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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Gov. Walz Speaks After 2024 Loss; More White House Positions Could Be Announced Today; Pentagon Officials Discussing What To Do If Trump Issues Controversial Orders; Israeli Soccer Fans In Amsterdam Beaten, Injured; U.S. Markets Just Had Their Best Week All Year. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 08, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a week. So -- I know you have too but uh let me just start out by saying it's great to be home. You came home, it's great to be home.

And I do -- and I do want to start -- a huge thank you and I love you to -- to Minnesota's first lady, to Gwen. Thank you, Gwen.

And to our amazing kids Hope and Gus, they are everything (VIDEO GAP) and a big thank you to my family. My mom is here who I want to say thank you to Darlene. So --

We did, okay, didn't we? We did okay. She did a great job. I think she's as surprised as anybody that were here, but --

And a huge thank you to Vice President Kamala Harris, first for the -- for the faith that she placed in me, but more importantly for the powerful and joyful campaign that she ran.

I'm grateful for her leadership and forever grateful for her friendship. Also a huge thank you to my staff, both the folks who worked on this campaign, who we got to know over the last three months, and to the amazing team right here in Minnesota.

You we showed the country these guys are the best in the business and I'm proud to be your teammate in this. Thank you all.

And to -- to all of you, I want to thank every single person who stood with us in this fight, whether it was volunteers, donors, voters, or what I see in here, lifelong friends. It's an honor of the lifetime to have your support. And I'll never forget everything that you did to stand up for the values that we share together. So thank you, to each and every one of you.

It's like my life is in front of me as I look around here and see everybody. So it's wonderful. But look, folks, I just want to acknowledge the moment.

It's hard. It's hard to lose. It's hard to understand while so many of our fellow citizens -- people that we have fought so long and hard for wound up choosing the other path. It's hard to reckon with what that path looks like over the next four years. So if you're feeling deflated, discouraged today, I get it. Take some time, take care of yourselves, take care of your loved ones, take care of your community.

There's a million ways to make a positive difference and get back in this fight when you're ready. And know that whenever you're ready to get back in that fight, I'll be standing right here you're ready to fight, the fight with you.

And while we haven't had a whole lot of time to process this, I can tell you, even in the face of defeat and deep disappointment, I've never felt more inspired. I've never felt more motivated. I've never felt more fired up of what's possible in this country.

You know, I've gotten to see an awful lot of America over the last three months, more than I ever thought I was going to see. I've made many new friends. I've learned a lot of new things. I ate way too much local food but I can order donuts people. I can't order donuts.

But I'll to be honest with you, what struck me everywhere I went, without exception, people really wanted the same basic things out of an American life. And I want to be clear, when I say basic things, I mean things like meaningful work. Safe neighborhoods, good schools affordable quality health care.

But I also mean something more, it became clear to me, people want security and I mean that broadly. They want to feel like their life is built on a solid foundation that won't collapse under them, if the wind blows the wrong way or something happens. People want an opportunity where they feel like they can get hit, not just settling to get by and they really are concerned about giving their kids a chance to get ahead.

And I think most of all and you saw it in a very deep way, people want freedom to live their lives the way they want to live them. It's not the way they maybe their neighbors wouldn't want to live them the same way, but the freedom is supposed to be everybody's birthright, not because of how much money you had or where your family came from, no matter who you loved or how you prayed, or what you think about the issues of the day are.

And everywhere I've gone, I've had the opportunity to tell people how things work here in Minnesota.

And you know us, I had to work really hard to make sure that it didn't sound like we were bragging, you know, slip it in -- slip it in, but the truth is the way we do things here sounded pretty damn good to Americans across this country.

Together, we've made Minnesota one of the best places for kids to live. And we did it with a broad agenda. We did it by cutting taxes but for working people and small businesses. We committed to making clean energy and lowering the cost of prescription drugs a priority.

And we made sure that when you walked into a school like this, every child got free breakfast and lunch.

We make college free for lower income students and paid family and medical leave for everyone across the state. We expanded the right to organize your workplace. We made our streets safer. We invested in affordable housing and we made public education a priority.

