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Police Report Reveals New Details About Sex Assault Claim Against Trump Defense Secretary Pick Hegseth; Linda McMahon, Trump's Pick for Education Secretary, Sued for Allegedly Enabling Sexual Abuse of Children; Ukraine Says, Russia Launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in Attack, Western Official Disputes the Claim. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired November 21, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: New questions this morning about Donald Trump's cabinet picks, not just his preferred defense secretary, now there's new reporting on a lawsuit against the president-elect's choice for education secretary. The suit claims Linda McMahon knowingly enabled sexual abuse of children. She denies that.

Plus, did Russia launch an intercontinental ballistic missile targeting Ukraine? We'll bring you the latest on what could be a major escalation.

And cracking the search engine monopoly, the Justice Department wants Google to sell its Chrome browser. What that could mean for you.

Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin with a critical moment for Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary as Pete Hegseth is meeting with key lawmakers up on Capitol Hill. A newly released police report is revealing more details about a sexual assault allegation against Hegseth.

CNN's Manu Raju is chasing down all the details up on Capitol Hill. Manu, Hegseth has said this incident from 2017 was consensual. His attorney says there was a settlement agreement with the accuser. What do you expect from these meetings? How important are they today?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're essential because there's a lot of members on the Senate Armed Services Committee in particular who simply don't know much about Pete Hegseth. They have questions about these reports of the sexual assault allegation and want to understand what his perspective is in all of this. And not just what happened in that, but also how he would run the Defense Department, a sprawling agency, one of the most important departments in the entire federal government. Can Hegseth actually do that job?

That is one of the key areas of questioning that he undoubtedly will face in these Republican meetings that are happening now with the vice president-elect, J.D. Vance. We know that at least two Republicans have met with him so far. That includes Senator John Barrasso, Senator Bill Hagerty, Barrasso put out a statement immediately afterwards praising Hegseth.

But Hegseth himself is confronting these questions and the Trump transition team put out a statement in the aftermath of this police report being released about this 2017 sexual assault allegation. According to Karoline Leavitt, who's a Trump transition spokeswoman, she says this report corroborates what Mr. Hegseth's attorney have said all along. The incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false. Pete Hegseth is a highly respected combat veteran who will honorably serve our country with his life when he's confirmed as the next secretary of defense, just like he honorably served our country on the battlefield and in uniform.

But, of course, to be confirmed as secretary of defense, you have to keep Republicans in line. That means assuming the Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, you can't afford to lose more than three Republican votes, assuming you can't get any Democrats to support him. And that's still an open question just because of the questions about how he would actually run this department, things that he has said in the past that have concerned some of the members, including and as well as this allegation as well.

So, Jim, these meetings are essential to help them start to begin the process of getting Republicans in particular to fall in line. The question is how many of them of them ultimately will.

ACOSTA: All right. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, another long day for Manu, we appreciate the reporting as always. Thanks so much.

Now to the controversy involving Trump's pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, in a lawsuit. The former pro wrestling executive is accused of enabling the sexual abuse of children by one of her company's employees.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz joined us now. McMahon has denied these allegations, we should note, that go back to the 80s, but what more can you tell us?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, this is a new lawsuit, but it's about things that happened decades ago. Linda McMahon left the WWE company she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon, and she was the CEO of for many years. She left in 2009.

But there's a new lawsuit in Maryland, in Baltimore, where anonymous boys, men now who previously, when they were children, were working as ring boys for the WWE, and were traveling with a man who was an announcer there, now deceased, a man named Mel Phillips. They're accusing the WWE, the parent company, Vince McMahon and Linda McMahon, of knowing that Mel Phillips, this announcer, was a pedophile and allowing him to stay and keep the boys around him, turning a blind eye to accusations, allegations they have of sexual abuse and exploitation of that company.

Now, this is something that has been discussed publicly as far back as the early 90s. This isn't a new set of allegations we've never heard of before, even involving Linda McMahon and what she was doing atop that company. They had fired Phillips and then rehired him.

