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Trump Names His Campaign Manager as White House Chief of Staff; Biden Talks Transition as Democrats Fume He Didn't Step Aside Sooner; Awaiting Final Results on Which Party Controls the House. Trump Names His Campaign Manager As White House Chief of Staff; Trump: Have Spoken To "Probably" 70 World Leaders, Including Israel's Netanyahu; Judge Gives Giuliani Until Next Friday To Turn Over Valuable Assets To Election Workers He Defamed. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 07, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, President- elect Donald Trump just made his first announcement on who he's bringing with him to the White House, revealing his campaign manager, Susie Wiles, will be his White House chief of staff. Stand by for details on what that may mean for his administration.

Also tonight, President Biden promises the American people there will be a peaceful transition of power in Washington. Behind the scenes, Democrats are casting blame on the president for the Trump victory, fuming that he didn't step aside sooner.

And the cliffhanger up on Capitol Hill right now. We're awaiting the results of key races that will determine control of the House of Representatives. Democrats clinging to hope they can flip the chamber while Republicans say they're confident they'll hold on to the majority.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news on the Trump transition and the president-elect's announcement of his new White House chief of staff. CNN's M.J. Lee is standing by at the White House. But, first, let's go to CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins. She's in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kaitlan, what are you learning about Trump's decision to pick Susie Wiles as his incoming White House chief of staff?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, it's a significant decision for a significant role. Obviously, the chief of staff in any White House is one of the most important decisions that you see a president make. We reported last night that Trump was expected to make some of those first decisions within hours, and here is his first big one as Susie Wiles, as his chief of staff.

Of course, chief of staff is a tough role for anyone, but certainly in the Trump White House in his first term, it proved to be one of the most difficult positions. He ultimately had four chiefs of staff serve in that role, starting from Reince Priebus and ending, of course, with Mark Meadows in that position as Trump left office.

Susie Wiles, though, for people who don't know her and may not know her, because she is not a Trump face that you see out on T.V., she actually was on stage with him the other night when he was giving his victory speech after being declared the winner at about 2:00 in the morning. He calls her up to the microphone. She declined to speak and instead turned to her campaign co-chair, Chris LaCivita to take the mic. She is not someone who is often very much in a public-facing role.

But while she gets a lot of credit behind the scenes for navigating the Trump dynamics, which, of course, is a very difficult position in terms of not only working with him, but also the environment that he operates in that can often be quite chaotic. She is someone who lasted during his entire campaign. That is not something that we've seen in his last two runs for the White House. And she's really been around him, Wolf, in his past runs but also in a real capacity ever since he left the White House. She's effectively been a chief of staff kind of role since then.

And so I should note, Steve Contorno reported earlier that she was very clearly the top choice for this role. She did make clear she had some conditions of her own, including having some sway over who has access to the president and to the Oval Office. That is something that has famously caught up and tripped up other Trump chiefs of staff in the past when it was kind of this freewheeling situation, something we saw General John Kelly try to deal with when he became the chief of staff back during his first term.

And so this is a significant role for Susie Wiles. She is, of course, the daughter of the late broadcasting legend, Pat Summerall. She is someone who has been in Trump's orbit, who knows him well, and has been seen as a stabilizing force. And now she is getting the tip from the president to take this as his first major staffing pick that he has announced since winning the election, Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Kaitlan, if that were not enough, I understand you also have some new reporting about who Trump is considering to become the next attorney general of the United States.

COLLINS: Yes. This is a position that J.D. Vance said a few weeks before the election may be even more important than the vice presidential role who jump is going to pick as his next attorney general. Of course, he famously was upset with the previous two picks he had in Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr and the actions they took at the Department of Justice. Often, he thought that they should be doing more of what he wanted them to do. And now he's deciding and deciding carefully who he is going to nominate for that position this time around.

There are several names under consideration, I should note, but one of them tonight, we're learning, is the Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey. He is someone who has been running in that position since 2022.

[18:05:00] He was just actually elected on Tuesday night to his first full term as the attorney general there in that state. And we are learning tonight that he's under consideration for that role. Whether he ultimately gets the nod is something that remains to be seen.

He is someone who often appears on Fox News. He sued the Biden administration over the student loan forgiveness program, and so he's certainly aligned with Donald Trump.

But I should note, Wolf, I'm here in Palm Beach, it is very much a Hunger Games kind of style situation that you're seeing playing out right now, where everyone who is interested in getting a job in a second Trump term is either down here trying to get in touch with people down here. So, it remains to be seen who ultimately gets picked for those positions, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very important positions, indeed. Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much.

