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Republican Gabe Evans Flips Colorado House Seat; GOP Infighting Over Who Will Replace Senator Mitch McConnell; Interview With Laredo, Texas Mayor Victor Trevino; Biden To Keep Pushing Ukraine Aid; Giuliani Has Days To Turn Over Assets To Women He Defamed; Trump's Gains In New York Reflect National Political Swings. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 10, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:01]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we start with breaking news.

A CNN projection for your right now, and this is one Republicans will be pleased about. Gabe Evans has flipped a seat in Colorado's Denver suburbs. Evans is a U.S. Army veteran and police officer. And days after the election of course we are still waiting on the results for 16 House races, but again this was one that both parties were watching. And Republicans have effectively been able to flip that seat.

Let's get right to CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten.

Harry, what does it mean for the House?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what does it mean for the House? It means that Republicans are right on the doorstep of maintaining control of the House of Representatives. Look where we are now, project, CNN, 214. Of course you need 218 to maintain control. Democrats all the way down at 205. Now if you look at the seats where the parties are ahead at this particular point Republicans are ahead in 222 seats, Democrats in just 213.

Now I want to sort of go into that Colorado district that you are just talking about and sort of just point out the problem here. As you mentioned Gabe Evans flipped it. 97 percent of the vote is in so far. And one of the real issues that Democrats have sort of just had is if you go back just a little bit in time, right, if you look when 71 percent of the precincts were in, in fact Evans was trailing. Evans was trailing. And he of course in the later vote count was able to take the lead.

And so this is one of the big problems that sort of Democrats have had in this entire sort of trying to somehow find the seats to get to 218. Another sort of example of that a district where right now they're behind, they're behind right now in Arizona Sixth Congressional District. You see the incumbent Republican is ahead by 1230 votes. Now again if you were to go back in time, if you were to go back when it was 59 percent of the vote in, again the Democrat was ahead there. So basically what you're seeing, what you're seeing in these types of

situations is Democrats keep trying to say, OK, is the math for us there? And then each time you think the math may be there for them, what you end up finding out is that the math actually just sort of goes away for them.

Now where could Democrats potentially pick up seats? Well, let's go out to California, right? Let's go up to California. There are a few districts that I'm sort of keeping my eye on out there. So we'll go right here. This is a district that I think they have some shot in. Look at this. In California's 13th District, 57 percent of the vote is in. The Democrat right now is just about two and a half points behind. Adam Gray is only about two and a half points behind.

Another district I'm looking in is this one. This is the 22nd District. This is a district that always takes forever to sort of count its votes. David Valadao, the longtime Republican incumbent, he's ahead now by seven points. But again just 71 percent of the vote is in. And finally, you know, if we were to go, let's say, we're going to go to Southern California. I like going to Southern California, right?

Let's see if I can click this district. There, we just -- there we go. Sometimes it gets a little interesting. California's 45th District, Orange County, a big chunk of that. Michelle Steel, the incumbent Republican, up by 6900 votes but again just 79 percent of the vote in, and she's up, you know, about two and a half points.

So again there are opportunities for Democrats, Jessica, but the bottom line is at this particular hour the math is thin and the hour is late for Democrats. Republicans look on their way to maintaining House control.

DEAN: Yes, and the Senate, more cut and dry, though. We know that there will clearly be a Republican majority.

ENTEN: Yes. We know that there's going to be a Republican majority. And in fact what do we have that is basically uncalled on the Senate side. Well, there's one seat that Republicans are heading, and one seat Democrats are heading. And at this particular point, I want to go down to the one where I think we really have at least a little bit of doubt here. What? Ruben Gallego against Kari Lake of course.

Very controversial in a state that Donald Trump easily carried but Ruben Gallego is ahead right now by a little bit less than two percentage points. This race got a little bit closer as we sort of gone down the stretch and more vote came in. But Gallego has been able to stretch his lead out, so at this particular point, despite the fact, despite the fact in the presidential race, look how far Donald Trump is ahead in Arizona. He's up by six points.

