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Protests Break Out after Trump's Stunning Victory; The Fallout After Trump Win. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 10, 2016 - 02:00   ET


[02:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. It's the top of the hour. 2:00 a.m. eastern time here in New York City. I'm live in New York.

This is CNN special coverage of a stunning presidential upset. The election of Donald Trump, something many didn't predict, some even in Trump's own camp. Mass demonstrations in New York and Oakland and other major cities across the country. The fallout from an election that shocked so many people. Many people thought it was impossible and polls said while it was improbable at best. Hours from now, Trump will head to the White House for a meeting with President Obama as they begin the task of a peaceful transition.




HARLOW: You are looking at Los Angeles. A few moments ago, people chanting "not our president, not our president." These are people happy pi with the result of the election. Look at pictures outside of Los Angeles where it is 11:00 p.m. local time. A crowd of thousands of people, many of them flowing over on to the 101, a major highway near downtown. Shutting down part of it. So far, no reports of violence or injuries or arrests, but this protest is enormously disruptive, stopping traffic going in both directions throughout Los Angeles. Right now, tonight, the United States -- the United Nations -- the United States is not united. We are witnessing a clear division. Half of the country feels like they have won, others are scared and angry, and they are taking to the streets.

Let's bring in our panel, Alice Stewart, former communications director for Ted Cruz and Trump supporter; Symone Sanders is the former press secretary for Bernie Sanders and Clinton supporter, Hilary Rosen is a Democratic strategist and Clinton supporter. Brian Stelter is with us, as well.

Alice, you are someone who supported Donald Trump. You came on board after supporting Ted Cruz. You see what is playing out tonight. This after Donald Trump said he will be the president for all America. He will unite America. That's not what is happening in the early hours. What would you like to see him do or say, perhaps even tomorrow?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think what he did last night. I was at a speech when he spoke to supporters at his victory speech. His demeanor was calm. I saw it as very presidential. He calmly called for unity. He said forgotten people will no longer be forgotten and said he wants to be the president for all of America. Of course, that didn't connect with the people out there protesting. They have say repeatedly he's not my president, he's not for me. They feel as though their voices are not heard. It is not going to go away without something being done. He needs to be pro-active, issuing a statement or getting the leaders of the organizations together and have a conversation with them to let them know he is vowing to be their president. Hillary Clinton also today urged Americans to keep an open mind and give him the opportunity to show that he means it when he talks about uniting the country and even the president calling for unity. I think everyone wants the same thing. Clearly, these people feel as though they are not being heard.

SYMONE SANDERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: When you talk about getting the leaders together, I think it is important to note there's a question of who's the leadership right now? 46 percent of Millennials, the majority of the young people in the street identified as Independents. They had no party loyalty. They cared about the issues. Their issues were not elevated in this general election. The regular, run of the mill "Politico's are not going to schedule. This revolution. Bernie Sanders is not going to squelch it. We need to elevate and I wrote about this in the times yesterday we need to elevate young people on both sides of the aisle and take the pulse of who it is that feels dejected, that is hurt, that is questioning things today and how do we move forward? What's the plan to engage and build with that electorate? That's not anything we have talked about. Folks have said we need to come together and support Donald Trump. Stop. Donald Trump needs to realize the campaign he ran, the hate and xenophobia and the sexism he elevated. Donald Trump is probably not a racist or bigot. He is probably not a racist, sexist or xenophobic, but a large swath of his supporters are.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRSEPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: I think you are right about the various wide variety of numbers of people that supported Donald Trump. We know very little about what happened on Tuesday night. The exit polls are just the beginning. We need more data and a lot more research to understand why Trump supporters voted the way they did. Why undecided broke toward Trump at the end. Why is it that white Americans, so many white Americans felt they wanted to cast their lot with a man who they say they don't trust to be president but voted for him anyway. We need to understand how much is racial resentment, how much about gender and sexism, how much about deep economic anxiety and other factors. I don't think we know yet, upon Poppy. I think it will take a long time to understand what Trump supporters were thinking and feeling and what the protesters are wanting and thinking.

