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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Promises To Launch Deportation Program "On Day One"; Rep. Mike Waltz, (R-FL), Is Interviewed About Trump's Key Staff, Mass Deportation, Congress; Sources: Trump Could Announce Key Staff Picks With Days; Control Of House Still Undecided; Sources: Trump Sees Attorney General As One Of Key Roles To Fill; Source: Jack Smith In Talks With DOJ About Ending Trump Prosecutions; Sources: Trump Attorney's Phone Tapped By Chinese Hackers. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), Is Interviewed About Trump's Gains Among Latinos Key To Victory; Trump Announces Susie Wiles As White House Chief Of Staff; Israel Embraces A Second Trump Presidency. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired November 07, 2024 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: That's preparing, preparing for the possibility of one party control. Will they be able to give any Democratic priority passed? And leading this hour, Donald Trump preparing for his return to the White House, meeting with his transition team today down in Florida where they have set up an office to prepare for a second term. The president-elect telling NBC that he's also spoken to around 70, seven zero, world leaders since yesterday morning, but not, he says, Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNN's Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach just outside Mar-a-Lago.
Kristen, this is a totally different transition effort than what we saw in 2016, including multiple teams down there in Florida with specific roles.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And some of the teams are still getting here now, but they have been in place for the last several weeks. Essentially what we know that they're doing is they've set up various teams for various different issues when it comes to the economy, when it comes to justice, when it comes to Department of Defense. And they generally have two people leading them and a number of Trump allies as volunteers. One person is handling the policy side, going over what can be done on day one, talking about executive orders, drafting what exactly they need to have ready for Donald Trump when he enters into the White House.
The other side is focusing on the personnel. Who do they actually want to fill the Justice Department with, for example, who is going to be AG. And then all of that is getting filtered through as of right now, the two chairs of the transition, Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, and then eventually going on to Donald Trump. Trump himself has met with the transition team both today and yesterday, and we expect to meet with him every single day until we move forward here because of the fact that they are telling me that he is really ready to hit the ground running. That includes, again, on both the policy side and the personnel side.
You mentioned how different this is from 2016 and when he entered office eventually in 2017. I mean, he had thrown out the entire transition plan from Chris Christie when he got -- when he won the presidency in 2016 because of their falling out. And they were starting essentially from zero.
And I talked to somebody who talks to Donald Trump regularly today who said that the big focus for Trump is not doing what he did in 2016. And that's not just in terms of throwing out what they have in place, but it's also about how he chooses personnel. They said that he's taking this responsibility very seriously. Obviously, loyalty is something that's important to him, but also looking at people who he believes will execute what he wants done. He has said he thinks he made mistakes the first time around.
He wished he hadn't relied on outside groups in Washington to help influence his decisions, and he doesn't want to do that again. So a lot of the conversations they're having are Donald Trump walking through various people and what exactly their role would look like, what they've done in the past, and his relationship with them, obviously spending a lot of time on this. We are told some of these positions could come as early as this week. The most notable ones we're watching, Jake, chief of staff and attorney general right now.
TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thanks so much.
When it comes to his top priorities for a second term, President-elect Trump has repeatedly campaigned on this pledge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out. I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, going to kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with more.
And Priscilla, I don't think many people would care about if all the violent criminals who are in this country illegally are being kicked out. But he's actually talked more expansively about kicking every undocumented immigrant out of the country, which is theoretically tens of millions of people. Have you heard any details about how this might work?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So while he was making these campaign promises quietly, Trump allies and some in the private sector were preparing for this very eventuality, essentially how to detain and deport migrants at a large scale. I mentioned the private sector because the federal government does rely on contractors to manage their detention space because there are just not enough federally owned facilities. And so, quietly, these some in the private sector were having these discussions and now they're expecting it to ramp up. And the reason I am mentioning detention space is because you cannot do mass deportation without mass detention. If you arrest someone, you have to detain them until you can repatriate them to their home country.
So all of this is happening as we speak. There are these preparations that are ongoing, but it is costly. Now, Donald Trump said that there is no price tag, there is one. It's the reason that the government has not been able to do mass deportation before. Just to, for example, apprehend, detain, process and repatriate someone, that's nearly $11,000 for person that is not counting the ticket that the government has to pay to send them back to their home country.
So this is costly. Now, in terms of the who, the people I've talked to say that it's probably or what they're focusing on is, as you mentioned, those who have committed crimes in the country. But another part of the discussion is the Dreamers, those undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Now, typically, they've had bipartisan support, and some of them are protected under an Obama era program. So it would be a major shift if the Trump administration were to change and then try to also deport this population of the undocumented.
