happening now, breaking news. it's different now. donald trump hints at a possible compromise on a major campaign promise now that he's won the white house. trump says his meeting with president obama gave him new perspective. christie gets trumped. the president-elect demotes the head of his transition team and puts mike pence in charge instead. new details on the shakeup and the role of trump's children and his son-in-law. unfair protests? trump criticizes the demonstrations against his victory, then praising them. and blame game. hillary clinton's spokeswoman says their crushing defeat is mostly the fbi director's fault. tonight, new details on the

democrats in disarray, struggling to find a new leader and a new message. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." ♪ >> this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news tonight, donald trump reveals that he's taking a personal plea from president obama to heart. in his first interview since becoming president-elect, trump tells the "wall street journal" he'll consider leaving parts of the affordable care act in place. trump says the president urged him to reconsider his campaign promise to repeal mr. obama's signature health care law. also breaking, the incoming vice president mike pence. he's now taking over as chairman of the trump transition team while chris christie is being sidelined. in a major shakeup, trump is adding many members of his inner circumstance toll the transition team, including his daughter

ivanka and his daughter and sons eric and don, jr. all signs now point to republican national committee reince priebus getting the job of chief of staff, instead of steve bannon, the controversial trump campaign ceo. the president-elect is promising to make important decisions soon on top jobs within his administration. that trump protest movement continues tonight with new demonstrations planned in multiple cities this hour. trump posted a tweet overnight criticizing the rallies as unfair, only to switch gears hours later and praise the demonstrators. we're going to get reaction to all of this from democratic congressman adam smith, former republican congressman and trump campaign adviser jack kingston. and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by, as we bring you full coverage of the breaking stories. up first, let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, you've covered trump for

many months, and we're beginning to get some hints of potential compromise. >> that's right, wolf. that remains to be seen, but to be trump or not to be trumped, that seems to be the question. in that interview you mentioned, donald trump seems to be tempering his fire breathing agenda from the campaign. but make no mistake, trump is still being trump as his administration takes shape. just days after the election, a shakeup inside the trump transition team. vice president elect mike pence has bumped chris christie down to vice chairman as he takes over the transition. and rudy giuliani, mike flynn, newt gingrich, and dr. ben carson. sources say the move comes over whether the team should hire anti-trump republicans, not to mention the unfolding bridge gate scandal in new jersey. >> mr. president, it was a great

honor being with you. >> reporter: another surprise comes one day after donald trump met with tpresident obama. trump is now open to keeping some portions of obamacare, something he vowed to repeal during the campaign. trump said, either obamacare will be amended or repealed and replaced. but the incoming administration is facing a more pressing concern and continued protests against the president-elect flaring up across the country. >> look, i think everyone needs to take a deep breath. >> reporter: reince priebus urged calm after the president-elect ratcheed up the tensions, returning to complain. just had a very successful presidential election. now professional protesters are protesting. very unfair. a gripe he walked back, saying love the fact that the protesters last night have passion for our great country. we will all come together and be proud. but senate minority leader harry

reed says trump must do more than tweet. if this is going to be a time of healing, we must put the responsibility for healing where it belongs, at the feet of donald trump. priebus, who helped persuade trump to stop tweeting and now a front-runner for white house chief of staff, agreed demonstrators have a right to protest. >> i understand the first amendment. but this election is over and we have a president-elect who has done everything he can do over the last 48 hours to say let's bring people together. >> reporter: cnn learned that priebus and steven bannon are the leading candidates for the powerful chief of staff position. with a source telling cnn that signs are pointing to priebus, and key staffing positions may be coming soon. though jeff pencerling says,

