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CNN NEWSROOM

Report: Clinton Says Support Trump Presidency; Dow in Record Territory After Trump Win; Ryan Says Trump Pulled Off an Enormous Political Feat; Putin Says Let's Restore U.S.-Russia Ties. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired November 9, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Obama Coalition didn't come out for her and Trump was able to keep pace but turnout just a wave of supporters in about 58 different counties across Pennsylvania, Brooke?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for talking to that voter, these are the folks who came together and elected now Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, Miguel, thank you. Joining me now speaking of Pennsylvania, former Pennsylvania senator, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Nice to see you back, congratulations. Did you sleep?

RICK SANTORUM, FORMER SENATOR: Not very much but I was happy not to sleep.

BALDWIN: I was seeing you nod out of the corner of my eye listening to that voter you went toe to toe with now president-elect Donald Trump but did you anticipate this big of a win? Truth? Yes, I know you wanted him to win, but did you anticipate this big of a win?

SANTORUM: I really thought that -- I gave a speech at the RNC saying the way to win the presidency is that we have to change the map. We can't keep trying to chase after Colorado, New Mexico, or New Hampshire. Those states aren't changing toward the Republican party demographically and culturally, the places that look most like what Ronald Reagan won in 1980ou are Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio.

BALDWIN: You said you needed to do it but he did it.

SANTORUM: I tried to but I admit I failed. I wrote a book called "Blue-Collar Conservative" trying to chart the path for the Republican party saying this is what I learned from my 2012 campaign. Here's the path. We don't need any more Bain Capital guys running for president. We don't need any rich oil guys.

BALDWIN: You heard the voters say "professional liars".

SANTORUM: Well, don't underestimate how much Obamacare hurt president Obama in Pennsylvania. Almost a 50% increase in premiums. It was the great lie. You can keep your doctor and you can keep your policy.

BALDWIN: Donald Trump pointed it out over and over these last couple weeks.

SANTORUM: It undermined the credibility of president Obama and therefore Hillary Clinton but it kept with the same things which these people look at -- who are out there working hard, haven't had a raise in 20 years, wages in this country have gone up over the last 20 years less than any other 20-year period in American history. Median income isn't going up.

Real estate prices are going up, stock prices going up, guys are doing great, out there telling them how great they're doing and then they're trying to tell them, well, you know, you'll do OK, it will be OK, we'll give you more government benefits. They don't want benefits. They want to go out and work.

They want good manufacturing jobs and they want good service jobs and pay increases that aren't driven by government but by the fact that they're earning it. And Donald Trump talked about that and he also talked about the importance of immigration, not flooding millions of more people in this country to compete for those jobs that lower prices on those jobs. And he also about trade deals and in my area of the country, western Pennsylvania, we lost thousands and thousands of jobs.

The quality of life for millions of middle income Americans declined after the manufacturing sector of this economy took a beating and it hasn't recovered since and they were looking for someone who shared their pain and Donald Trump did.

BALDWIN: Donald Trump was the guy. What about -- last time you were on my show you were saying shame on you governor Kasich, shame on you --

SANTORUM: Bush.

BALDWIN: Bush.

SANTORUM: I mentioned him, too.

BALDWIN: You did, you did. Well, now we know that Bush 43 called up not just Hillary Clinton but president-elect Trump. We know John Kasich has tweeted congratulations, Mitt Romney, congratulations. These are olive branches that are extended. Would you accept them?

SANTORUM: Absolutely. And saw it last night, Donald Trump will accept them. He's a practical --

BALDWIN: For now, or good?

SANTORUM: He wants to succeed. He doesn't want to be a loser. The last thing Donald Trump wants to be is a loser. He's won everything, the primary, the general, now he's got to win here, he's got to govern and you can't if your party is divided.

You can't govern if there are people sniping at you from --

BALDWIN: I think that's part of the big question, the clouds in Washington hanging over Americans is how will he govern because let me paint this for you, this is what people were saying, you had candidate Trump who says lock her up, lock her up, special prosecutor, Hillary Clinton's going to jail, I'm building a wall then you had president- elect last night who graciously stood in front of the crowd and says he owes a huge debt of gratitude to Hillary Clinton. Which will it be?

