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Russai Granted Asylum to Assad and his Family; Rep. Dan Kildee is Interviewed about Syria; Trump Suggests Ending Birthright Citizenship; Mark McKinnon is Interviewed about Trump's Retribution; Trump and Harris Teams Look Back. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 09, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: If the U.S. should respond to Syria.
And later, Donald Trump ran on fixing the border. How he plans to make it a day one priority.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: I don't want to be breaking up families. So, the only way you don't break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.
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HUNT: All right, welcome back.
Syria's Bashar al-Assad arriving in Moscow, where Russia has granted he and his family asylum according to Russian state media.
[06:35:11]
As rebel forces closed in on the Syrian capital Saturday, a source told CNN that Assad was nowhere to be found in the city. People quickly ransacked the toppled dictator's presidential palace, walking out with furniture, paintings, and other personal belongings.
Let's bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen, who is at the Syrian embassy in Moscow with more on this.
Fred, good morning.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Good morning, Kasie.
And there certainly are some pretty clear signs that the Russians are also coming to terms with the fact that the Syrian Arab Republic under Bashar al Assad no longer exists. In fact, you can see right up there that above the Syrian embassy here in Moscow, as of this morning, flies the flag of the Syrian opposition. Of course, now, most probably, the official flag of Syria.
We have asked the folks here at the embassy actually, and they say that this embassy continues to function and is functioning as normally. Meanwhile, we're also getting some information here from the Russians. The Kremlin this morning telling - on a conference call telling reporters that the decision to grant asylum to Bashar al-Assad and members of his family was made directly by Vladimir Putin. He directly signed off on this decision. Of course, we know that last night Assad and family members arrived here in Moscow.
The Russians also admitting that they were taken by surprise how quickly the forces around Bashar al-Assad folded, how quickly that regime folded as the opposition forces were closing in on Damascus. And, of course, other cities inside Syria as well.
The big question for the Russians right now, they were, of course, the biggest backers - or one of the biggest backers of the Assad government is what happens to their military assets inside of Syria. The Kremlin there also saying at this point in time, they simply don't know. They are saying that all of that will depend on what happens over the next couple of weeks, the next couple of months.
The Russians are saying that they are in touch with all of the armed groups on the ground, they say. They do say that their forces on the ground are on high alert, but that right now the situation around their bases remains calm.
Kasie.
HUNT: All right, Fred Pleitgen for us. This extraordinary day there. Fred, thanks very much for that report.
And the fall of the Assad regime in Syria means that come January, President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a new balance of power in the Middle East. Helping Trump craft his regional policy will be his new cabinet selections. Among them, former Democratic congresswoman turned Republican commentator, Tulsi Gabbard, who sat down with then President Bashar al-Assad in a highly controversial 2017 meeting. She has also previously declined to say whether Assad is a war criminal.
And now, of course, those positions have emerged as a key obstacle for Gabbard as she prepares for her Senate confirmation hearing. This is how she defended those questions when I asked her about them back in 2019.
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HUNT: Do you think Assad is our enemy?
TULSI GABBARD, DNI NOMINEE: Assad is not the enemy of the United States because the United - Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States.
HUNT: What do you say to - to Democratic voters who watched you go over there and - and - and what do you say to military members who have been deployed repeatedly in Syria, pushing back against Assad?
GABBARD: People who have been deployed to Syria have been there focused on their mission, which has been to defeat ISIS. Our troops have not gone to Syria to wage yet another costly, destructive regime change war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee of Michigan. He currently sits on the House Ways and Means and Budget Committee. Although you are in your waning days, Congressman.
REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): I am. I am.
HUNT: Thank you very much for being here.
KILDEE: Thank you.
HUNT: I want to start with Tulsi Gabbard, who is somebody that you served with and has been nominated, of course, to be the Director of National Intelligence. Based on what we've seen out of Syria, based on what she has said about the Syrians, this is, of course, tied in with Russia.
What implications would having her as DNI have in this situation?
KILDEE: Well, it's concerning. Tulsi Gabbard is completely wrong. Bashar al-Assad is an enemy of the United States, unless we feel that a leader who is willing to drop barrel bombs and use chemical weapons against his own people is OK. The United States has some moral responsibility to stand up for people who can't stand up for themselves. And to think that we can just be neutral on this question of Assad's regime shocks the conscience, and it does call into question whether a person who held those outrageous views could suddenly be sitting next to the president of the United States and have the last word as he makes decisions about how the U.S. should respond to a situation like this.
She's completely wrong. And its' a - it's a dangerous moment. And I hope the Senate takes that - that particular line of questioning very seriously as they consider her qualifications.
