Transcripts For CNNW Cuomo Primetime 20181108

One in the senate, another in the house. My friends, lots have changed, but will anything really be different . Lets get after it. All right. So, the democrats can now investigate the president and control what laws pass the house. In the senate, the republicans are more firmly in control, so what do we have a recipe here for, is this a standoff, or will shared power be better for your interests . Were going to have a test just one day into the new normal. Jeff sessions is out. The Mueller Probe is vulnerable. What will the democrats do . Now, one winner who now has to walk that line between getting things done and getting after what matters is the honorable joe manchin, democrat, senator, West Virginia, hung onto his seat last night in a deep red state. Congratulations, senator. Good to see you. Thanks, chris. Always good to be with you. So, you won last night. Why do you think you did . Chris, im just me. Im just joe from West Virginia. I mean, they want Everyone Wants to be in a tribe. What tribe do you belong to . Do you belong to democrat tribe or the republican tribe . And everybody is at war. I belong to the american tribe, and my branch of the american tribe is West Virginia, and im not at war with anybody. Im just trying to make things work. And i think people understand that. They want that. You voted with the president before, in fact, look, youve been outspoken and arguably controversial about it. You voted for neil gorsuch, you voted for kavanaugh. You said maybe i would vote for trump in 2020. Ill see what it means for my constituents and how they feel about t. Democrats didnt like it. Chuck schumer said, hell be fine. Thats all in the past. Now youve won and youve got a balance working with the president where you can, but also doing right by your convictions and the people of West Virginia. You got a challenge, senator. Getting rid of Jeff Sessions is an obvious move. We all knew it was coming. We didnt expect it the day after the midterms, but this is how he is going to distract from the big wins for the democrats. Theyre putting somebody in as the acting who is there because he doesnt believe in the probe. Will you speak out about this move . Oh, i think well all speak out about it. I think youll see democrats and republicans, we are very much concerned about that. We think bob mueller is the right guy doing the job that hes supposed to do and he will do it professionally and honorably. We have all spoken out about that. Im on the intel committee, chris, and were watching it very carefully. And we were very much hopeful that Jeff Sessions would be in this and the president has the right to do whatever he wants to do when he loses confidence or whatever. But in a situation as highly charged as this, you would have liked to seen jeff stay until the end of the Mueller Probe, until all the facts were in, and whatever decisions were going to be made were made. This throws a complete, complete wrinkle in it and i think it will be the first thing we take up when we go back next tuesday. But what are you prepared to do about it in light of the fact, senator, that if you go tough on him, hes not going to want to work with you . You know how this president is. Politics is not an unusual game. He plays it, just more intensely than weve seen in the past. If you come after him about this, hes not going want to work with you, youll be the enemy. Youre already the guy they send people down to your state, including his son, and lied about your position on coal. Thats how they play. Are you willing to take that on . Well, ive taken them on right now th. This election was not with me and my opponent. It was with me and the president. For five months since the primary, every ad ive seen on television was the president , when he comes to the state hes been in the state eight times, three times during the campaign, and then vicepresident pence was there i think three times, and his family has been there. So it really became a race that he ingested himself into, and every ad was vote for my opponent, patrick morrissy. It was a vote for him. So it came down to where the people finally said, mr. President , West Virginia has spoken loud and clear. We want our senator, not your senator. So, im all about West Virginia. I work with him and ive always worked with whoever is in charge when i think its good for my country and definitely my state. When its not, i speak up. I think we can fix health care. Ive asked the president , why dont you become the mr. Fixit president . Repair. Well call it trump repair care. My people need insurance. They need health care. Sure. Preexisting condition needs protected. These are things we fight for, and i feel very strongly about that. I think the tax bill is going to have to be reworked. I think it has problems. Im willing to work with him if i think its good, but i want to make sure that the average working person gets a permanent tax cut. And i think basically the Corporate Tax cut should have been at 25 . We took plans to the president of how we could get 10 or 15. Democrats really make it a bipartisan bill when they finally had 51 votes, there was no more talking, chris. It was over. Look, thats the way it was. They called it a middle class tax cut. It clearly wasnt. 