And we also did it by standing up for our shared values and rejecting hatred and bigotry.

We, across this state, have fought for everyone's right to participate fully in our democracy and in our society. We have refused to scapegoat immigrants in this state.

And we were the first to establish an ironclad right to reproductive freedom.

When I tell that story across the country, you could see people saying where is this magical place? And then someone would have to say, but it gets cold. Yeah.

But you know what? The way we did it was actually simple. Not easy, those are two different things, not easy, but simple and straightforward.

We worked for it. We fought for it. We organized for it, and we had a set of leaders that when we finally built the police political capital we needed to get it done, we didn't bank it. We burned it, improving lives.

And I can tell you what I've learned over the last three months is an awful lot of Americans are game for exactly that. Exactly that.

There's the thing, too, nothing about Tuesday night changes any of that. Nothing.

But here's what it did tell us -- we're going to have to work a little harder. We're going to have to fight a little harder. We're going to have to organize a little harder.

But I'm here to tell you -- today to tell you this, we can do it. No, that's the wrong one. We will do it and we'll do it together. We will do it.

So for now I just want to say thank you, Minnesota, for giving me such an incredible story to tell to our fellow Americans in the other states.

I do want to take a few minutes and talk about a few words about our path forward. I know there's a lot of folks that are worried about the next four years and what they're going to look like. I'm one of them.

The agenda we heard from the other side in this campaign was very different from the one we know is right for our state and our country. We've already seen the damage a president can cause when he's in it for himself, not the American people. Look, we know what's coming down the pipe. We know it because they told us and we're going to have to be ready to defend the progress that we've made here in Minnesota. The other side spent a lot of time campaigning and talking about and promising that they would leave things up to the states.

Well, I'm willing to take them at their word for that, but the moment they try and bring a hateful agenda in this state, I'm going to stand ready to stand up and fight for the way we do things here. Minnesota always has and always will be there to provide shelter from the storm.

As long as I'm governor of Minnesota, we will protect a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions.

As long as I am governor of Minnesota, we will welcome immigrants with gratitude for their contributions to our communities.

As long as I'm governor of Minnesota, we will stand with the rest of the world in fighting climate change and developing new clean energy solutions.

As long as I'm governor of Minnesota, we'll be a state that respects democracy, a place where we're proud of our civic debate and where we don't demonize people who disagree with us.

As long as I'm governor of Minnesota, we will defend our kids' freedoms to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in their classrooms.

And, by the way, as long as I'm governor, Minnesota will always be a labor state, a state -- a state that stands with working people no matter who they voted for.

But I will say and acknowledge this about and a half million of our fellow Minnesotans voted for the other side in this election, and while there might not be a place in our state for the most extreme elements of that agenda, there should be a place in our politics for everyone to be heard.

I think sometimes we can be quick to judge people who don't agree with us to assume that they act out of cruelty or fear or self-interest. I don't think that kind of judgment is helpful right now. And I don't think it's right. I think we ought to swallow and this is me in this as I'm speaking about myself, swallow a little bit of pride and look a little harder to find common ground with our neighbors, who didn't vote like we did in this election.

Maybe we won't agree on every issue, hell, maybe we won't agree on any issue but maybe when the campaign signs come down, we all get a little break from the rhetoric and the TV ads and the fundraising tax, and I'm sorry about those, maybe when we get a little break from this campaign that we're in, we'll be able to look at other and see not enemies but neighbors. And maybe we'll be able to sit down over a coffee or a Diet Mountain Dew and just talk -- talk about our kids, talk about the lives we want to build for them, talk about the things that really matter, how we treat each other, how we look out for each other, and how we support each other in difficult times.

For my part, I'm going to try even harder to do that as governor. Nobody, not the DFLers, not Republicans nobody has a monopoly on good intentions or good ideas.

[16:15:02]

And now that this election is behind us, I'm going to try even harder to keep an open mind, open heart, and really listen to folks who don't support me or my policies, to work with everyone in the legislature, to see compromise and common ground, because that's how we come back together, after such a long time spent fighting each other.

That's how the -- we heal the rips in the fabric of our civic society, and that's how we move forward as one Minnesota.

