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Trump Chooses Pam Bondi For AG After Gaetz Withdraws; FAA Warns Travelers: Prepare For A Slowdown Next Week; Putin: Russia Hit Ukraine With New Ballistic Missile. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 22, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:10]

KATE BOULDAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Bitcoin is on a roll. The cryptocurrency was hovering near a price of $100,000 Thursday rallying on the hopes of a friendlier, looser regulatory environment when Donald Trump returns to the White House.

CNN's Matt Egan is tracking this for us. He is here right now. What are you seeing?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, good morning. Happy Friday, Kate.

Let's -- Bitcoin -- they're on the one yard line of a major milestone -- $100,000. It's just about one percent away. Bitcoin was having a pretty good year and then boom, look what happened, the election. A 44 percent --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- since then. Just a massive move.

Investors are betting that the president-elect is going to be much friendlier to the Bitcoin industry.

BOLDUAN: And that is clearly cause and effect.

EGAN: Oh, it's so obvious. But it's also ironic because Trump -- he used to bash Bitcoin, right? He said in 2019 that it was based on thin air. Even in 2020 --

BOLDUAN: He made fun of it.

EGAN: Yeah. He even called it a scam against the dollar back in 2021. But like a lot of people on Wall Street, he's totally turned around.

He's actually made a series of promises to the crypto industry. He's said that he wants to make America the crypto capital of the world. He has promised to create a strategic national crypto reserve -- a stockpile of Bitcoin.

And he's also talked about firing one of the crypto industry's biggest enemies. That's SEC chair Gary Gensler. Well, look, just yesterday Gensler announced that he's stepping down on Inauguration Day. It's typical for SEC --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- chairs to do that when there's a change in power. But it's another reminder, Kate, that in just a few weeks the president-elect is going to be in a position to pick friendlier regulators to the crypto industry.

BOLDUAN: And what about -- what is this about Trump's company getting into crypto in, like, a processing payment. What is this?

EGAN: Yeah. So we're talking about Truth Social owner Trump Media.

BOLDUAN: OK.

EGAN: They've filed paperwork -- a trademark application -- indicating that they are thinking about getting into the crypto space. Specifically, they've filed an application for what's being called TruthFi. It's a crypto currency payment processing application for digital wallet, digital asset trading, financial asset management. This would be an expansion away from just social media. Now, we don't know for sure if they're going to do this but clearly, this indicates that they are talking about it.

I also think, Kate, this is another reminder of the thorny conflict of interest issues raised by Trump's victory in his sprawling business empire, right? Because it's not just Trump Media where he owns a $3.5 billion stake; this is the publicly traded company. But he and his family members also own other companies, including some that are in the crypto industry.

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: So he's going to be in a position to make decisions, including about regulation for crypto, and those decisions could impact the financial interests that he and his family members have, including in Trump Media.

I talked to former George W. Bush ethics lawyer Richard Painter, and he told me presidents -- they are not criminally at risk when it comes to conflict of interest --

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: -- but there are obviously ethical issues. And he said, "President Trump ought to do what every other president has done: Divest personal assets, Trump Organization assets, everything that creates a conflict of interest with his official duties. And that includes Truth Social and crypto."

But Kate, there's --

BOLDUAN: He didn't do it the first time around.

EGAN: And he's not likely to do it --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- this time around. In fact, he has specifically said he has no intention to sell his Truth Social stake.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I think you can probably put money on that.

EGAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you. Thank you -- Sara.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Here's something he did have to change. This morning former Congressman Matt Gaetz is out, and Pam Bondi is in as Trump's attorney general pick. Trump choosing Florida's first female attorney general as his replacement cabinet nominee to head the DOJ. Many Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill say they're breathing a sigh of relief after Gaetz withdrew. But questions remain about Trump's pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.

[07:35:00]

Joining me now, Anthony Scaramucci, former Trump White House communications director and founder of SkyBridge Capital. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Let me just first ask you about Gaetz. You know, sources to CNN told us that Gaetz simply did not have the votes in the Senate. He was not going to be confirmed.