83 cents went to the top 1 . They hoped the base would swallow it. In part they did. Last night america spoke, and clearly the country wants more. The president lost the vote last night by an even bigger margin than he did against hillary clinton. So well see how you deal with the challenges Going Forward. Let me ask you this i. Know you say youre about West Virginia and you are just joe. You are a democrat. Now with the senate, with a bigger margin for republicans than before, are you a vote that can be counted on for the democrats in the senate . Hey, if i cant go home and explain it, chris, im not going to vote for it. I dont care if its democrat, republican or who comes up with the idea. If it makes no sense in West Virginia, you know, im just not going to vote for it. Nobody owns my vote. The only people who own my vote is the people in West Virginia. I told harry reid that. Ive told Chuck Schumer that. Ive told Mitch Mcconnell that. You know, it has to be something that makes sense and is going to be beneficial. Why not run as an independent or start your own party called the just joe . Why be a democrat . Just joe. Its West Virginia democrats. We have a heart and soul. Weve always been there, always trying to help People Better their lives, always been there when people fell down and needed some help. But weve always expected in West Virginia, the democrats, weve always expected people to help themselves if they could, to get up and do something, to contribute. To make sure you are always adding value. And with that, weve all gotten along well. We never looked at our republican West Virginia republicans as our enemies. They had different ideas. Democracy, chris, doesnt work with oneparty system. Its not what our Founding Fathers fought this to be. I dont know why people think i have to be pigeon holed. Im a proud West Virginia democrat. Imt no way, shape or form a washington democrat. Ive been very year about that. And my friends in West Virginia, the republicans, theyre not proud of the washington republicans. So were going to still do our thing. Im hoping our state can show the civility. We work very well together. We show the civility, the collegiate attitude that you should have. It always comes down to whats important for our state. We can be a democrat and republican, but you better be an american and a West Virginian first. Let me tell you what i think, what i would hope with this new Congress Going in, especially with the democrats in control of congress. They ought to put an agenda. There is an awful lot of good people there. I know a lot of them. Lot of good moderate democrats. They ought to put an agenda forward. They ought to go to the president yes. Mr. President , on these issues, hears res where we are. Can we meet somewhere in the middle and make this work . Yes. And have a press conference and tell them what youve offered. Show the public what a progressive you want to do in basically helping keep it transparent. And what youve laid out. Thats exactly 100 . The president will play from that or off of that. These people will see who makes the deal right. If he starts demonizing from the beginning and they start basically saying against, againsts, against, im for everything until you show me something that doesnt work. Im not going to be for it. Im always going to accept something. If you give me an idea, chris, im thinking you want to do something good and you want to help me. When i find out that was not your intent, im going to turn. I hear you. Ive seen you operate on the ground with your people in West Virginia. I know you care about them and i know they care about you and thats why they gave you your victory. I love them. You should be on the show more so we can have more transparency with what happens happening in the senate. The invitation is open. Chris, its always been and youve been great to work with and i think the world of you. You know that, and the family. You have to have a heart and soul for the people. This is a peoples game if you want to play game. If you dont have a heart and soul, get out of it. Let people that want to help people. Dont worry about the parties. This party system, this tribal stuff is killing us and its not what people want. And im just not going to partake in it. Im going to still be me and im going to fight for my country. Im going to try to help my state. Its a democrat idea and its great, im with it. If its a republican idea and its great im with it. Im going to work for whatever is best for my country and my state. Senator joe manchin, the people are obviously demanding better. Thank you and congratulations. Thank you, chris. Appreciate being with you. All right. Joining us ahead, a man who knows what its like to be fired by the trump white house. Anthony scaramucci, he knows whats going on. He understands the thinking from the white house. He understands what happened last night. Were going to talk about it all next. Ing a verizon engineer is about doing things right. And theres no shortcut to the right way. So when we roll out the nations first 5g Ultra Wideband Network, itll be because we were the first to install the fiberoptics and small cells, and upgrade the towers that will change the way we learn, work and live. And ill always be proud that were not just building americas first 5g network. Were doing it right. Well you remember what happened last year. You cant bring a backup thanksgiving to my sisters house. Its not like were going to walk in with it. Well bring it in as we need it. Phase it in. Phase it in . Yeah, phase it in. Phase it in . Smile dad. I take medication for high Blood Pressure and cholesterol. But they might not be enough to protect my heart. Adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. Because my Second Chance matters. