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Trump's GOP Opponents; Romney Says MAGA is the Republican Party; Injuries Hit NFL; Israeli Strike in Gaza Kills Five. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 16, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Is there a manifesto. Did he write it? Everything you want to vet. I think it's good for the process and I think we need trust in the process.

Having said that, and she comes from my former office, which is a good thing, the Manhattan DA's office, at the end of the day this is challenging for any attorney, let's be clear about that. The evidence here, and everyone deserves what we call the presumption of innocence, but it's very compelling. It's very compelling from a circumstantial perspective, right, meaning evidence maybe not direct.

And there is direct evidence in this case, right? You have a video of him. You got the actual shooting. You have his fingerprints on a water bottle, his fingerprints on a cereal wrapper. You have a manifesto. You've got motive, even though you don't need it. You've got a bag that they found. I mean, I could go on and on and on. He goes off the grid. So, no matter who's in the case, it's a challenging case. There's no one piece of evidence. I think that is more compelling. All of it's compelling.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

JACKSON: What I'm interested in seeing is what the actual defense will be. I don't think the dog will hunt in terms of psychiatric insanity.

SIDNER: I was going to ask you, because Agnifilo (ph) did talk to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the possible defense and the possibility of an insanity defense came up. If I'm the judge and I need you to answer a yes or no question, what are the chances that that is the defense?

JACKSON: I mean, you know what, hard to answer yes or no. But I will say, it's just very difficult, Sara. I mean, look, it goes - you had a mental break.

SIDNER: Yes.

JACKSON: There was a mental defect. You didn't know what you were doing. This was plotted. It was planned. It was intentional. There was a manifesto. There is nothing more lucid than that.

And so now I'm insane? I just don't know that it flies very quickly. I think the jury nullification, people love this guy. They love him. He's like a hero. Will a jury excuse it because they love him? We'll see.

SIDNER: All right, Joey Jackson, thank you so much. I always appreciate you.

JACKSON: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, an unauthorized drone forces officials to shut down airspace over a U.S. Air Force base this weekend. And now, weeks after the mysterious nighttime drone sightings began, federal officials are still trying to assure the public, we're on top of it.

And, everybody out of the pool. How and why a car and its driver ended up in this fitness center pool.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:36:41]

BOLDUAN: A CNN exclusive now for you. Retiring Senator Mitt Romney opens up about his career, lessons learned, his views now on the shifting landscape within the Republican Party, especially how MAGA now defines its identity and what all of that means for the future of his party. Here he is with my colleague Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Oh, MAGA is the Republican Party, and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today. And if you were to ask me who the nominee will be in 2028, I think it'll be J.D. Vance, all right. He's smart, well-spoken, part of the MAGA movement.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: You said something pretty harsh about him a few months ago, though. You could not have less respect for somebody than J.D.

ROMNEY: Long ago. I'm not going to rehash history. And we worked together in the Senate since then. But - but I - you know, that - that is what the Republican Party is. And will the party need to change? Look, the Republican Party has become the party of the working class, middle class voter. And you've got to give Donald Trump credit for having done that, taking that away from the Democrats.

Democrats pushed him out, all right. The Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren faction of the Democrat Party, with some of this, you know, defund the police and - and transgenders in - or, you know, or, excuse me, the biological males in women's sports. All - these things had a lot of people in the middle class just flee the Democratic Party. They're now Republicans.

Now, one of the challenges in my party is that our policies do not necessarily line up with the interests of our voters. And so there will be some, you know, some reorientation that's going to be necessary in my party.

The Democrat Party is the one in trouble. I mean - I mean I don't know how they recover. And, you know, I'm not going to tell them what to do because I wouldn't begin to have the capacity to do so. But they've lost their base. I mean union guys and gals have left the Democratic Party and are voting Republican. And - and the Democratic Party is seen not as rich people, but as college professors and woke scolds. And that's not an attractive feature.