[06:40:02]
HUNT: There is new reporting from NBC about how there was at one point a Syrian defector who came to speak to members of the - of the committee. I believe it was House Foreign Affairs. And the aides - I'll just read it. Quote, "the aides were concerned that Gabbard might leak information about the defector who had hidden his identity out of fear of reprisal from the Assad regime. Some worried that she might even reveal his identity to someone associated with the Syrian government, which at that point had killed hundreds of thousands of its own citizens. Both Democratic and Republican aides told the Syrians accompanying the defector, known as "Caesar," to ensure that he covered his face before Gabbard entered the room just in case."
What are the implications of that?
KILDEE: Well, I mean, that kind of sets the frame as to how outrageous this whole transition could end up being. The first Trump administration, while I had huge disagreements with them, it seemed as though he surrounded himself with people who, whether he intended or not, were willing to push back against him when it came to these big questions.
The concerns that members, Democrats and Republicans, at least their staff members, have expressed about Tulsi Gabbard ought to be chilling when it comes to what Syia - what Bashar al-Assad has been willing to do to his own people. He's not a friend of the United States.
HUNT: Let's talk briefly about what we heard from President-elect Trump over the weekend. We just had a long conversation about it on the show. He vowed to pardon many of the people who have been jailed in the wake of the Capitol riots. He also said that the people that should be in jail are the people who were on the committee, who investigated him, the January 6th Committee.
You, I know, have spoken extensively about your experience on that day. What's your reaction to what Donald Trump said?
KILDEE: Well, it's just offensive. I mean, I was there. I saw it firsthand. People attacked the Capitol. They beat police officers. People died. Had they gotten through - passed those officers, what they would have done to some of us, who were trapped in that gallery on that terrible day, we don't know what they would have done. And the very notion that the people - Democrats and Republicans, who were trying to hold those individuals accountable would, in Donald Trump's mind, be those who are culpable and he would somehow see these attackers, this mob -
HUNT: Yes.
KILDEE: This unruly, dangerous mob as somehow being righteous, either he's intentionally stupid, which I'm not sure how much he understands about how the rule of law ought to function in society, or he's just - has so much more in common with some of these totalitarian dictators that he seems to align himself with, that he's willing to do these sorts of things.
HUNT: Do you think President Biden should preemptively pardon members of the January 6th Committee before he leaves office?
KILDEE: You know, first of all, I'm not a fan of the pardon authority. But I think there is a serious question as to whether there's something that can be - do to protect those individuals.
But I'm not a lawyer, and I don't really agree with the presidential authority to offer pardons, no matter who it is. But I do think we're at an incredibly important inflection point.
HUNT: Yes.
KILDEE: And I would hate to see people who are simply trying to do their job to protect this country suddenly become the victim of a totalitarian leaning president.
HUNT: All right, Congressman Dan Kildee for us this morning.
Sir, thanks very much for being on the show.
KILDEE: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump's retribution, hinting over the weekend at how he could get revenge on people he views as his political enemies. Mark McKinnon joins us to discuss.
Plus, dissecting the election. Harvard's Institute of Politics always takes a deep dive into what goes right and what goes wrong for campaigns. They did it this weekend for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This political environment sucked, OK? We were dealing with ferocious headwinds.
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[06:48:20]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But your border czar Tom Homan said they can be deported together.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that the plan?
TRUMP: Well, that way you keep the - well, I don't want to be breaking up families. So, the only way you don't break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.
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HUNT: We are learning more details about Trump's plan to enact his campaign promises when it comes to the border and on tariffs as well when he returns to the White House. On the trail, Donald Trump vowed repeatedly to carry out a nationwide mass deportation starting on day one.
Now, in his first sit down interview since winning re-election, he's also attacking the idea of birthright citizenship, something that is, of course, protected by the 14th Amendment.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: We're the only country that has it, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Through an executive action you're going to -
TRUMP: You know, we're the only country that has it. Do you know if somebody sets a foot - a - just a foot, one foot, you don't need to two, on our land, congratulations, you are now a citizen of the United States of America. Yes, we're going to end that because it's ridiculous.
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HUNT: The president-elect was also asked about his recent threats to increase tariffs on some of America's largest trading partners, that many economists say would raise prices for American consumers.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you guarantee American families won't pay more?
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: I can't guarantee anything. I can't guarantee tomorrow. But I can say that, if you look at my just pre-Covid, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. And I had a lot of tariffs on a lot of different companies - countries, but in particular China. We took in hundreds of billions of dollars. And we had no inflation.
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HUNT: I can't guarantee anything. The president-elect striking a cautious tone on prices after the election.
Let's recap what he said about this topic and the border on the campaign trail.
[06:50:00]
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT (August 14, 2024): But prices will come down. You just watch. They'll come down and they'll come down fast. Not only with insurance, with everything.
