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Trump Names Loyal Congressman Matt Gaetz to Lead DOJ; Tropical Depression Poised to Become Tropical Storm Sara. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired November 14, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, November 14th. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:41]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be a red-alert moment for American democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Disbelief from Washington. Donald Trump taps Congressman Matt Gaetz to lead the Justice Department.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TULSI GABBARD, FORMER REPRESENTATIVE FOR HAWAII: I was grateful and honored to accept President Trump's offer to serve our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A spy stunner. Democrat turned MAGA Tulsi Gabbard chosen for the top intelligence spot.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): This Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A new era on the Hill. GOP senators elect John Thune to lead them, confirming Trump's cabinet job No. 1.
And then --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald, congratulations.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I appreciate it very much. A transition that's so smooth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump and Biden face to face. The president welcomes the president-elect back to the White House. The courtesy Trump didn't extend to Biden four years ago.
All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the United States Capitol, which is going to be the epicenter of so much of the action here in Washington, in Trump's Washington once again.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Thursday morning.
Once facing possible prosecution for sex trafficking by the Department of Justice, now tapped as the country's top prosecutor.
Donald Trump's selection of Congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney general sent shock waves through Washington and the country yesterday.
Gaetz has earned notoriety for a variety of political stunts over the years. Here he was on Capitol Hill, wearing a gas mask during the COVID pandemic.
But it's been his sexual, not political exploits, that have landed him in trouble in recent years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): He was accused of sleeping with an underaged girl. But there's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him, because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor that all of us had walked away of the girls that he had slept with. He'd brag about how he would crush E.D. medicine and -- and chase it with -- with an energy drink so he could go all night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was Senator Markwayne Mullin last year.
The Department of Justice ultimately declined to press charges against Gaetz, but the House ethics probe into his conduct has been continuing. A report had been expected as soon as tomorrow. That is, until that Ethics Committee lost jurisdiction over Gaetz when he resigned from the House yesterday, effective immediately.
Here was that same senator, Mullin, yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MULLIN: You know, Matt Gaetz and I, there's no question that we've had our differences. They've been very public about it. I -- I completely trust President Trump's decision making on this one.
But at the same time, he's got to come to Congress and sell himself. There's a lot of -- or to the Senate and sell himself. There's a lot of questions that are going to be out there. He's got to answer those questions, and hopefully, he's able to answer the questions right. And if he can, then we'll -- we'll go through the confirmation process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, what about that confirmation process? My colleague Manu Raju was all over that question on the Hill yesterday. You may recall scenes like the one that played out on the Hill yesterday during the last Trump administration. This all feels very familiar to me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm having trouble.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What about Matt Gaetz?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a confirmation process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know yet. I'll have to think about that one.
RAJU: Do you have any concerns about it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll see.
RAJU: Do you think Matt Gaetz is confirmable?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll find out, won't we?
RAJU: Senator Kennedy, what do you think of Matt Gaetz as attorney general?
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Happy Thanksgiving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Happy Thanksgiving, merry Christmas, happy holidays.
Joining us now, Jeff Zeleny, CNN chief national affairs correspondent; Elie Honig, CNN senior legal analyst; Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning; and Scott Jennings, CNN senior political commentator.
Welcome to all of you. Who would like to go first?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: It's too early for this.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Happy Thanksgiving.
HONIG: Next week. Next week we'll do that. Yes.
HUNT: Look, Scott Jennings, is this guy possibly confirmable by the United States Senate after everything that has happened? SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You're the only
person on this network that calls on me first. Everybody else lets me go on --
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Don't take it personally.
HUNT: Well, you know these guys. That's why I would ask you.
JENNINGS: I'll -- I'll handicap for you. I think everything Trump has done, he's the one who I believe actually starts below the bar of confirmation.
I mean, you could -- we could probably all count at least four senators, maybe five, who are highly likely to never go along with this.
