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Trump Expands Pool of Possible Treasury Picks as Top Candidates Jockey for the Job; Trump Standing His Ground on Controversial Cabinet Picks; House Ethics Committee to Meet Wednesday Amid Questions Over Gaetz Sex Allegations; Axios: Elon Musk, Top Trump Adviser Clash Over Cabinet Picks; Biden Attending His Final G20 Summit in Rio De Janeiro. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 18, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:38]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: President-elect Trump pushes forward with key appointments to his administration, determined to get his controversial Cabinet picks confirmed now. This as a Florida court fight could mean more scrutiny for his attorney general pick.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a major policy change by the Biden administration. Ukraine can now use long range American missiles - American-made missiles for attacks inside Russia. The Kremlin says it will only add oil to the fire.

And after frustrating technical glitches during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight, some are wondering if Netflix is ready for prime time with other big sporting events on the horizon, including their first ever NFL game with Beyonce as the halftime show.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SCIUTTO: Top of the hour where we are standing by for the latest administration picks from President-elect Trump. In the 13 days since the election, Trump has moved at a dizzying pace to assemble what is an unorthodox team to say the least. So far he is refusing to back down from any of his Cabinet picks, even if some of the most controversial ones may face an uphill confirmation battle even among Republicans in the Senate.

Trump's newest administration pick is Brendan Carr to head the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC. Carr is currently an FCC commissioner and authored a chapter of proposed changes to the agencies in that document, Project 2025. That's the right wing plan that Trump tried to claim no connection to during the campaign. We are also now learning that Trump is expanding his search for a Treasury secretary as several top candidates are jockeying behind the scenes for what is a very powerful job. CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now.

So Kristen, why this expanding search and who's he looking at? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, I mean, I was told on Friday that this announcement was coming on Friday. Now it's Monday. We have an expanded field and two new candidates who are meeting with Donald Trump today to go over that position as he tries to figure out who is going to actually be his secretary of treasury. Now, just so we have a little bit of background here, we were told about a week ago, week and a half ago, that Scott Bessent, who is a hedge fund manager, was in the lead, that he was likely to get this job. Everything had been smooth sailing until Howard Lutnick, the head of the transition, stepped in and essentially said that he wanted the job.

Howard, we're told behind the scenes, has been jockeying for this position pretty extensively. It was described to me as a knife fight at various times. Scott Bessent has been brought back to Mar-a-Lago to meet again with Donald Trump. Trump has an entire team of transition staff that's working specifically on treasury. They were meeting last Friday. I'm told they were supposed to come up with an answer to go back to Donald Trump with later that day. Obviously, that didn't happen.

So now the field has been extended. It goes a little bit to show you about some of what is happening behind the scenes because of the fact that this is such a powerful position. One thing to note, Lutnick is very close to Donald Trump, but I've been told that Donald Trump has not been that happy with the way Lutnick has handled this whole situation. So we'll see how it unfolds.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It'd be a very Dick Cheney-like move, wouldn't it be, to head the search committee and then say, actually, I should be at the top of your search list. All right.

HOLMES: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Trump, in typical fashion, refusing to back down from any of his choices. I wonder, I mean, you've covered him for so long, given the amount of public attention and scrutiny and frankly, allegations against, say, Gaetz. Is he going to stick with that or do you see him changing his mind, which he's done before as well?

HOLMES: I was told as recently as yesterday that he is a hundred percent all-in on Matt Gaetz, that in fact, this is his most important choice. I was told this by a number of senior advisors who believe that Donald Trump is not going to back away from this choice, that while there might be some others who are controversial in the field, they could potentially have their neck on the line, even though he does want all of them to be confirmed, but that Gaetz is one that they are going to try their hardest to push through.

[15:05:02]

SCIUTTO: We'll see if Republican senators agree. Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: The House Ethics Committee now preparing to meet Wednesday when they could decide the fate of their report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz, now the President-elect's picked to lead the Justice Department. And members have been investigating these allegations of sexual misconduct, also illegal drug use against Gaetz. But since his abrupt resignation from Congress, it's unclear if that report will ever see the light of day. Here with us now, we have CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, Paula Reid and also CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams with us.

