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Trump Expected to Tapp Rubio and Noem; Rep. John Garamendi is Interviewed about Trump's Cabinet Picks; Judge to Rule in Hush Money Case; Congress Returns from Recess; Gallego Wins in Arizona. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: But I do think we have to look at the changes that he's made to the platform. He has rolled back moderation in other areas. We've seen increases in other kinds of hate speech, in conspiracy theories. Some of those coming from Elon Musk himself. And the company's harassment policy only really regulates harassment against specific individuals. So, this kind of broad abuse of women doesn't even violate the company's policies.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Awesome.

All right, Clare, thank you very much for your continued reporting on this.

And you can hear much more from Clare on her new podcast. You should check it out. It's called "Terms of Service." It's out now.

And also now, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL begins.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, it is never to late for forgiveness. Former Trump rival Marco Rubio expected to be named Donald Trump's secretary of state. And new reports of who we might see appointed next.

We are standing by. Any minute we could find out whether a New York judge will toss out the 34 criminal convictions against Donald Trump or send the president-elect to sentencing.

And this morning, Donald Trump's new right-hand billionaire, Elon Musk, suggesting radical changes to who controls the country's money supply.

I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The list of loyalists getting spots in the administration, growing. Now just over 24 hours from President-elect Donald Trump's first trip back to Washington. He is moving quickly to fill his cabinet with some of his staunchest allies. New overnight, multiple sources now saying that Trump, in January,

will nominate Florida Senator Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, which means over the span of eight years, Rubio has gone from "Little Marco" to Trump in 2016, to now staunch ally and soon his top diplomat.

Also new this morning, Trump will nominate North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary. This as Trump advisers further dig into his day one deportation plans.

Let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene near Mar-a-Lago.

What more can you share about some of these latest picks that we are expecting to see?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Sara, I think you're absolutely right because the one common theme that you're seeing through all of his picks, and what I consistently hear in my conversations with those close to Trump and helping with this transition process, is that he wants to stack his second administration with loyalists. He wants to surround himself with people who will be yes men. Who are like-minded in their agenda and are not going to hold him back.

And remember, when Donald Trump left office in January of 2021, he said that his biggest regret was his hiring decisions, were the people who he surrounded himself with. And so he is very focused this time. This is the number one priority for him, as he's having these conversations behind me at Mar-a-Lago, is to make sure he is picking people who will carry out his agenda.

Now, Marco Rubio, the expected pick for secretary of state, I do want to caution that we do not know yet if he has actually offered the senator this role. But he has made up his mind, according to our conversations with those familiar with the discussion.

And you're exactly right. I mean remember the days of Little Marco. However, Marco Rubio has since become a very strong ally of Donald Trump's. They have patched things up. Remember, he was on Donald Trump's short list to become VP. And he was always going to be in the running. Ever since Donald Trump started to seriously think about who he wanted in his cabinet, he was always a top name under consideration for secretary of state.

Another name he was thinking about was Rick Grinnell. And we're told though, especially yesterday, throughout his conversations about who he wanted to choose for this role, many people had called up Donald Trump, had spoken with him in person and really kind of tried to pitch him on Rubio and convinced him over the course of the day that he was the right choice.

And remember, they are like-minded on a lot of things, from the tough - being tough on Iran, to being tough on China, to their stance on funding for Ukraine. They are aligned in a lot of areas. And that's what this really comes down to.

Now, Kristi Noem, the governor, she is also a very interesting pick. Definitely someone that Donald Trump wanted to be a loyalist at the top there at DHS. And really, she's going to be working very closely with Stephen Miller and Tom Homan on the White House's immigration plans. Immigration plans, I should say, the agenda is likely going to be really controlled out of the White House, more so than the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, we did actually hear from Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair, and also his daughter-in-law, about some of the thinking behind these picks. I want you to take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARA TRUMP, CO-CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: The people he's putting alongside of him are people who are going to prioritize the American people's mandate, to secure our southern border, to roll back regulations that are stifling small businesses, to regain our standing on the world stage as the superpower and the leader of the free world.

