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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Taps Loyalists For Key Staff & Cabinet Positions; WSJ: Trump Draft Exec Order Would Create Board To Purge Generals; Fetterman: Rubio Is "Strong Choice" Secretary Of State; Some Reported Trump Cabinet Picks Face MAGA Backlash; Sources: Trump Picks Gov. Kristi Noem For Homeland Security Secy.; Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), Is Interviewed About Lessons For Democrats; Cryptocurrency Soars After Trump Win; RFK Jr. Wants To Replace 600 NIH Officials With Hand-Picked Staff. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 12, 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: Massive resignation across the pond with ripples here in the United States. The Archbishop of Canterbury has stepped down over the handling of a horrific scandal. And now the Anglican and Episcopal churches are without a leader as officials try to figure out what comes next.

Plus, Congress is back in session and now we're just hours away from a critical vote. Will the MAGA wing of the Republican Party secure even more power ahead of Trump's return to Washington, D.C. tomorrow?

And leading this hour, the president-elect's cabinet taking shape. His early hires are sending a strong signal as to what Trump's first priorities will be after he takes office again in January. The latest picks, both announced and expected, are national security and foreign policy focused, including secretary of state, homeland security and U.S. Ambassador to Israel. CNN's Kristen Holmes is here in studio.

And Kristen, you covered the Trump campaign. Just got back from Mar-a- Lago. What do these new picks tell you about a second Trump administration?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly, Donald Trump is focused on foreign policy. I mean, the fact that these were some of the top picks, secretary of state, as you said, national security adviser, that signals exactly what direction that they're that Donald Trump wants to go in. And the particular interest here is Mike Waltz, who is Republican from Florida. He is somebody who is a strong China hawk. He has spoken out against China.

Marco Rubio, who is now, we believe going to be offered secretary of state if everything holds again.

TAPPER: Right.

HOLMES: You know, with Donald Trump, nothing's official until it's official. Also a big China hawk. This is going to give an indication of the direction that Donald Trump wants to go in particularly when it comes to one of his campaign promises, which was being incredibly hard on China. Now, the one interesting thing about Marco Rubio and really Mike Waltz some extension, Waltz has seen a more kind of adaptive approach to Donald Trump. He's gone a little bit further with him.

But Marco Rubio himself is not known as an isolationist America First policy. He is much more of a globalist in terms of who was up for secretary of state. So how that plays out in Donald Trump's America and Donald Trump's administration is something that we still have questions about.

TAPPER: What about this afternoon's announcement, which is an official announcement, unlike the Rubio one, which we think is coming but hasn't yet, the official announcement of the new U.S. ambassador or at least nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Israel.

HOLMES: I think that sends a very strong message to Netanyahu, which Donald Trump has been really trying to build up that relationship. He's been very pleased with the reach out that we've had that he has seen from Netanyahu to him directly. He went down to Mar-a-Lago. He has called him on multiple occasions. And obviously, as we know with the former president, flattery gets you very far.

And we have been told by senior advisors that Netanyahu has been very complimentary of former President Donald Trump. And the signal with Huckabee is this is somebody who has been a staunch supporter of Israel. He is somebody who, while not Jewish, could strengthen ties between Netanyahu and evangelical Christians in America, something that Netanyahu has wanted to do. But Mike Huckabee has really taken a line even further than so many people that we've seen. He has at one point refused to acknowledge the even existence of the West Bank.

So these are messages --

TAPPER: He called it Judea and Samaria.

HOLMES: Yes. And said that it doesn't exist in his mind or something along those lines. Clearly, this is sending a strong signal to Netanyahu and to Israel that this is going to be a top priority of his.

TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thanks so much.

Joining us now, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser for Donald Trump, John Bolton.

Mr. Ambassador, good to see you. So the Wall Street Journal is reporting of a draft executive order that's been presented to the Trump transition team that would establish a, quote, "warrior board" of retired senior military personnel who had -- would have the power to review three and four star generals and admirals and to recommend removals of any of them deemed unfit for leadership. The Trump transition team, when we asked them about this Wall Street Journal report, responded to CNN's request for comment on this by saying, quote, "The American people reelected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver," unquote. What's your take on this? JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I haven't seen the text of the supposed order, but I would say that one of America's most important achievements in governance is really to have made the military totally non-political in our history. It didn't -- wasn't always that way. There were fits and starts. But we really have reached a point where the military believes its oath is to the Constitution and not to the holder of the presidency.