And we're getting, Paula, some new insight into what is going on in the House Ethics Committee report, actually through a civil lawsuit in Florida. It's kind of like a side door roundabout thing, but it's actually quite illuminating.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. This is a lawsuit that was filed by a friend of former Congressman Gaetz against another one of their friends, Joel Greenberg, who is in jail after pleading guilty to several crimes and the woman who is allegedly 17 years old when she had sex with the former congressman. He sued both of them and as a result, they had to engage in discovery. They created a whole new record of evidence. Now the underage victim was deposed, but her deposition as well as other women in this case, they are all under seal.

But lawyers got kind of crafty and used some of what is under seal in their questions to the man who filed this lawsuit. So we're getting a little bit of glimmer of what that underage - formerly underage woman said. For example, the lawyers asked - they asked Gaetz's friend, and you heard her testimony that she said that you observed her and Matt Gaetz having sex on an air hockey table. Now this witness denies that he saw that.

But the lawyer also throws in that the friend of the underage woman who brought her to the party testified that she too had sex with Gaetz at the same gathering. So they're taking information that's under seal and including it in these questions that they knew would not likely be under seal. It's public record in fact. But it gives you a sample of the kind of evidence that the House Ethics Committee has gathered in its investigation because we know they trace this civil litigation pretty closely sort of as a roadmap in terms of who to talk to and where to go.

KEILAR: And Elliot, I do want to note you've been on both sides of this process here because you've been on the Senate confirmation side of the process at DOJ and also as an aide of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And I just wonder if there's a playbook here because we were sort of looking at each other as Paula was reading what was described there in that quoted deposition. And just the idea that this didn't like immediately sink someone is pretty amazing.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There is a playbook and it's right in the Constitution, Article 1 and Article 2, which lays out how people are confirmed for positions. Look, you know, it's funny that you point to my Senate work. There's nothing that senators care about more than their prerogative to vet nominees that the president puts forward of any party. Literally it's the biggest check and balance they have on the executive branch and they take it very seriously. All of these questions, these serious questions that are in the public record or if not in the public record, at least in documents, ought to be made available to the Senate. And they can be even if we in the public don't see them. Senators can see all of this in closed session and review it and make their determination as to whether somebody is fit for higher office.

KEILAR: They get some of this privilege stuff.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

KEILAR: And Politico is actually reporting that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have discussed requesting the file from the closed FBI investigation. Is there a political precedent for that? Do you expect they'll get that?

WILLIAMS: I don't know if you've heard of Hillary Clinton ...

KEILAR: I have heard of Hillary Clinton.

WILLIAMS: ... the name, but it can - you know, it's a closed investigation. And those, what are called FBI 302s, those investigative records were made public after the fact. And they can, again, the public does not necessarily have to see them. But senators can and they have a long precedent and a long background for getting access to information in closed session, looking at it and deciding before they go into a big hearing on it.

KEILAR: And you expect that they'll see it then?

REID: In terms of the 302, it's unclear specifically that. But I think that it's interesting. They've also asked for all the materials that the House Ethics Committee has gathered. And that's important because, you know, not everything that they gather will necessarily make it into the report, which is why they're casting a wider net in terms of their preservation requests. Those are why we cast a wider net in our reporting. We want to know all about the evidence that they've gathered, all things that are incriminating, exonerating, because we know even if we get this report, it's not going to have everything in it.

KEILAR: You know, it - that also just jogs my memory going back to the report that was compiled about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Republicans looked into everything that was investigated, not just what was in the report. And it was some of those things that they found most troubling.

WILLIAMS: They sort of went through, like, filing boxes to do it. Do you think that we will ever actually see the report, though, whether it is official or whether it is leaked? Do you think that's unlikely?

REID: It's possible. Political pressure certainly mounting for them to release it. Again, this is the nominee to be the nation's top law enforcement official.

[15:09:59] Enormous political pressure not to hide an ethics report that at least explored allocations of having sex with a minor. There is also the possibility it can leak. I'll tell you, this committee, the Ethics Committee, they do not leak. That's partially to protect the people they investigate, also to protect their witnesses, right, their process.