he's still waiting to talk to trump officials. >> i'm very excited about donald trump's economic agenda for america. fundamental tax reform, getting rid of bank bailouts, getting rid of dodd-frank, having better competitive trade deals. >> reporter: now, there are some familiar names mentioned on the trump transition team, including his children. the team's new executive director replaces rich bagger. so sources saying this wasn't about elbowing chris christie out of the way, sure seems that way. >> thank you very much, jim acosta reporting for us. let's get a democratic take on the breaking news. we're joined by congressman adam smith, the ranking democrat on the house armed services committee. thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. >> so donald trump gave an interview today to "the wall street journal" where he really sounded like he had changed, at least his tone from the campaign. he's open to amending obamacare

instead of repealing it. didn't mention building a wall. do you anticipate a trump administration will put forth a more conservative policy? do you think we might see a more moderate president trump emerge than candidate trump? >> it's impossible to say. it sort of lurches back and forth from one moment to the other. but i agree most with senator reid. if there's any healing in this country, it's going have to start with donald trump walking back a lot of what he said during the campaign. he ran one of the most bitter, divisive, and negative campaigns we've seen. he made inflammatory comments about women, countless ethnic groups, a whole bunch of individuals. it was just a nasty effort. a lot of it was tweeted and a lot was said. if he wants to unite the country, he is going to have to walk back from that and give some indication he's going to be inclusive of the entire country, including the groups he insulted during the campaign.

>> because president obama yesterday at the oval office meeting said it was a very positive meeting. hillary clinton, in her concession speech, she said this is an opportunity for a new development, a new change in donald trump's plan. do you think the house democrats, and you're one of the leaders, will be able to work with trump and his administration? >> i don't know. it depends a great deal on what he does. we already heard from speaker ryan that they're planning on doing a reconciliation bill as their first order of business that would completely get rid of obamacare, which by the way would take 20 million people's health insurance away instantaneously. if they want to do massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, so there is always an opportunity, when you have a new president, and a new congress. but i enter this one with a great deal of skepticism, hoping that i will be proven wrong, that donald trump and the

republicans will indeed work together with democrats and work together with the rest of the country. there wasn't much indication of that on the campaign. a couple comments in the last couple of days have been okay. but still count me as a skeptic on whether or not president trump is going to reach out in any sort of broad-based way. >> he seems to be doing so in that interview that just came out in "the wall street journal." let's see what happens. the clinton campaign put out a statement today saying their campaign couldn't get past fbi director james comey's decision to notify congress that the fbi was sort of reopening their investigation into hillary clinton's private e-mail server. that was ultimately during the final 11 days of the campaign. the main reason why hillary clinton didn't win. is it really fair to blame this on the fbi director? >> well, as with any campaign, particularly a presidential campaign, when you're talking about hundreds of millions of votes, there are a lot of factors that go into it.

i certainly don't think that helped. it shifted the focus back over to secretary clinton and away from a lot of the inflammatory things that donald trump said. keep in mind, this was a razor thin election in states of wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania. it was very, very close. and if donald trump had lost those states he would have lost the election. so virtually anything that shifted the election slightly one way or the other could be deemed as decisive. there were other factors. but i don't think, you know, announcing that there was a reopening of the case what, a week, ten days before the election helped. but there were many other factors. >> because hillary clinton lost blue states, as you point out, like wisconsin, pennsylvania, states that democrats haven't lost in presidential contests in a very, very long time. did her campaign misinterpret her support in that so-called blue firewall?

>> well, i don't know about that. i think they were trying to make sure that they had a presence. they were certainly running ads in all of those states. they were certainly active. i know she did a rally in michigan. >> she didn't go to -- congressman, she didn't go to wisconsin once, since after the convention. all those months. she never stepped foot in wisconsin. >> look, i'm not going to second guess the clinton campaign. i don't think that's helpful at this point. going forward, i think one thing that would be helpful is to look at some of the states that had these very aggressive voter i.d. laws and that also purged people from the rolls. there were a lot of people who were turned away at the polls who showed up expecting to be able to vote in states like wisconsin who didn't have the proper i.d. and weren't allowed to vote. i think that too was a big factor in this election. i think denying people the right to vote is about as anti-american as i can imagine.