[17:05:19]
TAPPER: I mean, most of them, most of the undocumented workers are people who are working as short order cooks and doing landscaping or babysitting. I mean, there are all sorts of jobs all over the country. Some of them are children. And there are going to be economic impacts. I mean, one of the other reasons this hasn't happened is because there are entire industries like agriculture that rely on these people.
ALVAREZ: Five percent of the workforce is undocumented immigrants. That's when economists say if you deport large numbers of people, then you are shooting yourself in the foot. That is essentially what they have been arguing for years when it comes to deportations. And they do happen, Jake, I mean, they've been happening under the Biden administration, they happen under the Trump administration, but it's about doing it in a targeted way. That is the way that the federal government has often put this.
And they also pay taxes. In fact, I'll give you a number, $96.7 billion paid in taxes by undocumented immigrants. So you can start to see when you start adding up all these numbers how it would really impact the U.S. economy if they were to follow through with mass deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. Not to mention that there are a lot of mixed status families. So there are families that include U.S. citizens and an undocumented immigrant in some cases.
So that also brings in how it could affect a household. But certainly doing something at this scale is not easy, but doesn't mean it can't be done.
TAPPER: But I asked Congresswoman Nancy Mace about this, Republican from South Carolina, last time, she said -- I said all 20 million? She said, he has the mandate to do it. The American people voted for that.
Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.
Joining us now, Republican Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida who just won his reelection contest.
Congressman, congratulations. You told my colleague John Berman that if President Trump, President-elect Trump, asks someone to serve, they should take the request seriously. Your name is being floated out there for Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense. Have you had any conversations with anyone in Trump's orbit about possibly serving in those roles or any other role and maybe submitting documents to be vetted?
REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Yes, Jake, look, I haven't talked to the president about it. That's the only one that matters in his orbit. All my conversations with him were seven swing states and the next rally and staying on message on the economy, immigration, and getting us back to a situation where we're signing peace deals on the White House lawn in terms of our national security. So that's it.
Honor to be considered. I think anybody who receives a call from the president of the United States to serve should take it seriously. But regardless, I'll be supporting his policies wherever I am, and I fully believe in his America First agenda.
TAPPER: So, you didn't answer the part about whether you've talked to anybody in Trump's orbit. But I'll just move on. Trump's -- Trump --
WALTZ: It's the only one that matters.
TAPPER: Right. No, I --
WALTZ: Really is.
TAPPER: I get it. But also they do a vetting process first and then they present the President with options and then he makes his decision, so. But OK, let's just assume it's a fluid process.
So President-elect Trump repeatedly promised mass deportations of illegal immigrants while he was on the campaign trail of every illegal immigrant in this country. What is that going to look like? Have you been looped into any discussions about what that might be? Because obviously there are a number of undocumented immigrants in Florida.
WALTZ: Yes, no specifics, Jake, except that, I mean, I'll point out that over a million illegal immigrants were deported under both Obama and Biden. Not, certainly not enough compared to the amount coming over the border. But look, in terms of how it should unfold, I think we start with the literally hundreds of thousands of people with criminal records who have been allowed to come in to the United States. That should be first and foremost in terms of getting them out of here. Literally the murderers, the rapists, and others who have criminal records who never should have come in the first place.
TAPPER: Yes, so that's the low hanging fruit. I don't think anybody would disagree with that. The question then becomes the next, you know, two hundred or twenty million, let's say, there are ballpark, a million undocumented immigrants in Florida, according to Pew Research data. And obviously, and I'm not saying that they should happen or should not happen, but obviously it would have a huge economic effect. Some of the undocumented immigrants are married to citizens.
Some of them have kids, some of the undocumented immigrants are kids. What is this going to look like? And how much of a shock to the system will it be?
WALTZ: Well, again, I mean, you could call it low hanging fruit, but when we're talking about hundreds of thousands with criminal records. That's going to take some time in and of itself. And to your -- to the broader point, look, I'm not going to kind of forecast or get ahead of any details of a plan, but if you've come to the country, if your first act in the United States is to break the law, if we do not deport, then what message does that send, especially in terms of attracting others to just come and continue to break the law?
[17:10:27]
And then, you know, there's this notion of, I don't know, some kind of a blowback from the immigrant or even the Hispanic community in particular. We are seeing Hispanics come our way in record numbers. The most upset immigrant I've ever talked to is one that came legally, waited years, did everything they were supposed to, and then just watch a government, especially the Biden-Harris administration, turn a blind eye as those -- as they just break the law and skip the line. And first and foremost of those that are upset are the Afghans who are left behind, who were willing to fight and die with us and are still stuck over there.
I literally just got an e-mail this morning, please help me, brother. I hope things will change now that the administration is going to change. On the current trajectory, it would take 11 years to get the rest of the SIVs, again, people who are willing to die alongside our soldiers. Eleven years, Jake, this administration hasn't taken it seriously. They've left those people behind.
