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Testimony Revealed in House Ethics Committee Investigation of Matt Gaetz Includes His Paying $10,000 to Two Women for Sex While Sitting Member of Congress; Vice President Elect J.D. Vance to Bring Attorney General Nominee Matt Gaetz and Defense Secretary Nominee Pete Hegseth to Senate Meetings; Texas Officials Back New Curriculum with Bible Lessons for K-5; Sean "Diddy" Combs Facing Five New Civil Lawsuits. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 20, 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]

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they're saying, that's obviously the better bid. They called "The Onion's" bid a fragrantly noncompliant Frankenstein bid, where as the court appointed trustee, Christopher Murray, obviously felt very differently and said that the other bid from "The Onion" was a better bid.

Now Ben Collins, he's the CEO of "The Onion", he said in a statement last week, "The long-and-short of it, we won the auction. And you're not going to believe this. The previous Infowars folks are not taking this well." He says they expected all this, buying the site was always going to be fun later on but annoying right away, and he says the fun part is still to come.

The trustee in this case also filed an interesting motion responding to some of these allegations, calling them baseless, selective quoting, and half-truths. Now, I do have to say Judge Christopher Lopez, the bankruptcy judge in this case, he held a status hearing last week on this. He seemed a little bit perturbed with how the process worked out, but he said they will be holding evidentiary hearing next week to try to get to the bottom of what happened. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Hadas Gold, a lot going on there. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than $10,000 for sex, new testimony revealed from the investigation into Matt Gaetz. Still, President- elect Trump says he will not reconsider Gaetz as his pick for attorney general.

Everyday low prices now everyday medium to high prices. Walmart CEO warning consumers of potential price hikes.

And the FDA warning about contaminated toothpaste after finding several violations, including a black mold like substance at one factory. How would you like to brush with that?

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Big questions this morning and this hour, the answers to which could make or break the chances for some of President-Elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Question one, will the House Ethics Committee decide today to release the report on their lengthy investigation into Matt Gaetz? We could know in a matter of hours that decision, which could have real impact on if and when Trump's attorney general choice gets a confirmation hearing. A lawyer now claims that Gaetz allegedly paid two young women more than $10,000 for sex while he was a sitting member of Congress.

Question two, what will Gaetz say to senators today? He and J.D. Vance are headed to Capitol hill to try and woo over Republican, key Republican senators, the very Republican senators who will decide his cabinet fate, some who have publicly expressed skepticism about the man, his past, and his qualifications to run the Justice Department.

And question three, who will Donald Trump select today? Another round of job announcements overnight and another round of job announcements still to come. One of the big ones still lingering out there, Treasury Secretary.

Let's start with Alayna Treene this hour. She's joining us. Alayna, what's the latest?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I do want to start with some of the Gaetz drama, because that's going to be some of the biggest things we see today when the vice president elect, J.D. Vance, takes him, as well as Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to run the Department of Defense, to meetings around Capitol Hill. I'm told those meetings are going to be taking place today and tomorrow. And what's really interesting is that Vance is planning to sit in on those meetings. When Matt Gaetz goes to meet with some of these key senators who are going to be involved in his Senate confirmation process, the vice president elect is going to be there as well. And it's another sign of just how much Donald Trump is not backing away from some of his more controversial picks.

I'd note, as well, that we know that Elise Stefanik and Doug Collins, Donald Trump's picks for the U.N. ambassador, as well as the to lead the Veterans Affairs Department respectively, they will be on Capitol Hill meeting with senators as well. But Vance is not sitting in on those meetings. He is only sitting in on the ones where we know that both of these men have pretty controversial pasts and allegations that are resurfacing.

Now, one thing that's very clear again, though, is that Donald Trump is digging in on Matt Gaetz. We know and we have reported that he's been personally lobbying senators, calling them up to tell them that he wants their support. And he was asked about this yesterday as well. I want you to listen to what Donald Trump told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, are you reconsidering the nomination of Matt Gaetz? DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Kate, I think something that we're all watching for, and you alluded to this, is what will the House Ethics Committee do? Are they going to release their report. And could that change really the trajectory for Matt Gaetz and end any sort of reconsideration on Donald Trump's behalf?

Now again, as of now attorney general is the most important role to Donald Trump. And he really wants Matt Gaetz in there.

[08:05:03]

We have reported, we have learned that if he has to sacrifice other potential cabinet picks, he doesn't want Matt Gaetz to be the one that he is sacrificing. So very interesting to watch how these meetings go today and tomorrow.

Now, as for the broader cabinet that we are really seeing fleshed out at a very quick pace, we saw yesterday Donald Trump announced three big picks. We'll start with Howard Lutnick. He was named to run the Commerce Department, a big move because he was really gunning for the Treasury Department. We know that he has been in kind of a behind the scenes fight with Scott Bessent, another hedge fund manager, a big Wall Street name for the Treasury role. He also named Linda McMahon to run the Education Department, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former Senate candidate, to be the head for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. So a lot more picks, but still more to come. Kate?