And I understand there are concerns about things the Biden administration did in the woke area, in the military, and there's a way to solve that particular problem and that's to sit the generals down and say there's a new sheriff in town, we're not doing that woke stuff anymore. I think they would say, yes, sir, and that would be the end of it.

But this idea that you're now going to review the generals with some indication there's a political loyalty test, I think is not just a mistake for the incoming Trump administration. This risks very significantly wrecking our success in keeping the military not nonpolitical.

[17:05:11]

TAPPER: I asked when I interviewed then senator and now Vice President-elect J.D. Vance about all the people like yourself and John Kelly and General Milley and all the others who have been critical of him, this is before the election, I asked about that. I want to play some of that and get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT: For a lot of former members of the Pentagon bureaucracy, a lot of old neoconservatives, they have a fundamental difference with Donald Trump on the question of peace and war. They don't like that Donald Trump said no when a lot of them wanted to start a ridiculous war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: On Sunday, as Mr. Trump, President-elect Trump, is forming his cabinet, Donald Trump Jr. reposted a tweet that said, quote, "we need maximum pressure to keep all neocons and war hawks out of the Trump administration," unquote, to which Don Jr. replied, "Agreed, I'm on it."

It sounds like Don Jr. and J.D. Vance -- well, I know JD Vance was talking about people like you. It sounds like Don Jr. might also be. I'm wondering how you view what they are saying with some of the picks we've heard.

BOLTON: Well, I think let's start with a remark by J.D. Vance. It really shows a superficiality in his understanding of how the government runs. The complaints that I had, I won't get others roped into it, were that the way Trump behaved in office showed he was not fit for office. It had nothing to do with his substantive decisions. It was, among other things, his unwillingness to take responsibility for the very decisions he had made.

But I do think there's a group of people who are -- who think that they are going to be able to screen out people not on the basis of philosophy so much as on their attitude toward the president. And the word loyalty is often used. I think that's the wrong word, actually. I think what Trump wants from his advisers is fealty, really, a futile sense of subservience. And, you know, he may get that. But I will tell you that that will not serve him well over the course of his next term, and it certainly won't serve the country well.

TAPPER: As a former national Security advisor, you tweeted that you, quote, "implored the next office holder to do everything he or she can to put factual information in front of the President," unquote. I'm wondering if you think Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, whose name has been floated as a national security advisor, and Senator Marco Rubio, whose name has been floated as a Secretary of State, do you think that they will do that? Provide the president with factual information?

BOLTON: Based on my knowledge of them, I think they will try and do it. The question is whether Trump's willing to receive it. You know, what I described as the role of national security adviser is the classic Brent Scowcroft formulation. It has nothing to do with Donald Trump. It was well before Trump came on the scene.

But that's what the role is. And really, it's incumbent on the senior cabinet members and others who advise the president to try and do the same thing.

TAPPER: Rubio, back in 2017, asked some tough questions of Trump's first secretary of state pick, Rex Tillerson, specifically on the issue of Russia. Rubio pressed Tillerson on whether Tillerson thought that Putin was a war criminal. And he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): So, Tillerson, you've engaged in significant business activities in Russia, so I'm sure you're aware that very few things of a major proportion happen in that country without Vladimir Putin's permission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, I want to play what Senator Rubio said about Russia's war on Ukraine just last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: I think the Ukrainians have been incredibly brave and strong in standing up to Russia. But at the end of the day, what we are funding here is a stalemate war, and it needs to be brought to a conclusion, because that country is going to be set back 100 years. Now, that doesn't mean that we celebrate what Vladimir Putin did or are excited about it, but I think there has to also be some common sense here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think?

BOLTON: Well, I'll let Marco answer for that. Look, I think it's important that anybody who takes a senior position or responsibility in the Trump administration try and hold on to their principles and their integrity. I saw during my time people that I thought had a lot of intellectual integrity and personal integrity just wrap themselves around the axle in order to stay in the Trump administration. I think that's a mistake. I think one of the most important things somebody coming into an important job like that should remember is they don't need the job, and it's not more important than their integrity and honesty.