TAPPER: Before you ran for the Senate, you came forward and - and gave a very tough speech about then candidate Donald Trump in 2016. What - what caused you to - to do that? At the time I think Ted Cruz and maybe Marco Rubio were still in the race. That - was that difficult to do?

ROMNEY: Well, I'm kind of outspoken and - as I've pointed out, given my - my history, not terribly concerned about being out on a limb or being criticized or different. And - and I felt that Donald Trump was wrong for the country, wrong for our party, that - that he wouldn't win. I was wrong about that. And that I felt that his - his record was not adequately being exposed and that people needed to recognize he was the wrong person to be president.

I think most people disagree with me. I'm willing to live with that. I just put emphasis on different things than I think the public at large does right now. And I - and I - you know, I look at - at this last election, I shake my head as I look at our Democrat friends, how could they have so badly misread the public mood? Did they not understand how upset people are about - about inflation with President Biden out there saying Bidenomics.

[08:40:06]

It's like, really? Do you not see what people are seeing when they go to the grocery store? And particularly the grocery store. And then immigration. I mean "The New York Times" just yesterday, I think, or the day before, put a piece out saying how many people had come into the country, largest in our American - in American history by number and by percent. And - and this is something that the Biden administration took the responsibility for.

And then finally, the whole transgender issue that President Trump was able to promote so effectively at the very end, Democrats have badly misread the direction of the country and the attitude of the country. And President Trump took advantage of that, as well he should.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: In the interview, Romney also looked back on his long political career, including his unsuccessful run against Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, reflecting on how what was then a huge controversy feels today as almost, in his words, quaint, comparatively speaking.

You can watch the full interview right now on cnn.com.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Joining us now, CNN's Harry Enten. Chief -

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: We're getting there. We're getting there.

SIDNER: I'm saying that.

ENTEN: Go ahead.

SIDNER: Chief data correspondent.

Right now, the end of Trump's second term, Romney wasn't the only Republican, of course, to vote to impeach or convict Trump. Where are we now? Because I do remember this love fest that you spoke of between Republicans and Trump right after the election and before the election as well.

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, look, it's Donald Trump's party and his GOP opponents can cry if they want to, to borrow some words from Lesley Gore. Look, the GOP voted to impeach or convict Trump. You go back to January, February, 2021, it was 17 Republicans. They're adios, amigos, goodbye, see you later for the most part. Now, just five of them. Just five of them remain in Congress. Just two in the House. Three in the Senate.

The bottom line is this, Trump had a big control over the Republican Party before, but now it is even stronger. There are very few folks who dislike Donald Trump on the Republican side, who are still in the United States Congress. He should be able to ram through legislation on the - at least on the ones in which he just needs Republican votes.

SIDNER: And we're seeing the pressure campaign for his cabinet picks right now on The Hill.

ENTEN: Yes.

SIDNER: There - there were some anti-Trump sentiments going on among GOP voters during his first term. What does it look like now for his second?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, look, it's just - it's the same basic thing that we see in the United States Senate and the United States House. All right, Republicans on the Trump transition. You go back to January 2017, it was 80 percent approved. Now, that's not bad. But, oh my goodness gracious, look at where we are now, it's 96 percent. I mean you can't get any more universal basically than 96 percent. Those that disapprove. Look, it was 10 percent back in January of 2017. Now it's down to, get this, it's down to just four. It's down to just four.

So, look, there are no GOP opponents in the United States Congress. There are very few among Republican voters. This is Trump's party. Mitt Romney, 100 percent correct on that. Folks like Romney just really don't exist in the GOP electorate or in Congress anymore. SIDNER: So, he makes this statement that I think a lot of people

thought, yes -

ENTEN: Yes.

SIDNER: Sort of stating the obvious. What about 2028? Is there any sign that that's going to change?

ENTEN: Yes, look, if you're in a GOP opponent of Donald Trump, maybe you hope the future is somehow brighter for you. Not right now. Look, it's still very, very early, but, look, the top chances to be the 2028 GOP nominee based upon the polls and the betting markets, Vance, Trump Jr., Ramaswamy. Look, it's still very early, but this looks like Trump's party for now. And it looks like it will be for the foreseeable future.