And a reminder to our viewers, Kaitlan, of course, will be back later tonight, 9:00 P.M. Eastern, for her show, The Source. We will be watching.

Let's go over to M.J. Lee right now over at the White House with the latest on the outgoing administration. M.J., President Biden spoke publicly about the transition of power. His finger pointing over the Democrats' defeat clearly intensifies. What's the latest?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. You know, over the years, we have heard President Biden use this line when he has discussed Donald Trump, and that line is, you can't love your country only when you win, clearly a reference to the fact that Donald Trump would not accept his defeat back in 2020.

But earlier today, when the president spoke here at the White House in the Rose Garden and used that line, he was directing it not at Donald Trump this time, but the millions of Americans across the country that he said he understands are feeling disappointed and frustrated by the results of the election this week. But he said, look, we are in a democracy. And when there is a free and fair election, you have to accept those results no matter what those hard feelings might be.

This is more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I've said many times, you can't love your country only when you win. I also hope we can lay the rest of the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And over the last few days, we have spoken with numerous Democrats who are fully blaming President Biden for what happened this week, believing that none of this would have happened if he had actually stepped aside and decided not to seek a second term, the idea being that had there been a full competitive Democratic primary, the strongest nominee would have been chosen. That may have been Vice President Kamala Harris, it may have not been, but that campaign would have run its course. They would have had a chance to set up a robust campaign, which obviously the vice president didn't get a chance to do.

And I will tell you, as a part of our reporting, part of the anger that is being directed at the president and some of his closest advisers is this idea that whenever Democrats over the last few years raised any concerns about his health, his stamina, that those were really quickly shot down and were not tolerated inside the Biden White House and those close to him.

For example, this is what one senior Harris campaign official told me. They said, the lack of a competitive process for a replacement that he didn't allow for that to happen, people are still angry about the shunning that they took for speaking out earlier about him.

So, Wolf, as this soul searching process is just beginning for Democrats, the president's role in all of this is clearly going to be a big part. Wolf?

BLITZER: It certainly will be. M.J. Lee at the White House for us, thank you very much.

Let's get some more on all of these breaking developments. Our political experts are here with me in The Situation Room. And, Jeff Zeleny, the choice of Susie Wiles to become the White House chief of staff, she's the campaign manager, she did very well, very impressive, what does this signal?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It signals that the president-elect is ready to get started and he knows his way around the job this time around considerably more than four years ago. Four years ago, when he was -- or eight years ago, excuse me, when he was being elected, he was coming from private business from Trump Tower. Now, he'll be coming into the oval office. He knows what he wants. He knows the people around him.

And Susie Wiles is sort of a singular figure, I would say, in the former president's and president-elect's rise. I cannot think of a person who has had as much a discipline. She has respect both inside and outside, who has not worked directly in Washington. She has a lot of longstanding Washington relationships at several firms in town, as Brian knows well. But she also has goodwill.

But she will be the first female chief of staff. I think that is something that sends a message and a signal. But our Steve Contorno had some good reporting earlier. He said she had a couple demands, and one was this. The clown car can't come into the White House at will. And he agrees with her, a source close to the president-elect says.

So, that signifies that Susie Wiles is going to try and keep a level of discipline and that she has some, you know, her own explanation for that. She allows Trump to be Trump, but she also keeps some outsiders at bay.

But the chief of staff is so important in setting the agenda and keeping things going. As we all know, it's just about 10 or 12 steps or so from the Oval Office.

[18:10:00]

It has a corner office in the West Wing. It's important in terms of proximity and power.

BLITZER: It's very important, indeed.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's really important that she set out these parameters and said in advance, you know, I will do this, but I have to be able to control access. And this was a problem that other chiefs of staff, most notably Kelly, complained about because Trump had this open door policy, and anybody could just wander in, and I think it shows a certain amount of discipline that she's going to try and enact inside the White House.

BLITZER: Bryan Lanza, you work with Susie Wiles. You know her. Give us a sense, what does this say to you?

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Best in class. I mean, Donald Trump made a decision, he's going to choose best in class, and Susie Wiles is best in class. You said it right, continuity. You had continuity in the campaign, and now you're going to have continuity in the administration.

I think Trump made the best decision for himself, you know, the best decision for the party and for the country. Susie knows how to execute, and that's the most important thing that President Trump wants. He doesn't want a lot of people talking. He wants people who will execute.

And she knows how to execute as well. She knows that she has tremendous amount of relationships here in Washington, D.C. She has the trust of the president. She has the trust of campaign staff. A lot of us would walk through fire for her. And we're excited she has it.

