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Politico: Harris Telling Advisers, Allies To Keep Her Options Open; One Crew Dead, Three Survive After Cargo Plane Crash In Lithuania; Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) Discusses Trump's Picks Facing Next Test In Confirmation Battle. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 25, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:55]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

A lot of President-elect Trump's cabinet picks have gotten a mixed welcome even from Senate Democrats, and this morning there are some signs the tide might be turning, even slightly.

Democratic Senator-elect Adam Schiff has praise for Trump's Secretary of State pick Marco Rubio, calling him "unquestionably qualified." And Sen. Tammy Duckworth, one of the more vocal critics of Trump's selections, is signaling there are some of his picks she could be open to supporting.

CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox joins us now. So, Lauren, I mean, what is the approach here from Senate Democrats? I mean, what other nominees might they back, and why?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, I think every Democrat, every Republican is looking at these nominees one by one. Now obviously, Republicans are more willing to give deference to the president and who he is selecting, but there are even still some concerns among Republicans. I think the key here is that Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are making clear they want this process to play out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ERIC SCHMITT (R-MO): I think ultimately this is a decision that President Trump made to bring in another disrupter. And I think if you look at this election it was disrupter versus establishment. He ran on this.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): In the end, It is the Republicans that are going to have to make a decision if these people are qualified for these jobs. They have the votes.

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): The president has done this job before. He knows exactly what he needs. He knows who he wants to put in those positions. SEN. BILL HAGERTY (R-TN): He wants us to have these hearings done quickly and expeditiously. I've said I'm more than happy to work through the weekends -- as long as it takes to get this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And after last week with Matt Gaetz dropping out to be the president's next attorney general, there are a slew of candidates that Republicans have been clear they may have some concerns about.

That includes Pete Hegseth, the president's choice to lead the Department of Defense. You've heard from some Republicans that they have concerns about his views on women serving in combat, as well as potential issues with the alleged sexual assault. He has denied that took place but that is another area where Republicans are arguing more information has to come out.

And it's worth reminding everyone at home that this is going to take months. We are still in the beginning of this very lengthy process. Lawmakers are going to have several questions that they're going to submit in writing for these nominees. These nominees are going to be vetted by the committees of jurisdiction. They're going to have public hearings. And that all has to happen before these nominees get a vote up or down on the Senate floor -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, Lauren Fox. Really appreciate it.

Joining me now to discuss, CNN political commentator Karen Finney, and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings. Good to see you both.

All right, Scott, I want to start with you because when you look at Trump's potential cabinet here, Axios has described it as maybe the most ideologically diverse cabinet of modern times from more pro- abortions right RFK Jr. over Health and Human Services to pro-union secretary of labor and congresswoman.

I mean, how do you assess the range of who he's picked so far, and do you think that's going to translate to the type of policy implementation process we see by them?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I agree it is certainly an ideologically diverse group of people and there are going to be a few of these folks that some Republicans are going to have some questions about.

I mean, you mentioned RFK. The pro-life community has questions about his record and statements on that. And certainly, there are a lot of Republicans who don't agree with Congresswoman DeRemer's views on, say, the PRO Act, and she's been appointed to run the labor cabinet.

So I suspect at some point those people are going to have to make some statements about how they would act in office. And my further suspicion is those statements would revolve around one key issue -- Donald Trump's the decider. He is the boss. He's the president. He'll be the commander in chief. And so whatever political positions I've taken or whatever my personal proclivities are, I am here to enact the agenda of this president.

I do think Donald Trump won by assembling an ideologically diverse coalition of voters. I mean, you look at who voted for him. Yes, a lot of Republicans but also a lot of former working class, union-type Democrats.

[07:35:00]

A lot of people who don't normally vote Republican came in at Donald Trump's big tent Republican Party. His cabinet reflects that. At the end of the day, he is the one who has to make all the decisions, and all of his policies are the ones that will be enacted.

So I think that it's really fascinating, truthfully, and we'll see if some of the Republicans are going to swallow a little bit and end up voting for a few people who hold views that are perhaps not traditional conservative orthodoxy.