[02:05:41] HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What we are hearing from the crowds from the local reporters and their signs, clearly immigration is a concern with them. They feel with the rhetoric that came from Donald Trump, they fear he's going to deport them or their loved ones. There's a large portion of the LGBT community that are concerned about what he will do about appointing justices to the court and how that will affect them. I think they feel as though their voices were not heard. Unfortunately, they didn't come out 18 months ago when everyone was running for president. That would have been helpful.


SANDERS: They didn't come out last night either.

HARLOW: I want to get Hilary Rosen in here.

Hilary, I want to play for you part of Hillary Clinton's concession speech. Then let's talk about it on the other side.


HILLARY CLINTON, (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.




HARLOW: That was obviously, Hilary Rosen, her speaking to women and young girls. In addition to that, she said she will help.

Looks like we are losing Hilary's shot. I'm losing it on my end. Hilary, I'm sorry about that.


HARLOW: She also said, "I will help Donald Trump." I know you said, look, this is not up to the Democrats to extend an olive branch here.


ROSEN: I didn't say that.


ROSEN: No, I just said I think from the protest point of view it is important to recognize one thing, which is if you are living in California, in Chicago, if you are living in New York, you actually didn't vote for Donald Trump. People in California are seeing that Hillary Clinton actually won the popular vote by overwhelming majorities. In fact, in the country, won the popular vote. From that perspective, it is feeling to them like they are not being heard.

On women, I think those words from Hillary were poignant. I know it was hard for me to talk to my daughter today about the results of this election because she really did hear Donald Trump during this campaign and the people around him, the Rudy Giulianis and thing in Newt Gingrichs and the like that expressed the sexism and sexual assault talk. I don't think we can forget this. I won't be able to get that out of my mind for a long time. Donald Trump's behavior and activity over the next several months will mean a lot to young women and women themselves have to feel more empowered. It is difficult to wake up today and feel as a woman empowered about the results of this election. I don't care what party you are in. It just can't feel good. So, you have to think about what does change that for us?

HARLOW: When you talk about conversations with your children, as we see conversations happening in the streets of America tonight, the voice of people, you know, very not just displeased and disheartened but they feel despair over the outcome of the election in the streets of America tonight.

I want to play you some sound from Van Jones, one of our CNN political commentator and a parent, as well and a Clinton supporter.

As a Trump supporter, Alice, I want you to respond to this, because it is what Hilary brings up. Let's play what van said last night during our election coverage.


[02:09:50] VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's hard to be a parent for a lot of us tonight. You tell your kids, don't be a bully. You tell your kids, don't be a bigot. You tell your kids, do your homework and be prepared and then you have this outcome and you have people putting children to bed tonight and they are afraid of breakfast. They are afraid of how do I explain this to my children? I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight, saying, "Should I leave the country?" I have families of immigrants that are terrified tonight. This was many things, this was a rebellion against the elites, true. It was a complete reinvention of politics and polls. It's true, but it was also something else. We talked about race. We talked about everything but race tonight, income, class, region. We haven't talked about race. This was a white-lash. This is a white- lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a black president, in part. And that's the part where the pain comes.


HARLOW: Alice, that is a moment that went viral. He said this is a white-lash and he said I respect who you supported and who won but you have to realize what was said.

You are late to come over to the Trump camp, right? You worked for Ted Cruz. He was late to come over. How did you reconcile the two? You wrote about this that you were disgusted with some of the things that Donald Trump said but you came on board.

STEWART: I still am disgusted with some of the things he said. There's no defense for a lot of the things he said. I personally had to talk to Raphael Cruz about some of the things that Donald Trump said accusing him of killing JFK. I cannot begin to imagine exactly what Van because he's such a kind, gentle, compassionate man and my heart broke for him and I agreed so much about what he said with regard to the language and dialogue and the way this campaign has come out.