[18:05:01]

But Ruben Gallego is running way, way, way ahead of Kamala Harris. And at this particular point this looks like a hold for the Democrats. Remember Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic incumbent turned independent, but it looks like Kari Lake at this point she's behind -- we haven't called it yet, but at this point Gallego looking pretty gosh darn good -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Harry Enten, for us running those numbers. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

DEAN: As the Mitch McConnell era winds down the race for the next Senate majority leader is heating up, and CNN's Alayna Treene is in Palm Beach, Florida, near Mar-a-Lago.

And Alayna, just moments ago, just a little bit earlier today, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio throwing their weight behind Florida Senator Rick Scott, considered frankly to be the dark course of the three candidates in this secret ballot race that will happen this week.

What else can you tell us?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I would also add it's not just Elon Musk and Marco Rubio. We've seen a number of people, not only Republicans but also people who are close to Donald Trump and have his ear.

I'm going to read for you some of those who have already endorsed Rick Scott for Senate majority leader, and it also includes Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, RFK Junior, Ron Johnson, David Sachs, who was very close to J.D. Vance and has become a major donor for Donald Trump particular over this last campaign, Charlie Kirk, Bill Hagerty.

Again, many of these people on this list are either people who have helped Donald Trump get elected and remained very close to him and have his ear particularly as he is on that island behind me, locked down at Mar-a-Lago, going through who he wants to fill his cabinet and other key roles with. But also people like Haggerty and Rubio who Donald Trump is considering putting in top positions in his second term. So I would keep that in mind.

But, look, what Donald Trump posted just a little bit earlier today was that he wants to change a very traditional norm that we have seen in Congress for several years now, and that is that he wants to use recess appointments or make recess appointments I should say which is essentially something that would help him bypass getting confirmation for his key nominees.

As of now, and I don't want to get to in the weeds here with you, Jessica, but when the Senate wants to take a break, when they go on recess, they actually go into a pro-forma session. If they were to actually start doing, you know, voting on a recess resolution which is what Donald Trump is calling for, you have to see it both the House and Senate vote on this and that could create its own problems but essentially enabling the Senate to do that.

And to pass his -- or to confirm his nominees in the process, again, Donald Trump would be bypassing needing specific Senate confirmation for some of his key people that he wants to put in his cabinet and other roles in his administration. And I'd remind you that a lot of times president-elects want to nominate someone that perhaps is very controversial, perhaps may not receive the necessary votes from the Senate chamber that they need to get confirmed. This would be a way of Donald Trump trying to circumvent that.

Now I'd also note that it wasn't only Rick Scott who went out on social media, he was the first who said that he supports Donald Trump's decision 100 percent, that he is dedicated to making sure his nominees get through and get through swiftly. But we also saw the other two candidates who are running for that role, John Cornyn and John Thune, also show support for it. And I think that's just another sign of how much control and power Trump has right now over all of Congress but specifically this leadership fight -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. So much of this is taking shape in real time and will have such a big impact on how Trump and his team, how effective they can be with their agenda.

All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much from West Palm Beach. We appreciate it.

And for more on what a Trump administration will look like, we're joined by a journalist and author Chris Whipple. He wrote the "Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency," and argues that these chiefs of staff can even change the course of our country.

Chris, thanks so much for being here with us. It's good to see you.

CHRIS WHIPPLE, AUTHOR, "GATEKEEPERS: HOW THE WHITE HOUSE CHIEFS OF STAFF DEFINE EVERY PRESIDENCY": Sure. Good to be with you.

DEAN: So I want to talk about Susie Wiles as chief of staff in just a second, but I want to first get your take on what Alayna was just reporting on, and we've kind of seen really developing in the last several hours which is this battle for Senate majority leader as the McConnell era ends for Senate Republicans.

It is interesting to see the people around him that are weighing in on this, people like Elon Musk who are not elected and not formally working with him but clearly have a lot of power.

WHIPPLE: Yes. It's clearly really unusual and we have seen this movie before during the first Trump White House when all kinds of people came and went into the Oval Office. You know, by far the most critical appointment is going to be the White House chief of staff. And obviously he's made a choice there. The White House chief is the person the president counts on not only to execute his agenda but to tell him what he doesn't want to hear.

