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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Taps Vaccine Skeptic RFK Jr. to Lead HHS; Interview with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) ; House Ethics Committee Republicans Cancel Friday Meeting to Discuss Release of Gaetz Report; Trump Picks RFK Jr. For Health & Human Services Secretary; President-Elect Trump Speaks At Mar-a-Lago; Trump Says He Will Announce Gov. Burgum As Interior Secretary; PA Voters On Why They Switched Their Voter To Trump In 2024. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 14, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is willing to talk to Donald Trump even before Trump takes office. The Russians praising some of the president-elect appointments as officials who could help normalize relations with Moscow.
And you know, Erin, the Kremlin was asked about this today and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russians are monitoring all of this very closely. At the same time, he also says that is not their main priority and so therefore at this point in time, they do not want to comment on the Cabinet appointments yet -- Erin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, Fred, thank you very much in Moscow and thanks so much to all of you. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:39]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, Donald Trump campaigned on letting him go wild on health, food, and medicine. Now, he's giving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a cabinet position to do it. The question tonight, will Republicans let him?
Also, tonight another controversial Trump nominee, Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Where do Republicans stand on him and the House Ethics Committee report they are asking to see on him.
And later Dr. Sanjay Gupta here with a preview of some important new documentary on a drug that could promise far more than just a weight loss it is proven to deliver, "Is Ozempic right for you?"
Good evening, everyone. John Berman here, in for Anderson, and we are expecting to hear shortly from the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago, we will bring that to you live.
We begin though with these three words about him and these three more, he would never and he just did, as if Donald Trump would never put Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic in COVID conspiracy theorist in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. I mean, just ask the co-chair of his transition team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: You're saying he should not be in charge of HHS?
HOWARD LUTNICK, CO-CHAIR, TRUMP-VANCE TRANSITION TEAM: No, of course not.
COLLINS: Okay, so he's not going to be --
LUTNICK: He is not going to be secretary, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: No, that was just two weeks ago. He would never, well, he just did.
He just picked RFK, Jr., Jr. not for the advisory role the some had expected, but the Full Monty to run a department overseeing the National Institute of Health, the Center for Disease Control, the FDA, Medicare, all of it and more giving him the authority to do what candidate Trump said he would not let him do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am going to let them go wild on health, I'm going to let him go wild on the food, I'm going to let him go wild on medicines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Kennedy is well known for backing the long debunked claim that childhood vaccines cause autism. He has also promoted COVID conspiracy theories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES NOMINEE: In fact, COVID-19, there's an argument that it is ethnically targeted, COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people, the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, Kennedy subsequently denied, he'd ever suggested the COVID virus was "targeted to spare Jews." Instead Kennedy claimed he had meant to say, the United States and other governments were developing "ethically targeted bio weapons," which is another conspiracy theory.
He is also known for encounters with wildlife where he is chain sawing the head of a dead whale 30 years ago and strapping it on the family car or a decade ago, picking up a bear cub carcass, intended to take it home to eat but then dumping it in New York Central Park instead when his day ran long.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: And the bear was in my car, and I didn't want to leave the bear in the car, because that would have been bad. So then I thought, you know at that time, this was the little bit of the redneck in me. There had been a series of bicycle accidents in New York in just one of the bike lanes and so a couple of people got killed, it was every day and people are badly injured. Every day it was in the press.
I said let's go put the bear in Central Park and we'll make it look like he got hit by a bike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: And yes, that was Roseanne Barr he was talking to there and yes, one of the items we've mentioned might have another important history doomed any other nominee. But he is who Donald Trump wants, and having delivered Republicans the Senate, he may have the clout to get it and Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence despite concerns about how she has echoed Russian and Syrian propaganda over the years and Fox News morning host, Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary despite his lack for management experience running large organizations of which DoD is the largest.
Even Matt Gaetz as attorney general who just left Congress days ahead of a ethics committee report, and all of that, here is what one sitting Republican lawmaker told CNN.
I had a horrible nightmare, Gaetz was appointed AG and I woke up and "No shit, Gaetz was appointed as AG. There is literally not enough popcorn in America for these confirmation hearings."
So, clearly a lot to get to including remark shortly from the president-elect, "The Source's" Kaitlan Collins is here to start us off. And Kaitlan as always you are way out in front of all of this. I mean, how did the president-elect come to pick RFK, Jr. and what are the chances right now, do they see of his confirmation.
[20:05:14]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: I think after, judging by the shock of yesterday's picks, today was more like an expectation from Trump world and the sources who have been there. Because, I mean, RFK, Jr. has been in Palm Beach, basically non-stop since the election, since Donald Trump won.
And what was really clear is, especially after the interview that I did with Howard Lutnick where he very unequivocally said that RFK, Jr. would not be getting a Cabinet position. That is kind of maybe what led to today, because it caused a huge uproar, actually, internally in Trump's orbit, where --
BERMAN: So, you did this?