i hope there will be a serious look at that so people do get to exercise the right to vote. >> who do you think should be the next chairman or chairwoman of the democratic national committee? >> i know there's a number of candidates being mentioned. ly say i think howard dean did a fantastic job when he was dnc chair. i was a huge fan of john kerry. he took a 50-state strategy. whoever the next dnc chair is, i think that has to be the approach. we have to develop a message for the entire country. we have to recruit candidates all across the country, build an organization that looks at this in its totality. i think howard dean did a good job of that when he was the dnc chair. i also think that our dnc chair should be a full-time position. i've heard several members of

congress names floated. i just -- being a member of congress and being dnc chair is a lot to ask, particularly when you're the party out of power. we need a full-time dnc chair who is focused on getting out our message broadly. it's also worth noting that as last count, somewhere around 7 million fewer people voted in 2016 than voted in 2012. which shows our party has to do something to appeal to people and get them out to vote. we lost something in those four years. we got to get it back, get community people of color, millennials, new voters. we've got to get them to the polls. those 7 million votes that disappeared from 2012 to 2016 would clearly have made the difference in this election. >> sounds like you really want the democratic party to do a full autopsy right now to learn some lessons, what happened this time, so they're not repeated next time. congressman adam smith, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. i appreciate the chance.

just ahead, so who's on the short list to serve on the trump national security team? we're getting new details on the president-elect's possible choices, and the challenges he faces. and we'll get special insight from a senior trump campaign adviser, the former republican congressman jack kingston. he's here with me. we'll be right back. ♪ just look at those two. happy. in love. and saving so much money on their car insurance by switching to geico... well, just look at this setting. do you have the ring? oh, helzberg diamonds. another beautiful setting. i'm not crying.

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tonight, donald trump is promising to make important decisions soon about his picks for top jobs in his incoming administration. we're getting new information right now about the potential leaders of his national security team. let's bring in jim sciutto. jim, what are you learning? >> reporter: wolf, we're laning

that several of the leaders of his transition team, including rudy giuliani, michael flynn, newt gingrich, all of them likely to take senior national security roles in a trump administration. they were with him throughout the campaign, but it might surprise that late comers, even some of the never-trumpers aren't entirely off the list, as well. trump adviser and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani now helping to lead trump's transition team. >> donald has been my friend for 28 years. all my work on behalf of him has been out of great loyalty and friendship to him. i can see already how he's going to be a great president, and i'm glad i could play a small role. >> reporter: before the election, dozens of gop national security officials and experts declared in two separate letters that they would never work for a trump administration. but sources tell cnn many of those so-called never-trumpers are coming back.

even offering mea culpas. still, his inner circumstanle w led by those who gave him unwavering support. rudy giuliani, possible for secretary of state and chief of staff and even attorney general. >> i certainly have the energy, and there's probably nobody that knows the justice department better than me. >> reporter: senator jeff sessions. >> donald, welcome to my hometown, mobile, alabama. >> reporter: a transition team leader and one of the first gop senators to back trump is also likely to land a plum job, including defense secretary. >> donald j. trump to be the next president of the united states. >> reporter: retired general michael flynn offered trip vociferous support, tweeting you decide, nypd blows whistle on

new hillary e-mails, money launders, sex crimes with children, et cetera. must read. allegations that remain unsubstantiated. he is a possibility for senior posts, including national security adviser. his new posttest will send the world revealing signals about his foreign policy. trump said he wasn't looking for people with the usual backgrounds earlier this year. >> i also look and have to look for talented experts with approaches and practical ideas, rather than surrounding myself with those who have perfect resumes. >> reporter: trump will receive his first high-level intelligence briefings, the same as the president within days. today, cia director john brennan expressed hope that those briefings would reign in any dramatic foreign policy changes, such as re-evaluating treaties with asian and european allies. and there's still a lot of questions about what a trump foreign policy will look like.