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. All right. We got your first assessment of president donald trump. The reaction from the president , immediately go after the russia investigation. He took out his frustration maybe by firing his attorney general, but lets be honest. We all thought that was going to happen anyway. This soon . No. Tonight we have the former White House Communications director, anthony scaramucci. Its good to have you back on primetime, especially after last night. Yeah, i think it was an interesting night. There was something there, chris, for everybody. It was sort of like that box of chocolate in the forest gump movie. You open it up, theres a little bit there for everybody. But by and large, if you look at the historic situation, the president really did have a great night. It was definitely his momentum going into those rallies that helped people like senator cruz, et cetera. So i think he feels very good about the effort that he put in over the last three weeks. Very tiring, too. Well, look, i think that what it proved last night is that we are a diametrically opposed country. We are as divided as i have seen in my lifetime and yours. The president did well, where he has done well, in the way that hes done well. But the base shrunk and he got rejected in the overall vote more than he did in the 2016 election. I think those are just the raw facts. But i want to ask you about something else. Im happy to get into the election. The participation is down. He himself wasnt on the ballot. Participation was down . He was on the ballot in every way except legibly. Yeah, but its off from 2016. Maybe other midterms. I understand that, its still only 49 . Its higher than ever before, so how is the participation down, anthony . A i im talking about off the 2016 campaign. This is the midterm. He himself was not on the ballot. He said he was. He told your candidates and the rallies, vote for me like i was on it. Of course, he said that, but he wasnt on the ballot and so we both know that. And so thats why the data that youre looking at, i dont think is 100 accurate. Here we go. A if y if you want to use that data, the democrats will be set up to lose again in 2020. How so . They have a better map in 2020 for the senate. Its fake data. Thats what hes suggesting. Im starting to hear i didnt say it was safe data. I said its not president ial electoral politics data. Its midterm data, which is different. Thats all i said. Definitely accurate data. He was on it. He took a victory lap in the races he helped. He blamed the people who lost for not embracing him. Thats true. Its not true. What is true is him going after immigration with fear and loathing compromised races across the country. And thats why you guys took the beat down that you got in the house. You dont see president s with an economy that he benefits from right now getting shellacked the way he did last night. Chris, president obama got she lacked using he didnt have this economy and he had cultural revulsion against him. He didnt get she lacked. He lost 33 seats. We this economy . Youre missing something that happened last night thats virtually going to assure his reelection in 2020. And that was ron desantis in florida. Okay. The president needs to win that state. Hes now got a republican senator in place and hes got ron desantis, one of his close allies in florida. Thats typically been a swing state and its been turning red eras a result of president trumps work, his policies, economically and otherwise. So, i hear you. I did say its a mixed bag. I want to be very fair. The democrats had a very good night last night. But from a president ial perspective in the setup to 2020, the president did pretty well. Heres what im saying. He picked up three seats in the senate. Those democrats were in red states. They were vulnerable. Joe manchin got through. Tester got through. Heitkamp didnt. Mccaskill didnt. She was in a bit of a different basket. He does well where he does well. The base is for real. Trumpism is for real in those places. But im just saying fear and clothing, antho loathing, anthony, doesnt sell in politics across this country, it doesnt he said 48 hours ago there might be a change in tone in the offing. Lets see what happens. What do you mean lets see . He went right at it today. I have enough other stuff to talk about. What does he do . He fires sessions. Wow, what a shocker. You think thats what he does. He knows the story is bad for him. Lets get rid of him now and replace him with a guy who came on my air for one message. The president s right, the Mueller Probe, its no good, it shouldnt be happening. Now hes in charge. Listen to what he said. If bob mueller and his small u. S. Attorneys office as ive heard it described today, does go beyond the 2016 election and get into Trump Organization finances, i think that would be crossing a red line. I think thats when the Deputy Attorney general, who is the acting attorney general for the purposes of this investigation, Rod Rosenstein who i served with in the bush administration, he needs to step in and pull the reins back on bob mueller. Look how much younger i look. That was only a year ago. What do we know . He came on came on as a legal commentator. He auditioned, he succeeded, he got a job in the government. Hes there now. He is the acting youre oversimplifying the whole thing. You know thats not what happened and so do i. What basically happened is the president had sent indications he was not happy with the attorney general. True. Like a good ceo, after the referendum took place, he fired him immediately f. Youre going to get fired, trust me, and i have been fired more than once. If you get fired, you want to get fired very quickly so you can move on to something else. And thats what happened here. In the attorney generals case, they allowed him to resign which is respectful. Hes been dragging it out and punching him like a pinata for months. He has democrats feeling bad for Jeff Sessions. Okay. But its over now and as it relates to the designee or the person thats going to be at least in charge in the interim basis, perhaps on a permanent basis, i think that is very unfair. The guy is a very experienced guy. Hes got incredible credentials in the republican party, and you know i went to law school with Rod Rosenstein. He was in my section. I have an unbelievable amount of respect for him. I do think the president is going to be treated fairly, but i think it was time to move on for everybody, and thats the way it goes in