So, there's a lot of things that need to be fixed, but those would be top two on my list.
TAPPER: Have you talked to President-elect Trump about that, about the Special Immigrant Visas and all the Afghans left behind? And as you know, I agree with you that that's a shame and that it should be -- I mean, a lot of these people, some of them have been killed because they were left behind, and a lot of them are in hiding. Is that something that you think President Trump would be supportive of? Obviously, he has been, shall we say, skeptical of certain immigrant groups, especially from Muslim majority countries coming to the United States.
WALTZ: Yes, you know, quite some time ago in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal, we talked about it. Look, you know, again, it's going to be about securing the border. It's going to be about stopping the inflow, getting the worst of the worst out. And then when we talk about these broader issues, especially, he was incredibly sympathetic to people literally falling off planes, they were so desperate to get out. And he certainly was sympathetic to those who are willing to fight and die for our soldiers.
He fully believes we are a nation of immigrants. And for those who have earned it, those who are following the rules, those who are waiting for years as they're being hunted down, there's a lot of sympathy for those kind of people, not people who just break our laws and come across and continue to flout them.
TAPPER: Is Speaker Johnson going to remain speaker, meaning are Republicans going to keep control of Congress? We're still waiting for a number of House races to have their final verdict. And also, what are going to be like the top three items on the agenda, do you think?
WALTZ: Well, first, let's secure the majority. It's heading in the right direction, but we have to wait for California to get done counting the votes. I mean, I think every American should be asking why it takes so long in some states and not in others like Florida.
And in terms of agenda, Jake, you know, I would look back to what we did in the House the last couple of years. Our first bill was on energy independence, energy dominance and permitting reform. The second bill was on actually securing the border, HR5. Our fifth bill was on a parental bill of rights and looking at expanding school choice. Those line with what the president's been talking about on the campaign trail.
And they certainly build on many of the successes in his first administration. And then finally, two big issues that are up and why this election was so consequential, tax cut and jobs act to be extended or renegotiated. And USMCA, the incredible trade deal, the new NAFTA, so to speak, that President Trump not only got done, he got done with Speaker Pelosi in charge of the House. Talk about bipartisan legislation. So, there'll be a lot on our plate, but I think we mapped a lot of it out, both on what President Trump has talked about, what he did in his first term, and then what we passed but the Senate sat on in the last congressional term.
TAPPER: Newly reelected Republican congressman from Florida, Mike Waltz, the -- as of now, the only Green Beret in Congress, but two more just got elected. So, soon you'll just be the first Green Beret, no longer the only one. Thanks for joining us.
WALTZ: I'll take them. Thank you.
TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you now. The FBI says one of Trump's lead attorneys has had his phone tapped by Chinese hackers. What were they allegedly able to access? That's next.
Plus, Rudy Giuliani headed back to court today. The judge gave him a deadline to turn over his valuables to those election workers he defamed or face the consequences. CNN's reporters were inside court today. They have the details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:18:59]
TAPPER: Now to our law and justice lead, as President-elect Trump considers whom to appoint to his next Cabinet, CNN reports that the next attorney general, quote, "will be among the most important roles he fills," unquote. And one of the unresolved questions hanging over President-elect Trump's return to the White House is what happens to all those criminal and civil cases against him. Let's bring in our panel of legal experts.
And Paula, let me start with you. I mean, it seems to me, and I'm no expert, you are, I'm not, but it seems to me like it's all just over. Like, Jack Smith is winding down his two federal cases. The case in Georgia has fizzled like Alka-Seltzer, the judge in the New York hush money case is now considering a motion to just toss his felony convictions. He's certainly not going to do jail time or any serious punishment.
Like, am I wrong? Like, this is just done, he won, it's gone.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they won. Delay, delay, delay work. That was the strategy throughout all of these cases, push back as far as you can for as long as you can in the hopes that he is reelected. He would have the federal cases dismissed, and then the state cases would either just remain in limbo or also be tossed out. And right now, as you said, Jack Smith is talking about how to wind down those two federal cases, they will never go to trial.
[17:20:13]
All we'll really hear from Jack Smith is his final report that he'll issue to the attorney general and be made public. And then I would expect that Jack Smith will likely appear on the Hill, as other special counsels have. We're unlikely to hear a lot more from him, highly unlikely that he'll be sentenced in New York. The judge is considering whether he has immunity and the conviction should be tossed and there shouldn't be a sentencing. But as I reported last night, Trump's lawyers are also going to argue you can't sentence a president-elect, he has constitutional power.
So they will likely succeed in, if not getting that canceled, at least delayed. And the Georgia case will just remain in limbo. And it's unlikely he'll ever face trial.