But the former congressman, he has a lot of detractors and enemies on the Hill. It would not shock me if this eventually leaked somehow.

KEILAR: Proponents of his nomination will say, you know, this is a hunt because he - this was closed. It didn't go forward at DOJ. But critics of this will say that's not the threshold.

WILLIAMS: It's not, but --

KEILAR: So explain that why it's not the threshold.

WILLIAMS: Oh, Brianna, the threshold for going to jail is being found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If, you know, someone who has been charged with a crime or not charged with a crime, you know, they may not go to jail, but there's still a reputational hit that they have taken. Let's use an even more obvious example. If someone were investigated for a crime but not charged with it, you wouldn't let them watch your children. It doesn't matter if it's a sex crime or something else. Employment decisions can be based on allegations. And it's perfectly plausible to say that the mere fact that someone has been investigated by both law enforcement and his own employer for sexual misconduct ought to be sufficient to not give that person a sort of higher employment that they're seeking.

So this whole idea of, well, he wasn't charged with a crime or wasn't convicted of a crime. Yes, he's a free citizen and we ought to embrace that. That doesn't mean he should be attorney general of the United States.

REID: That is true. I do want to be careful, though, because, of course, we are entering into an era where it's expected that Trump will try to use - President-elect Trump will try to use the Justice Department to pursue his political enemies. And if we get to a place where someone was investigated for something and not charged, and if they weren't convicted, I mean, that opens the door to potentially ruin a lot of people's lives.

So I do think we should, again, proceed with caution. What's unique about the former congressman is he's up for this job, which would make him the nation's top law enforcement officer. And if there are questions about what happened in a criminal probe, that seems like fair game. But I think it is absolutely a question where intelligent minds can disagree about whether all the evidence against you should be laid on the table if you were not charged and or convicted, to your point.

KEILAR: Yes. It's a good academic debate, and I think it will come up again.

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

KEILAR: Paula, Elliot, thank you so much to both of you. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, we are also following new reports on growing tension between Trump's close ally, Elon Musk, and one of the President- elect's most powerful and longest-term loyalists. During a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Axios reports of a heated confrontation between Musk and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.

The article says, quote, "At one point during what the sources described as a 'massive blowup,' Musk accused Epshteyn of leaking details of Trump's transition, including personnel pics, to the media. Epshteyn responded by telling Musk that he didn't know what he was talking about."

I'm joined now by Alex Thompson, CNN Political Analyst, national political reporter for Axios.

I wonder how serious this division is, right? And is this a case where Musk is likely to win out or Epshteyn? I mean, Musk is quite close to the President-elect right now.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, watch the space, because it's the first in what is going to be a series of conflicts. I mean, you are - Donald Trump is going to try to be the most powerful executive ...

SCIUTTO: Right.

THOMPSON: ... branch that we've had, at least in decades and maybe ever, which means there's a lot of decisions to make. And Elon Musk is obviously very influential. He also has a lot of government contracts. Now, Boris Epshteyn, what he has is a longstanding relationship with President Trump. He also has never - he's managed to stay in that orbit without being completely cast out.

But I can tell you, many of Trump's lawyers left his legal team because they were sick of Boris Epshteyn. He is very much entrenched in this world.

SCIUTTO: What about Musk? Because you have heard a story here and there about Trump's patience for Musk specifically. Listen, Trump is someone who likes very much to be the center of attention. He is, after all, the President-elect. Musk is used to being the center of attention as well.

THOMPSON: Yes. At the moment, you've seen them basically co-mingle in this space. And that's also because they had a united mission, which was win the election.

SCIUTTO: Right.

THOMPSON: Now you're already seeing Elon Musk, you know, tweeting, saying, you know, I think this person should be treasury secretary. And, you know, how he's going to - now is Trump going to sort of respect sort of the leverage, the play or is he going to get tired of this game? He's the only one that makes a point by tweet.

SCIUTTO: Now, one other thing that Musk is doing by tweet is doing polling, right, if you want to call it that, or little surveys about ...