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Now that's been problematic for Trump as we know. And one of the reasons that the first Trump White House was so chaotic and dysfunctional is because there really was no meaningful -- no chief of staff in any meaningful sense of the word during his first term. He went through four, you may recall. None of them was empowered to tell him what he didn't want to hear and that's a huge problem.

DEAN: Yes. And so how do you think this will shape up? Because Susie Wiles, who helped run his successful 2024 campaign, who he really trusts, he has named her as chief of staff, she said very explicitly, according to our reporting, that he had to agree not to let the clown car into the Oval Office, those were her words according to our reporting.

And so how much power do you think just knowing what you just laid out that sometimes he doesn't always listen to those around him? Do you think she will be able to have and what -- how might their particular relationship impact the relationship within the White House?

WHIPPLE: Well, look, I mean, to begin with, I think it's great news that, you know, it's long past time that we had a woman as White House chief of staff, so I think that's a great thing. On her side, I think Susie Wiles has demonstrated that she can work closely with Trump without getting fired. She's been able to apparently tell him hard truths from time to time. But here's the problem.

I mean, there's a real difference between running a campaign and running the White House. On a campaign, when a president goes rogue, he may offend some people and lose some votes. In the White House, when a president goes rogue you lose lives. We saw that happened during the pandemic when Trump tried to pretend that there was no pandemic as Bob Woodward has documented extensively.

And he didn't have a White House chief of staff who could tell him otherwise. He had a sycophant in the form of Mark Meadows. So look, the stakes are really high. And color me skeptical that Susie Wiles can really tell the president what he doesn't want to hear.

DEAN: And when we've been speaking with Trump allies on this show, a lot of them keep saying, they're in a better place than they were in 2016. They know how to do this better. That he's more prepared to get to work immediately, essentially that the system has been streamlined. Do you think that's true?

WHIPPLE: I don't. Frankly, I don't see any evidence that Trump learned anything about governing during his first term. And I think that, again, this is one of the problems I think and one of the weaknesses for Susie Wiles. And that is the great White House chiefs of staff in history, James A. Baker III for Ronald Reagan, Leon Panetta for Bill Clinton, were chiefs who had, A, White House experience, and B, knowledge of Capitol Hill.

Susie Wiles who was in the White House 40 years ago as a very young person, that's a long, long time ago. And the problem here is that Trump has never learned the difference between campaigning and governing. He really has no idea that they are very different skill sets entirely. When you're campaigning, you're trying to destroy your opponent. When you're governing, you're trying to make deals with him or her.

Trump has never understood that. And you really need a White House chief of staff who knows Capitol Hill to help him figure that out. DEAN: All right. Chris Whipple, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

WHIPPLE: Sure. My pleasure.

DEAN: Still to come, we are talking with the mayor of a Texas border city about Trump's big gains in largely Hispanic South Texas, which has long been a Democratic stronghold. Plus President Biden wants to use his last months in office to push forward with support for Ukraine as the president-elect threatens to cut off the flow of aid once he's in office.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:03]

DEAN: One of the keys to Donald Trump's victory was securing a larger share of votes from Latino voters. CNN exit poll is showing Trump got 46 percent of the Latino vote. That is 14 percent more than in 2020. And in South Texas that shift was significant, Trump making a huge impact in a region that's long been a Democratic stronghold.

And our next guest is the mayor of Laredo, Texas. It's a border town. You see it right there. Just a couple of hours south of San Antonio. Mayor Victor Trevino is joining us now.

Mayor, thanks so much for being here.

MAYOR VICTOR TREVINO, LAREDO, TEXAS: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

DEAN: All right. I just want you first if you can kind of sum up for us as the mayor of a border town in a time when immigration is ranked very high on Americans' most pressing issues list, what is it like in your community and how much is that impacting your community?

TREVINO: Well, number one, I'm the mayor of a 95 percent Latino community, the largest port of entry to the United States and commerce and trade with Mexico.

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And we here have challenges that we deal at a local level, we deal with federal issues. So every day we have contact with it means to have migrants coming and shelters across the river in Mexico, and shelters here. So we deal with those situations. This is a processing center that migrants are sent from other border cities to process them here and this is one of the largest processing center in the border.

