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Elon Musk Deepens Influence on Presidential Transition; Trump's Team Looking to Quickly Fill Key Posts; U.S. Official: Moscow Preparing to Retake Kursk; Israel Counts on Trump's Support; Many in Europe Uneasy About Return of America First Policies. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 11, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): The working class of this country is angry, and they have a reason to be angry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We may actually see what massive tariffs do, mass deportations. Well, we might actually see what mass deportations are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Benjamin Netanyahu says he and President-elect Trump have spoken three times in recent days. Many Israelis expect the Trump administration will offer full-throated support to the Jewish state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The richest, most powerful, historically biggest emitter elects a climate denier, Donald Trump. We'll see if a treaty is stronger than one powerful country.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, warm welcome to our viewers, joining us from the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Monday, November 11th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Palm Beach, Florida, where President-elect Donald Trump is taking the first steps towards building his new administration from his Mar-a-Lago estate.

FOSTER: We've just learned he's tapped former acting ICE director Tom Homan to join him again. Mr. Trump announced on Truth Social that Homan will be in charge of the nation's borders, overseeing, quote, all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.

MACFARLANE: And sources say Mr. Trump has asked New York Congresswoman and campaign surrogate Elise Stefanik to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. The President-elect has been holding daily meetings with advisers in his transition team at his Mar-a-Lago estate, getting input on a wide range of policy and personnel choices as he prepares for his second term in office.

FOSTER: At least one critic says he'll be watching to see what Mr. Trump does with another four years.

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ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Now they're going to have an opportunity to put their vision in place. I mean, we've been talking about what is, you know, Trump's vision for years now, and they're going to have to own whatever that is. You know, this idea of massive tariffs, well, we may actually see what massive, you know, tariffs do, mass deportations.

Well, we might actually see what mass deportations are, or, you know, they're going to show that this is a completely unrealistic thing anyway. So obviously I wish the election would have gone a different way, but Americans spoke, and again, now it's an opportunity for, you know, Trump to show what he's made of.

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MACFARLANE: Well, Trump is expected to announce several more key positions in the coming days, but one person who doesn't seem to have any desire for a formal role in the new administration is nonetheless playing a key part in the transition process. Alayna Treene has more on the political evolution of Elon Musk.

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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home has been teeming with allies, members, and potential new officials over the last 48 hours, as many people are angling for a top spot in his second administration, or trying to influence him and who he will select for those roles.

But the one person who has really been looming over all of it has been Elon Musk. Now, of course, Elon Musk was on stage with Donald Trump, his top campaign advisors, and his family on Tuesday night when he declared victory during the election, but he's also been at Mar-a-Lago and around Donald Trump in the days since.

I'm told many days this week he dined with Donald Trump. Just the day after the election, he brought his children to Trump's Florida home where Donald Trump gave them a tour of his resort, but he's also been sitting in many times when he's been with Donald Trump on some of the calls from foreign leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Now, I'm also told that Elon Musk has been weighing in on some of Donald Trump's potential picks, making it clear to the president-elect who he believes should have that role.

And he's also been calling up allies of Donald Trump himself, including lawmakers, and starting to exert his influence in that way as well.

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Now, one thing that we saw happen on Sunday is that he came out and waded into the Senate Republican leadership fight. He quickly endorsed Florida Senator Rick Scott after Scott had supported an idea from Donald Trump to allow for recess appointments, essentially trying to make sure that he can swiftly confirm some of his nominees and in many times bypass the Senate confirmation process. Three of the men are vying for that spot, but Elon Musk said that he supports Rick Scott.

And all to say, Musk has been very influential. He is very close with Donald Trump, specifically so in these final weeks before Election Day, where he has been out there campaigning for the former president. And now he is spending a lot of time with Donald Trump and making it clear that he's going to be a top person who Donald Trump relies on as we look ahead.

Now, sources familiar with the conversation say that Musk is not expected to take on some formal role in Donald Trump's second administration. Donald Trump has mused before that he would love for him to be a cabinet secretary. However, Musk and others believe that he could have just as much power on the outside.

Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

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FOSTER: Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office on Wednesday for a transition meeting with President Biden, who has returned to the White House after spending the weekend at his home in Delaware.

MACFARLANE: The get-together has long been a post-election tradition in the U.S., but one that was cast aside when Trump lost the 2020 election to Mr. Biden. Sunlen Serfaty reports.

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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a big moment for the incoming and outgoing president when the two men are set to meet here at the White House on Wednesday. And this is a tradition that notably was not afforded to President Biden when he beat Donald Trump in 2020, as Trump then really was challenging the election results.

So the White House going into this meeting, being very clear and explicit that Biden is going to emphasize the smooth transition of power, emphasize that the transition should be peaceful, and also talk about the importance of working to bring the country together after the election season.

Here's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. 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.

SERFATY: And that's certainly notable there that President Biden plans to really push incoming President Trump on some of his top domestic and foreign policy issues, many issues where the two men certainly have divergent viewpoints, most notably on Ukraine aid. The White House telling us that this is something that Biden will make the case about the future of Ukraine, especially making sure that Ukraine continues to receive aid from the US. Certainly, President Biden's legacy at stake here as he deals with what he focuses on both domestically and on the world stage in the last 70 or so days he has in office.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN at the White House.

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MACFARLANE: Well, Natasha Lindstaedt is a professor of government at the University of Essex. She joins us from Colchester, England. Natasha, good to see you.

Max and I were just saying it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall between that meeting between Biden and Trump happening in the last day or as we expect to happen. Natasha, we've been talking about how some of Trump's key appointments have been taking shape for the White House. So let's discuss some of them.

We know that a broad crackdown on immigration was a central pillar of the Trump campaign. So what does the appointment of someone like Tom Homan tell us about how the Trump team are going to be taking that issue forward during this term?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, the immigration issue is one of the most important issues to Trump and to those who voted for him. So Donald Trump wanted to choose someone that was going to be really, really tough on immigration and start implementing this policy of deporting up to 11 million people as soon as possible. I mean, this is the one campaign promise he wants to really start day one.

This is how he's been influenced by Stephen Miller, one of his close advisors that will likely play a role in the cabinet either informally or formally. So this is an incredibly important one for Trump. I mean, when he's picking his cabinet beyond the fact that he wants people who are suspicious of the deep state, who are in favor of this America First agenda, he wants people who are very loyal to him.

And part of this is due to the fact that there are very few members of his cabinet that were willing to endorse him this go around when he ran for president.

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And he wants new people. He wants people who are pliable, who are loyal to him and undyingly loyal.

And so I think that's what's going to be some of the key characteristics of the individuals that he chooses moving forward.

FOSTER: In terms of his power, it's not unprecedented, but he will be a president with a huge amount of power because of what we're seeing possibly in Congress, but certainly in the Senate with, you know, his leadership there effectively.

And tell us a bit about Rick Scott, who we understand is his pick as leader of the Senate?

LINDSTAEDT: So Rick Scott has just been, like I said, very loyal to Trump. He's been unwavering in that and very outspoken. And that's one of the most important things for him.

I mean, he's been able to really control the Republican Party. He ended up being able to have Mitch McConnell be very dependable because there was a key moment after the January 6th uprising insurrection where Mitch McConnell could have betrayed him, so to speak, and, you know, had the Republicans vote against him. But he maintained his support for Donald Trump here as well, there as well.

So I think you're going to see the same type of thing with Rick Scott. These are people that are in lockstep with Trump, that there is a deep state, that Trump was a victim and that the Republicans need to be very, very united and that he'll be able to utilize the type of party discipline that Mitch McConnell was able to use.

MACFARLANE: Natasha, it's interesting to see on Sunday Trump tweeting on X demanding that he be allowed to bypass the Senate confirmation process to make these key appointments. I guess that comes out of a frustration of what he was up against during his last term, the protracted process of getting those appointments in. What do you make of that and whether, you know, he'll be able to actually do it in that way?

LINDSTAEDT: It's hard to say. Donald Trump has really shattered democratic norms. He finds democratic institutions and processes to be a big nuisance. He tries to get around them in various ways. You know, he didn't really want a transition team because he doesn't want them to have to go through the ethics process. So he'll be trying to signal to Republicans at the very least to just get these appointees passed as quickly as possible.

