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Ghou . welcome back to "the lead." sticking with politics. in 31 days donald trump will be sworn in as our nation's 45th president. dan balls, chief correspondent for the "washington post" joins me. heidi pr heidi prez bla and anna from politico. thank you for being here. this is former house speaker newt gingrich talking to diane rehm about possible ethics concerns donald trump may face in the white house. >> in the case of the president, he has broad ability to organize the white house the way he wants to. he has frankly also the power of the pardon. it's a totally open power, he could sim...

Election cycle in which the presidential candidate takes over the dnc. no more turning over the checkbook to a presidential campaign. that is absolutely absurd that is what we do every time. >> time for the lid. the panel is back dan balls and ruth martin and michael steele. it's always funny, michael. you've been there! >> good luck with that! >> give me a break, right? >> oh, my god. >> what is the reality of that? >> the reality is when the presidential nominee becomes the guy! trust me, that checkbook belongs to him or her! >> very quickly. i want to move on to the harvard conference. dan,...

Point. this is not in any way a normal transition for those reasons. >> exactly right. dan balz, i couldn't agree more with you. joining us is bill crystal, editor of "the weekly standard," chief of staff to dan quayle in the bush 41 white house. bill, very strongly and eloquently you spoke out against donald trump. he is the president-elect. he's there now. what do other republicans, such as yourself and, perhaps, steve hadley or others who have served in previous administrations do when the call to service comes, or do you expect that they would be included? >> i think everyone has to make u...

Respects this first lady and the first lady, i think, is going to try to echo some of what we heard from president obama in the rose garden here. this moment is so critical to our democracy, this transition of power. and i think that you're going to see the first lady really try to reiterate what has been said by her husband, that this moment is about making sure there's a smooth transition. >> reporter: it is to observers slightly jarring that given five days ago both obamas were focused so intently on trying to campaign for, obviously, secretary hillary clinton and not donald trump. but this...

And former one, jeb bush, competed for the attention of billionaire magnate adelson, so joining me now, the "washington post" chief correspondent, dan balls, author of "the take" and dan ralston, host of "ralston reports" on some of the fine nbc affiliates out in nevada. welcome to both of you. . i want to start with you and start with chris christie. to me, the more remarkable thing was not him trying to get the scandal behind him, not having a press conference, but the fact that he decided, you know what, i'm jumping right back into 2016. this man, he wants to run for president. and if you d...