But this is putting a spotlight again on her at a time when she's being nominated for the secretary of the Department of Education, something where, you know, you're carrying the well being of children of the country in your stead. So, that is where this lawsuit is right now.

ACOSTA: And how is her attorney responding to all this?

POLANTZ: Her attorney did provide a statement. This is Laura Brevetti. This is the attorney for Linda McMahon saying that the allegations in the lawsuit are false. It's based upon 30-plus-year-old allegations filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon. Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit, and without doubt, ultimately succeed.

There's also an attorney for Vince McMahon her husband, who she's now separated from, we've been told that attorney also says these are false, but there is ongoing other lawsuits about Vince McMahon and some allegations of sexual exploitation and as well as some other investigations around him separate from what Linda faces.

ACOSTA: All right. Katelyn, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

For more on Donald Trump's rocky transition, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida joins us. Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

We just heard -- yes, and we just heard about these allegations against Trump's education pick, Linda McMahon, and the newly released police report on Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice for defense secretary. McMahon and Hegseth both deny wrongdoing. But Trump is not even in office yet, and there's already all of this controversy. How do you expect this confirmation process to go, and what realistically can Democrats do to block some of these nominees?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Jim, this is one more revelation in Trump's assembly of his chaos cabinet. I mean, that's really what he has been in the process of aggressively assembling. I mean, to nominate a woman who is at the center of a lawsuit where she was accused of looking the other way, again, about child sexual abuse allegations, I mean, for years, I mean, I understand that she's denying it, but this is an accusation and there was credibility lent to it over many years.

And so of all of the people that could run the Department of Education, which is responsible for caring for our nation's -- the education of our nation's children and their well-being, someone with those kinds of allegations in her background is who he chose, not to mention that she also once lied about having an education degree and has absolutely no experience in running an agency like this.

But that's par for the course for his nominees, whether it's Tulsi Gabbard, who, you know, has spouted and parroted the talking points of America's enemies and who really, if she ends up as the DNI, she will likely not be able to actually get -- to be able to share our closest secrets and have the kind of intelligence information coming back to her from our Five Eyes allies because no one will trust her. Pete Hegseth, I mean, someone who's been accused of rape and has absolutely no experience running any administrative organization, the list just goes on.

ACOSTA: And, I mean, Donald Trump is not backing down on his pick for attorney general either, Matt Gaetz. Gaetz was up on Capitol Hill, as you know, lobbying for this job of attorney general. He seemed pretty optimistic. Let's listen to this.

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FMR. REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It's been going great, the senators have been giving me a lot of good advice. I look forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive, they've been saying we're going to get a fair process.

REPORTER: The Ethics Committee said they're not going to release their report after their meeting today, at least at this point. Any response?

GAETZ: I'll be honest with you. I've been focused on what we've got to do to reform the Department of Justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted to not release the report on Gaetz over these allegations of sexual misconduct.

[10:10:01]

He's denied the allegations. But, Congresswoman, you served on the subcommittee on the so-called weaponization of the federal government, as it's called, with Gaetz. Your thoughts on all of this?

SCHULTZ: Well, that subcommittee was itself a weaponization of the federal government, but, I mean, Matt Gaetz has not heard -- I've not heard almost anyone who actually has a vote on his nomination come to his defense, tout his qualifications or suggest that he was the best pick that Donald Trump could put forward. The allegations against him are serious.

And, I mean, Matt Gaetz, I don't think, ever even practiced law, never mind be in charge of the Department of Justice. I mean, someone who was investigated by the Department of Justice and someone who has the kind of allegations against him really should not be the person that the president of the United States has chosen to lead our system of justice. I mean, again, it just continues the theme of a chaos cabinet, RFK Jr. who is an anti-vax conspiracy monger who recently suggested that we should freeze research on cancer. I mean, as a breast cancer survivor, that really chills my spine. And anyone in America who has either had cancer or has family members with cancer should be really fearful of that nomination.

