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New Day Saturday

Four Killed In Deadly Attack On U.S. Air Base; Man Shot During Anti-Trump Protest In Portland; Thousands Take To The Streets Against Trump; Trump: We'll Keep Parts Of Obamacare; Trump's Plans For First 100 Days In White House; Policy, Cabinet Picks First Key Tests For Trump; Trump's Presidency To Poses Conflict Of Interest Issues; Mexico Stuns USA With Late Goal 2-1. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired November 12, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:03] DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT ELECT: We have to repeal Obamacare. And it can be replaced with something much better for everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump telling "The Wall Street Journal," he's open to preserving portions of Obamacare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a tough time for our country. I think we've seen how people have been reacting to the event.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's any healing in this country, it's going to have to start with Donald Trump walking back a lot what he said during the campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the tone is something that we saw change on election night. He's now the president of all the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, happy Saturday. Your weekend has arrived. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. We'll get to politics in just a moment. But first the breaking news out of Afghanistan this morning.

PAUL: Yes, this is what we're hearing four people were killed and more than a dozen others injured after a deadly attack on a U.S. air base in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have confirmed now an enemy device was detonated at Bagram Air Base. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for this attack via a tweet. That's how they claimed.

Now we talked to CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr just a moment ago. Here is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): This remains obviously under very urgent investigation. Officials are telling us they are still working to treat the wounded, as you said, about 14 people wounded in this attack for having lost their lives in it.

Security very much tightened up right now at Bagram Air Base. This is about an hour north of Kabul, the largest base where U.S. military and contractor personnel are located in Afghanistan.

When we say enemy device, we are able to confirm it was an enemy attack. This was nothing like an accidental explosion or anything like that. This was an attack.

And so the question now is, how did someone get inside? The Taliban taking credit for it. There is very strict security at these bases. I've been at Bagram many, many times.

If you come in a vehicle, you are stopped well before the outside gate. Vehicles are searched. People are searched. People must have id. So, it's very difficult to understand right now how this might have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: We're going to bring you more details obviously as we get them, but we want to thank Barbara Starr for filling us in on what's happening there.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Anti-Trump protests in cities across the U.S. Now police are investigating a shooting in Portland that happened during one of those demonstrations. The suspect is still out there somewhere.

PAUL: In places like Los Angeles and Miami, protesters say Donald Trump has got to go. His supporters say give the president-elect a chance. All this as Trump dials back rhetoric on one of the signature campaign issues, repealing Obamacare.

BLACKWELL: Anti-Trump sentiment on full display there at those protests. CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me now with more on the protests struck by the election. Let's talk about Portland.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor. We do understand the victim in that shooting in Portland is expected to make a full recovery. We'll bring you more details on that in just a few seconds.

But first, we hear from some of the demonstrators that have been walking the streets across the country, they're very well aware that they can't do much about the outcome of the election this week, so their focus now is protesting the policies that were pitched by President-elect Trump during the campaign trail.

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SANDOVAL (voice-over): A third night of nationwide protests as thousands march down streets and interstates to vent their anger about the election of Donald Trump, most were peaceful, but there was some violence.

In Portland, police used flash bang grenades to disburse the crowds after they say burning objects were thrown at officers and this morning, Portland police are investigating a shooting on a bridge where protesters have gathered. The shooting happened after an apparent confrontation. The unidentified man was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect fled the area.

[08:05:02]Los Angeles Police arrested protesters in the downtown area, but have not provided details on numbers or charges. In Atlanta, an American flag was burned near the Georgia state capital building. Police reported no arrests.

And in Miami, protesters walked along Interstate 95, forcing four lanes of traffic to come to a standstill. And angry crowds gathered once again outside the 58-story Trump Tower, president- elect's home in New York. There have been nightly protests since Trump's election, and more demonstrations are expected through the weekend.

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SANDOVAL: Among some of those featured demonstrations that are planned in Los Angeles, we do understand the LAPD now getting ready for another day of protesters specifically in MacArthur Park, a large march is planned there. Victor and Christi, that is one of the largest Latino communities in Los Angeles.

BLACKWELL: All right, Polo Sandoval for us this morning. Thanks so much, Polo.

PAUL: All of this happening as Donald Trump supporters wait for the new president-elect to turn some of his promises into policy. Donald Trump now appearing to tone down his rhetoric on signature issues like repealing Obamacare. Some surprising words from him last night.