washington. Well, look, he was at the press conference thats the way it is. I experienced it, i took it and walked away. Thats true. Youre a one off in terms of the respect you maintained for the president , how you handled it, and how youve done Going Forward. It doesnt usually go that way for people around trump. Bravo for you. He was asked about it for the presser, he played dumb about it. I dont know whats going to happen. They were planning to fire him. This is the way they thought they distract from the story. Its not going to happen on my watch. This is done to distract from that. Youre overdramatizing it, chris. He is ceo as president of the United States. He didnt like the situation and the chemistry he had with the attorney general. And after the referendum, he let the person go. Its that simple. Its not really much more come politic complicated than that. There is nothing ceo about him. One, hes never really been a ceo. As we both know, its not like your company, anthony. It isnt. Its not like both of the companies that youve run with a lot of star staff maybe ill send you the audio of my book. How many big words . He has been a ceo. What has he ever run, a Television Star makes you a ceo . Is Anderson Cooper a ceo . He ran the Trump Organization for 35, 40 years. Whats the Trump Organization . Its a sales pitch machine for him. You know that, youve been to his offices. Airplanes, hotels, casinos. He has his name on those companies. And the more he managed them the more likely they went down. Come on. I thought after your brothers mood youd be better than this. Youre testy tonight. When my taxes come down in new york state ill be in a better mood. Nobody gets a pass. A you and i should team up. The entire state would be happy with the two of us. Back on the president , i think he did very well last night on a relative historical basis. I hear you on that. Let me give you one last question on that. Go ahead. Let me give you one last question. The people came out and voted. Thats all that matters to me. The turnout was everything for me. If politicians respond, well get a bigger dose next time. Looking at raw politics, if you mess with the probe in any way, okay, no matter how many layers of insulation that there are, how does the president ever expect to get a clean bill of health and complete exoneration if anybody can ever say, he messed with the process . I dont think Robert Mueller is going to say that the president messed with the process. Once the report is done, well go back to what David Axelrod said in the last program. Robert mueller is an incredibly respected guy. If Robert Mueller except by the president. If the president messes with the process, we have a problem, you can invite me back on. Ill invite you on anyway. As it relates to this, i dont think the president did this. Hes making a personnel change due to the personal chemistry of the situation and hes moving forward. I make a few predictions before you let me go. Go ahead. He gets a deal done with china relatively quickly. I think thats before the end of january. Thats my personal prediction based on my Market Knowledge and sort of what i know is going on there in china. Give me some more. And secondarily, i do think hes going to cross the aisle and possibly cut a deal on infrastructure because thats a very good frame nice to see, we certainly need it. Its a good frame up and set up for the 2020 collection. And i think youre going to get a interesting version of the president , my prediction is he will tone down some of this rhetoric Going Forward. Well see. And i think that will improve his approval ratings. I think hell be very well positioned given where the economy is, chris. Last night he was weighed and measured and people clearly sent a signal that they dont like the way he leads. Thats just the way you look at the raw vote. Lets see what happens. 100 . Everybody wants better and youre always welcome back. Be well. I appreciate, god bless. Look, what have we seen . Since last night, the president has been lighting all kinds of fires to distract from what happened. We will not lose focus. It all matters, but what happened last night matters more. Well discuss why it happened and what it means Going Forward for you. Free waffles at comfort. They taste like victory because he always gets the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed, when he books direct at choicehotels. Com. Or just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com at afor the financialts time world to stop acting the same old way. You need a partner that is willing to break free from conventional thinking. We are a different kind of financial company. We are athene, and we are driven to do more. After bills back needed a vacation from his vacation. So he stepped on the dr. Scholls kiosk. It recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain so you can move more. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. A moment of joy. A source of inspiration. An act of kindness. An old friend. A new beginning. Some welcome relief. Or a cause for celebration. Whats inside . [laughter] possibilities. What we deliver by delivering. [ neighing ] [ neighing ] [ sigh ] its bring your own phone, not pony. So i couldve taken the bus . Yeah. Bring your phone. Switch your carrier. Save hundreds a year with xfinity mobile. Call, click or visit a store today. Look, there are still outstanding races going on. Some may have legalities, others its about ballot counting. But we do anticipate that the house is soon going to be in democrats hands. The president will be up against something he has never experienced. Forget about us. Were nothing compared to politicians with subpoena power, especially if they are determined to hold him accountable. So, the question is how will he handle it . The president , as usual, fighting with his own set of threats. Do you expect