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America's Choice 2024; Trump Transition; Federal Reserve Expected To Cut Interest Rates; Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 07, 2024 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:38]

BORIS SANCHEZ, ANCHOR: President Joe Biden speaking publicly for the first time since Donald Trump's victory, touting his administration's accomplishments while comforting a defeated base, as we're learning of growing frustration within his party and finger pointing following Kamala Harris loss.

Plus, who will run the House? Republicans are hoping and planning for a clean sweep after taking the Senate and presidency. How Republican lawmakers are now preparing to carry out Donald Trump's agenda.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And awkward timing, the Fed is poised to cut rates as Trump's win could impact the Central Bank's future decisions. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

SANCHEZ: President Joe Biden today vowing a peaceful transfer of power as President-elect Donald Trump prepares for his return to the White House. Today, President Biden addressing the nation for the first time since Trump's sweeping victory where he promised a very different transition from what the American people witnessed four years ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I also hope we can later rest a question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair and it is transparent, and it can be trusted. Win or lose, I will do my duty as president. I'll fulfill my oath, and I will honor the Constitution. On January 20th, we'll have a peaceful transfer of power here in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: As President Biden works to lower the temperature, we're told that many Democrats, they're seething over his decision not to leave the presidential race sooner. CNN's Kayla Tausche is joining us now from the White House. And, Kayla, there are a lot of Democrats pointing fingers directly at Biden for this defeat. What are you learning?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the light of day, Brianna, emotions here at the White House are still incredibly raw. But there is a lot of soul searching and finger pointing going on as they try to figure out what happened and how they got to this point over not just the last several months, but over the last several years.

CNN is now reporting that top Democrats are pointing fingers at President Biden himself. Of course, he decided to leave the race only after the urging of top party leaders following a disastrous debate performance in July. But they've suggested that if he had decided to be the transition candidate, or to announce that he wasn't seeking reelection perhaps in the middle of his term, that there would have been a robust primary process that perhaps would have led to a more viable candidate than Vice President Kamala Harris.

One former Biden administration official telling CNN's MJ Lee this, the lack of a competitive process for a replacement, that he didn't allow for that to happen. People are still angry about the shunning that they took for speaking out earlier about him. And I'm also told that some senior party officials are also looking at rising stars within the party. California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, suggesting that if they had decided to launch a primary bid against Biden, sure, they would have gotten blowback from the White House from the incumbent, but it also would have led to a debate earlier on in the cycle, laying bare the limitations of Biden's age and allowing Democrats to potentially pursue an alternative plan much earlier in the cycle.

Of course, this is all Monday morning quarterbacking. But preparing for the new administration, the Biden administration is now trying to figure out how they can Trump proof as much of President Biden's legacy as possible. They're trying to disperse about $7 billion in aid to Ukraine by January 20th that would otherwise be liable to be clawed back.

They're also trying to look at what spending under President Biden's semiconductor, infrastructure and climate laws can be spent this year, even though many of those pieces of legislation are long term. And they're also safeguarding some protections for agency employees, making it more difficult for a Trump administration to potentially fire them.

Though officials acknowledge it's not perfect, it's not foolproof, but it will at least buy those employees a little bit of time. Boris, Brianna?

[13:05:00]

KEILAR: All right. Kayla, thank you for the report from the White House. And as President-elect Trump prepares to return to power, we're told the behind the scenes maneuvering to be part of his new administration is heating up, perhaps no surprise. CNN's Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach for us just outside of Mar-a-Lago. Kristen, what's the latest there?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know Donald Trump met with his transition team yesterday. He's meeting with them again today. But that behind the scenes jockeying is in full effect. I mean, the wheels are really in motion here. And Donald Trump is listening to quite a few who are calling him, giving him ideas for various positions. But also we have to remember that this transition had already been sitting down, the heads of the transition with various candidates vetting them. They were working up proposals to also give Donald Trump. So there's a lot of incoming information.

Now, the one thing to point out here is two critical jobs that are likely to be two of the first filled jobs. The first, being chief of staff. This will be the President's right hand. It will be the person who really is the next in line. I know JD Vance is the vice president, but in terms of power within the White House and having the President's ear, this is the person who is likely to do that.

Now, we are told that Susie Wiles is the frontrunner for that job. She ran his campaign. She was with him even when most Republicans had distanced themselves from him after he left office in disgrace back in 2021. But there are a number of other names on the list other than just Susie.