BOLDUAN: For sure. And you're keeping track of it all for us. Thank you so much, Alayna. It's good to see you. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, with me now to discuss, CNN senior political analyst, Mark Preston. I want to go back to some of those extraordinary scenes that we saw of Donald Trump standing beside Elon Musk watching his latest SpaceX rocket take off. What does this growing relationship between Trump and Musk, who is the richest man in the world, mean for Americans and the world?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I was talking to a Republican consultant the other day, and we really were really going in depth on this, this whole relationship, this amazing relationship, interesting relationship, bizarre relationship that we see between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. And this consultant said, you know, it's almost like we have entered the new era of the American oligarch. We think of how these wealthy individuals run Russia, of course, Vladimir Putin giving them wide latitude to do what they want.

But it's not really fair to say that, I think, because overall, we have seen the wealthy been very much involved in government. But to your point, $326 billion. His company was built on American taxpayer money, low interest loans given by the government, policies that not only promoted the use of clean energy, but the $7,500 tax credit that people remember when they bought their electric vehicle, their Tesla, well, that helped boost his sales. So across the board, as much as Elon Musk is incredibly a dismissal of the federal government, it was the federal government that has helped him become the richest person in the world.

SIDNER: And no doubt some conflicts of interest are certainly going to potentially play into this.

I want to ask you about, we saw that Mehmet Oz has been tapped for heading Medicare and Medicaid. When asked about his health care plan, though, during the debate, Trump said he had a concept of a plan. So when you consider the people that he is trying to put up for the head of the HHS, RFK Jr., and Medicare and Medicaid, I mean, will they end up having a great deal of power in making the decisions, because there really is no plan or guideline to follow?

PRESTON: That's the first -- that's the first thing. There is no plan. He says he has a plan, right? We've heard him say this about major policy initiatives in the past. He doesn't have a plan. But to your point, yes, it does mean that those who are crafting the policy, that's why there's so much concern about Robert, Robert Kennedy Jr., because of his views on vaccines and some of his other conspiratorial thoughts about COVID and what have you.

But Mehmet Oz as well, somebody who was a doctor but really made his name through Oprah and television. And he's had some controversial things in the past as well with some of the supplements that he's been selling. But they're going to be the ones who are going to be basically regulating the health care industry for the next four years, and perhaps beyond, depending on what policies they put into place and how long those policies will last.

SIDNER: I do want to just take a step back here and look at Donald Trump from the perspective of what we saw in 2016, where there was a lot of chaos, a lot of turnaround, and what we are seeing as he is preparing to head into office in 2025. From what you are at this point, do you think that Donald Trump is going to be more effective and push through many or most of his plans, considering how much he has learned about how government works?

PRESTON: A hundred percent. Listen, this is a Trump administration that is being built around folks that understand all the inner workings of government. And Donald Trump came into office back in 2016, he was surrounded by folks that understood government, but not to the level that they had been able over the last eight years.

And I will say this about Donald Trump, too. As we're heading -- like, look, this could all change. And what I say now could change in a minute or 30 seconds. Who knows? But Donald Trump has been very disciplined, if you've noticed, no crazy tweets through the middle of the -- through the middle of the night.

[08:10:05]

Now, you might say that some of the folks that he's picked are crazy or what have you, but still, the Donald Trump even of a few weeks ago and the Donald Trump now is a little bit different. But again, we've seen this before, we've seen this play out before. And I'm sure he's going to go back to being the Donald Trump that we know.

SIDNER: Mark Preston, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

John?

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a key vote in Texas will decide if public school curriculum will include lessons from the Bible.

And will your favorite shows survive? New details of a major corporate spinoff set to shake up cable television.

And a weather event so powerful it is being called a once in a decade storm. New warnings from officials as hundreds of thousands are in the path of a bomb cyclone.

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[08:15:23]

BERMAN: This morning, a controversial new public school curriculum that incorporates lessons from the Bible is up for a final vote in Texas after more than half the states school board already voted to keep it.

The lessons are part of a list of K-5 reading and English materials that could be used next school year. Critics say the materials disproportionately focus on Christianity more than other religions.

CNN's Rosa Flores in Houston with the latest here.

Good morning, Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

Well, emotions have been high here in Texas. We have video of protests that have already happened in Austin, people for and against. But let me start with the facts here, because what the State Board of Education is doing in Austin is they are voting on a menu of curriculum for public schools here in the state of Texas.

One of those items on the menu is curriculum created by the state of Texas, by the Texas Education Agency. It's called Bluebonnet Learning and it has received a lot of criticism.

Now, critics say that it leans too much towards the Bible, that it focuses too much on Christianity and not on other religions as well. Now, there's been a lot of criticism about this but there's people both for and against who have been outspoken, who have spoken out before the state board.

Some of them say that this is an issue of the separation of Church and State. Other people have said that public schools should not turn into Sunday schools and other individuals say that there's nothing wrong with some of these Biblical references in these materials. Here are people talking on both sides of the issue. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CHANCEY, RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROFESSOR: They promote particular religious views over others, and in doing so, they violate parent's rights to determine the religious upbringing of their children.

