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Race to Replace Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP Leader; Trump Picks Former NY Congressman Lee Zeldin as EPA Chief; 800+ U.S. Service Members Ejected Under Don't Ask, Don't Tell Receive Honorable Discharges; Fire Crews on Both U.S. Coats Battle Raging Wildfires. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 11, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Happening now, President-elect Trump is rushing to fill key positions in his incoming administration, and he's demanding that any senators vying to be majority leader must support recess appointments for his nominees. That way, Trump can essentially bypass Congress, quickly get his top picks in place.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, the three contenders for majority leader are Senators John Thune, John Cornyn, and Rick Scott. Joining us now to discuss, CNN's Manu Raju, chief congressional correspondent, the anchor of CNN's Inside Politics Sunday. Manu, what will this come down to?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is really fascinating because you're already seeing these three candidates fall in line very quickly. Even more institutionalist senators, someone like Senator John Thune or Senator John Cornyn, they've been critical of so-called recess appointments in the past.

And just to remind our viewers of what this is, typically the Senate goes through a confirmation process. It's constitutional, of course. It's a vetting process. There's a background check, confirmation hearings, votes in committee, votes on the floor.

That's all normal, and the Senate Republicans will have the majority. They have 52 seats, maybe 53 seats if Pennsylvania turns their way. So they can actually confirm these nominees along straight party lines, but it takes some time.

And if there's problems in the process, maybe they lose some Republican votes. And at that point, if there's a problem, that's when the recess appointments typically come in. They have not been done for many, many years.

Senate majority leaders for the past 15 years or so have taken steps to block presidents from installing recess appointments. Now Trump is saying change that practice altogether. Allow them to essentially install these nominees, short-circuit the confirmation process altogether, and install them without having the traditional vetting process. And already we're seeing John Thune, John Cornyn, Rick Scott, the potential majority leaders here, all saying, sure, that's fine, let's do it. And that is obviously a total change in protocol and practice, but one in which the Republicans are saying, OK, that's fine.

KEILAR: It's so interesting because Trump hasn't gotten involved, and this is a secret ballot. I wonder, is there sort of a little danger maybe in him getting involved? Because it could turn out that even if he says, hey, this is the guy I want, that's not the one that ends up getting picked. And at the same time, you have a bunch of his sort of allies pointing towards Rick Scott.

RAJU: Yes, it's really a fascinating dynamic. This would be the first big endorsement decision since he won the presidency. This vote is happening on Wednesday. It's a secret ballot election. These things typically go more on relationships. What have you done for me lately? What committee assignments are you promising? How much fundraising have you done for me over the years? And we know Cornyn and Thune, Cornyn in particular, has done so much fundraising for his colleagues for many years.

Thune has done a lot as Republican whip to develop those inroads to a lot of his members. Rick Scott, not as much, which is why we are seeing and we expect that Thune and Cornyn are the heavy favorites. Even though Scott is liked by MAGA World, Elon Musk came out and said he supports him. Others on the right wing of the party are saying they should support him, but they don't have votes in the United States Senate.

And they don't influence a lot of Republican senators, which is why the betting is right now that it's going to be Thune or Cornyn who are likely to prevail here and why Trump is probably saying maybe not the best decision to endorse right now because he could go the wrong way if I do.

SANCHEZ: Manu Raju, thanks so much for keeping an eye on that for us.

RAJU: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news into CNN.

President-elect Donald Trump has selected former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin as his administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

KEILAR: We have CNN's Alayna Treene with us now. Alayna, tell us about this pick.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes. Well, Lee Zeldin is another person who has remained very close to Donald Trump over the years. He's a former congressman from New York.

He actually ran against New York Governor Kathy Hochul in 20 -- Hochul, I should say, in 2022 and ended up being a very surprisingly close race.

But I want to read for you what Donald Trump said about the pick and then also what Lee Zeldin said.

So Donald Trump, in a statement, he just released said that, quote, I am pleased to announce that the highly respected former congressman from New York, Lee Zeldin, will be appointed to serve as the administrator of the United States Environmental Protective Agency. Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies.

He went on later in the statement to add that he has known Lee Zeldin for a long time and has watched him handle what he said, quote, brilliantly, some extremely difficult and complex situations.

Almost immediately as well. We saw Zeldin also announced that he was honored to join this to honor to join the Trump administration and honored to accept the role.

Now, to give you a sense of what the EPA will doing, I think it's very clear that Donald Trump has big plans for energy come really as soon as he enters the White House on January 20th.

