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Miami Hurricanes Basketball Coach Steps Down; L.A. Police Deputy Pleads Guilty to Assault on Trans Man; Pete Hegseth Faces Uphill Battle to Confirmation. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:47]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: We are just over three weeks from Inauguration Day, when president-elect Donald Trump officially returns to the White House.

But questions remain on Capitol Hill over the future of some of his key nominations. And that includes embattled defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth, who spent a week on Capitol Hill earlier this month looking to shore up support with key Republican senators. But even with the party set to control the upcoming Senate, his path to confirmation so far appears to remain an uphill battle.

His attorney, Tim Parlatore, joins us now.

Tim, thank you for being here. I appreciate you coming in, especially during a week like this with the holidays.

I want to start by asking you about the FBI background check, just to get an update on that.

TIMOTHY PARLATORE, ATTORNEY FOR PETE HEGSETH: Sure.

BROWN: You had said to my colleague Kaitlan Collins earlier this month that Hegseth's name has been submitted for that. So where does the background check stand?

PARLATORE: So, unfortunately, the FBI delayed in getting him the paperwork. They waited over a week to just get him access to the system. Once he's gotten access to the system, he filled that out as quickly as he could. Everything's been submitted, so we're just waiting for the FBI to go and do their job now.

BROWN: So, do you know, I mean, have they reached out for an interview or with some of the people involved here, the accuser in California, that kind of thing? Do you know?

PARLATORE: So, yes, one thing to remember, Pete Hegseth has maintained a security clearance really since 2003. And so this is the same process that he's been through many times.

And so, really, the FBI can go back and rely upon the top secret clearance that he's already had, which expired in 2022, I believe. And so they really just have to do the last few years since then. So they're presumably out there interviewing people.

They're verifying all this stuff. And so we look forward to their report.

BROWN: So, to get confirmed, as you well know, Hegseth is going to have to win over a number of Republicans who haven't yet committed to voting for him.

And Politico is reporting that some of those senators, at least a dozen, you have Democrats and Republicans here, they want to see the FBI background check when it's done. Should they be allowed to view it?

PARLATORE: You know, that's something that -- and I recognize he's a little bit different from most nominees, but I think that Pete is looking forward to that, because the FBI background check is going to really strip away a lot of the false allegations and just focus on what the evidence is.

And the evidence is, he didn't do any of these things that he's been accused of.

BROWN: But he's also openly admitted he's a changed man from several years ago. So, I mean, so how does that square? If you're saying he didn't do any of it, but he's a changed man?

PARLATORE: I'm saying he didn't commit the misconduct that they're alleging. So, the sexual assault, totally false. All of this stuff at CVA, where they said he was climbing on the stage at a strip club, that happened, but it was somebody else, wasn't him.

So the allegations of misconduct are going to be easily disproven. The fact that, earlier in his life, when he was a young, recent combat veteran who came home and dealt with the demons by drinking too much, that's not uncommon. A lot of us went through that. I went through that.

A lot of my friends went through that. And a lot of us, like Pete, have overcome that. And he's been able to overcome those demons. So that which drove him to drink is not driving him anymore. And it's something a lot of us have done. A lot of us, unfortunately, haven't.

BROWN: Did he have a drinking problem at that time?

PARLATORE: He had a problem with the demons of what he dealt with in combat. It's not alcoholism. Alcohol is something that a lot of veterans use as a numbing agent to deal with what we dealt with, but not -- but it's not alcoholism in the classic clinical sense of the term.

So does he have an alcohol problem? No, he does not. He does not. He did not. Yes, he went through a period of his time -- of time in his life where he drank too much. But that did not lead to any of the allegations that they have tried to make here.

BROWN: Well, when it comes to the Concerned Veterans for America memo, you talk about that.

PARLATORE: Yes.

BROWN: And you mentioned that, going up on stage, that was someone else. But there were other allegations, according to "The New Yorker."

And I want to note we have not seen this memo. I know you have.

PARLATORE: Yes.

BROWN: And it laid out his drinking and that he had to be carried away from events, according to the memo...

[11:35:02]

PARLATORE: Yes.

BROWN: ... and that he ignored at least one sexual assault allegation against someone else.

And then, of course, there was this separate reporting from one employee who said that -- the disturbing who claimed that he made disturbing remarks about Muslims. And I will let you respond to that, but I also want to follow up on that by asking if you're willing -- you had told Kaitlan, my colleague, that you were willing to turn over a report detailing allegations, those allegations of misconduct to senators.

Has that happened? Have they reached out to you to get that?

PARLATORE: Oh, yes.

BROWN: And you have turned it over?

PARLATORE: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BROWN: When did you turn it over?

PARLATORE: Weeks ago.

BROWN: Weeks ago.

PARLATORE: See, this is...

BROWN: What did -- what -- just to be clear for our audience, what did you turn over exactly?

PARLATORE: So, what this was is, this was a memo that was written by a employee who was fired because of her misconduct. Pete had to fire her. She then wrote up a memo, saying he did all these different things, none of which happened to her.