COLLINS: Yes, I don't want to take any credit for this, where people were upset that he so, you know, 10 days before the election was so bluntly saying who was getting what job, because they thought it was just too early.
And RFK, Jr. himself was upset about it, because he and Trump had had discussions about what he could do. Trump had said he would let him go crazy on health policy. And so, it was pretty clear, the writing was on the wall that RFK, Jr. was likely to get something.
They talked about a health czar role, and seeing what that looked like. But also, this is kind of another instance of Trump basically daring the Senate to say, you know, block my nominee. Tell me I'm not going to do this. And he's put up pick after pick that has caused a lot of skeptical Republicans to say, let's wait until the confirmation hearing goes.
But what I've heard from Trump world is they fully expect all of these picks to get confirmed. They're not putting these up as a false flag to then put someone who's maybe still controversial but less controversial up. They fully believe that all of these people should get confirmed by the US Senate, and they very well might.
BERMAN: Okay, all of them, which would include Matt Gaetz. So what have you learned new about how Trump came to pick Matt Gaetz, and how they plan to get him through in a confirmation process, which they now know is going to be tough, and maybe getting tougher by the minute?
COLLINS: If RFK, Jr. was clear and the writing was on the wall, the opposite basically happened with the attorney general pick? I was talking to people who were around Trump on Monday night who said that his name never came up as they were deciding who he was going to pick for attorney general.
But I reported that night, Trump wasn't happy with any of his choices. He was essentially brought all these more conventional candidates. He interviewed a lot of them at Mar-a-Lago. No one was a favorite. No one checked all the boxes.
Obviously, it's a position he cares about the most in the most in the federal government, besides his and so he basically was unhappy and flew with Matt Gaetz to Washington the next morning and offered him -- then on the plane. It was a very quick decision.
It shocked people back who stayed back at Mar-a-Lago, actually, and were not part of that contingency of people who went to Washington. And so, it just speaks to how quickly he's making these decisions, sometimes a gut decision, but also that is fully the candidate that he believes should be there, pursuing his agenda and fulfilling it, which is obviously he wants a purge of career staffers at the Justice Department, and he wants retribution carried out against his political opponents.
BERMAN: We will have more on that confirmation process. Again, which does not appear to be getting any easier day by day. Other picks were announced today, Kaitlan, any that jumped at a surprising including, I should note, some of Donald Trump's private attorneys getting picked for the Justice Department.
COLLINS: Yes, and I think in a different world, you know, if this was Joe Biden's -- if Joe Biden was president-elect and he had just picked his personal defense attorneys, one to be the number two at the Justice Department, which is what Trump did today by picking Todd Blanche, his lead defense attorney who's defended him in many cases, but most notably in the criminal hush money case here in New York, he has been picked as the deputy attorney general.
In a normal world that might cause uproar, but I think because of the other picks, namely the AG pick, it's not really causing any consternation from Senate Republicans. Todd Blanche might get confirmed pretty easily, but he's also picked Emil Bove, who was his other attorney at that trial, as the principal deputy attorney general. It's number two and his deputy right there. They do a lot of the work at the DOJ.
And also John Sauer, who you'll remember, argued Trump's presidential immunity argument in front of the Supreme Court. He is going to be picked if he's confirmed as the solicitor general. It's the number three job at this Justice Department.
And so, it's not just one attorney or two attorneys, it is three Trump attorneys that are now being tapped to go in there. Though they have much different qualifications, and they may be, you know, just finding their confirmation hearings. We'll see what happens there. But it does speak to the moment that we're in that, you know, he picks his defense attorneys, and it kind of just goes over. No one really says anything.
BERMAN: All three of those, actually, they do have experiences, big time prosecutors, something that it is worth noting that, Matt Gaetz does not have on top of everything else.
COLLINS: Yes, Todd Blanche worked as a federal prosecutor at the Southern District of New York, and obviously John Sauer has deep litigation experience as well.
BERMAN: Kaitlan Collins, we will see you at the top of the hour. Thank you for being here tonight.
All right, now, to talk about this nomination, or this proposed nomination, of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Kathleen Sebelius, who served as HHS Secretary in the Obama administration. Before that, she was governor of Kansas, also with us CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Secretary Sebelius, is Robert Kennedy qualified for this job?
[20:10:03]
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Well I -- I'd say no. You know, he has no organizational management experience, and HHS is one of the largest domestic organizations, over 83,000 employees, a $1.7 trillion budget. He has never worked directly with Congress or a legislative body, and many of the previous secretaries, Republicans and Democrats have been governors and worked very closely with HHS.
HHS sends more money to states than all the other domestic agencies combined. As you said at the top, John, it's responsible for the public health of the country, leading the public health in the world. The Gold Standard at NIH for research, about a third of Americans' health insurance with Medicare, Medicaid in the marketplaces, mental health, agency on aging, agencies on unaccompanied minors, children and families.