Gabbard, I think, actually has a fighting chance. I think it's tough. I think the confirmation hearings will be interesting.
She said some things about Trump's foreign policy that were at odds with him. For -- you know, she called the Soleimani killing unconstitutional and illegal at one point.
And I think Hegseth actually has a really good chance to be confirmed as Sec Def.
But -- but Gaetz -- Gaetz right now is below the line. And so, then that raises the question whether this sets up a whole showdown with his own party, Trump's own party over recess appointments and how you actually get the Senate into recess long enough to make a recess appointment.
It -- to me, it signaled --
[06:05:02]
HUNT: The Democrats have something to say about that, too. Right?
JENNINGS: Yes.
HUNT: They have some tools at their disposal.
JENNINGS: Yes. So, that will be a -- that will be an interesting showdown.
To me, this just signals one thing. Donald Trump is feeling his oats. He doesn't -- he doesn't feel like he has to negotiate with anybody over these cabinet picks. He's fully confident in what he is doing.
And he meant everything he said about not just shaking up Washington, but blowing up Washington, D.C. I think he feels like he was elected to do things like this.
Like, if the Washington people are happy with me, that's wrong. And if they're unhappy with me, I must be doing something right. HONIG: To me, the Gaetz nomination tells us something bigger about
what Donald Trump's planning to do. I mean, let's start from this premise. Tell me if anyone disagrees.
Matt Gaetz is woefully unqualified to be attorney general of the United States. Everyone -- anyone? Scott, agree?
HUNT: I'm the objective reporter in the room.
JENNINGS: What makes you -- I mean --
HONIG: He's barely practiced law for a couple of years.
JENNINGS: I understand that. But --
HONIG: But he's never been a prosecutor for one day.
JENNINGS: I understand. But the political question is if the president nominates you and the Senate confirms you, you're qualified.
So, I mean, I get your -- I get your point on the professional qualifications.
HONIG: Yes.
JENNINGS: But, you know, a lot of people wind up with jobs in government that some of us just go, "Hmm."
HONIG: To be sure, elections have consequences. You win, you get to try to select your person.
But just on paper, prosecutorially, not qualified. Why are we nominating somebody who's not qualified? I think we saw a clip. You played a clip earlier, Kasie, of him saying, I'm going to blow it all up. I'm going to get rid of the D -- he doesn't even know what that means, get rid of the DEA.
Do we care about enforcing drug law at the border? He's over his head. Why would Trump choose somebody who's over his head?
I think it goes --
ZELENY: He's qualified in one respect: being loyal to the president.
HONIG: Yes, and I want that --
ZELENY: That is the first qualification in this new administration. So, he meets that qualification.
HONIG: To that point --
HAYS: The only one that matters.
HONIG: I'm sorry.
HAYS: It's the only one that matters. Like, let's be clear. Nothing else matters except his loyalty and the willingness to do whatever Donald Trump says.
HONIG: I pulled up Gaetz's bio, his congressional bio. And all it is, is willing attack dog and -- he quotes; he's proud -- "The Trumpiest member of Congress." That's all that's in it. That's -- that's the gist of it.
HUNT: Yes. And I mean, look, just to be clear here, from -- from the perspective of what the previous standards would be for qualification for this job, there is -- no Washington other than a Trump-based Washington where I could see anyone with this level of qualifications nominated for this type of post, for sure.
ZELENY: This will be the first test for Senate Republicans. Chuck Grassley is likely to head the Judiciary Committee. Obviously, Lindsey Graham will have a lot to say about it. But this will be a test for some Senate Republicans.
Yes, they are, I think, recognizing the new Trump mandate, but that does not mean that -- that many of them are going to allow this.
I think, Scott, you're right. I would say at least five, maybe more than that, but let's see. Trump could win either way here. I mean, this fight could help other nominees get through the process. I mean, like, while everyone is focused on Matt Gaetz, what is happening with some other members?
