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Trump Pushes Forward With Matt Gaetz Pick; Trial Continues for Man Accused of Killing Laken Riley; What Kind of Impact Will Donald Trump Have on Your Finances. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 19, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: President-elect Donald Trump doubling down on one of his most controversial cabinet picks personally, calling senators to get them to confirm Matt Gaetz as attorney general, as House Republicans will decide whether or not they want to bury the Ethics Committee report on former Congressman Gaetz.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A recorded phone call from jail that a murder suspect had with his wife. She asks him what happened to the girl. I know you know something. The testimony coming out of the trial of that man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: One man's survival story after receiving a groundbreaking face transplant. 85 percent of his face was reconstructed and replaced.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: New this morning, the pressure campaign surrounding President-elect Donald Trump's embattled A.G. pick Matt Gaetz reaching a new fever pitch amid new salacious details. Not only is Trump now personally calling senators, his billionaire friend, Elon Musk, just a short time ago, posted this, quote, Matt Gaetz is the Judge Dredd America needs to clean up a corrupt system. As for the accusations against him, I consider them worth less than nothing, going on to say, case closed.

Elon Musk has an audience of 205 million followers, but it is the opinion of 51 Republican senators who matter the most. Will they soon get to see a House Ethics report on Gaetz, this as a lawyer for two women who testified that Gaetz paid them for sex is now speaking out to our Erin Burnett.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL LEPPARD, LAWYER FOR WOMAN WHO TESTIFIED AGAINST GAETZ ABOUT SEX ALLEGATION: She testified to the House that Representative Gaetz did not know her friend's age at the time they had sexual intercourse. And when he found out about her age, that Representative Gaetz stopped having sexual intercourse with her, and he only started the sexual intercourse interactions later on when she turned 18. The testimony before the House was, yes, that Representative Gaetz paid my client -- both of my clients for sexual favors throughout the summer of 2017 all the way to the beginning of 2019.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right. Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene. What are you hearing and learning as Trump is clearly trying to push through Matt Gaetz and get senators on his side?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. And I think, you know, what's very clear over the last 24 hours with Donald Trump calling up personally these Republican senators and reiterating to them how determined he is to get Matt Gaetz through, that he wants their help in confirming him when this nominating process begins. I think we need to be clear, this nominating process hasn't begun, but all the attention around this almost makes it seem like it has. But he's really trying to put pressure on them to fall in line behind him. And it's clear that Donald Trump is not changing his mind at this moment, that he is very determined to get Gaetz through.

Now this comes as well, as we're told, that Donald Trump and those around him on his transition team, they privately acknowledge that Gaetz's confirmation chances right now are pretty slim, that he's going to have a lot of trouble. But, again, Donald Trump is not backing away. Instead, he's working the phones trying to get people to fall in line behind him.

Now, I think it's interesting as well, and this is from our colleague, Kristen Holmes, she reported that Donald Trump and his team have also been discussing behind the scenes what's called as the Federal Vacancy Reform Act. It's essentially something that could potentially allow Donald Trump to put Gaetz in place as attorney general temporarily and kind of skirt some of this confirmation process.

We've also heard though as well that, remember, Donald Trump even before he had announced his attorney general pick or some of the other, you know, controversial picks that were seeing him try to use for his cabinet, he's also talked about this thing called recess appointments, again, another potential way to try and go around the official process of this. But all of this, of course, is playing out as we're seeing so much uneasiness about Matt Gaetz's mount in the Senate, but also in the House.

[07:05:02]

Now, I also think it's very interesting, Sara, you read some of that quote from Elon Musk. I mean, Musk, his influence with Trump right now, has been really, I mean, kind of matched to no one. He has spent almost every day with Donald Trump. They are clearly very close. They're going to be spending the evening together today. We've learned that he's going to be -- Donald Trump and him are both going to be attending the SpaceX launch in Texas. And so all of that to say is, I think it's very clear where Donald Trump stands on Matt Gaetz.

And, Sara, as well, I just want to point out behind the scenes another kind of contentious fight that we're seeing take place at Mar-a-Lago, which is Donald Trump really continuing to push move forward on the hunt for a treasury pick. We know there's been a lot of uneasiness as well about who he is going to choose for that. He had come close potentially last week to wanting to make a pick. But as of now, he still has a number of people that he's going to be interviewing this week. And so we're waiting to see what happens there as well. Sara?

