and gracious.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

KEILAR: Apologizing to those who worked on her campaign.

CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

KEILAR: With a nod to young supporters and to women.

CLINTON: Especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

KEILAR: As polls closed Tuesday night, cheer gave way to concern, then disbelief and tears at Clinton's election night party. Battleground Florida, where the campaign was confident about victory, going red. North Carolina doing the same. Then, the blue firewall went up in flames. Trump scooping up reliably Democratic Wisconsin, surging in Michigan, still too close to call, and Pennsylvania, where Clinton consistently led in the polls, ending her hopes as it turned red.

Gathered beneath the glass ceiling of the Javits Center, her supporters expected a triumphant sequel of her 2008 concession speech.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Instead, workers emptied confetti cannons of unused metallic confetti meant to imitate shattered glass, Clinton falling short of her goal.

CLINTON: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

KEILAR: In the end, the polls were wrong, almost all of them. And Clinton irreparably damaged by her own deeds, including the use of a private e-mail address and server while secretary of state.

CLINTON: The server will remain private. [16:20:03] KEILAR: President Obama's argument that Clinton would

protect his legacy not enough.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. Everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team.

KEILAR: Clinton also urging unity but acknowledging the hurt her supporters feel.

CLINTON: This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And though not widespread there is some finger-pointing going on within the Democratic Party, Jake. I spoke with Jonathan Tasini, Bernie Sanders' top surrogate, one of his top surrogates and also a biographer of Bernie Sanders, he said, you know, we told the party Bernie movement, and they would not listen. He said, no, they had to anoint her. It was like an alcoholic family not willing to have an intervention.

He had some specific choice words for the former chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that I cannot repeat on your family program.

TAPPER: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. And thanks for the consideration to the children watching today.

Today, Hillary Clinton is once again yielding to the will of the people, continuing a tradition of conceding to the winner. "Obviously, I would rather have won," Vice President Walter Mondale said in 1980. "But I also see a reason to rejoice, for we are privileged to be a democracy. For a dozen or so hours today, the American people quietly wielded their staggering power."

I want to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

First, Doris, your reaction to the election results.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it obviously surprised me like it did everybody else. And I think what's been hopeful today is just listening to the speeches of Trump and then Obama and Hillary. A classiness of accepting this peaceful transition of power in a way we might have worried about before this election would have happened. So, that gives anybody who's on any side of this I think a good feeling about our democracy, at least at the moment.

TAPPER: As of the latest results that I was looking at, Trump did not reach the total vote number achieved by either Mitt Romney or John McCain, trailing behind by one million to two million Americans. The problem was not so much a surge for Trump but Clinton failing to reach Obama's total by something like five million or six million.

Was this election, do you think, about Trump's strength more or Clinton's weaknesses?

GOODWIN: Oh, it's probably about both. But I think the hardest thing for the person who lost, which is Mrs. Clinton right now, is to imagine that it was in part about her weaknesses. You know, you think about what we feel about politicians and we somehow get very cynical about them.

And yet, they put themselves forward in front of the country and the loss is monumental. Everybody in the world knows that she lost this election right now, and yet she handled it with a grace and with a classiness. Her emotions were clear within her.

I mean, I know from other presidents who have talked about it. President Bush Sr. said it hurts, it hurts. And President Ford said, it's harder when it's close because then you keep saying, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. And I'm sure the Clinton campaign is saying, what if we didn't have the e-mail problem, what if we handled the Bernie situation differently.

It's really painful. And you've got to give them a certain degree of emotional support and understanding and really empathy for this moment that she is facing right now.

TAPPER: When President Obama took office in 2009, Democrats controlled the House, they controlled the Senate, they controlled 29 governorships. This January, Republicans will control the building behind me, the White House, the Senate, the House and at least 33 governorships.

What happened, and do you think that that reflects at all on President Obama's legacy?

GOODWIN: Well, I think clearly we're going to have to look back to that mid-term election in 2010, because as you say, the Democrats came in with that control. Health care got proposed. Somehow during that summer before the midterm elections, it was never explained in a way that people understood it. Perhaps there weren't simplified enough bullet points.

And they were able to talk about death panels that year. The Tea Party got going. The Democrats lost that election. They lost the state houses and then they lost the whole reapportionment that happens in that decade time.

So, I think, looking back at that moment, that's going to be a hard moment for the party and for the Obama people to look back, even though they have accomplished so much in between those times.

TAPPER: I know we're just writing the first draft of history right now, and you are not a first-draft of history type person. You are a years and years of research type person. But what do you think happened last night? A lot of people reaching out to people in the media saying, I didn't expect this at all. [16:25:03] What happened?

GOODWIN: I think, if I were to look at it historically, that what happened is the country was changing in ways that a lot of people were not happy with. It had to do with the loss of jobs, but more importantly the loss of themselves and how they felt they were part of a middle class with upward mobility and no longer felt that. Lots of immigrants were coming in from abroad. There was a feeling that there was a huge gap between the rich and poor.

And somehow, Donald Trump told a narrative, told a story, that touched those people. We will make America great again, as if somehow we were going to go backward and create a world that no longer exists. And you saw the huge divide between rural and diverse areas. So, people who felt like something had happened to their lives were able to project the problem onto other people, whether they be immigrants or people in the cities.

And somehow he was able to tell a story that made those people feel like I'll make America the way it used to be and the way you want it to be. And that story won out over the idea of being stronger together. It's always about a narrative. And that's in a certain way how people respond to a very complicated campaign.

TAPPER: Donald Trump, of course, didn't just win the White House. He will have a Republican Senate, a Republican House, a chance to affect the Supreme Court for years to come, at least one Supreme Court justice, maybe as many as four.

What does our nation's presidential history show when presidents have all of those other bodies on the same side, in the same party?

GOODWIN: Well, the interesting thing is it sometimes shows that hubris sets in. That you then think you have even more of a mantel than you actually do and you may move the country too quickly into a direction they're not ready to move it. So, the cautionary thing will be that when it happens, as it did for Roosevelt in 1936, and he moved to court packing because he wanted to get everything done and he had this huge mantel to do it.

So, I think warnings should be there that even though it allows you to move in a way you can't when you have a broken Congress, the one thing the country will be interesting to see is we've been decrying gridlock, the fact that neither party could get together. Now, one party is going to have a lot of control. Let's see whether they use it in a measured way, whether they're able to gain to their popularity because of it or whether they move too quickly, too fast in directions that the other half of the people who didn't vote for them are not going to feel bad about, and then they could lose ground in two years in the midterm election. These things come in cycle. What goes around, comes around.

TAPPER: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much. Always an honor to talk to you.

GOODWIN: Thank you, Jake. Me to you. TAPPER: President Obama said repeatedly Donald Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes. But now that Trump is president- elect, how will the rest of the world work with Mr. Trump? Stay with us.

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