As president, I will seal the border. I will send them all back to their countries where they belong. Prices will come down, and come down dramatically, and come down fast.
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HUNT: All right, our panel is back.
Lulu, I want to start with what he said about immigration and families and deporting people together. Those comments seem to suggest he is willing to do that, which would, of course, involve American citizens. Is that not - I mean he's - LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Illegal? Yes.
HUNT: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think the word you were looking for is - is illegal.
Also, by the way. Birthright citizenship. I mean, what he said, this is something that very much the Trump administration wants to enact. They tried to do it in their first term. This is something that is a big thing that they want to try to stop, because they see it as a way of the - changing the demographics of this country. And so, birthright citizenship, to be clear, is something that is protected in the Constitution. So, that would require, not just a sort of waiving of the presidential wand, but something like going to Congress and getting two-thirds of the states to ratify it. I mean it's a big thing to shift (ph). So, we'll see what the plan is. But that's going to be very hard. Also, deporting American citizens, not legal.
Matt Gorman, clearly Americans said in the campaign they think immigration is a problem. The border is a problem. But where do you think is the line? I mean how far do you think Americans will tolerate President-elect Trump going on this?
MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: First of all, I'm having flashbacks to you at the Iowa State Fair asking Scott Walker if he was - if he would end birthright citizenship back in August 2015. And so I feel like -
HUNT: You have a better memory than I do. I forgot about that.
GORMAN: I remember it very well. I was sitting in Jeb Bush headquarters.
HUNT: It was a problem for him, I think, whatever it was he said to me.
GORMAN: It was - it was a problem. It was - this - this has been talked about for a while. And surprisingly not done on the campaign, at least this time around.
Look, I am fascinated to see, right? I think very clearly Trump has political capital to spend on immigration and the economy. And so what do those first bills look like? What do those first executive actions look like? Is that political capital there to fight for a constitutional amendment on birthright citizenship?
Now, look, there's a little bit of debate on the right whether or not it can be done by executive action or constitutional amendment, but that's a major, major step. So, I am really interested to see, as these bills come together, how they actually go about this.
HUNT: Yes.
All right, I want to turn now to another moment from Trump's NBC interview yesterday. While Donald Trump repeated his desire for former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and others to go to jail for their work on the January 6th Committee, Trump did distance himself from one promise of retribution, saying this about his prior threats to go after the Biden family.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said President Biden, quote, that you're going to "appoint a real special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden."
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: Where did I say that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said that during the campaign.
TRUMP: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said that on Truth Social June 12, 2023. "I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family."
TRUMP: Well, that part is true.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to do that? Are you going to go after Joe Biden?
TRUMP: I'm really looking to make our country successful. I'm not looking to go back into the past.
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HUNT: All right, joining us now, former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain, Mark McKinnon. He's the creator of Paramount's "The Circus."
Mark, it's Monday, so it's wonderful to see you. Thank you for being here.
What's your response there to what Trump said? Because, I mean, the - honestly, there was a significant difference in tone and approach when he was asked directly about the Biden family and when he was asked about January 6th.
MARK MCKINNON, CREATOR, "THE CIRCUS": Listen, Kasie, good morning.
I think the best stance is to expect the worst. There's two approaches here. There's the Bobby McFerrin, the musician's approach, which is, don't worry, be happy, which I think a lot of people did in 2016. And - or to take - adopt the John McCain approach, which is, his philosophy was, it's always darkest just before it goes completely black. Trump campaigned on this notion that I will be your retribution. And what he said also in that interview about going after the people on the January 6th Committee, that should send chills down everybody's spine.
And, listen, I - Trump doesn't really have a political ideology. If he has an ideology, it's loyalty. And that's what's different this time, too. He's not coming in with a bunch of broken toys. He has people who know what they're doing. And the people that he turns and listens to now is not like, you know, Mitch McConnell, like he did in 2016. It's the MAGA iron triangle of Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk. That's where he's getting his - and - and just look at Pete - Pete Hegseth right now. That's, you know the fact that he's still alive says a lot. And I think there's a very good chance he'll now be confirmed. And so that's - that's what it's all about now. It's simply, you know, does it meet the loyalty test? And just expect, you know, just expect Donald Trump to do what he said that he was going to do during the campaign because MAGA is going to turn up the heat if he doesn't.
[06:55:06]
HUNT: So, Mark, one of the other things that, of course, Trump has said during the campaign involves Ukraine. I mean he has said that he is going to end the fighting there. He was actually - we can show everybody what this looked like, a pretty striking image. He was with Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy over in France. Of course, they were attending the reopening of Notre Dame. And there you can see the two of them together.