that when the democrats take over the chairmanship of all these important committees youre going to get hit with a blizzard of subpoenas on everything from the russia investigation to your cell phone use to your tax returns . Ready . If that happens, then were going to do the same thing and government comes to a halt. If they start investigating you, that you can play that game and investigate them better than them. They can play that game, but we can play it better because we have a thing called the United States senate. Can you compartmentalize that and continue to work with them for the benefit of the rest of the country . If they do that, then its just all it is is a warlike posture one day into it and already its face grabbing toxicity and talk. Lets discuss why what happened happened and what it means Going Forward. Dana bash, phil, panel, thanks for everybody. So, this is not a new day, okay . This is not thats right, its a different show, same suit. So, the idea of were all going to change. Its going to be better. Oh, if Congress Tries oversight, the house, well do the same to them. Okay. First of all, it doesnt work like that. Your phone goes off all the time. Who is calling . Its mooch. Hes with my brother. So, how do you see it . I dont remember the question. No, it doesnt work like that. All of us who never mind went to law school, but have basic understanding of civics, the United States congress has oversight of the executive branch. And it is the role of the congress, in particular the house, it is just much easier to get the subpoena power. Again, it was designed this way in order to get information. There is this part of the executive branch that you work for called the fbi, but it is not legal for them to be used by a president for political retribution. Its just not the way it works. And he talked about the senate i guess, you know, certainly there are some political ramifications, good and bad for what we saw last night. We were reporting on all night, the expansion of the republican majority. But its also not that easy to do. Also big picture, the war footing. Everybody should try to take a breath. And that certainly should go on both sides. And the president started out that way. It certainly didnt end up that way in this press conference. I dont believe thats where he is. But well see. Everybody has got to be open and optimism. Again, the probe, i dont believe in consequence. They didnt like that story, theyve been thinking about moving on sessions. It says in the letter at your request i submit a resignation. Thats not a resignation. So, messing with the probe. Anthony says thats not what its about, anthony scaramucci. If youre the ceo, call the man in as you should have done with james comey, as you should have done with secretary of the state recollectio Rex Tillerson youre done. If you go, you go. There is an issue, its a bit late in the game. Mueller has been around. I know Robert Mueller. I served under him 4 1 2 years. He doesnt like to sit around. Heeds not there sitting around saying, let me cross ts and dot is. Mueller is saying im at the end game. If there are further indictments to drop, theyre not going to take forever, i think its too late for the president to say, let me change the team and they can sort of push back the Mueller Investigation. I think its over. I dont think it will work. Now, you say look at the speak of different politicians, of grassley and others about what they think of the probe. Thats as indicative of anything else. Why . One message, and that is if you want to change the probe, presumably one thing you would do is to select a future attorney general who would say, im going to limit it. The people who can limit that are the senate, who might say, were going to confirm the next attorney general. And the message to the attorney general is, a, limit it, and b, we want the investigation to move forward. I want to see what Mitch Mcconnell says. Can i add a quick c . Or keep the investigation under Rod Rosenstein as it is now. That would have eliminated all questions. It would have made sense, okay, he doesnt like Jeff Sessions, he can get rid of Jeff Sessions. He can put somebody else in there, but keep this Mueller Investigation as it is overseen by the guy. Whitaker doesnt have any basis for recusal that sessions had. And hes stepping into the acting attorney general role. Opinions about the case . No . Opinions about the case isnt enough . I was listening to lara well, everybody in america has an opinion about t. Not everybody is in charge. Now its time to make decisions. To your point earlier, chris, this is one of those things we have to see. We can sit here and speculate and hyperventilate and do all the rest, but i remember the night comey was fired. I sat with seven other people here at cnn and they were all sure the russia investigation was going to be shutdown the next day. Within 48 hours, mccabe was testifying before the u. S. Senate that everything was running just the same as it was before comey was fired. Dont assume that this is going to be major disruption. The proper assumption is that it is not going to be major disruption, and frankly, i think the president will benefit from seeing mueller all the way through. 