[09:05:03]

That's what America voted on. And that is what Donald Trump is prioritizing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So you heard it there herself, Sara, that - and, look, I mean, Lara Trump is someone who is with Donald Trump regularly at Mar-a- Lago. She knows exactly what Donald Trump is focused on right now. And loyalty really is what this comes down to.

Sara.

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your reporting there from outside Mar-a-Lago.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, joining us right now is Democratic Congressman from California, John Garamendi.

Congressman, thanks for coming in.

You and Congressman Mike Waltz, who serve on the Armed Services Committee together, are you happy to see him as Donald Trump's national security adviser?

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Well, Mike and I have had a very, very good working relationship for four years. When I was chairman, we worked very closely together. He was the ranking member. He then became chairman, and that same pattern continued.

I think he's going to be a good choice. He understands the Department of Defense. He understands the security issues around the world. Actually, I'm pleased with him having this position. I think it's going to work out well. BOLDUAN: Yes, and for context, (INAUDIBLE), if they need to know,

you're not pleased with basically anything coming from President Donald Trump, President-elect Donald Trump and the policies he's pushing. So that's - that is why I ask. And that is quite a statement.

For - so, more broadly, while the House isn't involved in the confirmation process for cabinet nominees -

GARAMENDI: Right.

BOLDUAN: What do you think of a possible Marco Rubio as secretary of state? If you had a say, would - do you think you would vote to confirm him?

GARAMENDI: Well, before I leave Mike waltz, he'll be a very good and a strong voice on national security.

What I see in these other appointments is that Trump's going to control things. These are people that are going to carry out his agenda, whatever that might be. We certainly know from his campaign that it's a rather radical agenda, at least in change. So, we'll - I don't expect to see the governor or the senator really driving policy. They're going to be carrying out whatever Trump wants. And what we heard from the camp - his campaign is he's going, oh, this is going to be really, really different and, in many ways, very troublesome.

BOLDUAN: And, Governor, you're talking about Governor Kristi Noem, who's expected to be - is named - is expected to be picked as DHS secretary.

Former Congressman Lee Zeldin - I mean there's a lot of members of Congress that we're talking about here today. Former Congressman Lee Zeldin, he is going to be heading up the EPA. And what we've heard from Zeldin is that he's promising to pull back, quote, left-wing regulation and focusing on unleashing economic prosperity through the agency is how he's put it. Your state, California, really became the leader of Democratic opposition during Trump's first term, especially when you're talking about environmental protections.

GARAMENDI: Right.

BOLDUAN: I think it was filing over 120 lawsuits against the Trump administration.

What do you think it's going to look like this time around? Is California, do you think, going to lead the charge in Democratic opposition to the Trump agenda?

GARAMENDI: Well, it looks to me like Democratic governors around the nation are rushing to be the first to file a lawsuit. They're going to have to wait until sometime in January. But the reality is that the Democratic governors, Newsom included, are going to fight back, particularly on the environmental issues. California, way, way out ahead on dealing with the climate crisis, moving away from petroleum as a source of energy. It raises a very interesting situation for me. I represent all five of

northern California's oil refineries. And so we're looking at some 30,000 jobs. How do we transition those refineries away from petroleum into renewable. And frankly, we're making some good progress on that.

So, California is going to lead. Other governors, Democratic governors, will also be very active in pushing back, not just on the environmental issues, but on a whole host of issues that affect the citizens and the constituents in each of those states.

So, count on a pushback on many of the policies. We've, obviously, seen discussion about this on the rounding up all of the immigrants and deportation issues. There'll be a pushback, as there was in the first Trump term. But I do think that governors will also say, if there's a criminal, if there's somebody charged with a crime, deportation is appropriate. And certainly it is.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you, Democrats elected and - and more broadly are really in soul searching mode right now. Kind of asking, what did Democrats get wrong about where voters are, seeing the result from this election.

Bernie Sanders told CNN that Democrats lost because they have abandoned working class people.

[09:10:05]

And he said that voters have a reason to be angry. Do you agree?

GARAMENDI: No, I think he's absolutely wrong. If you take a look at the legislation that was passed in the first two years of the Biden administration, it was legislation that was specifically designed to build the working class in America.

First of all, you start with the American Rescue Plan that kept families able to survive the shutdown of the pandemic. And then the American -

BOLDUAN: Then what do you prescribe as what went wrong then, Congressman?

