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Biden Welcomes Trump To White House For Historic Meeting; Biden And Trump Discussed National Security And Domestic Policy Issues; CNN Projects: Republicans Will Keep Control Of The House. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 13, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:44]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now House Republicans will be holding their leadership elections. Lawmakers voting on positions like speaker, majority leader, conference chair. Current Speaker Mike Johnson is virtually assured to win reelection as leader, he would need a simple majority of the conference.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now, President Elect Trump said in this morning's meeting with House Republicans that he's with Johnson all the way. The real test of course, is on January 3rd when the entire House votes and Johnson would need 218 votes, meaning he could not afford to lose more than a handful of Republicans, assuming that Republicans hold the narrow majority in the House, a lot of races still yet to be called. CNN does not officially call the race for of the House of Representatives, but it is trending in Republicans direction.

Also in Washington, President Biden is reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful transition of power as President Elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House. The two huddled inside the Oval Office today, speaking face to face for about two hours, most of that almost all of that exclusively behind closed doors.

KEILAR: And it's been a longstanding tradition for the incoming and the outgoing presidents to meet. Of course, until four years ago when then President Trump denied that he lost the election and refused to extend this same courtesy to Biden. Our correspondents are standing by with more on this.

Let's begin with CNN's MJ Lee. MJ all hard feelings it seems maybe set aside today. At least while the cameras were present, there were smiles. Take us inside this historic moment at the White House.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's exactly as you put it, Brianna. President Biden just welcomed incoming President Donald Trump to the White House just four years after the former President had declined to extend that same courtesy to then President elect Joe Biden when their roles had been reversed. This was a meeting inside the Oval Office that lasted just about two hours and only four people were in the room. Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Susie Wiles and Jeff Zients, their respective chiefs of staff and Karine Jean-Pierre just started briefing reporters in the White House briefing room. And this is how she summarized the meeting. She said it was a substantive exchange of views.

They talked about a range of domestic and foreign issues, she said. She said that President Biden brought up a number of issues that he sees as important on Congress's to do list, like funding the government. And that at the end of the day, he very much stressed what he has been saying in public, that it is very important for there to be a peaceful transfer of power between the two administrations.

So the President, as you said, clearly choosing to set aside, at least for today, some of the tough words that he has used on the campaign trail in recent years against the former President saying that he believes he presents a stark threat to democracy. So as we wait for that official readout, which should give us a better sense of the range of issues that they talked about, just that political dynamic is quite stark.

Now, as for just the mood here at the White House, of course, it's been a bit of a hectic and busy day. And staffers I have been talking to made very clear emotions have been running high. The idea of the former President, now the incoming president, coming back to the White House when so many people here inside the building, of course, had wanted a very different outcome from the election.

As for the President himself, I was told by folks who have met with him in recent days that he has seemed intent on just being focused on the work, keeping his head down. But one Senior Democrat I talked to did say he is quite sensitive to and aware of the blame that he is getting after the election and that that is something that he is not happy about and feels like has been unfair. Guys.

KEILAR: MJ Lee live for us from the White House. Thank you.

We have CNN National Correspondent Kristen Holmes with us now. Kristen, this is the first time that we've seen Trump in Washington since he won the election. Talk to us more about the tone that he set as he's laying the groundwork for his transition.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna and Boris, this is actually the first time we've really seen him in public since he won the election. And now we see him in Washington, D.C., a very different Washington when he first stepped foot in Washington as president elect back in 2016, he now has command of the Senate and House.

[14:05:03]

While Republicans were in control of the Senate and the house back in 2016, it was not Donald Trump's Republican Party. And we've spent the last two years reporting on how Washington and Donald Trump's Republican Party have had a full shift when it comes to the former President and now President Elect. What was most notable that what we saw on the ground here, he's talking about setting that tone, Brianna, was the fact that Donald Trump appeared to be deferring to President Joe Biden. He appeared to recognize the moment that he was in.

Now, I do want to be very clear when I'm talking about setting a tone when it comes to President Elect Trump. He could easily undo that at any time. But I am walking through exactly what happened today that we saw with our own eyes.