But at the end of the day for me, Donald Trump, I felt was the better candidate for president than Hillary Clinton. When he talks about the white-lash, it's not a white-lash against a country. It's a backlash against a corrupt candidate. In my view, it is a backlash against a president. In my view who campaigned eight years ago on not being a president for black or white America but for the United States of America. In my view, I feel this country is more divided than we have ever been. I think there is a tremendous disconnect in the way that someone I care deeply for van jones sees the state of the country and the way I see it. I see it as a conversation that is just beginning today and I think it needs to be continued.

HARLOW: Do you agree with Symone who said that I think Donald Trump starts by saying he needs to apologize and goes on to say he is probably not a racist, bigot or misogynist. She is speaking to the character of the man who she vehemently opposes and said he probably isn't these things but he should apologize and move forward. Do you want to see an apology from him?


HARLOW: -- seeing people on the streets of Los Angeles blocking the 101.

STEWART: I think it would go a long way. We know those two words he's afraid to say, certainly not you are fired but I'm sorry.


HARLOW: That's who we elected as president.

STEWART: That's his nature. That's who he is. We all knew this going in. Believe me. I wanted so bad for Ted Cruz to be the president of the United States and I fought hard for that. When that was not the option, I was on board with Donald Trump because I believe he was the better alternative of the two we had. And that's the way it is. The people have voted and I think we need to get behind him. He's going to be the next president for all of us and I think it is incumbent for everyone to get behind him.

SANDERS: Poppy, a lot of people have come on the air tonight, yesterday, wherever we are. And have said, I heard someone say you campaign in poetry but govern in prose. The people that voted for Donald Trump on Tuesday, they voted for the Donald Trump they saw on the campaign trail. They did not vote for Donald Trump to do a whole about face, turn around and do something different.

HARLOW: Symone, I would take issue from that. From what I heard from people talking to people about the economy and jobs and the issues that matter most to them. Many of them sounded like Alice, who say I hate what he said about women but I believe he help my family and my personal economy.

(CROSSTALK) HARLOW: Those are many of the people. Many supporters of Donald Trump aren't racist. Many of the supporters aren't people yelling profanity things at rallies. That's the minority. We have to be fair in saying that, don't we?

SANDERS: I believe we have to reckon with this rhetoric, the rhetoric that Donald Trump has elevated may not affect people that look like you on this panel but affects people that look like me. It affects Latinos, Hispanics, Native American folks and that's real for those people. The issues he's elevated, there's so many people that are talking about radical "Islam." people talking about Mexican people taking their jobs. We heard interviews from Donald Trump supporters who said I go to work every day and I see people sitting there, just taking handouts. That is very real.

[02:15:33] HARLOW: Stay with me. We have a lot more to get to.

This is, as you are looking at live pictures from the west coast, protests in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles. Both big protests in front of city hall and big protests on the 101 on the highway by downtown Los Angeles. People expressing their feelings about President-elect Donald Trump. Crowds blocking part of the 101.

Let's take a look.


UNIDENTIFIED KCBS REPORTER: Right now, though, all I'm hearing is they are trying to get their guys out here in number and trying to lock it down. They know if they approach from one direction they the crowd will run to the other. They need officers in those areas, as well. This crowd is one they are looking at. They want to bring the officers from LAPD to join other officers on the freeway. Some of these guys are sitting down. You can see them on the roadway. What this is all about, they don't like Trump. This is something they should have taken care of in the Democratic process earlier on. You know, this is -- this is south Los Angeles. We do our things the way we do things out here. Right now, LAPD has been very lenient with the situation. Very hands off. Allowing these protesters their Second Amendment to speak what they want to do, say what they want to say.


HARLOW: All right. That is from our affiliate KCBS there in Los Angeles. One of their reporters, moments ago, looking at these protests. We will continue to watch them tonight.

You are live with us. We will be right back.


[02:21:12] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow.

You are looking at live pictures out of Los Angeles. Protesters have gathered at multiple spots in the city. You see protesters on the 101, the major highway in Los Angeles. Blocking parts of the 101 near downtown L.A. A number of protesters, as you saw earlier tonight, protesting in front of city hall, as well. Going so far as to burn an effigy of the president elect, caricatures of him.