So, we shall see. But I think that this is something that Matt Gaetz is unique in the sense that he inspires ire from both sides of the aisle. And some House Republicans are going to be talking with their colleagues in the upper chamber here. And I would just be stunned if he gets through.
But that doesn't mean that Trump doesn't win by the outrage of it.
HUNT: I mean, Scott, can you name anyone on Capitol Hill who likes Matt Gaetz besides Matt Gaetz?
JENNINGS: I mean, I'm sure there are some people. He's probably left good tips at waiters, at various restaurants around the Capitol. I don't know.
I mean, it's -- it is a -- this is an interesting choice, because it is, to me, it is just Donald Trump testing exactly how powerful he is.
Look, second- term presidents, which he now is, we went through this with Bush a little bit. You know, we -- we ran into turbulence with some things we tried to do early in the second term after winning the national popular vote. And it did not work out.
And sometimes, second-term presidents do feel a little bit more powerful than maybe they are.
The Senate is just harder to control, particularly when you've got so many senators that probably don't have any strings on them from Trump the way you would in the House. HAYS: But just on that, these senators have to look to the midterms
and have to look to their own political -- some of these people may want to run for president in 2028.
So, he doesn't have as much political capital as he probably did in the first term, because this is his second term. So, some of these senators might not go along with his confirmations, just because of their own political --
ZELENY: It's a much Trumpier Senate, though, and really, across the board. This will be a test for John Thune, without a doubt. Sort of how he -- so, he's going to let the process work. My guess is that the -- the FBI background check on -- on a Tulsi Gabbard will be very interesting.
But I think you're right. I mean, her standing probably improves a bit because of Matt Gaetz.
JENNINGS: How do you -- how do you get -- and this is a question for you -- how do you get the Senate into recess for more than three days?
HONIG: Oh, my goodness.
JENNINGS: I mean, there's long been constitutional questions whether the president can actually figure out a way to engineer a recess. And that would really be pushing the limits, because -- because there is a constitutional provision about the president being able to convene --
HUNT: And this came up in the Obama administration. They extended that, and basically, ten days are required.
[06:10:05]
HONIG: So, all I can tell you is this. I was trying to figure out what the heck a recess appointment is yesterday in the green room. And Senator Markwayne Mullin, who we just saw, was in the green room, and he said, let me -- I'm a U.S. senator. Let me explain to you.
HUNT: I was going to say, you could have called me.
HONIG: That's actually true.
And the bottom line is it, sounds like from him, from the Republican, he thinks there's no possible, feasible way that it happens.
I do want to look at history a little bit, just to put Matt Gaetz's nomination in perspective. You worked -- did you work for the Bush -- W. administration?
JENNINGS: Yes, of course.
HUNT: Ostensibly. Yes.
HONIG: So, your -- your actually -- your A.G.'s who I served under --
JENNINGS: I'm Scott Jennings. Nice to meet you. HONIG: I just started trouble.
HUNT: We'll get some guys some --
(CROSSTALK)
HONIG: The A.G.'s -- the A.G.'s who George W. Bush nominated were John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, and Michael Mukasey, all of whom were vastly qualified, and rock-solid A.G.'s. None of them was perfect. No A.G. is perfect.
But I served under all three of them. Those are traditional attorney general picks. They all had been former prosecutors or judges or served in meaningful roles in the Congress.
I mean, compare any of the three of them to Matt Gaetz, and it's not even close.
HUNT: And they were -- there -- Ashcroft has taken on his own deep controversies.
HONIG: Sure.
HUNT: But they were the ones that, you know, in Washington typically were within the -- within the -- in the guard rails.
ZELENY: This is not the second Bush administration. This is the second Trump administration. So, everything is different. I covered both of them. It's how I met Scott, way back in the day in the West Wing. So, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: I didn't just exist to be, you know, a punching bag. I actually had a whole career.
ZELENY: Congrats for all that.