I want to bring in CNN's Chris Frates, who is in New York outside Trump Tower. Talk to us about what he said and what people are saying about specifically Obamacare this morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, good morning, Christi. Donald Trump, as you point out, making some policy news here yesterday with "The Wall Street Journal," saying that he wants to keep some key provisions of that signature health care law.

In fact he said after he met with President Obama at the oval office earlier this week, he wants to continue to allow people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance. He also wants to continue to see children be able to stay on their parent's plans well into adult hood.

Although he does want to repeal and replace most of Obamacare, he says that when that happens, people won't lose their insurance.

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TRUMP: We're going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine. That's what I do. I do a good job. I know how to do this stuff. We're going to repeal it and replace it. We're not going to have a two-day period or two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced and we'll know. And it will be great health care for much less money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So a much softer tone there from Donald Trump than we've heard for the last year or so on the campaign trail. He has taken a very hard line, maybe he is trying to set the table here for some compromise with Congress come January -- Christi.

PAUL: We will wait and see. Chris Frates, always appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Donald Trump made a lot of promises during his campaign, some of them included building a wall on the U.S./Mexico border, deporting undocumented immigrants, repealing Obamacare, but now that he is the president-elect, how many of those will he be able to keep?

Let's bring in Jack Kingston, former Georgia congressman and a Donald Trump supporter. Congressman, good to have you back.

JACK KINGSTON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Good to be with you, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: So let's start first with Obamacare. I want to play for you what he repeated on the campaign trail this time this was at the Gettysburg event, this was the contract with the American voter. This was his deal. Watch.

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TRUMP: The repeal and replace Obamacare act, fully repeal Obamacare and replace it with health savings account.

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BLACKWELL: Fully repeal he said there in his contract with the American voter and now he is telling "The Wall Street Journal" that he is willing to keep one or two provisions. Is that a breach of contract?

KINGSTON: No, I don't think it is, Victor. If you think about this illustration, the Obamacare law was actually literally seven feet high. Let's say if we just look at it that way, maybe two feet of that legislation was stuff that there was great consensus on and it wasn't unique to Obamacare.

For example, dealing with pre-existing illnesses. That's something that parties have agreed on for a long time. I think that you can leave that in there. That doesn't necessarily mean you're selling out on a repeal.

But I think taking a practical approach like that -- you know, there's still 28 million people who are uninsured in America. What the president is saying is we want to make not only that we not make that number bigger, we want to make it smaller along the way.

So, I think he can repeal and replace Obamacare, keeping parts of it that have universal support and then make a better law all together for everybody and get those 28 million people who are uninsured now get them insured.

BLACKWELL: We hear what you're saying there, Congressman, but what Donald Trump promise on the campaign trail was fully repealing. Not repealing Obamacare, but keeping the part that have universal support.

So let's move on the next from here, building the wall along the Mexico border and here is what he said on two occasions, once during the primary, again during the general about how soon that would happen. Watch this.

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[08:10:11]TRUMP: Number one, I'm building a wall. They're not coming in anymore. Number two, immediately we're building a wall.

In our case, look, that wall will start very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Immediately we're going to build a wall and in our case that wall is going to start very quickly. Rudy Giuliani telling CNN's weekday "NEW DAY" that the wall is going to take a while. How long are people going to expect -- should they expect for this wall to be built? Because you'll remember the chant at the rally was build that wall.

KINGSTON: Yes. I think you're going to see very swift action to take the steps that are necessary to build the wall. I was out in San Diego couple weeks ago and looked at that wall. It did take years to build. It's about 13 miles long.

It's very effective in terms of not just stopping illegal immigration, but also illegal drugs coming over the border. So I think there's a great gain on it.

I believe that what we are going to see is the administration start building it in the crucial areas first and then fill in the gaps as they go along. I strongly believe that this campaign promise will be followed and that there will be very swift action on it.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to another promise here to drain the swamp, which we saw in the last several weeks of Trump's campaign. He tweeted out and I'm paraphrasing here that the people who he is running against the elites, the people who caused the mess.

I want you to listen to what John Yoo say he was a member of the Justice Department during George W. Bush's first term. Here is what he said about who is staffing up the transition for Trump's White House --

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JOHN YOO, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm surprised there's so many people here because I thought everyone at The Heritage was working over at the transition headquarters already. I asked the taxi cab driver to take to Trump transition headquarters and dropped me off here instead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, when you look at the list of people who are on the Trump transition team, you've got some George W. Bush people there, H.W. Bush people there, Reagan administration members who are part of this transition, how is he going to drain the swamp when he's hiring Republicans, who have been in Washington for the last 30 years?