THOMPSON: Yes.

SCIUTTO: ... do you like this guy or do you like this guy ...

THOMPSON: Yep.

SCIUTTO: ... for this poll. Why? Is that just for fun or is he actually testing the market, as it were? I think it's a little bit of both. I think, you know, he's someone that posts first and ask questions later. I also think you're already seeing him do the same thing with this Department of Government Efficiency, which isn't really a department, it's sort of a separate task force.

And they're basically putting big government decisions up for Twitter polls ...

SCIUTTO: Well ...

THOMPSON: ... X polls.

SCIUTTO: ... they're also putting big government positions in the hands of someone who has massive business before big government.

[15:15:01]

THOMPSON: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Elon Musk and not just, by the way, SpaceX, but also, I mean, government policy will affect the future of Tesla.

THOMPSON: Yes, the conflicts of interest, it's hard to know where they start and where they end. Even like the person they appointed to head the FCC just yesterday ...

SCIUTTO: Yes.

THOMPSON: He has been a huge advocate of expanding Starlink, which is part of SpaceX, but a huge Elon Musk company. It could mean hundreds of millions of dollars for his company.

SCIUTTO: This is the - I mean, there are open conflicts of interest, right?

THOMPSON: Very much so.

SCIUTTO: They're before our eyes. Whether they are acted upon is another question, but they appear in broad daylight. Alex Thompson, thanks so much.

Still to come, the Kremlin is accusing the U.S. of throwing, quote, oil on the fire of war. Of course, this is a country that invaded Ukraine two and a half years ago. Not happy, though, about President Biden allowing Ukraine to use U.S. made missiles for long range attacks inside Russia.

Plus, growing concern from Ukraine's neighbor to the West as Kyiv's war with Russia takes what could be an ominous turn. I speak with Poland's president ahead.

And day two of the Laken Riley trial is underway. What we're learning from an officer who spoke to the defendant in the case.

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KEILAR: Right now, President Biden is in Brazil for the final G20 Summit of his presidency, just a day after giving Ukraine the green light to fire American-made long-range missiles into Russian territory. This is a decision that the Kremlin is warning, quote, throws oil on the fire.

A U.S. official says the weapons are intended to be used primarily in Russia's southern Kursk region. That's where, according to the State Department, there are now more than 11,000 North Korean troops supporting Moscow's combat operations against Kyiv. Let's bring in CNN's Kayla Tausche, who is traveling with the President in Rio de Janeiro.

Kayla, tell us about Biden's agenda and what you're hearing about this major policy shift.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this major policy shift, Brianna, we're told came together in recent days and was spurred by two catalysts in particular. Number one, what the president saw is a very brazen decision by Russia to recruit more than 10,000 North Korean troops to assist in its war in Ukraine. And number two, an aerial attack that's taken place in the last 24 hours that represents the most significant step up on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in months.

Those two actions taken together, you have to imagine, coupled with Biden's waning days in office, led him to make this change to allow Ukraine to use these ATACMS, long-range missiles, to strike up to 200 miles into Russian territory. We understand these weapons are primarily going to be used in the Kursk region and Western Russia, where Ukraine is going to try to defend and continue holding some Russian territory that it has occupied as of August and now faces a new threat from Russia there.

The goal of Ukraine had previously been to use that territory to try to get Putin and Russia to the negotiating table for some sort of peace deal. And that, in the U.S.'s eyes, still remains the goal. But here in Rio at the G20, the politics and the diplomacy is very complicated. In remarks to the group this morning, President Biden acknowledged it was his final G20 summit and urged the group to pursue two goals. Number one, Ukraine's sovereignty, and number two, to urge Hamas toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Those were the two priorities that he left the group with, and he urged them to continue the work toward a sustainable future and to continue the progress that they've achieved over these last four years.

It's a relatively quiet summit for President Biden. Many of these world leaders are already focusing on what the U.S. and its incoming administration will look like. There are a few final official events for the President before he heads home tomorrow. Brianna?

KEILAR: And, of course, President-elect Trump is not there, and yet he is looming large over the G20 in Rio, Kayla.