So it is a very broad and very important agency, but to have someone coming into a scientific agency that is a vaccine skeptic and may well undo decades of public health work, I think, it is terrifying for the American public who rely on HHS from cradle to grave, for resources, for information, for public health, for oversight of our food and medicines. And that, to me, is a very frightening aspect for the American public.
BERMAN: And very quickly, you had encounters with Robert F. Kennedy in the past. What were they like?
SEBELIUS: Well, I took some courtesy meetings with him. He went several times to the CDC and to the FDA, suggesting that their evidence was faulty, that he had evidence of his own, all of which was debunked and refuted.
About vaccines, he insisted that I fire people that they were lying to me, that I really wasn't getting the truth that did not prove in my mind to be at all true.
What I'm most frightened about is that he comes not with a query, not with suggesting that we should look at two different points of view or look at the -- he's made a determination with no scientific background, and as far as I can determine, no evidence that actually supports his views, and he's very willing to assert them as if they are fact.
That's very dangerous in an agency where people take the recommendations of the experts and try to follow them to keep themselves and their families safe and secure.
BERMAN: So Sanjay, given everything that the Secretary of HHS oversees, what are the impacts possible of the views that we know he holds?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's almost too big to sort of fathom. I mean, you know, when you talk about CDC, FDA, NIH, and then, as Secretary Sebelius was talking about, Center for Medicare and Medicaid. It is just about every health decision that's made in this country. You know, I think the vaccine issue is what gets a lot of attention, and I think rightfully so, because lot of times when you have preventative health, if nothing happens, that's good, but that doesn't get a lot of attention.
If you're a child born between 1994 and 2023 got vaccinated. There's about a million deaths that were prevented because of vaccines.
We are seeing a distrust in vaccines. We're starting to see surges in vaccine preventable diseases again. So I think that, you know, that's one of the big ones. But also, you just talk about, okay, I'm going to reimburse for these things in Medicare, or I no longer think those things should be reimbursed, I think for whatever reason. People will start getting denied care as well, elder people. People who are on Medicaid, whatever it might be.
So there's all these ripple effects, I think, potentially, from his from his -- if he gets this position, that's a big if, I think, but if he does, then I think it's a huge consequence.
BERMAN: Secretary, what guardrails are in place at HHS, if he does get it?
SEBELIUS: Well, I think that anybody who comes into one of these major agencies relies on the expertise of the incredible talent of government officials who have made a choice that they're not going to be paid at market value in the private sector. They are dedicated to the mission of the agency they believe in.
So the guardrails in large part, are the people who are there and the expertise that they bring to the job, because no secretary could ever manage even one of these agencies, much less 11 agencies simultaneously.
Bobby Kennedy has already declared that he intends to start firing people that he intends, pack your bags if you don't share his views on various things, was part of his rhetoric on the campaign trail, that's a terrifying way to go into a department where you really don't know the people, you don't know the assets, you don't know the impact that they're going to have.
And if people begin leaving those key agencies, leaving the FDA, which is responsible for safety and effectiveness of drugs, leaving Medicare and Medicaid Services, leaving NIH because their research is being intervened, leaving our major public health agencies, then the guardrails are down.
The secretary also has a lot of influence about who will head those agencies. He can make recommendations about secondary leaders in the department.
[ 20:15:42]
BERMAN: Sanjay, what are you hearing from people inside the medical community?
GUPTA: You know, it's interesting, John, the medical community is not monolithic. You never hear them being sort of being lockstep on just about anything. But I think with regard to this, they pretty much are especially when it comes to public health.
The challenge I think is that, when he talks about making America healthy again, people are really -- can get behind that.
BERMAN: Healthy food is great.
GUPTA: Yes, we spent four-and-a-half trillion dollars on healthcare and we have some of the worst outcomes in the developed world. That is a problem and he is not the first person to say that, by the way. People have been talking about this for some time. But the idea that maybe he can draw more attention to it. That is something that I think has significant support.
The problem with him sort of contorting these links and these causations into true cause and effect sort of relationships, vaccines and autism, whatever it might be. That is the problem and how much that extends into other decisions he makes, that's where the real concern comes.
BERMAN: Yes, measles, polio, whooping cough, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we will see you again in a little bit. Secretary Sebelius we really appreciate it.
Again, just to remind people, Sanjay's CNN's Special Report "Is Ozempic right for you?" airs Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here.
Also ahead, the president-elect speaking momentarily from Mar-a-Lago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:56]
BERMAN: All right, as we wait for the president-elect to speak at Mar- a-Lago, we are talking tonight about his recent appointments, the controversies surrounding them, and the potential confirmation challenges some may face even in a Republican controlled Senate, most notably Matt Gaetz is Attorney General, and Robert Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
With us now Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, who sits on the Judiciary Committee.