TAPPER: Elie, in the New York criminal case, how much of a chance do you think Trump's legal team has in succeeding entirely, just based on the immunity argument like this needs to go away?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jake, it's always difficult to get a trial judge to throw out a jury's verdict, but I do think Trump has a perfectly reasonable and quite persuasive argument here. Essentially, he's going to argue some of the evidence that was introduced against me at the hush money trial related to my conduct during the time he was president in 2017, including his communications with Hope Hicks and other White House advisors. His argument's going to be under the immunity ruling, which came out after the trial. The Supreme Court said that I'm covered, I can't be charged for anything to do with my communications with the attorney general, probably with the vice president. So he'll argue these should have been excluded from the trial, therefore, I get a new trial, they should get thrown out.
The DA responded, well, that evidence wasn't really all that important. There was plenty of other evidence. But the problem is when the DA addressed the jury, he said that evidence of Trump's communications with Hope Hicks was utterly devastating. That's a quote and was a key piece of the puzzle.
Now, Judge Merchan has not ruled in Trump's favor on the big issues, so I don't necessarily expect him to do so here. But this is not some frivolous throwaway motion by Donald Trump.
TAPPER: Tom, you've served in the U.S. Justice Department. You heard Trump thinks that his next position -- the next attorney general he appoints will be one of, if not, the most important role he fills. We've seen lots of different kinds of attorneys general in the past. Democrats are furious at Merrick Garland. He's been independent, and they -- that he hasn't been partisan enough for the Democrats.
Donald Trump in his first term would often complain that Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr weren't enough of a Roy Cohn figure. They weren't loyal enough to him. What happens if he just goes with a complete loyalist that does everything he wants? And is that possible?
TOM DUPREE, PARTNER, GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER: Well, it is possible. I mean, the president has a prerogative, subject to Senate confirmation of choosing the man or woman he wants in that role. And I think you're right. And that's certainly one lesson President Trump drew from his first term, is that he wants someone who will be, in his view, loyal and responsive to his wishes, serving as attorney general. I think that lesson was then reinforced during the Biden administration, where the president saw someone, an attorney general, who exercised some degree of independence and distance from the president that appointed him.
I think the lesson Trump draws is he wants someone who is loyal, someone who will execute what he wants to do. One other thing to keep in mind, though, is that because it is a Senate confirmed position, the new attorney general will not take office on day one. There will be some period of time, it could be days, could be weeks, could be months, until the Senate confirms that person. So a lot of what we've been focusing on, what happens in the first hundred days of the Trump administration, may not necessarily be executed by the new attorney general, but rather by someone who's already in the Justice Department and gets appointed to serve and manage the Justice Department for the first few months in an acting capacity.
TAPPER: But we've seen, like the attorney general in Texas, for example, filed a lawsuit that was just insane trying to disenfranchise six states that went for Biden in 2020. I mean, there are established attorneys general, state attorneys general, that have no allegiance or adherence to basic fact, much less the law. If he gets somebody like that confirmed, which seems entirely possible given the makeup of the Senate, what then happens if he says, OK, go after my political enemies like I want you to, which he has said he wants to do. Go after the news media for reporting things that I don't like.
DUPREE: Right. I mean look --
TAPPER: I mean --
DUPREE: -- I think that's a very real possibility. And I think when Trump says things like that, I think you have to take them exceedingly seriously. You have to take it seriously. But as a practical matter, it is not entirely without guardrails. One guardrail is that the attorney general is just one person at the Department of Justice.
An attorney general cannot file a complaint and litigate a case and prosecute a case all by himself or herself. They are going to need the involvement of lawyers, career prosecutors, line attorneys at the Justice Department to pursue these cases. So that attorney general is going to have to be persuasive to some extent. In other words, it's one thing to appoint someone at the top of the bureaucracy, but it's another thing for that person then to be able to persuade the hundreds and thousands of lawyers who, you know, serve their careers as government lawyers to go along with that.
The other guardrail, of course, is the courts. If you prosecute someone, you typically need a grand jury or a federal judge to approve those charges. That's another guardrail that's important here.
TAPPER: All right, Paul, you have some new reporting about one of President-elect Trump's lawyers, his lead attorney. His phone's been hacked. What is this?
[17:25:04]
REID: Yes, we're talking about Todd Blanche, one of Trump's, as you said, top criminal defense attorneys, the architect of that delay, delay strategy that succeeded. I've learned that last week Blanche was informed by the FBI that his phone was accessed by Chinese hackers. They were able to obtain some of recordings off his phone as well as text messages.
