hi will and welcome then "cnn newsroom." we have some who will be wielding that pow around what they might plan to do with it.

on your left, donald trump campaign chair and donald trump pick for white house chief of staff, reince priebus. the latter representing party establishment. the former representing not just the outsiders but the fringe, really. these hires leaving donald trump with just under 4,000 executive branch positions to fill, but over the weekend he took time out to talk to z"60 minutes" about a range of issues including, yes, the wall. >> are you really going to build a wall? >> yes. >> they're talking about a fence in the republican congress. would you saa fence? >> for certain areas. for certain areas a wall is -- i'm very good at this. it could be some fencing. >> my cnn colleague phil mattingly joining me from washington. tell us first, phil, what the president-elect is doing today?

>> reporter: it's all about transition's in said in jest, only about 4,000 more positions to fill. a very real issue and frankly a very real problem for a transition team coming off an election they expected to win. try being one they weren't sure about winning. a full-on blitz. talking about the two premiere positions, chief of staff and chief strategist. time to go up and down the list inside the white house, internal positions, deputy chiefs of staffs senior advisers across the board and then move into the cabinets. each different cabinet way transition team assigned to it. what they're going through now. you can look at people walking inside and out of trump tower. steve mnuchin, definitely under consideration for perhaps treasury secretary and people like kellyanne conway, obviously, campaign manager in the running for a number of different positions. that's the focus now. filling those positions. once you get that done you can move on to bigger issues. until you get that done you're

restricted what you can do. >> you have steve bannon, many folks say, look, this is going to be donald trump's karl rove and i remember when rahm emanuel was chosen, signifying what want to get done with congress. what's the reaction? >> take reince priebus first. you're not going to find a lot of people opposed to or upset about this pick in both parties. because there's a recognition, reince priebus, never held elected office understands how washington works, understand negotiating with congress and lawmakers and leaders, understands reality how to get things done in this town. that's important. even though donald trump ran an outsiders' campaign, having him at his right hand is very important. steve bannon. less so in terms of enthusiasm both on the left and those being honest with you, republicans as well. long a target for steve bannon. paul ryan first among them.

his influence inside the white house is drawing a lot of concern, ringing alarm bells and defended by trump advisers. listen to what kellyanne conway had to say. >> i think it's a great team and will continue to work close with them in some capacity to be decided. they complement each other, both have the most important thing which is the ear of the boss. >> and criticism of steve bannon because of breitbart and some of its articles and headlines. what's the resporsponsresponse? >> been the general of this campaign and frankly people should look at full resume. a harvard business degree a naval officer. he has success in entertainment. i'm not sure you're aware of that and certainly was goldman sachs managing partner. brilliant technician. >> brianne narcs the defen, the hearing. a tight-knit group that led donald trump to a very unexpected campaign victory. every expectation those individuals would join him in the white house including steve

bannon, no matter how controversial he's been. >> phil mattingly, thank you so much. a lot more to talk about. those who followed this election closely are familiar with steve bannon but he's not exactly a household name. many probably heard that for the first time in august when donald trump hired him to help turned around his campaign. this was a pit that raised eyebrows, because of bannon's ties to breitbart. a far right news organization. senate minority leader harry reid was quick to sound the ala alarm. his spokesman, president trump's nomination of steve bannon means white supremacists will be in the highest levels in the trump white house. and this is a concern, because, brian stelter, you have people who say bright bart has become a form for the quote/unquote alt right, old school, still

repackaged white supremacists, white nationalists, and there are many people concerned with what harry reid is saying that now there is that voice in the white house. >> this is not a normal presidential appointment and sometimes on cable news and newspapers all of these sorts of things seem alike. they all seem similar. this is not. this is not a normal presidential appointment. steve bannon is not someone who would have been comfortable or fitting in, in a bush white house or an obama white house. he wouldn't have fit into a democrat or a republican administration, goes to show how unusual this trump administration is. he is reince priebus on the one hand but steve bannon on the other. kellyanne conway said look at this full resume. we should keep an open mind, but he's a platform for the alt right and some of what that stands for is despicable. it's important as we go along and talk about bannon to recognize this is not normal.