That -- that's what this is all supposed to be about, not who's right or wrong, not who's winning or losing, but are we moving things forward together, or are we falling apart. I still believe with all my heart, America can be a place where no child is left hungry, no community is left behind, and no one gets told they don't belong.

And the reason I believe it so strongly is, I've seen it with my own eyes because it's happened right here in Minnesota. And because of our example, millions of Americans believe in it, too.

Let's keep working to grow security, opportunity and freedom for all our neighbors. Let's keep fighting for the things we believe in with compassion, with dedication and with joy. And let's keep making Minnesota example for the rest of this great nation.

I -- I love this country. I love this state. I love this job and I'm not done fighting for Minnesota, not by a long shot. So thank you, Minnesota. Thank you and let's get it done.

(MUSIC)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the running mate of vice presidential -- Vice President Kamala Harris. There he is with his wife Gwen Walz, a bittersweet message, talking about his time on the campaign trail, bragging a little bit about his record in Minnesota, which will no doubt start speculation about 2028. Believe it or not, people are already talking about that, who's going to take on the Democratic mantle in four years.

Continuing in our politics lead now, the big question, who will President-elect Donald Trump hire next? His second administration is taking shape and more picks could be announced as soon as today. We know his campaign manager Susie Wiles will become the first ever woman to be named White House chief of staff.

We know Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York is under consideration to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

But while the new boss makes these decisions, there's also new reporting that the Pentagon is expecting major upheaval when Trump returns to his role as commander-in-chief.

Let's go first to CNN's Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kristen, who else is on the short list for some of the Trump administration roles?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake, we're learning more names by the minute. Now, just one thing to make clear, these top contenders have actually been meeting with Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, the two co-chairs of the transition team for the last several weeks. That includes Elise Stefanik as you mentioned, who has name has been floated for secretary to the United Nations. There's also a number of other people who have been in the mix like for secretary of state, for example, Senator Marco Rubio. Bill Hagerty is on that list as well. Ric Grenell, a loyalist to Donald Trump, who has butted heads with a lot of Republicans.

Just to cast a larger picture here of what exactly is going on inside of the transition, I am told as you mentioned that we could get some names of the White House as early as today. They have been grinding out trying to get this done as quickly as possible so that they can start putting policies in place and start having the administration take shape. And I'm also told, Donald Trump has been holed up at Mar- a-Lago for the last several days, taking calls and holding some of these meetings, going over some of the lists that the transition team had put together of its meetings with these various people for different departments.

So that's what's happening right now in the background. The one big thing about the Susie Wiles announcement is it shows you the kind of tone that this administration wants to take. She is a non-nonsense person. She is somebody who had most things filtered through her for the campaign.

And she is -- and I am told that she is going to do the same thing for the administration starting with the transition. So I am told right, now there are still conversations happening about the structure that was put in place for the last several months and whether or not they're going to continue with it. But they are churning out names and we are likely to hear them. They could come as early as today, but certainly, over the next few days, we're going to see a trickle of those names.

TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach, thanks so much.

We're learning that the Pentagon in particular is preparing for a second Trump term with informal talks among senior military officials about how the Defense Department would respond if Trump issued controversial, maybe even illegal orders.

[16:20:09]

Trump has said he would use the military in -- to put it charitably non-traditional ways, he told time magazine he would have quote no problem using the military, unquote, in his plans for mass deportation. And also in the last few weeks, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics and I think they're the -- and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's go now to the Pentagon and CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Natasha -- what scenarios are defense officials preparing for and how are they gaming this out.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake top of mind for defense officials here who we've spoken to of course is how Trump is going to wield us military power here at home is he going to make good on his previous pledges to potentially deploy active duty U.S. troops to American cities to engage in domestic law enforcement, and to help with his mass deportation plan. That is something that officials here have been discussing in terms of how they would actually respond to that, what would a response look like if the president were to actually order active duty troops to these cities to engage in this kind of domestic law enforcement?

And if he did, you know, a former senior military official who served under Trump said that that would be very significant. It is not something that the president would be able to necessarily water down to the American people. It would be, quote, a very big deal.