DEAN: And so in terms of what you all are hoping and wanting from this next administration, what do you think of Trump's proposed policies on immigration? What might help your community? What might hurt your community?

TREVINO: Well, we've heard all his promises. But I think that people just wanted a change. They want to focus on getting some commonsense immigration reforms being done. And the other thing is that people already are not too happy with the economy. And immigration status at the same time. So a change, I guess, but he has been promising what Latinos wanted to hear. And remember, Latinos vote, their mind, they don't vote necessarily one party or the other. So you have to understand that you can't count on the Latino vote being one party. Latinos have a mind of their own so it was portrayed with this election.

DEAN: Yes. It's certainly not monolithic. I'm curious what you think, what your constituents say to you especially for those who did support the now president-elect Trump in terms of his rhetoric on immigration, his rhetoric on immigrants. People sometimes I think question how -- why would a Latino voter vote for someone who speaks of immigrants this way. But it sounds like what you and others have said is that it comes down to issues about the economy and promises they feel like aren't being carried through. Talk through that with us.

TREVINO: Sure. Here, locally, we see immigrants coming in, but we don't want people coming in illegally and taking jobs that they shouldn't take. We need to understand that we need to have an orderly immigration process, and that has to be done. I mean, there's no two ways about it. That's one of the things that impacts the whole country and impacts us, too. So we have to look at that as one of the things that have to be done.

And him saying he'll deport all those people, I mean, one of those things is I promise to say it and the other thing is to actually do it, and you know, we have to understand a lot of immigrants take jobs and these are jobs that nobody wants. So they fill those jobs. So we have to understand that. You know, the majority of Latinos voting for Trump in light of the mass deportation, the rhetoric, we have to look at the possibility of the good that he says versus the bad that he says.

DEAN: And I know, I do want to ask you just lastly about those promised mass deportations, what kind of impact that might have on the people who live in your community? And also I know you do stay in close contact with officials in Mexico. What are you hearing from them about this incoming Trump administration and again those promised mass deportations?

TREVINO: Yes. We have constant conversations with our Mexican counterparts, the mayor of Nuevo Laredo, both governors of both states have coincided with Laredo, Texas, and we talk about those matters. We cannot -- we have to understand that it can't be done in that fashion. Mass deportations would actually devastate our economy. It wouldn't probably be a functional way to do things, although I think the reform is something that has to come about.

DEAN: But -- and so it sounds like you're not in support of mass deportations all at the same time because of the impact it might have on the economy?

TREVINO: That is correct. I mean, it doesn't stand to reason that you can get rid of all these people that are filling jobs, that are functional for the country. We just have to understand that this doesn't work that way. You can talk about stringent more immigration reform, better immigration reform, but to deport massive amount of people, that doesn't seem to be functional. I don't think it will work for our country and like I said the economy would greatly be impacted.

DEAN: All right, Mayor Trevino, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

TREVINO: Thank you.

DEAN: And when we come back, the fighting between Russia and Ukraine intensifies overnight after the two trade hundreds of drone attacks. It all comes as thousands of troops from North Korea prepared to fight for Russia.

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You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Russia is said to be utilizing thousands of North Korean soldiers as it prepares for a massive attack on Ukrainian positions in Russia's Kursk Region in the coming day. Ukraine estimating at least 10,000 of Kim Jong-un's forces are currently deployed in Russia, and that development comes as President Biden is trying to convince President-elect Donald Trump to not draw down U.S. support for Ukraine as it enters this key stage of the fight against Russia.

Sunlen Serfaty is joining us now from the White House.

Sunlen, what more can you tell us about how the administration is preparing for Trump to take over on key foreign policy like this?

[18:30:03]

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, the two men could not have more divergent views on aid to Ukraine so that's certainly going to be a big point that Biden will hit in this Oval Office meeting that he'll have with President Trump, incoming President Trump on Wednesday.