>> a lot of people are not going to know who shhe is. there was a moment we saw him not talking but at a key moment in the campaign. this is right before the second debate. >> oh, right. >> when donald trump had a press conference, there you see him right there. he had a press conference with bill clinton's accusers. this was seen as a big political stunt. also very unsettling, and i think -- i remember even the clinton folks were surprised that this happened, and you saw him there to witness this, and he's normally -- i mean, almost reclusive for someone who was an aide at the level he was at in the kpanchcampaign. >> yes. >> how does he message, especially this elent vent, how does he message in the white house? >> political dirty trickster. the fact we have individual grow there goes to show he does not do interviews. normally not accessible. the one time i was able to speak with him during the campaign was because we on the same plane

landing at one of the debates and talked how the campaign was going, talked about the rallies, that i had to go to the rallies to understand what americans were thinking nap was one subset of america. he'll be in trump's ear trying to ensure that trump's base is happy with the decisions made in the trump administration. >> he was right, though. the rallies did tell us even more than we knew, than many people knew, than eastern perhaps, donald trump's aides knew. >> right. >> brian stelter, thank you so much for that. and we have, of course, a lot to discuss with our political panel as well. we have jackie kucinich. washington butch reau chief andx berns for the "new york times." both amal sis for us, and jackie, reince priebus. he's defending bannon. bannon is someone who's very different, of course, than reince priebus, but here's what priebus said. >> the white house chief of staff is always generally responsible for the day to day

operation of the white house. it's a -- it's an operations role but also an advisory role to the president. you know, the way we've operated last few months is steve and i have formed a great partnership in advising president-elect trump together, and that's what it really is. i think you've seen especially over the last few months that donald trump has been very disciplined and also been very comfortable and on message and clear-minded. >> so you look at these hires. do they bridge the party divide? do they aggravate it? do they do both? >> i think the greatest way you could see that reflected is to the extent that the establishment republicans, the elected republicans, are ignoring the fact bannon is a part of this administration. last night we started getting press releases reacteding to this selection of reince priebus and steve bannon, steve bannon's name was suspiciously left off a lot of the congratulations on the emphasis it was on reince priebus. i think a lot of republicans

would like to see bannon maybe sink further into the background, perhaps out of the white house, but they're not going to have that chance. at the same time you've seen republican leaders today struggling to answer on why steve bannon, someone who has such a checkered his industry a part of this without and they'll have to continue doing that until they have a good answer, frankly. >> alex, he's part of the white house because he was such an essential part of the campaign. you look at transition that this campaign made after donald trump jetson's paul man forte. steve bannon was big part of that. he's a big part of donald trump's success. >> absolutely right. in some respect the kind of figure where the exact title probably matters less than it does for somebody like reince priebus who does need a certain kind of institutional legitimacy and sort of explicit authority to operate the machine of government in order to perform his role. if someone like steve bannon, and a number of people in the trump universe fall into this

category. someone like steve bannon frankly were skyle exiled from pous, he would still have donald trump's ear and be influential fop jackie's point, reaction from folks on the hill, the establishment, folks concerned about passing a traditional conservative agenda look at these two appointments as the equivalent of having an arsonist and a firefighter in the white house together, and calling that balance. they're very concerned about what this kind of cocktail of personalities will look like. >> some kind of metaphor. jackie, i know you listen to dnt on s donald trump on "60 minutes." he sn he signaled a lot where he wants to go. he talked about obama care, talked about the wall. seemed he was adding details that sort of back him off these signature issues? >> i think at this point you have to, you really do have to start talking about policy.

you can't take away certain parts of obama care that fund other parts of obama care you agree with. his people will have to start digging into this along with the house republicans and senate republicans. in terms of the wall, there are realities there sprup to fund this thing and can't just move money around always appropriated. because it's not going to be enough. the fact he's dialing back expectations. this is someone who fashions himself a master negotiator. seems like, and he said this, at some point along the campaign trail, he was saying was a start and there might be room to maneuver within what he's already said. >> it's all about, alex what his supporters give him room to do. will they see this as walking back promises? >> trump probably has far more maneuvering space within his base than a president who's normally elected particularly one who's normally elected with, by a really, really small

margin, losing the popular vote. under normal circumstances, either party, an incoming president would feel i am on really, really thin ice and can't afford to slooz eve an sliver of support from my base. we've seen, brianne narcs the last year and a half, really, trump can do an awful lot without losing much support from within his base of voter support. >> alex and jackie, stick around with meep me. more ahead with you. talking about obama care. repeal and replace or amend it. what parts of the affordable care act does donald trump want to keep and who is directly affected by the overhaul?