GARAMENDI: What went wrong is we moved on to the next issue and didn't really message the importance that there was in infrastructure bill. Those are all working class jobs, building the infrastructure. You take a look at the Chips Act, those are very, very important jobs, and they're being in actually most red states. You go beyond that, the Inflation Reduction Act deals with the climate crisis. But once again, those are working men and women jobs in the middle and lower- income brackets. We just didn't message it. We went from one major issue, starting with the American Rescue Plan, all the way to the Chips Act, and then the Inflation Reduction Act, and never went back and told the American public, particularly the middle class, the working men and women of America, that this was for them. And those are the jobs that are there.

There were 16 million jobs created in the Biden administration. Many of them were for the working class in America, whether it was the lower or the middle income. And so, we just didn't message it. And we were up against a gentlemen - excuse me, an individual who spent eight years with his messaging. Trump took the four years in his administration and then the four years of the Biden administration to message a very, very negative message that actually resounded in the American public.

So, we made a messaging issue, but the policies that we put forward were specifically for the working men and women and designed to address the problems of access, the problems of dealing with communities left behind. All of that was there, we just didn't message it.

BOLDUAN: Congressman John Garamendi, thank you for coming in.

GARAMENDI: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: President-elect Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in two weeks for his conviction in his New York hush money case. But that might never happen. We are awaiting a decision by the judge that could come any moment.

And no word on who Trump will pick to be his new attorney general just yet, but worry ramping up throughout the Justice Department over possible retribution against people who worked on cases against Donald Trump.

And Melania Trump is apparently skipping the traditional White House meeting be First Lady Jill Biden. What sources say, and why she won't be there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:25]

SIDNER: All right, any moment now we expect a decision in President- elect Donald Trump's criminal conviction in that hush money case here in New York. New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan could order a new trial, or he could dismiss the case altogether.

CNN's Kara Scannell is with us now.

A jury had a verdict in this case, but there are lots of issues because of the Supreme Court ruling on immunity. Is there any sense of where he's going in this decision?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, I mean, this is unprecedented. And so everyone's - all eyes are on the judge and how will he handle this? I mean, the issue here, of course, as you said, is the Supreme Court decision which said that official acts by a president cannot be used in a criminal trial. And Trump's lawyers are saying that official acts came into this case, even though it was about Trump's cover-up of a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. And those official acts included testimony from his White House aides, Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, as well as tweets Trump issued while he was president.

Now, prosecutors say that that was just a sliver of the evidence, that they had a tremendous amount of evidence, overwhelming evidence, and that this conviction should stand. But the judge is in this unique position, having to make this decision. He has set Trump's sentencing for two weeks from today. We know Trump's lawyers are trying to stop that from happening. That has been a key thing that we have said, that led to this sentencing being delayed twice already. So, they are going to - we're expecting them to move to postpone this sentencing, in part because this is a state case, Trump is the president-elect, and state cases don't proceed against presidents.

So, a real kind of unknown terrain right here. And that's why this is a big decision today, and all eyes on this judge.

SIDNER: So many times we've used the word "unprecedented." This, again, another rung in the unprecedented ladder.

Thank you so much, Kara Scannell. I appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking news. One of the world's most senior religious leaders just resigned over his handling of a child abuse case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:24:00]

BERMAN: All right, breaking just moments ago, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the most senior leader in the Church of England, has resigned over his own handling of child abuse allegations within the church. He wrote, quote, "it is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and re- traumatizing period between 2013 and 2024. I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change."

So, lawmakers are heading back to Capitol Hill today for the first time since Donald Trump's election victory. One of the first orders of business for the Senate, Republicans who need to decide who their new leader is going to be. Kate Bolduan takes it from here.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, John Berman.

No, I was not late to the studio at all.

CNN's Lauren Fox has been reporting on this one for us.

Lauren, help save me, please. What are you hearing? You have new reporting. Tell us.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, just a couple of minutes ago I actually ran into John Cornyn. He is one of the three Republicans who is vying to replace McConnell as GOP leader. [09:25:03]

And I got in a couple of questions before he was ushered off. Obviously, this is a really important moment for him. He's really trying to keep his cards close to the vest. But he said he has been in regular contact with incoming President Donald Trump, and has spoken to him as recently as two days ago.