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, a lot going on. Thank you for all your reporting there. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The critical decision remains for lawmakers sitting on the House Ethics Committee right now. Do we or don't we? The panel is set to meet tomorrow to consider what to do with its months-long investigation into, well, then-Congressman Matt Gaetz, now that Gaetz has resigned at that seat. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, keeping up his campaign to keep it under wraps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I don't want to open a Pandora's Box. We're in a different era, okay?

I would be concerned about opening the Pandora's Box of saying that the House Ethics Committee, with its vast resources and unlimited power, effectively, could investigate private citizens and release reports about them. I don't think we want to go down that road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Lauren Fox tracking all this for us this morning. Lauren, what are you hearing about this today?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot of pressure that is mounting not just in the House of Representatives, but also in the Senate, for lawmakers to have an opportunity to review this report. A lot of Republicans in the Senate are making clear this is an important step for them in trying to make a determination whether they think Matt Gaetz is up to the job of being America's top lawmaker.

Now, we're going to be watching very closely to see whether the Ethics Committee actually goes forward with their meeting. As you noted, they are expected to hold a panel tomorrow, potentially discussing what to do about this report. There's also a question of whether or not they would vote to release it. Yes, you are hearing from Speaker Johnson that he does not think that is the best step forward, but we should note that there is some past precedent for releasing a report that is finished even after a member has left Congress.

That happened back when Representative Bill Bonner had won a race for the mayor of Nashville. He had an ongoing ethics report. He resigned his seat in Congress. And then later, Congress decided to actually release that report.

So, there is some precedent for it. But you see there, Mike Johnson really putting his thumb on the scale, which is an unusual step for a House speaker in saying that he does not think that that is the step that the House Ethics Committee should take.

Here is a Democrat, though, the top Democrat on the committee on what she thinks should happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SUSAN WILD (D-PA): We have a scheduled meeting on Wednesday and it remains to be seen what the chairman's agenda is for that. But I believe we should vote on whether or not to disclose it or not, and we'll see what happens after that.

Everybody on the committee now has the report, so they've got the opportunity to be reviewing it.

I believe there will be a unanimous Democratic consensus that it should be released.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: Now, Kate, the Senate Judiciary Committee has already requested this report. Right now, that committee is controlled by Democrats. That is going to shift after the election, where Republicans will control that committee. But there are a number of Republicans who have made clear over and over again, over the last week-and-a-half that they want to see this report. This is one of them, Kevin Kramer of North Dakota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): And wise to do that if he can't get the votes of the majority party, which is his party.

I just think it sets -- it would set the attorney general up to not have all of the confidence and the strength that that person needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And the first step, of course, for Matt Gaetz will be getting through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chuck Grassley is going to helm that committee in the New Year. He has been noncommittal on whether or not he's going to fight to get this ethics report as part of his process for vetting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And currently one of the top Democrats on that committee, Chris Coons, he's going to be joining us a little later in the show to see what moves they can make, what moves they will make to try to get that report.

It's good to see you, Lauren, a lot going to happen today. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right, the prosecution expected arrests its case today in the murder trial of the man accused of killing Georgia College student Laken Riley, details on the revealing new evidence that ties him to her death.

Breaking overnight, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowers the threshold to use nuclear weapons.

[07:10:02]

What it means for U.S. forces and U.S. national security.

And, quote, the bottom already fell out in Dallas today, the top might as well too. New details on why a huge chunk of metal fell off the roof at the Cowboys stadium. Things are not going well for the Cowboys, friends.

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BERMAN: This morning, new testimony in the murder trial of the man accused of killing University of Georgia student Laken Riley.

[07:15:01]

Disturbing new details revealed about Riley's final moments and about the suspect's behavior after news of the killing broke. The court also heard a phone call from the suspect's wife confronting him, telling him, quote. I know you know something.

CNN's Rafael Romo was outside the court in Athens, Georgia. Rafael, what to expect today?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Well, one thing I can tell you is that this case is moving much faster than anybody anticipated. For one thing, it was only a week ago that we were reporting how the defense and the prosecution talked about that agreement they had to have a bench trial instead of a trial by jury, a deal that was approved by the judge. And we heard the prosecution in open court on Monday say that they expect to wrap up their case today. The defense, meanwhile, said that their testimony is only going to take a half a day.

And day two in the case was full of heartbreaking testimony, John. One of the things that we heard that was very difficult to hear was smart watch data showing the precise moment when Laken Riley's heart stopped beating. We also heard about cell phone data showing how Jose Ibarra's cell phone was placed very, very close, an FBI special agent said, to Laken Riley's phone for about 20 minutes. And then we also heard a recording from a phone call between Jose Ibarra and his estranged wife in New York, where she urges him to tell the truth. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's saying that she's fed up, that he has her tired, and if he can just tell the truth.