[17:10:01]

TAPPER: Former Ambassador John Bolton, Thank you, sir. Good to see you. Appreciate it.

BOLTON: Thank you.

TAPPER: You elected them into office, and now the new class of lawmakers is in Washington, D.C. today. We're live on Capitol Hill with what you can expect from their first days of work.

Plus, President-elect Trump and President Biden will be back in the same room tomorrow for the first time since June 27th, in that race defining debate. But we're learning about their meeting that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our politics lead, a rare moment of bipartisan support on Capitol Hill today if President-elect Trump does in fact select Republican Senator Marco Rubio to be his next secretary of state. The first Senate Democrat has already come forward saying not only does he support Rubio, he will vote for his confirmation. That's Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, posted on X or Twitter, quote, "Unsurprisingly, the other team's pick will have political differences than my own. That being said, my colleague, Senator Marco Rubio, is a strong choice and I look forward to voting for his confirmation," unquote.

[17:15:07]

We should note, I believe Marco Rubio as a senator has voted for every secretary of state nominee put forward by Democrats and Republicans. Just a little trivia for you.

Karen, do you agree with Senator Fetterman that Rubio would be a strong choice to be, I mean, relative to a Republican president, you have to grant them that.

KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, sure. Look, I think, though, what Fetterman is also saying is that he expects that there will be a process by which all of the people that Trump nominates will have to go through the regular process and go through hearings. And I hope that ends up being the case and that he -- you know, this whole thing about the recess appointments that he's trying to get people to agree to, that's disturbing. But it's also part of what he made very clear during the campaign. He is about consolidating power.

JOSH ROGIN, WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST: I think a lot of senators are breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't Secretary of State Ric Grenell, who represents the MAGA week.

TAPPER: We should note it has -- the nomination hasn't happened, it hasn't been official yet. So anything could happen.

ROGIN: But if you're a Democrat national security person, you're thinking between the MAGA Trump people and the establishment Trump people. The MAGA Trump people are worse from your perspective. So when you look at the secretary of defense, the national security advisor, any of these positions, you're happy when the center right ish, semi cold on Ukraine guy gets the nod rather than the guy who thinks that Ukraine is like, you know, the aggressor or that, you know, that they have bio labs or whatever. So it seems pretty clear that the establishment Republicans are winning so far, but the secretary of Defense position is out there. That's the next big one.

There's a fight going on right now. And if the MAGA Republicans get that one, I think that'll be a big blow.

TAPPER: Machalagh, all somebody has to do is clip Josh saying that the establishment Republicans are winning tweeted at Donald Trump --

ROGIN: Right. You can't help with that.

TAPPER: -- Elon Musk retweets it and who knows what happens.

MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, SPEAKER MCCARTHY: Right. Interesting, what your incentives -- speaking of incentives are there. But look, these picks are interesting and timely and they're trying to put a cabinet together that can kind of effectuate the message that was -- that they ran on. And we'll see when they become official what they are.

TAPPER: So the current Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, he's in Brussels right now to speak with European officials concerned about what's going to happen with President-elect Trump when it comes to Ukraine and NATO and tariffs. This rests concerns a little bit for Europeans. If it's Rubio and Huckabee or no?

ROGIN: It's a different set of concerns, I think. When you talk to European leaders, I interviewed Boris Johnson, just for one example, and what he said was, this can go bad or it can go worse. And if you have Republicans like Rubio and Waltz who want to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war, but in a way that preserves Ukraine's sovereignty and dignity and territorial integrity to a degree, versus people like J.D. Vance and Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson who were like, oh, no, let the Russians have it, that's a big difference, OK. So, it's not that they're not anticipating a big change. Even Ukrainians welcome some sort of change.

The current pace of the Ukraine war is grueling for them. But if Rubio Waltz change versus Grenell, you know, Tucker Carlson change, that's a pretty big difference. FINNEY: I just think that's naive. I mean, God love my party and God love policy people. But I mean, it's Trump's agenda. And I mean, I don't see Rubio as being someone who's -- or anyone as being able to push back on what Trump has made very clear. I mean --

ROGIN: I remember from the first term, Trump's agenda changed every day, and then it changed again and no policy was ever settled. And if you look at his --

FINNEY: Yes.

