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Reporting Indicates Donald Trump Will Select Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio as His Secretary of State and North Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security; Elon Musk Continuing to Spend Time with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after Election; ; Judge's Self-imposed Deadline on Trump Immunity; Trump Adviser Stephen Miller Expected to Become Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, and North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is expected to Trump's pick for Secretary of Homeland Security.

And Trump is clearly focused, as you can see, on filling out key national security positions first. Florida Congressman Mike Waltz is expected to be his National Security Adviser. Longtime aide Stephen Miller, who was central to Trump's immigration policies last time, is expected to be his deputy chief of staff for policy this time. And former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin is Trump's pick to head up the EPA.

Everything from Trump's climate policy to what his actually plan is to pull off his mass deportation plan to what he'll do about future support for Ukraine and Israel, all of these huge issues now likely left to those names to figure out.

Joining us right now for some more insight on what really is happening inside this fast-moving transition is Meredith McGraw, national political correspondent for "Politico." It's good to see you, Meredith. What are you hearing about what it is like behind closed doors in these meetings to decide who Trump is going to pick for these big roles?

MEREDITH MCGRAW, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": Well, for weeks before Donald Trump was elected, his transition team had been compiling resumes and names for Donald Trump to go over should he win. And now that he's back at Mar-a-Lago plotting out his next administration, he's going over some of these choices. There's a room at Mar-a-Lago behind the scenes where some TVs are set up, where an aide is able to plug in a laptop and show him bits and pieces of their resume and bio, and even some video clips of their hits on television.

And he's taking advice and input from a parade of people who have come through Mar-a-Lago, including people like Elon Musk or RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard who are honorary co-chairs of the transition but are having some input on things, too. But really, this comes down to Donald Trump and the people he wants to

have surrounding him. Susie Wiles is also an important player in all of this. She was speaking to a network of donors in Las Vegas yesterday with some of the other Trump advisers from the campaign, but during this time, she's also been influential as the chief of staff and will have a say over who is going to be on the White House staff among other roles.

BOLDUAN: Last time around, it was seen as something of -- we all saw it play out, of Trump running something like an "Apprentice" style contest to be part of his cabinet. Candidates paraded before the cameras as they entered and left the meetings with the then president- elect. Is this transition period looking different, unfolding in a different way than what happened in 2016?

MCGRAW: Well, you remember 2016, there were cameras set up in the lobby of Trump Tower, and everybody who came through, if they were on the short list, would be tweeted out or blasted out to broadcast on television. Now this is all happening behind closed doors. That doesn't mean that we're not getting some glimpses of what's going on, whether it's reporting we're getting behind the scenes from sources, or its just Mar-a-Lago members and people who happen to be around taking videos and photos of people like Howard Lutnick, the co-chair for Donald Trump's transition, having lunch with him at his golf club, or Elon Musk getting photographed zipping around with Donald Trump at his club down in Florida, too.

So we haven't seen any sort of embarrassing scenes like when photographers descended on Mitt Romney having dinner at John George in New York City as he was discussing the role of secretary of state with Donald Trump and Reince Priebus back in 2016. But we are getting some glimpses of who's down there. And of course, as people fly down to take meetings or to talk with folks, reporters who are in Palm Beach are reporting who they're seeing on the scene. So we are still getting little glimpses, even though if it's not all playing out in the lobby of Trump Tower for the public to see, like it did back in 2016.

BOLDUAN: Yes, not quite the same way. But a shade of it, you could say. You were talking about --

MCGRAW: A shade of it, yes.

BOLDUAN: You were talking about Elon Musk. I had longtime tech journalist Kara Swisher on yesterday, who said when it comes to Elon Musk, she gets the sense that some around the transition are starting to get a view that Musk is like the guest who wouldn't leave after the party. And says that she also expects that the friendship, if you want to call it, between Trump and musk won't last. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARA SWISHER, PODCAST HOST, "PIVOT" AND "ON": He definitely inserts himself all the time. That's his style. That's why he's just suddenly shown up there like the guest that wouldn't leave. And I've heard from Trump people calling me, saying, oh, wow, this is odd. And I'm like, yes, it is. You'll see much more of it. But he's not going anywhere until Trump throws him out, which could happen because they're both really strong personalities who like to be at the center of attention. Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially.