Trump in the past has been very critical of U.S. aid to Ukraine. He has promised and flirted with the potential to end aid to Ukraine on day one he says, and end the war, although not specifying how that would happen, not specifying the specifics of that. So this is an important attempt here that the White House is signaling that Biden will attempt to do in that Oval Office meeting, really essentially trying to lobby the incoming president to change path going forward.

Now Biden will argue that in this meeting, according to the National Security adviser that the U.S. cannot walk away from Ukraine. They cannot walk away from them in terms of monetary resources and that that flow of aid according to Sullivan should be maintained. And this comes as the U.S. is revealing that they plan to spend the additional resources and money that's already been allocated from Congress by the time Biden leaves office, and say that he will call on Congress to invest more.

Here's Jake Sullivan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: President Biden made clear when President Zelenskyy was here in Washington a couple of months ago that we would spend all of the resources that were provided to us by the Congress on time and in full. And of course President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So that critical messages one that Biden will deliver in the Oval Office meeting with incoming President-elect Trump.

Certainly a big moment, Jessica, in addition to not only calling for a peaceful transfer of power but according to the White House aides, the president will also talk about unifying the country going forward -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Sunlen Serfaty at the White House, thank you so much.

The uncertainty over what U.S. policy on Ukraine will look like under a new Trump presidency comes at a critical time for Kyiv. Ukraine's army chief warning his forces are facing what he calls one of the most powerful Russian offenses since the start of the war.

And we're joined now by CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Good to see you. Thanks so much for being here.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to be with you, Jessica.

DEAN: Let's just start first, help people understand just how much impact the president and the White House can have on the war in Ukraine right now?

LEIGHTON: Well, the United States, Jessica, is really the preeminent donor to Ukraine in terms of military aid. The European Union has basically provided a lot of economic aid and the other half of the equation is that the United States has provided a lot of the military aid. Now the Europeans are also providing military aid but they do take their cue from what the United States is doing.

And if U.S. aid were to dry up for Ukraine, there is really no way that Europe could get up to the same level that the United States had in terms of aid donations to the Ukrainians in terms of weapons, in terms of munitions, all of those things. And that becomes a critical element here because of that aid dries up, then it becomes really hard for the Ukrainians to maintain the fight against the Russians. DEAN: Yes. And as we mentioned this is coming at such a critical time

and we know overnight Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged this heavy drone fire. It was the highest level since this war began some two and a half years ago. And Moscow had to temporarily stop operations at several airports in the city. What does this tell you about this particular moment in this war?

LEIGHTON: So basically what we're looking at is what amounts to a type of stalemate on the frontlines. You know, what we find, Jessica, is that very little is moving. There are some movement in the east where the Russians have gained certain territories, certain towns, but the movements are incremental. In the north you have the Kursk area where the Ukrainians moved in in August and they have kept about half of the territory that they originally took.

So the Ukrainians are basically trying to move things in somewhat a symmetric fashion by using drone warfare against the Russians. Moscow, as you mentioned, or the other part of it, though, is that the Russians are responding to that and in some cases initiating the drone warfare and it's going into key areas like the Port of Odessa, Kharkiv, the second city, and of course Kyiv, the capital.

So there are many elements here but the basic premise is that the war is in essence in a holding pattern right now with neither side is prevailing over the other.

DEAN: And we know that the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to that end has been pushing Western allies to allow him to fire deeper into Moscow and Russian territory.

[18:35:08]

So far he hasn't gotten the support on that. Do you think that they may get there?

LEIGHTON: I think it's possible and it may be something that the Biden administration does in the last 70 plus days that it has in office. From a military standpoint it is necessary for the Ukrainians to be able to target certain things in Russia especially bases and installations that are being used by the Russians to attack Ukrainian bases, Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, and all of those areas that are really making it hard for the Ukrainians to hold on at this particular point in time.

I mentioned earlier that it's a bit of a stalemate. The problem is, is that the resource advantage is definitely on the Russian side. That is something that we want Ukraine to prevail. We're going to have to counter that.

DEAN: Well, and to that end, we now know that they have these 10,000 North Korean troops that are ready to fight alongside the Russian forces as Moscow prepares this assault to take back the Kursk region. It is truly remarkable, although probably not surprising, considering the relationship between Russia and North Korea.