He wants to move fast on everything, on his plan. We already talked about the deportation plan, but he wants to move forward on other issues that are important to him. Trying to issue tariffs and trying to weaponize the justice system against his political opponents.

So these are big things that he wants to move ahead on, and that's why he is trying to bypass some of the normal processes that have to take place.

FOSTER: Natasha, thank you so much.

Well, Japan's prime minister, meanwhile, surviving a critical parliamentary vote to stay on as leader. Shigeru Ishiba won 221 votes on the 465-seat lower house, far ahead of his nearest challenger. But after Japan's first runoff in 30 years, he now leads a minority government.

MACFARLANE: Ishiba came into office just last month and called a snap election. The move backfired as this scandal-ridden coalition lost its majority for the first time in more than a decade.

FOSTER: At least 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, with some now deployed in the Kursk region and ready to engage against Ukraine. This story after the break.

MACFARLANE: Plus, the first day of the UN's COP29 conference, where global cooperation on confronting the climate crisis is being put to the test.

FOSTER: And a powerful earthquake rocks Cuba's eastern coast, just as the island is recovering from recent hurricanes.

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FOSTER: A massive number of Russian troops are preparing to launch an assault on Ukrainian forces in the coming days.

MACFARLANE: It's an attempt to push Ukraine out of Russia's Kursk region, where they have held ground since the summer. That plan, according to a U.S. official, includes North Korean troops.

FOSTER: Salma has been watching this. I mean, we've got to, you know, get this in proportion. The number of North Korean soldiers is tiny compared with the broader scale of the Russian military, but nevertheless, they are there.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a huge asset for President Putin. According to President Zelenskyy, there are already 11,000 North Korean troops amassing on those front lines near Kursk. He says that Ukrainian forces have already clashed with these North Korean troops, that there's already been casualties.

And for Ukraine, who has struggled, a country that has really struggled to find the manpower to continue to send people to the front lines, at that same time, President Putin is able to tap into a whole other resource of manpower, and that is, of course, North Korean troops.

And what President Zelenskyy fears is that these North Korean troops are going to be used to bolster this push to retake Kursk. You'll remember Kursk inside Russia was where Ukraine launched the surprise offensive a few months ago, taking Russian territory.

Now President Putin poised to take it back. And for President Zelenskyy, the goal behind that -- not that he didn't think that Russia would try to retake their territory. Of course, he expected that. But there was a goal behind Kursk, and that was to soften those front lines, to distract and distribute Russian troops in such a way that may allow Ukrainian forces to push towards the front in the east. None of that has materialized. You also have the biggest drone strikes that are occurring, just this

massive onslaught of Russian firepower on Ukraine -- 145 drones fired in a single night, Saturday night at Ukraine. After a week that was already so difficult for Ukrainians, Russia fired more than 800 aerial bombs, 600 drone strikes, 20 missiles. That's according to President Zelenskyy.

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So you have a country that's very much struggling on those front lines to hold or maintain whatever gains it has, looks like it's on the back foot, could potentially lose Kursk as a gain, a population very far from the front lines suffering under this Russian firepower, and President Zelenskyy preparing for the possibility of a Trump presidency, where he could be pushed, forced to a negotiating table at his weakest point yet in this conflict.

MACFARLANE: And on that point, we know that Donald Trump, in a message yesterday, had spoken to President Putin on Thursday of last week. Among the comments made between the two, Trump apparently reminded him of Washington's sizable military presence in Europe and expressed interest in following up on conversations on the resolution of Ukraine's war soon. How do you read those comments in light of Trump's previous stated goal of finding an end to this war within a day once he was in power?

ABDELAZIZ: It's difficult to ascertain what Trump's foreign policy goals are at this time. He's obviously preparing by making these phone calls. He also apparently said in this phone call, don't escalate to President Putin.

So he may be trying to sort of freeze things as they are, if he can, in order, again, to bring these warring parties to the negotiating table. But bottom line, I think both Zelenskyy and Putin expect that Trump will withdraw some level of support from Ukraine, and they are simply making their calculations based on that and what that looks like on the battlefield.