ROGIN: -- Russia policy, just for one example, it went back and forth. China policy, same thing. So, these fights are happening and they're important and they matter to people all over the world, and we don't know which way it's going to turn out. And I do think there are worse and better outcomes. And, you know, a U.S. Policy under Trump that's, you know, tough on Russia, but still negotiates a settlement, could end the war in a way that produces a lasting peace.

Whereas a policy that just hands over Ukraine to the aggressor, well, I think that would make the world actually much more dangerous.

FINNEY: I don't disagree. I just don't think that who is secretary of state is actually going to be the measure of whether or not that --

TAPPER: Well, let's turn to a different position because South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is going to be known -- is going to be nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. That's a huge, sprawling department, everything from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration, Federal Emergency management agency, the U.S. Secret Service. Are people excited about that pick? Are Republicans excited about the pick? And I'm not trying to be rude but like does she have any expertise as a -- does any South Dakota governor have any expertise to be a Homeland Security Secretary?

I mean North Dakota at least has the border with Canada. Well what does a South Dakota governor --

CARR: Well I don't know that governors generally have, with maybe the exception of some in Texas with like really --

TAPPER: All I'm saying is it's a big job. Does she have expertise with this?

CARR: They don't. I mean our border issue is not something that state governors typically are making decisions on.

TAPPER: Right.

CARR: I think why she was picked more is about her history, right? And I'm an Article 1 junkie, of course I have my bias and my preference but I love having House members in prominent positions. She was a very strong member of House and on the Ways and Means Committee prior to her run for governor and she's, you know, the first governor -- the first female governor of that state. And I think that she's shown that she's incredibly competent. [17:20:13]

And that's the kind of position that, look, they're going to get a lot of flack. You're going to get called up to Congress a lot.

TAPPER: Sure.

CARR: Especially if the Democrats come back when the congressional oversight of those issues is really important. And I think that she has the intellectual chops to kind of handle that sprawling subject and to hire the right people to effectuate the mission.

TAPPER: What do you -- what do you hear about her nomination?

ROGIN: I think that's a clear win for the MAGA side. So their --

TAPPER: Right.

ROGIN: -- you know, some of them are winning each of the positions. So on DHS, I think that's going to the MAGA side. I think that's pretty much expected. And I think they're going to implement, in this case, the policy that Trump has articulated in the campaign more reliably than on something like Ukraine or China or what have you. And I just think that the Secretary of Defense job is the biggest one out there.

And it's right now between, from what I hear, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Wilkie, Chris Miller, Ric Grenell and a couple others, Joni Ernst, and that's the bitter fight. That's what everyone's talking about in the chat rooms and on the signal groups and everything like that.

TAPPER: Secretary of defense.

ROGIN: Secretary of defense, it's the biggest job left. And if you think about the implications for Ukraine and China and the Middle East, it's just unthinkable that that person wouldn't have a huge effect on our policy, on our relationships around the world. And both sides can't win. Either the establishment Republicans or the MAGA Republicans are going to take that one and that's going to tip the ballot.

FINNEY: I think going back to what John Bolton said, I actually think it's also important because the question will be, are you going to be willing to order the generals to go into American cities and use military force against the American people, which is something Trump did talk about --

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: -- during the election.

TAPPER: All right, thanks to one and all. Appreciate it.

He just made history. And now Democratic Senator-elect Andy Kim of New Jersey is going to be here in studio. What does he think of the voters who went for both him and for Donald Trump? And how is Senator-elect Kim going to get anything done in a Republican controlled Senate? I'll ask him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:26:27]

TAPPER: This just in to The Lead. President Trump just announced he's going to appoint Steve Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. Witkoff was a major donor to the Trump campaign. He's helping to lead the Trump inauguration. He also spoke at the Republican National Convention and is a real estate investor.

Witkoff was with Trump on the golf course the day that the U.S. Secret Service foiled that alleged second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

In our politics lead Congress is back in session. Both the House and Senate are in D.C. today, but we still don't know who is going to control the House come next year. two hundred eighteen is the magic number for power. Currently, Republicans have won 215 seats. Democrats have won 206 seats. There are 14 seats left to call.

In the U.S. Senate, Republicans have clear control with 52 seats. In the last few races, Democrat Ruben Gallego defeated Kari Lake in Arizona. Pennsylvania's race has still not been called, but both Dave McCormick and Bob Casey, both of them were invited to Senate orientation.