And I do like to point out, you know, she's a woman. You know, my daughter can now have an example of a woman hitting a position of power like this, and I think that's a good thing for this country.

BLITZER: Let's talk about what's going on on another key issue. Ameshia Cross is with us as well. Trump said today that his proposal for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants will have, in his words, and I'm quoting him now, no price tag. What does that suggest to you about this massive effort that he's about to undertake?

AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: That he doesn't know how the system works. I do think that Donald Trump is going to go outside of all things civil rights. He's going to go outside of all things justice to try to come through on a campaign promise. He wants to make sure that he is eradicating the undocumented population. He is not just speaking about new arrivals. He's talking also about people who've been in this country for the past 20, 30, 40 years.

To do that seismically, to have to, you know, have law enforcement that are correlating at the federal level as well as in the states and cities across this country, that does require a significant amount of money. We've seen what that price tag is. But because he recognizes the American public does not like big price tags on anything, he is, I think, you know, lying flagrantly here about being able to do this without a cost associated.

BLITZER: All right. You know, Jeff, as you know, Democrats will no longer control the new Senate once it comes back to Washington. The House potentially remains in play right now. But do the Democrats really have the ability, assuming the House stays Republican, do the Democrats have any ability to affect real policy?

ZELENY: No. I mean, not if the House is in Republican control. It obviously depends what the margins are. I mean, the margins in the House, regardless, will be slim. So, as long as the House stays unified, which is always an open question, of course, but Democrats will have limited policy control in both chambers. However, in the Senate, it still requires 60 votes on some things, and Republicans will not have 60 votes.

But I think the finger pointing and the soul searching that is underway right now in the Democratic Party, it's not unique to Democrats. It happened in Republicans over the years. I'm thinking back to when Barack Obama was reelected in 2012 and Republicans were talking about, we need to do an autopsy and figure out really how to rebuild the party. Parties get rebuilt on personalities and people we may not even be thinking about now. But for the short-term, Democrats will have to make a decision if they're going to be part of the resistance or some may find, you know, some need to cooperate on some things. I think Senator Schumer has already said we'll work in a bipartisan way on some things.

But, look, Democrats now, particularly if they don't house, which it looks like they won't, but we will see, a lot seats still must come in. They're in the wilderness for a minute.

BORGER: And they're wilderness for a while. And they need to go to the couch and sort of try and figure out what went wrong in this election and -- because I was talking to a Democratic pollster who said, look, this is what he would call a rolling realignment in this country. And it is based on class.

And the Democrats, you know, the roles have been switched. The Republicans used to be the party of the elites. That's not the case anymore. The Democrats are known as the party of the elites, which is the reason they lost many Hispanic male voters, for example. And this is -- you know, this is a huge issue for them. It wasn't a message problem or a messenger problem, per se. They have a problem with voters in this country. And, you know, they have to figure out where they want to work on, say, immigration reform and where they don't want to work with the Republicans.

[]18:15:00] I mean, they have to figure out where they stand on a bunch of stuff and get their act together, to be honest.

CROSS: I agree with certain parts of that, but I don't think that this was as much of a messaging problem, as some people are trying to make it out to be, as much as it is a policy not meeting where people are conversation. Because if you're going to say that the Democrats were not the party of the working class or have abandoned them, which I've heard several working class people say, then I question how or why there is no connection between all of the union and workers rights that were granted during the Biden-Harris administration.

Why when you have a president who is fighting for a living wage, fighting for higher minimum wage, why when you have somebody who is -- as of today, there was an announcement about SNAP benefits being expanded for people who are on college campuses because a lot of them can't afford to eat. When I see things like that, and you're talking about individuals who are literally working tirelessly, the Democrats in the House as well as President Biden and Kamala Harris, to ensure that individuals every day can feed their families and they have the policies to prove it, and people who are beneficiaries of said policies are still arguing, even though the Trump administration previously and Trump have largely only done one thing. They have made tax cuts readily available to the rich and have increased the 1 percent class to stay there forever.

LANZA: Listen, I would add that it's important to realize the role that inflation played in this. Inflation played a huge role. It clouded everybody's judgment. It changed people the way they think. You know, when a mother can't feed their child, they don't care about anything else.

And so I think the Democratic Party -- you know, listen, the Democratic Party, Bill Clinton was very strong. The Democratic Party of Barack Obama was really strong. You can't say that about Joe Biden, but they focused on bread and butter issues. This coalition of Joe Biden got broader than it should have been, and they didn't know how to say no to certain constituencies.

