Joins us from trump tower. The president elects soninlaw, what are you learning about his plans to avoid conflicts of interest . And is he even legally allowed to take this position according to antinepotism laws that are in place . Reporter those are the Big Questions, anderson. Donald trump made a major announcement today, tapping his soninlaw Jared Kushner to be a Senior Adviser to the president. There was a lot of discussion about this for several weeks, but officials held a Conference Call with reporters and laid out the case that they believe yes, Jared Kushner is legally able to serve as a Senior Adviser to donald trump despite the fact that he is the president elects soninlaw. They say he does not violate federal antinepotism laws, laws put in place in the 1960s after john f. Kennedy tapped his brother, bobby kennedy, to be attorney general. Later, congress and lawmakers decided that that was no longer something that should be done in this country, so laws were changed. But according to these transition officials, essentially the president has broad discretion to apoint whomever he chooses to serve as an adviser. That is the Legal Framework theyre going with here. But to satisfy some of the conflict of interest laws that Jared Kushner would be subject to, they are saying hes going to be selling off most of his assets, resigning from positions that he has, not only with his companies, but also with the new York Observer newspaper here in the city. It is all a part of a very big move and shakeup inside the transition today. We also learned that ivanka trump, the president elects daughter, she will not be taking on a position in the administration right away. Although she will also be selling off some of her assets and resigning from some of her positions to remove that appearance of a conflict of interest. But democrats on capitol hill, the ranking democrat on the House Judiciary Committee is saying hold on. Hes asking for the Justice Department under the Obama Administration to take a look at whether any of this is legal. And while the president elect is taking these steps, he is at the same time avoiding some very Big Questions on russia and his own potential conflicts of interest in the upcoming white house. With Inauguration Day closing in, donald trump is trying to change the conversation away from the cloud of questions hanging over his looming presidency. Well talk about that on wednesday. Reporter asked by reporters about russia interfering in the election, trump punted. Who do you trust more Julian Assange or nsa . Reporter a key question, whether he believes russians tried to tilt the election his way. Advisers indicate that trump believes some of the findings. Hes not denying that entities in russia were behind this particular hacking campaign. Reporter but suggesting it doesnt really matter. Theres no smoking gun when it comes to the nexus between these hacking activities and the election results. Reporter over the weekend, trump tweeted having a Good Relationship with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only stupid people would think that is bad. That is something that worries democrats and republicans. After having been briefed by our intelligence leaders, donald trump is still unsure as to what the russians did, that would be incredibly unnerving to me, because the evidence is overwhelming. Reporter adding to the preinaugural drama, hearings for a slew of cabinet picks are getting under way, and democrats are howling over delays of Background Materials coming in to the committee. 2009 is reprizing a letter to harry reid, outlining standards that should be met before obama nominees were met by the senate. They are almost exactly what democrats requested. Mr. President , i dont bring this up to play gotcha. Im showing that our requests are emmentally reasonable, and in fact, have been shared by leaders of both parties. Reporter now Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell insists there will be no holdup. Everybody will be properly vetted and im hopeful well get our National Security team in place on day one. Reporter and were getting a sense of how big this job will be for Jared Kushner, serving as Senior Adviser to president elect donald trump. Just this evening, hes meeting in the office of House Speaker paul ryan on capitol hill to go over a tax reform package that they would like to roll out in the upcoming administration. Once donald trump is sworn in as president. Also at that meeting, steve bannon, a top adviser to the president with reince priebus. Jared kushner would not be at that meeting if this were not a very important job hes about to take on. It is apparently not too big for the president elect to respond with a tweet storm. Last night at the golden globes, meryl streep singled out a moment that as she put it, broke my heart because of what it said about donald trump. Today, donald trump responded. Reporter at the golden globe awards, meryl streep tore into donald trump without saying his name. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It it kind of broke my heart when i saw it. And i still cant get it out of my head, because it wasnt in a movie, it was real life. Reporter before sun rise, trump responded on twitter, in three backtoback messages. Meryl streep is one of the most overrated actresses in hollywood. Doesnt know me but attacked last night at the golden globes. Shes a hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, i never mocked a disabled reporter, would never do that. But simply showed him groveling when he changed a 16yearold story he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media. For trump, it may be good politics to spar with hollywood liberals. Hes right about streeps support for clinton, as seen last summer at the democratic convention. Hillary clinton will be our first woman president. Reporter but his comments about the New York Times reporter, who has a disability, are the subject of far more dispute. This guy, i dont know what i said, ahh, i dont remember. Reporter its the latest front in americas culture wars. Playing out in elections and spilling over into the theater. On sunday, bill, hillary, and Chelsea Clinton receiving several Standing Ovations as they attended the find broadway performance of the color purple. A stark contrast from the reception Vice President elect mike pence received at hamilton, where he was addressed by cast members. A deeply divided country awaits trump, as he prepares to succeed president obama. Streep was among the celebrities invited to the white house on friday night to say farewell. Back in los angeles, she used her golden globe platform to make a political plea. This instinct to humiliate when its marvelled by someone on the public platform, it filters down into everybodys life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Reporter whats different about this chapter of the countrys longrunning culture wars is that trumps own celebrity helped him win the white house. From Reality Television youre fired. Reporter to his own cameos. Excuse me, wheres the lobby . Down the hall and to the left. Thanks. Reporter trumps fame preceded him in politics. Yet he drew few celebrities to his side while clinton surrounded herself with alist stars. By the way, i didnt have to bring jlo or jay zee. The only way she gets anybody. Im here all by myself. Reporter in just 11 days, trump will have the last word. A script hollywood cannot rewrite. Jeff zeleny joins us now. It seems like donald trump may have a different relationship with hollywood than president obama did. Reporter i think in every way. There were celebrities here over this past weekend until nearly sun rise saturday morning. Having won last farewell with the president , do not expect that any time here soon in the next administration. But theres one thing, anderson, donald trump has a longstanding relationship with many celebrities, many stars. One friend of his told me today that he wants to be respected and liked. But it is simply good politics for him to be against hollywood, against these liberals. Well see if that relationship ever heals. Jeff, thanks. Lets bring in our totally underrated panel. Kirsten, certainly no one likes to be criticized obviously, especially on a national broadcast. Does it make any sense that the man who is about to be president of the United States is tweeting about this predawn, responding to meryl streep . Once you accept that he tweets all the time, then i think for him to tweet about this, it weirdly does make sense because of what jeff was just talking about. I think this feeds his base. They like this fight with hollywood. I think it works to his advantage to be attacked by somebody like meryl streep who is an icon of the left in hollywood, right . And i think what she said was very fair, and im not surprised that trump responded the way he did. Can i jump in . He spent 16 minutes tweeting about meryl streep and her speech was like six or seven minutes. But what she said is the same thing moms say in ohio or michigan, pick on somebody your own size. I agree. Im not sure how that makes him look bigger or better or more president ial. No, no, i dont think it makes him look bigger and president ial. It just reinforces this idea that he is under attack by the elites in this country, and hes just pushing back. I think what she said was one of the least offensive things you could really say in terms of you just want to be totally factual. During the election, he did use the fact that Hillary Clinton was surrounded by, you know, wellknown celebrities who would show up and sing for her and stuff like that. He wore that as a badge of honor. That seems to be trying to it does seem like this hurts him. He pretends it doesnt, but if hes tweeting predawn i think what weve learned about trump, if you attack him, he will attack back. Its what he showed throughout the entirety of the election and thats not stopping now. But to kirstens point, shes right. Listen to the words meryl streep said. She said hollywood was vilified and hollywood is full of outsiders and characterized trumps supporters at people laughing at a disabled reporter, which wasnt the case. That the juxtaposition that donald trump won this election. Trump supporters are laughing and theyre uncouth and we are the vilified outsiders. But theres no dispute that he was mocking a disabled reporter. Theres a lot of dispute. Theres video of him using the same hand motions referring to ted cruz, a general, and he used the same hand motions in 2005 on larry king. So that is the subject of debate. Were not talking about his supporters, those were his words, he was humiliating somebody. When she said humiliation incites humiliation that was your interpretation. Heres where i think theres a shock test of what we see differently. If democrats want to win again, this is the exact wrong way to do it. Theres a trope now that goes, this is why donald trump won, this is smug. Its pretentious. It is condescending. If you were a liberal living on a coast and you hear meryl streep say that, you say oh, shes so right. Shes saying all the things people feel. If you live in most of the country, if you were watching the Oakland Raiders play or someone that likes mma. This is not how you win the rust belt with apologies to someone who is from there. In my opinion, going to college, most of the folks i know do not