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Trump Taps Former Florida AG Pam Bondi for Attorney General; Gaetz Says He's Not Rejoining Congress After Withdrawing as AG Pick; Texas School Board Approves Curriculum That Incorporates Bible Lessons; NHL, NBA and NFL All Warning Players After String of Break- Ins. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 22, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:38]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just hours after Matt Gaetz withdraws his name from consideration, President-elect Donald Trump picking Pam Bondi for Attorney General. The impact this could have on the Justice Department straight ahead.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, we are live in Texas over a fight to blur the lines between church and state. Today, Texas school officials are voting on a public-school proposal that would include Bible stories in elementary school teachings.

And soda chips, cereal, ultra-processed and so irresistible, right? CNN takes you inside a groundbreaking study that could change how you look at what's on your plate. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

SANCHEZ: Today, Trump allies are quickly rallying around the President-elect's new pick for Attorney General, Pam Bondi. Just hours after Trump's first choice, former Congressman Matt Gaetz announced he was withdrawing his nomination, Trump wasted no time picking another fierce loyalist to lead the Department of Justice. Bondi was Florida's first female Attorney General, and she defended Trump in his first impeachment trial. And like Gaetz, she's also pushed to use the DOJ to go after Trump's perceived enemies.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, TRUMP'S PICK FOR 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 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) SANCHEZ: CNN's Kristen Holmes is live in West Palm Beach, Florida, not far from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Kristen, what are you hearing about Pam Bondi for AG?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've talked to a number of Republicans who are somewhat relieved at the choice. They believe that she is much more confirmable than Matt Gaetz ever was, and they're happy that Donald Trump isn't going to have to expend the same amount of political capital that he would have on Matt Gaetz if he was going to try and get him confirmed.

Remember, one of the things that we've been reporting was that some of these allies had informed Trump that he was going to have to use an enormous amount of his political capital to get Gaetz through a confirmation process, which would likely hurt some of his other nominees, particularly some that are less controversial than Gaetz, but still controversial, like Tulsi Gabbard or RFK Jr., and that that played a factor into Donald Trump's decision to call Matt Gaetz after he had spoken to a number of senators and essentially confirmed that at that time, Gaetz did not have the votes in the Senate to be confirmed.

Now, he told him that. Sources tell me that he did not pressure Gaetz to drop out. He just gave him those facts. But here's what Gaetz said about part of the reason he withdrew his name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): And again, while our discussions were going well, I found myself having to do two jobs at one time, Charlie, and you got a front row seat to this. I had a full-time job explaining to senators that maybe a tweet I sent about them was rash and not reflective of how I would serve as attorney general. And at the same time, I was having to build out the Department of Justice with the right human talent, the right policy infrastructure. And Pam Bondi's confirmation won't have some of the sharp edges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, in addition to the fact that he says that he had to defend some of his tweets with some of these senators, we were also told that there was a lot of concern among some of Trump's allies, even within the transition team, that there was more damning information inside of that Ethics report that was going to come out.

One thing to note is that he really downplayed Gaetz in that interview, the allegations there saying it was part of a smear campaign, at one point blaming former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who Gaetz had successfully ousted from that position. But another notable moment in that interview, the first interview he's done since withdrawing his name, was that he said that he would not be going back to Congress at any capacity.

So that was something that we had been waiting to see. Obviously, he had resigned from this session of Congress, but he had been reelected to Congress for the 119th session. He now says that he will not be doing that.

[13:05:00]

KEILAR: Really interesting. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much live for us from Florida.

And also happening today, the judge overseeing President-elect Trump's criminal hush money trial in New York has postponed his sentencing indefinitely.

SANCHEZ: Judge Juan Merchan also granted Trump's lawyers request to file a motion to dismiss the case and filings are due early next month. CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig joins us now. Elie, thanks so much for being with us.

What do you make of Judge Merchan postponing this indefinitely and allowing Trump's team to file a motion to dismiss?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Boris, it means that the sentencing is on hold indefinitely and quite possibly for more than that, probably never to actually happen because what they have to do before that is litigate the whole issue of is Donald Trump immune? Can a state level prosecution proceed against him while he's president- elect and then president?