Let's talk this over with our panel. Alice Stewart is back with me, Symone Sanders; and Julian Zelizer, Princeton University historian and professor; and CNN political commentator, Lanhee Chen, former public policy director for Mitt Romney, who did not vote for Donald Trump; and Anushay Hassan, a journalist and editor-in-chief of a anushayspoint.com.

Thank you very much for being with me.

Anushay, let me begin with you.

You have written about this extensively. You are -- obviously, you have said publicly not pleased with the election of Donald Trump. However, you also said this is our president. We have to come together and hope, basically that some of the policies and things he said about Muslims living in America don't come to fruition. What do you want to see play out as we see many displeased Americans take to the streets tonight?

ANUSHAY HASSAN, JOURNALIST & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ANUSHAYSPOINT.COM: I want to see Donald Trump reassure us. It is a terrifying time to be a Muslim-American. And not just to be a Muslim-American but a minority in America. Seeing the images of the protests in America, I relate to the Latinos, the blacks, to the LGBT youth on the street, Poppy, I relate to the young women who are worried. Trump actively ran on an anti-Muslim platform, on anti-Latino platform. He hasn't come out and said anything to reassure us that he will be a president for all of us. I think it is terrifying. I don't feel safe as an American Muslim. I worry about my 5-year-old daughter and the America she's growing up in and people are afraid. People are afraid of rising Islamophobia, rising anti-immigrant sentiment. He needs to come out and reaffirm he will be a president for all Americans.

HARLOW: That is what he said in his remarks. His speech was very conciliatory. He said, "I will be the president for all America." When you heard that, your thoughts?

HASSAN: Well it was nice to hear that. I will say, after all of the fear mongering, he is our president elect. I feel like we are more willing to accept him as our president elect, but the question is, is he willing to accept us? He gave that before the protests broke out. People are saying Hillary Clinton or Obama should come out but no it needs to be Trump. He needs to take responsibility for the fear that -- this is tangible. This is tangible fear. People have legitimate reasons to be concerned. I don't think we should raise our expectations, expecting an apology from Trump but he should definitely reassure all Americans.

HARLOW: Lanhee Chen, to you, as a Republican, someone that doesn't support Trump but as a Republican and someone engaged in the process, to her point, Donald Trump did say previously in the campaign, you know, proposed an all-out ban on Muslims coming in to this country. Although that has been altered since he said it he never fully walked it back and never offered clarity to the American people on exactly what his policy would be. That fear, among a young Muslim journalist, who you just heard from there, is palpable among Muslims in this country. What do you think that Donald Trump should say to them tonight?

[02:25:28] LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think Donald Trump gave his speech last night, as you mentioned. He gave conciliatory remarks. I think he is our president. Over the next couple of weeks, he will talk about what he will do for the American people. I think that is important. In my mind, you that people that are out there protesting will be responsive to whatever he says the next few weeks. I think some of this is an expression of anger at the outcome of the election. If that is the case it is unfortunate expression presentation of anger. At the end of the day, it is not like the election outcome is going to change. Not like there is a specific thing they are calling for. They are just raging on the street. In my mind, least, Donald Trump has said what he needs to say.


HARLOW: But, Lanhee, to be fair, we are not on the street listening to them. We don't know what they are saying.

CHEN: Fair. But the reporting so far this evening suggests that maybe some Electoral College reform. That seems to be extraction of what they are saying. But in my mind, to put the onus on Donald Trump and say he needs to come out and solve the entire problem, I think is unfair. Look, during the course of this election, I have been clear about my misgivings about Donald Trump but he is the president elect and we need to offer that some respect.

HARLOW: Julia Zelizer, you are a historian. This is what you do. We learn lessons from history. We were speaking earlier and I said do you remember protests in the street after an election, you were talking about Nixon. What can history teach us when some of society responds this way? To Brian Stelter's point from earlier, there are not cameras on households across the Rustbelt right now and in many states that are clearing the election, and are the men and women that Donald Trump spoke to in his tweet when he said the forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again. For them, this is victory.

JULIAN ZELIZER, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: There have been protests in previous elections. There's clearly many Americans who don't feel the same kind of rage as the protesters.