There's also this kind of photo spray of the three of them standing there. And, you know, Trump did talk a little bit about what he said. He said, OK, Zelenskyy wants to end this war. I mean what did you make of - of how this played out while - I mean Biden is still president of the United States, obviously. He's going to be, you know, until January 20th.
But this is, obviously, you know, they're getting ready for - for him to come in here. Considering especially also the events in Syria. What does this all mean?
MCKINNON: Well, I think it means a lot. And don't tell Trump that he's not president yet. I think the most significant changes we may see immediately are the impact on American foreign policy. And it's striking that Trump is - it's such a departure from John McCain and from Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and the typical, you know, Republican history here of embracing our allies. Trump's approach is America first. And that is going to be fascinating to watch what happens with Syria, because there's going to be a huge vacuum here if America doesn't step in. And others are going to fill it. If we're not there, then - then others will fill it. So, we're going to see the direct impact on a national stage of the Trump presidency immediately because of what's happening with Syria.
HUNT: All right, Mark McKinnon for us this morning.
Sir, thanks very much for being with us. I always love having your perspective. See you soon.
MCKINNON: Kick it, Kasie. Thank you.
HUNT: All right, so top advisers for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris' campaign met to discuss the election at Harvard's Institute of Politics over the weekend. But according to Harris' chief of staff, their campaign was flawless. Quote, "I would posit she ran a pretty flawless campaign. She did all the steps that were required to be successful." This was something that Sheila Nix said at this gathering.
Trump campaign co-chief Chris LaCivita's rebuked the idea that Harris ran a flawless campaign. Lacivita said this, "flawless campaigns don't lose."
Our panel is back now.
Matt Gorman, for people who are not familiar, every election cycle the Harvard Institute of Politics gathers the top campaign managers from both teams, in this case, of course, Trump and Harris. It's moderated by reporters. It's designed to be a report for history of how it all unfolded.
I was there in 2016. I mean it is a fascinating room to be in. You were there.
GORMAN: Yes.
HUNT: Kind of take us inside - because it really - I mean this this word flawless stuck out to me -
GORMAN: Yes.
HUNT: Because, as LaCivita says, a flawless campaign isn't a losing campaign. What was the energy like?
GORMAN: So - so the way - the way it broke down, it was Thursday night there's a dinner when you - everyone comes to campus and every campaign, from both primary, I was - I was there representing the Tim Scott folks and the general folks, like Kamala or Biden, gives their theory of the race. For about five minutes they stand up and they say how they could have won. And so, this flawless comment came during that.
HUNT: OK.
GORMAN: And you're - it's in the middle of dinner. You're sitting at your table. And then when that word was said, everybody kind of looked at each other like, did she just say flawless?
And - and then, of course, it became a little bit of a - a mocking thing for the rest of the day. So, when LaCivita said it, that that was Friday during the larger panel. And it really did belie - the Harris campaign was very defensive still, as we saw from their multiple interviews. It did continue on (ph).
HUNT: Meghan, it does seem - I mean the narrative that seems to be emerging from the Harris team now is that, while this was inevitable, there was basically nothing we could have done. Do you think that's right?
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: No, I don't think that's right. And I also think that having some contrition would go a long way with the voters. And I think that when you are trying to rebuild a party, maybe saying that we did some things wrong would go a long way heading into the midterms, into the next cycle, presidential cycle.
But I think that it's hard right now, so close, to be a little bit more introspective. So, it will be interesting to see how this evolves over time and how their opinion of the race evolves over time.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What they say in private and what they say in public are two different things, which is what's annoying I think as reporters because we know that to be true.
HAYS: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So, I think if they said in public what they say in private, it would be better for everyone.
MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE DISPATCH": Yes, I don't think this helps in terms of trust in institutions. Yes, presidential campaigns aren't exactly the most, you know, important institution, but it does suggest that, uh, Democrats and the Harris campaign haven't quite figured out why they lost. Or if they have, they're not talking about it. And that doesn't seem good for the party to kind of try to move forward and figure out, 2028 is not - in fact, 2026 is not that far away.
[07:00:01]
They've got to figure out what their party is going to look like in the next two, four years, and how they're going to respond to Donald Trump's administration.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And Tim Walz said he was stunned.
HUNT: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, in interviews with the local press in Minnesota. So -
HUNT: That he was surprised.
And, by the way, they spent $1.5 billion, with a b, on something that they really thought it was inevitable that he couldn't have won
Very quickly.
HAYS: Right. And I also just don't think that they want to look yet. And I think that that's going to be the problem heading into '26, because the Democrats have a lot to do to - to move voters heading into the midterms.
HUNT: Yes, they do.
All right, thanks, guys. Really appreciate it. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well.
I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.