JIMENEZ: And just to -- just to follow up on that as well before we get to you, Karen, because one of the major issues here has come with the -- whether we use the FBI to do traditional background checks on some of these nominees or do it through private means, which we've seen at least the Trump transition team use in vetting their nominees before we've gotten to this point.

And actually, Karen, I'll pose this question to you first because yes, there's a confirmation process. A large part of this is traditional FBI background checks when your audience is the Senate here.

I mean, do you see this as a potential roadblock? How do you -- how do you see this playing into the process here?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, SENIOR ADVISER AND SENIOR SPOKESPERSON, 2016 HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, I think it's a potential risk to national security if we don't have people who have been through the proper processes, which includes background checks. I mean, both Scott and I worked in different administrations, and we've been through the process where they go through -- you know, it's a microcosm of the process that a cabinet level appointment would go through.

But there are reasons why that process is important. Number one, it is to determine if there are any things in your background that could make you vulnerable to a foreign entity. Also, you would want to know things that might embarrass the president. I think we've already seen just the -- whatever you might call this vetting process they seem to have done just in the nominees that they've already announced -- we've already had one person who had to drop out because of things that apparently, they weren't so clear about -- all the background. And we're learning more about Hegseth.

So look, the process is there for a reason, and I hope that the Republicans in the Senate hold true to our norms and insist on a process. I was encouraged actually over the weekend to hear a number of them

talk about wanting to give each nominee their due opportunity to come before the Senate and answer questions. I hope that the president- elect and his team reverse course and actually sign the documents that are traditionally signed around the transition.

I just wanted to say one other thing about these nominees. They may be ideologically diverse, but they've all made a pledge to help President-elect Donald Trump enact Project 2025. And we know that this is going to be very much run out of the White House. Stephen Miller, as deputy chief of staff, is going to be making sure that everyone in these cabinet positions is following the president's bidding.

JIMENEZ: And Scott, I want to pick up on some of the first part of what she said as well was that -- I mean, wouldn't an FBI check just be another air of credibility in the eyes of some doubters? You can do the private checks but also if your audience is the Senate here why not add an FBI check on top of that?

JENNINGS: Yeah. I view all this through the lens of how do I get to the votes necessary for confirmation? And it's obvious that there is a group of Senate Republicans who do have some serious questions or even some skepticism about some of these nominees. And so if I were in the president's shoes, I would be looking at the FBI checks as hey, this is a layer of -- I'll use the word credibility. I think that's a good word. This is a layer or a tool that I can show good faith with these senators who I need to vote for these people -- like a Hegseth, like a Gabbard, like and RFK.

So if I were in their shoes I would do it. And I -- and it would be sort of me attempting to get to these votes. Because right now some of these folks are facing some senators who really aren't threatenable by the normal political machinations. Either they're not running again, they just got elected, they have well-known public feuds with Donald Trump on issues from time to time. So -- and there's more than three of them, which is all you can lose in this process.

So I look at it as a -- yes, it's a good thing to do anyway, but just as a political legislative affairs matter, they may need to do it in order to try to track some of these folks who are coming into these high-level nominations with some amount of skepticism.

JIMENEZ: And Karen, I want to bring you in on another --

FINNEY: Yeah.

JIMENEZ: -- piece of news that we're -- that we're learning just before we go. Because Politico is reporting that Vice President Harris is telling her advisers to keep her political options open -- so whether that's a 2028 presidential run or a campaign for California governor in two years.

I mean, how do you think -- what do you think a second Harris run at the state or federal level looks like? And what is your advice to Democrats moving forward as they potentially start to build one of those campaigns? [07:40:00]

FINNEY: Yeah. Well look, I think the most important thing is for the vice president to take a beat -- take a step back and look at this campaign that she ran, and what are the things that she would have done differently?

I mean, we've talked about the fact that it was 107 days. I, myself, can see a number of things I would have done differently. So I think part of it is an assessment of how would you run your campaign differently, and an assessment of where will the country be in four years and what vision would you bring forward, as well as if you're thinking about running for governor. Again, what would your vision for the state be and to make that analysis in the context of where the country is or where the state is.