HUNT: All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, we are going to talk more about Matt Gaetz, who has abruptly resigned from Congress. How that lets him sidestep the release of that ethics report that we mentioned.
Plus, incoming and outgoing presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump meet for nearly two hours in a surprisingly cordial meeting.
And John Thune will soon step into Mitch McConnell's shoes as the new Republican Senate leader, as we've just been discussing, he has got his work cut out for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THUNE: Well, what we're going to do is make sure that we are processing his nominees in a way that gets them into those positions so they can implement his agenda.
We expect a level of cooperation from the Democrats to work with us to get these folks installed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:17:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), FORMER CALIFORNIA REPRESENTATIVE: If you think about it, if there's anybody who should go to trial, I mean, Gaetz is one who should be convicted in a trial.
RAJU: Why? What do you say that?
MCCARTHY: Well, we all know the challenge here. You can't sleep with underaged women and think you can get away with it.
RAJU: He denies that.
MCCARTHY: Well, the -- the women don't. And so, there's people in jail because of it. And I think that's a place that people should go to court. I just don't think that, as an individual, should be a representative in Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, that was a several-months-old interview with Manu Raju and Kevin McCarthy.
This week, though, was supposed to be the week the House Ethics Committee voted on releasing its report on Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz has been investigated for the alleged sex trafficking of a 17- year-old girl. But now that he's resigned from Congress, after being tapped by Trump to head the Justice Department, the investigation is effectively over, and it's not clear whether the report will ever be made public.
Of course, as we've been discussing this morning, one thing is clear. Many Republicans do seem to have reservations about this pick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know yet. I have to think about that one.
RAJU: Are you concerned about it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll see.
REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): Sure is going to be an interesting confirmation hearing as -- as I think most members' predictions.
RAJU: Do you think he's not an appropriate pick?
LALOTA: He was not in anybody's top 5, 10, or even 50 list of the folks who I was speaking to.
RAJU: Because you know, he's under investigation by House Ethics. Is it appropriate to name somebody for the attorney general job who is under investigation?
LALOTA: A lot of people are eager to see the results of that investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: OK. Our panel is back.
Scott, you raised this in terms of why -- I mean, Gaetz resigned, effective immediately.
JENNINGS: Yes.
HUNT: The House Ethics Committee loses jurisdiction, which is, you know, an effect of -- of that resignation. But there are these questions about whether he might come back in --
JENNINGS: Yes.
HUNT: -- the next Congress, because he's been elected to the -- how do you understand what is really going on here with this?
JENNINGS: Well, I was wondering last night. I mean, he resigned from this Congress, but he just got elected to the next one, and he's not been sworn in. Obviously, he wouldn't be until January. I actually wonder what his future status is.
I know what his current status is, which is he's not a member of the House. But he -- I mean, technically, I guess, could show up in January if he felt like it and get sworn in again.
I also wonder whether, just because he resigned, can the Ethics Committee choose to release the report anyway? I know they lose jurisdiction over him, but if they have a piece of paper, can they put -- I don't know the answer to that.
HONIG: So, I think -- The first question, I actually think that's a really interesting point. And my instinct is he probably could make an argument that, I've been elected to the next Congress and, therefore, I'm back.
As to the point about the ethics investigation, first of all, can the House -- obviously, they can leak it. We all know that. Putting that aside, can they vote to release it? I think the answer is yes. I mean, they can do, essentially, what they want.
There was an incident a couple years ago where a House committee released Donald Trump's tax returns. And I was critical of the House Committee, because they essentially ad-libbed that rule. They said, Well, we want to release it. Let's take a vote, and they very solemnly released the tax returns, which I thought was a -- excuse me, a convenient one-off. [06:20:02]
So, yes, they can release it. But here's the thing that I don't get. If the idea is, well, let's nominate Gaetz. We'll strip the House of jurisdiction, and so this report can't come out.
If he's up for A.G., all of that's going to be in play. I mean, when I was a lowly, you know, regular DOJ prosecutor, they talked to my parents' neighbors about whether I ever smoked weed.