And then our Paula Reid broke the story that the Ethics Committee heard testimony that Gaetz had sexual relations not once but twice with a 17-year-old at the same party, and the second time was a threesome. Plus, Gaetz is not well liked in Congress by his colleagues.

When you look at all these things what does it tell you about the Senate's stomach for defying Trump on his nominations going forward?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, FOUNDER, SKYBRIDGE CAPITAL (via Webex by Cisco): Listen, I was impressed with it. Obviously, a lot of the things that Rep. Gaetz did was disqualifying.

But I think the tide has changed a little bit. I think there's been a shape shift by the Republicans in the Senate. They see Trump as a lame duck. They know there's one more election that he could have lots of influence on, which is the congressional election in two years. And I think they are fortifying themselves to block some of the things that he's done in the past.

And so the Trump season -- you know, this is "THE APPRENTICE" White House addition, season two. I think the cast members up on Capitol Hill are ready for Donald Trump this time. I don't think they were as prepared as they are now.

And I think the messaging was -- behind closed doors -- you're not going to make it. Don't embarrass the president and withdraw.

Now, the other questions are about some of these other candidates. Will Pete Hegseth end up having to do the same thing? And I will predict if there's more damning information about Pete that comes out, he'll be number two to go that way.

But I think Pam Bondi, by the way, will do well. Pam Bondi says the things that Donald Trump likes to hear but she won't do the things that Donald Trump likes to do. And so I think that's someone that respects the system and I think she'll get it -- I think she'll get through.

SIDNER: Mr. Scaramucci, it's interesting that you say that because I want to let people hear some of the things that Pam Bondi has said. She said this about the DOJ last year -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, FORMER FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: When Republicans take back the White House you know what's going to happen. The Department of Justice -- the prosecutors will be prosecuted -- the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated. Because of the deep state last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows. But now they have a spotlight on them, and they can all be investigated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: I mean, does that tell you that her focus will be on retribution? And if so, how does that serve the American people?

SCARAMUCCI: Yeah. So listen, I don't want to repeat myself but obviously she said that and Trump loves that, and that's red meat for his base.

But she's a very system-oriented, process-oriented person. She has been an attorney general before. She understands that there are systems in place to create fairness, and objectivity, and justice.

So yeah, she did say all those things, but I predict she will do none of those things. And so that's the dilemma with Donald Trump. You've got people in his midst that want to say things to curry favor with him but down deep they know they really can't do those things if they want to maintain the integrity of our system.

So yeah -- no. Those things shouldn't be said, but she's working for Donald Trump. These people have to -- literally, their tongues come out of their mouths like bow ties. They have to twist themselves. I mean, there should be an Auntie Anne franchise outside the transition team for the pretzel-making that these people have to do with their mouths.

So she's not going to do those things, but I understand why she's saying them.

SIDNER: You mentioned Pete Hegseth and now potentially the focus will very much be on him and the controversy surrounding him, including obviously, the allegation of sexual assault, which he was never charged for and has denied.

But there's also another thing that I think is riling people and that is his comments on women in combat. That women should not be in combat in the military.

I want to let you listen to what Sen. Cramer of North Dakota said on this subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): It's a pretty big problem given that we have -- you know, we have -- we have a sexual assault problem in our military that a number of us, and certainly the champions being Kirsten Gillibrand and Joni Ernst -- but I've been on board with them in support of the legislation to deal with it since the -- since the chain of command was not. I'm not going to prejudge them. But yeah, it's a pretty concerning accusation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Look, there's a huge problem with military recruitment and he points to the problem that women have come forward in numbers talking about being assaulted in the military.

I mean, do you think Hegseth could be in jeopardy because not just of the allegations but really because of what he has said?

[07:40:00]

SCARAMUCCI: Listen, I think there's going to have to be meat to those allegations and more evidence and more substance. I think that you're going to want to give the president the benefit of the doubt on his nominees. So -- but that is a big issue, of course. But I think the -- what we've seen is the Republican Senate is going to be a little bit tougher than people anticipate.

SIDNER: Anthony Scaramucci, I do appreciate you coming on for us this morning. Have a great rest of your day -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: This coming Tuesday, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, is set to be the busiest day for air travel. And just in time, the FAA has a new warning for travelers -- prepare to wait because there are not enough air traffic controllers to go around.