She is young. She is an incredibly talented politician. I think she's having been battle tested through the 107 days of a general election campaign. She's really got a lot to offer, and the future looks incredibly bright for Vice President Harris.

JIMENEZ: We will see. A long road to get to even that point, but we've got to get through some cabinet confirmations first.

FINNEY: Right.

JIMENEZ: Karen Finney, Scott Jennings, I really appreciate you both being here.

FINNEY: Thanks.

JIMENEZ: All right -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Philadelphia Eagles are flying high -- you love a fun sports pun in the morning -- locking in their seventh win in a row last night thanks to one of the greatest games in NFL history from star running back Saquon Barkley.

CNN's Carolyn Manno has more.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Kate, just to give you an idea of how good Saquon Barkley has been in his first year with Philly, he is only about 200 yards away now from breaking the team's single season rushing record, and they still have six games left to play this season.

And last night against the Rams, on the first play of the third quarter we saw why he has been so good. Barkley busting loose -- one cut and he is flying 70 yards, almost untouched for the touchdown. But he was just getting warmed up. Philly up big late in the fourth trying to ice the game. And there he goes again, this time 72 yards for the score.

The Eagles win 37-20.

Barkley becoming just the sixth player with two 70-yard rushing touchdowns in a game. His 255 yards on the ground are the ninth-most in a game all-time.

Elsewhere, a wild ending in Washington. The Commanders had just cut the Cowboys' lead to three with three minutes left in the fourth when KaVontae Turpin misplaced the kickoff -- or did he. He picks it up off the ground, hits the gorgeous spin move, and he is gone 99 yards for the touchdown.

But the Commanders and their star rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels had an answer for that. After a field goal, they get the ball back with 30 seconds to go. Daniels finding Terry McLaurin and McLaurin does the rest -- 86 yards for the touchdown to tie it up if they can make the extra point. But somehow, they miss it -- unbelievable.

So now Washington needs to recover the onside kick. Instead, Juanyeh Thomas scooping it up and he scores two return touchdowns in three minutes for Dallas. The Cowboys hold on to win a wild one 34-26 snapping their five-game losing streak, while Washington has now dropped three straight.

And Baker Mayfield doing his best Tommy Cutlets impression in the Bucs blowout win over the Giants yesterday, scoring a touchdown just before half and then immediately popping up and breaking out the viral Italian hands celebration that Tommy DeVito made famous when he took the tristate by storm for a few weeks last season as a Giants starter.

Baker explaining himself afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAKER MAYFIELD, QUARTERBACK, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: New York fans love Tommy here, and give them something they like.

REPORTER: Are you -- are you Italian by any chance, or no?

MAYFIELD: I haven't done a 23andMe, but I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Kate, the Bucs win -- 30-6 the final. And I know the focus is on turkey this week, but it turns out Baker Mayfield cooking the Giants with a different type of bird.

BOLDUAN: Well played, Carolyn, well played. Ah, thank you so much.

All right, coming up still for us, megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes suffering what has been described as a health incident during Sunday's service. The latest on how he is doing this morning.

And a fiery explosion caught on camera after a cargo plane crashed near an airport killing one crew member on board. How the pilot and two others survived.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:48:40 JIMENEZ: Breaking overnight, one crew member is dead and several others have been injured after a cargo plane flying from Germany crashed in Lithuania. The plane crashed just outside the Vilnius Airport narrowly missing a nearby house.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now from London. So, Salma, I mean, how did people manage to survive this crash?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is extremely remarkable, Omar, especially when you look at the footage -- and we have CCTV video to show you of the moment of this crash. You can see at the very top right corner of the screen this plane in the dark emerge. It begins then to dip. It disappears behind buildings. And mere moments later a huge fireball emerges -- a massive fire right behind that building.

As you mentioned, remarkably, three people on board that plane did survive. One person was found dead on the scene, here is what authorities have said. They say this plane, at about 5:30 a.m. local time, crashed near a runway. It skidded for a few hundred yards stopping just short of a family home with debris flowing inside. Rescue workers rushed to the scene and rescued those three people who were on board, including the pilot, and 12 people from the home.