Don't misunderstand me, Jim. I mean, Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz from my home state, you know, Donald Trump has the right to appoint cabinet members that actually are going to take care of America and are qualified. They are qualified, even though I don't agree with them on much. But it's possible for us to work together.

Wreaking havoc in the United States of America and jeopardizing our national security, as Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz both would do, is -- and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to say nothing of Dr. Oz, who is someone who's embraced pseudoscience and who would jeopardize my seniors on Medicare and Medicaid and really has to be fully vetted before there's a confirmation decision.

ACOSTA: But, Congresswoman, and forgive me for pushing back a little bit, I mean, elections do come with consequences, do they not? And if the American people voted for this, isn't this what they get at the end of the day?

SCHULTZ: Which is why I said someone like Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz, you know, although even though I don't agree with them on a lot, those are responsible picks, people who would have the kind of experience necessary.

But keep in mind, this was not a Republican wave. Donald Trump won by about 240,000 votes, you know, out of the blue wall states, the smallest likely that it'll end up, the smallest margin of victory for in the popular vote for a presidential candidate and about 1.5 percent. There's no mandate here. But what there certainly should not be is a blank check to appoint a chaos cabinet like he's done. It's like the Star Wars cantina of cabinets and it's going to really jeopardize America's safety.

ACOSTA: And just finally, I mean, I know you did say that Tulsi Gabbard is likely a Russian asset and you received backlash for that. What's your response to that?

SCHULTZ: You know, just look -- I'm not the only one that said that or questioned her alliance with the United States and our interests. I mean, she's a Russian sympathizer. She is someone who has --

ACOSTA: Do you think she could be trusted with the nation's secrets, if I may cut in, do you think?

SCHULTZ: I do not. I do not think that she's someone who can be trusted with the nation's secrets, and I don't think our Five Eyes allies and our allies around the world will trust her with theirs.

And that is what will really put America in a very difficult national security situation when we don't have the full trust of our allies that we work with, that she's going to put intelligence agents out across the globe, or maybe she won't. Maybe she -- because she sympathizes with some of our enemies, will decide not to make sure that we can have real windows of intelligence into what's going on there and make us -- and put us further in jeopardy. It's unacceptable.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks as always for coming on. We appreciate it.

SCHULTZ: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, coming up a major change coming to the Simpsons, a popular and familiar voices hanging up the mic. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. Stay with us.

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ACOSTA: This morning, the Ukrainian military claims Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile as part of an attack on the city of Dnipro. The move would mark a major escalation in the war.

You hear some explosions there. CNN cannot confirm what type of weapon we are seeing in these videos and has not been able to verify the Ukrainian military's claim. A western official, though, says that a ballistic missile was fired, but it was not an ICBM. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned the attack.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Today, our crazy neighbor has once again shown who he really is and how he despises dignity, freedom, and human life, in general, and how afraid he is. He is also so afraid that he is already using new missiles.

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ACOSTA: The strike follows Ukraine's recent use of longer range missiles. Both U.S.-supplied ATACMS and French British made Storm Shadows have struck deeper inside Russia.

[10:20:01]

Joining me now to talk about this, the secretary of defense under President Clinton, Bill Cohen, he's also CEO of the Cohen Group. Mr. Secretary, great to see you, as always. We appreciate you coming on.

Even if this was not an ICBM, what do you make of this show of force by the Russians?

WILLIAM COHEN, DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON: It's just another example of a war crime being committed. President Putin has been committing war crimes since the day he invaded Ukraine, a sovereign country that is only asking for its freedom. Since that time, he's created 8 or 9 million refugees. He's killed thousands. His soldiers have raped women. He has kidnapped children. And now he's focused on destroying cities, war crime after war crime.

And the world sits back and says very little about President Putin. And I think that's part of the problem that the Ukrainian president is having right now, in President Zelenskyy, that not enough of the world community is speaking out against what Russia's doing. And, apparently, they're going to remain silent, or at least ineffective in rebutting it.

