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Trump Taps Former Florida AG Pam Bondi For Attorney General; Trump Expected to Offer Kelly Loeffler Job as Agriculture Secretary; Gaetz Says He's Not Rejoining Congress After Withdrawing as AG Pick; Just Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 22, 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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[14:01:07]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: New pick, same priorities. President Elect Trump replacing his choice for attorney general with another loyalist who has vowed to go after the so-called deep state and promised to prosecute top officials at the very department that she could soon lead.

Plus, Sean Diddy Combs in court right now trying for a third time to get released on bail. How his attorneys are using a now infamous video of the music mogul, attacking a former girlfriend to try to get him out.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And some bad news for home buyers. Sales are down and those 6% interest rates, economists say they're the new normal.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here, the CNN News Central.

KEILAR: Out of the running is Attorney General and now out of Congress. Matt Gaetz says he will not be returning House seat in the new Congress after withdrawing his name from consideration as President Elect Donald Trump's attorney general. Instead, Pam Bondi will now face Senate questioning after Trump named her to replace Gaetz as his choice to oversee the Justice Department.

Bondi is Florida's former top prosecutor. And she is a staunch Trump supporter. Already, Trump's allies are said to be breathing a sigh of relief as they rally around his new selection.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live in West Palm Beach, Florida, as Trump is working to fill the remaining positions in his second administration. Kristen, we'll get to Gaetz and Bondi here in a moment. First, though, we're learning that Trump has someone in mind to lead the Department of Agriculture. Tell us about this.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. Two sources telling Kaitlan Collins that he is expected to ask Kelly Loeffler of Georgia to lead the Department of Agriculture later today. She was somebody who led a failed Senate campaign in Georgia in 2020, but she has been by his side since then. She's a loyal and a big time donor to Donald Trump. She held a number of fundraisers for him and in the final days of his campaign, was by his side.

Now, one thing to keep in mind here, this is really the first name that we're hearing since what we saw with Attorney General and Matt Gaetz and Pam Bondi. Yesterday, we were talking about potentially getting Secretary of Treasury, which is still a missing position. But instead, the entire apparatus around Attorney General fell apart when Donald Trump called Matt Gaetz, told him that he did not have the votes in the Senate. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name within six hours. Donald Trump had chosen Pam Bondi.

Now, we are hearing from Matt Gaetz for the first time in an interview where he essentially blamed some of the ethics reports and items around that on Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker of the House who Matt Gaetz had helped get out of office. Here's what he said.

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MATT GAETZ, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: I was dealing with a politically motivated body. They didn't like me because of what I did to Kevin McCarthy. All of them were handpicked by Kevin McCarthy. And they had an axe to grind. So that was going to serve as at least enough of a basis to delay my confirmation as Attorney General. And I could have answered all those questions. I could have engaged in a months long fact battle. But we don't have months to go through that. We got to have an AG ready to go day one.

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HOLMES: Now, he also went on to parry his Pam Bondi. But of course, as we know, there were a lot of questions among Trump's orbit as to what exactly was in that ethics report. We kept getting little drips and drips of more information. I was told by several sources close to the transition team that there was concerns that there might be more damning evidence in there. There might be more witnesses than they had previously known that had spoken to the committee.

All of this coming at a time when -- where Matt Gaetz already didn't have the votes to get confirmed. I will tell you, having spoke to a number of people in Trump's orbit, they feel that Pam Bondi can get confirmed and they are breathing a sigh of relief because they think it's going to take a lot less political capital to get her through the door.

[14:05:08]

KEILAR: Yeah. Confirmable perhaps likely and a loyalist very much. Kristen Holmes, thank you for the report from West Palm Beach. Boris?

SANCHEZ: So Gaetz was one of four of Trump's cabinet picks facing sexual misconduct allegations. But what do these issues mean for their chances of confirmation? Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in California seven years ago. Now, he was not charged with the crime. And he claims that the entire

encounter was consensual, although he did enter into a settlement agreement with his accuser that included a payment and a confidentiality clause. And then there's Trump's pick for education secretary, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Linda McMahon.

A lawsuit claims that she knowingly enabled child sexual exploitation by a WWE employee as early as the 1980s, allegations that she has denied. And Trump's pick to head Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A woman recently spoke out to USA Today saying that he groped her when she was working for him as a nanny in the 1990s. RFK has not acknowledged those allegations.