Now during this briefing, I'm told that Blanche was told that most of what was obtained had to do with sort of innocuous family communications. There was nothing disclosed to him about anything related to the president-elect. Now, of course, those would be privileged communications. It is hard to imagine a Chinese government actor getting into that phone and only looking for innocuous communications, but that's what I'm told Blanche was told during his briefing with the FBI. But this is part of a broader effort by our foreign adversaries to hack into phones, both high profile Democrat and Republican candidates.
And it's the second are people aligned with the candidates. It's the second of Trump's lawyers whose phones have been compromised.
TAPPER: But do we have any idea how they did it? I mean, did he click a link that he shouldn't have clicked? Or are they just able to get into any phone anytime through backdoors of telecom agencies?
REID: So as I understand it, that is it. This was another breach via telecommunications companies. That's how they were able to get in. They're obviously very sophisticated.
But Todd Blanche is also a high priority target. This is someone who's going to have a lot of information about the president-elect and privileged information that we may not even know about his criminal cases.
TAPPER: Horrible. All right, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.
The future of Donald Trump's legal cases may look less threatening for the president-elect, but that's not the case for some of his advisers, his former advisors, who are still very much dealing with legal woes. That includes former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, back in court today in the defamation case against him, given an ultimatum by the judge. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is outside of court in New York.
Katelyn, what did the judge decide today?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, the judge told Giuliani that if he hasn't given Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss the luxury items that Giuliani owns already, which he was supposed to do last week, he's got until the end of next week to do so. He has to get them exactly where the lawyers are telling him to send them for Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. It's a Joe DiMaggio shirt that he has out in storage in Long Island. It's a car in Florida, the keys and the title have to be turned over to Giuliani. And if he doesn't do these things, he'll be held in contempt.
Now, Jake, this has been a tug of war between the lawyers for these two Georgia election workers and Rudy Giuliani's lawyer, a man named Ken Caruso. Today in court, Giuliani was there himself and throughout the proceeding before this judge, his attorney standing there speaking to the judge, Giuliani's muttering at the defense table. He's beckoning his lawyer over with his finger. At one point, his attorney says it is vindictive for Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss's lawyer to want a heirloom, a family heirloom wristwatch that Giuliani got from his grandfather. And the judge said, come on, that's ridiculous.
The law is the law. I don't apply it differently to your client. And then a little bit after that exchange, Giuliani's attorney walked over to them and said, essentially whispering, we tried. Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much.
Republicans are preparing for the possibility of total control of Congress in addition to the White House. So what does that mean for Democrats and their agenda? I'll ask a Democratic congressman next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And we're back with a CNN projection in the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. CNN can now project that Democrat Laura Gillen will defeat embattled Republican incumbent Anthony D'Esposito in New York's 4th congressional district. That's a flip for Democrats. There have not been a lot of those. Here's where it leaves the balance of power. Democrats have 196 House seats. They've picked up four. Republicans have 210 House seats, they've picked up six. Twenty-nine seats remain uncalled.
Either party needs 218 seats to control the U.S. House of Representatives. CNN already projected that Republicans will control the U.S. Senate. The overall election results left many Democrats stunned. And now there are calls for a reckoning within the Democratic Party.
I'm joined now by Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California. Good to see you, Congressman. On Election Day, you told NPR you thought Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris would win the Latino vote overwhelmingly. According to CNN exit polls, she barely won the Latino vote, 52 percent compared to Trump's 46 percent. I believe she completely lost Latino men in aggregate. What happened?
REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA), CO-CHAIR, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Yes, I mean look, this -- this obviously was a -- was a rough night for -- for us nationally as it relates to the presidency. I'm proud of the Vice President, the campaign she ran. There's a lot of work to do in the Latino community. I think myself, a lot of other Latinos across the country felt the Vice President was going to win the Latino vote. I mean, she obviously didn't win it. But the fact that we lost, particularly amongst Latino men, so much support, I think is -- is a challenge.
And I think it's one that we have to work on. The Democrats have to engage in. We have to be on the ground. We have to listen. And have to recognize as a -- as a party that working class issues, issues that appeal directly to people that are working out in the community, out across the country. We -- we have got to do more to support that work. And also do a much better job of messaging what we're actually doing. And so, a lot of work there but I -- nonetheless, I'm proud of her in the campaign she ran.
TAPPER: But I guess my question is, how did you personally get it so wrong? There's a Latina producer on my staff from Los Angeles who's been seeing this phenomenon of the Latino community moving right for years. I don't think she was surprised. I know she wasn't surprised by what happened, you were. So how did you get it so wrong?
GARCIA: I was. I mean look, I -- I -- we were looking at a lot of the same data. A lot of data across the country, data state by state. I personally talked to numerous community groups across the country, Nevada, Arizona. Met with groups of -- of -- of Latino men of undecided voters. I think of the -- the campaign, certainly the Harris campaign, myself included, many of us in Congress believe that the -- the Latino vote, were -- were beginning to consolidate around Vice President Harris. And that was just not the case.
