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CNN Projects: Republicans Will Keep Control Of The House; Trump Picks Mike Huckabee To Serve As U.S. Ambassador To Israel; "Uncommitted Movement" Looks Ahead To Trump Presidency; Source: CIA Employee Charged With Leak Of Israeli Military Plans; Inflation Ticks Up After Slowing For Six Months Straight. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 13, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: 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, toward some of Trump's more extreme ambitions?

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

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: You mentioned the immigration bill that had a bipartisan -- he was the leader on the Republican side of that bipartisan effort that Trump settled.

But there he was today on this -- in this leadership team pledging that Donald Trump's agenda will be their agenda to get through.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, I didn't see Rick Scott in the leadership team. Am I correct?

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: He lost out.

KEILAR: Yes, it is just so interesting. I think really to build on your point there, David, it was a really interesting portrait of characters there. It speaks to -- I mean, he made it so clear, it felt like you could have had a drinking game out of that.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: But it really was interesting, the characters who are in that Senate leadership.

But I also wonder, you know, if it is not -- if it is not a blind ballot, can they really push back? At times, Mitch McConnell, he sort of tried to harness the power of Trump. But he also tried to do his own thing sometimes. Do you see a Thune-

led Republican Senator doing that?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I do not. I think we will get a sense of that in the confirmation hearings that are going. The defense secretary probably first and foremost.

And so those will not be secret ballots. The president will be given I think considerable latitude to fill his cabinet with who he wants. I mean, barring any, you know, backgrounding in the hearing process.

But, no, I think that John Thune, even if he's not a MAGA-type Republican, that's the environment in which he was elected and in which he is living and I think that will be the order of the day.

SANCHEZ: David, I'm also curious about the other side. Because Democrats are starting to gather on Capitol Hill again and some of their conversations have to do with where to go next.

CHALIAN: Yes. This will play out in a bunch of different chapters. There's not one convening of the Democratic Party. They've decided on how they're going to move forward.

One of them is going to be up on Capitol Hill. It will be no doubt Democrats come February or March will identify one of Donald Trump's major initial legislative efforts as the thing they are going to galvanize opposition around.

And we saw it 20 years when the Democrats found themselves in a similar situation after George W. Bush's reelection in 2004. He wanted to privatize Social Security accounts.

Democrats galvanized around that, and that began their process of winning back the House and Senate in 2006.

So we will also see some of that. And we'll also see sooner a battle for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. That will be a proxy for some of these conversations.

And we see some of those potential future presidential candidates just dipping their toes in the public waters.

Like Gavin Newsom was up on Capitol Hill talking about how to the California delegation today about, A, how to Trump-proof his state and, keep some protections at the state level, but also his vision of how to be Democrats in this era.

SANCHEZ: And thus, the next cycle begins.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: David Chalian, Jeff Zeleny, we appreciate you both. Thank you so much.

We'll be right back. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:42]

SANCHEZ: We're keeping our eye on breaking news this afternoon. Republicans keeping control on the House of Representatives.

That development welcome news for President-Elect Donald Trump, coming on the same day that he visits Washington, D.C., and as we learn more about who will serve in his administration.

Among those names, former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, who is Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel who has argued in the past that there is, quote, "no such thing as a Palestinian."

And today, when Huckabee was asked if the Trump White House would support annexing the West Bank by Israel, he said, quote, "of course."

Joining us now is Abbas Alawieh. He's a co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement in Michigan, which was started during the Democratic primaries in opposition to the Biden administration's policy on the war in Gaza.

Abbas, thank you so much for being with us.

I want to ask about Dearborn, where you're from. Because a plurality of voters there cast their ballots for Donald Trump. And as the new sort of White House shapes up, what are you hearing from members of your committee?

ABBAS ALAWIEH, "UNCOMMITTED" MICHIGAN DELEGATE & CO-FOUNDER, UNCOMMITTED MOVEMENT: Thank you. It's great to be on with you, Boris.

I come from a community that is experiencing the great level of pain and grief as they were being asked to make a very difficult calculation about a political reality where President Biden has been funding and sending weapons to a Netanyahu government that is harming and killing members and civilians routinely, systematically against U.S. and international law.

So in that really difficult moment, at a time when the Harris campaign was not providing any clear separation from the disastrous Biden policy, Donald Trump showed up to our community and lied to our faces.

He took advantage of peoples pain and said that he would be the pro- peace candidate. Now, here's the reality where President Biden has funded Netanyahu's murderous campaign to a point we are -- it's clear what is happening. It looks like ethnic cleansing. It sounds like ethnic cleanings. It is an ethnic a cleansing campaign in Gaza and the West Bank and in southern Lebanon.

[14:40:00]

And Mike Huckabee was just named as the guy who will oversee the final stages of that campaign. So the message now is to President Biden, you have to do something about this. President Biden, stand up for once to Netanyahu before Donald Trump successfully gets away with pinning this legacy of this ethnic cleansing campaign on your -- on you and you alone forevermore.

SANCHEZ: What would you like to see President Biden do, given that in a couple months, Donald Trump will be in the White House?

ALAWIEH: Yes, I think we have to look very clearly, Boris, at what is around the corner.

As you just mentioned, Mike Huckabee will be the person named by Donald Trump as the ambassador to Israel. This isn't just someone who said there is no such thing as a Palestinian. As you mentioned, Boris, this is the same guy who said the Palestinian state is a fantasy.

This is the same guy who said the U.S. should fund building illegal settlements on the West Bank. A term that he refuses to use. This is the same guy who considered buying a stolen home on stolen land in the West Bank. This is the same guy who visits illegal settlements and says they're part of Israel.