Senator, I want to focus on the Matt Gaetz perspective nomination. How important is it for the Judiciary Committee to see the House Ethics' report on Gaetz, and do you have any recourse to get it if the House Ethics Committee doesn't want to turn it over?
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, I think it's critical. Every major nominee who comes before us, we get a thorough background report and someone like Congressman Matt Gaetz, who has been the subject of a searching House Ethics Committee probe, we should get access to the documents and the report that was about to be released.
He has just resigned from the House in order to prevent the release of the House Ethics Committee report. I've joined all the other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in sending a letter to the House Ethics Committee asking them to preserve the documents and send the report to us.
Several Republicans, including Senator Cornyn of Texas, have also said that they think we should have access to those documents. This is a critical test, John, for whether or not the Senate will continue to use its advice and consent power that is in the Constitution and is critical to our role as a guardrail. When President-elect Trump won a significant national election, he gets a mandate to choose the folks he wants for his Cabinet. But the way our Constitution is written, the Senate has a role to make sure that he doesn't just pick any old person, that he doesn't put the My Pillow guy in charge of, you know, the FAA, but that the people who are nominated are qualified, experienced, have the right character and ethics and have policy views that you know broadly aligned with what we can all agree is in the best interest of the country.
BERMAN: So Senator Blumenthal, your Democratic colleague, says he personally knows five to 10 Republican Senators who are seriously considering voting against Gaetz. Does that sound accurate to you?
COONS: I've spoken with a number of Republican colleagues who were gravely concerned or alarmed about why Matt Gaetz was nominated and about his qualifications. Our challenge in coming days will be the gap between feeling concerned, expressing concern, and actually being willing to demand a confirmation hearing and to vote against one of President-elect Trump's nominees. That will be the real test for the Senate.
BERMAN: Now, what about the possibility of an end-run, maybe through a recess appointment. Tonight on Fox the incoming Senate Republican Leader John Thune, said that it would depend on whether Democrats want to play ball or not. How do you interpret that?
COONS: Well, here's what I hope Senator Thune means by that. There are nominees like Senator Marco Rubio, who has been nominated to be Secretary of State, who I think will do very well in a confirmation hearing, who have the requisite experience and qualifications, who have served -- in his case, he served on the Foreign Relations Committee and the Intelligence Committee for many years, knows and understands the function of the State Department.
We may have significant differences in policy, but you know, I don't think there's a question that he could be Secretary of State, and I think he will get a prompt and respectful and appropriate confirmation hearing.
If what Senator Thune means is that he will use recess appointments to jam into place nominees who can't get 50 votes in the Senate. That's not good for the future and the health of the Senate, but I'll remind you in the next Senate, there will likely be 53 Republicans.
So if President Trump can't get 50 votes out of 53 Republicans that should say something about who he's considering nominating.
[20:25:07]
BERMAN: Senator Chris Coons from Delaware. We appreciate your time tonight. Thanks so much.
I should note that we have seen Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. I can't quite make him out there. It's pretty dark, but he is there somewhere at Mar-a-Lago, you can see the lights come up a little bit. He is there. He is preparing to speak to a room full of supporters very shortly. We will bring you that speech as soon as it begins.
With us now CNN political commentators, Adam Kinzinger and Ana Navarro and Republican strategist, Joe Pinion.
Congressman, I want to start with you. This House Ethics Committee report, which is completed, as far as we know, we actually just learned tonight that the Republicans and Democrats were supposed to meet on the Ethics Committee on Friday to talk about it. That meeting has now been canceled. Do you think we will see it, and what impact do you think it would have on the possible Senate confirmation?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think we're going to see it. I think the pressure is going to be too great. By the way, let's just be clear. If all the shoes were on the other foot, the Republicans would be screaming about transparency. So, let's just be clear about that.
We need to see this. I mean, this is a guy, you know, if Matt Gaetz was just going away, I think you can make an argument for he's out of the House, don't release it. But now that Matt Gaetz is up for attorney general, the number one law enforcement position in this country, and he's being accused of sexual assault or statutory rape, and supposedly, this person has actually testified that it happened. That is something the American people deserve to know absolutely.
And I think it'll torpedo, it'll deep-six his nomination in a heartbeat. I don't think he gets through that. My concern is that the president tries to do a recess appointment, and that would give 210 days of a big middle finger to the American people. To Trump, this is all a joke right now.
BERMAN: Joe, what impact should that ethics report have on Senators voting on the next attorney general?
JOE PINION III, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, every single person that has been confirmed to be attorney general, people that are going into the Cabinet, they get extensive background checks.
And so I think, on some basic level, whether it is simply for the ethics report to be given to the Senators, for them to review, or whether it's going to be forcing the Senate to conduct their own internal investigation. At some point we're going to end up with some type of fact finding mission.