identify with meryl streep. This is a turnoff to middle america. She wouldnt be such a hugely popular actress if she didnt have a massive amount of following. She is enormously well liked. Its not like shes rosie odonnell. Shes been married for almost 40 years, shes a bit of a different package than you might otherwise ascribe to a liberal hollywood whether you agree she should have made this speech, whether you like what she said or not or thought it was just this liberal elite, whatever, it was certainly clearly a heartfelt, you know, thoughtful why do you bring it up . My point is, his comeback is, shes overrated is like, really . Thats what the comeback is . You know, i think maybe to prove matts point, i found it to be a very eloquent speech. So i guess that makes me a coastal elite. But why did she say it then . Where else is she going to say it . As president elect for someone to be such a raw nerve of emotion is amazing to me. Stay with us. Well talk about the confirmation battle getting under way tomorrow, starting with attorney general designee Jeff Sessions. And van jones goes back to michigan to hear from voters there who could have kept it blue but stayed home instead. And see what authorities are learning about everything leading up to the horrible moment at ft. Lauderdale. I need to promote my new busi can make that happen. Et. Business cards . Business cards, brochures, banners. Pens . Pens, magnets, luggage tags, bumper stickers. How about foam fingers . Like these . Now, get 15 off making your company stand out. Staples. Make more happen. Asmy family tree,ing i discovered a woman named marianne gaspard. It was her french name. Then she came to louisiana as a slave. I became curious where in africa she was from. So i took the ancestry dna test to find out more about my african roots. The ancestry dna results were really specific. They told me all of these places in west africa. I feel really proud of my lineage, and i feel really proud of my ancestry. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story, get started for free at ancestry. Com mom washed our clothes. Credibility as handymen. One wash with tide pods and were right back where we started. We look like catalogue models who trusts a clean handyman anyway . We cant look this good dinge is the dirt the bargain detergent cant get to. Tide pods can. The breaking news tonight. Team trump testing antinepotism laws, naming soninlaw Jared Kushner to a Senior Adviser position. Unlike a cabinet position, a white house adviser does not require senate confirmation. Hearings for those jobs get under way tomorrow. Back now with the panel. Kirsten, clearly the trump team feels antinepotism laws do not apply in this case. That the white house is not an agency. And they can make their case. Heres the problem. Part of the reason there are many reasons the nepotism laws exist. But one that would apply in this case, if you have somebody on the staff who is related to the boss, and that person isnt doing a good job or giving bad advice, its very hard to go and say, mr. President , your soninlaw is completely screwing this up. And so it actually affects other people. So i think thats just something that they should consider. They have to obviously pass muster with all the legalities and he has to divest probably from a lot of his businesses and all the conflicts of interest. Even if they get past that, they have to consider these other assets. The president wants people who he trusts implicitly and who they have a track record with, and Jared Kushner is somebody who has had Donald Trumps ear throughout the election and has proved his worth. Thats right. I think he has the president elects ear the most. And he is beloved by the early trump campaign, by the late trump campaign. People loved to work with him and he had the president elects ear from the very beginning and i think its unfair for folks to try to say now you have to separate yourself from your most Senior Adviser. It is square with nepotism laws. Theres a 1990s Appeals Court case that suggests it only applies to federal agencies, not white house staff. Conflict of interest will be the area that has to be honed in on. Millions and millions in Property Holdings and although conflict of interest doesnt apply to the president elect, it applies to Jared Kushner. Democrats that are raising objections about this. The courting gave the green light for Hillary Clinton to run health care for then president clinton. And i think your point about the people around him and feeling comfortable going and talking, either about the president or to the president is really an important point from a psychological point. From a legal point of view, this was resolved, or at least somewhat resolved. I think the biggest point is this question about conflict. So he says today that hes going to step down from the kushner companies, that he will divest himself of some of his holdings. That is very interesting. Because what is donald trump going to say . Because even if conflicts of interests dont apply to the president , there is an appearance and especially as it relates to the area of Foreign Policy, where Jared Kushner apparently is going to be advising the president. And is the Foreign Policy of the United States for sale, meaning will Jared Kushner and his holdings, the president and his holdings, benefit from decisions that the president is making . And thats because donald trump hasnt released tax returns, a lot is unknown about his connections to foreign businesses. This is not going away for donald trump. No. Thats the real concern. If youre rooting for donald trump, if you want donald trump to succeed, you would have to be worried about confli