However, we are told that it's Susie's to turn down at this point. Obviously, anything can happen. It's Donald Trump, and we know a lot of people are in his ear.

Now, the other job to keep a very close eye on is attorney general. This is important in any administration, but it is critical in a Trump administration. And here's why.

We have been reporting for the last year that one of the things Donald Trump wants to do is essentially take the Independents away from the Department of Justice. He believes that they should be completely one in the same with the executive branch and the White House, meaning that he'll be working hand in hand with an attorney general to do some of the things that he wants to do. And that includes potentially retaliate against various political rivals.

It's also going to be the person who's in charge of potentially firing Jack Smith. And getting those cases, those federal cases against him dismissed. He needs somebody who is loyal, who has stood by him and there is a long list of people who are interested in that position and whose names are being floated, just to give you a few.

And again, this is a fluid situation. He is looking at a number of people, but here are some of them. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Matt Whitaker, he served as the acting AG after Jeff Sessions was fired, Mike Lee, the senator from Utah, John Ratcliffe, who is the former director of National Intelligence. Two other names that we actually don't have on that graphic, but are two conservative lawyers who have gone to bat for Donald Trump time and time again, not just behind the scenes but also on TV, important to Donald Trump.

Mike Davis and Mark Paoletta, there was a heavy push for each of them. Unclear whether or not they would take it, whether or not they could get the confirmation. One thing to also keep in mind, Donald Trump is going to have power over the Senate. So a lot of these questions as to whether or not he could get people confirmed, they are no longer as much of an issue when Donald Trump goes back to Washington.

And the last thing I'll say here, Donald Trump is coming back to a very different Washington than we saw the first time he entered office in 2017. His team knows what they want, they know how to do it, and they have the allies in both the Senate and the House to get the things that he wants to get done. He's already starting to write executive orders with his team and they plan to hit the ground running in a way that we did not see in 2017.

SANCHEZ: Yes. In 2016-2017, the transition was effectively thrown out by Trump because of his break with Chris Christie at the time. Kristen Holmes from West Palm Beach, thank you so much.

Let's discuss with our panel. We have CNN Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, and Republican Strategist for Axiom Strategies, Erin Perrine. Thank you all for being with us.

Mark, first to you, what did you make of what we heard from President Biden this morning?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, a couple things. One, not surprised in his measured tone at times. If you heard the inflection of his voice, and I'll talk about that in a moment, I found that very interesting because Joe Biden is somebody who not only speaks with his words but with the tone of his voice and with his body language. I mean, for Joe Biden, it was concise, so, you know, thank God for that.

But there's so much focus on this comment that he said He said, you know, you can't love a country, you know, only when you win. And there will be a lot of focus on that. Here's another line, though, that I think that is more important in the near term that I don't think people are focusing on. He said now we have 74 days to finish our term, our term.

Again, the inflection of his voice when he said our term, let's make every day count. That's the responsibilities we have to the American people. OK.

So what are the responsibilities that Joe Biden has to his own political party, the infighting we're seeing right now, and will there be pressure from the left for him to try to do anything he can do right now, push people into government before Donald Trump takes over in January. So a lot to unpack there, but there's a lot to unpack there.

KEILAR: Yes, there is a lot. And, Erin, let's unpack a little bit of it. What do you think about that, that idea of Joe Biden and what he may be doing, and certainly what is going to be some whiplash as Trump comes in? What are you looking for in the transition?

[13:10:10]

ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST FOR AXIOM STRATEGIES: There are a couple of things. One, it's going to be any level of executive action that Joe Biden takes because there is going to be likely a Republican sweep and Republican control in both the House and the Senate. They have the opportunity to use what's called the Congressional Review Act, where they are able to put out ability to overturn those executive actions within 60 legislative days of that action taking effect.

So, Joe Biden, if he's going to try to push anything through in these last few days, is going to be very limited in long term, what that means for his legacy and what he is able to accomplish because of the clean Republican victory just the other day.

SANCHEZ: Chuck, will go ahead.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I was going to say that there's a lot of money that's stealing government from all these big packages that he passed, whether it was the infrastructure, whether it was building back, all the things. There's a lot of money there that if they don't get out the door before the 20th of January, which what were just talking about, Republicans, as the reporter said, could pull some of that back and say, OK, you didn't spend it. We're going to go use it for what we want to use it for. And I think that's one of the biggest things I heard.

