Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump: Senate Majority Leader Must Agree To Recess Appointments; COP29 Climate Summit Begins In Azerbaijan With Key Leaders Absent; Sarah McBride Becomes First Transgender Person In Congress. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 11, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President-elect Donald Trump wielding new power over who will lead the Senate when Republicans take over control.

Over the weekend he took to social media to demand that the next Republican leader agree to use recess appointments to get his team in place. Recess appointments allow a president to get around opposition from a minority party -- a way to bypass a congressional vote altogether.

It comes as Republican senators are getting ready to vote on who is going to be their new leader -- a vote that's going to happen this week.

Arizona and Pennsylvania -- you'll remember, those races still need to be declared, but Republicans will have at least a 52-seat majority when you're talking about this power in the Senate.

CNN's Lauren Fox tracking all of this for us. So, Lauren, where do things stand in the race for a Republican leader because there's been a lot going on with that?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate. I mean, a huge question that was looming over this race was whether or not Donald Trump was going to get involved and endorse a candidate. Well, he hasn't gone that far yet, but his tweets yesterday made clear that he wants to see the Republican leaders moving forward with what are known as recess appointments.

Now, all of the Republican people who are running in this race, including Rick Scott, John Thune, Jon Cornyn, all said that they would use all the tools at their disposal to try to move as quickly as possible with his nominations.

But it's important to keep in mind here one thing, and that is that any recess appointment would require the United States Senate to go into recess. That requires both Republicans and Democrats to go ahead and vote to do that and if they do not -- Democrats have the power to block it -- then recess appointments become obsolete. So despite the fact that you saw Republican senators yesterday racing to try to make clear to Donald Trump that they would be willing to do his bidding when it came to recess appointments, the underscoring reality is Democrats can block that from moving forward.

Now, in this race, you saw yesterday a number of conservatives coming out for Rick Scott. He's still seen as the longshot candidate in this race.

And we should just remind everyone back home that Republican senators are going to go into a room on Wednesday. They're going to have this vote and it's all going to be by secret ballot. So despite the fact that Donald Trump is making clear what he wants to see in the candidates and what he wants to see in this race, the reality is senators can go into this room, vote how they want, and no one will ever know which senators voted for which candidate -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So a lot happening in the Senate this week.

What is -- where do we stand with the House at this point?

FOX: Yeah, the votes are still being counted, especially out in California. Now, Republicans are really bullish about their chances of taking the House of Representatives, but CNN has not officially called that Republicans would take control of that chamber.

Meanwhile, plans are very underway right now of what the agenda is going to look like. Obviously, Republicans have plans to vote for their own leadership elections this week. We'll have to wait and see if the House is called by the time those races take place -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, we'll see. Good to see you, Lauren. Thank you -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is May Mailman, former White House associate counsel in the first Trump administration; and Chuck Rocha, a former senior adviser to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.

Chuck, I just want to start with you because days after winning the election one of Donald Trump's first moves is basically to try to get commitments from incoming Senate leadership to be able to get cabinet secretaries without the advice and consent of the Senate potentially.

What does that tell you?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO BERNIE SANDERS' PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN (via Webex by Cisco): It tells you that things are going to be a lot like we expected them to be.

But Democrats, hear me and hear me now. This is the first step we can start to do to draw a distinction between visions for the country for a midterm election. Donald Trump won the election. And to the electors go the (INAUDIBLE) where now we get to be able to say what are you going to do with that? What are you going to do for the American people? And trying to get rid of Democratic practices is another way that I

would start leading when you promised that you're going to make everything better. We could have full transparency at every level of government. So, Democrats, let's start drawing those distinctions right now.

BERMAN: May -- you know, Trump just won a big election. He's got a majority in the Senate. Why not prove you can win confirmation votes?

MAY MAILMAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ASSOCIATE COUNSEL FOR DONALD TRUMP (via Webex by Cisco): So I think he will win confirmation votes. And when we say get rid of Democratic norms, let's just be real about this. Recess appointments is something that every president has used. Obama used them so frequently that it ended up in the Supreme Court --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

MAILMAN: -- where the Supreme Court confirmed that, yes, you can use recess appointments. It's listed in the Constitution. It's a power the president has.

And so what I think President Trump is doing by emphasizing recess appointments is he is saying hey, Senate, if you all want to have a say in this -- and you should have a say in it -- then do your job -- then confirm these people. Because the problem with the Senate just sitting on its hands is that you can't have a government, and the American people deserve a government.