That said, I think the whole speech he gave today, earlier this morning, comes at the end of one of the most divisive political campaigns we've seen from a mainstream candidate. I think it is a mistake to say he makes one speech and it wipes it all away. The anger, fear the protesters fear and more importantly it registered in the polls. It is a response to what he did.

I think it is OK to have these feelings and this tension. I think it is a response to him. HARLOW: I had such a nice experience tonight, Symone. I was sitting

at Starbucks doing a little work before I came in and sitting a with a young African-American woman, and she said, what do you think about the election, and I said, well, I'm a journalist and I said how do you feel about the election. She said I'm disappointed but I was speaking to my college adviser and he said, what can we do now? It reminded me of JFK, what can you do for this country? That's not to take the onus off of elected officials or the president elect, but it's a question of all of us and what we all do. It struck me.

SANDERS: I think a lot of people have made statements today. Tonight, these young people in the streets are making a statement right now. We also need a strategy. We need to strategize. What's the plan? The next president, the next Congress there are things that need to be done. America is not happy about the gridlock. Not happy about --


SANDERS: there will be less of gridlock, but will they and us as a people deliver on these promises? That is where we are. I think young people need to make a plan. How will you engage? What's your actual plan to create change? Put your name on the ballot. Run for office.


HARLOW: One reason you believe why Hillary Clinton didn't win is because you feel Millennials weren't engaged enough.

SANDERS: They weren't. Millions of young people stood up in the primary and said what they cared about, climate change, criminal justice reform, education, the economy and social justice issues. And after the Democratic primary, they were met with -- people fought for your right to vote. You need to get on board with the Democratic nominee or, oh, yes, these are definitely the issues but are you not scared of Donald Trump? And look where we are now.

So young people, regardless of whether the Democratic Party --


So, young people, regardless of whether the Democratic Party or Republican party embraces them are going to organize, strategize and act. It is incumbent on the Democrats, and I'm a life-long Democrat. I'm a progressive. It is incumbent on us to embrace these young people and bring them to the table for meaningful engagement. You can't bring the young folks in after the decisions have been made. For people questioning who's our leadership we need to bring young people in the room and have that conversation. POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Alice, you have a unique perspective

because you are a Republican woman who voted for Donald Trump but you wrestled inside of your soul, am I right, about that?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. And as a Christian there are certain issues that I didn't believe. Certainly, some of the comments he made about women, the comments that contradicted some of my Christian beliefs were difficult. It was hard to make that decision. At the end of the day, I had to take some soul searching and really look at some of the policies that Hillary Clinton stands for, specifically I think the Supreme Court is a big issue. We're hearing from some of the people out here. Knowing she is going to appoint liberal justices to the Supreme Court. That gave me pause. Some other positions with regard to foreign policy, with regard to -- I think we need a stronger overhaul of Obamacare -


HARLOW: You based your decision on policy, not on rhetoric or words. You said some of the words of Donald Trump and actions disgust you but you made your decisions on policy.

STEWART: Absolutely. Here's the different thing. I think that Democrats throughout history -- you may have a feel for this, too. I think they have throughout history voted and got voters engaged based on feelings. Like at the concerts. There's a great feeling. It got people together and excited and little talk about policies and issues but they were engaged on feeling good. Whereas Republicans, I think, they based decisions on the facts and who's going to have policies to support and who will take it to the White House. It is a different mind et and worked for Democrats, but Republicans, I think they think with their head opposed to their hearts.

HARLOW: Stay with me.

I want to get to this. Right now, there are thousands of protesters on the streets of Los Angeles where it is 11:30 at night venting their emotions, making their voices heard about the outcome of this election. Crowds are blocking parts of the 101, that major freeway near downtown Los Angeles.

Take a look and listen to this. This is the voice of Stu Mundel the aerial photographer and reporter for KCBS moments ago. Listen.


STU MUNDEL, KCBS REPORTER: They are -- this is the crowd we have seen earlier this evening. There was -- there were probably thousands out here earlier this evening and on the steps of the city hall. The group that we saw originally on the freeway might have been 800. Now the other larger group has made their way out here earlier on.