So, ultimately, the president the United States has the right to nominate who he chooses. We do have advise and consent from the Senate. I think you have to preserve that. You certainly, I think if you're going to be fighting to preserve the filibuster, if you're going to be fighting to preserve the Electoral College, these institutional norms that have kept the guard rails on society from the beginning of time. I think you have to continue that. President Trump has a mandate, but there still are limits to those mandates as well.
BERMAN: You may just have lost your opportunity to serve in the Trump cabinet. They're coming out against the recess appointments, at least to jam through some of these nominations. Ana, Republican senators, how willing are they to stand up to the President and on what exactly?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yet to be seen, right? How often have we heard about, oh, Republican senators, Republicans in Congress say privately, X, Y or Z, and then they do it something completely differently, publicly, and this is after Trump just won this, you know, pretty sizable victory.
And, I think what you're seeing is a Donald Trump who feels empowered and who feels that he's got carte blanche because this idea of having the majority of the Senate, the majority of the House, having won the way he won, he's got immunity from the Supreme Court that tells him he doesn't have to think about whether these people can get confirmed or not. He's counting on them getting confirmed, because he's counting on the Republicans in the Senate being on his leash.
BERMAN: Tulsi Gabbard, Congressman Kinzinger, someone who a little bit lost in the shuffle over the last day with the Matt Gaetz appointment and or naming of it, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. --
I should say we see Donald Trump there up on stage getting ready to speak, and we will take that momentarily.
But what questions do you have about Tulsi Gabbard running the entire intelligence apparatus of the country?
KINZINGER: Look this and Gaetz are the two really bad nominations. There's other ones, but like, look, Tulsi is very pro Bashar al-Assad, who was committing genocide against his people. The only congressman to go visit Bashar al-Assad. She's been very defensive of Russia. She actually, when Japan gave aid to Ukraine, she basically reminded Americans that Japan attacked us to start World War Two like out of nowhere.
It's very concerning. There's a lot of people that have real questions about the relationship she has with Russia. I don't know, but putting somebody like that in charge of all of America's secrets, I mean, it's a deep concern, if we want to, if we want to play this game, if government's just a game, and it's like, let's just -- let's put people that make the left mad in government. That's fine. It's the president's prerogative to do it, but the American people are not going to be very happy about that. I think in the long run.
BERMAN: You know, I think it was Scott Jennings said to me, a day or two after the election was this is so different in 2016 when there were people who were hesitant to join the Cabinet.
I mean, Trump could get anyone he wants, basically, who is center or right of center to serve in this Cabinet. The most qualified, the people with the largest experience in any subject he wants, but he picks Tulsi Gabbard, Matt Gaetz, and Robert Kennedy.
[20:30:34]
JOSEPH PINION III, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, I think the reality is that President Trump has the right to pick who he wants to pick. I also think that there's just a tenure of disrespect that extends to these nominees that I think would not be any way accepted if it were the other way around.
BERMAN: Hang on one second, let's listen. Let's listen.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Sly. You know, Sly does not do that. He doesn't do that stuff. And he did a beautiful job. And I want to thank you and John Boyd for being here, John.
The great fight movies, I think Sly has a lot of them. John has the champ. What a movie that was, right? But I want to thank everybody for being here.
You know, when Mrs. Post and E.F. Hutton, her husband at the time, when they built Mar-a-Lago many years ago, the Roaring Twenties, it was a Roaring Twenties and were hotter right now than they ever were in the Roaring Twenties, I believe.
We're going to be a lot hotter, but we're going to keep it going. We're not going to have 1929 happen. Although if it would have continued the way it was, it might not have been too good. But when they built it, nobody knew what was going on. Nobody knew opulence. Nobody knew real luxury.
Nobody knew poverty. They didn't know anything. And they learned a hard lesson in 1929. They learned a very, very hard lesson. And we're going to turn our country around. We're going to make it so great, so strong, so powerful.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We're going to bring it all back. I want to thank some people that have been so instrumental in doing such a great job in terms of not only policy, but people, and people love them. Brooke Rollins, who put this on with Linda McMahon.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Linda has been a great friend of mine for a long time, right, Linda? I want to thank you very much. The America First Policy Institute, what a job they've done. But I said, you know, the policy is much more important if we do it for eight years than it is if we do it for four years.
So I said, let's do this. Don't worry about your policy. Let's get out and let's win the election. But nobody knew we were going to win it the way we wanted. That was a big one. So that was really great.
And Javier, I'd like to congratulate you on the job you've done for Argentina. Your speech was beautiful, but the job you've done is incredible. Make Argentina great again. You know, a MAGA, he's a MAGA person.
(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: And you know, he's doing that. He's actually doing it, just happens to work with the A. That one would have to worry about. It doesn't work so well with other countries. But you know what? I think your numbers are working also. You've done a fantastic job in a very short period of time.
It's an honor to have you here. That's really great. Thank you.
