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Musk & Ramaswamy's 'DOGE' Takes Capitol Hill; NYPD: New Images Show 'Person of Interest' in CEO Shooting; Cold Air Peaking in East Today. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 06, 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 Friday, December 6th. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:00:24]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): And let me be frank about this. Government is too big. It does too many things, and it does almost nothing well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: DOGE days on Capitol Hill. Are Musk and Ramaswamy's budget- slashing plans all bark and no bite?

And the manhunt continues. The gunman who killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO, still on the run, but his flirting may be giving police their best lead yet.

And --

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(AIR RAID SIRENS)

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HUNT: Terrifying tremors. One of the most powerful quakes in its history strikes just off the coast of California.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: I don't answer to anyone in this group. None of you. Not to that camera at all.

We're fighters first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Making his case. Pete Hegseth trying to win over skeptical senators in his bid to be defense secretary.

All right, 6 a.m. on the East Coast. A live look at the Statue of Liberty on this Friday morning. Nice way to start the day.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

DOGE takes Capitol Hill. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy meeting with Republican lawmakers as they begin to consider just where the so- called Department of Government Efficiency will make cuts.

To be clear, DOGE, not actually a federal agency, does not have the power to eliminate departments or slash budgets. But of course, Congress does; and the Republicans, who will soon control both chambers, seem to be on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: We are all excited. I know you're all excited that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have joined us today. And let me be frank about this. Government is too big. It does too many things, and it does almost nothing well.

And the taxpayers deserve better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Since joining Trump on the campaign trail in October, Elon Musk has become a close advisor, inviting him to watch a SpaceX rocket launch, even spending Thanksgiving with him at Mar-a-Lago.

And we now know that Musk spent over a quarter of $1 billion in his effort to help Trump win.

New FEC filings show the world's wealthiest man gave over $200 million to his own PAC, and dozens of millions of dollars to other pro-Trump groups that support.

And Trump's victory, of course, giving Musk star status on Capitol Hill, where his DOGE recommendation soon to be put to the test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Elon, is -- Social Security and Medicare, is it off the table? Is it off the table?

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HUNT: Musk ignoring that question.

But Republican lawmakers coming out of yesterday's meeting with the belief that, yes, cuts to Social Security and Medicare are a possibility.

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REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): They said they're going to tackle -- nothing is sacrosanct. Nothing. They're going to put everything on the table.

REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): Everything is on the table, not just Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid.

REP. AARON BEAN (R-FL): We're going to make government more efficient, more efficient so we can honor the promises of people that are on Social Security, that are people that are on Medicare.

REP. BLAKE MOORE (R-UT): Everything is on the table, and they're just going to take a much-needed look at the efficiency of our government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now is our panel: Annie Linskey, White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal"; Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor; Hyma Moore, former regional communications director for Joe Biden's 2020 campaign; and Brad Todd, Republican strategist and a CNN political commentator.

Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

Brad Todd, I got to start with you because, look, the president -- the president --

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I knew this was coming.

HUNT: President-elect Trump, I mean, campaigned on protecting Social Security and Medicare. And I guess my question, honestly, having covered all of this for a while on the Hill, it's like, how fast is Elon Musk going to realize that he's, like, grabbing the third rail, holding onto it, and like, he's -- he's going to take it off a cliff, essentially?

TODD: I don't think he's headed for Social Security and Medicare. I think that the Hill's budget hawks are going to insist that we look at that, because it's such a big pile of the budget. But that's not where President Trump's heading. President-elect Trump.

I think he's -- and I think, by the way, this is not that different from what we've had before. We had the Peterson Commission. Al Gore tried reinventing government. You often need people from outside Congress to come and shake it up.

And let's face it: the appropriations process in Congress could not be any worse. Musk will not mess this up. I mean, like, it's -- it's currently --

HUNT: It's already messed up.