We're joined by CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten. Harry, let's talk about these picks, starting with Pete Hegseth. Trump trying to tap him to lead the Pentagon.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I just think what's so shocking about all of this is normally the confirmation process for cabinet level or cabinet positions they fly through. But in this particular case, when we look at the betting odds, it's so far from a sure thing for a number of these picks. Obviously, Matt Gaetz has already withdrawn his name. So let's start with Pete Hegseth, right, to lead the Defense Department.

The odds of him becoming the Defense Secretary a week ago it was 82%. Is that allegation that you mentioned at the top has made its way through the news cycle. Look at where it's dropped to. It's just a 56% chance that he gets confirmed. Now, that's still north of 50%. But that is far from a sure thing, Boris. And it's something honestly I wasn't expecting at the beginning of this process, though, given Trump's untraditional ways, perhaps I should have been.

SANCHEZ: Speaking of untraditional, Harry, what about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Linda McMahon? Tell us about their odds.

ENTEN: Yeah. You know, obviously RFK has many things going on with him. You obviously mentioned the stuff with potential sexual misconduct at the top here. But of course, vaccines. You know, he wants to lead the HHS, right? Wants to lead the Health and Human Services Department. So look at his odds, 78% a week ago. Where are we at now? Just 70%. Just 70%. Again, that's a majority chance. But it's so far from a sure thing. And this is just something we've seen over and over again with Trump's picks. He takes what should be sure things and turns them into dicey situations.

Now, there is one pick. You know, we mentioned Linda McMahon. I think she has a pretty gosh darn good chance of getting confirmed. So this is the chance that she is confirmed as the Secretary of Education. Look at this, as 92% chance versus just an 8% chance of not. This is the number that we're more used to seeing for people who are put up for the Cabinet, very much unlike what we see with either Hegseth or with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Harry, one other nomination that isn't tied to any sort of sexual misconduct allegations, but has made controversial remarks in the past and could be in trouble is Trump's choice for Director of National Intelligence, the DNI, Tulsi Gabbard. What are her odds?

ENTEN: Yeah, what are her odds? Again, way south of 100%. Look at this. What's the chance that she's confirmed as DNI? Look at this, just 63% yes, 37% no. Now, again, 63 is higher than 37. But these should be shoo-ins for the most part. They should be shoo-ins. And instead, what we're seeing is across the board far from shoo-ins. We're talking about a little bit more than half to maybe three quarters. It really would not be surprising to me, Boris, if one of these folks, why expect the majority of them to get confirmed? It wouldn't be surprising to me if either Hegseth, RFK Jr., or Gabbard ultimately not confirmed, given the problems that I think a lot of folks have with them, which is something I just say it over and over again, it's truly untraditional.

SANCHEZ: Harry Enten, thank you so much for breaking those numbers down for us.

Let's discuss the politics with Republican strategist Sir Michael Singleton and Democratic strategist Kevin Walling. Thank you both for being with us.

Shermichael, first to you, this move with Gaetz out, Bondi in, and now, with the announcement of Loeffler, some would say a more traditional or certainly a pick that has the background in --

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Former senator.

SANCHEZ: --former senator.

SINGLETON: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: How do you see this confirmation, nomination and confirmation process, shaping out for Trump?

SINGLETON: Well, I mean, so far I think it looks great. I've had the opportunity to speak with a number of my friends who work on Capitol Hill on the Senate side for senators, but also who are staffers on the Republican side for various committees.

And every single thing that I've heard within the past 24 hours is absolutely great.

[14:10:02]

They're excited. They're ready to move forward with confirming most of these individuals. They think things are moving in the right direction. No one's even talking about the former Congressman Gaetz. It was a rough spot for about a week and a half or so. People are ready to move on. They want to confirm the nominees for the President Elect so that Republicans can move forward with their agenda for the American people.

KEILAR: Do you think the rest of his picks necessarily get confirmed, or do you think there could still be some holdups, Kevin?

KEVIN WALLING, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think the President Elect is going to struggle with those three. And we've talked about it before RFK, Tulsi, and Pete Hegseth, as Harry just mentioned, in terms of the betting markets.