I'm going to spoil the bottom line here. He's not going to get sentenced on this case. He's not going to get sentenced before he becomes president. He's not going to get sentenced while he's president. And the D.A. earlier this week actually floated the possibility. They said we may want to hold open the option of sentencing him after he's done his second term, meaning in 2029. That is not going to happen. That is a ridiculous request legally and practically.

So essentially, we're playing out the string here. I think eventually this case will go away. It's just a question of what the niceties will be down the stretch.

KEILAR: And turning now to Trump's pick for AG, his new pick, Pam Bondi, I wonder what you think about her qualifications, because one of the knocks on Gaetz, among obviously the ones that sunk him, were that he wasn't really qualified for the position. So when you look at her record as a prosecutor and as Florida's AG, is she qualified to lead the Justice Department?

HONIG: So I think it's important that we draw a distinction between whether someone's qualified on the one hand and whether someone is sufficiently independent on the other hand. On the first question, is she qualified? Unquestionably, she is qualified. She has been a prosecutor for 20 years. She's been the Attorney General of Florida for eight of those years. And that resume is on par with what we've seen from other attorneys general throughout history.

But then there's a separate question about whether she is sufficiently independent. And I think this is where Democrats or people who oppose her will focus at the confirmation hearings. She has represented Donald Trump. She has worked with Donald Trump. That all is not abnormal. But what I think is abnormal is, first of all, that she has denied the 2020 election results. I think that's a big problem.

And second of all, the clip you played in the beginning of this segment where she said we're going to prosecute the prosecutors, I think that's a big problem with respect to her independence and her ability to go in there and assess these cases on the merits, which is what the job requires.

SANCHEZ: Can you expand on that? The idea of having an independent attorney general as the ideal type of candidate for that role?

HONIG: Yeah, so political reality, Boris, tells us that the president chooses the attorney general. The attorney general is going to be from the same party and the same ideology as the president. We've even had a history of presidents appointing AGs who have done legal work for them in the past, or in John F. Kennedy's example, who were their brothers. Can't do that now because of nepotism laws.

But I think the challenge is, you do -- we do and should expect a certain degree of independence from the attorney general. You need an attorney general, Merrick Garland's an example, Janet Reno's an example. We saw some of this even from Jeff Sessions at times, who's willing to say this is a necessary move that may not be in the president's best personal or political interests, but that are necessary to preserve rule of law and to preserve DOJ's institutional independence. It's a fine line. There's no science to it. But I think Pam Bondi is going to be questioned on that extensively at our confirmation hearing.

KEILAR: Elie, when you look at the picks now, Matt Gaetz and now Pam Bondi, and you do have these questions about independence, how do you see Trump's DOJ shaping up? Do you see it as a Department of Justice or do you see it as like a Department of Retribution and Personal Protection of soon-to-be President Trump?

HONIG: I will tell you, Brianna, that is the single biggest question that I am going to be watching as we head into this transition and into this next administration. It could well be that when we get -- if Pam Bondi becomes the attorney general, Todd Blanche becomes the Deputy AG, they do their jobs properly. Both of them have over a decade of prosecutorial experience.

And if they say, I'm going to preserve the values of DOJ, I'm going to do the job as a prosecutor should, then they may have different policy goals, but then they're going to have the Justice Department will be on a good path.

On the other hand, if the clip we just saw of Pam Bondi saying, we're going to prosecute the prosecutors, if that comes into being, if that actually happens, then there's going to be a huge problem. And I think that will be contrary to everything that DOJ stands for.

SANCHEZ: Elie Honig, thank you so much for the analysis, appreciate it.

HONIG: Thanks guys.

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Republican Congressman Jake LaTurner of Kansas, who serves on the Oversight Committee.

[13:10:04]

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. I want to start with where we left off with Elie Honig. Do you have concerns about the independence of Pam Bondi if she were to take on the role of attorney general and be confirmed?

REP. JAKE LATURNER (R-KS): I do not, as was alluded to with your last guest. Pam Bondi is absolutely qualified to do this job. She was a county prosecutor. She's been Attorney General of Florida. And I think she's going to get confirmed.

I'm going to break some news on CNN today. Presidents of both parties, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, they want people who are qualified, that can do the job, and who are also loyal to them. This is not breaking or earth-shattering news. I think Pam Bondi is going to, of course, have loyalty to the Constitution, do her job right, and is going to be interested in what Donald Trump thinks about issues. That's natural and normal in every administration.