I mean, they're going to get into the "weeds," no pun intended, of Matt Gaetz and those allegations against him related to underaged women.
ZELENY: Let's not miss the forest here. The big picture is Donald Trump wants Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general for the loyalty thing and to do whatever he wants at the DOJ.
This is not a move to protect Matt Gaetz. It was to protect and assist the president. So, yes, the committee, I believe, can vote. It's 50/50 Democrats and Republicans.
I would be stunned if it would vote to release the report, because that would be a bit of a finger in the eye to the president-elect.
I would also be stunned if Matt Gaetz came back in January, because that wouldn't help him in his confirmation process, probably. But who knows? We're all sort of stunned by a lot of things.
But I think that, for all of this discussion about -- about Matt Gaetz and protecting him. This is about the loyalty to the president. So, I would be surprised if we saw that Friday.
HUNT: All right. Elie Honig, very grateful to have you here.
HONIG: And John Thune, whom we haven't seen a lot of, I mean, he's Zeleny's big brother.
ZELENY: I mean, my neighbor to the North in South Dakota, in Nebraska and --
HUNT: I was going to say, both staunch Midwesterners.
ZELENY: Yes. I've known Senator Thune for a very long time.
HONIG: Yes. They put him up there. I was like, look at this guy. He's --
HUNT: I mean, it's a -- you know, it's not the worst.
ZELENY: I'll take it.
HUNT: Elie, thank you.
HONIG: All right, Kasie.
HUNT: I appreciate it.
Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a new Senate majority leader, as we were just discussing. Senator John Thune -- who Elie seems to think looks like Jeff Zeleny -- overcomes a MAGA pressure campaign to boost Rick Scott.
His first order of business is already very tough.
Plus, a very civil sit-down between two men who don't really like each other very much.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:26:18]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back. It's November, but we've got a new storm strengthening over the Caribbean. Let's get to our meteorologist, our weather man, Derek van Dam.
Derek, good morning. What are you seeing?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Corning, Kasie.
So, we've been monitoring the storm very closely. And unfortunately, what is good for U.S. interests in this particular instance is bad for other interests. Namely Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, and the Yucatan Peninsula.
So, yesterday, we talked about how, if this storm moved over that part of the world before entering the Gulf of Mexico, it would disorganize the storm and mean a weaker storm for the Southeastern U.S.
That's, in fact, what we're seeing this morning as a little bit further West than what we had originally forecast yesterday. But this is bringing extremely heavy rainfall to this area, flash floods and mudslides, potentially with Tropical Depression 19 as it hovers near the coast of Honduras through this weekend and then moves greatly inland across the Yucatan Peninsula.
So, what that means, as it enters the Bay of Campeche, the Southern Gulf of Mexico, it will be a much more disorganized storm versus as if it was to split the difference between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula, stay over open waters, and what was forecast yesterday potentially impact Florida, as what was a tropical storm or hurricane, by the second half of next week.
Regardless, this is going to bring a lot of rain to the area. But as it shifts to the Southeastern U.S. for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, it should be a greatly weaker storm, and it should also just be more of a rain and gusty wind threat.
Now, moving on, we've got a storm system that's moving into the Northeast that hopefully would bring some rainfall to the drought conditions and the wildfire areas across New England. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The storm system is going to slide South and bring no relief in terms of rain to places like New Jersey and New York today -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you.
Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Trump already rattling Capitol Hill. We're going to talk to Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss, who joins us live to discuss how Trump's latest cabinet choices could shape Washington.
Plus, an outgoing presidential meeting with their successor used to be tradition. Joe Biden extended the courtesy that he never received from Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC'S "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": Trump said they had a really good meeting. Said Biden was gracious and that they really enjoyed seeing each other.
Last week Joe Biden was an evil force who weaponized the justice system to put Trump in prison the rest of his life. Today, they had fun!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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