Shermichael, I think Kelly Loeffler is going to sail through as a former senator. She spent a year there. Pam Bondi, let's not also forget, she built some relationships with the senators defending the former President in that first impeachment hearing before the United States Senate. So I think those two are shoo-ins. I think those three that I mentioned are the real concerns for the Trump campaign.

SINGLETON: And I think Pete is ultimately going to get confirmed. There is more to this story that we're not aware of yet. I've had the opportunity to speak with Tim Parlatore [ph], who's Pete's attorney. And they're expecting to see some things change and potentially reveal some things that I think will provide more clarity for senators and even the American people potentially in the next week or two. So let's just pause a little bit and see what happens there.

SANCHEZ: You're not concerned that that confirmation process could get ugly if they get testimony from folks that come out publicly and say things that are negative?

SINGLETON: Well, look, some of the testimony that we're aware of, Boris, suggests from what we've seen that the testimony from the alleged individual may not be as forthright or as accurate as we thought. And then I think there's a lot of testimony there that would absolutely bode well for Pete and his ability to get confirmed by a lot of Republican senators. From what I have heard so far, there doesn't appear to be any Republican that is an absolute no on Pete. And so I think ultimately Pete gets confirmed here.

KEILAR: There's also the question, though, of whether he's qualified for the job with his background, Kevin. And so I wonder, as you look at those three and you have Republican senators and there are a number of them up there who have concerns about Gabbard, about Kennedy Jr., about Hegseth, if they're sitting there going, man, if I have to choose one that I'm going to maybe oppose here, what would be the safest bet do you think?

WALLING: Well, actually, Matt Gaetz gave them a little bit of runway there because obviously, that was the most troubled nomination. So it's almost a freebie that they get to maybe object to one additional person that the President Elect has nominated. You know, there's a lot coming out with Tulsi Gabbard. You saw an interview that Nikki Haley gave about serious concerns with her relationships to Syria, to Russia, attacks from the right in terms of her cozying up to Edward Snowden. So there's some serious concerns, I think, about that nomination. Certainly, Pete Hegseth, I think there is going to be some fiery testimony in that confirmation hearing.

Armed Services, you know, you've got Jack Reed, you got some serious individuals at that dais that will call into question his experience running a department of millions of people with our largest budget item. So certainly, you know, I think that process will play out. And of course, RFK and his views that are being attacked from the left and the right. KEILAR: Great. But (inaudible) you didn't answer my question.

WALLING: I think it's likely that RFK Jr. goes down. There's a lot more there that we're going to find out. I think Pete, to Shermichael's point, probably sails through, but it's going to be heated.

KEILAR: Interesting.

SINGLETON: I mean, look, I was just going to say quickly here, Democrats are making a lot of noise about Pete and not having experience. I mean, the current HHS secretary isn't a doctor. He's not a medical professional or an expert. He was Attorney General for California. So I would say to my Democratic friends, pause your breaks a little bit here, okay?

SANCHEZ: Attorney general for California, different from maybe being a veteran, a bronze star recipient, but ultimately, a cable news host for a department that employs like 1 million people.

SINGLETON: So Boris, to that point, I was a political strategist. I'm now on television. If some major corporation says, "Shermichael, we want to hire you to be vice president of strategic governmental affairs" or whatever, do I not have the experience in my background to do that job? I would certainly say that I could do that job.

SANCHEZ: You know, I would hire you for sure. No question about that.

WALLING: There we go again. There we go again. Thank you.

SINGLETON: I don't know about defense.

WALLING: Well, maybe HHS.

SANCHEZ: Kevin, I am curious about whether you think this Gaetz withdrawal says anything about how Republican senators are poised to potentially disagree with Trump and his agenda moving forward, because Trump could have approached this very differently.

WALLING: Yeah, it's a great question, Boris. You know, you saw the -- and we talked about this last week, the effort has moved so quickly. But with that quickness in terms of these nominations, there's a sloppiness involved. And I think the fact that they aren't going through with these FBI bets, that could actually save the Trump effort in many ways if you see some of these things come out before the confirmation hearings take place.

But to your point you're seeing, you know, some willingness -- you know, Kevin Kramer for example, North Dakota. I've got some serious concerns about what I've heard about Pete Hegseth. He just said that, today, I think to Manu Raju on the Hill. So you're seeing these foundational kind of things with the Senate. You've got a lot of members that are, you know, in their last throws of their career.