All of those Republican lawmakers are going to meet with President- elect Trump on Capitol Hill tomorrow. But before they take up Trump's America first agenda, they will need to pick their leaders. CNN's Manu Raju is live on Capitol Hill.

And Manu, you spoke with House Speaker Johnson today. He's bullish that Republicans are going to win the House and that he's going to hold on to the gavel.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. In fact, I asked him whether or not Trump is supporting his bid to remain as speaker of the House. And Mike Johnson told me yes he is. And I asked him about any concerns that he may have given the narrowness of his expected majority. We have not called the House yet, but if they are on track at the moment to hold on to pretty a razor thin margin, very similar to what they have currently.

And when we saw what happened to Kevin McCarthy in the last Congress, he took him 15 ballots to initially be elected speaker. And then of course he got ousted from the speakership in historic fashion. I asked him if he had any concerns that a handful of people on the far right in particular may try to prevent him from getting the speakership on January 3, he told me he's not. He believes his members will be online and he's going to try to rely on Donald Trump's support to get those members in line. And also Jake, he plans to go to Mar-a-Lago this weekend as they try to formulate the legislative strategy for the rest of this Congress and as Donald Trump takes power next January.

TAPPER: And Manu, Republican senators have their leadership vote tomorrow. How is that race shaping up?

RAJU: John Cornyn and John Thune, two longtime members of the Senate Republican Conference, they are seen as the clear frontrunners in this race. It is hard to handicap it between the two of them about who actually may win this race. John Thune is the current number two in the Senate Republican Conference. Cornyn used to be number two. They have deep relationships.

They've raised millions of dollars for their colleagues, which is why they are seen as the likely people to succeed Mitch McConnell. Unlike Rick Scott, the Florida Republican senator, someone who's just reelected to his second term. Even though Scott has got the support of members of the -- in Trump's orbit, not Trump himself. Trump is being is neutral right now, but people who are allies of the former president, outsiders in particular like Elon Musk, calling for them to elect Rick Scott.

I talked to one of Scott's supporters in the Senate tip, Tommy Tuberville about the pressure campaign that Scott supporters on the outside are leveling on Republican senators to back him for the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Because my phone has been ringing off the wall, my e-mail has been lit up, people want somebody that's going hand to hand. It's also a business guy like Rick Scott that can work with President Trump.

[17:30:02]

RAJU: So he should stay out.

TUBERVILLE: Yes. Yes. Well, I mean, it's up to him. But if you -- if he was asking me, which he hadn't, I'd say, listen, let us handle this. And, you know, you -- you got a lot of people to hire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So that last comment, Tuberville referring to Trump himself, saying that he thinks Trump should stay out of this race. And it's unclear if you'll get in, but Jake, if he were to endorse, that could be potentially a big risk here, given that this is a secret ballot election that will take place behind closed doors tomorrow, could go any way. And Donald Trump does not want to be on the wrong side of picking a Republican leader that will be elected tomorrow, given that members can vote however they want. But Trump does plan to meet with the Senate majority leader tomorrow afternoon after this election is held.

TAPPER: All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill for us, thanks so much.

And we turn now to Democratic Senator-elect Andy Kim of New Jersey. This is his first T.V. interview since he won his race. And Kim will be the first Korean American in the U.S. Senate ever. And your parents are still alive. Are they both immigrants? REP. ANDY KIM (D-NJ), SENATOR-ELECT: Yes, that's right. My parents immigrated from South Korea to the United States 50 years ago to this year. So we get to celebrate 50th anniversary of our family in America by me becoming a U.S. Senator.

TAPPER: I have some serious questions for you, but, like, what was that like for your parents on election night that they come to this country and, you know, 50 years later, their son is elected Senator- elect from New Jersey?

KIM: Yes.

TAPPER: I mean, that -- that's -- I mean, that is the American dream.

KIM: It was really emotional. Actually, the hotel that we had the election night at was a hotel that my parents, my whole family, all of us moved to 37 years ago. We lived out of that hotel for the first few weeks that we lived in New Jersey when I was five years old. So I wanted to come back to that hotel and pay tribute to the opportunities that we've had. But, you know, I'm humbled by this opportunity. I'll be the first Asian American elected to the U.S. Senate from the entire east coast of America. So we're trying to show that there's a new era here coming in and a lot more opportunity ahead.

