Plus, we will talk democratic strategy on confirmation hearings and beyond. I think you have to be careful and particularly in a new administration with an untested president. How the president elect can test the limits. This is mtp daily and it starts right now. Good evening. Im in for chuck todd and we begin with breaking news. Donald trump and his legal team settled in the Trump University lawsuit. It appears the president elect will not have to go on trial before heading to the white house. Trump and his defense team agreed to pay 25 million, but the ags office told nbc news it doesnt include an admission of wrongdoing. Lets go to it with pete williams. Can you break it down for us. The trial that was going to start in california would be a huge distraction and they asked the judge to delay it. The judge has been urging all sides to settle and now a settlement has been reached. The attorney general announced the settlement a moment ago and said its 25 million not only for the case he brought in, but the two other cases that were filed out in san diego, one of which was to start after thanksgiving. What he said is for the longest time, trump insisted that there could be no settlement and he had not done anything wrong. Now the big change that his lawyers agreed to a settlement, 25 million and some of that will be wait for the lawyering and the rest will be split among the students who a tended. Two claims were coming to trial that said the promotional colors misrepresented the nature of this program and they said it was a university and it wasnt. It suggested it was affiliated with a university when it wasnt. Trump hand picked the instructors which was not true. There will be no trial and its all over but the writing of the checks. No admission of guilt. Isnt the fact that he is settling an admission of guilt. Guilt is not the right word with a civil lawsuit. There is no admission of wrongdoing, but thats the way settlements go. Those who are sued often times say they didnt want to go to trial and roll the dies. That doesnt mean they are admitting wrongdoing. We turn now on the other dig superior. If you were brking for clues, trump named cabinet level posts. Is marred by racism and another under fire for making derock tori comments about muslims and another is a benghazi fire brand. All controversial picks and all about to face the most intense gauntlet. Jeff sessions is facing blow back from civil Rights Groups. In 1986, his nomination was rejected smt colleagues testified that he called the naacp unamerican and refers to it as a disgrace to his race and thought the can, kkk was okay until he found out they smoked pot. He later said that was a joke. He said i am not a racist and deny those statements. He acknowledged statements about civil Rights Groups as communistinspired. These comments that you can say about the organization or something, i may have said Something Like that in a general way and it probably was wrong. The trump transition launched the press to defend him, sighting his vote to extend the Voting Rights act. We should note that sessions voted against loretta lynch, but thats just the tip of the iceberg. Michael glynn is facing backlash in the Intelligence Committee obamas director at the Defense Intelligence agency, but i can report that multiple officials have keep reservations about them. He is a hot head with an abusive leadership style and one called him shallow and reactionary. He said fear of muslims is rational and called the islamic faith a political ideology. Then trumps pick to run the cia. Kansas congressman mike pompeo. He is a west point grad and one of the fiercest attack dogs. He sugd the cia, the agency that he has been tabbed to run was m misleading congress. He won praise today from the ranking democrat on the house Intelligence Committee. And my fellow road warrior throughout the tireless campaign season. Lets get to the big picture. What does it say about trumps approach to governing . It said he is going to do what he campaigned on. Shakeup washington. These are controversial appointments. The last first. Pompeo has a reputation for being hard working and a west point grad and a lawyer and is hardworking. He is praised by adam schiff, the ranking democrat and others who said he is really a respectable and credible choice. With a Republican Committee sitting in judgment on him, he will be confirmed. He criticized the cia, but that said, a lot of people have criticized the agency and been put in with other House Republicans. Mike roger who is was removed from the Transition Committee and not going to get the cia and you can me if this is accurate or not. There are reports he might be director of National Intelligence that eurosupervisee agencies. He will be opposed by the naacp and Legal Defense fund. They are opposing him not just because of what he said in the 80s, but because of his record since. There are latino groups opposing him because of his hard line on immigration and deportations as well. Lets talk about Jeff Sessions. He did not get through confirmations in the 80s. Lets listen to ted kennedy in 86 talking about sessions and we will talk on the other side. Mr. Sessions is a throw back to a shameful era which i know both black and white americans thought was in our past. Its inconceivable to me that a person of this attitude is qualified to be a u. S. Attorney let alone a United States federal judge. He is i believe a disgrace to the Justice Department and should withdraw his nomination and resign his position. He needs a simple majority to get confirmed. What will the democrats going to do to stop that and do they have a chance of doing so . Im not sure they are aligned against him. There is a tradition of courtesy and it doesnt also work. It didnt work in 1989 for the former head of the Senate Armed Services committee. He did not get confirmed to be the defense secretary for George Herbert walker bush. This is a Republican Senate and this is a Republican Senate committee. Senator grassley is the chair and Dianne Feinstein is the ranking democrat. There is i would say a likelihood he will be the next attorney general. On mike flynn, he tweeted fear of muslims is rational. Please forward this to other. The truth fears no questions. Will it be our posture to fear all muslims . I doubt that would be the case, but the fact is he will be the last person to speak to the president after conflicts or arguments at the National Security council. He will be running a power house agency. It is a 400 person National Security council. It exploded in size in the white house. He will have unique ability to be the adviser on all things. He will be at Donald Trumps side and you have a president who is less experienced in National Security than almost any of his predecessors. He will have a powerful roul role and his views on the radicals and muslim religion and tweets r going to be disturbing to the arab world and with whom he will have to deal. Andrea mitchell in washington. An msnbc adviser is now with the Bipartisan Policy Center and chris is an msnbc contributor and founder of the Washington Post blog. One of my favorite people to follow on twitter. Oh, thank you. Your reaction. What do you think it says about how president elect donald trump will be governing. I dont think we should be surprised. These are the people he feels closest to and trusts. His inner circle. President obama shook it up by naming Hillary Clinton in the early going, but one thing you have to accept is this guy won the election and he is going to put in some people at least that are going to directly counter many of the people who have those jobs currently. I think the voters voted for a radical change and donald trump views this as delivering on it. Once we get beyond the first couple, does he picnicky haley or mitt romney . Does he pick people no the in his inner circle or people who are critical of him . Does he find somebody who is not necessarily a reporter . We are finding that that is not necessarily the case. Keeping the focus on the cap net picks we know, the naacps Legal Defense fund was to say that it is unimaginable that Jeff Sessions could be entrusted to serve as the chief law endorsement officer. Do you believe those fears are grounded . Of course they are grounded. Based on what allegedly senator sessions said almost 30 years ago. Donald trump is a loyalist and this is not surprising that he is appointing or nominating people loyal to him in the first cabinet picks. The question is whether or not he takes a page out of barack obama playbook or abraham lincolns book where he puts people in place that quite frankly were against him. Whether its a jeb bush or a senator ted cruz or mitt romney that nbc news reported he will be meeting on later this weekend. Thats a true test of character and whether or not you want to put the people in those positions that really have significant influence and not to suggest the office does not. Clearly it does. When you talk about the secretarys slot and secretary of treasury and the power positions, if you will, the question is whether or not donald trump will put loyalists in the positions or put true qualified people in the positions regardless of whether or not they were critical of him in the past or not. Speaking to sources in the romney world, they believe this is ultimately going to be a Courtesy Call and dont think its that serious thins the men had so much to say about each other in the campaign. I want to keep the focus because there so many questions surrounding whats going to happen if he is confirm and when he is confirm and when Donald Trump Takes Office when we are talking about immigration. He helped draft Donald Trumps immigration policy in the early stages. My question to you, maria, would it be that he is going to be somebody who will enforce all of these more extreme statements that donald trump made on the trail and endorsing a muslim ban or registry and stop and frisk across the country and leveling sanctuary cities or refuse them to maintain themselves. And what about immigration . The day after donald trump was elected, they said they voted for him because of the economy. The people in the first nomination as part of his cabinet would deal with building the economy. We are getting the juxtaposition of individuals who have been charged when it comes to racial profiling and folks that have contested civil liberties. The main point is to protect the individuals that are the most vulnerable. Jeff sessions is the opposite of that. Opposed the Voting Rights act and violence against womens act. He denigrated latinos and has an opinion when it comes to africanamericans and the idea of who should be an american. He said his election was testament to people wanting change, but the cast of characters he puts up has nothing to do with the economy, but defining who is and is not american. Lets talk about the democratic strategies. Some want to go nuclear, but so far not senator schumer. Im not going to make quick judgments on any of them a thee are so important and have to be careful and particularly with an untested president. What will they try to do in the next two years to try to find a way to reassert themselves . I think shumer is doing the right thing there. He is not saying im not going to oppose these