LEIGHTON: Yes. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the new alliance that North Korea -- have forged with each other. And of course China and Iran are also part of the pro-Russian element here. But you've got these 10,000 troops, 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia. They may very well end up in the fight in the next few days in this Kursk region. And that could spell some trouble for the Ukrainians because these are fresh troops.

You know, think back in our history when American forces joined the Western front in World War I. We made a big difference against the Germans in that particular war. It won't be quite the same magnitude for the North Koreans but that's the kind of danger when you put fresh troops in a fight like this. They could prevail at least locally and that could have a cascading effect on morale and on the ability of the Ukrainians to hold their line.

DEAN: Yes. All right. More to come on that.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet.

DEAN: Nice watches, a $6 million apartment, an old-school convertible, what happens to one-time Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani if he misses the deadline to hand over assets he's been ordered to give a pair of women he defamed?

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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DEAN: A multimillion dollar apartment, an old-school Mercedes convertible, dozens of watches, just a few of the items former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to hand over and he has until the end of the week to do it or he'll face contempt charges.

A federal judge gave the order last week. He owes a pair of Georgia election workers close to $150 million for defaming them for doing their jobs after the 2020 election. And since he says he doesn't have that kind of cash, the courts have ordered him to hand over his possessions instead. Giuliani now claiming he doesn't even have money to buy food, asking for help.

With us now is someone who's worked very closely with America's mayor, Ken Frydman. He was the press secretary for his 1993 mayoral campaign. He was also a consulting producer on the CNN Original Series "Giuliani: What Happened to America's Mayor."

Ken, good to see you.

KEN FRYDMAN, PRESS SECRETARY, 1993 GIULIANI MAYORAL CAMPAIGN: Thank you, Jessica. You, too. Thanks for having me.

DEAN: I'm struck by -- yes, good to see you. I'm struck with the line I can't buy food. He's asking for help. What does this signal to you about where Rudy Giuliani is right now? FRYDMAN: Well, I don't think he's down to his last meal, but he's

raised $150,000 since yesterday, since he posted on Twitter, his GoFundMe page, to help him eat. I suppose that's some tailwind from Trump's winning, that $150,000. And Giuliani probably feels emboldened that Trump was reelected but he can't help him in Georgia. He can't him in Arizona because those are state charges. So he is on his own, both in the civil actions and in those criminal cases that I mentioned, that he's been indicted for.

DEAN: Yes.

FRYDMAN: And this is just the tip of the iceberg. He owes the creditors committee, which includes Smartmatic and Noel Dunphy, and several other creditors, you know, untold millions. They've made claims as well. So if he gets sanctioned next week, is he going to pay it? I doubt it. Will he be sentenced to prison? I doubt it. But Judge Liman I suspect judge is not playing games anymore. He gave him another week's extension, and he won't let him make him look like a fool much longer.

DEAN: Well, and I'm curious, too. And I don't know if you know the answer to this or not, but for the GoFundMe page, if you have now been told to give almost everything you have because you claimed you don't have any money to pay these fines, these damages, does he get to keep that $150,000? How does that even work?

FRYDMAN: I don't know. I don't know the legal rules on that. But I'll bet they'll attach that as well. They are attaching the $2 million that Trump owes Rudy for legal work.

[18:45:06]

So, you know, I think he's going to run out of fingers this little Dutch boy.

DEAN: And it is remarkable, I mean, always when we cover this story to think about, and I think you had a front row seat to this. Just the incredible downfall of a man who was once heralded as America's mayor is now in this position that we are outlining right now.

FRYDMAN: I talk to people all the time who thinks he's hit rock-bottom and then he somehow digs himself a little deeper hole. And, you know, if you're shameless and shameful I suppose there's no bottom.

DEAN: And do you think he still -- I mean, in terms of, well, you just laid it out perfectly, which is there really is no Trump lifeline here because of where these cases are.

FRYDMAN: Right.

DEAN: You know, do you think in his mind he's still, though, really connects himself with the former president now turned former -- now president-elect?