CROSS: Just when Donald Trump was in office. I do recall it was the Thanksgiving before he left. The man was about to cut food stamps. So, if we're talking about people who are taking food out of families' mouths that need to eat, he was leading that charge.

LANZA: Yes. And voters made a decision that the inflation that has bankrupted them, the inflation that has caused them to max out their credit cards, the inflation has caused them to wipe their savings, sort of clouded everything.

BORGER: Well, they didn't feel it, and there wasn't a good enough explanation about what happened, why.

LANZA: And she didn't want to change anything.

BORGER: What you're going to do, right? There was no separation -- CROSS: There were certain things that I think were going to be stagnant regardless, particularly because coming out of the pandemic, we saw in every developed nation, leaders did not get reelected. So, I think that, holistically, there are people across the globe who are having those similar issues, and it was just really hard for any incumbent to sit there.

BLITZER: All right. Everybody stand by. We're going to continue this conversation.

Just ahead, though, What former President Obama is now saying about the 2024 election and the way forward for Democrats.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

BLITZER: We're following more breaking news on the Trump transition right now. The president-elect says he and President Biden have agreed to have lunch together, quote, very shortly. This comes as the current president is doing something Donald Trump refused to do when his side lost, tout the integrity of the election. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I also hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's get back to our political experts. Gloria, this is a significant development and a far cry from what happened four years ago.

BORGER: Well, he was very careful to say win or lose. You know, as M.J. was pointing out earlier in the show. You know, he has always said you can't only love your country when you win. And, you know, it was a bit of a jab at Donald Trump, because this is not what we went through in 2020. It has always been something that he has focused on, which is democracy and the importance of free and fair elections.

And I'm kind of wondering when they have lunch together whether this is something that Joe Biden is going to raise with Donald Trump because we haven't been hearing about cheating in this election since Donald Trump became president-elect.

BLITZER: What do you make of this very cordial back and forth?

ZELENY: Look, I think it is President Biden being the role of a traditional American president. I mean, this is how it works. After President Trump won, President-elect Trump won the first time after 2016, he went to the White House just a few days after, and President Obama hosted him. This is how it has normally gone.

So, I think President Biden is very clear, wants to send a signal, that the office of the presidency is larger than any one man and it's a rare moment in history when, of course, Donald Trump is coming back.

And we do not know -- this is kind of the living version of the letter that presidents usually write for one another and leave it in the desk of the Resolute Desk. Very few people know what it's like to be president, obviously. So, look, I think President Biden will have -- he's sending a signal that this is what American democracy is.

But adding that speech today in the Rose Garden, I thought it was a very good speech and very interesting. But what the president did not address is what many Democrats around town in the country are talking about is the role he played in this election and the timing and whatnot.

So, his legacy is tied to his decision to stay in this race and that will be some bruised feelings for a long time.

BLITZER: We're hearing some criticism of the president for staying too long in the race when he should have dropped out earlier.

BORGER: When he got out of the race, he was called a statesman, right? He was a great statesman for finally getting out of the race. And now you talk to Democrats, they're saying, well, he should have never run again, and this is all his fault.

CROSS: Well, people will be bruised when they lose, so that makes sense. However, I do think that we have to pay attention to the electorate. And I am not convinced that the electorate and the issues that they cared about, the resounding voices that they had across this country, were going to be different should there have been another Democratic candidate up there. I don't think that it was a time or a frame or the candidate, Kamala Harris, did all that she could do within 107 days.

But if you had somebody with a longer runway, if the Democratic strategy was the same, we're not listening to the people who are telling us that the economy is their number one issue or what does immigration reform look like, why is that not a top conversation talking point.

[18:25:00]

If another candidate had ran that same campaign with a year and a half, two years runway, they still would have been in the same place.

ZELENY: I think a primary campaign that would have opened up a lot more. It would have reset --

CROSS: Well, the people were vocal the entire time.

ZELENY: Sure. But we don't know if Trump would have been the nominee at that time. I mean, probably, it would have been. But we don't -- had there been fully combative primary, it would have changed everything.

LANZA: And I would add, Joe Biden is not fully to blame. I mean, you had cabinet officials that said he was fine. You had Speaker Pelosi that said he was just great. Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris said she saw no cognitive decline. The entire Democratic Party is to blame for Joe Biden's decision not to run. They gave him cover. They said he was fine. If they really felt that way, they're saying it now, which means they were lying then, which means you can't trust them.

They made the path. They made the decision that Joe Biden was their horse and at all costs, they were going to defend him and they're paying the price. Joe Biden is not to blame. The entire Democratic Party is to blame for this.