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the trump administration is taking shape in washington actually before our very eyes and ears. i want to bring back our panel. jackie kucinich and alex berns. something i want to talk to you about we have in now. radio host laura ingraham under serious consideration for white house press secretary. this was something that had been discussed here in recent days, and there had also been, we were hearing from sources, a need for a woman to be prominently placed in the administration. one of the more visible

positions. so, jackie, when you look at this, what do you think about a pick like that, and, you know, what are you hearing how much in the running she is? >> you're hearing a lot of names at this point, but she certainly has been a vocal supporter of trump and the conservative underdog. i remember she was really behind david bratt when he was facing off against eric cantor. she has, really, taken ricksks backing these folks. an interesting choice by the trump administration. certainly someone who wouldn't be afraid to take it to us in the media as press secretary. >> certainly, alex, look at the people discussed it's very guy-heavy, when you look especially when we don't know whether kellyanne conway will be a part of the administration or if she'll stay as an outside adviser. >> right. we haven't heard from this transition or from the president

looe -elect the typical rhetoric, want to put together an administration that looks like america, or put together an administration where women and minorities are well represented. you can remember others making that clear. important for hillary clinton if she had won. you have an unusual phenomenon unfolding where you have a president who was elected by an overwhelmingly white coalition who will probably want to be building bridges outside of that coalition, if he wants to, you know, get out of the pit his poll numbers, favorability numbers are in. we haven't seen a sign he plans to do that through appointments just yet. >> talk about some of his policy proposals. obama care, for instance. how much does he really plan to change? he was asked that by "60 minutes." here the what he said. >> 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. >> you're going to keep that? >> also with the children living with their parents for an extended period we're going to very much try and keep that. adds cost, but it's very much something we're going to try and keep. >> and there's going to be a period, if you repeal it, and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose -- >> no. we're going to do it simultaneously. it will be just fine. >> and jackie, you've heard surrogates say another possible change would be opening up across state lines the ability to purchase insurance. you talked to democrats. they say, sounds fine to us. so what's really going on here? because this doesn't sound like, this doesn't sound like a repeal. it sounds like tinkering around the edges, keeping things that are certainly very popular and there's nothing he's saying that is very alarming at this point to democrats? >> the thing is, it's very hard to unring the fwhael is obama care. he talked about wanting to keep people who, the preexisting condition.

the children who, on their parents' health ircare until they're 26. how the insurance system is structured right now has been changed, because of obama care. this is a very, very complicated sort of thing to unwind, and we haven't really seen a grasp of that anywhere. within the trump administration. now, if they sort of throw a lifeline out to house republicans and help them figure out the policy ins and outs of this, that's something that remains to be seen. simply cutting off one thing without a way to pay for it, that's not how this works. it's too ingrained already in the health care system. >> what does that mean, alex, for supporters of donald trump, for a number of -- i mean i just think of tea party republicans who came into power on the

promise they were going to combat obama care? this has been their goal, to repeal this. so if they cannot deliver that, is that acceptable to them and also to republicans across the country? >> you know i don't think we know the answer to that and brianna, if you thought it was sloppy and messy and unsightly to get this law passed in the first place, as jackie was saying, try unwinding it. this is going to be one of these places you plight see real friction between donald trump and his distinctive base support and traditional ideological conservatives. a lot of the people in the midwest who crossed party lines just economically displaced, blue collar white voters are not necessarily people eager to see government benefits go away. you potentially do have really different short-term political priorities between someone like trump, who does want to cheap coalition together and frankly has never really shown any particular enthusiasm for cutting government spending, and people like paul ryan and ted cruz who as you said, this has

been their cause for most of a decade now. >> jackie, talk about abortion, because donald trump is such a different president-elect, or soon to be president. he has been for abortion rights in the past. he now says that he is pro-life, or anti-abortion. he's saying he's going to pick, what he says, "pro-life supreme court nominees" but at the same time in this interview i thought it was really interesting that he said there's also a long, long way to go when talking about overturning roe versus wade. you could read that he doesn't have a tremendous appetite for that to happen. ship in. he's giving himself so much wiggle room here? >> i think he's trying to make everyone happy at this point particularly with his a sporters and al supporters saying that the gay marriage was settled law but roe v. wade somehow really isn't.

it's him trying to navigate frankly he didn't think he would have to navigate end of the day. i have no doubt he's going to appoint conservative justices. there's nothing that we've seen that would indicate otherwise, but how that ends up shaking out at the end of the day, it's still an open question with someone, this is the thing. he hasn't been a politician before. we really don't have anything to look back on to see how he might act going forward. >> we'll know soon. this is about to get real very fast, you guys. jackie kucinich. alex berns, thanks to you both. up next, gay marriage. law of the land nearly a year and a half. legalized abortion on the books more than four decades. could that change once donald trump's nominee or nominees take the seat on the supreme court?