>> good report. thank you very much, jim sciutto reporting for us. let's talk a little bit more about the breaking news on the trump transition. joining us now, former congressman jack kingston. congressman, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> so you read that new interview, the first he's done since becoming president-elect with "the wall street journal." he's open to amending obamacare instead of simply outright repealing it, if you will, replacing it. he said out of respect to the president, he wants to consider that. didn't speak about building the wall, mexico paying for it. is there a difference now in governing as opposed to campaigning? >> there is a difference, and i think a lot of it is just the tone and the words that you choose and you need to choose them carefully. i believe the two provisions that he's talking about do have overwhelming republican support. the preexisting illness part, which was not unique to obamacare, there were a lot of provisions on that.

allowing adult children who live at home who are in between jobs to stay on their parent's health care. i think that's a lot of republican support for that, with or without obamacare. but i think getting back to what are you going to do? there's still 28 million people underinsured. how do you get them into the market. >> does he have a plan for that? does he have a specific plan? >> i think he's probably working with paul ryan, congressman tom price, who is a great champion of this for many years. so i think they'll be moving in the senate, as well. so i believe there's going to be a lot of kind of combining of trump ideas, senate and house ideas and they'll get a good product. >> why did the vice president-elect become the head of the transition all of a sudden? because it looks like chris christie has been demoted. >> well, chris christie has been a loyal soldier. he did transfer i would say

unlike some of the other potential nominees, chris christie followed through and he supported mr. trump. but i think that mr. trump was worried about a distraction. mike pence not only knows the capital, he knows the players in the house and the senate, he knows how the committee system works and he knows all the governors. so that really brings a unique talent to the picture. and so i think it's not going to be a bump in the road. i think it's just going to be a change. >> when you say distraction, chris christie was a distraction, if you will? >> i think we don't want to talk about bridges. we've got about 70 days to get a good team together. we've got to hire 4,000 people, 1,000 have to be approved by the senate. we can't waste an hour. >> can it appropriate that his adult children are on this transition committee? because as you know, he said look, my kids will be running the business, not part of the government. but here they're helping this

team select the most important government officials, and to some it looks like a potential conflict of interest. >> well, i remember chip carter, jimmy carter's son was part of his team. and i don't know officially what kind of title they would have. certainly the bush family was part of the team, and i'm not certain about the clintons so much. but i think bringing in a family member, a trusted -- a bobby and a john kennedy, those are going to be very, very loyal people who a president needs to surround himself with. not just because of the loyalty, but because of the emotional support they could give the president. >> the difference is donald trump has a huge business, tens of billions -- a $10 billion business, as he likes to say. these other children, they were not part of some mega business like that. donald trump has said look, we'll deal with all the iron clad rules to prevent any conflict of interest. this would give appearance,

though, that if these children, adult children, all very talented and intelligent, are involved in selecting secretary of state, defense secretary, secretary of the treasury, potential hi it could be a conflict. >> well, i think in terms of the business, where the firewall is, we're all going to figure out what that is. i know the trump family does not want to cross that a bit. but i think somebody like his son-in-law, jared, or somebody like ivanka, who has been on the campaign trail advising him on the family leave plan, for example, or donald trump hooking into the millennials, he does want their advice and it's appropriate. >> are you ready for a new job? >> i'm a volunteer and proud to be part of the campaign. >> and you'll be open if the president-elect of the united states calls you to do something, right? >> i'm just a volunteer in the campaign. >> very diplomatic. maybe in the state department, you can become a diplomat. thank you very much for joining