BORGER: There are Biden people who believe he could have won and done better than Kamala Harris. Do you believe that?

LANZA: Probably. I don't think he could have won, but he certainly could have done better than her.

BORGER: Do you think so?

LANZA: Yes.

ZELENY: I'm not sure about that. I mean, all the ads that we saw at the end about Kamala Harris, they would have been ads from the debate and his stumbles and things.

LANZA: He certainly would have done better with white males, which was the issue.

CROSS: Trump's cognitive mentality was not 100 percent strong either. So, let's not act as though cognitive mentality and people being able to stay on message completely was what the American electorate was voting on. Because if it was, Donald Trump would not be there.

BLITZER: Do you see Kamala Harris and Joe Biden continuing to have a major role in the Democratic Party?

CROSS: Absolutely. Nobody can take away the record of achievement, the policy wins of the Biden-Harris administration. I think that once we're a few years out of this, history will look upon Joe Biden and this administration very differently than many people around this table right now.

LANZA: I'm hearing from Democrats in California, because that's where I'm from and I work there, they say she's the immediate frontrunner to be governor of California next time around. She'd choose to get the governing experience that she didn't have at the presidential level. That's a big deal.

BORGER: But this is an asterisk by Biden's name.

LANZA: It was always going to be an asterisk.

BORGER: And his legacy.

LANZA: Absolutely.

BORGER: And it's an unwanted one. CROSS: The infrastructure development package is not an asterisk by his name. We're talking about the hundreds of thousands of jobs that were added per month. They're not an asterisk by his name. The lowering the price of insulin for individuals who are diabetic who are on Medicare was not an asterisk by his name. He has done so much for this country. And I think that his legacy will be remembered by those policy goals and achievements.

At this point, I think that we are still way too close to this election cycle to actually have that conversation. But history will remember Joe Biden --

BLITZER: It's interesting, Gloria, I want to get your thoughts, that former President Barack Obama says, the historic economic conditions caused by the pandemic played a large part in the election results. And he said this, and I'm quoting, those conditions have created headwinds for Democratic incumbents around the world. And last night showed that America is not immune. Is it that simple?

BORGER: Well, that's not simple, but he's right about it. And I think, you know, when you talk about inflation, and you talk about people not feeling that they're making any progress economically, that's what it was. And it wasn't only in this country. It was in a lot of other places. And I think Obama has a very good point. Because in the end, voters weren't voting on democracy, they weren't voting on whether Donald Trump is unhinged, which became a theme of the Kamala Harris campaign. They were voting on how they felt. And they were voting on whether they felt their family was going to be able to get ahead. And that became the largest issue. And no matter what she tried to propose, and she did propose things, they didn't feel it. They just didn't feel it.

ZELENY: And I think that -- look, I was out at a couple rallies that the former President Obama had and he was, you know, rallying the base as he was trying to do, and who knows, without all that help, maybe the losses would have been worse for Democrats, but it clearly didn't work. But at the end of the day here, this was a referendum on the Biden-Harris administration, even though Joe Biden was not on the ballot. It was not a referendum on Donald Trump as Democrats were trying to make it. It's a change election. It was a -- you know, the mood of the country was one for change. We've just never had a. point where that change candidate was a former president.

LANZA: And also James Carville's golden rule in politics applies today. It's the economy, stupid.

CROSS: It was a referendum on a post-pandemic era. I think that again, the inflationary issues were obviously there, but more importantly, people trying to get back to that new normal. It has been stubborn in a lot of communities for us.

BLITZER: Important point. All right, guys, thank you very, very much.

Coming up, new details coming into The Situation Room just now on what House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is telling his caucus tonight about the party's prospects of taking over the majority in the House. We'll get more on that. The newly reelected Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland is standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

BLITZER: Right now, we're awaiting more results from dozens of uncalled races that will ultimately determine control of the House of Representatives. And tonight, sources say the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, is telling his fellow Democrats the battle for the majority is still alive, even as the party trails in some key races right now.

Our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is with me here in The Situation Room. Manu, where does the fight for control of the House stand right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Democrats believe there's a path to the majority, but it's pretty clear it's a complicated path. And right now, Republicans are favored to hold a narrow majority. Let's look at this right now. They need 218 seats to control the United States House. That's the majority of the House.

Right now, the Republicans are projected to win 210, Democrats 196. The pickups, six pickups, four pickups for Democrats, so they need -- Democrats need a net of four pickups coming into the night in order to be in the majority. There are 29 seats remaining to be projected.