[14:15:04] McConnell up in two years, probably not going to run again. There's some freedom with Murkowsk, Alaska, some freedom with Susan Collins where, you know, they feel somewhat empowered to say no if these picks are just so far out of the mainstream.

SINGLETON: But look -- but President Elect Trump is not the first president elect to have nominees withdraw their names or individuals that you may say, wait a minute here, you're not going to get across the finish line. We're going to nominate someone else.

KEILAR: Well, under these circumstances.

SINGLETON: You know, this is not unprecedented.

KEILAR: Shermichael --

WALLING: Yeah, maybe that points of when (inaudible).

SINGLETON: This is not unprecedented.

SANCHEZ: And yet, you haven't really seen an intraparty threat of a primary for someone not supporting a nominee before.

SINGLETON: I mean, look, did it get off a little shaky? One could make that argument. But again, in terms of precedent, you have seen other president elects go through this process.

SANCHEZ: It's a little thing. It's a little things.

SINGLETON I am going to defend the President Elect in this regard because the vast majority of the nominees will absolutely get confirmed. We're talking about two or three people who may be a little shaky. I think they'll get confirmed also.

KEILAR: Are you going for a press secretary gig or something?

SINGLETON: No, I'm not going to (inaudible). I am making too much money in my business right now, okay? I'm not giving up millions of dollars, Brianna.

KEILAR: I was going to say there's no -- let's just be -- there's no precedent for what just happened under these circumstances. I just want to be --

SINGLETON: (Inaudible) nominee for (inaudible).

KEILAR: Very clear about that.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SINGLETON: There have been others who've had their names removed.

WALLING: You are Senate confirmable.

SINGLETON: That's all I'm simply saying.

WALLING: You are Senate confirmable.

KEILAR: Not like this. Shermichael, thank you so much. Kevin, thank you so much.

SINGLETON: Or say it, maybe they're not like us. You know the song.

KEILAR: I'm not even going that song. I am moving on because at this hour on CNN News Central, CNN is inside the courtroom. Sean Diddy Combs will be trying again to get released on bail. The hearing coming just days after prosecutors said they have evidence that he's been trying to influence witnesses from behind bars.

Plus, they say migrants have learned to wear shoe coverings made of carpet to avoid leaving a traceable trail. Meet the ranchers counting on President Elect Trump to finish his border wall.

SANCHEZ: And we're following a contentious climate summit as a deal that would require wealthy nations to pay hundreds of billions of dollars a year to fight climate change is met with anger from all sides.

These important stories and more coming up on CNN News Central.

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KEILAR: Happening now. Sean Diddy Combs is back in a New York courtroom marking a third attempt to be released on bail in his sex trafficking case. He's been in jail since his arrest in September. And today's hearing is happening as Combs's lawyers are accusing prosecutors of manipulating a disturbing video, one that you've probably seen. It's the one that shows him brutally attacking his then girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway back in 2016.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is live in Los Angeles. Elizabeth, does the Combs team have a strong case here to make especially in light of these recent allegations that he's been making calls behind -- from behind bars that could be seen to influence maybe witnesses?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Look, Brianna. So Combs's team says that those allegations about those phone calls and tampering with witnesses from behind bars, they say that that is not true. They are denying all of that. There have been filings flying left and right.

Today, we've had two new filings. Last night, there was an additional filing where they spoke about that video that you just referenced, Brianna. So Combs's team, they are working very hard to try to get him released. As you said, this is going to be his third bail hearing. We'll see if third time's a charm. But right now, what we see here is some screenshots from that disturbing video that our team broke here at CNN.

Now, what Combs's team is saying in this filing is that prosecutors, they claim that they submitted a version of that video that our team released. Now, we have not seen that alleged video that prosecutors submitted to the court for these bail proceedings. We don't know what was in them. But Combs's team is saying, it's edited, that they left out some of the material that it's out of order. And they are taking issue with that.

Now, I want to read you part of what Combs's team said in that filing, Brianna. They say, quote, "the video is not evidence of a coerced freak off and sex trafficking, but rather a sad glimpse into a decade- long consensual relationship between Mr. Combs and Ventura."