[07:35:00]

BERMAN: Well, have a say. I mean, that is -- one of the things that's in the Constitution, literally, is the advice and consent of the Senate. So that is something that is constitutionally mandated.

I do want to ask you, May, about the leadership battle here because Rick Scott is really campaigning hard for this and has a lot of allies out in public pushing for him.

Now, Politico, this morning, is reporting that's backfiring a little bit. Politico writes, "There's probably no group of Republicans more insulated from an outside pressure campaign than the 53 senators and senators-elect who will be voting Wednesday on Mitch McConnell's replacement."

It goes on to say the bulk of the Republican rank-and-file is not pleased. We spoke with one senator who was aghast at Rick Scott's effort, as well as a Republican aide who said the campaign is "pissing off senators whose votes Rick needs to win."

Your reaction to that?

MAILMAN: Yeah. You've got a battle between MAGA Twitter and the Senate elite.

And I think there's a question of what the job of the Senate majority leader is. If it's to be the ideological leader of the party then, yeah, you probably do want someone more like Rick Scott. Someone who understands MAGA. But if it is to expand the Senate, if it's to expand the majority, if it's to fundraise, then you probably don't want someone like that.

And I think the tension is, of course, you want to expand the Senate majority, but then what are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with the majority once you have it? And I -- and I think Republicans need to decide are we always trying to expand or are we going to actually enact the policies that people elected President Trump to be there for.

BERMAN: And Chuck, the Democrats have no vote, by the way, in the -- in the Senate majority leader race. But how do you think they should position themselves going forward in the Senate, which is as long as there is a filibuster, maybe the one place where they can have influence in Washington the next 18 months?

ROCHA: Well, I think distinguishing between the policies of these folks that are running and highlighting what all of these folks are running on -- the two Johns in the Senate. There's John Thune and John Barrasso who have been running forever. Rick Scott's always been seen as an outsider in this battle. That's what's really unique here. Every one of them bring a different vision for what they want for their own party.

And again, for Democrats, it's a great time to distinguish about around the party of big business. And Rick Scott, who is literally the richest man in the Senate -- that don't same to me - say to me or voters oh hey, common man. Let's try to help this common guy in the Senate.

And the other thing we should think about is there's 66 senators who will not be up for re-election in two years who nobody can put any pressure on because they don't have to worry about re-election for at least four or six years from now.

BERMAN: And Chuck, is there an area where you think Democrats in the Senate and the House should say you know what, we want to work with the administration here? Is there a place where Democrats should show that there is -- they are willing to accept bipartisan outreach, if there is any, from the incoming administration?

ROCHA: You know, I think it starts -- there's so much that we have dividing us in domestic policy, but I think there's one place that we could all come together and that's the safety of the world. Because now with MAGA coming in to take over the White House there's going to be a new reflection on international policy. Do we help fund our partners overseas? What does that look like in a global world? What happens with the U.N.?

There's a lot of common-sense Democrats and common-sense Republicans who want to make sure we live in a safe world and that the anarchists and the crazy people around the country aren't given any kind of permission slip with this administration. So I think international policy can be the biggest place where Democrats and Republicans can come together to keep the whole globe safe. BERMAN: And May, is there one area you would like to see outreach from the incoming administration?

MAILMAN: Border security. Border security, I think, has always been hijacked, including within the right. Because it's seen that OK, well, if we're going to do border security, let's talk about all of immigration or let's take here and give here. And so even when Republicans had a trifecta before, there was not a border security bill put through. And there are easy changes that you could make to close up the asylum loopholes, for example.

So my hope is to just focus on border security, get a bill passed, and keep Americans safe.

BERMAN: All right, May Mailman, Chuck Rocha, great to see both of you this morning. Thanks so much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Somehow, some way, the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs remain undefeated at this particular juncture after winning in the most dramatic fashion against their division rival, the Broncos.

CNN's Coy Wire has more.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What's up, Sara?

Denver came this close to knocking off the NFL's last undefeated team and picking up their first win in Kansas City in nearly a decade, but those Chiefs just keep finding ways to win.