us. >> thanks, wolf. just ahead, donald trump may be softening on obamacare after his meeting with the president. is he suddenly sounding like hillary clinton, and who is to blame for hillary clinton's election defeat? we'll take a look at the hand wringing and finger pointing inside the democratic party. take a look at this, live picture in from miami right now. looks like some protests are developing there, anti-develona trump protests developing in miami. much more right after this. but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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we're back with the breaking news. donald trump now hinting that he may be willing to keep parts of obamacare in place after president obama urged him to reconsider his vow to repeal the law. we're joined now by our political team. jeff zeleny, you've been covering hillary clinton for a long time. in this interview with "the wall street journal" that donald trump just gave, he sounded at least a bit like hillary clinton saying obamacare, he wants to amend it. she always said she wanted to change and improve it, if you will. what is the behind the scenes development here? because it sounds from the democrat's perspective very encouraging. >> right. this is just one example. we're heading into a unpredictable situation. he said on the preexisting conditions specifically, it's something he will consider. and he said it came out of his

conversation with president obama in the oval office. so i think one thing to keep in mind here, donald trump has -- before he ran for president as a republican -- he was always a manhattan liberal. so there's more of him potentially coming out here. if he goes down this path, he will get himself into a fight with conservatives over this. so who knows if this is just a trial balloon or what not. but him leaving the door open to this is probably giving some heartburn to conservatives. >> and he said he's doing this out of respect to the president, that 90-minute meeting he had yesterday. give us the behind the scenes decision for the change in the transition team, the vice president-elect mike pence is now in charge, chris christie not so much. >> another effort to turn down the temperature hear in washington. what we were hearing behind the scenes is that chris christie was running into some trouble because he was trying to persuade trump and other people that, listen, we've got to hire some never-trumpers here.

there are republicans that want to work for this administration, and there was some infighting going on over this. i was talking to one transition official earlier today who was not part of the never-trumper movement saying why are we hiring never-trumpers? but also, the bridge gate scandal weakened chris christie's standing in donald trump's inner circle. and so they were really left with no choice here but to put mike pence in this position. >> we just heard congressman jack kingston say they didn't want any distractions and didn't want to hear anymore about bridges. you may be right on that. abby, other newly named members of this transition team, a few members of congress and the adult children of donald trump. what do you make of that? >> for starters, having his children on the transition team raises a lot of questions about what happens in the future. we know they are going to basically inherit control over the companies, the for-profit businesses that are part of trump's wealth. i think that raises a lot of questions about how they can be

doing both of these jobs simultaneously. we knew from the very beginning that these entanglements that trump has in his businesses with foreign governments and people all over the world would pose an unprecedented problem in a presidential administration. i think having the adult children as part of the transition doesn't assuage any childrens about whether those entanglements will continue to impact the composition of the government. we know that ivanka and the other children are close advisers to their father. i think this signals that he's going to continue with that. >> they're obviously very talented, intelligent young people, as well. ron, there's a battle brewing to be trump's chief of staff. trump is said to favor his campaign ceo steve bannon. most of the inner circle think reince priebus is the best for the job. is this another case of what some have called trump's choosing between his head and his heart? >> look, it is literally impossible to think of anyone who would be more

confrontational, not only to the existing republican congressional leadership but to the plurality of the 60 million people that voted against donald trump than stephen bannon. so the fact that donald trump is saying this is -- making it clear this is his personal choice is an important signal. you would think that the pressure around him would force him towards reince priebus or another choice. this is a very interesting moment for donald trump, about whether -- and how much he's willing to concede. relevant to this conversation, the parts of the affordable care act that he's talking about are not central to the law. the centrality of the law are the expansion of medicaid that's provided coverage for 20 million people.