Also, Speaker Mike Johnson, wherever you may be, Mike, in this very big and crowded room. Thank you, Mike.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I went yesterday with just in case I said, look, I want to tell you, I'm behind this man 100 percent. And he got 100 percent of the vote from Republicans. Are you sure? You sure, huh?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Yeah, he's doing a great job. Nothing easy. We actually had one little period, about four weeks where we had a majority of one. That was not pretty, right? And you handled it beautifully. He just kept that stiff upper lip.
But he's doing a really good job. And that was a great vote you got yesterday. Totally unanimous. Vote. Congratulations, Mike. That's beautiful.
Members of Congress, all of whom voted for Mike. And they've been my friends. It's just a small group. But we have a lot of them outside and we have a lot of them coming over the weekend. Byron Donalds, the star was Byron. Byron, you -- what a star. What a star. Thank you, Byron.
Ronnie Jackson, Doc Ronnie, he's been a lot of things. He was my doctor. He was a great admiral, you know, highly respected admiral. Great doctor at the White House. And now he's a very popular congressman. He won by 48 points. That's pretty good.
Of course, it was a very, very Trumpy district. But he won by 48 points. But when he was a doctor, they asked him the question, the fake news, which is here. Look. Wow, that's a lot. That's a lot. We invited him. And they said, can we come in? I said, we have nothing to hide as Republicans, right? We have nothing to hide.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But they asked Ronnie, they asked the doctor. He was up in the podium. Who is the healthiest? Because he was the doctor for Barack Hussein Obama, Donald Trump. And he was the doctor for Bush also. They said, who's the healthiest of them all? He said, without question, it's Donald Trump. And I said, I like that guy.
[20:35:06]
I said, I like that guy. And he's doing great. Jason Smith is here, a great, great congressman. Wesley Hunt, wow. And Mike Walsh, who's going to be doing a little other work for us in the very near future. We just nominated him. And he's going to be doing a great job in the administration.
And I promised Mike that I wouldn't be taking too many more before we start counting the votes, OK? He said, please, could you slow down a little bit? I just like the people in Congress, Mike. I'm sorry.
But no, don't worry about it, Mike, just relax, just relax. We have a man who has a seriously high IQ. You know, I'm a person that believes in high IQs and his is about as high as they get. He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then he went to Pennsylvania to campaign because he considered this more important than launching rockets that cost billions of dollars, Elon Musk. Elon.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: What a job. What a job he does. He's a great -- and he happens to be a really good guy. You know, he likes this place. I can't get him out of here. He just likes this place.
And you know what? I like having him here, too. He's good. He's done a fantastic job, really an incredible mind. And he's an unbelievable entrepreneur, sort of everything. I'm asking him, what do you do best? And we were not able to figure it out. But it's a lot of things.
Another one who's another great mind and a great guy and so popular. And I think he's right. He wants to make people healthy. It's driven him pretty wild over the last number of years. And the Democrats didn't treat him well.
He was doing fantastically well. And I think they came out with some rule that you had to do this. Mike, you had to get 70 percent or 75 percent of the vote to qualify to be in the primary. That was a pretty tough thing to get. And he was doing incredibly well. And he decided he can't do it when independent.
Now he's with us all the way. And today, I nominated him for, I guess, if you like health and if you like people that live a long time, it's the most important position, RFK, Jr.. Bobby?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And I just looked at the news reports. People like you, Bobby. Don't get too popular, Bobby.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: You know, you've reached about the level now. We want you to come up with things and ideas and what you've been talking about for a long time. And I think you're going to do some unbelievable thing. Nobody's going to be able to do it like you.
And boy, does he feel it in his heart. So congratulations also to your family.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And a woman who was a Democrat and was Independent. She went Independent. And last week she said, I want to be a Republican because this is what I stand for. And I've always admired her. And I've admired her because she was loaded up with common sense.
And it's all about common sense. I mean, we're conservative in this room, but we can understand the other side. But what we really are as people with common sense. And I think that's why we won with the numbers that we won by Tulsi Gabbard. Thank you, Tulsi. Great common sense (ph).
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And you have Vivek Ramaswamy. It's taken people a long time and now that name is emblazoned into their brain. But Vivek, wherever you may be, where are you, Vivek? Thank you, Vivek. Good.
He working with Elon on efficiency. They're working on efficiency, among other things. And they're going to be saving a lot of money and making our country stronger and better. And they'll be coming out with individual reports, but a big one toward the end.
And you put those two together, it's going to be really great. So we look forward to seeing it working with Elon. And that'll be a great experience. You're going to learn something from Elon, I think, right? It's going to be great.
Thank you very much, Vivek. And great job. What you've done is fantastic.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And somebody that I've admired for a long time, but I've really gotten to know him in my political life, but especially, I think, over the last year, more than maybe ever before. Maybe more than even in the first four years, because we had a tremendous success through the first -- my first term. And then bad things happened and we had to wait.