KINGSTON: Well, I think he's brought in lots and lots of new faces, but you have to have some old hands that have been through it before. That doesn't necessarily mean that they were part of the establishment.

As you know, many, many, of the people who are with the establishment became Never Trumpers and very publicly signed letters opposing him. So they're easy to identify.

But there were people who were with Bush and Reagan who did listen to the same song that Donald Trump did that was out there in America that said we want change and they were part of that.

So I think just because they were associated with the past administration doesn't mean that they don't want change. And, you know, one of the things that's exciting to me is to see the overwhelming support that he is getting.

And I believe that when he's through selecting this team that American people will be very, very happy, including those protesters. I think you'll see a very diverse cabinet, geographically and racially, religious, everything that people will want.

BLACKWELL: We'll take a quick break, but we'll continue this conversation about unity after the election both within the party and across the country. Congressman, stay with us.

PAUL: And Donald Trump was propelled to the presidency as a candidate of change. Could a White House full of Washington insiders create a divide with supporters. That's next.

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[08:16:39]

BLACKWELL: All right, 16 minutes after the hour now. Donald Trump will have the support of a Republican House and Senate as he looks to push through his agenda. But after a bit of GOP primary and campaign that put Trump at odds with leaders like Paul Ryan, will congressional Republicans fall in line and could the presence of Mike Pence there as vice president, a former U.S. congressman, help bridge the gap?

Let's bring in two Republicans now who are on different sides related to the campaign and the nominee, Tara Setmayer, CNN political commentator, Jack Kingston, a Trump supporter and former Georgia congressman.

Welcome back, Jack. And good to have you with us, Tara, this morning.

Tara, since you are joining the conversation, I'll start with you. The value, the role that Vice President-elect Pence will play as Donald Trump tries to push through some legislation.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Mike Pence was one of the best decisions Donald Trump made throughout the entire campaign. As a conservative, I trust Mike Pence with the conservative values and he also knows Washington very well.

He was a congressman for ten-plus years. He was a governor. He understands how the entire system works, which you need to have. Trump needs to surround himself with people. I know that he made these promises that he was going to drain the swamp and turn Washington upside down.

That sounds great on the campaign trail, but when it comes down to actually governing and being a manager of the federal government, which is a herculean task, you need to have people there that know what's going on.

Thank God, Mike Pence is there among a couple of others. I think having him there on the transition team is a good thing.

BLACKWELL: Congressman, let me come to you and get your response to this statement to CNN from Jenny Beth Martin, who is co-founder of the Tea Party Patriot Citizens Fund, and she writes this, "No Washington insider regardless of who it is should serve as President Trump's chief of staff.

Appointing Reince Priebus or any other D.C. establishment insider, he is the chair of the RNC, would make it more difficult not less for President Trump to achieve the change that people voted for. It's time to drain the swamp, not promote insiders beholden to the Washington establishment who helped create it. You say to Jenny Beth Martin what --

KINGSTON: Well, first of all, I know Jenny Beth very well and she does have a hard line, which she always does and that's what her position is, but somebody like Reince Priebus took on the establishment.

As you know, the establishment was run -- I lived through this campaign in many, many, many hard-hitting days and hard-hitting issues and so forth, Priebus was there the whole time.

So many times when these establishment so-called experts and the pundits of the Republican Party were jumping off the ship and saying this guy will never get elected, he's ruining the party, we're going to go down.

And it's interesting to think about three senators, Kelly Ayotte, Joe Hick and Mark Kirk, all denounce Donald Trump as they lost. It was Donald Trump ultimately who saved the Senate majority and kept the House losses from being as low as six or seven when they were expecting 15 to 20.

So I think that he and Tara is right, bringing in a guy like Mike Pence, who knows the system, but doesn't necessarily mean he has sold out to the system. That's where my friend, Jenny Beth and I would disagree, that Priebus knows the system, doesn't mean that he's part of the bad of it.

[08:20:07]BLACKWELL: Tara, go ahead.

SETMAYER: Yes, here is the difficulty with that. You know, Donald Trump's campaign was fueled by the idea of throwing the bums out, getting rid of everything, turning Washington upside down, so I think he has set an expectation that may disappoint a lot of his people, who thought that there was going to be this drastic change in front of them.