We saw the entire southbound lanes out here of the 101 completely filled with people, something happened and they all started to run. Possibly an officer may have made a move or something like that. But the crowd started to run out here. A lot of them getting on the roads, next to the 101 freeway here in the downtown area. That's where the crowds we are seeing right there. They are spilling on to the streets but some are them are on the freeway. Tom is correct. It is completely overrun by people this evening. The officers that were down there taking care of the couple hundred will probably need 10 times more officers to take care of this large crowd.

Also look at how they are spread out. It isn't in one spot where they are all in an area. They are all over the 101 freeway down here this evening. You have some of them standing on the rails two on the two sides of the freeway there. These might be -- some of these might be people that are in their cars, just getting out to look around, but a lot of them protesters and basically walking around this evening. Pedestrian rules, that's basically what is happening. These cars are all stuck. People taking over the 101 freeway.

I understand -- we heard one person talking about they are angry about Trump being elected. I don't know how this will solve that problem if you want to call it that, but it is -- yes.


HARLOW: All right. That is our affiliate KCBS. The chopper reporter giving you a sense of what it is like in Los Angeles where it is just past 11:30 in the evening.

Let's bring my panel back in. Alice is with me, and Symone Sanders, and also Lanhee Chen, in California. Julian Zelizer is here.

Julian, one of the things you have written about today on CNN.com as we reflect on this election is that what Donald Trump taught everyone is in 2016 you have to speak to the people. That's not just through big rallies. Every politician has big rallies. He did it through Twitter in a controversial and aggressive fashion. But it worked.

[02:35:39] JULIAN ZELIZER, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. His style of communication really did work. We saw the results in this election. Not only did he convince many, most Republicans to stay with the Republican party he was able to slightly broaden the reach of the Republicans in to blue collar territory and part of that was the way that he spoke. The mechanisms that he used to speak. It is something that frankly the Democrats need to emulate and think about. Not the substance. Obviously, the substance there's a big difference but there are certain strategies he made how to run a campaign in in the modern age that were effective.

HARLOW: The front page of the "L.A. Times" today reads "Two Americas." Underneath it says, "Hillary Clinton won the popular vote." She is winning. We don't know if she won it. Then it says, "Donald Trump's electoral path bypasses metropolises. Many supporters live different lives and distrust one another."

Look at this. We'll pull this up on the screen. This will show you where the vote went. Urban versus suburban areas. The urban areas, 59 percent went to Clinton, rural areas 62 percent to Donald Trump. A complete converse there. We saw, Symone, was on the streets of America tonight play out in the polling booths.

SANDERS: Yes. For anyone who hasn't visited rural America, it's a different place. But the people in the urban centers and the folks in rural America are struggling with the same things. Sometime during the primary in west Virginia with counties in, poorest counties in Virginia has the similar issues as in Chicago.

HARLOW: You bring up an important part. I spent time with our team in the swing states for a big special we did. In Ohio, if you go to Cleveland, we were in an area that's not -- Mitt Romney didn't get a single vote in 2012. We drove 200 miles south to Pike County where Mitt Romney won by a single vote, and they are both economically depressed parts of these different cities. One is urban and one is rural. And they are struggling with the same problems but they believe two different people can solve them.


SANDERS: I will say to the point what can Republicans take from Donald Trump, Donald Trump ran a simple campaign. He ran on make America great again. What is your economic policy? Make America great again. Build a wall. We're going to make America great again. That's what happened. When it came to secretary of state she had meat and policy but we didn't have a rallying cry like that. I think Americans were looking for a rallying cry. In 2008, we had hope and change.


HARLOW: 83 percent of people we know from the exit polling -- and these are different than the polls who got it wrong, predicted it wrong. They talked to people after they cast their vote. They rely on what people say. 83 percent of people in the exit polls who voted for Donald Trump said the number-one characteristic for them was change, not policy, change.


HARLOW: Stay with me.

I want to bring in Johnna Watson, the public information officer for the Oakland Police Department with me on the phone.

Are you there, officer?