people. He is saying im not deciding on what we are doing yet. Even if he has, he is not going to tell anyone. What is difficult and you know this, even if all 46 democrats and the two independents lineup, as long as republicans get the 51 or 52 republicans, he is the attorney general. The senate is among the most exclusive clubs and they may hang him around a bit. It may not be 9010 with a vote, but in this day and age, i think Jeff Sessions would be thrilled to be confirmed 5248 right along party lines and that may wind up being what happens. That are doesnt sound like drain the swamp to me. Stay with us. We will talk about it more coming up later. Up next, we will keep talking about the democrats and the job that Senate Democrats almost couldnt give away. We will look at the democratss leadership scramble and how they will govern come january. And later from business dealings to family ties, the potential conflicts of interest facing had theelect trump. More on the Trump University lawsuit settlement. Stay tuned. If youre approaching 65. Nows the time to get your ducks in a row. [quack ] medicare only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So think about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Like any standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. So dont wait. Call now to request your free decision guide and learn more. As president elect trump stocks his cabinet, the cia director is off the board, but many see the most prestigious appointment is still available. Secretary of state. Many are reportedly in the running including a surprise, South Carolina governor nikki haley. She was not the biggest trump supporter before the election, but listen on to what she had to say this morning as a Federalist Society reception in washington. We as republicans are going to lead effectively and have staying power as a governing party. We must accept that Donald Trumps election was not an affirmation of the way republicans have conducted themselve themselves. The president elect deserves credit for the way he connected, but he did not do it by celebrating the party. Was she praising the out of touch establishment or suggesting that trump abandon Republican Values on the path to the white house . Statements like these get overanalyzed in the cabinet sweepstakes and we will see if they have an impact on the decisions. We will talk democratic strategy in the post trump world. If you need a sign highlighting the mess the democratses are in, no one wants to run the committee. They were not mentioned earlier when the democrats rolled out the rest of their leadership. Its one of the most difficult jobs on the hill right now. Democrats need to defend 23 seats in a 2018 midterm and the two held by independent who is talk us with the democrats. Ten are in states trump won in november. According to politico, cory booker, chris coons and chis shaheen side stepped the post. Chris van hol an is an unusual responsibility for a Senate Freshman and a tall order. Earlier this week it didnt seem like he was gunning for the gig. He said im focused on orientation. I havent had a chance to focus on it. Im not planning on that. In a statement today, senator schumer said that was his first choice for the job. Chris is a democratic strategist and ceo of park Street Strategies and a democratic strategist and pop adviser to senatorelect Chris Van Hol in and dnc official. Doug, you worked closely with van hol in. What does it mean that nobody in the party wanted this job . I think they got the right guy. I think chris was the top choice. He has run the d. C. Cc two cycles and he knows how to win in very tough districts. He knows a lot of senators who are up. This map is not good for democrats. The map was in place in 2006 when democrats won back the senate. Its doable and i think if we continue to see the Trump Administration behave like they are, it give gives democrats an opportunity to maybe not win back the senate, but keep it to a minimum. Certainly not that he seemed like he was gunning for. Am i wrong to say that . It is a difficult job especially for a freshmanelect. He is one of the most talented democrats in congress right now. He has been in tough situations before whether its negotiating very important deficit or debt deals or being a top adviser to nancy pelosi, prepping joe biden for debates. He has done just about everything you can think of in politics and this is a challenge, but he will rise to it. Speaking of nancy pelosi, she has been leading the conference for 12 years, but democrats need a new direction. They needed a new quarterback and earlier he also said this. We got our clocks cleaned in 2010. We barely won seats in 12. We got the clocks cleaned in 14 and here in 16. We are going to put the same leadership in. I come out of the world of sports and when you are in sports, if you are a pitcher and they keep hitting home runs on you, you take the pitcher out of the game. Is this a compelling argument . Its a difficult argument to argue against to some extent. There is a brutal reality that democrats have to accept. We have to accept if we are going to acknowledge what needs to change to be more competitive. This election was an incredible so shock for democrats and we are struggling to figure out what happened and the reasons and where do you go from here . In terms of the reality of congressman ryan winning the minority leadership, i think it will be a tough haul given the support that nancy pelosi has in her caucus. I know there is a lot of back and forth about what it means. I think its a good thing. We should not rush into anything whether its dnc chairs or mino