And Donald Trump now that he actually has to face governing realizes that a lot of those platitudes and lofty promises are just not possible to carry out. So he's setting himself up to have to feel possibly the backlash from people like Jenny Beth and others who may not think that those changes are appropriate or not.

You know, and so I think it's going to be interesting. That's what happens when you promise everything to everyone all the time. That's the difficulty of being a populism president as opposed to a president that's a little bit more traditional in the way that they would govern.

He is a political neophyte. We have no idea what Donald Trump will do. He runs the risk of disappointing a lot of folks when he ends up doing things that are pretty much status quo.

BLACKWELL: Tara, let me stay with you. I got this question, as we move from party unity to national unity. We've talked about the protests that we've seen across the country over the last three nights.

One person even shot in Portland and some of the things we're seeing across the country during the daylight hours we know that the KKK in North Carolina is now planning some celebration now that Donald Trump has been elected.

And he has denounced their support and support of other white nationalist groups and racist groups, but back in 2008, when the videos of Jeremiah Wright were released and people called on then senator, Barack Obama, to speak about that pastor, the now president spoke about Jeremiah Wright and this is part of the speech. Let's watch that.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive. Divisive at a time when we need unity. Racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now that he's president elect, Tara, do you think that Donald Trump needs a moment of punctuation, as we are seeing an increase in these types of attacks and the graffiti and now the celebration planned by the KKK.

SETMAYER: Yes. I think that you can't ignore what's happening here. There are -- those protesters are basically anarchists, a lot of them have -- they would have protested either way at some point and that level of rioting and the violence and people advocating being killed I saw a protester say that.

That kind of stuff is out of bounds. But that doesn't dismiss the real fear and anxiety and trepidation that millions and millions of people, especially people of color in this country have as a result of a Donald Trump presidency, which a lot of it was fomented by Donald Trump's own words during this campaign.

He has stoked a lot of this fear and whether that was to play to a certain constituency or not, but that constituency feeling emboldened now and he must address this. I think that will be his first test of leadership if he is really serious about bringing this country together, then he has to address it and show some empathy.

BLACKWELL: All right, Tara Setmayer, Jack Kingston, always good to have both of you.

KINGSTON: Thanks a lot.

SETMAYER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Christi.

WHITFIELD: Bernie Sanders says he's not at all surprised that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton, but he does have a message now for all Democrats as that party recovers from the defeat and tries to come together as well. We'll talk about it. Stay close.

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[08:27:09]

PAUL: Well, Hillary Clinton is urging her supporters to get back out there, to keep fighting after, of course, her Election Day defeat. She spoke to volunteers in a conference call yesterday and admitted that it's been a tough few days, but she says it's more important now than ever that they continue to support the causes they believe in. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We left it all on the field, every single one of you. And the relationships you formed, the connections you've made, I hope will prove to be of lasting significance to you. And I think will make a difference for years to come. Your work mattered. And I believe it still matters. Look, I'm not going to sugar coat it. These have been very, very tough days.

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BLACKWELL: Clinton's campaign now casting some of the blame for her election defeat on FBI Director James Comey. In calls with supporters, campaign chair, John Podesta, says, "Comey's announcement on the e-mail investigation just days before the election cost Clinton the White House."

Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders says it's time for the Democratic Party to make some major changes. This was in an op-ed for "The New York Times," Senator Sanders wrote this, "I am saddened but not surprised by the outcome.

It is no shock to me the millions of people who voted for Mr. Trump did so because they are sick and tired of economic, political and media status quo."

PAUL: Senator Sanders says he is working on a series of reforms for the Democratic Party and his wife says he is more focused on bringing the country together than he is with future presidential run.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes or no, would you be open to, Senator Sanders, running again for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020?

JANE SANDERS, WIFE OF SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: See, that's exactly the wrong question, Wolf. Nobody cares except the political pundits. He is not -- he's concerned about 2017. He's concerned about our Muslim population in feeling great fear right now.

We're hoping that President-elect Trump will give them a reason to not feel that anymore. He's concerned about the fact that people are hurting. That the water systems in Flint are still not repaired. Those are the things he's focusing on. And what happens in 2020 will happen in 2020. We'll talk to you in 2019. How's that?

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PAUL: Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders say they're willing to work with Donald Trump once he does take office, of course, on January 20th.