[08:05:00]

And I think even if it's Elon Musk and Elon has a lot of money and means and things like that, they're going to clash at some point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Meredith, what are you hearing about how much influence or power Musk is actually having around there?

MCGRAW: Well, I think Kara's completely right, that Elon Musk is spending a lot of time with Donald Trump. He's been back and forth to Mar-a-Lago. He's been with him at his golf club. He's having dinner with him and Melania. He's taking his son around the course with Trump. He's spending hours with Donald Trump at this really critical period. And they've become really close over the course of the campaign. But I think this relationship is going to be a really interesting one to watch when you think about all of the business ventures that are tied up in government contracts that Elon Musk has control over, whether its SpaceX and NASA or different government contracts and projects.

And I am really closely watching how this relationship is going to play out. But he does have a lot of influence here. And people around Trump have said that it has been really exciting to see Elon Musk actually stick around after investing so much in the campaign, that he's now wanting to shape things to come. But there could be some tension points moving forward.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, and if past is prologue, it's long been said that the last person in Donald Trump's ear is kind of the -- is kind of the opinion that he ends up formulating and has a big influence on him. If that's Musk, TBD, we'll see how much influence that is.

It's great to see you, Meredith, thank you. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Kate.

Here now, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, and Marc Lotter, director of strategic communications for Trump's 2020 campaign. Lots of things to get to here and lots of picks coming out from Trump world. First of all, let's talk about Marco Rubio. He may be his secretary of state. Marc, to you first. What do you expect from Rubio?

MARC LOTTER, FORMER STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Well, I think Senator Rubio has obviously shown that he is very strong on foreign policy. He's also a huge supporter of our military. And so I think you're going to get somebody in that position who is very much in line with President Trump's worldview, our need to have difficult conversations not only with our adversaries, but sometimes our allies. And so contrary to what we saw in, say, early 2017, and I was in the

White House at that time, I think you're going to have a secretary of state in Marco Rubio, if that is the president-elect's choice, who is going to be fully aligned with his vision and make sure that's communicated on the world stage.

SIDNER: Maria, what do you make of this pick yourself?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, Marco Rubio clearly has experience. He is qualified for this position. But I think the fear is kind of exactly what Marc just said, that this is going to be Trump choosing people that are not just completely aligned with him, but that have shown that they will bend the knee, that they will genuflect at the altar of Donald Trump no matter what happens inside the room.

And I hope that at least for somebody like Marco Rubio who was established as a leader within Republican politics way before Donald Trump, with considerable bona fides in Republican policies and Republican beliefs before Donald Trump, and as somebody with a position of secretary of state, is he going to adhere to those? Or is he going to essentially do whatever Donald Trump makes him do or wants him to do?

And that's concerning, because we know that Donald Trump possibly might take the United States out of NATO, possibly might take the United States out of so many of the other world alliances that we count on in order to keep world peace. And so, that's going to be my question. And I think everyone's eyes are going to be on Marco Rubio to see if that happens, what is he going to do? I suspect that he's going to do exactly what Donald Trump wants him to do. And I think that that is the concern.

So, moving forward, look, and Donald Trump clearly, he won the election, and so he has the right to choose people, whoever he wants around him, but I think that people understand that this is going to be very much an imperial presidency of a president who does not stick to norms, who does not stick to alliances that have worked for western peace, global peace, world peace. And that's going to be what people are going to be very concerned about moving forward.

SIDNER: I'm going to go to the next person and we'll do a couple more. Kristi Noem being tapped, we think, for Homeland Security secretary. She did fall off Trump's short list for V.P. because of the book she wrote about shooting her dog, Cricket, for being too wild to hunt. Marc, what does she bring to the table here?