I couldn't wait. I was going, I was saying, we got to -- they're not going to do it, they're not going to help us, they're not going to save this country. And it really dawned on me about 10 days out. I said, wait a minute, with 10 days, I waited four years, three years, two years.
[20:40:02]
All of a sudden, it's 10 days and then every day seems so long. But I knew by the crowds we were getting, it was going to be really something. And Newt Gingrich got up and he said, this is a very special thing that's happening because nobody has ever had crowds and they just wanted hope.
They wanted something. They just didn't want what they had. And nobody expressed it more beautifully than Newt Gingrich. And thank you, Newt, very much. It was really beautiful. And Callista, thank you very much. Thank you, Callista.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But the American people have just delivered really something very, very amazing. The biggest political victory in 129 years. Can you believe that, Newt, 120? They said the most consequential election. I love that word. It's a beautiful word.
Most consequential election in the last 129 years. Wow. That's something. So we swept all swing states. We won the popular vote. Oh, I love that. You know, in the last one --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: In my first term, they said he won the election, but he did -- they always followed by. He didn't win the popular vote. That's what they say. I don't even know. Is it true or not? Who knows? But they would say he didn't win the popular vote. And we won the popular vote by records now, which nobody can say that anymore about us.
Nobody can say that because we won the popular vote. And I didn't win it. The people won it. The great people of our country won the popular vote, and that's what they wanted. And this was something really special. Won the White House, recaptured the Senate.
And now, as of today, recaptured the House. Thank you very much, Congressman.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And on track, looks like we have it. The largest margin in the national vote in presidential year since 1928. That's a long time ago. Well, that's interesting. That's when this house was built, 1928. It took a lot of years, but that was what it was completed.
And something that I just read here, and I saw from one of our friends, from the news, from the media, we won -- I didn't know this, we won 49 out of 50 states shifted toward the GOP significantly. That's a big number.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So we won the largest share of black and Hispanic votes of any Republican in the history of our country, recorded history of our country. So we won -- think of that, we won the largest share of black and Hispanic voters. That's so incredible. They're unbelievable people.
We respect them. We admire them. They've been through a lot and they like us. And it's -- it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy. But on the -- if you take a look at the border of Texas, the governor called me. Greg Abbott is a great guy, called me up. He said, you want every single town on the border.
And these towns were always blue. They were a dark, strong blue. And we want every single town up and down the border in Texas. We won with married women. What about unmarried women? What happened to unmarried women? We won with married women.
We won half of all ages. Think of that. More than 50 percent of the 18 to 29 year olds, the highest in many decades, the highest number. And again --
BERMAN: All right, we are watching these remarks. He's about to get to the prepared section of this speech. Stay with us. Much more right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:54]
BERMAN: All right, we are watching Donald Trump. The president-elect speak at his Mar-a-Lago club. He's speaking to supporters there. This is the most we have heard from him out loud since his election night victory speech. Mostly just thanking supporters, mostly just going over the same policy he did on the stump. But we'll continue to keep our eye on it.
In the meantime, I'm joined now by legendary journalist Carl Bernstein. And Carl, one of the things he did do, which was interesting, was pointed out many of the people he says he will nominate to the Cabinet, including Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Now, Matt Gaetz wasn't in the room, but he talked about Tulsi Gabbard and others. These are picks that many people see as controversial. My question to you, though, isn't this what Donald Trump said he was going to do to shake things up?
CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. And it's really important to recognize that these appointments are intended to destroy, to destroy the established order, political, social, cultural in this country, such as we have known going back to the Roosevelt years, to the New Deal. That is what this candidate promised, and that is what he's doing.
And the radical nature of it is something that we have not seen in our time. We should pay attention to what he said in the campaign because Tulsi Gabbard, because Matt Gaetz, because Bobby Kennedy, Jr. represent what he wants and what the MAGA movement is about.
It is a total departure with the established norms, regularity of our political and cultural realities in this country. It is a departure such as we have never seen. And Donald Trump has pulled this off, and he intends to pursue exactly what he promised. And that's what we're seeing.
That's what those appointments are about. And it is a new day that has really draconian implications for this country, particularly in the rule of law, the obeisance to the Constitution of the United States, which Donald Trump has never spent a minute considering, et cetera, et cetera.
[20:50:04] BERMAN: I should note, Donald Trump just finished speaking there in those remarks, a little breaking news. He did announce that he's going to nominate Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, to be Secretary of Interior, which compared to some of the other announcements he's had the last few days, Carl, is an extraordinarily mainstream and, you know, and somewhat traditional type of pick.
Matt Gaetz, you talked about, in your view, these are picks meant to destroy. So talk to me about what Matt Gaetz as attorney general, how in your mind that is meant to destroy. And look, you've had experience with some attorneys general who were controversial, John Mitchell.