TAPPER: It's great. And it's -- it's -- it's very nice. OK, let me talk to you about issues now. So you won by 9 percent over your Republican opponent. New Jersey did, however, in that same election last week, move to the right. President Biden beat Trump by 16 percent in 2020, Harris only carried the Garden State by 5 percentage points. That means something like 4 percent of the voters that day of New Jersey voted for Donald Trump and then for you. What do you make of that?

KIM: Well, look, you know, this isn't the first experience that I've had like that. In 2020, when Trump was last on the ballot, he won my congressional district, but I won as well. I outperformed Joe Biden by 8 points, as was one of only seven Democrats in the country to win a district that Trump won. I spent a lot of time trying to dive in and trying to figure out what happened there. And I think there's some lessons learned. We certainly need to make sure we're talking to voters right now, you know, trying to understand, you know, their -- their approach.

But one thing that I kept hearing from people is like they were just so sick and tired of the status quo of politics. It is not delivering. This is something not just over the last four to eight years, but just writ large. And, you know, Donald Trump is someone they continue to see as an outsider, someone who's not from politics.

You know, for me, I'm somebody that comes at this from a sense of public service. I'm not central casting of what you'd imagine a senator from New Jersey to look like. But they like that. They like that. I stood up to leaders in my own party over the last year, standing up against the previous senator who was indicted, standing up against the machine politics of New Jersey, you know, and that resonates with people. They want people that aren't just going to be, you know, tribal, aren't going to just be, you know, pigeonholed in a certain way.

And I think that that's something that the Democratic Party needs to confront about what it means to be different from the status quo.

TAPPER: What does that mean, policy wise? Because obviously, you know, Kamala Harris and -- and you don't disagree that much on issues, right?

KIM: Well, yes, look, I mean, I -- I think moving forward, I mean, we, you know, we need to show, for instance, that we're tackling a lot of the anti-corruption efforts we're trying to be able to do. You know, probably the most popular piece of legislation I've ever introduced is legislation that would ban members of Congress and senior government officials from owning and trading individual stocks. You know, for instance, it's not going to change the world. But people see that as signals to be able to engage and show a difference.

When the Democrats are talking about protecting democracy, we're talking about the threats that Trump faces. We have to show that doesn't mean we're trying to protect the status quo, trying to protect a system that clearly isn't working for so many Americans. And we need to show that, yes, we believe in democracy, we believe in the institutions, but we want to understand that so many people feel such distrust and frankly, I'll go as far to say disgust with politics.

And Trump is somebody that has shown a desire and a track record of saying, like, you know, he's going in a different direction. He's not from the same old, same old politics. And that's a space that the Democrats need to understand.

[17:34:55]

TAPPER: So one of the things he's also doing is he's signaling that he wants Republicans in the Senate, your new job, your new workplace to adjourn so that he can appoint recess appointments to his candidate positions. I don't know how many. He wants to do this or -- or which one specifically, but he wants to do this too, I mean, the best interpretation is he wants to do this so he can get up and running for this policy. The worst interpretation is he doesn't want the advice and consent of the Senate. He doesn't want to deal with the pesky vetting and confirmation hearings. What do you think about that?

KIM: Well, I think about it in terms of the fact that, you know, I work a job whose job description is in the Constitution of the United States. And that should be our guidepost always. Our oath is to, and that's the same thing for the President, is to the Constitution. So taking steps that are trying to shortcut around that or game the system, things of that nature. And again, he's framing it as this sense of, you know, politics don't work, it takes too long.

Well, look, we'll find ways to be able to speed this process along, you know, especially frankly, you know, the Senate's going to be in Republican control anyway. But regardless, the people of New Jersey deserve to have a vote. They deserve to have a chance to be able to have a sense of who their leaders are going to be. And if he circumvents that and tries to go around that, you know, that will certainly be a problem. That'll certainly be something that I hope the American people see through.

TAPPER: All right, Senator-elect Kim, it's good to have you here. Thank you so much.

KIM: Thanks for having me.

TAPPER: Thank you so much. Do you make your wife call you Senator- elect?

KIM: No. No.

TAPPER: What about your kids? Do you make your kids call you that?

KIM: Of course. Yes. It helps with the dishwashing.

TAPPER: That's appropriate.