And another thing that officials here are gaming out is, of course, what is going to happen if Donald Trump reinstates an executive order known as Schedule F which would essentially reclassify a large amount of apolitical civilian employees across the federal government, including here at the Pentagon and allow them to be more easily fireable. That is something that defense officials here are scrambling to address before he enters office trying to kind of whittle down the list of people who would be at risk of being moved into that category, because of course they're trying to create you know, as minimal of a disruption as possible to the day-to-day operations here.

But clearly they are concerned. They are having these conversations about whether there would be resignations, for example, if an unlawful order were issued, and importantly what the chain of command would look like if Trump did issue uh that kind of order to deploy those active duty forces.

TAPPER: All right. Natasha Bertrand in the Pentagon unit for us, CNN there.

Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan of New York joins us now. He's a former army intelligence officer who served two combat tours in Iraq. He's also on the House Armed Services Committee.

Thanks so much for being here. Congratulations on winning reelection. You held on to a key swing district in New York.

How -- how much more -- how much did you outrun Kamala Harris in your district? Do you know?

REP. PAT RYAN (D-NY): Really proud of our campaign. We outran her by 11 percent. So last time I won my race by 1.3 percent. This time, we won by 13 percent.

So we -- it's a really -- a reason for optimism I think we built a broad coalition and had a decisive victory.

TAPPER: But that also means that there were people who are Trump-Ryan voters, right? I mean, people in New York district who voted for Trump and then voted for you. What -- what did you do differently than the national Democratic Party? Like -- what -- your party got shellacked, you didn't. But your party got shellacked.

What did you do right? What did they do wrong?

RYAN: We really focused on -- I mean, I talked all the time about our obligation as patriots. I'm a proud West Point graduate, combat veteran, 27 months in combat, we have to understand the moment we're in. It requires leadership that brings everybody together.

Trump has offered this very selfish, narrow view of patriotism. I would offer a self-less, expansive, unifying view of patriotism. I think that's the fight in our country right now and I think in our campaign, we offered that and you know, we brought in a big set of people who might have otherwise not voted for a Democrat.

TAPPER: Do you think Harris-Walz could have done anything better to win voters in your district?

RYAN: Certainly. I mean, I think -- they didn't have a lot of time and they were fighting against a lot of the structural environment -- I was one of the very first Democrats to call on Joe Biden to step aside, something I did you know after a lot of thought and reflection.

TAPPER: So Speaker Pelosi, former Speaker Pelosi, sorry to interrupt, but she said today -- earlier today, she seemed to be talking about a lot about like Biden should have dropped out earlier maybe even not run for re-election. Do you think that in retrospect?

RYAN: I think there was a real unique opportunity for President Biden to have this Washingtonian moment and show he wasn't in it for himself. He was in it to put really country over party and self. And if he had done what he said in the campaign and talked about being a bridge to the new generation, we have a lot of reasons to be optimistic in this party of rising stars and leaders in the party we outperformed in a lot of places across the country. I know that's not getting to this new generation we have a lot of reasons to be optimistic in this party of rising stars and leaders in the party.

[16:25:07]

We outperformed in a lot of places across the country. I know that's not getting, you know, as much attention right now, but that's what we need to look at. Where we did well, where candidates did well, where the message did well where we connected with broad coalitions. And I think if the president had given space for that, we might have had a different outcome.

TAPPER: As a veteran and as somebody on the House Armed Services Committee, I'm wondering what you make of the concerns and the precautions being taken at the Pentagon right now, preparing for orders that President Trump might give to use the military for mass deportations that he's promised. To use the military possibly for control of the streets if there are unruly and maybe even violent protests as we saw in 2020, I don't know what the line is in terms of what's legal, what's illegal, what's non-traditional but he can do but what are you keeping an eye on?

RYAN: Well, we're keeping an eye on all of it. I think at this point we have to believe former President Trump, President-elect Trump when he says he's going to do. These outrageous and I believe un-American things like deploying our active duty military patriots who are supposed to be nonpartisan to use them against fellow Americans. That goes against the founding principles enshrined in our Constitution, so we have to be able to hold him accountable for that and it's unfair I think to actually put our senior military leaders and all of our folks in uniform in this incredibly precarious position where they have to do this contingency planning of what they're supposed to do.