BERNSTEIN: Who was a crook and who was the law partner of the president of the United States and was behind a lot of the Watergate conspiracies. This is a different order. Matt Gaetz is someone with no legal experience except what the Congress and the Justice Department was thinking, throwing at him.
He is a statement made by Donald Trump about Trump's belief that he has been victimized by the Justice Department. He is going to use Gaetz as an instrument of revenge. And if Gaetz is not there and is not confirmed, there will be another attorney general intended to do the revenge work of Donald Trump.
Trump has told us everything he is going to do. And our job in the press particularly is to follow these stories down in terms of what he promised and what he's doing. Watch what we do, not what we say. That's what John Mitchell said.
In this instance, we need to watch what Donald Trump said and then follow up in terms of what he's doing. And he is doing exactly what he promised. And that is to create, through MAGA, a new social, cultural and political order in this country that is totally different.
Look at what the great movements that we have seen, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, the gay rights movement, look at what Trump and these people are doing to undermine those movements.
BERMAN: Carl Bernstein, great to have you here for this. Thanks so much for being here.
All right, voters in Pennsylvania who swung to Trump this cycle speak with our Gary Tuchman about why they voted for him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:33]
BERMAN: This evening, Democrats are still assessing why they lost last week. Our Gary Tuchman recently visited Pennsylvania and spent time in a county that swung more to the right than any other in that battleground commonwealth. There, voters explained why they voted for Trump and what they expect out of him now.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marie Noel is a mother of three and lives in Pennsylvania, which got so much attention as a key election battleground state.
TUCHMAN: You told me that you voted for Donald Trump this time around.
MARIE NOEL, VOTED FOR TRUMP AFTER VOTING FOR BIDEN IN 2020: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Voted Democratic Joe Biden four years ago. Why'd you switch your vote?
NOEL: I just feel Trump is honest and I think he's a change that this country needs right now.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): She lives in Monroe County in the heart of Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. In this election, no county in the Keystone State shifted more toward Donald Trump from 2020 than Monroe. And that led to Trump narrowly winning the county after losing it by more than six points four years ago.
Marie Noel was part of that blue to red shift.
TUCHMAN: What do you want to see Donald Trump do?
NOEL: I want to see him, you know, take care of the border. You know, so much immigrants coming in. Even though I am an immigrant, but there's half a way.
TUCHMAN: Where are you from?
NOEL: I'm from Haiti. And I came in the proper way. So, I just feel like everybody should come in the proper way.
TUCHMAN: How does it make you feel the way he's talked about Haitians and some other immigrant groups?
NOEL: I think it's for shock values. I've known people who say things just to get people talking. That's how I feel about it. You know, I don't take it personal because I don't believe my country is like that.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We also asked other Monroe County residents who either switched to Trump or didn't vote in 2020 but voted for him in 2024 what they want to see from him. At The Cure Cafe in the county seat of Stroudsburg, Emily Rivera is a barista.
EMILY RIVERA, FIRST-TIME VOTER WHO BACKED TRUMP: I've never voted. This is my first year ever voting, because I have a child and I want to see the future get better. I don't want to see people hate each other. And I understand why people think he incites hatred. But I feel like that's just what people want you to think.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): She says education is her top issue for the future and former president.
RIVERA: Let's have the teachers be able to bring the students education instead of teaching them things like pronouns, gender, identity, things of that nature.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gregory Crockett is semi-retired. He too contributed to the Monroe County shift by voting for Trump this time around after not voting at all in 2020.
GREGORY CROCKETT, FIRST-TIME VOTER WHO BACKED TRUMP: I'd like to see the economy become more stabilized. I would like to see the gouging on the prices come down. It's crazy when you buy 4 pounds of ground beef and it's $30.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We heard a lot about the economy.
NOEL: I need assistance. I need help. I need it to be under control.
TUCHMAN: So why do you think he will be more helpful than Kamala Harris with paying -- with helping people like you?
NOEL: I think he would do what -- I just feel like he would do better. He would do a change, you know? I trust him. I trust him.
TUCHMAN: Why do you trust him?
NOEL: It's just a feeling that I have.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Back at the restaurant, server Nicole Rodriguez voted for Kamala Harris, but she also has something she wants to see from Donald Trump.
NICOLE RODRIGUEZ, VOTED FOR HARRIS: First and foremost, I'd like him to calm down the climate, let it not be so divisive, bring us all back together. He is all of our president, not just one party.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
BERMAN: And Gary Tuchman is here now. So what else struck you in Monroe County?
TUCHMAN (on-camera): We talked to dozens of Trump voters, most of them who voted for Trump three times. And what we found very notable was that many of them told us, we hope Trump helps unite the country. So it's a noble thought, but there wasn't excessive optimism from -- too many of them about that possibilities.
BERMAN: Gary, still great to have you on the ground there talking to people and hearing their voices in those stories. Thanks so much, Gary.
TUCHMAN (on-camera): Thank you, John.
BERMAN: The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts right now.