and there's no indication that he's willing to continue with that. and i think that will be the core question. are they going to withdraw coverage from 20 million people and do they have anything to replace it with if they do? >> we just got the first excerpt of donald trump's first television interview that he granted to leslie staal of "60 minutes." watch this. >> let me ask you about obamacare, which you say you're going to repeal and replace. when you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered? >> yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets. also, with the children living with their parents for an extended period. >> you're going to keep that? >> very much try to keep that in. it adds cost but something we're going to try to keep. >> and there's going to be a period, if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose -- >> we're going the do it

simultaneously. it will be just fine. i know how to do this stuff. we're going to repeal it and replace it. we're not going to have like a two-day period and we're not going to have a 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. >> you heard, jackie, the president-elect say he likes some parts of obamacare, similarly to what he said in the wall street journal. but he still wants to repeal and replace and create a much better, cheaper system. >> okay. what is that going to be? is it going to be what the house republicans have presented? is it going to be something else entirely? we don't know, because donald trump hasn't really given us any specifics over the course of this campaign. it's been a lot of rhetoric, not a lot of details. so we sort of have to wait and see. but you would imagine if he's working with someone like paul

ryan, maybe some of the stuff the house republicans have put forward will be what he ultimately embraces. >> it's a different tone we're hearing, at a minimum. you have to agree. >> he is getting to the reality of governing. but here's the problem with the affordable care act when you pull it apart. if you keep the part where you say we're going to have people with preexisting conditions covered, then you run into a problem. if you take away the individual mandate, that is what helps pay for the system. you force people to buy health care, that revenue goes into the insurance companies, which covers the people with the preexisting conditions. once you pull pieces of this puzzle out, you don't have full coverage anymore. and you're going to have insurance companies screaming n mad. >> and the health insurance industry has changed from this law. the structure has changed. so donald trump has to really think about what happens when you decide to repeal obamacare, what does that actually mean? some of these changes cannot be

undone, because they've -- the entire industry has changed the way that they operate in order to accommodate this law. >> for all these reasons, that is probably one of the reasons many republicans think that obamacare will not be the first thing he tries to work on, because it is so complicated. it's hard to get a win on that. look for infrastructure, something else to be the first item up for business. >> that's an issue with spending. if you increase the spending, he's going to run into a problem with conservatives who have been trying to keep a lid on spending. >> there are areas, it's emerged over the past 48 hours, where a lot of democrats think they can work, at least initially, with donald trump as president of the united states on this infrastructure, building new roads, bridges, highways, fixing airports, schools. that area specifically, there seems to be some bipartisan cooperation in the works. >> i think infrastructure is the most conspicuous area of the trump agenda.

although i did a panel a few weeks ago with paul ryan and asked him about donald trump's promise to spend twice as much as hillary clinton on infrastructure. he said that is not in the better way document. hard to believe that ryan would be enthusiastic about it. most of the trump agenda is going to be full-scale war with democrats. >> we have another excerpt from the "60 minutes" interview. here's donald trump speaking about his phone conversation with hillary clinton the night she conceded and congratulated him. >> hillary called you. tell us about that phone call. >> so hillary called, and it was a lovely call. and it was a tough call for her. i can imagine. tougher for her than it would have been for me, and for me it would have been very difficult. she couldn't have been nicer. she just said, congratulations, donald. well done. and i said, i want to thank you very much. you were a great competitor. she's very strong, and very

smart. >> what about bill clinton, did you talk to him? >> he called the next day. >> really, what did he say? >> actually he called last night. >> what did he say? >> he couldn't have been more gr gracious. he said it was an amazing run, one of the most amazing he's ever seen. >> he said that? >> he was very, very -- really, very nice. >> you said that you might call president obama for advice. would you think of calling president clinton for advice? >> well, he's a very talented guy, both of them. this is a very talented family. certainly, i would certainly think about that. >> it's amazing, jeff, the words he just said there, so different than what we heard about bill clinton and hillary clinton, president obama for that matter, during the course of this campaign. >> i guess that's what winning will do for you, it makes you a bigger person, at least in that moment there. that is one of the things as we can sort of hear some protesters