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. in his first televised sit-down interview since becoming president-elect donald trump made it known where he stands on same-sex marriage. listen to what he told cbs on "60 minutes." >> do you support marriage kw k equality? >> it's irrelevant. it's done. >> even if you appoint a judge. >> it's done. these cases have gone to the supreme court. they've been settled and i'm fine with that. >> so he's fine with that law, but roe v. wade is another story. >> will you appoint, looking to appoint a justice who wants to overturn roe v. wade? >> here's what's going to happen. i'm willing -- i'm pro-life. the judges will be pro-life. if it ever were overturned it would go back to the states.

so it -- >> some women won't be able to get an abortion, by state? >> perhaps they'll have to go to another state. >> cnn senior analyst jeffrey toobin joining me now. pretty fascinating. he's saying, well, they could go to another state. not -- although, of course, democrats would say that's unacceptable. this should be a right, but he's not talking like a republican on this issue at all, of abortion? we >> well, i think in practical terms she supporting the republican position, and he's in a unique position to do it because lehe's going to apoint least one supreme court justice. they're both settled. both have supreme court majorities that support abortion rights that support same-sex marriage. the difference is political, that -- >> public opinion, right? >> and public opinion is sort of, given up on same-sex marriage.

abortion rights remains the central, social issue fight. it's been that my entire life. your entire life, and it shows every sign of continuing. >> he's discerning. for him settled he's not talking like a lawyer? when you say this is settled, normally a lawyer or someone with legal knowledge would say settled law. right? >> exactly. >> so what is the likelihood, then, that roe v. wade could be overturned, because of donald trump having appointments? >> there are currently five justices on the supreme court. they roomed just his past june that roe v. wade is good law and, in fact, states cannot burden the, a woman's right to choose. you see it on the screen there. anthony kennedy a nixon appointee joins with the four democratic appointees, kagan, sotomayor, five justices in favor of protecting the right for abortion and replacing

justice scalia when president trump will announce shortly will not affect the overall balance. the question is who leaves next? ruth ginsburg is 83. >> talk she wanted to retire, obviously reconsidering at this point. >> i don't think she wanted to retire. liberals angry for not leaving when president obama had a democratic majority in the senate. same with stephen br'eier. and anthony kennedy, those three of the five justices in the pro-choice majority in the supreme court of all elderly. >> so when you think of the issues that -- we've talked about abortion. talked about same-sex marriage. what other issues do you think could come before the court, or the clock is really ticking on them? >> i think there will be a lot of issues related to immigration. you know? obviously there will be a big increase in deportation.

maybe not all 11 million. maybe 3 million, but a lot of those cases are going to confined up before the courts. what are -- what's the resolution that? you know, church and state issues. you know, whether you as a religious person can excuse yourself from government organizati organizations, came up in the hobby lobby case. certainly more opportunities for religious people to get out of government obligations. those are important cases. and, you know, the death penalty. the death penalty is hanging by a thread in many respects in the united states. i mean, executions are way down, but it still exists. will the supreme court get rid of it altogether? >> a lot of pressure on donald trump to pick justices who are very clearly conservative, even the chief justice, john roberts. i think of the obama care case in the end that was upheld as a tax, which was felt almost like a dig to president obama, but something where republicans were almost aghast that roberts had helped deliver that. >> right. i think that gives you a

somewhat misleading impression of roberts overall record. he has been very conservative on same-sex marriage, on abortion rights, but it is true he did save obama care. now, the question is what will remain of obama care in a year or two? so that may not be as significant in retrospect as it looks like, but, you know, i think you are absolutely right that he has made a commitment to the conservative wing of the republican party to pick conservative supreme court justices and i have every expectation he will succeed in that. nomination, again. though, confirmation a separate issue. >> sure will. jeffrey toobin, looking forward to that. >> supreme court is always a good story. better than ever now. >> thank you so much. up next, promised to build a wall among other things, added to the political divisiveness in the u.s. so how does donald trump bridge this divide? and govern with so many people insisting that he's not their president.