I will say I have tremendous faith in our leaders and soldiers sailors, airmen marines, to do the right thing I really think that's something special about our country, but it's very concerning and troubling that they have to even do this thinking but it was certainly merited.

TAPPER: I think the last time I saw you in person was when members of Congress, a bipartisan group, were cleaning the Vietnam veterans wall, right? It was you and your west point classmate, Congressman John James, very conservative Republican from Michigan and you talked about the things that unite us more than the things that divide us and I don't even know who's going to control the House, but it's going to be close no matter what, it's going to be tight. We need that spirit more than ever.

Thanks for being here, Congressman. I really appreciate it.

Ahead, a closer look at the woman who will take over as White House chief of staff when Donald takes office in 72 days, and a drastic change for the popular shoe company Steve Madden this week, in direct response to Donald Trump's election win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:13]

TAPPER: Continuing with our politics lead, it is significant that the first announcement about president like Trump's incoming administration is the naming of his campaign manager Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. She will be the first woman ever, ever to hold that job. Susie, who? You might ask.

Well, as CNN's Randi Kaye explains, Wiles brings an impressive amount of political experience and savvy to the job.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Come here, Susie. Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. The ice maiden, we call her the ice maiden.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's newly minted chief of staff, Susie Wiles, does not enjoy the spotlight like her boss. The 40-year veteran of Republican politics prefers to operate behind the scenes.

JOE GRUTERS (R), FLORIDA STATE SENATE: She's a steady hand and she's a loyal foot soldier.

KAYE: On her LinkedIn page under specialties, Wiles listed this, creating order from chaos, a skill that came in handy while running Trump's presidential campaign.

SUSIE WILES, REPUBLICAN OPERATIVE: Candidates matter, what they stand for matters.

KAYE: That was Wiles in 2020, speaking to CNN affiliate WPLG after she delivered a win for Trump in Florida as head of his campaign operation in the state. She rarely gives interviews.

Wiles first successfully ran Trump's Florida campaign in 2016, then again in 2020.

WIILES: The traditional Republican voter coalition just simply can't, I don't believe, elect Republicans any longer. So, beginning to bring into the tent a larger number of Hispanic voters.

KAYE: After his presidency, Wiles served as Trump's de-facto chief of staff, then led his campaign. One of her goals, keep a close eye on who had access to the former president.

Wiles has a string of political campaign success stories. In 2010, she helped Rick Scott eke out a win to become governor of Florida. In 2018, she was tapped to save Ron DeSantis's campaign for Florida governor. He won by 32,000 votes, the closest governor's election in state history. After that, amid tensions, Wiles was ousted from DeSantis's inner circle.

She went back to work on Trump's Florida re-election team but was dismissed at DeSantis's urging. In 2020, Trump brought her back amid concerns about his campaign standing in Florida polls. He ended up winning Florida by more than three points against Joe Biden.

GRUTERS: Susie Wiles is the political version of Muhammad Ali. She does not lose. She is a relentless fighter.

KAYE: That fighting spirit was instilled early on. She grew up with two brothers and is the daughter of professional football player turned television broadcaster Pat Summerall. Before agreeing to her new role in the Trump White House, CNN has learned Wiles insisted on certain conditions. Top of the list, more control over who has access to the oval office.

GRUTERS: She wants to make sure that the president's priorities are first and foremost followed through on and that there don't want distraction. She is laser-focused.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (on camera): And, Jake, Senator Joe Gruters also described Wiles as calming. He says she's a leader. He also said that Donald Trump likes to surround himself with winners and that Susie Wiles has certainly earned her stripes as a winner given all of the campaign victories that she has stacked up here in the state of Florida and, of course, course the most recent presidential election.

But, of course, keep in mind that Donald Trump had four different chiefs of staff during his first term in the White House. But Susie Wiles seems to be anti-chaos and she will hopefully bring that to the next Trump White House -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. CNN's Randi Kaye in West Palm Beach, Florida, thanks so much.

