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Donald Trump to Meet with New Senate Majority Leader and President Biden in White House; President-Elect Trump to Nominate FOX News Host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense; President-Elect Trump Reportedly Reviewing Draft Executive Order to Create Board to Review Three and Four Star Military Officers for Fitness of Leadership. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 13, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: But there's a whole movement that's built up around this. You saw people gathering outside the D.C. jail there where they have for 800 nights. Some of them even produced this book, a how to pardon the J-6ers, a guide for President Trump. So it's all in here if he needs it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We will see what he decides to do and how he decides to do it. Donie O'Sullivan, great report. Thank you very much.

Brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Very soon Donald Trump arrives in Washington with a busy itinerary today, meeting with Republicans on the Hill ahead of key leadership votes there and also heading to the White House on President Biden's invite. The coming sit-down between two very recent rivals.

And the president-elect vowed to fire him in two seconds, is the exact quote. Special Counsel Jack Smith may not give Trump the chance, though. "New York Times" new reporting, Smith is planning to resign before Trump takes over.

Plus, the first inflation report since the presidential election. His will concerns about inflation that continue today play into Trump's plans for his second term, and his big promises from the campaign trail.

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

BERMAN: All right, we are standing by for President-elect Donald Trump to land in Washington following a series of big and some surprising announcements about his administration. But this coming up, this is a huge day. Trump will meet with the Senate majority leader. But right now, we don't know who that will be. Very shortly, Republican senators will vote, and someone other than Mitch McConnell will win the top spot in the Senate for the first time in nearly 20 years. Also this morning, Donald Trump will visit the White House at the

invitation of President Biden. Now, Trump did not extend that invitation four years ago when he lost to Biden by 7 million votes. He has still not conceded the 2020 election, but it is an understatement to say that Biden is taking a different approach this time.

Let's get right to CNN's Kristen Holmes standing by in Washington where Donald Trump will arrive, oh, in about an hour or so. As I said, it's a big day. A lot going on, Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, this is really probably one of the biggest moments in the transition. Of course, we are going to see these cabinet picks. Of course, we are seeing the policies that are forming. But this is the beginning of the peaceful transfer of power. And again, as you said, not something that was awarded to Joe Biden when he came into office in 2020.

So first I want to start with the TikTok of what we're expecting for the day. Donald Trump lands. He will then go to a hotel on the Hill where he is going to meet with the House conference Speaker Mike Johnson. After that, he is going to go to the White House to meet with Joe Biden. We expect at some point to see a spray or some video of the meeting, both with Joe Biden and the House conference. After that, we know that he's going to go back to Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

In that time period somewhere in the schedule, he is going to meet with the new Senate majority leader. Donald Trump has not weighed in on that race. We know a lot of his allies have. They are pushing for Florida Senator Rick Scott, but he himself has steered clear overall.

The one thing to point out here, and there's so much that goes into this trip, is this is a completely different Washington than Donald Trump left in 2020. It's also a completely different Washington than he arrived to in 2016. If you look at 2016, yes, Donald Trump still had power, control over the Senate, Republicans did, as well as the House, same as now. But the difference is that Donald Trump didn't have a lot of allies in the Senate. The House wasn't full of people who were aiming to please the former president, now president-elect.

What we have talked about over the last six years, we are seeing the culmination of that today, which is Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican Party and the shift in Washington. 2020, he essentially stormed out of the White House, never to greet Biden, never to have a conversation, and certainly did not participate in the peaceful transfer of power. So what you're seeing right now is a completely different world, particularly here in Washington, than what we have seen in the past when Donald Trump has been here.

BERMAN: That's for sure. Kristin Holmes, you will be there all day watching these twists and turns. Keep us posted. Thank you very much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Joining us right now, CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. It's great to see you. Thank you so much for being here. Let's talk first about some of the flurry of the job announcements that Donald Trump has made in the last 24 hours. Maybe the most surprising is his pick for defense secretary, which is FOX News host Pete Hegseth. To remind viewers of your service, you served for 37 years in the U.S. Army. You retired in 2013 as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe and the Seventh Army. Coming from your experience, what is your reaction to this pick as Donald Trump's defense secretary?

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Kate, from the very beginning -- first of all, good morning. From the very beginning I said there's a couple of key players in any government, but especially ours that deal with national security. And that is the Sec State, CIA director, NSA.