[07:40:00]

The Broncos led nearly the entire way yesterday thanks to a pair of touchdown passes from rookie Bo Nix. But the Chiefs kept plugging away and finally took the lead with this short field goal with under six minutes to play. Nix, though, would lead the Broncos down the field into field goal range, setting up kicker Wil Lutz for a potential game winning 35-yarder. It's blocked. Leo Chenal, Arrowhead Stadium, and Patrick Mahomes -- they can't contain their emotions.

Kansas City now a perfect 9-0 after a 16-14 win. They haven't lost a game since last Christmas.

Now, if you went to be early you missed a thriller between the Lions and the Texans in Houston. They combined for seven interceptions in this game with Detroit's Jared Goff throwing five of them. Houston was up 23-7 at halftime but despite all the turnovers the Lions came roaring back scoring 16 unanswered points in the second half to tie it.

And it would all come down to Detroit's rookie kicker Jake Bates. He was working as a brick salesman 18 months ago. With time running out for 52 yards out, he sneaks in the game winner. Detroit wins 26-23.

Bates, who is a Houston native, is now 14 of 14 on field goals to start his career. The Lions improve to 8-1 for the first time since 1954.

Now, the feel good story of the day might have to go to 49ers rookie receive Ricky Pearsall. He scored his first NFL touchdown on a 46-yard catch and run in the first quarter against the Bucs. Less than 11 weeks ago he was shot in the chest and seriously wounded in an attempted robbery. Now he and his Niners go on to get a 23-20 win.

And finally, the NFL was playing its fifth and final international game this week and this time in Munich as the Panthers beat the Giants in overtime. And during the game referee Shawn Hochuli did his best to blend in with the locals, getting the crowd on his side while making a penalty call. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN HOCHULI, NFL REFEREE: (Speaking foreign language). It's by the center. It's third down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Oh, you can hear that crowd roaring and giving him applause there, Sara.

This continues a tradition for the Hochuli family. Shawn's father Ed was also an NFL referee, and he officiated the first game in Mexico City in 2005 and the first call he made that day was in Spanish.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that there a potential eight international games next season, Sara. We shall see. They should be lots of fun wherever they are.

SIDNER: I say guten morgen to you, Coy Wire.

Some of these games --

WIRE: Thank you.

SIDNER: -- were wild. Five interceptions -- they still won -- and a kick that was blocked. It -- mind-blowing this weekend.

WIRE: Yes.

SIDNER: Mind-blowing.

WIRE: And John Berman's Patriots won, too. All is right in the world.

SIDNER: He's celebrating like he -- like he used to do back in the day when they won championships. Oh, sorry.

Anyway, thank you so much, Coy Wire.

WIRE: Too soon.

SIDNER: Appreciate it -- too soon -- Kate.

WIRE: (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: Forget John Berman. I get to go home with a happy husband. Thank God the Lions won.

SIDNER: Whoo-hoo.

BOLDUAN: I mean, we've -- look, I've lived through a lot of 0-16 seasons with the Lions, so I'm really enjoying this season.

All right, let's do this. Coming up for us, why some Americans are trading doom scrolling for doom spending.

And a major oops by Mattel. They're now apologizing after a porn website found its way onto the packaging for its newest doll.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:47:50]

BOLDUAN: So today world leaders and diplomats begin a two-week massive global climate summit. One topic now, what the U.S. stance will be going forward in tackling climate change as Donald Trump is preparing to take over. Trump has again vowed to pull the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and has long questioned the existence of climate change.

CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is here tracking it all.

So first and foremost, when we talk about this climate summit, what are leaders realistically looking to accomplish this time?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Realistically, to continue the momentum -- those who take this seriously -- from last year -- COP28, where they said this is the time to transition away from fossil fuels to electrify economies around the world as quickly as possible. The more pollution we put in the sky the hotter and more violent the weather is going to get. That's the simple challenge.

They wanted to up the ambition from a lot of countries and talk about finance. This has been a year where rich countries are going to kick in billions to help poor countries that did nothing to contribute to the problem brace for the pain that's built in.

But here you've got this -- the 29th Conference of Parties. So, 30 of these giant meetings from around the world and the most powerful country in the world, the newly elected leader, says the whole thing is a hoax. Doesn't want to play. Could care less about countries that are suffering right now. Says they'll pull out of the Paris climate accord.

So it's a test globally if the biggest, richest, biggest historical polluter isn't at the table -- isn't at the party, what happens? Does the treaty hold? Do countries like China and the European Union take command of the new clean economy, which is happening one way or another? It could embolden these right-wing leaders from South America to Europe -- BOLDUAN: Sure, yeah.