100 . There is not any collusion. There are things whatever the disposition is. If hes so confident of what you say ive never understood this, honest to he just fights naturally. Im just telling you, i think i understand whats going on and i dont think my opinion matters. But i do know this as a matter of fact. If you believe youve done nothing wrong i said this during the kavanaugh hearing, i say it again about this or any probe you want a thorough investigation unless you have good proofer theyre out to get you in an abusive process way. If you mess with the process in any way, if you allow dana bash to be able to report at any point, x, y or z was done to hedge, to contaminate, to change, to obstruct, youll never get a clean bill of health. Thats what the president wants. Chris, were about to see the democrats take over the house. Theyre going to have the subpoena power. There has never been a partisan subpoena issued in the history of the world that didnt have the duel interest in a fishing expedition. Look, lets just face it and be honest about it. Both parties, and so everything that goes forward on this has more than just the objective purpose of whats in front of i get the skepticism. Im just saying the only way you get a clean bill of health is to let it happen. Nothing is found on you and you move on. Ken, phil, dana, you were great last night. Thank you very much for everything. Thank you. So, last night, brava to the women. I dont care what your partisan stripe is, your tribe, team, whatever youre calling it, it doesnt matter. Women were on the ballot and they won the night. Women voted in ways we havent seen. Truly her story was made, and one of the women who made it is here next. Herstory, not history. Come on, mudd, you worked in intelligence . Whoa phone rings daddy, mommys on the phone hi how are you guys . At t proudly offers wireless and tv discounts to military, veterans, First Responders and their families. Visit att. Com hero. Our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. buzzer sound holiday inn express. Be the readiest. Instead, hes the tallest guy in his office. L basketball player. Yeah, erics had to compromise a lot in life. Ah yes, you need travel insurance when you travel. So, should i set some. Hello . But not when it comes to cutting the cord. Fubo gives him all the sports he needs as well as all the shows his family loves. Dont compromise. Get over 100 channels plus showtime and cloud dvr included. Call 844tryfubo. This is actually under your budget. Its great. Mmhmm. Yeah, and when you move in, geico could help you save on renters insurance man 1 behind wall yep, geico helped me with renters insurance, too um. The walls seem a bit thin. Man 2 behind wall they are and craig practices the accordion every night says the guy who sings karaoke by himself. Im a very shy singer. Youre tone deaf ehh. Should we move on to the next one . Its a great building youll love it here we have mixers every thursday. Geico®. Its easy to switch and save on homeowners and renters insurance. And i am a certified arborist for pg e. Ughes i oversee the patrolling of trees near power lines and roots near pipes and underground infrastructure. At pg e wherever we work, we work hard to protect the environment. Getting the job done safely, so we can keep the lights on for everybody. Because i live here i have a deeper connection to the community. And i want to see the Community Grow and thrive. Every year we work with cities and schools to plant trees in our communities. So the environment is there for my kids and future generations. Together, were building a better california. At least 101 women will be serving in the next congress. That is a good record. Many of them are first timers, and that, too, is an unqualified good. No matter if you were on team left, right, or god forbid reasonable, within that number there are even more firsts, including the first black female member of congress from the commonwealth of massachusetts. Her name is ayanna pressley, and we spoke earlier. Congresswoman elect, thank you for having the time with us on the show. Thank you for having me on. All right. Congratulations on the win. Historic, first africanamerican congresswoman from massachusetts. What does that mean to you personally . It is humbling and surreal. And, you know, in order for there to be a second, there has to be a first. And so im encouraged by the strides that were making, although theyve happened incrementally, it does seem that considering massachusetts and the trend throughout the country, that there was a Seismic Shift that occurred last night. And i know that the people in the districts that we represent will be better served by more diverse inclusive and representative government. You know, usually the tale of the tape is heres what happened. Oh, and women, blah, blah, blah, blah. Its always a second or third line. Not last night. If not for women like you thats right. The democrats have zero to celebrate today. How much duds does that mean . The women werent an afterthought, they were an everything last night . Sure. Well, truth be told, you know, women have been leading in the Democratic Party and in our communities every day, and still are. And not all of them have a comma and title after their names. But so far as this moment in time, i am proud and humbled and excited to be entering into a congress that is in the democratic majority, and the most inclusive and representative of freshman class in the history of the congress. So now youre in the job, you have to do the job. Yes. And you are immediately faced with a massive challenge coming from outside and a massive challenge inside. First outside. The president gets rid of Jeff Sessions today. The attorney general is out. Was he fired . Did he resign . Who knows. But we know why it happened today and we know the intentionality behind the move and it is obvious because of who the acting attorney general will be. How do you deal with what is an apparent move by the president of the United States to compromise the Mueller Investigation . Well, on the departure of Jeff Sessions, i would say, you know, bigot, exit stage left. Im glad to see he and his bigoted mindset and his policies exiting the white house, but certainly no more encouraged by who will succeed him. Given the track record of the current occupant of the white house, to obstruct jus fitzand justice and delay the investigation, it is incumbent on myself and my colleagues to make sure the investigation remains