BLACKWELL: All right, still ahead this morning, as Donald Trump gets ready to move into the White House, the president-elect says he'll let his children run his huge business empire. But what about the potential conflict of interest?

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[08:33:17] PAUL: 8:33 p.m. on a Saturday morning and we are always so grateful to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Saturday morning to you. For a third night in a row, anti-Trump protesters are voicing their concerns here.

And in Portland, people are now searching for a suspect after man was shot. Authorities say throughout the night some demonstrators threw some items at officers.

PAUL: And I want to tell you what it looks like in Los Angeles, too. Protesters, you see them, they're holding signs that say "Not my president." And then let's go to Georgia. Angry protesters burned the American flag there. In the meantime, as Trump transitions to power, he is working to get his staff in place.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, vice president-elect Mike Pence now leading his transition team and all of this as Trump tones down rhetoric on ObamaCare and saying he may keep parts of the existing law.

PAUL: As Donald Trump prepares to move into the White House, he's not only going to have to figure out who's going to be in his cabinet, but what does he do about all those businesses that he owns. The president-elect has a stake in more than 500 companies, both here, at home and abroad as well. That's more than anyone else ever elected to the highest office in the land. Trump's indicated that he plans to let his three oldest children run his empire while he runs the country. But, is this enough to calm some concerns about the conflicts of interest his presidency poses?

Let's talk to CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Laura Coates now. So Laura, first of all, let's gets to his decision to allow his children to hand those businesses over to his children. Is that the smartest thing, the wisest thing for him to do when we also know that they are playing some sort of role in the transition efforts?

[08:35:06] LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is a election that has already told us that are normal rules of etiquette and what constituting smart has been thrown out the window. There is nothing that is legally binding or legally preventing them from doing just that. So, perhaps, it would be prudent for him to remain -- have his companies remain with people who he feels are loyal to him which been a constant seen throughout the course of his campaign.

But remember, back in the JFK era, we put in place certain provisions to say we couldn't have nepotism when it came to the appointment in federal office. Having a member of your transition team is very different and does not violate our long-standing tradition of not wanting to have nepotism be very ingrained in Washington, D.C.

PAUL: OK, so let me ask you this, his brand, the Trump brand, it could be elevated, it could be devalued based on some of the actions he does or in some cases does not take. How would you advise him in that regard and what parameters are out there to say govern him in that regard?

COATES: Sure. Well, you know, one of the biggest things about this is the issue of conflicts of interest. He is somebody as you already articulated has extensive reach in the global market. And, frankly, we as a society have already told our federal employees and federal government workers that look, we do not want you to have conflicts of interest that will impede or interfere with your right or your ability to be able to be fair, you know, and objective.

Well, we exempted the president and the vice president of the United States from those sorts of federal conflict of interest laws because we wanted to be able to have those politicians govern without any type of restraint. Having said that, even though there's no federal law or impediment to having these sort of conflicts, in terms of optics which is very, very important in our democracy frankly whether we like to admit it or not, we do not want our president or the vice president to have such ties where we believe that there is a hint of impropriety or they're not going to be able to judicially govern this country and fairly do it without having a selfish interest.

And so, I would advise him to cut ties with the organizations that would encourage other organizations and other countries to believe that he will not be able to be objective and will not be able to act in anything but his own business self-interest.

PAUL: So let me ask you this because he's mentioned many times on the campaign trail, this is a man who is under audit. A man -- and that's why he didn't release his tax returns and has been under audit for years. Now, he's in a position where he can appoint people to oversee those very departments that are in charge of his audits. Help us understand how that is going to filter out.

COATES: Well, he will have to file a new financial disclosure. I know we're all been waiting throughout the course of the election, the campaign for even a modest tax return to be presented to the people. But really he has to now have a different financial path in terms of what he is disclosing to the public.

And you're right, there is the hint of there being a conflict of him being able to oversee organizations that are auditing him. But remember, the Trump Corporation is going to be different than the Mr. Trump individually. And so we do have a long standing tradition in our country of not having our seated presidents being, you know, able to be indicted and also able to be somebody who is criminally charged.

And so he does -- he is going to experience a level of immunity that other people would not expect him to have if he was a civilian or a layman in this world. So we're going to have to see going forward what his financial data actually presents and whether or not that's going to have an impact on his ability to really be an objective governing president.

PAUL: You mentioned the immunity but we should point out, there is no immunity for him in these -- I think it's 75 plus lawsuits that he is involved in, in some capacity based on what has happened -- what he's been involved with prior to entering the White House. So, he is still vulnerable in that regard to those lawsuits.