WEIR: -- and even places in Africa to go with petrochemicals. A country like Kenya could go either way depending on how they're influenced and how they're financed.

It's a huge, huge moment for life on Earth.

BOLDUAN: And I always remember when you are there and the conversations we've had when you've been at these summits is you often -- well, talking about there are huge problems, obviously.

WEIR: Yes.

BOLDUAN: There's also -- you come out with a lot of hope about the innovation and about the momentum coming out of these conferences as well, which I wonder what it feels like this time --

WEIR: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- and where the hope is. Because what is the chief worry do you think amongst world leaders when it comes to Trump coming on?

[07:50:00]

WEIR: Well, those who understand it. Every tenth or 100th of a degree hotter -- now, this will be the first year we've blown past the --

BOLDUAN: Right.

WEIR: -- 1.5 target of some of the Paris accords of 2015. Every hundredth of a degree above that means entire ecosystems are lost -- coral reef systems, or forests, or mountain glaciers.

And these have huge impacts on the health, happiness, and wealth of everybody. And so if there's not a full all hands on deck effort how much will be lost in that interim? How much fortune will be lost for those countries that aren't --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

WEIR: -- playing at this, right?

China is adding so much renewable energy at such staggering rates they'll take dominance, right? They can control the -- if the United States doesn't have a seat at the table to decide what the future looks like, it's at so much loss to innovators and investors right now who are in this new momentum.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. It's great to see you, Bill.

WEIR: Right.

BOLDUAN: Let's see what happens.

WEIR: OK. BOLDUAN: Great to see you. Thank you.

WEIR: You bet.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

It wasn't climate issues but culture wars that helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency. While campaigning Trump promised that he would sign an executive order to "instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age and block federal funding to hospitals that provide gender affirming care, among other things."

But today it's a Democrat facing backlash from fellow Democrats after comments he made to The New York Times in assessing why Democrats lost. Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton said this.

"Democrats spend way too time trying to not offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many American face. I have two little girls. I don't want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I'm supposed to be afraid to say that."

And Moulton is sticking by his statements. Here is what he said to our Jessica Dean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): I was just speaking authentically as a parent about one of many issues where Democrats are just out of touch with the majority of Americans. And I stand by my position even though I may not have used exactly the right words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: At the same time, Delaware voted in the first openly transgender congressperson, and she joins us now. Sarah McBride, welcome to the show. Appreciate you coming on.

What do you --

SARAH MCBRIDE, (D) DELAWARE CONGRESS-ELECT, FIRST TRANSGENDER PERSON ELECTED TO CONGRESS: Thanks for having me.

SIDNER: What do you make of all of this? First, Donald Trump's word -- what he has been promising. And he used transgenders a lot in his ads negatively to hurt Kamala Harris. And then you have these comments by Congressman Moulton.

MCBRIDE: Well look, I can only speak to what I heard on the campaign trail. Delaware is in the Philadelphia media market. We were certainly seeing these ads by Donald Trump.

But those ads were not what I was hearing from Delawareans -- Democrats, Independents, and Republicans across the state. What I was hearing about was the cost of living. What I was hearing about is that the American dream is increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible. What I was hearing about is the need for affordable housing, health care, and child care.

Look, whenever you see a politician focus in on an issue that impacts a handful of people in a handful of places and says that this should be the top issue in an election, you should ask yourself why. And the answer to that is that Donald Trump was trying to divide and distract from the fact that he has absolutely no policy solutions for the issues that are actually keeping people up a night. The issues that I was hearing about in Delaware.

And let me just say I was out there campaigning. I wasn't running on my identity, but my identity was no secret to Delaware voters. We were seeing these ads. And despite all of that, we won our race with a higher percentage than any other Democrat running statewide in Delaware for major office.

And so I believe that the American people are still having a conversation about trans identities, about trans people, and we need to extend grace to allow people to grow, but I don't believe that these are the issues that were deciding factors for voters.

SIDNER: You certainly did not run on transgenders-specific issues. You did beat your opponent by 15 percentage points. And you just talked about all of the things that you did run on that got you to that point.

However, are you worried about walking into a Congress where it might be a hostile environment?