KIM: Yes.

TAPPER: That's appropriate. Congratulations again. Good to see you, sir.

KIM: Thanks so much.

TAPPER: Bitcoin and other digital currencies are surging after Donald Trump's election victory. What you need to know and what this could mean for the broader economy. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:48]

TAPPER: In our Money Lead now, Bitcoin reached an all-time high Monday, continuing to soar after President-elect Trump's win last week. Other cryptocurrencies are also climbing. The surge likely reflects investor optimism that President-elect Trump will fulfill campaign promises to weaken federal oversight of cryptocurrency and establish the first ever national Bitcoin reserve. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more now on how the Trump presidency could impact this industry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bitcoin soaring to new heights today, flirting with a new record $90,000 per coin. It's the latest in a crypto frenzy fueled by President Trump's reelection win. The industry believes Trump's win signals a new crypto friendly government, a departure from the Biden administration's harsher crackdown.

KARA CALVERT, VP FOR U.S. POLICY, COINBASE: We are now on a -- on the precipice of changing course. I think what President Trump did was lay out a very robust and a very clear vision. And that I think was something we had not seen. So it was a very stark choice from the previous administration. YURKEVICH (voice-over): Bitcoin, a digital cryptocurrency, trades on some unregulated exchanges and has no central regulating authority and is not backed by the government or a bank. It can be very volatile.

JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE: I've always been deeply opposed to crypto, Bitcoin, et cetera. If I was the government, I'd close it down.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): President-elect Trump was once a crypto skeptic. During his first term, he said it was, quote, based on thin air. But in recent months, he's changed his tune, accepting crypto campaign donations.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Hello, Bitcoiners.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): And Speaking at Bitcoin 2024 in July.

TRUMP: I'm laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): In September, Trump helped create a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial. That same month, he stopped by a crypto bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. He also proposed a national crypto stockpile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first transaction by a president on the Bitcoin protocol history.

TRUMP: You know what that means, right? That's history.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): The President-elect has vowed to oust SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has sought more regulation over the cryptocurrency market and helped lead the takedown of FTX's infamous Sam Bankman-Fried, who defrauded thousands of customers.

GARY GENSLER, SEC CHAIRMAN: It's an innovation, but innovations don't long thrive if they don't also build trust. I mean, the automobile wouldn't have survived if you didn't have traffic lights.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): But as Trump assembles his administration, he's surrounding himself with crypto friendly advisors, most notably, Elon Musk, who argues it promotes freedom.

ELON MUSK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I do think crypto by its very nature is -- is it helps with individual freedom.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Vanessa Yurkevich for that report.

[17:43:49]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reveals some of his new ideas for his expected role in the Trump administration. And one of them includes firing hundreds of people on day one. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: This just into our Politics Lead, President-elect Trump has just announced two major picks for his new administration. John Ratcliffe will be director, or at least nominated to be Director of the CIA. Ratcliffe, you may remember, served as Director of National Intelligence in the first Trump administration. Ratcliffe had been on the shortlist for Attorney General and been working on national security policy for the Trump transition team.

The other big announcement, veteran Republican lawmaker, I'm sorry, veteran Republican lawyer William McGinley will serve as White House counsel. McGinley served as White House Cabinet Secretary during Trump's first term and during this election served as the RNC's outside counsel for election integrity.

In our Health Lead, RFK Jr.'s new proposal for the Trump administration is to fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health and replace them with handpicked staffers. At a conference on Saturday, Kennedy said he's looking to, quote, vet for the right people, unquote, so that these potential new employees can be ready within 24 hours of Trump being sworn into office.

Just a note, RFK Jr. has yet to be offered a formal position with the Trump administration. I want to bring in Dr. Paul Offit. He's the director of the Vaccine Education Center for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee, a highly respected medical voice. Dr. Offit, what is your reaction and what do you think the impact would be to public health if RFK Jr. is able to do mass layoffs and hire others for 600 people at the National Institutes of Health?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR OF VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, nothing good. It comes of eliminating that level of experience, expertise and institutional memory. And I -- I don't understand exactly what problem he's trying to solve. He's arguing that the -- the NIH has failed us and that it hasn't focused on chronic diseases, rather, instead it's focused on infectious diseases. And what we should do is we should stop focusing on infectious diseases. Let's just give that a break for a while.