FRYDMAN: Yes. He does. Listen, remember, he spoke at the rally at Madison Square Garden, and that was only a couple of weeks ago. So he's still on the friends of Trump list, I mean, it remains to be seen what kind of favors he'll be granted.

DEAN: Yes. And we also know that, look, I kind of went through it at the beginning with what they're trying to get him to turn over the apartment, the cars, the watches. There's also four Yankees World Series rings, which you have to think that sort of stuff is -- that hurts.

FRYDMAN: Yes. That's valuable and it hurts, certainly it hurts personally, very much like being disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C. I am pretty sure that the ruse to convince the court that he gifted those rings to his son will be exposed soon enough, too. You know, it's just a matter of, you know, kicking the can down the road. He's playing keep away from the court and he's not going to -- he's going to run out of rope soon.

DEAN: Yes. Eventually you end up in a dead-end.

All right. Ken Frydman, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

FRYDMAN: You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Coming up, Donald Trump may have lost New York to Vice President Harris but not without making strides in the solid blue state. What voters there say they like about the president-elect and why Republicans say it is just the beginning.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:51:55]

DEAN: The Democrats' grip on New York City appears to be losing after President-elect Trump outperformed here. Vice president Harris easily winning New York City but Trump made key gains among minority groups across the city, giving him the highest vote share for a Republican in nearly 30 years.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has been talking to New Yorkers about why Trump's message of border security and economic change resonated with them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York City just got a little more Republican.

STEVEN CHAN (R), NEW YORK STATE SENATE-ELECT: From corner to corner in New York City, we saw the Republicans gain traction.

PAZMINO: Here in Brooklyn, Republican Steven Chan defeated State Senator Iwen Chu, the Democratic incumbent, in a race defined by public safety, opposition to a homeless shelter in the district, and concern about newly arrived migrants.

CHAN: People are not happy with the way things are going and they want change. PAZMINO: While Harris easily carried the city with about 68 percent of

the vote compared to Trump's 30 percent, Trump made significant gains this election cycle. Roughly 94,000 more people voted for Trump than in 2020.

FRAN VELLA-MARRONE, CHAIRWOMAN, KINGS COUNTY CONSERVATIVE PARTY: If you look at a map of Southern Brooklyn now after this election, it's going to be, actually, almost all red.

PAZMINO: Trump made gains across all of New York City. The most significant shifts were in neighborhoods with large Asian and Latino communities. He narrowed the gap in the Bronx, parts of Queens, and here in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, where Asians, generations of Italians and Latinos live and work side by side.

CHAN: When we came, nobody supported us. Nobody gave us a handout. We went to work.

PAZMINO: More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. The crisis has manifested across different cities but has been particularly heartfelt here.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done.

PAZMINO: Why are so many immigrants willing to support that kind of language?

CHAN: They understand exactly what President Trump is talking about. He understands that President Trump is not talking about them.

PAZMINO (voice-over): This family from Ecuador agrees.

SILVANA SARI, TRUMP SUPPORTER: We need a change. The economy is really a mess right now. It's affecting all families.

PAZMINO: Sari and her husband say they've spent years working to open a barbershop and put their kids through school.

SARI: He has to work 14 hours a day to have what he has right now. To have a business open. And it's not fair another business open in the corner with no permit, with no insurance. I don't think it's fair at all.

PAZMINO: Republican operatives see Trump's inroads in New York as the beginning of what's to come. A chance to grow their party and elect more Republicans right here in blue New York.

VELLA-MARONE: Hochul better watch out. We're going to come after her. And I -- she's going to be in trouble. And I believe that we can win the governor's race in two years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO (on-camera): Now, Jessica, Governor Kathy Hochul won her reelection campaign by just six percentage points and she's up for reelection in less than two years. We asked her about these results just a few days ago and she told us that she is well aware of the changes and that Democrats across the entire state should not be taking their voters for granted -- Jessica.

[18:55:09]

DEAN: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much for that reporting.

And still to come in the CNN NEWSROOM tonight, what we know about Donald Trump's new administration as the incoming White House takes shape. Plus how the president-elect is throwing his weight around in Congress as Senate Republicans prepare to elect a new leader.

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