So, what is the magic number Democrats must get right now? Six seats, six seats. So, that may seem achievable, Wolf. But when you drill down a little bit further into where they are leading, Democrats are leading to Republican districts. That's it right now. And here's the other problem for them. Republicans are leading into Democratic districts. So, that's one of the complications.

Here's another complication. There are districts that Joe Biden carried back in 2020, in which now Democrats are trailing, that they will be clear pick up opportunities, particularly in California. That's where you look in the northern part of the state, John Duarte.

[18:35:01]

He's an incumbent Republican congressman. He's up by 3,100 votes against Democrat Adam Gray, 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent in that seat. But there's still 48 percent of the vote that has been counted. So, there's a lot more vote still coming in.

And then I'll go further down south of the state, Mike Garcia in the Los Angeles area, the Republican incumbent up by 4,700 votes against the Democrat, George Whitesides. This is another district that Joe Biden carried in 2020 by double digits. Democrats had hoped to flip this seat. Right now, the Republican head. But, again, 66 percent of the vote in, so still more vote coming in.

Another California district in which Democrats were hoping to turn around, Ken Calvert, a longtime incumbent Republican congressman, he is ahead against his Democratic challenger Will Rollins by 6,700 votes, and still about a two thirds of the vote in. We expect more to come in the days ahead.

And Democrats and Republicans are watching this race incredibly closely. Freshman Republican incumbent Juan Coscomani from Arizona, the sixth congressional district there, he is ahead by just 1,600 votes in this race, 49.1 percent to 48.6 percent, a razor thin margin at the moment, 64 percent in.

So, Wolf, we may not know the final margin here for a number of days. Republicans are feeling confident. They're planning to be in the majority. We don't know that quite yet, which is why Democrats believe they have some hope they can get in the majority, but it's going to be a complicated path together.

BLITZER: We're going to watch all these close races in the House of Representatives very, very closely.

The Senate clearly has gone for the Republicans.

RAJU: Yes, 52-48, maybe 53-47, depending on if Pennsylvania turns out.

BLITZER: But that's why the filibuster, you need 60 votes, is going to be so important, assuming the Republicans control the Senate as well.

RAJU: Yes.

BLITZER: All right, Manu, thanks very, very much.

Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Some senior Democrats are telling CNN, President Biden is largely to blame for Kamala Harris' election loss, for not stepping aside sooner. Question, do you agree?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): No. And I've not heard a single person utter those remarks. And we're not really in the blame game and attempting to engage in recrimination. We're really looking forward, Wolf, to, you know, figure out exactly what happened in this race, what we need to do to rebuild, to take the awesome coalition we've got and expand it even further as we look towards the midterm elections.

BLITZER: Yes, you got to do a full scale review to see what happened and learn those lessons. Why do you think Kamala Harris lost, Congressman, and what changes do you want to see to your party after this election?

RASKIN: Well, all those things are, alas, way too early to tell. I think we ran a very aggressive and focused and serious campaign with a massive ground game.

You know, you guys were talking about inflation before, and President Obama rightly has invoked the fact that leaders of the right and the left all over the world who were incumbents during the post-COVID-19 inflation have gone on to defeat. That does seem to be the lowest common denominator when you look at, you know, the wealthy industrialized nations of the world.

You know, of course, this related to a breakdown of the supply chains, and that's what caused the inflation. And then there was a lot of money spent, but on a bipartisan basis to try to revive the economy here. But I think the Republicans did blame us for inflation wrongly so. And, in fact, America now has the lowest inflation rate of the G7 countries.

And we have a record low unemployment rate. And of course, the stock market, which is the other thing the Republicans used to talk about, has been soaring and is at record high. So, in fact, as the economist said the other day, the American economy under Biden Harris has been the envy of the world. But they were able to target him with that same anti-inflation brush that has worked in other countries around the world.

BLITZER: A lot of us remember, Congressman, you led the charge on investigating Trump as an existential threat to democracy. How do you hold Trump accountable now without control of the Senate, or likely for that matter, the House, and after the U.S. Supreme Court granted him major presidential immunity?

RASKIN: Well, we're going to discover the answer to your question as we go through this over the next several years. Part of it will be the electoral process. There's always another election around the corner in America, and we're going to have the chance to figure out what exactly went wrong in some of the discussions in the 2024 election, and some groups that may be we're misled about things like inflation and the economy.

But in any event the election's around the corner. We're hoping that we're going to be able to win the House of Representatives.

[18:40:00]

The Republicans are a little bit ahead of us in that race now. I think they're at 210. So, they have eight seats to go. I think we're at 198. We've got 20 seats to go, but we're waiting for California and Arizona and Oregon. We've had fantastic candidates out there. So, we're placing very high hopes on holding the House of Representatives.