TODD: It's already messed up.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Explain that quickly. Because I know people don't really understand how the appropriations process works and why it's so --

TODD: It doesn't. It doesn't. You're supposed to have both houses pass spending bills, come and debate each one of them line by line. Instead, we don't do that. We have four leaders get in a room --

HUNT: Instead, I'm constantly reading things that say we're days from a government shutdown. Again. You remember this. Again, right?

[06:05:02]

TODD: And then four people get in a room and, like, hammer out something that was handed to them as just an algorithm, you know? I mean, it's just -- it's a mess.

We -- we're currently not debating spending in Washington. Harry Reid broke that process, I would argue. Republicans have failed to fix it since then.

So, if Elon Musk comes in with new ideas, line by line -- and lord knows there are plenty of places to cut -- I think it will be a good thing.

ANNIE LINSKEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Yes, well, I mean --

HUNT: Annie, what do you think?

LINSKEY: There are a lot of popular ideas out there. I mean, that's what's kind of interesting about this. You -- you kind of look through what they could do.

I mean, putting aside Social Security and Medicare, you know, there's been talk of changing Daylight Savings Time, which it would be a, you know, an efficiency move that's very popular in the -- in the United States. And the Senate passed it.

There's talk of reducing the size of the federal workforce, which is hard to do. But you know, this is a federal workforce that has been largely working, many of them working from home, which has been a real bone of contention for Republicans, something that Vivek Ramaswamy spoke about extensively on the campaign trail. And that's something that could be changed or could be used to reduce the size of the federal workforce, which has -- has grown significantly.

So, I mean, I think there are areas that outsiders can come in and -- and take and grab it.

And what I think is interesting here, too, is, you know, the previous panels that you mentioned are -- didn't have this sort of celebrity interest. I mean I -- you know, it's just unbelievable to see these images and the kind of -- I don't know, the glamor that they've attached to it.

HUNT: Well, having covered the Hill for a long time, seeing Elon Musk walking down the hallway with his kid on his shoulders is a jarring image. You know, that does draw your attention.

LINSKEY: A blue-ribbon commission doesn't usually get this much excitement right.

TODD: Not that blue. Yes.

HUNT: I mean, Elliot -- WILLIAMS: Yes.

HUNT: -- you've worked inside the federal government --

WILLIAMS: Sure.

HUNT: -- in your career, and there is this kind of saying in Washington that, at the end of the day, the building always wins. And by the building, they mean the infrastructure that has been built in all these places, so that even when you do try to do something, the building itself will push back.

WILLIAMS: Sure. But -- and I just think there's a lot of talking points and buzzwords being thrown around here. The government is too big.

OK, fine. But that ultimately means, when you take it to its extreme, firing people, recognizing that, No. 1, most government employees are not at-will employees. It is -- it is a legal question. You can't just go in and start firing government employees that aren't political appointees. So, you've got to figure out what means you have for shrinking the size of government.

And also, these questions about are you talking about entitlements or defense spending, which are also things that people really care about.

But I'll be the first person to agree. Of course, government could work more efficiently. But the fact is, you can't just start cutting government like a business. The law gets in your way.

And I think, to pick up on Annie's point, this telework and remote work is an important issue, not just for the government. It's -- because you have a lot of real estate that's sitting empty that people are paying for.

Now here, it's taxpayers and the private sector. It's -- companies are paying for, you know, people. And everybody needs to take a good look.

HUNT: Yes, Muriel Bowser, the very Democratic mayor of D.C., would be definitely on board with more federal employees working more days.

WILLIAMS: And it's entirely a fair --

TODD: And buying sandwiches and lunch.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. It's entirely a fair question to say if the government is spending millions of dollars on rent for space that is not being used, of course, that could be more efficient.

But if you're just talking about going and firing hundreds of thousands of people, it's just not going to happen. It can't.

HUNT: Well, and one of the things that was apparently shown at this meeting was a picture of a -- of a federal employee reportedly working from his bathtub, Hyma. But the reality is that this conversation about Social Security and Medicare is happening because of things that Elon Musk has said on social media --

HYMA MOORE, FORMER REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR JOE BIDEN'S 2020 CAMPAIGN: Yes. Yes.