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wide-ranging interview that touched on gay marriage, the wall trump said he wanted to build an the u.s.-mexican border, a number of issues. and now talking with donald trump jeffrey lorde and paul begala. somebody donald trump said that sticks out, if my people were to protest. he means his supporter, but he is now the president-elect. aren't they all his people? >> well, sure, they're all his people, but brianna, i mean, i have been around, my gray hair betrays me. i remember when the american left was doing this to linden johnson and pure hubert humphrey. they go out on the street and protest, break windows sometimes or get violent. this is what they do. donald trump is just merely their latest opportunity to do this. >> i mean, i've seen this on both sides. i -- look, i certainly hear what

you're saying about the violence, but i've covered tea party pro tests on capitol hill, where people spit on members of congress, where african-american members of congress were called slang terms, racist slang terms. so i want to know what you think, paul when you -- >> there's no place for this brianna, period. no place for racism in american life, period. >> there certainly is no place for it and i wonder, paul what you think about what donald trump needs to do in talking about this? >> well, actually, before i get to that, good manners compels me to point out if it were reversed, see jeffrey sitting there, solid, sedate, sober. if i was jeffrey lorde, i'm in houston, elmo wright played for university of houston. he invented the end zone dance. if i was lorde i'd still be doing the end zone dance. first congratulations to jeffrey for conducting himself so well.

>> thank you, sir. >> and president-elect trump, i choke on saying but it's my d duties an an american. john mitchell was the attorney general for richard nixon. mitchell said one of the enduring laws of washington. he said, watch what we do not what we say. and i think people are getting all excited because trump is saying things that appear to be moderate. i'm not interested. i'm interested in what he does. what he's doing oh far is staffing the government. you unite the country and you staff the government, that's the transitioning. it's very early. only six days. i don't know he's made the progress to be a successful president. the country is bitterly divided and he hasn't seemed to be able to find the actions that can unite it. as far as the government, your earlier panel talked about the controversial surrounding at least steve bannon who apparently will be the most powerful person in the white house and comes out of a pretty eccentric movement, not a

traditional conservative. >> all right. what do you think, jeffrey, you can respond as well, but. >> sure. >> what do you think democratic leaders need to do when looking at what's happening? i watch add protest march through washington, d.c. i did not see violence. i saw people actually joining, and it is a democratic town i. was thinking of portland, oregon. >> walking, joining, as it went. it certainly didn't seem like it was a professional situation as donald trump described. but i wonder what you want to hear from democrats when it comes to these protests? >> well, when i mentioned violence, i was thinking of portland, oregon where apparently there has been some violence. well, i -- you know, look, i protests when i was in college myself. so i'm not against protests. that's part of democracy. i'm just skeptical here that this is all because of donald trump. i think donald trump is just sort of the latest deal here, and as far as the reference to

steve bannon, i just want to say, you know, i know steve bannon and he's being very, very unfairly characterized here, among other things, as anti-semitic. i mean, a bigger zionist you will not find, and he's a huge fan of bibi netanyahu, matsch serie porter of israel. it's a gross mischaracterization. >> well, isn't it also true, though, that through breitbart under sort of him overseeing that, i mean you also had headlines that called out people for being jewish. so it's sort of -- i see what you're saying, but also seeing that. >> the headline you're referring to, referred to bill crystal as a quote/unquote renegade jew was written by david horowitz who is jewish. what you had here, and i certainly know bill kristol and love him to death but just disagree with him here and i know david.

david's point, bill kristol and the never trumpers were abandoning israel by voting for hillary clinton or not supporting donald trump. that's hardly anti-semitic. david is, as i said, jewish. there are senior positions at breitbart. i mean, it's a -- it's a bad knock. >> so you reject that and i want to get inning ing iheard from chappelle, something interesting and a lot of people paid attention to this during his opening monologue for "snl" over the weekend. >> these people have been historically disenfranchised and it made me feel hopeful and it made me feel proud to be an american and it made me very happy about the prospects of our country. so in that spirit, i'm wishing donald trump luck and i'm going to give him a chance, and we, the historically disenfranchised demand that he give us one, too. thank you very much.