And if not, you know, we've got the First Amendment. We've got the speech and debate clause. We're going to be able to always bring the truth to the American people. And we've got an amazing country where those of us who aspire and attained a public office are nothing but the servants of the people. And now, you know, Donald Trump has campaigned on inflation economy and on immigration. I think if they were actually to try to round up 11 million people and engage in a deportation process, it would cause an economic calamity in America.

So, there are a lot of things that might make, you know, fiery rhetoric on the campaign trail that simply don't translate as a matter of policy. And we're going to be there as a pro-constitutional, pro- democratic opposition to point those things out and we're going to be defending the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the freedoms of the people every step along the way. That's what we've been elected to do in this situation.

BLITZER: Just a few minutes ago, Congressman, I want to update our viewers, your Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, told your conference he thinks there is a narrow path for the Democratic Party to take control of the House. Do you still agree with him on that or is that just public optimism?

RASKIN: No, absolutely. I mean, we're talking about, you know, a couple dozen races that are razor thin close. And the reason why the Republicans are a little bit ahead of us in the race to get those seats is simply because they're ahead of us in the general numbers right now, 210 to 198. You need to 18 for a majority. So, they have fewer seats to go than we do at this point. But, you know, anything can happen in any of those districts and our people have been out fighting from the beginning.

One of the wonderful things about this moment is that we're able to show that our party stands by free and fair democratic elections. Nobody on our side is talking about storming the Capitol or attacking police officers, or spending the next four years denying the results and dragging the name of American constitutional democracy in elections through the. We're not doing that. We accept the way that the system works, and sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.

And we're still hoping that we're going to win the House, and I think that will give us the perch that we need in order to keep moving forward on social progress, and to check any of the authoritarian excesses that come out from the Trump administration.

BLITZER: Congressman Raskin of Maryland, thanks so much for joining us, always good to have you with us in The Situation Room. Thank you.

RASKIN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And just ahead, new CNN reporting on who's on the list for some top jobs in the next Trump administration. And it includes an impeached attorney general and a onetime primary rival.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:17]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We're following breaking news. President- elect Trump tapping his campaign manager, Susie Wiles, as his chief of staff. It's Trump's first major staffing announcement as long time jostle for the most coveted jobs.

Brian Todd is joining us right now.

Brian, it looks like Donald Trump is prioritizing loyalty as opposed -- as he starts building his team.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is prioritizing that, Wolf, as he always has. And his first major choice for opposition, one of the most crucial jobs in any administration is reflective of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I love loyalty.

TODD (voice-over): Donald Trump's first pick for his new administration is a testament to his value of true loyalty.

TRUMP: Susie likes to stay in the background. She's not in the background.

TODD: Susie Wiles, Donald Trump's go campaign manager for 2024, was just named White House chief of staff, is called, quote, tough, smart and innovative by her boss and has been praised for running an efficient campaign.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: You want somebody ideally who knows you, who understands you, who can give good advice but can also implement well, who can carry out directions. And she seems to be that type of person.

TODD: A source says Wiles told Donald Trump she will only take the job if she could have more control over who can reach him in the Oval Office.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: Hello, everybody.

TODD: As for the public face of the Trump administration, Carolyn Leavitt, who was Trump's campaign spokeswoman, is said to be in strong consideration for the significant job of White House press secretary.

For the position of attorney general, one of the most sensitive, important jobs in any administration, and one that Donald Trump might use a go after his enemies, a name being floated is Ken Paxton, Texas's attorney general.

SABATO: I'd like to open a betting pool as to how many days, not weeks, months, years, it will take for Ken Paxton to start doing very controversial things that even Trump will not like.

TODD: Like Trump, Paxton has been both indicted and impeached. Paxton was acquitted by the Texas State Senate for alleged retribution against whistleblowers, interference of federal investigations and inappropriate favors done for donors.

For secretary of state, a key national security position, Trump's reportedly thinking of Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whose hawkish toward China and was a finals to be Trump's running mate.

SABATO: I think most people think that would be a responsible choice. It would be somebody who does know international relations, who's been around these issues now ever since he got into the Senate.

TODD: But what to do with Robert Kennedy Jr.? Trump's promised him a top public health position but Trump advisor tells CNN, Kennedy's already caused headaches for the Trump team, like an interview he did with MSNBC just hours after Donald Trump's victory speech.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The entire department, like the nutrition department at FDA, they have to go.