HUNT: -- that suggests that he -- those are places that he might want to go.

And, you know, if that's the case, and the president-elect doesn't want to do that, he's going to really quick figure out that, actually, it's pretty hard to cut the federal budget in a significant way.

MOORE: Yes, I mean, to Elliot's point, I think Vivek and Elon are getting a civics lesson this week.

And I think at the end of the day, Donald Trump is the president, so -- or will be the president very soon. I think Elon Musk can go on X and say what he wants to say. He can have said things in the past.

But Donald Trump will make the decision on how this is going to go forward.

And so, I think it's interesting, to all these guys' point, the government is too big. It has been less efficient than it should be. We all agree on that.

But I don't think that the approach that Elon and Vivek are taking right now is giving any confidence to the federal government employees, in particular, and no confidence to the American people who voted for Donald Trump to bring down costs, to protect their interests particularly health care and Social Security and Medicaid.

And so, I think people are going to be unhappy when they start seeing these things start to show up in the next couple of weeks.

HUNT: Well, then, of course, there's the question of going after individual federal government employees.

MOORE: Yes. Yes.

TODD: He should go after -- he should be going after individual agencies, meaning the bureau.

HUNT: Well, an agency is not a person with a name --

MOORE: Right, right.

HUNT: -- who you know is just trying to raise their family right across the river.

All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a powerful earthquake off the coast of Northern California, triggering a tsunami warning for more than 5 million people.

Plus, new clues in the search for the assassin who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in Manhattan.

[06:10:02]

And Pete Hegseth on the Hill, trying to convince lawmakers he should be the man to lead the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I don't say this lightly about a colleague, but that is one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever seen.

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HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

It has been nearly 48 hours since an assassin in New York City gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. There is, though, a critical new clue in the search for the killer.

[06:15:06]

Could a flirty smile be the key piece of evidence that brings him down?

Take a look at this newly released surveillance footage of the man police are calling a person of interest. He is smiling at a female clerk at the Upper West Side hostel he was staying in after she asked him to lower his mask.

A source tells CNN he used a fake New Jersey driver's license to check in. There is also new footage of the suspected gunman on an e-bike racing from the crime scene.

Sources tell CNN he got to New York by Greyhound bus ten days before the shooting. That bus route began in Atlanta. It is not clear where he boarded the bus.

Former Secret Service agent, CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow joins us now with more.

Jonathan, good morning to you. That unmasking of his face, is that likely to be his undoing here?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, listen, it could be. It's a data point, but it's a significant data point.

You know, the -- the image that was captured on that -- on that screen is being shared nationally. There is somebody out there that knows who this individual is, and this is what the law enforcement is trying to do. They're trying to crowdsource the identification of this attacker, which is critical in this case.

The law enforcement needs the public's assistance to help solve exactly who this -- who this shooter is and bring them to justice.

I mean, I think it's just remarkable, though, when you think about the planning that went into this attack, the execution of -- of the attack itself, it's all going to come down to a potential flaw in, really, what's a basic social human behavior, which is -- which is flirting that actually makes the attribution to who this individual is.

HUNT: So, Jonathan, can you talk to us a little bit about the length of time that is going by as they try to search for this shooter?

On the one hand, they're clearly uncovering more evidence. As you point out, they could potentially hear from more people. But on the other hand, I'm curious what may go cold the longer he is on the run, in your view.

WACKROW: Yes. Listen, I mean, the challenge for law enforcement is that this was a well-thought-out attack.

However, it was sloppy in a lot of different ways, and that's what law enforcement is looking for. If you look at the items of evidentiary value that we have today, those are actually key to going ahead and making attribution.

We have the -- the bullet casings. We have the -- the cell phone, the water bottle. We have these images now, you know, of the -- of the suspect.