MACFARLANE: Salma, thank you.

Now, it has been another deadly weekend in Lebanon and Gaza. Lebanese media reports Israeli strikes have claimed at least 80 lives. You're looking at video from the town of Almat in central Lebanon, north of Beirut.

FOSTER: Almat is a Shiite Muslim-majority village and lies outside Hezbollah's usual strongholds to the south and east. On Saturday alone, more than a dozen separate locations were hit in Lebanon.

Then, Sunday, the IDF hit two homes in Gaza, killing at least 41 people. This is the aftermath of a strike in central Gaza.

MACFARLANE: Well, the other home was in Jabalia. One of the NGOs says parents, children and grandchildren were among those killed. The IDF says it was targeting terrorists. FOSTER: Still to come, world leaders react to a second term for Donald Trump in the White House. We'll bring you the latest from our correspondents around the world.

MACFARLANE: Plus, the COP 29 climate summit is officially underway, just as a notorious climate denier returns to the most powerful office in the world. That ahead.

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MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today. President-elect Donald Trump has asked Tom Homan to be his border czar.

Homan served as Trump's acting director of immigration and customs enforcement during his last administration. He has endorsed Trump's plans for mass deportations.

CNN has also learned that Trump has asked New York Congresswoman and campaign surrogate Elise Stefanik to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the UN.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Cuba Sunday. Cuba's president says the tremor caused landslides and damage to homes and power lines. The quake was apparently not felt in the capital Havana, but shockwaves did reach South Florida.

25 of the 43 monkeys that escaped from South Carolina research facility have been returned unharmed. Police say a sizable group of the remaining monkeys has been seen jumping back and forth all over the facility's fence. Local residents are being asked to keep their doors and windows closed to prevent the monkeys from entering their homes.

FOSTER: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The subject, a return to peace in Europe. They exchanged views on the current challenges around the world.

MACFARLANE: Well many world leaders are watching Trump with some trepidation about what changes are in store when he takes office. Despite Trump's tough rhetoric towards Ukraine, we don't know if he'll cut the purse strings for Kyiv. And in Russia, many are celebrating Trump's win, hoping turmoil at home will distract him from foreign policy.

FOSTER: We have correspondents across the globe keeping tabs on this developing story. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, Nic Robertson here in London. But first, let's head to Beijing, where Marc Stewart is standing by for us.

Marc, a number of issues involving China. But the big one, obviously, right now is tariffs. How trade between China and the U.S. will be affected. MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And it all goes to this bigger issue. Will this incoming administration be friendly or frosty, even in the most contentious of discussions, such as trade?

I mean, very early on, we have seen Beijing play it safe because of this unknown factor. We were looking at the readout from the congratulatory message that President Xi gave to President-elect Trump. And I mean, among the phrases we are hearing is win-win cooperation and mutual respect, because this has been a very complicated relationship.

I was thinking back to early on in the first Trump administration when President Trump then hosted President Xi at Mar-a-Lago. These two men bonded over chocolate cake. There was this picture-perfect photo op that was seen around the world.

But then things did turn a bit sour. First of all, there was China's response over COVID. But then this very difficult and thorny issue of trade. And that's where we are now with these potential tariffs coming from the Trump administration.

Beijing, again, is using a lot of caution very early on. A spokesperson was asked about this just days after the election and refused to get into hypotheticals, but did leave this message to the effect that trade wars are bad, there are no winners, this would not be a good thing for the world.

And both of these economies depend on trade so heavily. China's manufacturing system is a standout. It is known as the world's factory.

First of all, it has the size, it has the effective labor costs, and it's also very nimble. It can adapt very quickly. That's why American companies want to come here. But there's also this big call for equity in the global marketplace. So expect Beijing to tread very lightly.

Again, this could be some kind of negotiating ploy, some kind of tool. There is this unknown, there is this ambiguous aspect that is facing China and the world on so many different issues -- Max and Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, Marc Stewart there live for us. Let's turn to Paul Hancocks who's joining us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, we have heard in the last day or so.