TAUSCHE: He is looming large. I mean, almost every single G20 leader who is here in Rio has made a personal phone call to the President- elect to congratulate him and, in some cases, invite him to visit their country in a bid to smooth over relations, many - with many of these allies and adversaries were marked by tension during Trump's first term.

They're congregating behind the scenes and amongst each other about exactly what that second term will look like and how they can brace themselves and insulate their economies. That, of course, still a work in progress, and it does, to a certain extent, leave Biden the odd man out. Brianna?

KEILAR: Kayla Tausche, live for us from Rio. Thank you. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Watching all of this extremely closely is the nation of Poland, which, of course, shares a border with Ukraine stretching more than 330 miles. An outspoken ally of Ukraine, Poland's president, said last year the only guarantee of peace is the defeat of Russia. It was also the first NATO nation to send fighter jets to Ukraine. A short time ago, the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, told me that he welcomes Biden's choice to allow long-range missile attacks on Russia by Ukraine using U.S.-made weapons.

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ANDRZEJ DUDA, POLAND PRESIDENT (through interpreter): What I believe Ukraine needs very much today is to lift all the constraints and limits in using the allied assistance, so I'm very delighted with that decision taken by President Biden. I think that this is a sensible decision which, under the current circumstances, was very much needed, and it shows in a clear way, especially it shows Russia, which in recent days has increased considerably its attacks, especially its missile strikes. We can all see that.

[15:25:04]

So this decision is showing Russia that not only Ukraine, but also the countries of the West, the United States, which support Ukraine, do not give up. They do not retreat. The fact that Ukraine will be able to use missiles, Russians will have to extend their supply lines, and for sure this is going to make the attacks on Ukraine more difficult. So this is a very good decision, and I'm delighted with it.

SCIUTTO: Of course, the U.S. elected a new president, and you had the opportunity to speak with President-elect Trump after the election. Did he communicate to you any continued support for Ukraine and for NATO as well?

DUDA (through interpreter): For the period of 40 years, I had an honor and pleasure to work with President Donald Trump, because he already was the President of the United States for one term in office, and indeed, we did cooperate back then, both within NATO, and he also supported our initiative, the Three Seas Initiative in Central Europe. I am calm and peaceful about what kind of policy vis-a-vis Russia and President Donald Trump will be implementing. For sure, it will not be a soft policy, but of course, in our conversation, I said to President Donald Trump and I repeated that, because I already mentioned that point before when we met back in April, I told him how, from our Polish perspective, the situation looks connected with Russian aggression against Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, Sweden and Finland, of course, the newest members of NATO, have updated guidance to their citizens on how to survive a war. This, of course, as NATO looks to the Russia threat. I wonder, is that necessary advice to the European public at this time? And would you recommend that Polish citizens make the same preparations?

DUDA (through interpreter): I am calm and peaceful. In Poland, we are consistent in our policy of strengthening our security. Today, we are spending more than 4 percent of our GDP on defense. Next year - in next year's budget, we will be spending 4.7 percent of our GDP on defense. That is why I appeal to all our allies in NATO to increase their defense spending to at least 3 percent of their GDP, because Russian imperialism is back on the political arena.

And at a time when the Soviet imperialism posed a threat to the West - I'm speaking about the times of the Iron Curtain, the times of the Cold War - NATO countries were spending exactly 3 percent of their GDP on defense, and there was no war. And the Soviet Union did not deal with it economically. It simply collapsed. So I believe that if NATO countries now are consistent in their policy, if they are not provoked, then no additional actions, apart from modernization and strengthening of the armed forces, is the only thing we need.

We do not need to do anything more. There will be no war, because Russia will not dare attack a strong NATO.

SCIUTTO: One can hope. President Duda, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

DUDA (through interpreter): Thank you very much for having me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The Polish president also told me he does not expect Russia to attempt to attack NATO countries or the NATO alliance, because he doesn't believe - even Russia believes it has the strength to do so. We'll continue to follow that story.

Up next, this hour, the suspect accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley is now back in court. What officers and roommates are saying about the suspect's actions the days after the murder.

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