We also have a lot of digital trace from the video forensics that NYPD is putting together. This mosaic of video images to track the individual's movement.

Yes, it's been 48 hours, but think about what has been done in 48 hours by investigators from the NYPD in actually tracking this individual.

We now know that he entered into New York City via a bus almost ten days prior to the attack. So, it's taking a little bit of time.

The advantage here from law enforcement is that they know that there's a pathway to violence. And typically, that that pathway starts with a grievance and then goes through violent ideations and attack planning and research before even launching the attack.

That is key right now, because we're going to see that mistakes that were made along that pathway of violence actually will lead to additional investigative clues. You know, I'm very confident that the NYPD and other law enforcement agencies working together will apprehend the suspect.

HUNT: Jonathan, the words that were found on the shell casings and the live rounds, I mean, is that something like you've seen before in law enforcement, people doing this? It just -- it seems so remarkable. And what does it tell you?

WACKROW: Well, listen, when you think about, you know, assessing a threat, you really, you know, bucket it into three categories: the means, the opportunity and the intent.

And the intent here is, you know, captured with motivation. And if you think about revenge for a perceived grievance or association with like-minded groups, to me, these -- these shell casings with the inscriptions, you know, are -- are connected to that either like- mindedness or, you know, revenge for perceived -- perceived grievance.

That's what investigators are focusing on right now among a bunch of other things, is, you know, does that lead to the motivation for this -- for this attack?

And if we can get to that and start making a link analysis to different groups and organizations or individuals that may be associated to this attacker, that's when we're going to find out who they are.

HUNT: All right. Jonathan Wackrow for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you. Thanks very much for being on.

WACKROW: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Still coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, fears of the big one after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the Northern coast of California.

Plus, Democrats campaigned on democracy, and they lost. Is it time to rethink the strategy?

[06:20:04]

Congressman Seth Magaziner joins us live.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable. When I got off of 280, I saw all these cars. And there were police cars and ambulances and fire trucks. And I thought something really serious is going on.

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HUNT: A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake striking off the coast of Northern California yesterday, shaking the ground as far South as the Bay Area.

The strength of the quake, rare by California standards, becoming the 12th strongest on record to hit the state.

More than 5 million people were placed under an immediate tsunami warning, but it was canceled about an hour later.

All right. That brings us to weather. In the Eastern part of the country, frigid temperatures are peaking, some relief apparently coming this weekend.

[06:25:04]

Let's get to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, with more.

Allison, good morning.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning.

Yes, there will be some light at the end of the tunnel. We've just got to get to the weekend before we see that rebound in temperatures.

Still pretty chilly out this morning. Not just the temperatures, but it's very windy in a lot of places. So, when you combine that, you get that "feels like," or the wind chill temperature.

So, right now, four degrees is all the warmer it feels in Chicago. Nine is what it feels like in Nashville. Even a Southern city like Atlanta feeling like a balmy 15.

That cold air coming down really quick in some of those Southern cities.

You look at where these areas were just 24 hours ago, that temperature is now 25 degrees cooler in Atlanta, 23 degrees cooler in Nashville, nearly 30 degrees cooler in Birmingham.

That cold air over those -- well, at least relatively warmer lakes is still triggering some lake-effect snow in several states, adding at least a couple more inches on top of what many of these areas already had.

So, you've still got a lot of these winter weather alerts as we go through the day today.

But temperatures will finally start to warm back up, in some places as early as later today in the Midwest.

For the rest of these areas, you're going to have to wait until the weekend before you really start to see those temperatures bumping back up. And in some cases, like New Orleans, for example, actually getting above average by Sunday.

HUNT: All right. Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thank you.

All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Pete Hegseth fighting for confirmation votes. Where he stands after a critical week of meetings on Capitol Hill.

Plus, Congressman Seth Magaziner joins us live with his thoughts on the future of his party, as former President Barack Obama breaks his post-election silence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Can the idea of pluralism work in the current moment? I believe the answer is yes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

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