SANTORUM: Donald Trump --

BALDWIN: Did I stump you?

SANTORUM: Donald Trump looks at a market, assesses the market and says what product can I sell and be successful? He did that in the primary, changed in the general, toned it down if he'd have won by that he probably would have won by a bigger margin but he stuck with it. I think he's going to do the same thing here. Is he going to have bumps? Of course.

[15:35:00] But I think he's someone who will assess what is necessary for him to be successful to meet the requirements of the market. And he set the market, he said we'll repeal Obamacare, cut taxes, reduce regulations, get rid of executive orders, build the wall. We're going to cut down on immigration, all of those things are now markers for him. And he has got to figure out a way to be successful and I think on a lot of those things he's going to get bipartisan support.

If he lays it out as a platform to help working men and women in this country, how many Democrats are going to step up and say I don't want to do that.

BALDWIN: I think the big take away is there are a lot of people in this country we all need to listen closely to.

SANTORUM: Always a pleasure, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Congratulations. Coming up, after an initial freefall of Donald Trump's news the DOW in record territory. Richard Quest host of "Quest Means Business" joins me from New York. We watched the markets panic, panic, panic and then they stabilized. How would a Donald Trump presidency be good for the global market?

RICHARD QUEST: We don't know. You ask me why --do how I keep the shirt on my back, it's by not predicting how a market is going to go, because the answer is last night at 9:00, 10:00 eastern time the DOW futures were pointing to a 900-point loss on the Dow Jones when it opened. In the result, it opened down a little bit, rallied up and you are seeing the numbers today.

And what is behind this is classic uncertainty. Let's not be under any mistake what we're seeing is not a vote in President-elect Trump's policies because there's an enormous amount of uncertainty over the medium and long-term effect of those certainties. What you're seeing is volatility pure and simple. People trading on rumors, buy on the rumor, sell on the news type of stuff.

BALDWIN: OK. Richard Quest, thank you. Short answer, unknown. Next, the speaker of the house of representatives calling the Trump victory quote-unquote the most incredible political feat of his lifetime. What the house speaker will be able to do with now this red wave, a Republican majority house and senate and also Republican ally in the White House. You're watching CNN.

[15:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: When Donald Trump takes office here -- in the building just over my right shoulder -- Republicans will control both houses of congress. House speaker Paul Ryan often distanced -- easy for me to say -- himself from Mr. Trump during his campaign but now speaker Ryan is thrilled about the down-ballot victories that followed in Trump's wake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard. He connected in ways with people no one else did. He turned politic on its head. And now Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk more about a more unified Republican government would look like. Joining me now, CNN legal analyst and supreme court biographer Joan Biskupic. Also here, Bakari Sellers, a Clinton supporter, former member of the South Carolina house. Kayleigh McEnany is a Donald Trump supporter and Amanda Carpenter, former communications director for senator Ted Cruz. Congratulations, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say to you.

Joan, let me begin with you. The supreme court is a huge piece of this conversation now that we have a Republican-controlled congress and president-elect in the White House. We know that Mr. Trump had once upon a time released this list of 21 supreme court justices. Remind us who they are and their backgrounds.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure, I can, and I can tell you it's a real free-for-all now not just with those 21 names but probably pressure for other people. You're right, Brooke, he -- in two batches he suggested there were 21 individuals he was looking at. They were people distinctly from beyond the beltway, for example judge William Pryor of Alabama, judge Thomas Lee of Utah.

People who have respected conservative backgrounds but who are not the sort of leading lights of the conservative movement such as Paul Clement, the former U.S. solicitor general or Brett Cavanaugh, George W. Bush appointee on the D.C. circuit court of appeals. And I think for sure there's going to be a lot of individual pressure related to certain ones of those nominees but also to go beyond the list because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We don't know how many appointments he'll get. The last Republican appointee came on in 2006, that was Samuel Alito and my experience is there's a lot of competing interest, intraparty. So, he'll hear from conservatives who want individuals on that list state or federal court judges, but we'll hear from people who think go with a real power hitter who would be like justice Scalia himself. I think he'll hear from the Federalist Society and Mitch McConnell who engineered this moment by stalling on Merrick Garland. And I think there are some on the list who have good chances, for example judge Thomas Lee of Utah.