No person has come forward and said, I am a victim, I was mistreated. She instead wrote something up saying, oh, he did all these things to all these other people, and then she sent it to FOX News to try and get him fired, OK? FOX News did an investigation at the time and they found no basis for it.

She and this -- and one other employee that you mentioned who was also terminated for cause -- and they have -- well-documented through performance evaluations at the time. Those two people, I have been dealing with this for Pete since 2018, where they have a vendetta against him because they were upset at being fired.

And so every time he's up for some position, they trot out this memo, as if it's some kind of a whistle-blower complaint or something. It's nothing. It's completely false. It's something that the Senate Armed Services Committee, they have that report and then they have countless eyewitness statements from people willing to sign their name to the paper saying, I was there, none of this happened.

They don't have a single person who came out and said non-anonymously, here's my name and here's what I saw. Nobody's willing to do that.

BROWN: Have you turned over the NDA as well, that -- or the confidential agreement, whatever you want to call it, with the accuser?

PARLATORE: Yes. Yes.

BROWN: You turned that over to the committee as well?

PARLATORE: Yes, I have.

BROWN: So, you talk about the importance of coming out and being public, right, not being anonymous, hiding behind anonymity.

To that point, you had Senator Lindsey Graham in an interview with NBC say, look, I mean, he would want -- he wants them to come out publicly, the accuser in California, others who are making these claims, like the complaint from these veterans groups. He wants them to come public, perhaps testify in his public hearing.

Would you like to see that?

PARLATORE: I would love for anybody who wants to come in and publicly testify truthfully. As long as they tell the truth, then we're going to have no problem with them being confirmed.

But if somebody wants to come in and lie, then that's a problem. So do I expect that the Jane Doe from California is going to come in to testify? No, I don't, because she is in a very unfortunate situation where she told a lie. The police investigated it. They found it was a lie. She told that lie because she wanted to keep her marriage together.

BROWN: But they -- the police didn't say it was a lie. They just didn't -- they didn't press charges.

PARLATORE: Oh, yes.

BROWN: Have they said flat out she was lying? Because that's not -- I just want to be clear. (CROSSTALK)

PARLATORE: What the report says -- the report says this is what they found. There's a separate prosecution memo that the Monterey County district attorney, an elected Democrat, is refusing to release. And the Senate Armed Services Committee is trying to get that report because that is the document where they're going to actually have the analysis of her credibility.

But I have had -- my investigators have spoken with people at the Monterey County district attorney's office -- or sorry -- the Monterey Police Department. They told my investigator that upon reviewing the videos, they were actually considering whether to charge her with this.

And so...

BROWN: Why haven't they said that publicly then? I mean, for our audience, we're relying on what your investigator said, talked to police. So...

(CROSSTALK)

PARLATORE: It is -- what you have is what the state of California's agencies have decided to release under their version of the Freedom of Information Act. And they are somewhat limited in what they can and can't release under those privacy laws as applicable there.

But this is why I am totally unconcerned. I want the FBI to go and investigate. I want them to talk to all these people because, once the FBI report comes out, we can separate -- we can take all this stuff, throw it to the side, and instead focus on policy, because that's what really what this hearing should be about, is, it should be about what are Pete's ideas for the policies for the Department of Defense?

BROWN: So let's talk a little bit about policy. I know that's not your -- your his attorney, but I just want to ask one thing on policy.

PARLATORE: Correct. Sure.

BROWN: Because, as you know, Senator Joni Ernst, she had expressed some hesitation early on about Pete Hegseth. She is a female combat vet.

[11:40:00]

PARLATORE: Yes.

BROWN: Her daughter is in the military. Hegseth has previously said women shouldn't serve in combat roles. Earlier this month, he told FOX News that women are -- quote -- "some of our greatest warriors."

What's behind that? So, on one hand, he has said in his book -- and he even came out after his book in an interview and said...

PARLATORE: Yes. BROWN: ... I can't believe I'm not getting more -- like, straight-up more controversy. I'm saying women should not be in combat roles. Now he's saying there's some of our greatest warriors. Is he changing his tune?

PARLATORE: He's not.

And part of the problem here is trying to encapsulate his position into a single sound bite. It simplifies something that's a lot more complex.

Senator Ernst, her role in the military would not have changed under his policies. Her daughter is not going to be affected by his policies. The vast majority of women that are serving today are going to be totally unaffected by this.

What he's focusing on very specifically is ground combat units, infantry units, special operations units, where his concern is, and this has particularly been played out in the Army Rangers, that the standards have been lowered to try to pursue quotas of seeing how many women we can get into the Ranger battalion, as opposed to focusing on how many qualified Rangers we can get into Ranger battalion.

And if a woman happens to make it, good on her. In fact, the podcast he did with Shawn Ryan, if you listen to the entirety, as opposed to the little clip at the beginning that most people like to play, he talks about that. It's all about maintaining a standard.