SANCHEZ: Yes. One of those issues is green initiatives, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested there and are just waiting to be assigned. Chuck, I wanted to ask you about the contrast in Biden's speech from what we heard before Election Day. And also in Harris speech yesterday, because you're hearing these folks come out and say we're going to be OK, things are going to be fine, but we can't give up the fight, et cetera.

Contrast that with Donald Trump is a fascist, the country is in danger. What Oprah said the day before the election, saying that we may never have another election again. It's a very different tone.

ROCHA: People put everything into this election, whether you were a Democrat or Republican. People get very emotionally invested in these things, and it's important. If you're the leader to say it's going to be OK. I have people in my family on both sides of the party who thought this was the end of the world one way or the other.

And it's very important as a leader to see everything is going to be OK. It may not have ended the way you wanted it to end, but we will live to fight another day. And now we have a government to run or these other things that's really important for a guy that runs elections, that wants everybody to come back and vote again in two years, and have this conversation one more time, to be like, we lost this time. We may not lose next time. Let's get to work.

KEILAR: Well, let's talk, Erin, about what Trump was saying before the election. Because it was a very dark closing, as we noted at times, you would express that you wished he would focus more on the issues. I don't know, maybe he would have done better if he had, but he didn't actually need to, it turned out, in order to have the win that he did.

What does that pretend, do you think, that closing message for how he's going to govern?

PERRINE: Well, I think two things. That closing message, it shows how disconnected a lot of us who live in this Acela Corridor were, because while were sitting here saying, and I was one of them, Trump would better served say on message. I still fully believe that.

The American people knew what they were getting with Donald Trump. They remember the economy, they remember the safety at the southern border, and they have that nostalgic feeling. And it is very hard to beat three quarters of the country telling you're on the wrong track. That number was almost impossible for Kamala Harris to overcome.

So all of that put together, when you look at it in its totality, what it means is that Donald Trump has a mandate now from the American people. They said, we had this economy before my wages were going up. They saw the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which tax legislation will be up in the 2025 calendar year. Some of those provisions will be sunsetting. So they were like, good, I want more tax cuts. That's what I want.

They know what they're going to get with him, and now he's able to just go and execute on it.

SANCHEZ: Mark, there was also a considerable amount of chaos during the Trump administration, especially early on when there were these different fiefdoms. We were just talking to Kristen Holmes about the transition, how there really wasn't an efficient transition. There were all these different fiefdoms fighting each other early on in the Trump administration, a lot of early exits of folks.

Now that's not in play. How do you expect this transition to go? What do you think Trump is going to try to accomplish in the very early stages of his second administration?

PRESTON: Oh, so a couple things. One, they've had eight years to really fully understand government. Four of those years they were in the government. So, you know, they know how to walk around the buildings, you know, which in and of itself can be pretty confusing when you come to Washington if you've ever walked around the buildings.

But listen, this is what you're going to see. I know there's a lot of talk about, you know, whether Robert Kennedy Jr. is going to be confirmed as a cabinet secretary, whether Elon Musk is going to have to be put in a position for cabinet secretary. He doesn't have to. All you need is Donald Trump's ear, we understand that.

Cabinet secretaries, look, they're very important. They help create policy in the Donald Trump administration. They are just implementing what he says. So that's number one.

Number two, when I heard this morning from a senior Trump adviser, there is a lot of resumes right now coming in from Silicon Valley, OK, from the tech-bros. And there is this fascination with, you know, from Republicans with their new connection to Silicon Valley, which used to be very Democratic, as we know, and how they may come into the administration.

[13:15:03]

So you may see some stronger bonds between Silicon Valley, beyond Elon Musk and the Republican Party and Donald Trump's administration.

KEILAR: I mean, I think we can agree on that. What Trump wants is someone who's going to implement his vision. And it's normally what a president wants, right? However, Donald Trump sometimes draws outside the lines on what he wants a lot of times.

So to that point, Chuck, I wonder, as you were looking at the jobs in the cabinet and you were looking at the candidates for these jobs, and who might implement what Donald Trump says. Who concerns you most? What position concerns you most?

ROCHA: I think Mark brought up a good point. They know what they want last time. Last time they were kind of flat-footed. They didn't think they were going to win and they were unprepared.

And speaking of Donald Trump, everybody can see I'm wearing my big red Donald Trump tie today because I've talked a lot of smack on this network, and I don't want to be audited. So I'm making sure that everybody, and that's just me, and I'm an on air Mexican redneck.