[15:35:00]

We have reported that his team, his transition team, is already drafting a series of executive orders aimed at cutting regulations, aimed at lessening the size of national monuments in the West to increase drilling and mining.

We also know that they have plans to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement once again. And so I believe Lee Zeldin will likely have a role in much of that. And it's very clear that energy is a top priority for the former president.

So here we have another, another big cabinet level position being announced by Donald Trump. I think we'll see a lot more of these announcements in the coming days -- Boris and Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, live for us from West Palm Beach with the breaking news. Lee Zeldin named as Donald Trump's incoming EPA chief. Alayna, thank you so much.

As we honor those who've served on Veterans Day, for many veterans who were dismissed for their sexual orientation, this will be the first year they can celebrate with honorable discharges. We'll discuss in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As we honor the service and sacrifice of those who have served in the Armed Forces this Veterans Day, President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris marked the occasion by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Biden urging Americans to protect veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We commit and recommit to this sacred vow. This is the last time I will stand here at Arlington as Commander-in-Chief. It's been the greatest honor of my life to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: This is the first year when hundreds more LGBTQ veterans who were dishonorably discharged under the policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell can mark Veterans Day as honorably discharged veterans after a Pentagon review. It's a big deal, but it's not enough, according to my next guest, Steve Kennedy, who is an Iraq War veteran, the organizing director of the People's Parity Project, and a leading advocate for upgrading so-called paper, bad paper discharges for thousands upon thousands of veterans.

And, Steve, I also want to mention you successfully fought for an upgrade of your own bad paper discharge not related to Don't Ask, Don't Tell and spurred a successful class action case in the process.

So talk to us a little bit about this, because on its face, these Don't Ask, Don't Tell upgrades seem like a move in the right direction. Why do you say it's not enough?

STEVE KENNEDY, ORGANIZING DIRECTOR, PEOPLE'S PARITY PROJECT: Yes, I think it's definitely a move in the right direction, and it's an issue that previous administrations really have not taken enough action on. So in that sense, I would absolutely commend the administration for providing this pardon to the segment of veterans that it did.

I think the issue is that the way that it's defined is very narrow. So even within veterans who were discharged for their sexual orientation, there's only a pretty small population under really specific circumstances that qualify. And then on top of that, you have to also apply for this and have a review, which is not so different from what you do going through the normal discharge upgrade process.

And what we've seen over the last several decades between Vietnam veterans, post-9-11 veterans, is that the more roadblocks we put in front of people, the more veterans end up getting left behind.

And what we know, you know, in the case of people who are discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell or previous discharges based on sexual orientation, is that it's very difficult for people to kind of overcome some of those obstacles. And if we want to make sure we're actually taking care of all of the veterans who, you know, need the services that the VA can provide, that they can only get if they get the right discharge, we need to be more accommodating, basically. So the more restrictions we put on this and the more we try and focus on, you know, capturing the people who, you know, so-called people who don't deserve it as much, there are many, many more who served honorably, who need these benefits and who are dying in the meantime.

KEILAR: Let me ask you about that because there's many less than honorable discharges. They're ultimately, and you've educated me about this over the years, they're ultimately due to misconduct that can be traced to PTSD, to traumatic brain injury, even military sexual assault, who are really the folks who obviously most need the benefits, especially the health care benefits that an honorable discharge would afford them. So what does President Biden, in your opinion, need to do with the time he has left? And what do you want to see the incoming Trump administration do?

KENNEDY: I think what I would love to see is just blanket pardons of veterans who have particularly administrative discharges that are less than honorable, but including people even who went through the court martial process, you know, under certain circumstances, because, again, the more we make -- the more difficult we make this, we're losing people in the meantime. And what happens is you get cut off from your benefits. And those benefits are the very thing that could have addressed what got you kicked out in the first place, in the case of mental health.

So what we'd really like to see is President Biden just giving out blanket pardons at this point. There's good legal foundation for him being able to do that and just upgrade people automatically.

[15:45:03]

I don't feel particularly confident that a Trump administration will do the same, particularly for people discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, given some of the rhetoric that we've heard and just the way that veterans benefits have been treated. Project 2025 calls for making it more difficult to get disability benefits. So this is something that I'd really like to see on his way out of office.

President Biden just put out a pardon. This can't be taken back. Get this done now before we, you know, don't have another chance.

KEILAR: You talked about the problems there with not being able to get that health care benefit that someone might need. But talk a little bit about the stigma that is carried around by a veteran who gets a less than honorable discharge when it comes to seeking employment and just psychologically, especially on a day like today, Veterans Day.