CNN's Pete Muntean has much more on this. And Pete, you've done a lot of reporting for quite some time now on this ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers. Where and how is going to be most impacted by this?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is going to be a big test Kate because there are a few outs for the FAA dealing with this air traffic controller shortage. It's burning out the workforce. Some are working mandator six-day weeks of 12-hour shifts.

It's also a safety issue. Since fatigue has been a factor in some of those recent cases of near collisions on runways, the rub really comes in when there's a huge rush like Thanksgiving travel. And the FAA says the number of flights is expected to peak on Tuesday. That's when 50,000 flights will be handled by air traffic controllers nationwide.

FAA Chief Mike Whitaker says do not be surprised if the FAA has to slow the pace of flights. Simply put, that means delays to keep the travel system safe.

This is what he said during a press conference yesterday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WHITAKER, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: These initiatives keep the system safe, and people should know that safety is never at risk. If we are short on staff we will slow traffic as needed to keep the system safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The FAA says it met its hiring goal this year and hired 1,800 new controllers. The goal is hiring another 2,000 next year. It's also allowing graduates of certain college programs to bypass the backlogged FAA training academy. That's a huge about-face from the FAA, which for years has demanded that it have the final hand in training.

Just this week the FAA added Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to its list of accredited schools. New grads who are hired can go straight to an air traffic control facility where they will finish up their training.

One more important point here. The depth of this shortage is not totally known, Kate. The FAA hiring goals don't really detail retirements or attrition, or new hires who simply wash (PH) out of training in May. We reported that the FAA has netted only about 160 new controllers overall.

So really, a big test coming up here with a big warning from the FAA administrator.

BOLDUAN: But you -- what you also point out is that's a huge blind spot of they're not offering the detail up about retirements and attrition, and things like that. I mean, we -- I guess the public really doesn't know right now the depths of this shortage. We'll see what it feels like come Tuesday.

It's good to see you, Pete. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

Ultra-processed foods have been linked to all manner of health problems. So processed meats and flavored yogurts are all part of this category, but so are most cereals, packaged breads, and plant milks.

CNN's Meg Tirrell visited the National Institutes of Health where researchers are trying to determine why ultra-processed foods lead to such poor health outcomes and why it's so hard to stop eating them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Sam Srisatta has been living in this hospital room at the National Institutes of Health for two weeks.

TIRRELL: Do you have, like, wearables on? Like, tracking everything?

SAM SRISATTA, PARTICIPANT IN NIH STUDY: Yes. So I do have a couple of these sensors.

TIRRELL (voiceover): He's not sick. He's a participant in a clinical trial, one of the first of its kind, measuring his movement, his blood, his gut microbiome -- even the air he breathes all to try to better understand how our health is affected by ultra-processed foods.

TIRRELL: Oh, I think your food is coming in.

And he saw the kind of food he got and -- eggs, and spinach, and yogurt. But we don't know. That could be processed. It could be unprocessed. That's part of the trial.

TIRRELL (voiceover): Ultra-processed foods contain additives and ingredients you wouldn't find in your own kitchen. They were shown in the previous NIH study to drive overeating and weight gain, according to researcher Dr. Kevin Hall.

TIRRELL: Are ultra-processed foods just junk foods?

DR. KEVIN HALL, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: What we often think of as junk foods probably captures a big chunk of the ultra-processed foods in a kind of a category, but there's a lot of things that people would be surprised are in the ultra-processed foods category and could potentially be healthy for you.

So things like whole grain breads that you might buy from the supermarket. Most of those are considered ultra-processed because of some of the additives and preservatives that are in there, as well as how they're manufactured.

But there's a lot of debate about whether or not all ultra-processed foods are bad for you.

TIRRELL (voiceover): And that's what this trial is trying to find out.

HALL: What are the mechanisms? What is it about this category of foods that is driving people to overconsume calories?

TIRRELL (voiceover): Dr. Hall's team has two ideas about what might be causing people to overeat some ultra-processed foods. Their energy density or how many calories are in each gram of food, and their hyper-palatability when foods contain just the right combinations of salt, sugar, fat, and carbs to make us not want to stop eating them.