Now, think about if you want to run something. Think about if you want to be the secretary of the Education, think about if you want to be the secretary of the Army. He wants people that do just what I did, who suck up to him, make him feel good, but will implement a plan that other people around him have.

I can say it's a bad plan, she can say it's a good plan, we can argue the plan, but he wants somebody that's loyal. Last time he listened to a lot of people.

PRESTON: Hey, that's not fair that this was going to be an interactive segment and weren't given any heads up. I can't say, hey, look at my tie now. I mean, it's been done. What are you guys saying?

SANCHEZ: Chuck did that all on his own as usual. Erin, one of the first things we saw when Trump took power was the implementation of a plan that sort of failed and then got reincarnated a few times, and it was this ban on Muslim countries. That originated from the sort of Steve Bannon wing, the fiefdoms that I was talking about.

With Bannon not necessarily being in office this time, but still having the ear of Donald Trump, how big would you say that sort of influence is from that wing of Trump support the nativist, sort of America first.

PERRINE: I think you need to look at who is currently being floated as a possible White House chief of staff. It's Susie Wiles. She is a tried and true professional. And while there are other people who might have access in the ear of the President, there are few people, and we all know this, who have been in Donald Trump's orbit, who have made it as long and are as trusted as Susie Wiles. And not only is she political professional, but the president trust her. And I've seen reporting where she's pushed back on the president, but she knows when to let go in the fight and which fights are worth it. If you consider that as the person at the helm or any of the other names that are being floated like a Brooke Rollins, I've seen reporting that there could be possibly Kevin McCarthy considered. Those are people who could be, you know, the stronger voice in the room, considering they're closest to the President versus those who might have his ear but are not necessarily influencing his decision making.

SANCHEZ: It would be fascinating to see Kevin McCarthy in the White House, especially given the history that they've had. McCarthy was the first Republican to visit Trump in Mar-a-Lago after January 6th.

PRESTON: Listen, if I'm Donald Trump, and certainly I'm not, but if I was Donald Trump, I would put Susie Wiles as the chief of staff to set up the government. Because the thing about Susie Wiles is she doesn't need anything from Donald Trump. You know, when people go to Donald Trump, they kind of want something from him. She doesn't need anything.

On election night, when he tried to get her to talk, she tried to hide. So that's number one. Number two, I would put Kevin McCarthy in some kind of czar role to work with Capitol Hill, because as much as Kevin McCarthy, you know, is a true Republican and what have you, he does know how to cut a deal. And there are deals that are going to need to be cut.

SANCHEZ: It'll be interesting to see how he might get along with a potential Republican House. Mark, Erin, Chuck, appreciate the conversation. Thank you so much.

Happening today, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the second time this year. And the central question is, will they keep driving rates even lower in the coming months.

KEILAR: As we transition to a new president, the economy is also facing a new direction. As Trump has vowed to attack inflation with tax cuts and tariffs, economists are concerned that those promises could end up reigniting inflation. CNN's Matt Egan is with us live now.

All right, Matt, let's talk first about the Fed decision today. What are we expecting?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, it does look like another interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve is imminent. The market is pricing in something like a 99 percent chance that the Fed cuts by a quarter of a point today, very little chance that the Fed goes big again, like it did in September with that half a point interest rate cut.

So, there's not much drama about what the Fed is going to do, but there is some drama over what Fed officials are going to say. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, he is going to face a lot of questions at this press conference about the elephant in the room, right, President- elect Trump's economic agenda. And what those proposals mean for the economy, for jobs, for inflation. And I think the answer is it's a little bit too soon to tell. But I know that Fed officials are going to be starting to think about that.

[13:20:04]

Now, the election made clear that Americans are very frustrated with how high prices are. But what's interesting is the Fed does not target price levels. They look at the rate of inflation, how much prices are going up and down, and they are satisfied that the rate of inflation is basically back to normal. And so, that's why they've shifted their focus from fighting inflation to trying to protect the jobs market. And that does mean interest rate cuts.

Now, this is good news for everyone who's borrowing, right? For people who are trying to pay off credit card debt, every interest rate cut will help, for people who are trying to finance the purchase of a car. But the last few weeks have been another reminder that the Fed has less control over mortgage rates. That's controlled by the bond market.