So what we saw is him landing. He did not take questions from the press. Underneath the wing there they were waiting for him. They were ready for him to talk to the press. He went straight down to the Hyatt, where he only -- the only remarks we saw him give were the ones that were briefly on camera there at the House conference. Then he went to the White House.

There were reporters in the room shouting questions at both him and President Joe Biden. He deferred to President Joe Biden. Joe Biden didn't take questions. Donald Trump didn't take questions.

Afterwards, he had an opportunity. He could have gone to the stakeout location outside of the White House. There were at least dozens of members of the press waiting for him just in case he came out. He did not do that. Clearly setting the tone here that this is a serious moment, which it is. And it is not a moment that just belongs to him. It is one that belongs to both him and President Joe Biden.

And as we continue to stress, not a moment that he afforded to President Joe Biden four years ago, but Donald Trump himself, saying that he was committed to a smooth transition of power. And I cannot stress enough, really, this is probably one of the most, if not the most important moments of this transition because it sets into motion what could be, could have been maybe not as peaceful of a transition of power, but this is that moment where we see how Donald Trump is acting, we see how President Joe Biden is acting, and we see that this is the start of that transfer of power.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it undoubtedly sets the tone for the transition. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for your reporting.

Let's discuss with Election Law Scholar and CNN Contributor Derek T. Muller. Also joining us CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali and Kate Andersen Brower, who's written multiple books on the White House, including First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies. Thank you all for being with us.

Tim, first to you. Truly a historic moment today at the White House. We've been talking for weeks about the significance of the transfer of power and the importance of upholding this practice that marks the difference between democracies and autocracies. And there you have Donald Trump and Joe Biden shaking hands and smiling in front of a lit fireplace.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it's a return to tradition. It's a return to norms. Apparently, the two presidents, by the way, it's the first time since the 19th century that a former President is about to succeed an incumbent president, that the presidents were both talking about a smooth transition. And Donald Trump said, and I very much appreciate it, Joe.

Well, we all know what happened four years ago, and that was a breaking of tradition, a tradition of a peaceful transfer of power. But four years later, Donald Trump seems to be committed, at least at the moment, to as smooth a transition as possible. And Joe Biden has set the tone. It is, after all, Joe Biden who made clear that he wanted to let bygones be bygones for the sake of the country.

KEILAR: Yeah. And, Derek, it's interesting because Trump is, he's along for the ride on it here. I mean, he is participating. He didn't invite Joe Biden four years ago. He did take Barack Obama up on the perfunctory invitation eight years ago. What do you think so far about the transition as you're seeing Trump make it this time compared to eight years ago?

DEREK T. MULLER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. So right now, I think maybe the surprising thing is how normal it all seems, right? This is what we typically expect every four years. Certainly 2020 wasn't just denying the election results. It was also COVID, which resulted in all this separation that people had from one another. So lots of things that we didn't like.

And I think eight years ago, you can look at those pictures of Donald Trump in the Oval Office with Barack Obama, and he looks surprised, he looks in awe that he's there for the first time. And now I think, though, he's coming in as a man with a mission, as a man who knows the mistakes he made in the first-term and the things that he wants to change and adapt for the next term. So we'll see how that conversation with President Biden and former President Trump plays out in the days ahead.

SANCHEZ: That scene before the cameras in the Oval Office, Kate, was totally normal, right? Given historical precedent. What is kind of different about this transition is that the first lady offered an invitation to the former first lady, who did not accept.

KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, "FIRST WOMEN: THE GRACE & POWER OF AMERICA'S MODERN FIRST LADIES: And just following up on the presidential meeting and what MJ said, there is a lot of anger among the staff inside the White House.

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And a White House official told me, you can't only love your country when you win, right?

There is this seething anger among the staff and sadness, really. But it's a break of tradition, a century old tradition where the incoming first lady sits with the outgoing First Lady. We saw Michelle Obama do it with Melania in 2016. How difficult that must have been for her. This is something, you know, Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan have done. People from opposing parties always do it.