ACOSTA: And, Mr. Secretary, what are your thoughts on what President Biden has been doing in recent days, authorizing the use of those ATACMS missiles? There have been some other changes made by the administration. I spoke with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger, about these policy shifts, including the decision to send anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine. I want to play some of what he had to say. He had some concerns about it. I want to play that.

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REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): On the landmine thing, I disagree with that decision as well. I think it would be setting a dangerous precedent. There's an anti-landmine treaty. These are weapons that the United States should be leading to prevent the use of around the world. And I just don't like the idea of that precedent being set here and creating permission for that.

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ACOSTA: Secretary, what do you think of that? And is President Biden escalating things to a point where there might be some consequences down the road just as he's leaving office?

COHEN: Well, it's almost too little too late under the circumstances. Neither of these weapons are going to change the outcome. And so I see this in the situation where President-elect Trump has said he's going to cut the funding for Ukraine. Other countries in Europe now are cutting back in terms of what they're going to do with Ukraine. So, it's put the Ukrainian president and its people in a very difficult spot.

As far as the mines are concerned, back during the Clinton administration, we supported eliminating all landmines that were dumb, except for those that separate North Korea and South Korea, but we also said that you could use these smart mines, which have a self detonation mechanism that can be set for two hours, two weeks, no longer than a month. So, they present less of a hazard to those who would follow after a war is over.

But if you're about to be overrun by an incoming military force, it seems to me that the Ukrainians would say, we need them because we're about to be killed in mass numbers. These are our last barrier of protection. And we don't like it, but that's the nature of warfare. I admire Jason Crowe a great deal, but I think the Ukrainians need to protect themselves as best as possible.

ACOSTA: And, Mr. Secretary, while I have you here, I have to get your reaction to the selection of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary. Obviously, there have been a lot of questions raised about whether or not he's the right pick to lead the Pentagon. Your thoughts?

COHEN: Well, several things. The fact that he has served the country in uniform and served it well, a decorated veteran, he gets high marks for that. The next issue would be certainly his character and his competence. I think competent as a soldier doesn't necessarily translate into competence as a manager, but that's something for the Senate to take into account.

I'd be also concerned about whether or not he has any association with a, quote, white supremacist group. If that's the case, putting him in charge of the Secretary of Defense Office would send a very bad signal down to an army, a military that is very diverse. You have brown and black and Asian people. And to say that you might have someone who's a white supremacist in charge of the Defense Department, that would be a pretty poor signal. I don't know that's the case, but that's one --

ACOSTA: There have been photographs of the tattoos and so on that have been on social media.

COHEN: Yes, I think that has to be examined. I'm not reaching any conclusion about it. But I think he's a very attractive candidate in terms of his past service. But the competence and character should be the two qualifying factors for any cabinet official and the Senate will have to determine that.

ACOSTA: Yes. And he has said those were Christian symbols. I just want to put that out there because that's what he is saying. But, I mean, the fact that Trump has gone out and pick somebody like Pete Hegseth, who has not had any managerial experience over the military, over the Defense Department, Tulsi Gabbard over at the Department of National -- or, excuse me, director of National Intelligence.

[10:25:04]

I mean, is there also a concern about the message that is being sent to U.S. allies in some of these picks?

COHEN: Well, whoever is picked for these positions, the key is to have a terrific support team. The person that's going to run the department is not going to be the secretary of defense. You need the COO as such. You need the deputy secretary of defense. You need a whole team that brings together the talent and the expertise of the entire department. If Pete is selected as secretary of defense, he'll need that kind of a team because he doesn't have that kind of, quote, manager experience.

I had the benefit of having a terrific team when I was there, and so it was much easier for me having served in the Senate for so many years.

ACOSTA: All right. Secretary Bill Cohen, as always, thanks so much, I really appreciate it. Good to see you, sir.

COHEN: Thank you. ACOSTA: All right, we'll be right back.

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