Having said all that, those are all tough positions. The military does not make it a habit to comment on the credentials of different appointees or nominees. That's what Congress is for. Thats what the Senate does in terms of their oversight. But the military does support, as best they can, whoever is nominated and tries to contribute to their success.

Now that's the party line. But having said that, the Department of Defense, the biggest federal agency, has a lot of requirements, 3 million people, $800 billion budget. There are right now, Kate, 180 soldiers deployed to overseas locations, 100 ships that are preventing, or helping with freedom of navigation. You have the requirement for the secretary to go with Congress to understand -- have them understand what's going on in the defense community, message to the American people, contribute to decision-making in terms of crises.

So yes, it's a big job. So the person who is placed in that job should have some really good credentials in terms of both national security and governmental actions as well as caring for the 3 million people that are part of the department.

BOLDUAN: And do you think, from what you know, I don't know if you know Pete Hegseth personally, but from the credentials you have heard from him, he was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard after he graduated Princeton 2003. He served overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, and during his military service he was awarded two Bronze Stars and a combat infantry badge. From what you -- does that -- are those the kind of credentials you think would be setting the department up for success?

HERTLING: It's a tough question to answer, Kate. I'll say dots. It depends on the situation. What I've just described to you is an individual that needs to understand how to run a large bureaucracy and a big business. I give him kudos for serving in the military and having two deployments as a lieutenant and then a captain on his record. But the question will be -- and people will watch and the Congress and Senate will ask, how are you going to run this organization? What are your feelings on national security? What are your engagement techniques?

He's following a guy, Four-Star General Lloyd Austin, who many people said shouldn't be the defense secretary because he was recently in the military, who has done masterful things in terms of pulling together different organizations in Ramstein for the support of Ukraine, has dealt with world leaders and contributed to their capabilities in terms of engaging and building their military. So again, I go back to the statement. The military doesn't comment on their credentials. All we try to do is support whoever is nominated and contribute to their success. I know that's not a great answer from an old military guy, but that's what the military does.

BOLDUAN: I would never say something that you're telling me with your level of expertise is not a great answer. I will say, I will take whatever I can get when we're having our chats.

Let me ask you about this new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal", because I really do want your insight. In "The Wall Street Journal's" reporting that the Trump transition is considering a draft executive order, which obviously on its face means this is not finalized, but still the draft executive orders would establish a warrior board of retired senior military personnel with the power to review three and four star officers and to recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership.

What do you think -- some of my questions are, and I have a lot of them on this, what do you think that isn't happening that they're trying to fix with this that doesn't already exist within military structure? And what would this warrior board be looking for in officers they're vetting?

HERTLING: I don't know, Kate. And that's a key question, and it's an important question. But what I will tell you, you just described a couple things. Many Americans, to include those many in the military, are not aware of the constitutional issues and the related processes used to promote people. The Constitution gives Congress broad powers over the armed forces. The Congress is told to raise and support armies, provide and maintain a Navy, and make rules for government regulations of the armed forces. That includes recruiting, retention, and promotion.

And having been promoted through the ranks, I know how difficult these promotion boards are by both the military that promotes people as well as the secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the secretary of defense in submitting the promotions to the Senate for approval.

[08:10:06]

So Congress already has oversight. We've seen that most recently with Senator Tuberville who created such a turmoil by not approving many flag officers. So the Senate has the ability to stop anyone's promotion. And one more thing, the president has the ability to fire a general if he or she is not doing what the president wants him to do.

So the key question remains, what is -- as you just asked, what are they trying to fix with this board? Does the constitutional roles assigned to Congress still apply? Or is there an attempt to override the Constitution? How do the services and the Trump-appointed service secretaries and secretary of defense, now doing this promotion process, and as you just said, who will make up this so-called warrior board that will see things that many, many vetting processes may not see, and say this man or woman is not fit to serve as a three or four star general?

Finally, Kate, I will say one more thing. How much will this damage the world's greatest military, and our unique cultural dynamics of civilian military relations? That's what concerns me a little bit. This additional requirement by the president. And I read "The Wall Street Journal" article several times and couldn't figure out really if it's a draft or if it's just some thought pieces to put some more capability for the president to influence this. But truthfully, he already has a lot of people influencing the process in the first place.