And I think it's a missed opportunity. It's a break with tradition. And I think it reveals some animosity that Melania must have. I mean, she's written about being upset about the FBI raids at Mar-a-Lago. It seems unusual. You know, Dr. Biden gave a letter to be given to Melania Trump saying that she's here for her, for the transition. And Melania doesn't seem to care what the expectations are that are set before her.

KEILAR: Yeah. And she's frequently flouted those expectations. She's doing it again. But it's certainly noticeable.

Derek, Trump announced that you're going to have this Department of Government Efficiency that Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk are going to be leading. And of course, Musk, you know, he's so astoundingly wealthy. He leads all of these companies that have so many lucrative contracts with the government. What kind of conflict of interest questions do you have just specifically about him?

MULLER: Yeah, I mean, as we look at this, it's probably not right to call it a department. It's really the sort of Federal Advisory Council or something like that. Presidents have regularly had these kinds of entities, but there's no question there are disclosures, there are conflict of interest forms that have to be completed.

There's tons of paperwork. There's a lot of bureaucracy. There are sunshine laws and open records laws and maintenance requests that have to be maintained over the next several months. So to the extent that these two men are leading this sort of entity, it'll be very illuminating, I think, in the weeks ahead to see what kind of information gets displayed to the American people.

For Musk himself, obviously he has a lot of government contracts, but those contracts are things that the agencies are doing. And I think there's going to be an interesting question about whether or not he's pressuring certain agencies or not, or whether he's just going to come in and just sort of see what he sees and try to change things, regardless of what his own personal conflicts will be. We'll see.

SANCHEZ: Tim, another unorthodox announcement coming from the transition team is that Pete Hegseth is going to be nominated as Secretary of Defense. He is a veteran, a Bronze Star recipient, a weekend host on Fox News. He doesn't really have the managerial experience that you might anticipate a traditional DoD Secretary would have, overseeing something like a million employees. What do you make of the pick?

NAFTALI: Well, generally speaking, our presidents have selected either somebody who's managed a company, whether you know, Ford, for example, in the case of Robert McNamara, or someone who is a defense intellectual who has spent perhaps some time at a lower level in the Pentagon.

There's a third category of people. Those are people who have been on the committees in Congress that have dealt with military matters. So that's generally the three buckets you might choose someone from.

In the case of Mr. (Inaudible) he is a -- Hegseth I mean, he has a military background. There's no doubt about that, his heroic military background, but he doesn't have the managerial experience, nor would one call him necessarily a defense intellectual, nor has he been elected to Congress to manage or think about military affairs. So he is an unusual choice, to put it mildly.

But keep in mind, presidents usually get the people they choose. And Donald Trump has a mandate to shape the Pentagon as he wishes.

KEILAR: So those, Kate, are some of the folks that we expect he may be having around him. But there's also the influence of the family. And it seemed like during Trump's first-term, it was Ivanka Trump who was perhaps, let's say, the favored child. She had a role in the White House. She had an office.

Now it seems like it is Donald Trump Jr. who has ascended to this more prominent position. He was pretty influential in the Vance pick. How do you see his role in this administration just being influential with his father?

BROWER: It does seem like he's replacing Ivanka and Jared being very influential. I mean, look at Lara Trump, too, right? There's all of these people in the Trump orbit --

KEILAR: Eric Trump's wife.

BROWER: Yes, Eric Trump's wife. A lot of people would say she was critical to him winning this election, right? So I think that Trump is going to reward them for that and reward certain people in his orbit.

[14:15:03]

And it seems like Ivanka and Jared are going to stay clear because, you know, a lot of people looked at Ivanka as somebody who would be kind of a liberal voice, a moderating voice. And that did not turn out to be the case. She didn't have that kind of influence over her father. It seems like Donald Trump Jr. might because he's a huge presence on social media. He's a celebrity in his own right. And he seems, you know, primed to take center stage.

KEILAR: Yeah. And he's very much in the voice of his father, too, with what he says. Kate, thank you so much. Derek, Tim, appreciate you both as well.