[07:50:00]

Authorities say an investigation is now underway. They say terrorism cannot be ruled out, but it was likely that this crash was due to a technical failure or human error. Authorities are right now collecting evidence, and they say that could take many more days, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, you see just how high those flames reached. Remarkable that anybody survived that.

Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So this morning the list is pretty much final. Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump announced the remainder of the major cabinet-level positions for his next term. Just four posts remain open, including -- you see them there -- who will lead the Small Business Administration, and who will be the next U.S. trade rep to the United States.

Now the focus very quickly shifts to Congress and what all of these nominees will face in confirmation hearings. Some of them very clearly will face a tougher road than others with Democrats and Republicans raising questions about past statements and qualifications of especially, these three people - Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and RFK Jr.

And while the Trump team is preparing for those battles ahead there is also some bipartisanship happening, dare I say. Trump's incoming national security adviser, Congressman Mike Waltz, emphasizing this weekend how closely he and the Biden team are working together in this transition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions. We've met. For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity -- that they can play one administration off the other -- they're wrong. And we are -- we are hand in glove. We are -- we are one team with the United States in this transition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now Democratic Congressman from New York, Greg Meeks. He's the top-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, of course. Congressman, thank you for being here.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Good being with you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Hearing we're working together hand in glove and we're on the same page from the -- from the Trump team to the Biden team is something we don't -- you know, you would not often believe or hear.

What are you hearing about this transition, in particular, when you're -- on the concern of national security issues? Any concerns or --

MEEKS: Well --

BOLDUAN: -- what do you think of what Mike Waltz said?

MEEKS: -- of course, we do have some concerns. When you look at the appointment of a number of individuals, like Gabby (sic), like Hegseth --

BOLDUAN: Hegseth.

MEEKS: -- you find individuals who do not seem to be qualified for the job and individuals who have had a -- statements, for example, with Gabby where she talked and utilized Russian talking points and was over there with Assad. So those are problematic as far as those qualifications are concerned.

And then you find some -- and I look forward to working with Sen. Rubio, for example. I've -- we differ. We're going to differ on many an issue, but we will try to work collectively together as I did with my Republican colleague Michael McCaul on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We differed. We had arguments, but we were able to do it with civility and we were able to move over and to talk to our allies.

Um, my question is with some that are appointed. They've never talked to our allies and our friends. They are individuals who have our allies and friends concerned.

For example, there's reasons why you had countries like Sweden and Finland join NATO. They -- it's because they know what Russia is after --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

MEEKS: -- and what did Russia want to continue to do. But then to have someone there who seems to sympathize with Russia it gives them a problem in dealing with national intelligence. It makes me concerned about our national security.

BOLDUAN: Well, when you -- when it comes -- and you're talking about Tulsi Gabbard is what I hear from you --

MEEKS: Gabbard.

BOLDUAN: -- because she's Trump's pick for director of national intelligence. I heard you call her a national security threat to the United States.

Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator -- she was just on yesterday and she believes that Tulsi Gabbard could be compromised due to her troubling relationships, as she put it, with Russia and Syria.

But then you have Republican Congressman Markwayne Mullin. He was just on with Dana Bash yesterday and he said those characterizations that you have put out -- he was specifically talking about Tammy Duckworth. He called them dangerous and ridiculous.

Let me play what Markwayne Mullin says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULLIN: There is no document. There's no background there for her to see -- for anyone to see. She is --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: OK.

MULLIN: She is a true patriot of the United States and there is no reason why the Democrats are going after her other than the fact they're upset that she left their woke party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What do you say to that?

MEEKS: No. It's her talking points. It's what she has stood for. What she said -- her words.

Not too long ago she thought that -- she blamed Ukraine for the invasion of Russia. So it just makes no sense. She has actually used Russian talking points.

She went over to Assad and seemed to sympathize with him -- an individual who was gassing his own people. So that gives one absolute concern about who she is and what she will do.

[07:55:00]

That's why I think that the FBI needs to do security background checks before the Senate even hears --

BOLDUAN: What's the reason -- what -- do you -- can you think of a good reason to not do an FBI background check?