one that is independent and to keep the special counsel. And thats why im feeling especially emboldened as we head into a congress that is in the democratic majority so that we can be the checks, the checks that hes not had in this lame duck congress. So, you are saying that you will be in line with your partys efforts to protect the Mueller Investigation and check the executive. All right. So thats one challenge. Absolutely. And to hold the d. O. J. Accountable. And you have the internal challenge, which is, who are you guys . I understand the big tent talk. Exactly. I get it. You guys won your races, everybody had to appeal to their own districts, i get it. But now youve got to make a sense of who sits wherein side the tent. And the party is going to have to figure out if nancy pelosi, the leader who got you here, is the leader who you stay with, and what your party makes its priorities. Are you going to be about abolishing i. C. E. Or are you going to be about cutting a deal how to keep the border secure, whats your head on what you want . Well, you hit the nail right on the head. We need to have a conversation as a party. There are lessons to be learned from these midterm elections, and the candidates that made it possible for us to be entering the house in the democratic majority. The leadership he choices we made, the type of campaigns we ran, the platforms we ran on, we need to do that postmortem and analysis and make that inventory. And i think put those things into practice. Until we better understand who we are and the vision for the future of this party, i dont know that we can pick the most effective leader to steward us if were not clear on who we are. So youre saying right now youre not ready to say youd be with nancy pelosi . Im waiting to see who all puts themselves forward, and i look forward to meeting with all of those candidates and then making a fully informed decision. But we have time here. Thats not a vote that will take place until the final week of november. In the immediate, ill be making my way to washington in the next couple of days for freshman orientation and im looking forward to that. Good luck to you in doing the job that thank you. That deserves the respect from the people who elected and put you there. Congratulations, congresswoman. Absolutely. Im humbled. Thank you. So many came out, that vote, ma message was sent and lets see if it was received. Ill tell you what, its not that long that the democrats have and thats why tomorrow we have a primetime exclusive one on one with nancy pelosi. She did a lot to get the democrats where they are today in their celebration. What does it mean Going Forward, what does she think the majority means . A lot of questions for the leader. Thats tomorrow. Now, today an africanamerican reporter asked the president a really important question about him calling himself a nationalist, and what that means to peoples ears who can think. His response, shes a racist. Youll see it next. Did you get a whole thanksgiving . Well you remember what happened last year. You cant bring a backup thanksgiving to my sisters house. Its not like were going to walk in with it. Well bring it in as we need it. Phase it in. Phase it in . Yeah, phase it in. Phase it in . Yeah, this is bob barnett in chicago. john foley i was there when bob barnett made the first commercial Wireless Phone call. We were both working on that First Network that would eventually become verizons. That call opened the door to the billions of mobile calls that weve all made since. 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So know this. The activated charcoal in charco caps adsorbs gas for fast gas relief without passing the gas. Charco caps put less boom in the room. Well, in what was supposed to be the first day of better, it was certainly a remarkable day at the white house as the president took a lot of questions from a lot of reporters. Almost an hour and a half. So according to the white house, the president actually took 68 questions from 35 reporters. Again, thats big. And some of them were combative. But there was one that stood out. I want you to listen to this exchange with Yamiche Alcindor of pbs news hour. On the campaign trail, you called yourself a nationalist. Some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists. I dont know why you say that. Thats such a racist question. Some people say i dont believe it. I dont know. Why do i have my highest poll numbers ever with africanamericans . Why do i have among the highest poll numbers with africanamericans . I mean why do i have my highest poll numbers . Thats such a racist question. None of it makes any sense except the way Yamiche Alcindor handled that. She was a consummate pro asking a legit question that was handled horribly. Boy did she stand strong in the face of power. Thats not easy. Don lemon is here. Your take, my brother . It makes no sense. Theyre right. What do poll numbers have to do with anything . Im not surprised. Maybe that he said it publicly because its been said, trust me, behind the scenes for reporters of color who have challenged him on issues, especially when it comes to birtherism. I dont want to do an interview with that person. That person is not going to treat me fairly because theyre racist, like saying an africanamerican reporter is racist towards him because they ask him a serious question as yamiche did. I thought she handled it perfectly. I thought she was great. His answers speak for themselves. And for him to sit there and point, that is so racist, well, explain your answer. Do you actually thuink he doesnt understand what nationalism when he said, im a nationalist . He doesnt understand the implication of that . He understands it. You cant not. Look, i believe it cant be a coincidence, okay . Nationalist, dont show me what it says in the dictionary. Use it as its been applied since