One of the key questions had been, how much Donald Trump was going to impact this race, because it's a secret ballot, which means that lawmakers can all vote for whoever they want and it will never clear who voted for who. But one thing to keep in mind is the impact that Elon Musk, Donald Trump, MAGA world is all having. And you've seen in the last couple of days that Rick Scott has gotten a surge of MAGA world endorsements from Republican senators, to popular talk show hosts. And I asked Cornyn, is he worried about that surge that Rick Scott's getting so late in this game from MAGA world. He said he is not getting into the back and forth in the press. Obviously, very aware that this is an inside game for Republicans. He does not want this to play out in the press. Of course, just 24 hours until that race takes place.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that is great reporting. And the way he answered your question, I think, offers the exact insight and context that you need is, no matter what it is, they're keeping it within the - within - within Senate Republicans and what his real views are because it is an inside game at this point. But an important one with big impact on what the Senate does going forward.

It's great to see you, Lauren. Thank you for that.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Tricia McLaughlin, the former senior adviser and director of communications for Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign, and a former Trump administration official, and Christy Setzer, a Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for Al Gore's presidential campaign.

I want to start with a name that we haven't said yet today, and that's Ruben Gallego, Senator- elect Ruben Gallego from the state of Arizona. We have projected that he will win that Senate race. He's going to win the Senate race, that Democrat will, by 72,000 votes, despite the fact that Trump winning the state of Arizona right now by 182,000 votes. I want to play a little sound from Senator-elect Gallego.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): Well, certainly, first for the Republicans, thank you so much. Honestly, like, you know, they took a chance on me. And we're not going to agree all the time. And I'm going to always seek the input. And we're going to, you know, find middle ground where we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, Christi, my question is, why is it Senator-elect Gallego this morning and not President-elect Kamala Harris? In other words, what did he do right that other Democrats did not?

CHRISTY SETZER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND FORMER SPOKESPERSON, AL GORE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Thats right. So, actually, he's not alone, of course. There are a number of states that Trump won where the Democratic senator was either re-elected or, in his case, newly elected. Where voters split their votes. And what he did and what a lot of these senators like Elissa Slotkin, others, Tammy Baldwin did was they explicitly reached out to, in this case, Trump/Gallego voters. They talked to them as populists, they found common ground. And - and I think it's interesting, right, that we have such a number of voters in these swing states. It shows that campaigns matter. It shows that - not in every case did partisanship win out. And it actually shows that there's a pathway for Democrats going forward with these leaders, too, and people who have been able to show that they can appeal across the board.

BERMAN: So, Tricia, where do you see that pathway for Democrats?

TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL AND FORMER SENIOR ADVISER AND COMMS DIRECTOR, VIVEK RAMASWAMY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: So, I think actually this was a case of it being the opposite. I think Kamala Harris very much was personality versus Trump was policy. And in case, it came to Gallego being - he really bucked the Biden/Harris administration on their immigration policy. Forty percent of Arizonians are independent. So, he found real opportunity with them.

I think it didn't help Kari Lake's gubernatorial campaign in the primary, her saying that she didn't want McCain voters votes. That turned out to be a really big problem for her. Over and over again on the airwaves people were seeing that, and they reacted. So, I think that's a message to Republicans. Even if these people can handedly win a Republican primary, we've got to have people who can win generals, too, and reach out to those independent voters or disaffected Republicans.

BERMAN: Candidates matter.

MCLAUGHLIN: Candidates matter. (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Lessons we learn every two years.

All right, broadly speaking, we are in a situation now, as Donald Trump is putting together his cabinet, of the question being, how far will he go to push his agenda, and how far will Democrats go or what can they do to try to stop it or in some way shape it. To the question of how far will he go, Tricia, first to you, do you think - I mean what are the signs right now, based on who he's picked? Stephen Miller, you know, deputy chief of staff, who will apparently have - play a huge role in deportations. What does that tell you?

[09:30:00] MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, picking Homan, who was former ICE director, picking Stephen Miller, that's absolutely a signal to all Americans that he is very serious about mass deportations.