[17:35:11]
Look, she still won obviously. Latin -- Lati -- Latinas, overwhelmingly, she won the Latino vote overall. But there's a lot of work to do with Latino men. And I think that's something that we as Democrats have to engage in. And I think particularly for those of us that are Latinos, those of us that are immigrants like myself, who came to this country, who worked hard, his family worked hard, in search of a -- in search of a better -- a better -- a better life. And there's a lot of work to do to ensure that we communicate to folks that the Democratic Party is the party of working people, is the party that supports immigrants, is the party that supports the social safety net.
And so we've got to continue to get that message out there. Understand that there's a lot of work ahead of us.
TAPPER: President-elect Trump told "NBC News" today about the diverse coalition of voters who supported him, including Latinos, quote, I started to see realignment could happen because the Democrats are not in line with the thinking of the country. You can't have defund the police, these kinds of things. They don't want to give up and they don't work. And the poli -- people understand that, unquote. Do you think Democrats are just simply out of touch with working people in terms of what working people want, what working people expect from the government?
GARCIA: No. I mean, absolutely not. I think -- I think first and foremost. The Democratic Party is -- is the party of working people. Has always been the party of working people and will continue to be so in the future. Look, Democrats won seats across the country. We defended Senate seats by the way. And won many of them in seats that we lost the presidential in whether it's what's going on in -- in Arizona and other places across the country, we won many of these seats.
We're continuing to win seats in Congress. But there is no question. There's a lot of work to do to ensure that we are doubling down on the issues that matter to working people. And that's something that I think our party, our leadership in the House recognizes, certainly folks across the country in our state houses recognize. And -- and we've just got to do a better job. I think -- we can -- we -- we have to know that.
And we also have to know that we have to communicate in better ways, not just through traditional media. But also reaching -- reaching people where they're consuming information. That's going to be a very important part in the future of how we communicate to not just Latinos, but to all voters as well.
TAPPER: You know as well as I do that the reason that Ruben Gallego won the Senate seat in Arizona is because the Republicans put up a crackpot. That -- it -- it had nothing to do, I mean, Gallego ran a good race, but -- but that's why that seat was won. The -- the -- the closing message to Latinos from my point of view, from the Harris campaign was look at those mean Republicans. They make racist jokes about Puerto Rico.
And the closing message to Latinos, from my point of view from the Trump campaign is I'm going to bring back a good economy and I'm going to secure the border. I -- I -- It's not a shock to me why the Trump message would be more resonant for somebody who is dealing with horrific inflation.
GARCIA: Well, I think first, the -- the Vice President had a -- a broad message for the Latino community. I understand. Let's be clear. Donald Trump and -- and a lot of his -- his allies did say racist things and did make racist jokes. That did offend a lot of people, including myself. But at the end of the day, we also have to do a better job of not just saying what we're against, but what we're for.
And I think that's something that it's important for us as Democrats to take forward is La -- Latinos, other communities. They want to continue to hear plans, to hear what we're going to do to uplift folks, to hear how we're going to actually solve and lower the cost -- cost of goods. And we talked a lot about that during the campaign. But clearly we have to not just talk about it more, but also communicate in the spaces and places where people are getting that information. And that's something I think that a lot of us need to learn from and will continue to do in the years ahead.
TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California, thank you sir. Appreciate your time. Let's bring in CNN political commentators Scott Jennings and Maria Cardona. Scott, so many people who voted for Trump. It seems to me, at least based on exit polls, feel like their concerns were being heard about the economy and immigration and that the Biden administration was -- was not hearing it. I -- I don't know if you agree with me, but I see what happened in the same way that Mitch McConnell does, your former boss, which is -- this was a repudiation of -- of the last four years by many voters. Not even necessarily specific to Kamala Harris.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I -- I think it is specific to her because she was part of the administration --
TAPPER: Sure.
JENNINGS: -- for the last four years.
TAPPER: Sure.
JENNINGS: And that was really her campaign's major problem. She could not, would not ever separate herself from Joe Biden. I mean, he had a 40 percent or less approval rating for most of his term. She was right there with him. She got a little bump when she got the nomination, but the results of it and how people felt about the job they were doing never really changed. And I think you pointed out the two most important issues, the economy and immigration.
[17:40:00]
And she was asked repeatedly in the month of October, what would you have done differently? What would you do next? And -- and she really -- you know, offered 0no introspection about the mistakes that they made when everyone knew they had made them. So, I'm -- I'm with you on -- I'm tracking your analysis. And I think Trump, you know, he ran -- of, you know, for all -- for all the ways that he was covered. And for all the, you know, all the outrage, the daily outrage machine around it. He basically was on the economy and immigration. Yes, there were other things, but those were the two things that delivered, in my opinion.