And ahead this hour on CNN News Central, any minute the House is going to be casting leadership votes. But with Republicans majority still uncertain, some members are openly questioning whether Speaker Mike Johnson should stay in power. One person who isn't, though, is President Elect Trump. And that may be the real voice that matters here.

And then some new reporting about President Elect Trump's decision to pick Pete Hegseth for defense secretary. Sources say that choice surprised even his inner circle.

SANCHEZ: Plus, inflation worries ramping up yet again. It just ticked up, for the first time in months. A former treasury secretary is warning that it could get a lot worse. We'll discuss in just moments. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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SANCHEZ: Right now, CNN has a major projection to bring you in the battle for control of Congress. One week and one day after Election Day, CNN can now project that Republicans will hold on to control of the House of Representatives. This is based on projections that we've made combined with an analysis of results from House races across the country.

In Arizona's 6th district, we've determined that Congressman Juan Ciscomani will win reelection. And in California's 41st, Ken Calvert, the Republican incumbent, will also win reelection. That gives Republicans the Magic Number of 218 seats needed to control the chamber.

KEILAR: So Democrats failing to win enough seats to reclaim the majority. And this is an important development for the GOP, which as we said, we can now say will control both chambers of Congress and the White House. And that gives President Elect Trump the ability to carry out his agenda, assuming that he keeps all of the members of his party in line because it is going to be a slim majority there in the House.

So let's discuss now with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, David Chalian and Manu Raju. Manu, he has all of these levers of power.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Single party rule is back in Washington. Remember, that's what Joe Biden had right off the bat. This is what Donald Trump had right off the bat in 2017 and 2018. He had single party rule then. He will have single party rule again.

This is a Republican Party that is much different than it would look like when he last time he was in town. There were more critics of Donald Trump back then. There are fewer critics right now. And Donald Trump will be able to work his will over the House GOP. No question about it. There's a very much a Trump House Republican conference.

And just a huge blow for Democrats who had hoped that they could flip the House. The House had very few competitive districts. There were millions of dollars were spent in key districts like in California and New York and in the suburbs and in places like Arizona, places where they thought they could pick up seats, places that Joe Biden won some cases by double digits back in 2020. But given Donald Trump's gains across the maps, Republicans down ticket were able to ride his coattails.

And now they will have power in the House, subpoena power in the committees once again. Also the ability to shape and drive legislation on the floor, put whatever they want on the House floor, then it will go over to the United States Senate, now run by Senate Majority Leader -- and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

The Senate will be a different complication. You need 60 votes to get most legislation through, meaning Democrats would be needed to pass most legislation, but nevertheless a huge boost for the GOP. And now that they -- we can project that the House will stay in Republican hands. Guys.

SANCHEZ: And Manu There have been some questions about whether House Speaker Mike Johnson would retain leadership of his conference in that chamber. Chip Roy of Texas suggested that he might face a leadership challenge. Of course, that came before we heard Donald Trump's endorsement of Speaker Johnson earlier today. What are you hearing about his chances? Does he have the votes?

RAJU: Yeah, look, today Donald Trump said to his colleagues to GOP members he supports Mike Johnson staying on. And they had a leadership forum this morning and no challenger emerged from Mike Johnson, meaning that he is poised this afternoon to be nominated by his conference to be the next speaker of the House.

But here is the catch. On the House floor in January, he needs to be able to keep 208 to get 218 votes, meaning depending on what the final numbers, we don't have the final number of House Republicans. But let's say there are 222 Republicans that means he cannot lose four, more than four Republicans on the House floor in order to become elected speaker of the House.

And I caught up with one of his main detractors, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who behind closed doors today pressed Johnson and also yesterday to me, criticized Johnson for not having a bigger House majority.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): We should have a major majority, a supermajority, but we don't, and we don't have that. I think that's based on the performance of this Congress.

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This Congress has had a lot of failures in the eyes of our voters, in the eyes of the American people. The American people gave a mandate last Tuesday of the types of policies they want, the agenda that they want, and that's President Trump's policies that he laid out on the campaign.

RAJU: Is Speaker Johnson to blame for that?