Joining us now, former Trump campaign senior adviser Bryan Lanza, Democratic strategist Karen Finney, and "Politico's" Meridith McGraw.

Before we turn to some of the politics of the day, you know Susie Wiles. You've worked with Susie Wiles. That's a tough job for anybody with any president, and you said she does, she -- making order out of chaos is her thing.

[16:35:05]

That's -- I mean, President Trump and this is not meant derisively, he likes chaos. He likes a little chaos.

BRYAN LANZA, PARTNER, MERCURY PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Listen, I think most disruptors like that, but what we've learned with Susie is she allows President Trump to offer his disruptive voices but knows how to sort of pull it together and execute a plan. I think that's the most important thing to understand about Susie, and why she's there is she can execute a plan. She can put something from the president and say, if we do these five or six things, this is the success we're going to we're going to hit.

And President Trump wants success. He wants to win and Susie delivers win after win after win, and the continuity and she has the ability to tell the president, you know, hey, get the clown show out of the White House which was a major disruptive force in the first administration and the clown show is not going to be in the White House this time.

We're going to have people who are focused on the American people rather than themselves. TAPPER: Meridith, you authored the book "Trump in Exile" and you wrote

extensively about Susie Wiles in that and your book recounts a faithful 2021 meeting between Trump and Wiles. She had been in charge of winning Florida for Trump in 2020, after previously working for Ron DeSantis.

And you write: Sitting at Trump's table on the patio at Mar-a-Lago, Wiles went page by page through her findings with Trump over dinner and Diet Coke. The former president was eager to understand at a granular level why he was no longer in the White House and even though their dinner took place in early 2021, the subtext of his line of questioning was, how can I do this again and when?

Tell us more about that dinner, like what was she explaining, because obviously, the implicit acknowledgement in what you're saying is that he lost and he knew he lost when he was talking to her.

MERIDITH MCGRAW, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Well, this was really back at a political low point for Donald Trump after he left the White House and he was having dinners with different people, different political advisers and one of them happened to be Susie Wiles.

And she ran his operation in Florida and she came prepared with all of this data about the state and her own critiques about what went wrong in and she went over all of that with him. And Donald Trump was honestly obviously impressed because he ended up calling her back and asking her if she would run his super PAC and she ended up going on to essentially run his operation from there on out.

She came on officially in March of 2021 and she helped guide Trump through the endorsement process and basically his political comeback from what really was a low point in 2021.

TAPPER: So another big part of the question that -- what people are talking about today is how did we get here and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi told "The New York Times", quote, had the president -- meaning Joe Biden -- had Joe Biden gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race, the anticipation was that if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.

And she went on to say, Kamala Harris may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward but we don't know that. That didn't happen.

This is one of the things as you know that Democrats are talking about a lot these days, what if Joe Biden after the 2022 midterms had just said what he suggested he was going to say, which is I'm not running for re-election. Democrats pick your next generation of leader and there'd been a primary, maybe Kamala Harris would have won the primaries, maybe she wouldn't have. If she had, she would have been stronger as Pelosi says.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, people -- we can drive ourselves crazy with the what-if game and trust me, my fellow Democrats are going to be doing that, well into the end of the year. TAPPER: Yeah, I see -- I see online by the way, plenty of them have driven themselves quite crazy already.

FINNEY: Oh, yeah, tell me about it, tell me about it. So I've just been focused on walking my dog but -- look, I think there's a couple things that we have to face. Number one, Republicans flat out did a better job understanding who the Trump electorate was, finding them, talking to them and turning them out.

And a lot of that was done frankly by understanding people who were sort of anti-establishment online. They created an army of influence -- social media influencers and others to reach them online. Some of us tried to signal the alarm about that months ago that we're we simply were not communicating effectively with our people.,

Two years ago, we were saying that when talking about, hey, Joe Biden says the economy is doing great but people aren't buying it. So I think that's a more productive conversation than, you know, who did what to whom and when.

I do think however strategically if, Vice President Harris would have had more time, she could have replicated the Obama model which was remember they spent a year understanding who the Obama voter was, how to reach them what to say to them and then turning them out.