>> jeffrey, i know many in your camp must have been surprised when they heard that. talking about african-americans being historically disenfranchised and now included in the white house a house built by slaves, where black folks used to not even be allowed to go, and he said something that, it seemed as if he was sort of bridging the divide, but also standing up for his position. what did you think? >> i'll take him up on it. you know, the white house was in fact built by slaves but so was the democratic party and the american left. slavery was the backbone of their political stwlerength whi they kept tat with lynching and all the rest. my objection, the historically disenfranchised were disenfranchised by the democratic party and are still at it with race, racial quotas and support with illegal immigration by skin color. it's wrong. this is the party of lincoln that will be back in the white

house here and jack kemp my old boss, jack kemp, and i look forward to taking dave chappelle up on that. i think that's terrific. >> paul, your reaction? >> history's important, but so are current events. the current veents aevents are donald trump won and he won in part by saying very racist things. the very textbook things of a racist statement. not my opinion. that paul ryan, republican speaker. when he attacked the judge for being a mexican-american, paul ryan said it was the very textbook of a racist statement. most american, i know jeffrey doesn't believe, but racist attacking our president as if he weren't legitimately our president. he enters this office not with a historical legacy of racism going back to thomas jefferson, doesn't bear that burden, but of lis own divisive and racist comments. he should also keep in mind, one thing i tell those guys, jeffrey, i know you will, they lost the election by 2.3 million

votes by the time they count them all. a solid defeat of the popular will. the electoral college is how we do these things. he's absolutely legitimate. when he signs the bay, i'll obey it, enter a room i'll stand. more people want the hillary clinton than donald trump. he also lost seats in the house and senate. this calls for an attitude of great humility entering that office. can donald trump do humility? not a chance. >> yes. >> i'm with dave chappelle. that's a pretty strong repudiation, actually of trump and trumpism. >> we have a republican in the white house, house and senate. >> we will see which of you is correct on that. jeffrey lorde, paul begala thank you to you both. up next when donald trump is sworn in in january he'll have a republican house, a republican senate to help him carry out his policies and agenda, but that doesn't necessarily mean smooth sailing for him. how is congress transitioning to

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it is back to work for la lawmakers on capitol hill. peoplen both sides of the aisle are trying to figure what to make of the results. cnn manu raju joins us live inside of the capitol there. near the capitol, i should say. inside one of the office buildings. one of the biggest elections that we are going to see, manu, involves house speaker. he must be feeling good, bad, what are you thinking? a lot of talk about what his future would hold, but now you have reince priebus as his chief of staff. maybe a sign that there's going to be some camaraderie between the white house and the hill? >> reporter: actually paul ryan's feeling really good in no small part because of donald trump. something we wouldn't have expected during the campaign season when trump and ryan had an extended back and forth that lasted a long time and last month looked like trump would probably lose, a lot of

conservatives were looking for a scalp warning twhoe go after paul ryan. not so much anymore. one reason why, donald trump comes into office with, helping down ticket republicans, particularly in the house, pad there majority. house republicans at least 238 seats in the new congress. that means when paul ryan is voted on by the full house to be re-elected as speaker, he can lose upwards of 20 votes and still be elected speaker. no one expects him to lose that many votes. also that outside group of agitators if you will, house freedom caucus, are not mounting a challenge to paul ryan, in fact, looking for ways to help a trump administration and paul ryan himself trying to align himself with donald trump, working closely with the incoming president. a lot of talk about unity. that is helping paul ryan at the end of the day heenchts t. >> the democrats have choices to make. what do we expect on the other side of the aisle? >> nancy pelosi is is likely to be re-elected as the democratic

leader, but there is some movement possibly see if there's a challenge against her. congressman tim ryan of ohio, a newer democrat elected within the last few election cycles is making phone calls this morning, brianna, to see whether or not he can have any support to challenge nancy pelosi. on thursday, leadership re-elections within the house democratic caucus. i it tell you, that's a very stiff challenge. pelosi raised millions and millions of dollars for her colleagues. has a lot of support internally. even if it happens she's unlikely to be unseated. also some democrats are pushing to delay that thursday leadership con toaleader s leadership contest to see of new blood in the leadership. unlukely that will be delayed. that's the house side. senate side, new democratic leader new york senator chuck

schumer. expected to be leec elected t e succeed harry reid later this week. >> thank you for watching "newsroom." "wolf" starts right after a quick break. come on, wake up!!! come on, why ya sleepin'? come on! what time is it? it's go time. come on. let's go, let's go, let's go. woooo hoooo!! yeah!! i feel like i went to bed an hour ago. i'll make the cocoa. get a great offer on the car of your grown-up dreams at the mercedes-benz winter event. it's the look on their faces that make it all worthwhile. thank you santa!!! now lease the 2017 c300 for $389 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in aleppo. 9:00 p.m. in baghdad, wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. a steady stream of heavy hitters coming into trump tower in new york city today as the president-elect of the united states and his transition team work to try to put together the new administration. that was, by the way, retired lieutenant general michael flynn arrives this morning. key adviser to donald trump. a possible national s