BOLDUAN: You raise so many important questions. One thing we know is a transition official told "The Wall Street Journal" it is one of the numerous executive orders under review right now by Trump's team. So stand by to stand by together on that one.

Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you, General. John?

BERMAN: All right, breaking this morning, we have learned that Special Counsel Jack Smith plans to step down before Donald Trump can fire him. But before he goes, we could get a bombshell report on his investigations into Donald Trump.

This morning, a key vote behind closed doors that could help shape Donald Trump's second term.

And chicken wars, why KFC is suing a rival.

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[08:16:55]

BOLDUAN: New reporting today that Special Counsel Jack Smith is going to resign before Donald Trump takes office in January. Smith wants to finish the bulk of his investigations against Trump before he leaves, so he leaves with nothing behind, and nothing unfinished, I guess.

Even before he won the election, Donald Trump vowed again and again from the campaign trail he would be firing Smith, "within two seconds" of becoming president.

CNN's Evan Perez is watching all of this for us. What are you learning about Smith's plans going forward?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, look, the mechanics of this are still being worked out, but the former president or the incoming president won't have to go through the trouble of firing Jack Smith if everything works as is being planned.

Now, the issue is this, that under the special counsel regulations, he is required to produce a report to the attorney general. Now, Merrick Garland, the attorney general now has said he plans to release that report. He wants to release it to Congress, and a version of this would be made public. But how we get there is part of the discussion right now, behind-the-scenes, between the special counsel, his team, and the attorney general.

Here's how it would work, right?

They have to wind down these cases, and how that is done is still something that they're working out. According to the special counsel, they're going to update the federal courts on December 2nd of how they want to do that. So then, the other question remains whether he has to submit his report to the intelligence community for them to clear it to be released to the public.

Now, a lot of this stuff that is in -- that Jack Smith gathered for his investigation is already cleared by the intelligence community, because they are going to use it on a trial, which, of course, will never happen. So, that's part of what the discussions are behind the scenes, whether he has to submit that report to the intelligence community -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, he completes his work and then he leaves. And then what? You have to assume that the Trump administration, or allies in Congress aren't done with it, though.

PEREZ: Nope, they are not done with him. And so, that's where this begins, right? The former president has already said multiple times he wants to not only fire Jack Smith, but also, he wants there to be an investigation. He has raised a possibility of special counsels to investigate his political opponents, and he wants there to be an investigation of this investigation.

So, we anticipate that members of Congress, Republican members of Congress, are going to take up that issue. And so, it won't be long before perhaps next year where Jack Smith will be required to appear before congressional hearings again, while they investigate the investigation -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And we cover the investigation and the investigators. Get ready, buddy. Good to see you, thank you so much for your reporting.

So, Republicans are two seats away from reclaiming a historically slim majority in the House. What that means for Donald Trump's campaign promises and his second term agenda.

And also, we're just learning who will be joining in his meeting today with lawmakers -- will be joining Donald Trump in his meeting today with lawmakers. That's coming up.

And Lunchables, now off the menu for schools across the country. The long-standing health concerns that led to this decision.

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[08:24:43]

BOLDUAN: Breaking news just in, we have just learned that Elon Musk will be joining Donald Trump today during his meeting with House Republicans this morning. How he weighs in, and what influence he has? Well, we'll standby for that. It also gets us to the race for the House Majority, it remains undecided with some House contests still not called. But right now, it is looking more and more likely, that Republicans will retain control of the House, putting Republicans on the cusp of being in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House at the same time.

[08:25:18]

Though Republicans in the House are two seats away from reclaiming what will be, would be an historically slim majority in the chamber.

That's where CNN's Harry Enten comes in because he wanted to look into that. How historically slim are we talking about?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: How slim are we talking? Not as slim as I am, but let's run the numbers here. The GOP leads in just 222 House races. Of course, we haven't called all of those yet. But they lead in just 222. How small is that, Kate Bolduan? How small is it?

The GOP may have a record small House Majority at the start of the Congress. I looked at all the House Majorities that started Congresses going back to when we had 50 states. Remember, Alaska and Hawaii were the last two added, 222 which is the amount they lead in right now, would tie for the lowest. But of course, we haven't called all of those 222.