MCBRIDE: Well, I am used to working with people who have a range of beliefs and -- including working with people who have voted against LGBTQ rights. My job is to work with anyone who is willing to work with me to help Delaware.

And look, are there some professional provocateurs parading as public officials in national politics on the far right, yes. But those are Republicans who won't work with any Democrat and can barely work with their own Republican colleagues.

I'm ready to work with my Democratic colleagues led by our incredible leader Hakeem Jeffries, and I'm ready to work with Republicans who are serious legislators who are ready to roll up their sleeves, dive into the details, and work with me to deliver real progress for our constituents.

[07:55:10]

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about what it says about our country that you had this historic win despite a lot of fears from people in the LGBTQ community.

MCBRIDE: Well, first off, I think last week was certainly a week of mixed emotions for me, but I am filled with gratitude. As I am now in D.C. headed to new member orientation, I am filled with gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of Delawareans who turned out to vote and entrusted me with the awesome responsibility of representing them in the United States House of Representatives.

I love Delaware. I am so proud of our state. Not only were we the first state to sign onto the work of building a more perfect union but we are also, as we like to say, a state of neighbors. And I think in this election we demonstrated that once again, Delaware voters are judging candidates based on their ideas and not their identities. And I think it sent a powerful message to the country that our democracy can be big enough for all of us.

SIDNER: I do want to lastly ask you -- we saw these comments by Elon Musk's estranged transgender daughter who said she doesn't see a future for herself in the United States.

What do you say to people in the LGBTQ community who are afraid and who have expressed that?

MCBRIDE: Well, I think there are a lot of people across this country right now who are scared and who are in pain. And I know it can feel like you are alone. I know it can feel like the heart of this nation is not big enough to love you too.

But know that there are millions and millions of people who see you, who love you, and who are fighting every single day to build an America where everyone can live fully and freely regardless of their background, regardless of their identity, and regardless of where they live. I'm just one of those people. And you should know that you belong.

SIDNER: Sarah McBride, congratulations to you on your win. Thank you so much for joining us bright and early this morning from, I think -- where are you? Are you in Delaware? From D.C.

MCBRIDE: I'm --

SIDNER: You're there for orientation --

MCBRIDE: I'm in D.C.

SIDNER: -- of course.

MCBRIDE: That's right.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much. I appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: So this morning a baby goat stranded on a cliff in Hawaii for four days has been rescued. A couple of Good Samaritans saw the goat a week ago, but local agencies said they could not reach it. That is when social media came to the rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We weren't exactly sure how big of a cliffside it was, and we wanted to get in there as quick as possible just because the -- it had been there already for like four days. It seemed already like super skittish. So he just bearhugged the little guy all the way down the mountainside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was very relieved and happy that we got him safely. He's a cutie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the goat is now safe -- and apparently still very, very cute -- at a wildlife sanctuary.

This morning, 18 monkeys are still on the loose in South Carolina. Forty-three escaped from a research center. So far, police have recaptured 25 and say they're all in good health.

The owner of the facility promises that recovery efforts will go on for "as long as it takes."

You hang in there, guys.

All right. This morning Mattel is apologizing for a mistake on its new "Wicked" doll packaging. A link intended for the movie's official website instead leads to a pornographic site. One person tweeted images of the packaging. Mattel advises parents to discard the packaging or cover the link to keep it out of children's view.

I was trying to think of the names that might have been warning signs, like www.wickednaked.com, or like www.areyouagoodwitchorareallyreallybadwitch, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Seriously? Seriously? This is what you're going to do today because I did my research and I know what the website is, and I'm not going to say it because --

BERMAN: What is it? What is it?

BOLDUAN: So the movie's website is the -- is wickedmovie.com, and I am told by reliable sources that the inappropriate website is just wicked.com.

BERMAN: Wickednakedmovie.com.

BOLDUAN: I don't know -- I do know what website. I'm going -- I'm going now. I'm going now. John, please leave the set until we need you back.

Let's move on. This morning anxious Americans are easing their election stress with a new type of retail therapy. It's not going onto the websites John Berman goes to; it's called doom spending. But is it really helping you at all?

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is joining us now. Please don't fall into the rabbit hole that we like to fall into, and let's keep this train moving forward.

What is doom spending and what do you -- what's happening with this?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Essentially, it's when you're feeling very doomy and gloomy about something.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

YURKEVICH: It could be politics, the election, the economy, or something going on in your personal life.