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LOTTER: I think she's an executive. She's got executive leadership, both from her time in Congress, but also as a governor. And so she's going to bring that perspective in. And she will listen to the various experts and folks who are inside the Department of Homeland Security. But ultimately, her job along with Tom Homan at the direction of the president is going to be to enact the president's policies, to secure our border, to get those criminal illegal immigrants, those who have been ordered removed out of our country, out of our country, and start to reestablish the fact that we are a country of laws, we have immigration laws, and we expect to enforce them.

SIDNER: I do, before we go on here, want to dovetail on that, because of Trump's expectation to announce that Stephen Miller is his deputy chief of staff. I want to go what some of Stephen's comments, that Stephen Miller has made, because he has been very involved, as you know, with immigration and policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: The powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.

Who's going to stand up and say the cartels are gone! The criminal migrants are gone! The gangs are gone! America is for Americans and Americans only!

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: When will the deportations begin?

MILLER: As President Trump said, they begin on inauguration day, as soon as he takes the oath of office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And those are some of his tamer words. During Trump's first term, there was a cache of Millers e-mails, I read them myself, that were leaked where he touted some white nationalist articles and books which focused on the "Great Replacement" theory. Maria, what does this mean for America to have him in Donald Trump's ear?

CARDONA: I think it's one of the most concerning picks that we have seen thus far, Sara, not surprising, but incredibly concerning. Not just because of all of the clips that you just ran, but because we know that this is somebody who does not believe that this country should be open or should be welcoming of any immigrants, frankly. And what's going to be interesting is moving forward, he said that they're going to start mass deportation on day one. And that is going to be, first of all, has already injected terror, chaos, fear, division among so many immigrants and communities of color around the country. I've got so many calls and texts from my friends who are terrified about what is going to happen, even people who are here with legal status, because I don't think that at the end of the day, they're going to really make any kind of distinction between the criminal undocumented, which, by the way, the criminal undocumenteds are being deported. That is a policy that is being adhered to.

But it also, I think, indicates that there's a lot of talk here, Sara, and it's going to be very improbable that they're going to really be able to do this from a policy standpoint and from a budgetary standpoint. So we'll see what happens, but right now it has only injected fear and terror in America's communities.

SIDNER: Marc, I'm going to let you get in the last word there.

LOTTER: Well, no. Obviously, if you are here illegally, and especially if you are a criminal or you are a threat to public safety, you ought to be in fear. You need to get out of our country. And they have made it very clear that they will deport those people who have been ordered removed or who are threats to public safety because of criminal past activity or criminal current activity. That's the first priority. The president has made that very clear.

And he's been open to immigrants. He knows we are a country of immigrants. I remember being back in the White House in the early days in 2017 when he was talking about expanding and opening more pathways to people who would come to our country legally who want to be here.

CARDONA: Thats true, Marc, until Stephen Miller got into his ear and said, don't you dare do this. That's not what your base wants. And he capitulated. So now that Stephen Miller is in his ear 24/7, that's what we're going to see.

LOTTER: Ultimately, it's the president's call.

SIDNER: That is the conversation that we'll be having for quite some time. Marc Lotter, Maria Cardona, thank you both so much. John?

CARDONA: Thanks, Sara.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the latest Trump loyalty test. New reporting on the heavy hand that the president-elect will have in selecting a Senate majority leader.

And do not show up with a policy book to a gunfight. The advice from one House Democrat as the party searches for a new strategy.

An investigation and evacuations underway after a so-called mud volcano explosion.

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BERMAN: This morning, lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill for the first time since Donald Trump won the election with a lot to do.

There's a fast- approaching deadline to avoid a government shutdown and a juicy political battle over who will be the next Senate Majority Leader.

Let's get right to CNN's Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill for the very latest. I guess the senators are actually starting to arrive this morning -- Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this morning, you are starting to see some of those new members for orientation, but there is so much left to do in this Congress, starting with that government funding deadline, which expires on December 20th.

There's going to be this fulsome debate over whether or not they are going to try to kick the can into March, knowing that Republicans could have control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, and perhaps would have a better opportunity to put their stamp on their policy priorities.