HARLOW: Thank you for joining us. This is Poppy Harlow in New York.

These are pictures out of Oakland, California. You see protesters who gathered. What can you tell us about the protests that took place this evening and what's going on right now?

WATSON: Thank you for asking. One of the most important messages we want to send to our community through media channels is we were here full staffing, have a lot of ways to facilitate a peaceful march. Freedom of speech, be listened to and heard. That was the most important message in a peaceful, safe environment. Unfortunately, later this evening we had a turn of events where a crowd went from several hundred to about 7,000. during later in the evening about 7,000. We had splintered groups that broke off and they began to vandalize various areas of our downtown. The vandalism ranged from lighting objects on fire, broken windows, vandalism. What is really concerning is when it turns violent, assault toward officers. We have a couple of officers injured. Some went to the hospital, as well as we have two outside agency patrol cars burned.

[02:40:39] HARLOW: How are -- this is the first that we are hearing of these officers who have been injured. What can you tell us about their condition right now and what happened? These clashes?

WATSON: Again, we tried to facilitate a peaceful protest, communicating with the various groups, trying to establish communication. So, it was peaceful for everyone. Again, 7,000 people is a very large crowd, especially for a law enforcement agency of 753 officers. We pulled everyone in including partnering with our neighboring law enforcement agencies. 7,000 is quite a large crowd for us. Again, it wasn't the whole crowd. These are splinter groups that will often break off, as they did tonight. They will engage in criminal activity.

Having said that, later in the evening, it took a different turn. The officers have been treated and released. One is currently at the hospital. We are here to have our community engage in constructive conversation without being violent. That's something that across our country we are all asking for is a way to communicate, listen, be heard, and have dynamic conversation without bringing the element of criminal activity in.

HARLOW: Officer, was this expected at all? As you know, crowds swelling to 7,000 is big for any police department to deal. Obviously, your officers had to deal with it. Some of them injured. You mentioned the vandalism. Was this reaction expected at all and had you prepared for the possibility of this?

Well, I can share with you, most of us have been up since yesterday, including myself we didn't not expect this. Our department and other law enforcement agencies did not anticipate this type of reaction from the election. We moved quickly to gather resources and again when you have such a large crowd and really want to be clear it wasn't all 7,000. These are specific splinter groups that choose to engage in criminal activity. Often when we look in to the background of where these individuals are from --

HARLOW: Sounds like I lost Officer Watson, the public information officer with the Oakland Police Department. Again, some of the headlines from her, the Oakland police tonight working.

She said with the protesters. Mostly peaceful, but then it swelled to 7,000 and she said there was vandalism, broken windows, some fires set, multiple officers injured. Unfortunately, she said part of it did turn violent tonight in Oakland. My thanks to her for calling in.

Tonight, protests in New York City and Chicago, really in about 15 different cities, New Orleans, Austin, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia. We are continuing to watch large crowds in Los Angeles blocking the 101 Highway at times.

Stay with us. You are live for this special election coverage on CNN. We'll be right back.


HARLOW: Donald Trump won this election in no small part because of his mastery of television and social media. He spoke a message that resonated -- make America great again. Why were so many people shocked? The shock expressed around the world was so loud because almost all of the polls and the projection maps and the political models and the media were dead wrong when it came to Trump's chances of the winning.

Brian Stelter, our senior media correspondent, is with me now.

And you say that not seeing this coming was one of the biggest media failures of our lifetime.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Absolutely was. Why was Clinton convinced she was going to win? Why was wall street convince she was going to win? This is a failure of elites but mostly among journalists, a failure of imagination, a mass delusion.


HARLOW: Isn't that every fact from every poll has been spot on for decades was wrong.

[02:49:52] STELTER: Polls were off by a few percentage points the national polls were within the margin of error. The size of the Trump wave was not measured well. That is because state polls were in the words of Nate Silver were messy. They were off and that led to misunderstanding of what was going on in the electorate and I think wishful thinking among journalists. Journalists have been attacked during the campaign and demeaned in a long, grueling campaign. There was some liberal media bias but I would call it a cell of corridor bias. D.C., New York, Boston, journalists who live in the northeast who did not speak to and hear from Trump supporters. One question journalists have to ask themselves in the coming days, do you know Trump supporters, do you know who voted for Trump. If not, why not? The roar of the country was missed partly accidentally and part intentionally and it is something journalists will have to assess and talk about to regain the trust and credibility lost and to keep it from happening again.