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: Let me ask you and I think I know what your answer will be, but president Obama's pick of judge Merrick Garland, is that a bye-bye, go back to private life?

BISKUPIC: Yes, go back to the appeals court in D.C.

BALDWIN: Amanda, to you, Ted Cruz, I look at you and I think Ted Cruz, he tweeted essentially that Trump has made big promises to the Republican party, will he deliver. What do you think?

AMANDA CARPENTER, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR SENATOR TED CRUZ: There are two discussions happening right now among Republicans that make me wonder. Mitch McConnell is saying they won't keep the promise to incorporate term limits into the Republican -- what they're going to do in his agenda item. That was something Donald Trump campaigned on. That's not happening but to the question of the court. I'm very interested.

There's Republicans talking about eliminating the legislative filibuster, the 60-vote threshold needed in the senate to pass legislation. If you remember, senate majority leader Democrat Harry Reid was the first to press the nuclear option on rushing Democratic judges through, that opened Pandora's box, so now they are openly considering ways to jam through legislation through the senate just as fast as it can pass in the house. So, this is a question, will the Republican congress be a rubber stamp

for Donald Trump or are they committed to Dodd constitutional conservatism? It will be a robust discussion.

BALDWIN: You mentioned Mitch McConnell on term limits and you're right, that's what our reporting is. But he was asked about Obamacare and Trump's promise on day one to repeal and replace. Here's what he said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCH MCCONNELL, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It's a pretty high item on our agenda, as you know and I would be shocked if we didn't move forward to open our commitment to the American people, it was the single worst piece of legislation among many bad pieces of legislation passed in the first two years of the Obama presidency, the sooner we can go in a different direction the better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Kayleigh, what he ran on and won on was the promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. It was appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton and building the wall. If you had to do one, two, three in order of priority, what would it be? KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's so much that

will be. On day one he doesn't need congress to renegotiate NAFTA. So, I think trade will be top of his agenda because he can do that on his own. Repealing and replacing Obamacare, especially given speaker Ryan has a good plan that will keep the good parts we've seen like people who have pre-existing conditions being able to get care.

So, they can work with Paul Ryan on that. And agenda item number one needs to be ethics reforms. We've seen in the both parties that have abused power in the city. Donald Trump was a man of the people, he's bringing the city back to the people and agenda item number one is ethics reforms, not allowing lobbyists to lobby our senators.

CARPENTER: The best way to solve a Republican congress and promote unity, the tax bill. We are going to clean up corruption in D.C. through simple, easy tax reform, it would be a home run and it will bring Republicans home in a happy pleasant way.

BALDWIN: Let me turn to the Democrat. How are you doing?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm good. The sun came up.

BALDWIN: What sort roles do you see, it is a red congress, it is a red White House, what role do we think Mr. Trump would reach out to senator Bernie Sanders?

SELLERS: I think Donald Trump's largest burden that he has is unifying the country. That's one he's going to ignore because he showed us you can be divisive and still win so I don't think that's a necessity for him. I don't see any outreach or need or reason --

BALDWIN: He just won, give him a minute, maybe.

SELLERS: OK. I breathed, I gave him a minute. I don't anticipate that happening, that would be totally different from the Donald Trump we saw. When you wake up, if you are an immigrant, an Arab American, if you are Hispanic origin or descent, it's a really tough day if you're an African American or a young woman.

When you think about some of the things we are going to lose, when you think about the supreme court and citizens united and the big money in politics, how that is going to stay in place, when you think about this is the first election we've had without the voting rights act and how we won't get those things to be reimplemented.

When you think about the environmental changes, climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese or women around this country when you think about Roe v. Wade, we are two or three justices away from Roe v. Wade no longer being the law of the land, So, it's a devastating day and Donald Trump has a burden to unify the country, it's a burden I believe he'll ignore because yesterday it was just -- it was a tough day.

MCENANY: The first sentences out of his speech were those of unity, he praised Hillary Clinton. He said he wanted to unify this country. To president Obama's credit, he said give him a chance and Hillary Clinton gave a graceful concession speech, I was impressed and I think he has to be given a chance because I know he wants to be president for all the people.