[17:50:00]

TAPPER: I think that's RFK Jr. on the phone for you, sir.

OFFIT: Yes, this is my -- this is my, sorry, this my son and granddaughter. Hopefully this will stop. I can make this stop. OK, we're good.

TAPPER: Go.

OFFIT: And so -- so what he's done is he's basically said that -- that -- that we have, by focusing on infectious disease, we've ignored chronic diseases and that we should give infectious diseases a break for a while, which, imagine that, I mean, we had a SARS-1 pandemic in 2002. We had a -- a MERS pandemic in 2012. There was an Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2013. You have the COVID pandemic, which killed 1.2 million people in this country. The H5 virus, bird virus, is -- is lurking out there, and flu, you know, causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths every year. We have an increase in measles, increase in whooping cough, increase in dengue because of climate change. And he wants to give infectious diseases a break, but they're not going to be giving us a break.

TAPPER: What do you make of his wanting to focus more or for the Trump administration to focus more on chronic health problems?

OFFIT: That's fine. But he needs to define what the issue is. I mean, he's of the belief that toxins in the environment, and he includes vaccines among those toxins, are responsible for this problem. He should show some evidence that's true and -- and -- and have a focused plan for what he's trying to do. You don't so fire an entire agency because you have this notion that they -- they -- they've let us down in terms of chronic diseases without having a clear functional hypothesis, which he doesn't have.

TAPPER: And -- and what -- how much are your views of this Trump administration view through the lens of fearing RFK Jr. getting rid of vaccines in some way?

OFFIT: I'm -- I'm -- I'm an optimist. But -- but what I -- I can imagine that people are looking at him and listening to what he's saying, including Republicans, and are taking him so seriously that they would actually give him a role in public health. I'm -- I can't believe it will actually come to that, but I guess we'll see.

TAPPER: We'll see. He knows very, very little actual facts and speaks in a lot of platitudes. It's distressing. Dr. Paul Offit, thanks so much.

A major resignation today that has impact overseas and here in the United States. That's next.

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[17:56:36]

TAPPER: To our Faith Lead now, the highest authority in the Church of England is out. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has resigned amid intense criticism over his handling of a rather gruesome child abuse case. Pressure mounted after a damning report exposed a culture of silence within that church. The Archbishop is the spiritual leader of the global Anglican community of 85 million people. That includes the royal family. The crown -- he in fact crowned King Charles and married Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. CNN's Christopher Lamb's live for us in London. Christopher, what was in this damning report? How did we get here?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, this report found that the Archbishop of Canterbury could and should have done more to report to law enforcement the abuses of a man called John Smyth, one of the worst abusers to be associated with the Church of England. Smyth had up to 130 victims. He died without ever having faced justice.

Now, the Archbishop has admitted to failings in this case and he said in his statement today that when I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow. It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility. Now, a resignation by an archbishop is extremely rare. It's unprecedented for the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign for failing to deal with abuse cases.

Of course, the Archbishop holds a very important role in the U.K. I'm standing in front of Westminster Abbey where just over two years ago the archbishop crowned King Charles III. The Archbishop, of course, has that global role that you mentioned, leading the Anglican Communion worldwide, which includes the Episcopal Church in the U.S. The Church of England facing a huge crisis over safeguarding and how it deals with abuse following this resignation. Jake?

TAPPER: What other accountability might we see, Christopher?

LAMB: Well, this report found there had been a major cover up of Smyth's abuses and there are calls now for other bishops in the Church of England to stand down. This story is not going away. A huge moment and crisis for the Church of England.

TAPPER: Christopher Lamb, thanks so much.

This note in honor of Veterans Day this week, it is time again for the 8th annual Homes for Our Troops Veterans Day auction, which will be going on until next week. You can bid on items. All the money, all the proceeds will go to building specially adapted homes for severely wounded veterans via the top rated charity Homes for Our Troops.

Just some of the items up for auction this year, George Clooney's watch right off his wrist. Tickets and a meet and greet at a Jerry Seinfeld show. For fans of "Severance" attend the new season's premiere. Get to meet the cast and director Ben Stiller. There's so much more online. Check it out. Go to ebay.com/hfot which stands for Homes for Our Troops ebay.com/hfot. The auction's open until November 21st.

[17:59:49]

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