SANCHEZ: But would you say, Congressman, that there's a difference, perhaps, between loyalty to someone's ideology, perhaps, or someone's outlook, and then loyalty to the point that you would deny reality, as is the case with Bondi and the 2020 election?

LATURNER: I think that Attorney General Bondi needs the opportunity. She deserves the opportunity to have hearings. I think she should be confirmed. And then let's see how she does her job.

I highly doubt, as your last guest just mentioned, he mentioned Jeff Sessions as somebody who stood up to President Trump. I doubt anyone was saying that on any network, that he was going to stand up to President Trump when he was nominated to be Attorney General during the first Trump administration. So she is qualified. She deserves to get confirmed. And she deserves the opportunity to do the job.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, what about the decision from Matt Gaetz to not return to Congress? Do you think that's the right step?

LATURNER: Well, that's a choice for him to make. The point I want to make on Matt Gaetz is that this is not a setback for President Trump in any shape, way, or form. If you go back and you look at President Obama, when he was making nominations for his Cabinet, he had two nominees that had to withdraw for Commerce Secretary.

Tom Daschle had to withdraw as HHS Secretary. Bill Clinton had two nominations for Attorney General before he landed on Janet Reno. And so -- and those happened in January and February. This happened early on. It is not a setback for President Trump. It's only been a little over two weeks. But it's important to remind folks that Donald Trump won every battleground state. He deserves the opportunity to choose his Cabinet. There are, of course, going to be bumps along that road. But that's all this is, is a bump. I think Pam Bondi is a good choice. I think she'll get confirmed.

SANCHEZ: Yet, Congressman, in those previous situations that you cited, there weren't outright threats from Democrats to other Democrats that they would primary any senator that might go against the will of that president-elect or president at the time to confirm someone. And yet here there have been threats from Republicans that they would primary anyone who would oppose Gaetz. Trump himself seemed to put the word out that he favored this pick intensely, despite the allegations. J.D. Vance was on Capitol Hill doing the same. You're not concerned that he's expended some capital trying to get Gaetz through and that it's some referendum on how Senate Republicans may interact with this White House?

LATURNER: It's completely natural that President Trump would put his full force behind a nominee. But what you've seen here is Donald Trump understands how to count votes. He realized that he didn't have the votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee to get Matt Gaetz confirmed.

And so what did he do? He pivoted. And that pivot led to Pam Bondi, which I think is a good choice. I think this whole thing is normal and natural. President Trump won. He made a nomination. The Senate gets to confirm. He saw trouble ahead in the confirmation hearings. And so he made a different choice.

And Matt Gaetz withdrew. And so the process worked like it's supposed to. It happened really early on. I don't think he's lost one bit of ground. I think this is normal when you look at previous administrations.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I want to leave this with a personal question for you. You've decided to leave Congress at the end of your term. And yet you say that despite dysfunction on Capitol Hill, you were optimistic. Why leave if you're optimistic about the future?

LATURNER: Because I have four young kids, Ava, Joe, Maggie, and Gus, who are 13 down to eight years old. And the congressional schedule just requires a lot of time away from home. So I appreciate you asking the question. I'm excited about January on a personal level, getting to spend more time with kids. But I love the job. I love representing the people of Kansas.

And I think that this Congress coming in January 3rd, along with President Trump, is going to get a lot of good stuff done that the American people clearly want based upon the election results a couple of weeks ago.

SANCHEZ: We will both be watching closely. Congressman Jake LaTurner, thank you so much for the time.

LATURNER: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Officials in Texas just decided whether to teach lessons from the Bible to public school students across the state. We're following the latest on today's huge and potentially consequential vote.

[13:15:09] And first, it was the NFL. And now other leagues are warning players that their homes could be targeted. We have much more on this disturbing trend.

And if it seems like eggs are getting more expensive, you're not imagining that. We're going to tell you why prices are surging. Still ahead on CNN News Central.

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KEILAR: We're following breaking news. Moments ago, the Texas Board of Education voted to adopt a controversial new curriculum for public schools, which would allow Bible-infused lessons to be taught in elementary schools.

[13:20:05]

The new curriculum follows Republican-led efforts in neighboring states to give religion, specifically Christianity, more of a presence in public schools.