TAPPER: And -- and Maria, you heard me ask Congressman Garcia for his assessment of why Democrats was. You know, I just have to say I've been doing this job now for many, many years, many, many decades. And I have to say it's always a comms issue, right. It's never -- it's never the record. It's always -- they're just not communicating what they did effectively enough. The truth of the matter is, is that there was horrific inflation. And people had trouble buying groceries. And like, for most Americans, a $400 problem is a big problem.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, there's no question about that, Jake, especially when you are a working-class black person or Latino. Who normally find it more difficult than the rest to make ends meet in this country still today. So, I -- I agree with you. I think the Democratic Party did not focus enough on the economics and especially in the Latino and in the black community.
There was clearly an indelible mark from the pandemic of what happened after the pan -- pandemic, the soaring costs, the mortgage rates, all of that. The -- the -- the closing of businesses, right, all of that. And -- and yes, there was a lot of it that could be blamed on Trump, but that's not what people remember. And Democrats were not able to respond to it quickly enough or effectively enough and show working class voters what it was that they were going to do for them.
And I actually think because of what happened. I think it would have been difficult for any Democrat. And especially for a Vice President in an administration that was being blamed for all of that to have been successful in this climate. I think the Democratic Party from here on out, there's going to be a reckoning, there's going to be a -- a postmortem, all of it. But we need to get back to our roots of effectively and authentically speaking to voters about what it is that our policies will do for them, not just working-class white voters, but working-class black voters, working-class Latino voters --
TAPPER: Yes working-class voters in general. Yes.
CARDONA: Working class voters in general. But I think a lot of times the Democratic Party, when they say working class voters, they only think white voters. And that's not the case.
TAPPER: Scott?
JENNINGS: Yes, I -- I -- I hear Maria breaking it. And I agree. I think working class Americans did flow towards Donald Trump. But I think if Democrats are dedicated to continually dividing this country up by race all the time. I think one of the things I'm taking away from this, this was a repudiation of identity politics. And when you look at the huge flows of Hispanics towards Donald Trump, when you look at black men moving towards Donald Trump, they said, we've had enough.
We're -- we're tired of being singled out for our race. We'd rather be singled out because we're Americans who have real concerns and we want to talk to you, American to American, not because we're in some racial group. I think it's a total rejection of that. And I think the Democrats will be wise to learn it because the Republicans certainly have.
TAPPER: Scott Jennings, Maria Cardona, thanks to both you. Appreciate it.
[17:43:20]
Breaking news, a big announcement about President Trump's White House team, details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Breaking news, President-elect Donald Trump has just announced who will fill one of his top White House positions, one of the most important ones. Let's go straight to CNN's Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what -- what's the news?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Donald Trump has just announced moments ago that he is going to name Susie Wiles, his campaign co-chair to be the chief of staff of his presidency once he gets to office starting in January. And I do want to read you the statement here. He says, Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns. Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected.
Susie will continue to work tirelessly to make America great again. It is a well-deserved honor to have Susie as the first ever female chief of staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud. As we talked about earlier today, Susie had been the top contender going into this.
She is someone who makes Donald Trump feel comfortable. She is also someone who has really lasted the longest in Donald Trump's orbit, a place that is known for knife fighting and backstabbing. She has been loyal to the former president, a constant by his side since he left office in 2021.
One thing I will say, Jake, she had some stipulations that he clearly agreed to telling one source that she didn't want the clown car to be able to have access to the White House at any time, meaning those people who they don't want near Donald Trump. She clearly won that argument. She will be the first female chief of staff in United States history.
TAPPER: That's huge news. I am interested in learning and maybe you can make a list of the people who would qualify as the clowns. Because I'm sure everybody has their different take on who might constitute members of the clown car. But that is -- that is interesting news and she certainly ran Donald Trump's most professional campaign. Kristen Holmes with the breaking news, thanks.
Scott Jennings still with us. Scott, your reaction?
JENNINGS: Great pick. I think what was said in the statement is absolutely true. She's universally respected in the party. The organization of the campaign and the fact that he stuck with the leadership team all the way through I think is a testament to just what a great job that she did. Being the first female chief of staff in the White House, I think is a huge marker for both President Trump and the Republican Party.
So, I think -- I think if -- if she can bring the kind of discipline and organization to the White House that she just ran this campaign with, Donald Trump's got a really good chance to get off to a great start and begin achieving objectives right out of the way. So you're going to get a lot of a -- you're going to get a lot of Atta boys from across the Republican spectrum for picking Susie Wiles tonight.