SIDNER: And Romney said he believed it would be Vance, which would be the obvious, again, (INAUDIBLE).

ENTEN: Would be the obvious and he is number one right on. He is number one.

SIDNER: All right, those betting markets, you see them every day walking down the street in New York. They just have them up on billboards and they pop up. It's, don't spend your money that way. That's all I'm saying.

ENTEN: I'm spending it on gifts for you.

SIDNER: Thank you.

John, this is to you too.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, some were Mitt -

SIDNER: No betting.

BERMAN: Ron DeSantis is crying, by the way, looking - looking at those three faces and noticing he's not among them.

All right, with us now, CNN's senior political analyst Mark Preston and CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter.

And, broadly speaking, you're both here because I want to talk, jumping off the Mitt Romney interview, about what clearly seems to be people modifying their behavior in advance - or calibrating their behavior in advance of this new Trump administration.

And, Mark, since we just covered the Mitt Romney thing, what jumped out to me most of all in that interview was Romney, who had been a little bit unplugged for a few years, seemed to be pulling some punches there. I think J.D. Vance is going to be the next Republican nominee. And I'm not going to go back over the things that I said about him. Just a little while ago, by the way. Not like 20 years ago, but like two years ago when I said I, you know, couldn't possibly respect anyone less than J.D. Vance. People are modifying their behavior, Mark. Why?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, look, the reality is, is that Mitt Romney knows that this is Donald Trump's party.

[08:45:02]

I mean that's no surprise. He also knows that the future of the party is not necessarily him. Now, at 77 years old, and I feel like I could take him in a street fight still - but at 77 years old, I mean, he - you would never expect him to be somebody who would be fading away. But I think Mitt Romney is smart enough to know that he's done what he can do. Look, he's been in politics since 1994. I worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 1994 when Mitt Romney ran against him. I was with Mitt Romney in the 2007 election when he lost that, in 2010 was at his house as he was talking to reporters about running in 2012. Mitt Romney was always the right person, the wrong candidate at the wrong time. And right now is certainly the wrong time for anyone in the traditional Republican sense.

BERMAN: We should all look as good as Mitt Romney does at age 77, right?

PRESTON: I could still take him.

BERMAN: All right, Brian, when I talk about modifying -- right, you can still take him, no doubt.

When we talk about modifying behavior. ABC News settled this defamation suit with Donald Trump. It was over comments that George Stephanopoulos had made about the E. Jean Carroll case, settled for $15 million.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right.

BERMAN: Now, I don't want this to be a legal discussion, but you can find legal analysts who say that ABC could have won the case had it gone to court. Others say maybe not. That may be a reason to settle in and of itself if you're afraid of losing.

However, there are others who say there were other reasons why ABC News was settling this prior to Inauguration Day. What would those be?

STELTER: Yes, and I spoke with lawyers over the weekend, media lawyers, who said exactly what you just articulated, John, that ABC may have had a strong case, but they decided to settle for unknown and kind of mysterious reasons. Maybe ABC was worried about embarrassing emails and text messages coming out through the process, or maybe, more simply, ABC's parent company, Disney, wanted to get rid of an ugly battle with the president-elect. Basically, make this go away by paying $15 million to his future presidential museum.

Now, there are those on the right saying this is good. It's accountability for a mistake or a lie on ABC's air. A lot of Trump critics on the left are saying, this seems like ABC bowing to Trump for political purposes. I think we can all sense there's a little bit of a chill in the air.

Sometimes a chill in the air means it's about to snow, a few flurries. Other times it can mean a blizzard's on the way and we just don't know what's on the way right now. When it comes to Trump using the courts maybe to punish media outlets, we just don't know. Is it going to be a few flurries or a blizzard?

And just to torture the metaphor a little further, John, some people love when it snows. And for other people it's a huge headache. I think that's where we are right now. There's a chill in the air and lots of companies are acting accordingly. That's why Jeff Bezos is heading to Mar-a-Lago this week. That's why Apple CEO Tim Cook dined with Trump the other night. As you said, these CEOs, these companies are recalibrating to the new reality.