Then, there's also some Republicans who are appropriators who are arguing, look, the first hundred days of a new presidency are going to be intense. There's a lot of other options that we could be pursuing. We should get this done now.

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So, you will expect to hear from the Speaker this morning. We may get some early indications on which way he's leaning, but it's important to remember that so far, every time there's been a government funding deadline, Republicans have been unable to get it across the finish line without Democratic vote.

So, despite the fact the Republicans are expected to have control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, votes are still being counted in the House races, of course, it is important to keep in mind that Democrats could still have an imprint on which way this develops.

Meanwhile, we are waiting to see how much more of an impact incoming President Donald Trump will have on this ongoing race to replace Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Right now, you have the two Johns, John Cornyn and John Thune, as well as Rick Scott in this race. And MAGA world has come out in large part for Rick Scott. But, it is important to keep in mind that all of these ballots are going to be happening behind closed doors.

Republican senators can vote for whoever they want. No one is going to know who they voted for. So it's really a huge question mark right now whether or not Donald Trump can have that much of an impact on what is seen as a private GOP leadership race, where Senators are going to have their options. They can vote for whoever they want and no one's going to know --John.

BERMAN: An incredible amount of posturing over the next 24 hours. Please let us know which way it's going.

Lauren Fox, thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: We are standing by for a major decision on Donald Trump's felony conviction in New York. Guilty on 34 counts, but is this all about to get thrown out?

And, the new data showing that despite widespread efforts to keep e- cigarettes out of the hands of children, children are finding ways around those restrictions. The loopholes you should know about today.

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[08:26:08]

BOLDUAN: So we are standing by to learn what will happen to President- elect Donald Trump's criminal conviction in New York.

Today is the day that Judge Juan Merchan has said that he'll decide whether to move ahead with sentencing on the 34 counts that Trump was found guilty of. The judge could also, though, basically do anything, order a new trial or dismiss this case altogether.

CNN's Kara Scannell tracking all of this, I mean, tracking this from the beginning of this through the trial of this and now to what is the latest with this?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Decision day, right?

I mean, the decision here will determine whether Donald Trump enters the White House as a convicted felon and potentially proceeds to be sentenced in two weeks -- two weeks from today, or does this go away, like so many other criminal cases are expected to and the issue here is that Trump's lawyers have argued that the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity means that this case should go away, because they say that the prosecutors relied on evidence of official acts, as part of this.

Even though this case was about the hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and the cover up that took place when Trump was a private citizen, there were some evidence that came into the case of official acts and the Supreme Court decision says that that cannot be used by prosecutors.

That includes the testimony of Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, two White House aides, as well as the tweets that Trump made while he was president in the White House. A lot of them having too with his lawyer, Michael Cohen, who he didn't want to plead guilty and cooperate against him.

So, that is the reason why Trump's lawyers are saying that this conviction should be set aside and this indictment should be dismissed. Prosecutors though have said that even if you look at the evidence that Trump's team has highlighted, they say that is a sliver of the mountains of evidence of testimony and documents and that this verdict should hold.

So this is what Judge Juan Merchan will be deciding today.

BOLDUAN: He's got to decide between all of that, all of the conflicting input.

SCANNELL: All the conflicting input and then, if he does say that this conviction stands, we should expect Trump's team to immediately ask him or appeals courts to stop this sentencing from happening so that -- you know, one of these reasons being because it is a state judge and Trump is president-elect, saying that state judges cant -- shouldn't have a role in federal officers. That's one reason.

Another just saying that this is something that they should just put off and allow them to appeal this immunity decision.

BOLDUAN: I mean -- again, talk about unprecedented territory, but today, some decision is expected. And you'll be here with us. We could get it any moment now. So, we'll stand by for that.

Thanks Kara -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, a dire warning on climate change. The UN says the world is, "on its final countdown." This is as Trump taps a controversial pick to run the EPA here in America.

And revered abolitionist, Harriet Tubman who escaped slavery and risked her life to lead others to freedom receives a brand- new honor. You can now call her General Tubman, we will discuss, coming up.

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