She didn't -- she had 107 days and in a campaign that was designed for a very different candidate. So, you know, who knows if there'd been an open primary or this or that. I don't think we'll ever know. What I want my Democrats to focus on having been here, I was at the DNC in 2005, and we were trying to rebuild after '04.

TAPPER: Right.

FINNEY: Done this before, is how do we do better? How do we modernize the way we are talking to our voters?

I don't think we have to change our values. I think we're right on the values. I don't -- I just think we were trying to tell people how to feel instead of listening to what they telling us.

[16:40:01]

Do you think any -- any Democrat could have done better than what Harris did in 107 days?

LANZA: No, I -- listen, I think the only person who could have come close to President Trump would have been a healthy Joe Biden. His ability to --

TAPPER: So, Joe Biden in 20 -- in 2008 or something like that.

LANZA: Well, yeah, because -- at the end, it's funny hearing this discussion. Listen, every Democrat is to blame for Joe Biden being in this race. Kamala Harris is to blame for not speaking up when we recognize the cognitive decline. Speaker Pelosi's to blame when she said he's doing just fine. Chuck Schumer's to blame. Every Democrat's to blame and, Jake, I got to announce to you, the

media is to blame, too. Everybody could cover this guy when we knew the cognitive decline was coming, so there's a lot of blame to go around.

But at the end of the day, in my view, we had the ability to connect with voters, and we talked about inflation. We talked about affordability. Those were the things that the voters cared about and at the end, we talked about some of the issues that help drive it up turnout.

But in my view, you know, sort of an outside observer of the Democratic Party, everybody's to blame for letting Joe Biden run again.

TAPPER: I will say this, and I want -- I'm interested in what you think -- I have been covering Joe Biden's decline since 2019, but I didn't know it was as bad as it was until the moment I was on that debate -- he was on that debate stage 10 feet in front of me. I don't know about you.

MCGRAW: I mean, I remembered a few key stories. There was "The Wall Street Journal" story that got so much push back from the White House at the time about the state of the president, but then I do remember sitting there at the debate and watching all of it unfold and squeezing the arm of my colleague because it was just sort of shocking to see it all unfold, and, you know, shocking to see how he tried to recover in real time, but it was very clear, especially in the spin room afterwards when everybody came in that this was going to be a problem.

TAPPER: It was a stunner. It was a stunner. We're going to keep the conversation going.

Coming up, cries -- crimes of hate in Amsterdam. Israeli soccer fans being ambushed and beaten and targeted for who they are and here in the U.S. two Jewish college students attacked by two masked men. In Chicago, the video and images capturing it all, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:46]

TAPPER: In our world lead, hundreds of Israeli soccer fans ambushed in violent antisemitic attacks after a game last night in Amsterdam. Dutch police made more than 60 arrests after hit and run beatings which seriously injured several people and hurt dozens more.

CNN's Melissa Bell shows us some of the horrifying footage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "For the children for the children," chant the attackers, free Palestine now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free Palestine.

BELL: The Israeli embassy says it is just one of hundreds of Israeli fans targeted in Amsterdam overnight, after a soccer match between the Israeli team Maccabi and the Dutch team Ajax, with the attackers violently denouncing Israel's war on Gaza.

This man trying to escape being beaten by saying that he isn't Jewish, before being struck hard in the face.

The Dutch prime minister condemning the attacks as antisemitic and vowing to prosecute the perpetrators.

Police say they've launched a major investigation. It's unclear how it all started.

In total, more than 60 individuals were arrested and some remain in custody.

And in a press conference Friday, the city's mayor had this to say.

FEMKE HALSEMA, MAYOR OF AMSTERDAM: But what happened last night is not a protest. It has nothing to do with protest or demonstration. It was crime.

BELL: The violence culminated with clashes overnight after a build up earlier this week, with Israeli fans seen here chanting pro-IDF slogans and F the Arabs

And others tearing down a Palestinian flag from a building

(EXPLETIVES DELETED)

BELL: And while the situation is now under control, attention may soon shift to France where a match between the Israeli and French soccer teams is scheduled for next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELL (on camera): Jake, this is a continent that has felt very keenly the tensions in the Middle East with its very large Muslim populations, very large Jewish populations as well, and this deep pro- Palestinian sentiment that you have here on the European continent. We've seen protests.