[07:45:13] TIRRELL: This is where they prepare all of the food. And they don't just prepare it; they weigh it before it goes up and when it comes back after the participant has eaten.

TIRRELL (voiceover): Each day participants in the trial are offered a total of 6,000 calories and researchers measure how much they choose to eat. The trial is a month long and each week has a different diet -- minimally processed or different kinds of ultra-processed.

Sam was in an ultra-processed week during our visit but one with foods Dr. Hall doesn't expect will drive him to overeat.

TIRRELL: How is that ultra-processed?

SARA TURNER, DIETITIAN, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It's all based on the ingredients. So the eggs that we used in that omelet, the egg whites were a liquid egg product. So it has ingredients in it that make it ultra-processed. It's not just eggs.

Our yogurts, the pancake syrup that was in the yogurt -- those all have ultra-processed ingredients in terms of added flavors, added sweeteners.

TIRRELL (voiceover): The next day Sam would switch to meals that were more energy dense and hyper-palatable -- the ones expected to lead to overeating.

TURNER: So you can see that these are all foods that are ultra- processed. And you can see that the volume compared to this is quite different as well.

TIRRELL: Wow, that is really illustrative. I mean, just looking, you need two trays of food for this one and one tray of food for this next diet when you're getting the same number -- you're offering, at least, the same number of calories.

TURNER: Correct, yes.

TIRRELL (voiceover): Once a week, Sam spends a full day sealed in this metabolic chamber.

TIRRELL: Do you know what they're measuring in there?

SRISATTA: I think they're measuring how much O2 I consume and how much carbon dioxide I release.

TIRRELL (voiceover): The air he breathes in and out can tell researchers how many calories he's burning and whether they're coming from carbs or fat, all to help understand what ultra-processed foods really do to our bodies.

HALL: But understanding how the food environment actually does shape our metabolic health we hope to basically improve the food supply in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE) TIRRELL: And so, Sara, they're hoping to have the results from this trial perhaps by the end of next year. They still have enroll about a dozen more people to get to convince them to come to the NIH and spend a month of their life there and -- in honor of science.

But what they're hoping is that they can provide information to us as consumers so we can make decisions about what we're buying at the grocery store. Because a lot of these foods are less expensive than trying to make up your diet mostly of minimally processed foods, unfortunately. So that's really difficult for people.

But they're also hoping they can provide the information to regulators and policymakers so they can start to take this into consideration as they're thinking about policy around foods as well -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah. Less expensive, more addictive and problematic for your health. That is a huge problem.

Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for that story. It was really, really interesting.

All right. Still ahead, how the Christmas tree industry -- one of those many industries that were devastated when storms ravaged western North Carolina -- looks to still bring some holiday magic.

And the Major League MVPs are in. Why Shohei Ohtani's dog is now getting the spotlight. You know, all dogs should get the spotlight.

Those stories ahead.

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[07:53:13]

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Russia strikes the Ukrainian city of Dnipro again. This after Thursday's attack using an experimental medium-range ballistic missile. And overnight the Kremlin says the launch was a response to "reckless decisions and actions of Western countries." Ukraine's President Zelenskyy calling launch a severe escalation of the war.

Joining us right now is CNN military analyst and retired Army Major Gen. James "Spider" Marks. It's good to see you, Spider. Thank you.

This strike in Dnipro, the way the --

MAJOR GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, HEAD OF GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGY, ACADEMY SECURITIES (via Webex by Cisco): Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: -- the Russians -- the Russians described it was a ballistic missile with a non-nuclear hypersonic warhead with a medium range. The way U.S. officials, Spider, described it at one point yesterday was that it was an experimental medium-range ballistic missile, not an -- not an ICBM as Ukraine's military had initially claimed.

Describe for everyone the distinction and the significance in this moment of this new move.

MARKS: Well, an ICBM -- just to get into the details of that, an ICBM would be intercontinental, right? So this would be an extra theater outside of the theater of conflict type of a missile system. This was not. The fact that it was not nuke-tipped, good decision on the part of the Russians.

I think also Putin is probably sending a message, which is hey look, look at me. I can be -- I can show restraint. I could have put a nuke on it, and I chose not to.