BERMAN: I'm just so glad you didn't say some people like the rain, but that's a whole other matter right there.

So, Mark, we've seen it - we've seen it in politics. We're seeing it here in media. And Brian brought up the CEOs. I mean there are people changing their behavior or modifying it or pulling punches or behaving a certain way because the question is, how long will that continue and what would it take for it to switch back?

PRESTON: I don't know if it's ever going to switch back. I think we're in - in the new reality, you know, the new new. You could even argue that our behavior has changed over the last ten years. It just hasn't been so pronounced or certainly hasn't been as violent.

But, I mean, think of all the times that you would be out with neighbors or what have you, and political discussions would lead to fights and friends no longer become friends and, you know, over ridiculous, you know, discussions that have, you know, no basis to be discussed anyway at the ball field when your kids are playing. I'm just saying that I think that what we're seeing now is people are starting to act on these. And that is when it's - when it crosses the line. And it's going to take Donald Trump, someone like Donald Trump, specifically Donald Trump, if you're listening, Donald Trump, listen to me here, Donald Trump, you can tone down the rhetoric. You can help tone down the rhetoric. But if you don't help tone it down, it's just going to get louder and more dangerous.

BERMAN: And that comes from someone who declares that he can take 77 year old Mitt Romney.

Mark Preston, Brian Stelter -

PRESTON: Piece of cake.

BERMAN: Great - great to see you both this morning. Thanks so much for being here.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, it was a very scary moment for Miami Dolphins player Grant DuBose this weekend. Taken off the field on a stretcher in Houston and hospitalized after a really hard hit to the head. It was also just one of several injuries that happened during the NFL games this weekend.

Let's get to CNN's Andy Scholes. He has much more on all of this for us.

What are you learning, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Kate, yes, it was, as you just mentioned, a ruff, ruff day for injuries across the entire NFL. And, you know, the Chiefs, they were able to beat the Browns to get to an NFL best 13-1. But all eyes now are on Patrick Mahomes' ankle. Mahomes legs rolled up on here as he was making a throw in the fourth quarter yesterday. Got up. Was able to limp to the sidelines. He did not, though, return to this game. Here was Mahomes afterwards on his ankle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: It's hard to say right now. I mean, obviously, there's still adrenaline rolling. And usually its kind of the day after when you kind of get a good - good sense of it.

[08:50:04]

But I felt like I could have finished the game in different circumstances. But I thought the smart decision, I think, we talked about was to put Carson in. And he's played a lot of football. And he - and he finished the game well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, a short week for the Chiefs. They host the Texans on Saturday. Then they play at the Steelers Christmas Day.

Now, in Houston, meanwhile, very scary situation. Dolphins' receiver Grant DuBose took a very hard hit from the Texans Caleb Bullock on this play. He was motionless on the field. Medical personnel immediately got out there, removed his helmet. They even cut off his jersey to attend to him. He was taken to the hospital where he is in stable condition. Dolphins Coach Mike McDaniel said after the game there was positive feedback after DuBose underwent head and neck imaging.

Here was fellow receiver Tyreek Hill on that frightening play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYREEK HILL, MIAMI DOLPHINS WIDE RECEIVER: It's scary. You know, just to, you know, be on the field, you know, seeing it and then actually seeing, you know, one of your brothers, you know, laying, you know, the way he was laying. It's - it's scary, man. People don't understand the sacrifice that we, you know, have to make, you know, to play this game and, you know, what we put our bodies through, man. But the word is, you know, he's in good spirits right now. You know, he's moving. So, that's all that matters, man. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And we wish him well in his recovery. And the injury bug also continuing to hit the Lions defense. They lost two more players for the season, including Khalil Dorsey, who suffered a gruesome leg injury, had to be carted off after that play.