And we just learned today that mortgage rates have continued to go higher, 6.8 percent is the latest average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. That's going in the wrong direction. That's up from about 6.1 percent the week after the Fed started cutting interest rates. And that is happening because the bond market is getting more optimistic about the economy. But they're also starting to price in the trillions of dollars in debt that could get added from Trump's plans to cut taxes. Boris and Brianna?

SANCHEZ: Matt, I do want to ask you about tariffs. Because despite most mainstream economists making clear that those tariffs would wind up getting paid by consumers, Donald Trump has insisted that it should be -- they should be installed, and that they would help bring prices down. But the exact opposite is more likely, right?

EGAN: That's right. Listen, inflation has helped to send Donald Trump back to the White House and he's promised to attack inflation by really shaking things up with tariffs and deportations. But mainstream economists are concerned that the Trump economic agenda will be inflationary, perhaps very inflationary, in part because of those tariffs.

Economists have been surveyed by the University of Chicago have overwhelmingly said that consumers will pay those tariffs in the form of higher prices and mass deportations that could really deprive some industries of workers, and that could force them to lift wages and lift prices. But look, it's all going to come down to how this is implemented. And we'll be waiting to see because, listen, a lot is at stake, we know people are very frustrated with the cost of living and the last thing they want to see is for prices to go even higher, Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Matt Egan, thank you so much for the report. Ahead this hour on CNN News Central, Republicans on Capitol Hill have an ambitious agenda. We're going to take a look at what they hope to accomplish during the second Trump presidency.

In the meantime, Democrats are huddling to figure out what went wrong. We'll talk to one of the lawmakers who made a strong case for why President Biden should drop out.

SANCHEZ: Plus, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is in court after failing to turn over assets in his defamation case, including the very car that he was seen riding in this week. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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[13:26:59]

SANCHEZ: As of this moment, we still don't know which party will control the House of Representatives, with votes and dozens of races still being tallied.

KEILAR: Yes. Republicans have a small lead right now. They say they're confident that they will hold on to their grip of the chamber and what could become a GOP full sweep in Washington. We have CNN's Lauren Fox here with us. Lauren, tell us what lawmakers are saying and what they're expecting.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Republicans did not want to be caught flat-footed like they were back in 2016 where everyone was really surprised that Donald Trump won. Then they went to try to repeal and replace Obamacare. And if you remember, it was a big old mess.

So what they've been doing is over the course of the last several months, Republicans on the tax writing committees, House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, they've actually been meeting in small groups trying to come up with ideas for what they would like to see in a major tax package. And that's likely to be one of the number one issues that they pursue after January.

That's because a lot of the popular provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump passed in 2017, they're about to expire at the end of 2025. And those are important and popular provisions like the expansion of the child tax credit, and the estate tax deduction. So those areas where Republicans are really looking to change some policy.

Now they may use a really difficult process that is convoluted, happens to the United States Senate and they might try to put some other provisions in there. Donald Trump ran on immigration. A lot of Republicans ran on immigration. Do you try to include some of the border security provisions?

Those things are all up for discussion right now. They're also eying potentially repealing parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that they don't like. So that of course, was Biden's signature policy bill, climate and economic bill.

So a lot of things that Republicans are talking about, I will tell you that while we have not called the House, you know, Republicans are feeling really bullish and, you know, they're starting to think about what they want to do.

SANCHEZ: When do you think we might call the House? When would we get some results?

FOX: Yes. Republicans had talked a little bit about this, but California just traditionally has taken a long time to count all the ballots. And there are a lot of really competitive districts like John Duarte's district or Valadao's district. So it's going to take a little bit of time to get that final call.

Republicans still, though, they've been thinking not just in the last week, but over the last several months what they would do if they swept the House, the White House and the Senate.

SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox, thanks so much for the reporting. Appreciate it.

So voters in as many as five battleground states may have split their tickets picking Donald Trump for president, but then picking a Democrat or different party for a different statewide office. Joining us now is Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, thank you so much for being with us.

Kamala Harris did worse than some of the other Democrats on the ticket, especially in Michigan and Wisconsin. There was an open seat race in Michigan that a Democrat won. And then in Wisconsin, the incumbent Democrat, Tammy Baldwin, was reelected.

Trump carried both of those states. Why do you think that happened?

LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, it's interesting. I've looked at some of the data, and it seems to me that you had some Donald Trump only voters, that is, they went into the booth or they filled out their mail in ballot and they voted for Trump.