HARLOW: We will see how President-elect Trump will hold the media. He will have a press corps with him wherever he travels. You expect it would have been a challenge under Hillary Clinton. What do you think, Brian, it may be like under a president Trump? Frankly in the 24 hours he's been the president elect, almost 24 hours ago is when he was elected president the only thing he has tweeted is.

STELTER: This is the first black president with the leader of the birther movement. It's an extraordinary, in some way answer upsetting thing to think about. You wonder what President Obama wants to say to president elect Trump. You wonder what he will say. You wonder what the reaction will be like. It will be the first time since he spoke 24 hours ago. That will be notable. There will be a cloud over the press corps the next four years. Whether president Trump revokes the press credentials during the campaign or insults them like he did during the campaign. There will be potential.

HARLOW: Have sitting presidents ever done that?

STELTER: There are sporadic.


STELTER: Not revoke press credentials but think back to Sam Donaldson sparring with Reagan, things like that but not to the extent we saw during this campaign. We saw extreme anti-media rhetoric. Something his base and supporters appreciated. It was part a repudiation of the press and other elites. It is something journalism has to reckon with. We have to come out being more humble, wanting to understand the audience better.

It is obviously almost 3:00 in the morning. So, the late-night shows have taken to the air waves for the first time since Donald Trump became the president elect.

Let's listen to how some of the different late-night hosts responded to that.


JIMMY FALLON, HOST, TONIGHT SHOW: That's right Donald Trump is going to be president. Republicans hope that he will keep his promise to build a wall and Democrats hope he will keep his promise not to accept the election results.


JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW: Those stupid hats. Those hats that looked like they were printed at a kiosk in the middle of a West Field mall.


Turns out they were magic, like Frosty the Snowman. It's -


STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW: How to explain Trump's victory to their kids, you know? How do you tell them, tell them anything? Tell them the new president is Elsa from "Frozen." (LAUGHTER)

It's the only way to get them to let it go.


CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, LATE NIGHT: Americans have the right to feel happy, angry, pessimistic, optimistic but everybody should feel grateful we get to vote and if we don't get our way we have our chance to try again. It is a beautiful thing.


HARLOW: Conan O'Brien responding more sort of -- well, he didn't make light of it. This is American democracy at play. What's your reaction?

STELTER: Late-night hosts and journalists are in a similar bucket. Late-night hosts spoke out about Trump, warned about the dangers of a Trump presidency. Sometimes in over-the-top, overheated ways. Maybe we will see an adjustment. Seth Meyers says now we will hold you to your promises, words and actions. We will be watching. That's usually the tone of a liberal "New York Times" columnist but a late- night comedian instead. And I think we will see it from journalists and comedians.

HARLOW: Promised a number of things. The number-one issue people voted on is the economy. That's what he ran on. I will help you in the Rustbelt that have lost their good paying job, who can't support their family anymore. I will be the president to create 25 million jobs in the next 25 years. I will be the president to eliminate the $18 trillion, $19 trillion deficit. Those are his words and promises.

Now, our job, as journalists, your job as someone who covers the media, like any president, fact checking, holding their feet to the fire, holding them accountable.

[02:55:26] STELTER: Newsrooms made a lot of money off of this election and not just broadcasting Donald Trump rallies. There is a cliche that is incomplete K. They made a lot of money and one thing to do is reinvest it in reporting especially in the suffering states that you traveled to during the primary and general. We need to know more about those voters.

HARLOW: We do.

Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Host of "Reliable Sources."

I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. I'll see you back here this weekend. Thank you for joining us for this special election coverage here on CNN. An extra early "Early Start" begins in just a moment.





[03:00:02] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news overnight, protests from coast to coast over the results of the 2016 election.