Given that that is what we know is around the corner, the cornerstone of Biden's policy in the Middle East has been unconditional support for Benjamin Netanyahu. Continuing to send him weapons without any conditions. Now is the time, now is the time to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu.

Even today, the Senator came up and said that he's concerned that the 30-day deadline the Biden administration just missed giving Israel time to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, he's concerned it was a political attempt to convince voters that the Biden-Harris administration cared about Gaza.

Prove us wrong, President Biden. Do something to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu. Now is the moment to do it before Donald Trump accelerates the mass killing campaign that is harming and killing our own family members.

SANCHEZ: Abbas, it's hard to quantify the impact that the Uncommitted Movement had on this election. We saw that some 18 percent of the vote in Dearborn went to third-party candidate, Jill Stein.

I wonder what impact you think it had and whether you have any regrets, perhaps. If you think it might have contributed to Donald Trump taking the White House?

ALAWIEH: Well, thank you for the question, Boris. It is clear when the Democratic presidential ticket did not outperform in 2020 in a single county of all the counties of these United States of America, that the Democratic Party has a much bigger problem on its hands than just one issue.

I can tell from you my own experience, Boris, on this one issue, as a Democrat, we mobilized people to participate in the Democratic presidential primary as a way of keeping them engaged. And saying if we flex people power, our Democratic leaders will change the policy. And it doesn't make any sense to me that, in that work, as we made a

very public offer to Vice President Harris that we would mobilize vote orders her behalf in order to beat Donald Trump, Democratic Party leaders rejected that offer.

My own assessment is that that really inexplicable reality that I was experiencing, that my fellow workers were experiencing, that organizers we're experiencing being disempowered from engaging our communities to block Donald Trump.

It seems like that kind of prioritize, that neither the donor class nor the working class was happening all across our country in one directing community after another.

So I think the problem the Democratic Party has is systemic. We have to take power away from the donor class and give it to the working class. Show the American people we're willing to fight for them.

SANCHEZ: Abbas Alawieh, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you sharing your perspective there. Thank you for joining us.

Stay with --

ALAWIEH: Thank you so much.

[13:43:56]

KEILAR: Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:33]

SANCHEZ: New today, the FBI has arrested the person who allegedly leaked classified U.S. intelligence about Israel's plans for retaliation against Iran. And the information is so sensitive, it was only meant to be seen by the so-called Five Eyes.

KEILAR: CNN's Zach Cohen is following this for us.

And, Zach, what are you learning about this alleged leaker?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, they have just charged a man, Asif Rahman, in connection with this alleged leak of the Israeli war plans, U.S. war plans that detailed Israeli war plans to retaliate against Iran for its earlier attack on Israel.

And Asif Rahman is described in court documents as a U.S. government employee. We've learned through sources that he is an employee of the CIA.

Which he holds a top-secret clearance, which is presumably how he had access to these highly sensitive documents, these documents that U.S. officials were very concerned about when they first surfaced on Telegram earlier this year. And Rahman is described in court documents as someone who was arrested

Cambodia, of all places. We're not sure what he was doing in Cambodia. But Rahman is set to make his first appearance in Guam. Prosecutors are trying to move him to Virginia hoping he can stand trial there.

But ultimately, this is really just the latest in a series of classified leaks that we've seen in recent memory.

You might remember Jack Teixeira, the military officer who was charged and ultimately pled guilty to leaking documents about the Ukraine war. He pled guilty and has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

This speaks to the ongoing threat, the insider threat that the U.S. government is grappling with as they try to protect the nation's top secrets.

[14:50:03]

KEILAR: Really interesting, Zach, and more to come, obviously.

Thank you so much for the report.

Coming up, the Fed war on inflation is now over. A new report showed a bump in October and possible concern for the economy as Trump prepares to return to the White House. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: There is new data today showing inflation hit a bump in October. It rose a bit after it had slowed down for six months straight in the U.S. And still the economists say the underlying trend is good news for most Americans, so keep that in mind that inflation is still cooling down.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Matt Egan joins us now.

Matt, walk us through the numbers and what is driving this tick upward.

[14:55:04]

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, this was a step in the wrong direction. But it's being viewed as just a temporary setback.

So we learned today consumer prices increased by 2.6 percent year over year in October. That is acceleration from the prior month, when it was 2.4 percent. That was a three-year low.

The first time in seven months that we're seeing the inflation rate tick higher.

But what is encouraging is that when you zoom in, month to month, prices were only up by .2 percent. That was in line with expectations.

And it does suggest that part of the driver here is just tough comparisons from a year ago when inflation was cooling rapidly.

But there are also some increases that are hopefully going to be temporary. Electricity and airfare went up significantly. Also, so did used cars. That may be driven to a demand strike related to cars that were destroyed by the hurricanes.

The good news is that some things have gotten cheaper. We saw prices decline for clothes, gasoline, and even eggs, 6 percent down month over month.

And when we look at the bigger picture and the trend, it is clear things have definitely improved from two and a half years ago when inflation was at 9 percent. That was a nightmare.

But it is also clear that the last mile of improvement is going to be a little bit challenging and it has gotten bumpier.

Just one last point here, even though the rate of inflation is down, prices are not down. Like, people are still spending about $1,100 a month, more than they did in January 2021 for the same goods and services.

And that's all because of higher prices. Paychecks are up, too, but often not by enough for people to really feel like they're getting ahead. And that is part of the frustration here -- Boris and Brianna?

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, thank you so much for that update.

Still ahead, Republicans clinch the House of Representatives. We'll talk about the impact when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)