COATES: He is. The irony of that is, this was one of the main parts that people were fearing about having Hillary Clinton be in office, the idea that we would have this constant regurgitation of litigation against her while she was actually in office. However, there is certain immunities that are applying to a president of the United States who is seated.

And so we're not going to see -- I don't predict, even if he is still vulnerable, we're not going to see the landslide of litigation that's going to undermine his ability to remain seated unless there's something that's criminal being prosecuted against him, which those are civil lawsuits not criminal lawsuits.

PAUL: Very good point to make. Laura Coates, thank you so much for walking us through it. We appreciate it.

COATES: Yeah, thank you.

BLACKWELL: OK. Have you considered this connection between politics and sports, deep divides between of course the president-elect Donald Trump and Mexico? We'll discuss those with kind of friendly game (inaudible).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:22] BLACKWELL: So we've shown you the protests that have been happening overnight for the last three nights and we'll continue to watch those. And we know that president-elect Trump will lead a divided nation, but on some level, for some, sports really have the potential to bring people together.

PAUL: For some. Some might just elevate it. But, no, it can bring people together. Yeah. So last night the U.S. men's soccer team hosted Mexico in a World Cup qualifier. Coy Wire has been watching this. What is really at the end of the day a pretty heated rivalry?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Yeah, absolutely. Christi, Victor, good morning to you. One of those heated international soccer rivalries and players they acknowledge that there was a heightened level of tension going into this match up in Columbus, Ohio, well aware of the political -- divisive political rhetoric being thrown around during the election. And so there they were -- they were concerned about how the fans would be at the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA. USA. USA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: But fans heeded the requests of players to allow this moment to bring people together, to respect one another. Our own Martin Savidge was there to catch up with some of the fans. Here they were.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you see, people are just so happy. Tomorrow, then we worry about paying the rent or buying some groceries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we're all here to support the USA. It's soccer. It's bringing the country together. That's what we're here to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Check out this powerful display of unity before the match got started, both teams posing with one another on the pitch. Now, Mexico would go up early but team USA's Bobby Wood cut through defenders like an ax through wood, tied the match up at one a piece and it looked like this match would end in a tie. But watch this, barely a minute left on the clock, team captain for Mexico Rafa Marquez scores the game winner.

[08:45:08] The final score was 2-1. That was team USA's first home loss in a World Cup qualifier in some 15 years.

Now, team USA does have nine matches left, so a lot of opportunities for them to go ahead and score enough points to qualify for the World Cup. Next opportunity, they will come against Costa Rica on Tuesday.

BLACKWELL: All right.

PAUL: Coy, thank you.

WIRE: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: So Donald Trump is promising to reverse some of the legislative wins of the Obama administration and he is suggesting that he's considering keeping some, but what will those decisions mean for President Obama's legacy? We have an historian joining us next.

PAUL: First though for you in today's "Impact Your World", Dolly Parton, love her legendary voice on the country music scene, she's also making an impact with a program though that's helping children learn to read.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dolly Parton is one of the most award-winning female country singers of all time, with a chart-topping career spanning six decades. Music isn't her only passion, she's also a big advocate for literacy.

DOLLY PARTON, ENTERTAINER: You can't afford to go to school, if you can read, you can educate yourself. There's a book about anything out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1995, Parton started the "Imagination Library" in honor of her father. PARTON: My own father didn't get a chance to go to school. He couldn't read and write. It really bothered him a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to U.S. Department of Education survey, 32 million adults can't read. Parton's "Imagination Library" strives to lower that number by providing new free books every month to preschool-age children.

PARTON: My dad was so proud when the kids would get the books, he just was prouder of that and probably my great success in show business.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The charity has given out over 82 million books in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.

PARTON: What could be better than reading?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[08:50:56] PAUL: Well, Donald Trump won't officially take office for 69 days. He's already talked about erasing some major parts of the Obama presidency. He wants to repeal at least parts now of the Affordable Care Act. He's talked about eliminating climate change policies, pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal and reversing the United States deal with Cuba, that's just a few that he's mentioned.

BLACKWELL: So, what do all of these proposals need for President Obama's legacy? Here to discuss, Timothy Naftali, he is the CNN Presidential Historian and former Director of the Nixon Presidential Library. Timothy, good morning to you.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Good morning. Good morning to both of you.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about the most recent element of Obama's legacy and that would be Hillary Clinton's loss. When George W. Bush was elected, it wasn't seen primarily as a rejection of Clinton. And when Obama was elected, it wasn't seen primarily as rejection of Bush. But because President Obama said things like this, this will be a little different. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter, it all matters. And after we have achieved the historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. You want to give me a good sendoff, go vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, that was the president speaking to the congressional black caucus. Black voters were a smaller percentage of the electorate this year and Hillary Clinton got a smaller portion of that electorate. So, how much a part of the president's legacy is Hillary Clintons' loss?

NAFTALI: Well, I take that there are two answers to that question. The first answer is I suspect if you ask the president today, did he put a little? Did he invest a little too much of his legacy in those final weeks of the campaign? He might say, "Well maybe I did." But, perhaps, he wouldn't have forgiven himself if he didn't try hard.

Keep in mind that in 2000, Bill Clinton didn't campaign much for Al Gore partly because Al Gore didn't rush him, because Al Gore didn't want it. But, Bill Clinton saw the results of perhaps not fighting hard enough for his third term. So, I think when the dust settles, the legacy issue and this is my second answer, it's dynamic.

In many ways you don't know yet what the president's legacy will be. For example, when Ronald Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall was still standing. It would fall 10 months, 11 months later. The fact of the matter is, right now when people think of Ronald Reagan's legacy they associate the end of the Cold War with Ronald Reagan.

There are elements of things that Obama put in place whose fruits, whose results we don't know yet. One we're seeing, though, the fact that president elect Trump is unwilling now to say he's going to eliminate all elements of ObamaCare is a sign that that's a -- there is a legacy there that the American people are now expecting more, health care protection than they did before Obama.

The very fact that a Republican leader now is saying, "I'm going to promise you that if you have pre-existing conditions, if you have high cholesterol or something like that, you will be able to get insurance." That's a big change. That's an Obama change. The fact that a Republican president-elect is willing to say, "If you have children under the age of 26, they're going to be covered by your health insurance." That is absolutely a product of the Obama years.

Let me tell you another one, the nature of the federal government's support for solar power, for example. The use of solar power has gone up 2,000 percent in the Obama years. Is the new federal government going to come in and tell people who have solar panels that are reducing the use of carbon emitting fuels, is the US government going to say, "Get rip them out. Get rid of them." No.

What about student loan? The very fact that student loans are forgiven now after a shorter duration and before the Obama years, is the federal government now going to tell people, "No, we're going to make student loans more burdensome."

[08:55:13] There are elements of Bush years such as the drug program.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

NAFTALI: The drug assistance program that conservatives didn't like. Are there were -- is this new Republican government going to dismantle some of the George W. Bush legacy? I don't think so. Americans come to accept certain changes and those changes regardless of the politics of the president who follows won't disappear. So I think there are elements of the Obama legacy that are going to survive, because the next government will not want to deprive the American people of benefits they've come to enjoy. In terms of foreign policy, that's also ...

BLACKWELL: Well, let me ask you about the political legacy -- let me ask you about the political legacy of the president.

NAFTALI: ... because we don't yet know how well this campaign against ISIS in Mosul and in Northern Iraq is going to go, so far so good. If ISIS, if -- when president-elect Trump takes the oath of office in January and ISIS is not running Mosul, then some of the criticism of the Obama administration's approach to ISIS or ISIL in Iraq is going to be muted. So it's way too early.

And the last thing I would say about legacy, President Obama will be the youngest man to leave the oval office since Theodore Roosevelt. One would hope many, many years of good health to this man. His work isn't done.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

NAFTALI: Jimmy Carter's legacy is much better as a result of his post-presidency than his presidency.

BLACKWELL: All right.

NAFTALI: His post-presidency -- Obama's post-presidency is going to help shape his legacy. So, there are many, many unknowns. Donald Trump's statements yesterday about ObamaCare, however, suggest that the changes that we're going to see may not be as dramatic as expected.

BLACKWELL: Well, this is an awkward moment because Timothy your ear piece has fallen out. I don't know if you can hear me. I was trying to get in there for a moment, but we've got to wrap up. Thank you so much for helping us detail what will be the president's legacy. And thank you for being with us all morning long.

That's it for us. We'll see you back here at 10:00 Eastern for an hour of "Newsroom."

PAUL: Yes. But, you know that you can spend a little time now with Smerconish after this short break. Stay close.

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