[18:50:03]

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: RFK Jr., if he has the president's ear, could put in place anti-vaxxers, anti-fluoride people above scientists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Meanwhile, regarding billionaire Elon Musk, who might be in the administration, dedicated to cutting the size and budget of the federal government, a source familiar with the conversations around Musk tells CNN it seems unlikely he would want a full-time government position given what that would mean for the companies he owns, X, Tesla and SpaceX.

Wolf, we'll see what happens with Elon Musk.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Brian Todd, reporting for us.

Coming up, the Russian President Vladimir Putin breaking his silence on the results of the U.S. presidential election and revealing whether he's talked with the new president-elect?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Breaking news we're following.

President elect Trump now says he has spoken with around 70 world leaders since his election victory. One notable absence from that list, Russia's Vladimir Putin.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has more for us.

Nic, Putin has been weighing in since Trump's victory.

[18:55:02]

How does that bode for the U.S./Russia relationship?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. Right now, I think he sitting at a tough position. Look, when it comes to Ukraine, Putin has got a lot of skin in that game. It's an existential issue for him. He cannot afford spending down hundreds of thousands of lives in the war there, he cannot afford to walk away and less than he said he's getting to get, which is those eastern parts of Ukraine, keeping Crimea as well.

So, I think what we are getting a sense of, a tough game coming from Putin. I don't really think you can take things he has said quite at face value, even this complement that he gave President-elect Trump today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I take this opportunity to congratulate him with his election to the post of the president of the United States of America. I said already that we will be working together with any head of state who would be trusted by the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, Putin went on to talk about praise for Donald Trump from the way he survived that assassination and came out looking strong. That was a sign of a tough man. At the same time earlier in the day, you had Kremlin officials saying, we think Donald Trump exaggerated when he said you can solve and end the Ukraine war in a day.

And just yesterday, Kremlin officials said that they had -- the Kremlin and Putin had no intention of congratulating Donald Trump. So, it's a real set of mixed messaging. But just I think remember this about Putin, KGB officer, psychological mind games, he knows by waiting longer than any other leader to say congratulations to Donald Trump, he knows that's going to get Trump's attention here.

On the other side of this equation, of course, is President Zelenskyy, who desperately needs Donald Trump's support, desperately needs European leaders support. He's congratulated Donald Trump on this tremendous victory as he called it, but then had a warning today that you cannot -- I think its a warning for Donald Trump, you cannot get what you want just by hugging Putin. So, I think Putin already is positioning himself to make whatever moves Donald Trump intends to end the war as favorable to Putin as possible. No surprise but it started already.

BLITZER: We shall see. Nic Robertson reporting for us, Nic, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, the former Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, appeared in court today as the two Georgia election workers stepped up to seize his most valuable assets.

Our senior crime and justice reporter, Katelyn Polantz, is following proceedings for us.

Katelyn, what is the judge demanding of Giuliani now?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: The judge, Judge Lewis, in the federal court in Manhattan says it's time for Rudy to give items that he owes by next week. They are going to tell him exactly when and where they want to pick those things up, things like his Mercedes. The keys to it, the title, sports memorabilia, Joe DiMaggio shirt, watches, luxury watches, a diamond ring. They're going to give him the list and he is going to be providing that by next week.

There was a court order on this previously but it has been difficult for the women to get access. That is because Giuliani and his lawyers, they keep arguing different things or changing what they are arguing. Today in court, Wolf, Giuliani even stood up and told the judge that he made a sworn statement that he knew were my assets were. He said he wanted to take his name off that sworn statement now. He did not want to provide other names about people who may know where his possessions are because it was torture, the judge said that's not how it works. It's under oath. You don't have the right to exercise self help.

All of this remember, Wolf, is the consequence of the 2020 election. Giuliani has worked for Trump. Our own Jeff Winter caught up with Giuliani right at the end of court. Here is that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: D you think Mr. Trump can help you?

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: Mr. Trump does not have to help me get out of it all. What Mr. Trump has to do is straighten out the legal system and find out who the real criminals are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Now, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss can still try and chase down about $2 million that Giuliani says Trump owes him if they can go to court for it. Giuliani is appealing this but the judges have said that it will not stop the clock. The deadline is fast approaching, next week, for Giuliani to get rid of assets to give them to these women.

BLITZER: Is there a concern, Katelyn, that Giuliani is giving the runaround on some of his assets?

POLANTZ: That is absolutely the concern at least of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and their lawyer and at times, Judge Lyman said some of Giuliani's answers were farcical and ridiculous, but it just was a new deadline that he put on the case today.

BURNETT: We'll see what happens on this front.

Katelyn Polantz, In thank you very much.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for watching.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.