Let's go to CNN's Rosa Flores. Rosa, what can you tell us about this vote?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, it was a very tight vote with an 8-7 split. I can tell you that it was nerve-wracking all the way to the last minute with some of the board members making their comments very public against this curriculum, some of them saying that Christianity could be counted hundreds of times in this curriculum. But nevertheless, the vote was 8-7.

Now let's listen in to that moment when that vote was taken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight yes, seven no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight-seven, the motion passes. Bluebonnet will be added to the approved list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: So what does this mean here in the state of Texas? This means that this controversial curriculum can be used by school districts. But an important note is that in Texas, we have independent school districts, meaning that school districts decide what is taught in the classroom.

So this will be part of a menu of curriculum, a menu of lessons that can be used and will be available for school districts in the state of Texas. However, there is a big incentive that the state of Texas has added to this, because any school district that chooses to use this curriculum will get $40 per student per year and an additional $20 to print that material. That is a pretty big carrot for a lot of school districts in this state that are budget-strapped at this point in time. Now, I should add that the Texas Education Agency, this is the Texas agency that created this curriculum, responded to our request for comment in regards to the controversy relating to this curriculum. And of course, a lot of critics saying that there's too much Christianity in these lessons, that it references the Bible too much and it doesn't reference other religions.

But here's what the TEA told us. They said, quote, "Religious source material comprises just a small part of the product and includes information from multiple faith traditions." Again, that vote, Brianna, eight to seven, a very tied vote, but that means that this controversial curriculum is now added to the approved curriculum in the state of Texas with that big carrot of $60 per student per year for school districts. I should add that this curriculum can be used starting in the 2025, 2026 school year.

Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, interesting. Rosa Flores, thank you for the report.

Boris.

SANCHEZ: The NBA and NHL are now joining the NFL warning teams that thieves may be targeting the homes of players after a string of burglaries involving pro athletes. Among them, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis who posted this surveillance video after a break-in at his home earlier this month saying that many of his prize possessions were stolen.

CNN's Josh Campbell is on that story for us. Josh, local law enforcement and the FBI are working to figure out who is behind all of this. What more are you hearing?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And the feds now involved because this is now an investigation that's global in nature. Authorities believe that this could be the work of transnational criminal organizations, so-called burglary tourists, which we've reported on in the past.

And, you know, first it was an NFL warning, then the NBA, now the NHL, all telling their players about what they're seeing here, these similarities. You can see they found that oftentimes these burglars are conducting extensive surveillance on residents, going so far as to pose as delivery drivers or ground keepers to try to understand the coming and goings of residents. And, you know, they're actually climbing up walls, scaling buildings to try to get to master bedrooms and closets, going after cash, going after jewelry.

Now on those groups, these have long been of concern to law enforcement here in the U.S. from coast to coast. These so-called burglary tourists often coming in from South America to stage these high-end burglaries. I talked to one district attorney previously who said, these aren't Keystone crooks. These are professional operations. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TODD SPITZER, ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: They're very sophisticated. They lie in wait for days at a time in people's backyards. They have Wi-Fi jammers to stop the alarm company from being notified because a lot of people have Wi-Fi systems. And then they have police jammers to jam the signal of the police departments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now with these athletes, you know, we're not only talking about wealthy individuals, but also because they're at the mercy of their team schedules. These are schedules that burglars know. So Boris, they know when these folks are away from home trying to capitalize on that in order to conduct these burglaries.

[13:25:10]

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it seems like a -- like a glaring point of vulnerability. So what are the leagues telling these players on how to avoid becoming targets?

CAMPBELL: So they are providing guidance. They're warning players to have surveillance systems installed at their homes. They're saying that they should develop relationships with local law enforcement in their particular neighborhoods.

And an advice that doesn't just apply to professional athletes, but to all of us, they're saying, watch what you post on social media because so many of these groups are actually going online on social media to try to find out where people are posting from to see if they're away from home. So for all of us, you know, going into the holidays, we might think twice before we post about being out on vacation. That essentially signals to a lot of these criminal groups that these places are empty and that perhaps provides a window of opportunity for them to come and steal your stuff for us.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, a good idea. Josh Campbell, thanks so much for the update there.

Up next, CNN is going to take you inside Donald Trump's potential plan to shake up the FBI.

Plus, a powerful atmospheric river taking aim at the Pacific Northwest, sending heavy rain, snow and strong winds at the region that was already battered by a once in a decade bomb cyclone. Stay with us. We're back in moments.

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