Now as for that game, Josh Allen, he pretty much locked up the MVP award with another stellar performance. Ran for two touchdowns, threw for two as well. Bills dominated the Lions, winning 48-42. Snapping Detroit's 11 game winning streak. Buffalo has scored at least 30 points in eight straight games now.

And finally, it is a rough morning to be a Colts fan. Third quarter, Jonathan Taylor runs for a 41-yard touchdown here. But wait, he drops the ball before he crosses the goal line, celebrating early. Just unreal. So instead of taking a touchdown to lead the game, it was a touch back.

BOLDUAN: No.

SCHOLES: And Broncos ball. And then, look at this play -

BOLDUAN: No.

SCHOLES: Colts going for the old trick play. But Nick Bonitto picked it off, went the other way, 50 yards for the score. So, Denver ended up winning that game, guys, 31-13. And I just can't believe, Kate, that in this 2024, players are still dropping the ball before they score the actual touchdown. It blows my mind.

BOLDUAN: I mean -

SCHOLES: I can't believe - the coaches, just beside themselves I'm sure.

BOLDUAN: Besides themselves. Think about the poor freaking player. You know that he's like, oh, my God, what did I learn in peewee football? Like, seriously. Oh. And, of course, I'm from Indiana and love the Colts and married to a Lions fan and it's just all - it's all going down on a Monday.

SCHOLES: Oh, yes, a rough morning all around in your household.

BOLDUAN: All going down on a Monday. Let's just call it, guys.

Andy, thank you, though. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Kate, what did we learn, children? Don't celebrate before you've actually finished the thing, right?

BOLDUAN: But he's in - do the celebration, just get in the end one.

SIDNER: Yes, you got to get in the end zone with the ball. Just - I mean, I'm no big football player or one at all, but I know that part. I know that that's important.

BOLDUAN: You know things.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Survivors of a devastating cyclone say it looks like an atomic bomb hit their islands. Now, officials fear the death toll could be in the thousands there.

And he was trapped in a dark cave for days. How rescuers were able to get him back to the light. Look at those pictures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:37]

BOLDUAN: In Gaza, at least five people were killed, including a journalist, after Israeli airstrikes Sunday. The photojournalist for Al Jazeera was killed, and it was one year after an attack killed one of his colleagues. Al Jazeera is accusing Israel now of targeting its journalists. Something Israel denies. The IDF, though, confirmed the strike, saying the area was being used as a command center for Hamas.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv, has much more for us.

Jeremy, what are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was one of several deadly Israeli airstrikes inside of the Gaza Strip yesterday. In this particular one in central Gaza, the offices of the Gaza civil defense in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, were struck by the Israeli military, killing Ahmad Al-Louh, a Palestinian photojournalist working for Al Jazeera. He was 39 years old. And he was one of five people who were killed in this strike. He had been covering civil defense efforts to rescue a family injured in an earlier bombing.

The Israeli military is claiming, without offering any proof, that Al- Louh was a terrorist who had previously been part of Islamic jihad. The Israeli military has made these claims before about Palestinian journalists it has killed in the Gaza Strip. Very few of those claims have actually, though, been substantiated.

And we should note that Al-Louh is one of more than 100 Palestinian journalists, 129 Palestinian journalists actually, who have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank since the beginning of this war.

Elsewhere in Gaza, in southern Gaza, the Israeli military also struck a U.N. school compound where displaced Palestinians were housing. The Israeli military said that it was being used by Hamas as a command and control center. But all of this, of course, contributing to ticking up of a deadly year in Gaza. The death toll now reaching more than 45,000, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. We should note that those figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but the United States and other non-profit organizations have previously said their numbers have stood up in previous conflicts. The Israeli military disputes those numbers, of course, and has said that they have killed more than 17,000 militants in Gaza.

But we do know that there are negotiations now underway to see if that carnage can be ended, to see if the hostages can also be brought home. The Israeli prime minister saying that he spoke over the weekend with President-elect Trump.

[09:00:03]

We know that the incoming Trump administration and the current Biden administration have been coordinating closely over the potential