MARY ELIZABETH CASTLE, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS DIRECTOR, TEXAS VALUES: It is the First Amendment right to have access to this information. Attacking these materials merely because of their academic study of the Bible and denying students the freedom to learn and create a learning environment that is hostile to Christianity and religion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, we reached out to the Texas Education Agency about this criticism and the TEA says that religious content is a small portion of the material. They sent us an email saying, "Other faith traditions are predominantly mentioned throughout the product." For example, Judaism is mentioned in materials highlighting, and you see multiple examples there, including the holocaust and "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Governor Greg Abbott supports this, of course. He also issued a statement saying, in part, "... that these materials allow our students to better understand the connection of history, art, community, literature and religion." The final vote on this is on Friday.

But, John, here is the crux of this entire story. Public schools in the state of Texas have the power to decide what they students. They decide the curriculum. But here's the thing, the state of Texas is providing a very big incentive for these schools to use the state created curriculum, this very controversial curriculum because the state would give each school district $40.00 per student and an additional $20.00 per student if they decide to choose this curriculum. That's a total of $60.00.

And you and I know that many public schools have had many budget woes, and this is a pretty big incentive for them to choose the state product -- John

BERMAN: Yes, I mean schools all need that kind of money. All right, Rosa Flores, thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There are new warnings today from Americas largest retailer, Walmart, if Donald Trump follows through with his tariff plan, saying some prices will go up.

And, why comedian Jay Leno is bruised up and wearing an eye patch now. He's talking about a scary incident he had.

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[08:23:41]

SIDNER: A startling new twist in the case involving Sean "Diddy" Combs. Combs is facing five new civil lawsuits as he remains behind bars.

In them, Combs is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting people including a minor. Now an unnamed male celebrity has come forward and filed a lawsuit against the attorney who has been instrumental in bringing the civil cases against Combs.

That celebrity is accusing attorney, Tony Buzbee of extortion.

CNN entertainment correspondent, Elizabeth Wagmeister is in Los Angeles with more on this. There are so many cases and there's so much to this, but this is a really interesting new wrinkle. What are you hearing?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, there always seems to be a new twist. and turn in this saga with Diddy, but this is a really interesting lawsuit that I have been reporting on.

So, as you said, an anonymous celebrity, we do not know who they are. The only thing that we know is that this is a male celebrity who lives in Los Angeles.

They have filed an extortion lawsuit against attorney, Tony Buzbee, who is one of the leading attorneys, really leading the charge representing many victims of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Buzbee has said that he represents over 100 victims. So far. He has filed at least 20 lawsuits against Combs. And now, this celebrity is saying that they are unfairly being roped into the sweeping allegations against Combs and they say that this is just a money grab.

[08:25:14]

Now, we do know that in the Federal indictment that authorities said that they do not believe that combs acted alone, that have accused him of running a criminal enterprise. And when I interviewed Buzbee last month, he said that there are celebrities that he believes to be involved.

Now again, those celebrities have not been named, and we do not know who this celebrity, John Doe is, but this is what part of the lawsuit says, Sara.

They said, Buzbee, "... shamelessly attempting to extort exorbitant sums from him or else publicly file wildly false horrific allegations again him," and that is the whole purpose of this lawsuit.

They say they are not going to pay up, and they don't want his name to be revealed, which they say would be unfair and unjust.

SIDNER: You know, as all of this is happening, of course, Combs is still in jail on criminal charges. Obviously, not the civil charges, but you broke this news of the five new lawsuits that are civil in nature that have been brought against Diddy Combs.

What do these accusers -- what are they saying happened to them? WAGMEISTER: Yes so, Sara, overnight, five new accusers, five new lawsuits. There are three John Does and two Jane Does, so all anonymous plaintiffs.

Now, the allegations are incredibly graphic and incredibly disturbing; Combs denies all of them.

But there are very similar patterns in these five lawsuits that we have seen in many of the other lawsuits.

By the way, I want to point out that Combs is now facing over 30 civil suits from 30 different accusers. All five of these accusers claim that they were drugged before they were sexually assaulted, and the three male accusers all claim that they were sodomized by Combs.

So again, very graphic allegations, but here is the twist, all five of these accusers, Sara, are represented by that attorney Tony Buzbee, who was just sued for extortion by that anonymous celebrity.

So it is all related now, Buzbee of course, denies those extortion claims, and when I reached out to Combs' attorneys last night, they denied these allegations and the five new lawsuits.

But they didn't respond actually to these specific claims in the complaints. They actually put more of their focus on Buzbee, and they told me that these are -- that as they've said before, that Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone and they said, this is just a money grab and a publicity stunt from Buzbee.

SIDNER: There is a lot going on there.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you for sorting it all out for us. Appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, 30 years after she drowned her two sons, Susan Smith could be released from prison. What her ex-husband says about her fight to regain her freedom.

And then try brushing with this. New warnings from the FDA after they found disease causing bacteria in a mold-like substance in the factory of a popular toothpaste brand.

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