outside in washington tonight on friday, the leaders of this, all the principals, have been really having living up to a good example here, the obamas, the clintons, the trumps in terms of how they're acting. the most important thing is what happens from here. i do not expect hillary clinton or bill clinton to be advisers to donald trump. >> you remember this, i remember it too. it was a decade or so ago, that bill and hillary clinton were actually invited to his wedding when he married melania. so they have a history, these people, as you well know. >> right. they kind of circulated in the same circled in new york for many years. and donald trump had expressed many liberal new york views. ted cruz talked about new york values. but i think this is not what this presidency is going to be. i think what you are seeing in the protests is probably more of an accurate reflection. we had an enormous divide in the country, and we ended up with an

election that was extraordinary to the degree that voters to each side were so negative on the other. much more than we saw in 2008, much less in the '90s with bill clinton and bob dole. i think the structural imperatives of where donald trump is going, where he wants to take the country is so anathema to the democrats, to the tone bill and hillary clinton have to set and president obama has to set. that's where you have to do a leader in a society. i don't think that's going to be the way it plays out on very many issues. >> tonight, there are new attempts to cast blame for hillary clinton's stunning loss to donald trump, as the democratic party tries to take a closer look at an uncertain future. jeff, you've been taking a closer look at all this. what are you finding out? >> the clinton campaign has been circling the wagons today trying to get people on board. but other democrats have been pointing fingers. the simplest way to explain this

is she did not turn out her democratic base. one aide said some of the head winds of our own making. some, however, were not. >> reporter: tonight, there is one question above all inside a decimated democratic party. who's to blame? there may be more than enough to go around for one of the biggest defeats in political memory. in calls with donors and supporters, cnn has learned that john podesta says fbi director james comey reviving the e-mail controversy cost hillary clinton the election. some allies agree. >> i was in clinton head quarters a few days before the election. we were looking at very favorable data. the comey announcement had kind of turned that data in a different direction. >> reporter: yet others believe the blame begins with clinton and her campaign. >> people are hungry for new

direction. i think that's why trump has won this election. they want change. >> reporter: as a new political order falls over washington, democrats are looking back before they can look forward. two central questions -- why did college educated voters turn away from clinton at the end? and why did working class voters even democrats long friendly to the clintons, go another way? >> in the end, they were scared. they cared about their job. they're tired of the status quo. and they voted to shake it up. >> reporter: cnn has learned there was also considerable second guessing about not paying closer attention to bill clinton's advice, to focus on disaffected white working class voters. now for the first time in a generation, the democratic party is moving forward without a clinton in the mix. today, an early scramble to lead the democratic national committee. congressman keith ellison, labor

secretary tom perez, and former governor martin o'malley among the names eyeing bids. bernie sanders and chuck schumer throwing their support behind ellison. it was ellison who suggested on a sunday talk show president trump was a possibility. >> anybody from the democratic side of the fence who thinks that -- who is terrified of the possibility of president trump, better vote, better get active, better get involved. because this man has some momentum and we better be ready. >> reporter: so as the future of the democratic party is taking shape here in washington, hillary clinton will be taking her leave. i'm told tonight, she will be at a staff party in brooklyn, she will be attending to thank her staffers for all their hard work. >> thank you very much. let's get more on the future of the democratic party and hillary

clinton's loss. we're joined by congressman john gurumundy. thank you very much for joining us. all right, congressman, you heard jeff zeleny's report. they're saying the campaign couldn't get past james comey's decision to notify congress, the fbi was rereviewing their investigation into hillary clinton's private e-mail server. and that ultimately was the reason why she didn't win. is it really fair to blame comey on this? >> absolutely it's fair. it was a reality and it happened 11 days before the election, and it was a terrible, terrible blow. i know here in california, which is strongly in support of hillary, there was dismay and there was a lot of fallout as a result of that. it's not the only reason, of course. there are many other things. most of which you talked about a few moments ago. but when you put all of those together and you come up 11 days before the election and the entire thing is upset by an fbi