This however was not that as Dutch authorities have pointed out there was something about the nature of these attacks, violent hit and run attacks on these Israeli visiting fans who were targeted over the course of the night and in several different parts of Amsterdam. Jewish leaders here on the continent urging that it should be a wakeup call for Europeans to deal with antisemitism much more harshly -- Jake.

TAPPER: CNN's Melissa Bell in Amsterdam, thank you.

Here in the United States, Chicago police released surveillance images of two masked men they say attack two Jewish students at DePaul University in Chicago. They're now investigating this case as a hate crime. Police say two students were targeted Wednesday. They were in their mid-20s and were, quote, visibly showing their support for Israel, unquote.

Police did confirm one of the attackers made antisemitic remarks before repeatedly striking one of the victims. DePaul University is also investigating this attack.

The money lead is next. Why Donald Trump's election win this week helped expedite a decision for the shoe company Steve Madden.

Stay with us.

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[16:52:53]

TAPPER: In our money lead, a record earlier today for the Dow, hitting the 44,000-mark. Both the S&P and Dow had their best week all year after President-elect Trump's victory. Also in economic news today, a new analysis shows your household may be out roughly $26,000 per year because of Trump's sweeping plans to tax imports coming from other countries.

The Peterson Institute says tariffs will hike the costs of toys, clothing furniture and household appliances if implemented. Some companies such as the iconic shoe brand Steve Madden are a step ahead, get it, making moves out of China to avoid steep fees.

CNN's Julia Chatterley's with us.

So, Julia, Trump's hope is that more products will be made in the U.S. Is that is what is happening with Steve Madden?

JULIE CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: In a word, no. This news should be music to Trump's ears, to your point because the whole point of tariff is to make U.S. imports more expensive and to bring that production back home, except Steve Madden aren't going to be producing in America because it's just too expensive.

Look they've said it's going to be sourcing goods from Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil and a few others. And by the way China's already been accused of circumventing U.S. tariffs by moving goods through Mexico into the United States.

So the next administration could end up playing a kind of tariff whack-a-mole too. But, Jake, the real key here is that firms are already acting even before new tariffs hit.

TAPPER: Tell us how tariffs might affect the average American consumer. Yeah. It's an important question. So, look, Steve Madden didn't quantify it, but they've been planning this shift remember for years, others arguably haven't. And they were in China for a reason because it kept cost low and because production there could act fast to fashion changes we're fickle. Look, the best estimate for the worst case on all of these tariffs comes from the National Retail Federation, and they've said the impact would be, quote, dramatic. For example, and this is the closest comparison, I can find the price of a $50 pair of sneakers could rise to somewhere between $59 and $64 under Trump's proposed tariffs.

[16:55:01]

Just to give you a bigger sense, they say Americans could pay as much as $24 billion more for apparel each year due to these increased costs.

Look, the risks are high for both businesses and consumers as is the uncertainty today and I think that's going to have an impact. But to your first point, look, if you're lucky enough to have a 401k, this week, you can kind of forget a little bit about the politics for a short while and focus on your profits, at least for now.

These numbers, Jake, are amazing. It's going to be an interesting few years.

TAPPER: All right. Julia Chatterley, thanks so much. Good to see you again.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is up next with brand new reporting on the incoming Trump administration.

Plus, new charges today from the Justice Department as we learn of yet another assassination plot targeting the president-elect.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, the celebratory calls pouring in to Mar-a-Lago from leaders around the world, but one president found himself not only on the phone with President-elect Trump but also with Elon Musk what were they talking about the three of them.

Plus, President-elect Trump's team working quickly to fill critical White House positions we've already learned his pick for chief of staff in this hour, we've got some brand new reporting about other potential hires. And leading this hour federal prosecutors announcing charges in a thwarted plot to kill Donald Trump, a plot allegedly led by Iran.

Court documents say Iranian officials directed the suspect to surveil and then assassinate Mr. Trump before the presidential election. Shocking news.

Let's bring in CNN's Evan Perez Paris and John Miller.

Evan, give us the details.