[15:50:00] BALDWIN: Thank you all so much. I appreciate it. On the other side of the world, though, Russia. Vladimir Putin accused of trying to influence this election has now weighed in on the results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Russia is ready and wants to restore the full-fledged relations with the United States. I repeat, we understand this will be difficult but we are ready to play our part in it. And do everything to be able to return Russia American relations to a stable and sustainable development track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let me talk to Fareed Zakaria, host of "Fareed Zakaria GPS". It's nice to see you, sir. Before we talk about the Putin factor. The statements from the world leaders congratulating Trump in a sense. How will the world and specifically our most important allies perceive a Trump presidency?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: They have all been stunned and shocked. In Europe, in some places, there was a little bit more of a sense of, you know, being able to understand it because they have had Brexit. And they've had the rise of right-wing populist movements in pretty much every European country. Almost nowhere has it taken over.

And almost nowhere has there been a kind of stunning upset, the kind that you have seen here. But they've all been bracing for things like this. In Asia there is what does he mean when he talks about saying to the Japanese and the south Koreans, maybe you should get nuclear weapons. In the Middle East, again, more apprehension. Nobody is quite sure what to make of it. You focus, in on the one country by seems very pleased. Russia and Vladimir Putin in particular has very quickly and warmly welcomed this -- the election.

BALDWIN: Russia, Putin calling for common ground. What do you make of that?

ZAKARIA: Well, look, this is Putin's dream come true in a sense, which is Putin has had one goal over the last few years, which is to have the sanctions that were put in place against Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea, weakened.

More broadly he's tried to divide the western world. It's something he's worked on in various ways. If -- and it's a big if we really don't know what president-elect Trump's positions would be. But if he were to come in and say, we've been too tough on the Russians, we should accept the annexation of Crimea and accept that Russia has special influence in Ukraine.

Well, that gets Russia everything it wants. It divides Europe, the eastern European countries like Poland and of course Ukraine will be terrified. There will be other countries in western Europe that will think, well, maybe we can start doing business with Russia. The whole structure of the Atlantic alliance begins to fray and that is one of the things that Putin has very openly been trying to do.

BALDWIN: We know that, you know, first question, listening to you talk about Putin and Russia, president Obama, who -- just a reminder to everyone, president-elect Trump will be meeting with at the White House tomorrow. President Obama has constantly been saying to world leaders that this man doesn't have the temperament to be president. He has dismissed Trump over and over again. How could that constant criticism, you know, hurt, sway who we have to do business with?

ZAKARIA: Oh, I think they had pretty -- their thoughts about this were pretty well established. Look, the pew foundation did an opinion poll, I think about a year and a half ago, 15 countries around the world, what were their favorability ratings. In every country, I believe other than Russia, the -- Hillary Clinton was preferred in some cases by a margin of 10 to 1.

So, the rest of the world's views are clear. But, to be fair, they have to deal with a president-elect Trump. They'll have to deal with a president Trump. The United States is the most powerful country in the world. I should also say Trump has a blank slate. Unlike in domestic policy where you have committed yourself to certain pieces of legislation, perhaps, or policies that are quite specific, in foreign policy I think he has a lot more leeway.

[15:55:00] He can -- he can do what he wants. He can change his mind. He can appoint people who have a very different view. And so, I think people around the world will be very pleasantly surprised if they found in Trump somebody who was more engaged, more willing to be an internationalist, more willing to understand their concerns and their problems as well.

He said last night, I will try to treat everyone fairly. I think if he, again, lives up to that, every president has always put America first. I don't think that he would be unusual in that regard. But most people around the world, most leaders around the world, are very apprehensive. He could easily change that. But they are very apprehensive.

BALDWIN: Fareed, thank you so, so much. We always watch Fareed's show. We are minutes away. We have been watching the markets in the wake of this historic presidential election. We are five minutes away from the close on Wall Street. A lot of green on the screen.

DOW near record highs after president-elect Trump is now official. We will look into whether that could be good. This announcement, this win, could be good for your 401 k. Mr. Trump is the first president elected who has never served the country in the military or some other form of office. We'll discuss this extraordinary upset.