So they are categorizing this as a sad moment within a consensual relationship. I think what you saw, Brianna, what I saw, what the world has seen now is that video depicts a horrific, violent attack against a woman. Now, we do not know what happened behind closed doors. The footage that we have seen occurs in the hallway of that hotel room. But what happens in the hallway of that hotel room according to the footage that our team obtained and released earlier this year, again, is Combs dragging Ventura, kicking her, throwing a vase towards her, a glass vase towards her. So we will see what the judge has to say.

But right now, Combs is in a courtroom, the third attempt to get out before his criminal trial. Remember, Brianna, his criminal trial is set for the spring of next year. And he has been denied bail twice. He is trying to get out as he awaits that trial.

KEILAR: Yeah, that may be a tough sell. But we'll see what the judge says. Elizabeth, thank you so much for the report. Boris?

[14:25:01]

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss some of the details with Joey Jackson. He's a CNN legal analyst, a former prosecutor as well. Joey, thanks so much for being with us.

This is Sean Combs' third try to get out on bail. Do you think he has a better chance this time around?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So he may, Boris. Good to be with you. And here's why. You heard Elizabeth reference the issue of the recording. And here's why it's significant in terms of its manipulation. Just to reset, the critical to his denial on bail were really two factors. The one factor related to him being a danger to the community. The other factor being how he would potentially obstruct witnesses. Now, critical in the prosecutors arguments at those previous hearings was the fact that there's this tape that everyone has seen. And they said prosecutors did that. That tape was in the context of a freak off. It was in the context of sex trafficking. It was in the context of him being violent as it related to that count in the indictment against Ms. Ventura, right, who's referred to as victim one.

But, but here now comes the defense saying, hey, by the way, the prosecution has misled you court. This had nothing to do with a freak off as is alleged, which were the parties that he was allegedly having, that is P. Diddy, with all of these instances going on with coerced sexual activity, etcetera, had nothing to do with that. It also had nothing to do with sex trafficking. This was a domestic dispute.

Now, it doesn't make the violence in the tape, Boris, any more tenable, right? Violence is violence. It shouldn't have happened, but it gives it context. Now, when you get down to the manipulation of the tape, the reordering of the tape, did you mislead the court? If they did, that's a factual question. A judge won't be too happy. Second brief point, and that is, they're also arguing the defense team that there's the issue concerning his ability to prepare and be ready for trial.

If you're going through and rummaging through his notes and other records that are attorney client-privileged and peeping at them and looking at them and using them against them, how could he prepare for trial? So those we know that there was a raid of the cell and there were certain notes that were used that the prosecution now has, defense team saying no, we need to be able to prepare him. So those are the two critical arguments that they're making. We'll see whether they carry the day.

But to your question, I think this new material certainly gives and may give the judge pause this time in terms of saying, maybe it is that I should grant him some bail package that is reasonable or not.

SANCHEZ: Joey, about those personal notes, the prosecution has argued that this was a previously scheduled search. I'm wondering how a judge goes about determining where to land on whether these notes are actually admissible. And do you expect that the phone calls that he's apparently made allegedly made to be significant? These like three way calls to try to convince witnesses to do one thing or another.

JACKSON: So Boris, everything has a context, right? And so when you evaluate the context, let's look at the notes. Yes, it could have been a pre-planned search and it's important to search in jails. Safety and security is preeminent. You want to ensure that. But when you get notes and other materials that could be subject to attorney-client relationship, there should be a filter team that is a team of prosecutors who have experience to go over those records to determine whether or not they could be usable.

Now, those prosecutors generally are unrelated to the case. They'll look through it and they'll parse out the material. And if it could be given over to the other side who's on the case, they'll do that. Defense team says they failed, that is the filter team in that regard, because those notes should have never been given and used in this case. That's number one. That's troubling and there should be a hearing as it relates to that.

And so we'll see where the judge lands on that issue, you know, moving forward with regard to whether or not. I think the notes are certainly not going to be admissible, but I don't think the judge is going to be very pleased in terms of you using that against him. And it furthers the defense's narrative that, hey, you know what, we need him out here, right, so that he could prepare with us, not inside where they're peeping and looking at his records and documents.

SANCHEZ: Joey Jackson, always great to get your perspective. Thanks so much for being with us.

JACKSON: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Up next, meet the ranchers who say the unfinished border wall has turned their land into a dangerous cartel crossing. They now call, the doorway to the U.S.

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MAN #1: I always have a weapon, David. Here's my pistol. You have a weapon, people go the other way.

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