But I think primarily what you see is this was kind of a very tactical tit-for-tat. It's a response to the unleashing of the ATACMS that the Ukrainians have that are launching now against military targets on Russian soil -- long overdue.

[07:55:00]

And so Putin now is just -- this is a card game to Putin, so he just wanted to see that card on the table, and he met that card. And this is what we see right now.

I think also that the number of these missiles that they have in this experimental category are probably few, so I don't know that we're going to see this is as significant -- you know, it's not necessarily an escalation in the fight.

I think what we have is these two pugilists are trying to improve their position moving toward the administration change out in January, and they're probably going to be exhausted. So I think over the course of the next couple of months, very sadly, there's going to be an increase in terms of the volatility and the exchanges that we see between the Ukrainians and the Russians.

BOLDUAN: And Spider, I wanted to ask you about that because you -- as you just said, you think at least some of what is happening now is really a response -- not just the tit-for-tat between the two but also to the U.S. election and kind of Ukraine and Russia both fighting to improve their position or their argument, or their tactical advantage before the next administration comes in.

You mentioned the next two months. I mean, how bloody could this get if that's some of the motivation that exists here?

MARKS: Well, I think it really is. The description I would use is two dudes in a -- you know, kind of in a very tight fight. They're grabbing each other by the lapel and they're trying to pummel each other. But they're looking over their shoulder to see where that new guy -- incoming President Trump -- is terms of his perspective.

Ukraine certainly is saying look, we need your help. We need to end this fighting. Putin thinks the same thing. Look, he's as exhausted as Ukraine but Russia's ability to withstand and to reinforce the fight truly exceeds Ukraine's.

The Ukrainians now are being pushed pretty significantly. Again, their resilience is quite phenomenal. But Russia has this -- they've got the size. They've got the numbers. They've got the manpower. And Putin is totally immune to the suffering that those soldiers have on the front lines.

So both of them are looking for Trump for some type of a -- not a full resolution but give us a quick outcome and let's figure out how we want to move forward.

BOLDUAN: James "Spider" Marks. Major General, great to see you. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Right now, western North Carolina is usually preparing for its busiest time of the year as tourists transition from looking at autumn leaves to choosing their favorite Christmas tree. But Hurricane Helene recovery is disrupting nearly everything. Case in point, the very farm giving the White House its Christmas tree this year lost between 5,000 and 6,000 trees in that storm.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa joins us now from one of the hardest hit areas, and it's snowing there. So it does look like a beautiful Christmas. What are you seeing in this -- in this first snow?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, the first snow of the season here since the storm hit, it really is bringing in the Christmas cheer, the Christmas season, and this area needs that desperately.

I spoke with one farmer yesterday that lost 60,000 trees on his farm, and that farm is here in Avery County, and it's been in the family for 200 years -- it dates back to King George III -- so much so that his family name is Avery. It's literally within the family line of the county.

And he lost not only his home but 60,000 of his trees on his Christmas tree farm. What they're trying to do is salvage what they can -- make wreaths and make smaller trees to sell. And they're going to replant going into next year.

Now if you're unfamiliar, North Carolina actually ranks number two in the country for Christmas tree production. And where we are here in Avery County is the top producer in -- for a county. So the county itself is top in the country for producing Christmas trees.

Now, the problem with the loss from Helene when it comes to that Christmas tree damage is even if they replant those seeds this year or next year, it takes eight to 10 years for a Christmas tree to mature -- to grow to the point where we're going to sell it. So we still might now know the repercussions of Helene on the Christmas tree industry for another decade. Ten years from now we could be looking at problems with supply and demand of Christmas trees and we'll still have Helene to blame. Again, a 10-year span.

So the farmers out here are really just -- you know, the message is if you can, please buy a real North Carolina Christmas tree this season because they lost out on the business on the leaf-peeping season from the fall because that was right after the disaster. And now they are trying to get people to come up to the choosing cuts.

Roads have been OK. We've been able to get around. So they're trying to let people know hey, we're still open for business. Please come take whatever trees that we have because they need that business.

What he also told me was the community here has been so special and so moving. The neighbors really loving on each other at this difficult time.