She continues to ask him what happened with the girl.

She tells him that he has to know something, and he just continues to tell her like, Liling (ph), enough, Liling, enough.

She thinks it's crazy that they don't have anyone else's DNA, they only have his, and she says she doesn't understand how someone can see someone dying and not call 911.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Also on day two of the trial, John, we heard from two police officers with the University of Georgia Police Department who testified how Jose Ibarra had injuries in his arms, hands, wrists. And when he was asked what happened, he was unable to give him a straight answer. There was no clear answer there.

We're also expecting -- this is something that may happen, not confirmed yet, but two of Jose Ibarra's brothers who live with him in his apartment may be called to testify. The trial resumes at 8:30 here at the Athens Clark County courthouse where we are.

John, now back to you.

BERMAN: And as you said, moving much more quickly than people thought it would. Rafael Romo in Athens, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, a third person has died after a man went on a stabbing street spree across Manhattan yesterday. A man is in custody this morning. What police are saying today about the suspect's eight prior arrests.

And Donald Trump promised to bring down prices, extend tax cuts, and protect Social Security. How his second administration could affect your finances.

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BOLDUAN: The key issue for voters this election and the overarching reason that voters are sending Donald Trump back to the White House, the economy. And with that in mind, CNN Business is digging into what that means going forward, the seven ways the next Trump administration could impact your finances.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with that. And what are you finding?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, as you mentioned the economy front and center in this next Trump administration, and he's proposed a lot of sweeping changes.

Let's start with the tax front, because that's where we saw some of the biggest changes during the first Trump administration, and it could be again in this one. No secret that Trump likes low tax rates. He's proposed tax breaks on a lot, right? No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, tax relief on car loans. And also he wants to fully extend those 2017 tax cuts.

Now, if that happens, you could have a $1,000 savings, according to the Tax Policy Center, for the typical family. That's about 1.3 percent of income. Nothing to sneeze at, but it's a much bigger savings for the top 1 percent of earners, $70,000 or 3.2 percent of income. So, this is going to be something that we're going to see play out in Congress, of course, because extending these tax cuts would cost $5 trillion.

Now, relatedly, there's a lot of focus on what Social Security looks like under Trump because, there's some concern that those tax breaks, especially eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits, are going to hurt Social Security by eliminating a key revenue stream.

The Committee for Responsible Federal Budget has found that under Trump, Social Security would go insolvent in 2031. That is three years earlier than otherwise, and that would prompt a 33 percent cut across the board of benefits unless Congress acts. So, we have to watch that space very closely.

BOLDUAN: Okay. So, tax cuts and tariffs are two things that have definitely were promised over and over again from the campaign trail, kind of like a promise and a threat. You put them together, if he follows through with both, what kind of impact can that have?

EGAN: Well, there is a risk that we hear over and over again from mainstream economists that it could be inflationary, right? Larry Summers told you that just the other day that this could be a bigger inflationary spike than what we saw right after COVID, which is really saying something.

[07:25:02]

BOLDUAN: But what does that mean for people's finances?

EGAN: Well, it means that your dollar wouldn't go as far, right, if prices keep going up.

Now, let's talk about tariffs, right, because that is where Trump has really been very aggressive. He's called for across the board tariffs, massive tariffs on China. And we've seen that there's estimates that this is going to cost real people money. The National Retail Federation has warned that we could see price spikes on everything, from furniture and clothes and footwear, appliances and toys.

And one other point on the inflation front, Kate, mass deportations, right? We know that there is a risk that mass deportations could create worker shortages, especially for things like housing, where there's a lot of undocumented workers, and also for groceries, because there's a lot of undocumented workers in the food supply chain. So, we need to watch that space very closely, because, obviously, voters don't want prices to go even higher.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And it's the details and when the president like defines the policy of mass deportation is going to be critical, because that's -- when you talk about exactly who's going to be working in some of these jobs, are they going to still be able to work in some of these jobs, or are they part of this mass deportation --

EGAN: Yes, the devil is in the details on both the deportations and on the tariffs.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. It's great to see you, Matt. Thank you so much. Much more to work on with this, for sure. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, a lawyer whose client testified in front of the ethics committee investigating Matt Gaetz says his client witnessed Gaetz at a party having sex with a minor. But will the full Ethics Committee report ever be made public?

And a deadly stabbing spree in the middle of Manhattan, what police are saying now about the suspect in that case that has killed three people.

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