[17:49:58]
TAPPER: All right, Scott Jennings, thanks so much. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our World Lead, President-elect Donald Trump says he has already spoken with probably 70 world leaders since Wednesday morning, among them Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as CNN's Matthew Chance explains, a second Trump presidency is welcome news in the Jewish state.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the occasion of Donald Trump's presidency. God bless America. God bless Israel.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some Israelis are feeling unleash like this soldier in Gaza who the Israeli military says will be disciplined for this. On Israeli T.V., a pro government news show celebrates with song, for anchor toasts the U.S. President-elect. We congratulate Donald Trump. The success of Israel is his success, he says. For many here it is a new era free of Biden administration restraints on the Jewish state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's good for Israel. Yes, no doubt. It's better than Kamala Harris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's going to be a new era for the world, for the Middle East, for Israel. Things going to be -- things going to change.
CHANCE (voice-over): In Gaza. That change couldn't come quick enough. This the chaotic aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Israel says it targets Hamas fighters, but the civilian cost continues to climb. Trump has called on Netanyahu to end the conflict quickly. Arguing Israel was losing the PR war. But few Gazans believe a Trump presidency will save them.
[17:55:25]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Trump will not be different than Biden. It's the same. Policy, the same mentality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope he will better and the war will stop and reach a truce. We're already exhausted.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had no wars. They said he will start a war. I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars.
CHANCE (voice-over): And it's that promise to stop war that may prove Trump's biggest challenge. Region where conflict shows little sign of easy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (on camera): And tonight Jake, reports of new Israeli strikes killing dozens of people across the Gaza Strip. With 27 people, according to Palestinian health officials, killed in a single incident when a residential building in the Jabalya refugee camp was targeted. There have been attacks in the other direction as well. The Israeli military saying 125 rockets have been fired from southern Lebanon into Israel since this morning. Jake, back to you.
TAPPER: All right, Matthew Chance in Jerusalem, thanks so much.
In our National Lead, two Jewish students at DePaul University in Chicago are recovering after they were attacked on Wednesday. The men, both in their 20s, were visibly showing their support for the state of Israel when the attack occurred. CNN's Whitney Wild is following the story. Whitney, what are police saying about the case?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Not much at this point, Jake. Basically they're just going through the details of this all again. Just walk you through what happened. This happened at 3:30 yesterday afternoon outside DePaul University. Two students, one was 21 years old, one was 27 years old. Again, as you said, Jake, showing visible support for Israel when unknown assailants came up to them. The 21-year-old was punched. The 27-year-old was pushed to the ground. The assailants then ran off.
At this point Jake, they don't have suspects named yet, at least not publicly. There have been, of course, no charges filed because there are no suspects in custody. But the university is saying this. We are outraged that this occurred on our campus. It is completely unacceptable and a violation of DePaul's values to uphold and care for the dignity of every individual.
Jake, we have seen attacks on people who were Jewish in the city of Chicago lately. What we saw recently was the Chicago Police Department waiting until they were very sure to have a motive in another case. Certainly that would apply here. Of course, there is a major question of whether this is a hate crime. And if we -- Chicago police following that same playbook with every investigation, waiting until they have solid evidence, solid motive before filing charges, especially when they, you know, involve the possibility of a hate crime. So we will continue to ask the police department. But at this point, the main points, Jake, are suspects are not in custody, no charges filed yet, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Whitney Wild in Chicago, thanks so much. In our Law and Justice Lead, a military judge says the plea deals between the alleged 9/11 co-conspirators at Guantanamo Bay and the U.S. government that those plea deals are, quote, valid and enforceable, meaning that the Mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices could be sentenced to life in prison instead of a death sentence. They could enter guilty pleas as soon as next week. The stunning move comes after 9/11 families spoke out against the plea deals. And three months after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked them. CNN's Oren Lieberman is at the Pentagon. So Oren, what happened?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jake, it took just a couple of days for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to try to revoke the agreements of the plea deals that would have seen alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, more commonly known as KSM and two of his co-conspirators go to prison for life in exchange for guilty pleas for all of the charges they faced, including the murder of all of the victims of 9/11. It took more than two years to reach those plea deals.
But just after they were announced, Austin not only revoked the deals themselves or at least attempted to, but also revoke the authority of the official in charge of getting to those deals to make the deals in the first place. The problem as we just learned from a military judge today was that Austin didn't have the authority to do that. The -- the official in charge of those deals had the authority to make the deals and made them with the knowledge of the Pentagon and the -- the Defense Secretary. Austin didn't have the right to revoke or withdraw the authority to reach the deals and therefore didn't have the right to revoke the deals themselves.
Given that scenario, the -- the hearings will move forward as soon as next week to close out these guilty pleas and send the 9/11 conspirators alleged to prison for life. Jake?
TAPPER: All right, Oren Liebermann, thanks so much.
[18:00:01]
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