world war ii. America first. Enemy of the people. Make America Great again. All of these are extracts of very ugly periods of rhetoric. Right. He knows it. What hes hoping is that his base doesnt get it. Yeah. And that theyll listen to his explanation. But it didnt get there today, and ive never seen a poll that shows anything impressive about him and africanamericans. Well, absolutely. And, you know, he will quote a real poll. Yeah, a real poll. Hell quote outliers and polls that dont live up to the standards of most mainstream news organizations. But if he doesnt know the implications of saying, im a nationalist, then we have bigger problems than we think we have. That is of dictatorships. All of those terms that you used. And the day he said that, white nationalists, which are racists, applauded. They cheered. David duke and others. They cheered. So are those the people you want to animate . Do you really want that sort of support . Because if i did that even inadvertently, most people would say, i dont want that support. That is not what i mean by that. And if thats what nationalism or being a nationalist means, i am not that. He wont say that. He doubles down, atta. Attacking the reporter is what he does. She handled it great. Tell me what you got. You know whitaker is going to be the new acting. Its interesting because hes been on my show and he talk ted about his strategy to make this investigation go away by taking away the resources. And then all of a sudden a year and a half later, the p said this is the guy. I actually subbed in for you and interviewed him on your show. Did you talk about that . Yeah. You dont watch when youre not on. All right. Power in congress is soon going to be split. But there doesnt have to be a bitter divide about it. Americans deserve better. I have a Closing Argument about what last night hopefully means. Dont hate me because im pretty. You are pretty. Ld way. You need a partner that is willing to break free from conventional thinking. We are a different kind of financial company. We are athene, and we are driven to do more. You always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . Lets say it in a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price, guaranteed. Just stick with badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com after bills back needed a vacation from his vacation. So he stepped on the dr. Scholls kiosk. It recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain so you can move more. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Hooray. Now we know. No more speculation, pundits, panderers, projections though some races are still close to call. Good for you. Close to 50 of eligible voters came out. Well over 100 million strong. That makes this midterm a high watermark. Heres the breakdown by partisanship. Take a look at this on your screen. See, everybody came out. The democrats came out most. All were represented. But women, bra va to the women. Huge on the ballot. They won the day for the democrats. If youre a democrat, you cannot be happy without thanking the women who came out as voters and candidates. But they ran from all parts of the political spectrum. So to all the women who voted, those who ran, good for you. Now, lets just be clear about what happened last night. Trump was on the ballot effectively. This was largely about his rule. The president was weighed and measured and found lacking in the main. He lost another popular vote, this time by millions more than as much in a margin. Maybe twice well have to see. He did well where he has always done well. But the base got smaller, and the people who oppose his words and deeds came forward and were counted, and they are much bigger than his base. We also know why this happened. Fear and loathing works in some places. Negativity in politics can be like catnip. But we see at rallies, senate races, it worked. But the American People overall demanded Something Better, and that is more clear than ever. Heres the proof of your discontent. Look at this. 76 of americans say they see it. More divided, all right . The reality is right there. The question is will you get Something Better . Judging by today, optimism says change will take time. The president says he wants to change tone, that he wants to make deals. The democrats say they want to create jobs, that they know you want political peace. But we only know what they show. And the president offered more of the same outwardly today, threats to opponents, the media. Oh, and he fired the attorney general today, in part, i argue, to distract from his loss last night. And yet there is reason for optimism, and here it is. Because he and all of them now know you will come out. You made the powerful realize they answer to the many, and that reality may make them less likely to cater to the few. Remember one of the axioms of politics. Those in power often act out of fear of consequence, not conscience, and now they know youre watching. Good for you. Onward. Dont forget our exclusive interview with House Minority leader nancy pelosi tomorrow right here on prime time. Thank you for watching. Cnn tonight with d. Lemon right now. Right by my side. If you thought it was crazy and unprecedented before, wait till now, now that the democrats have control of congress. Im hoping for better. You actually think its going to get better . Yes. And i know youre going to rain on my parade. Well, i wouldnt ask you i know. I knew it was loaded when you asked it. In a divided nation as divided as people are fwl and that was Proof Positive last night. We watched in realtime together, and that was awesome, something ill never forget. We are very divided and were moving further in opposite directions. But a balance of power can be good. They know a lot of people will come out and vote. Im telling you, politicians play scared. Thats the good part, the balance