MEEKS: No, I can't think of one reason. Because look, everybody that's going to be underneath her will have gone through a background check. Anybody that's in the agency has to go through a background check. So why would the individual that's heading the agency not go through a background check?

BOLDUAN: Markwayne Mullin -- he makes the case that the fact her military service shows that she could pass a background check.

MEEKS: Then go through it. What are you trying to do? Why is the president trying to prevent that from happening?

Look, there -- you know, I'll tell you what my concerns are, and I have a lot of concerns. I've got concerns still about the guy who is going to be -- who is the president-elect. I've got concerns about him and his background, and the things that he's said and the people that he put in -- put in place.

My concerns are also those individuals are not -- what he has said -- when he looks at their resume, he doesn't. He wants to know if they are loyal to him. And there's reasons why you've heard Republicans -- even his current vice president J.D. Vance once described him as maybe America's Hitler. Why? Because even Hitler was --

BOLDUAN: But --

MEEKS: -- elected democratically --

BOLDUAN: But --

MEEKS: -- and you can't just go along with what someone says. And it seems to me that the president is putting in place some yes people.

BOLDUAN: But when you hear -- I mean Tulsi Gabbard was on the campaign trail relentlessly for Donald Trump. When you say those things, you can also say this was litigated in the -- in the campaign. He was elected. Voters vote -- this is what voters voted for. What do you say?

MEEKS: I say that voters voted because they were hurting financially. But voters -- the reason why we lost this election, the Democrats, and what we've got to continue to focus on is to make sure that the people like my late father -- I recall being -- I grew up in public housing and I can remember how he struggled with my family to make sure that he could put food on the table. And that's what he was focused on.

And all those national security issues, et cetera, are secondary. And that's why you saw in the polls that was nowhere because we were focused -- they were focused, and the American people were focused on their survival as far as the cost of living is concerned. That's why he got elected.

And we understood that as Democrats. We thought and we tried to explain what took place, but that wasn't good enough because they didn't feel us. And we've got to make sure that they feel us. That's why he got elected.

But the national security implications -- when you look at everybody that was close to the president, whether it was his former chief of staff, his former secretary of defense, generals -- people that had pledged allegiance to the United States of America, not to Donald Trump -- none of them supported him in this campaign.

So if you look at national security interests and the people that know him best and who are concerned about the future, they all -- Republicans did not support him. So those concerns are still there. That wasn't first and foremost on the American peoples' minds. I wish it was, but we know that foreign policy was down on the charts.

It was the economy, and it was suffering because of inflation of which we are fighting to change and to move. And which, by the way, Kate, took place around the world. Because what we had was we were coming out of the pandemic and every government around the world -- if we're just talking about politics nationally -- internationally, every government, whether it was a conservative government or a progressive government, lost because everybody was hurting after the pandemic.

But who was the fastest to recover and whose economy is stronger than any other others? The United States of America.

BOLDUAN: We'll see when it comes to the economy and these national security issues. This is going to be a fight that you're going to continue fighting in this next Congress for sure.

MEEKS: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for coming in, Congressman. I really appreciate your time.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: As always, thank you.

MEEKS: Happy Thanksgiving to you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you very much -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, Kate.

The debate over transgender rights and athletes became a political firestorm at points in the election with the Republicans spending millions on anti-trans ads.

CNN's Brynn Gingras spoke with a transgender collegiate track star about competing in this political climate and her safety concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SADIE SCHREINER, TRANSGENDER ATHLETE: When you transition you experiment with your look a lot. I think I look best when I have this kind of makeup on. It feels most authentic to how I want to look.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Sadie Schreiner is three years into her transition. SCHREINER: I take about eight pills a day to help regulate both

estrogen and testosterone among other things. Everyone who goes through a medical transition does this to some extent. I have to be more strict about it.

GINGRAS (voiceover): Strict because Schreiner submits her hormone levels in order to compete. She's a star sprinter, a two-time All- American, and has broken numerous school records on the women's track team at a Division 3 New York college.

GINGRAS: Every time you get on that track and field, what it's like for you?

SCHREINER: It's stressful.