I was looking at a few races in California, where Republicans lead that might go the other way. If we get down to 221, that would be the lowest ever going back to since we had 50 states, and of course, it could drop even lower, given that Donald Trump has decided to pluck a few folks from the House for his Cabinet. Stefanik and Waltz of course, so, the bottom line is, we are talking razor, razor, razor- thin at this particular point, looking at what the House might look like come January.

BOLDUAN: Is it razor thin?

ENTEN: It is razor thin.

BOLDUAN: Is it this a real word, Congresses?

ENTEN: Sure, why the heck, not -- underdid, Congresses --

BOLDUAN: I have covered Congress; I have never written Congresses in anything --

ENTEN: I go through the Thesaurus looking for words that are infrequently used and therefore, I bring them to the American people, Kate Bolduan.

BOLDUAN: You are welcome. Back to the news, what would this historically razor thin majority mean for the Republican agenda, and what the Republicans in the House want to do, which also means Donald Trump's agenda. ENTEN: Yes, so you know we can get a pretty decent idea by looking at this past House, right, because this past House had a very thin majority, very similar to the one I think we're going to be looking at come this January.

And guess what, how many bills did this GOP House pass? The fewest in 50 years, down 40 percent versus the 50-year average. So, the bottom line is, when you're working with such a thin majority, it's awfully difficult to get things passed just though a Republican House because although the Republican conference is still pretty united, there are still a few folks on either the center part or the far right who might be able to throw something come the other way when you have such a small majority to work with -- Kate Bolduan.

BOLDUAN: Yes, just look at the last time. What does all of this then mean for special elections that are sure to come early in the Trump term?

ENTEN: Yes, we already believe there are going to be two. Look, Waltz's seat is safe, Stefanik's seat probably won by Donald Trump by about 20 points, we're still waiting for the final numbers to come in.

BOLDUAN: Can you remind them why we are talking about that? These are current members of Congress that are joining the Trump White House in the Trump administration.

ENTEN: Correct, Waltz to be the National Security adviser and then Stefanik to be of course, the UN ambassador. And look, Stefanik's seat as I was mentioning, probably won by Trump by about 20 points, maybe a little bit more. We're still waiting for the final numbers to come in. I'm not sure that that seat is necessarily safe.

But Waltz's seat most definitely is. Because I would just want to look at special House elections in 2017 and 2018. In the median district, in the median election, the Democrats outran Clinton's margin by 15 points, including flipping a seat in Southwest Pennsylvania that Donald Trump won by 20 points.

So, the bottom line is, when you get these special elections that come up, a lot of times Democratic turnout will be extremely high. Republican turnout might be low if history is a guide. Don't be surprised if that House Majority shrinks even further.

BOLDUAN: It gets even more razor.

ENTEN: Razor, razor, razor, than the sharpest razor, straight razor.

BOLDUAN: Which Harry clearly doesn't use. Just kidding. We love you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, let's bring in the Patti Solis Doyle, former presidential campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Chamberlain, a Republican strategist. I actually want to start with the news that Kate said right at the top there, which is we just learned that Elon Musk is going with President-elect Trump today when he meets with House Republicans.

Elon Musk, who just got appointed head of this outside group that's going to look at government efficiency. Elon Musk who apparently is practically living at Mar-a-Lago.

Sara, talk to me about how comfortable you are that Elon Musk is sort of the wingman now or maybe Donald Trump is Elon Musk's wingman.

SARAH CHAMBERLAIN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, who knows? But I'm actually pretty comfortable with that as of right now. I think Elon Musk is a big businessman. I think he'll be helping Donald Trump in many areas. So, I'm not surprised.

Plus, you know, to be honest, the conversation might have been a little awkward, if it's just President Trump with President Biden, all the history there. So, I think Elon Musk adds a little buffer to that, too.

BERMAN: To be clear, we think Elon Musk is going to Donald Trump's meeting with House leaders. I don't know if we know yet whether Musk will go to the White House, or whether he's even received an invitation for that. But we'll obviously, stand by and keep our eye on that.

But Elon Musk, Patti Solis Doyle, unelected, now with a lot of authority and perhaps conflicts of interest, you know billions of dollars in government contracts travelling almost everywhere it seems with President-elect Trump.

[08:30:27]