KENNEDY: I think what's one of the things that's really difficult is that being a veteran, like having served in the military, becomes such an integral part of your identity that once that is judged as something less than it is really difficult to deal with. So, as you mentioned, I like I received a general discharge after going AWOL and which was related to my PTSD and depression. But that wasn't properly considered.

And for years, I had to kind of deal with that. It makes Veterans Day complicated. Under certain laws, you're not even considered a veteran unless you have the right discharge.

You could have done, you know, multiple deployments, but then something happens after you get out. And now legally, you're not even a veteran anymore. So these days can be really complicated for people like that.

So I think on top of, like you mentioned, just the practical issues, trying to reintegrate after having served, there is a huge stigma around it that people carry around for the rest of their lives in some cases, because even for me, I have every benefit, every resource available to me to try and fight this. It took something like eight years and a class action lawsuit to actually get the discharge that I earned. And there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of other veterans who will never get that opportunity if we don't do something.

KEILAR: Yes, and you could have just taken it for yourself, but instead you kept fighting for other people in the military as well, which I just want people to know about you. Steve, thank you for your service. Thank you for your continued service for veterans. Steve Kennedy, thank you.

KENNEDY: Thank you.

KEILAR: Just ahead, dangerous wildfires are burning on the East and West Coast. We have the latest on what firefighters are up against.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Raging wildfires are keeping firefighters busy on both the East and West Coasts. Southern California's Mountain Fire is close to 40 percent contained, thanks to a cold front that hit over the weekend, but gusty winds are moving back into that area. Meantime, in New York and New Jersey, there's an ongoing drought there that is now fueling deadly flames.

CNN's national correspondent Gloria Pazmino is in New York for us. Gloria, talk to us about the progress that firefighters have been making.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, we got an update just a short while ago from fire officials across the river in New Jersey. That is where a lot of the fire activity is taking place. So far, 5,000 acres of land between New York and New Jersey have already burned, and fire officials there say 20 percent of the fire has been contained so far.

But they've been battling really difficult conditions over the past several days. The reason for that, as you said, is that we have been experiencing a significant drought here in the northeast. In fact, we don't usually hear about wildfires burning in this part of the country, but that is exactly what we have been seeing here for several days now.

So officials are warning residents to not leave any open flames, to not burn anything outside, and just to be extremely careful because this drought situation here in New York and in New Jersey has essentially created a combustible situation that's making conditions and firefighting very difficult.

Sadly, one person has been killed so far, a young firefighter who was out there trying to fight the flames. So officials, again, warning about the conditions.

Now, I also just want to mention this drought that we are experiencing. Here in New York City, we also saw a fire in Prospect Park. That's right in the middle of Brooklyn, and a size of land of about two football fields burned there on Friday night.

That's something that we don't really see as New Yorkers here in the city. So officials asking New Yorkers to conserve water as much as possible, to be mindful of how they run the tap, to be mindful of how they run their appliances, because the city needs to conserve water right now. If this continues to extend for many more days, the city is considering having to increase that drought watch into a potential warning -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for the update from New York.

So her competitive career was short, but her impact immeasurable. Ahead, how the Australian breakdancer Raygun's influence is living on.

We'll be right back.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Breaking news into CNN. Look, it's no secret. We love Raygun here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. And she may not know it, but she is a friend of the show. And now we're seeing just how much her breakdancing and her unmistakable moves are making an impact. Of course, she's Rachel Gunn, the Olympian breakdancer. And it's going from the Olympic stage, her legacy, to the gridiron.

KEILAR: Yes, here's what happened when Minnesota Vikings safety Cam Bynum sealed his victory with a game-ending interception. Oh my gosh. Bynum proceeded to up the celly game by doing his rendition of Raygun's routine from Paris. He hit all those moves. He finished it off with, of course, can we see it? The kangaroo pose.

SANCHEZ: You missed the beginning. He does his arms waving and everything. He did almost an entire chunk of her routine.

[16:00:03]

KEILAR: So good.

SANCHEZ: By the way, it seems that he's been plotting this for some time. He tweeted this out last Monday.

Quote: Trust me, I had the most fire celly ready for y'all after that pick. I got y'all next week.

Obviously her legacy felt throughout the world. This is an open invitation, Raygun. If this gets to you, we would love to have you on CNN NEWS CENTRAL and talk about the impact she's having.

KEILAR: We would love to. You know who's big on the celly game? Jake Tapper and "THE LEAD" starts right now with him.