And he says there, hey, if a woman can actually meet this standard without lowering it to pursue incentivizing women in combat, then good on them. You can put them into that unit. And he's very specific. Women are not going to be removed from fighter jets, from ships, from submarines, anything like that.

We are solely talking about ground combat units changing the standard to try to prioritize bringing women in. That's it.

BROWN: Tim Parlatore, thank you for your time.

PARLATORE: Thank you.

BROWN: We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:08]

BROWN: A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy is agreeing to plead guilty to a federal civil rights violation after using excessive force on a 23-year-old transgender man.

Bodycam video helped initiate the federal investigation, which has now resulted in several deputies being relieved of their duties for allegedly participating in a cover-up.

CNN's Josh Campbell joins us now. I mean, video is so disturbing, Josh. What sparked this?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well it appears to be a hot-tempered cop who got flipped off.

And, obviously, it's disrespectful to flip off a law enforcement officer, but it's not illegal, and police across the country are continually trained to not let that kind of rude behavior get under their skin.

Here, what we're learning is that this victim, Emmett Brock, was driving by. He saw a deputy that he said was gesturing aggressively towards a woman, and he flipped off the deputy and kept driving. That deputy, Joseph Benza, then runs back to his car, leaves the disturbance call that he was at, and starts following Brock turn by turn.

At one point, Brock actually calls 911 and says, hey, there's this cop behind me. What do I do? And dispatcher said, well, if the lights and sirens aren't on, keep proceeding as you are. He then pulls into a convenience store parking lot. Deputy Benza pulls him behind him, and this altercation ensues.

I warn our viewers what you're about to watch is quite disturbing. Now what we're learning here from this plea agreement, that Benza will plead to guilty, a federal charge, that there was apparently an intention all along from the beginning to actually follow this man in order to use excessive force.

We're also learning from that plea agreement that he allegedly conspired with other deputies to alter the police report. Rather than indicating that this started because he was flipped off, he was actually coached, this deputy, by other deputies to leave that part out.

What he claimed was that, on the police report, he was actually following him because of an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Now, the man here, Emmett Brock, sustained serious injuries. Again, the deputy will agree to plea to one count of a federal civil rights charge.

We're waiting to see what happens to those other deputies as well. There's an indication that they could possibly face some type of disciplinary action. We have tried to reach out to Benza's attorney for comment. If convicted, he will face up to 10 years in federal prison.

BROWN: All right, Josh Campbell.

So disturbing, that video. Yes, thank you for your reporting.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:42] BROWN: In a surprising midseason shakeup at the University of Miami, the men's basketball coach has stepped down just two years after leading the Hurricanes to their first Final Four.

CNN's Coy Wire is following this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hurricanes basketball coach Jim Larranaga is stepping away from the game, saying that he just doesn't know how to navigate through this new system or lack of system regarding players being able to transfer in and out of programs in the transfer portal and this era of paying players through name, image, and likeness deals, just two years after leading Miami to its first and only Final Four run.

I was there covering it. I spoke to him. Yes, he's 75 years old, but his players love him. He dances in the locker room with them. He knows the X's and O's, but this new world of paying players and having to recruit and retain players differently has added a whole new level of stress and workload for coaches.

JIM LARRANAGA, FORMER UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI HEAD BASKETBALL COACH: There's one thing you got to constantly ask yourself. Are you going to give everything you have, the commitment that it deserves, 100 percent of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? And, quite frankly, I have tried to do that throughout my life and throughout my time here.

[11:55:04]

But I'm exhausted. I have tried every which way to keep this going.

WIRE: Within a span of three months, the ACC has now lost three of its most respected, successful, and longest-tenured coaches, Virginia hoops coach Tony Bennett, Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson also stepping away. Bennett resigned two weeks before Virginia's season, citing -- quote -- "this current environment."

Two weeks ago, Clawson said -- quote -- "I just looked at where the industry is right now, and I just felt like it was time" -- unquote.

Let's shift gears now from off-the-court drama to on-field action, Toledo and Pitt setting a bowl record six over times in the GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit. They kept scoring and scoring. Toledo's players and coaches actually rushed the field twice during extra periods, thinking they'd won.

It was a good thing eventually those Rockets did win 48-46 after scoring a two-point conversion that Pitt could not match. Toledo's defense making the final game-winning stop.

Head coach Jason Galdenti (sic) getting his third bowl win, Pitt ending the season on a six-game losing streak after starting the year 7-0 -- back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coy Wire, thank you.

And move over, Moo Deng. We all know the classic song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," right? Well, the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia got exactly that. This unnamed baby pygmy hippo was born on December 9 to parents Iris and Corwin. She weighed in at a healthy 15 pounds and could reach 600 pounds when fully grown.

We're having a debate on my team whether the baby hippo is cute or not. I won't tell you where I stand, but I'd love to hear what you think.

And joining -- thank you so much for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown. You can follow me on Instagram, TikTok, and X @PamelaBrownCNN.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Phil Mattingly starts after a short break.