director's statement, you cannot ignore the reality that it had a very significant impact on it. but there's another thing out there that i think we have to pay attention to, and that is the children are listening. there's incredibly horrible things happening in our schools across the country right now, that we had better pay attention to, and specifically mr. trump has to walk back all of his racist statements, all of his statements about women, because the children are in the classroom, they are trumpeting trump's statements. and it is horrible. >> well, you just heard some excerpts from the new "60 minutes" interview which he said very, very nice things about hillary clinton, bill clinton, saying he wants to bring the country together. similar things he said in this "wall street journal" interview today. also shifting his tone on obamacare, saying he's open to amending it instead of necessarily repealing it. he likes some aspects of it, and

he is saying this because of his respect, he said, for president obama. and he said that 90-minute meeting they had in the oval office behind me was really, really important. so he's saying a lot of positive things from your perspective, right? >> no, he's not yet dealing with the fact that there was almost 15 monthes of bullying going on in the republican primary. the children were listening. back before the conventions, it is being played out in kindergartens here in california and across the nation. and then as soon as this election was over, the day after the election kids were in the classroom in trump marches with their signs. and many cases saying now we can be racist. come on now. this is really serious stuff across the nation. >> tell me congressman. what do you want the president elect to do? >> i want him to stand before the television cameras as soon as he possibly can and say we're all american, wherever we've

come from. whether we've come from mexico or the middle east. we are all americans. this country is made up of men and women of every color, every ethnicity. every religion. and we're going to be together here. there is no place in this nation for racism, bigotry or misogyny against women. that is what he has to tell the nation and make it clear because the children are listening. >> his victory speech though the other night in new york at the new york -- at that hotel where he was delivering it. in new york hittlton hotel. he did say he wants to be the president of all americans. he did say he wants to bring the country together. was anyway not enough? >> that is clearly not enough. he's got to be very specific. in the classrooms here in california. those of mexican heritage are being told by their classmates you got to two home now.

there is going to be a wall. you got to go home. a classroom teacher of hispanic heritage. her family in america for generations was told by one student, i don't have to listen to you anymore because you are going to have to two home. that kind of thing has to be addressed and it is not just the hispanics. certainly the muslims. certainly people of color. people of other religions, they are fearful. they fear for their lives. they fear for their children. and the president of the united states has to reach out. and george w. bush did this at 9/11. he very clearly reached out to the muslim community in this nation and said this is something where we will stand together. now trump has do that otherwise we're heading down an extraordinarily dangerous path. and once again the children listened very very carefully over the last year. they listened to all he said about women. they liverpooled stened to what

about disabled people. they were watching. they were listening and now they are acting out. and this has to be put to rest immediately. otherwise it is going to be a fire that will burn this country for a long, long time. >> how will house democrats work with this new administration to bring the country together? >> well, we will work very closely with everything that deals with the fundamental problems of the jobs in the united states, the income discrepancy that exists between the wealthy, the working men and women. we believe in making it in america. trump wants to bring jobs back to america. let's make sure american taxpayer dollars are spent on american made equipment. want ab infrastructure equipment. willed that in. that will build jobs. and we know the trade deals are going to have to be negotiated and when they are they must be fair to the american workers. >> congressman, thank you so much for yoik us.

just ahead more breaking news. a shame up in trump's transition team. new compromises from the president elect. we'll be right back. 27 o ♪

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tonight a divides nation is honoring the service men and women who defend our democracy. president obama's final veterans day as commander chief and

urging those to help heal the wounds by paying tribute to those who have worn the uniform. take a look. ♪ >> on veterans day, we honor those who honored our country. with its highest form of service. we owe you our thanks. we owe your our respect. we owe you our freedom.

and on behalf of all of our viewers, thanks to our military veterans. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching i'm wolf blitzer in the situation roma. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next. breaking nudes. donald trump speaking out tonight saying he may keep parts of the obamacare. after vowing repeatedly to repeal it. is he walking back his campaign promise. and the anti-trump protesters taking to the streets. and trump promising a wall on the u.s./mexico border. will hi build it and? what would