GREENE: Yes. His leadership, unfortunately, he passed -- fully passed the Biden Harris agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Johnson told me yesterday he's not concerned about the votes in the House in January, thinks he'll ultimately get there. He believes Donald Trump will help him get there, but just shows you again, a razor thin House Republican majority like they had at the beginning of this Congress and throughout this Congress, which has given them fits all along, led to the ouster, of course, of Kevin McCarthy, the last speaker of the House. So the question will be, will those detractors like Marjorie Taylor Greene fall in line or they complicate the Republican agenda and getting a new speaker in January? Guys.

KEILAR: All right, Manu Raju live for us on the steps of the Capitol. Thank you so much for that report. Let's discuss now with CNN's Jeff Zeleny and David Chalian.

Just to be clear, though, he didn't fully pass the Biden-Harris agenda. In fact, he helped sink a key part of it, which was the bipartisan immigration deal that was struck in the Senate with Joe Biden to effectively help Donald Trump on that issue. I just think we should say credit where credit is due, Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But let's talk about this is a key moment and we've seen this coming, David. But now it is here that Republicans are also controlling the House.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah. The trifecta is official. The presidency, the House, the Senate. It is common in American history that when a new president comes in, they do have both chambers. That's not an uncommon thing. We see them try to utilize that to get through their big ticket agenda items in those first two years before perhaps a midterm election may deliver another result.

Now, this majority for the Republicans is going to be narrow. You just noted we got to this by projecting two more races. That gets them to 218. There are nine outstanding races right now, four of which Republicans currently hold the lead in, but not clear that those leads are all going to hold. But let's say even most of them do. You're talking about a majority here of 221, 222 probably at the maximum.

In fact, there was a great moment. I don't know if you saw this morning with President Trump when he was talking to House Republicans, he walks in, he takes the stage, he looks to the leadership team and says, what are you guys? Plus four, plus five? And like -- the leadership team was like, eh, it was kind of in response, they weren't that plus four plus five.

Maybe wishful thinking here, given where we are in these outstanding races, but the trifecta is here. This is a Republican Party, including up on Capitol Hill, much more in Donald Trump's image than the Republican Party he found in 2017. There's no doubt about that. But as you just heard from Marjorie Taylor Greene, when the net -- when the margins are this narrow in the House, every voice matters.

SANCHEZ: And as we saw in the last Congress, Jeff, that can have discombobulating effects for the efficiency of the House.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Discombobulating is probably a good word. Look, I mean, it's a much narrower majority than the presidential result indicates.

I mean, I think if you were just to look at that, you would think that Republicans would have done better in some places. But Democrats were pretty confident going into this. Hakeem Jeffries never said it, but a lot of Democrats thought he would be the House Speaker. That is not the case.

But we are seeing a dramatic difference. The sea change, you can feel it in Washington with the former President meeting with the current President of the White House today. The leadership vote on the Senate side coming up on the House side. This is Donald Trump's Washington, there's no doubt about it.

However, David, I think made a good point for two years. I mean, that's all that happens at one point. And the House is so on a razor's edge. That could certainly change in the second half of the Trump term.

KEILAR: The narrow majority last-term was such a headache for the Speaker. How --

CHALIAN: Which speaker?

KEILAR: (Inaudible) -- However, when they control the White House and both chambers, is it going to be a little bit of a different story? Is it easier for Trump to kind of crack the whip and get people in line in the House?

ZELENY: A quick answer. Yes, absolutely. There's no doubt with one party rule, especially when it's in the image of Trump, as you said. I think it's much easier.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. I also think who's in charge matters. And you just saw John Thune, newly elected as Senate Majority Leader, come out and detail multiple times how it's important to pursue Donald Trump's agenda. Donald Trump's agenda. Donald Trump's agenda again and again.

I wonder, as some of the MAGA acolytes down in Mar-a-Lago sort of express some apprehension about him as leader, if there is a place for him to perhaps be a guardrail, as we've described in the past, towards some of Trump's more extreme ambitions.

CHALIAN: Well, you also saw John Thune's leadership team that was elected around him, including Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma.