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CNN International: Trump's Cabinet Picks Face Senate Confirmation Hearings; Trump's Pick For Attorney General Faces Senate Questioning; Confirmation Hearing For Marco Rubio As Secretary Of State. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York, and this is CNN Newsroom.

I want to get straight to our breaking news this hour. Let's take you live to Capitol Hill, where six of Donald Trump's cabinet picks are facing their biggest test, confirmation hearings going on right now in the Senate, among them, who you're seeing here, Pam Bondi, a longtime Trump loyalist and his choice for attorney general. She is being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The President-elect's pick for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio, he is appearing before very familiar colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And other Trump picks also facing senators today include Chris Wright for Secretary of Energy, Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation, and Russell Vought for Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Let's get to CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz, who joins us live for more on Pam Bondi's hearing. Give us a sense of what we've heard so far. It's been about an hour or so. What has stood out to you from the hearing so far, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: A couple comments that Pam Bondi, the Attorney General nominee, has made under oath so far. She has said that if she were asked to weigh in on the pardons of January 6 rioters, the Justice Department has prosecuted hundreds of them, Donald Trump is opposed to those prosecutions, she says that she would want to look at them on a case-by-case basis, and that she believes that the people who were violent toward law enforcement officers on January 6, 2021, on Capitol Hill, those Trump supporters, that she condemns that violence. So, those are strong words from Pam Bondi coming in to a department that has put an enormous effort into finding, tracking down and bringing to justice those people, even if Donald Trump pardons them.

A couple of other things she has been asked about is in a different couple ways. She has been asked how she will have independence from Donald Trump. One thing she said is she will not be targeting people with investigations based on political affiliation or the political interests of this administration that she would be taking the lead on, on the legal front. That is a pretty strong statement. She also has said that the Justice Department must be independent and must act independently.

But, Rahel, there is still a question here of what happens when you get down to brass tacks. If Donald Trump calls you when you are Attorney General and directs you to do something, what do you do? That is the sort of situation that you only will see when Pam Bondi would potentially take control of that job, be in the Attorney General position, and there is also a lot of questions on what she would actually do with those cases where Donald Trump has a personal interest, the ongoing appeals related to the classified documents case where the Justice Department is opposed to Trump, and then also related to the January 6 case. There is lawsuits where the Justice Department will be taking positions. Those levels of specific questions have not been asked of her yet.

But, senators like Amy Klobuchar have been pushing her more and more to nail down exactly how independent Pam Bondi would be as Attorney General in the administration of Donald Trump.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And what about, Katelyn, her past views on election denialism in 2020 and her past role in Pennsylvania, for example, with challenging falsely the results of that state in 2020 when Biden rightfully won?

POLANTZ: Yeah. One of the things that she has said today already, Rahel, is that she does accept the results of the 2020 election, despite what she may have said in the past. This is now under oath. She accepts those results. Biden -- Joe Biden is the President. But, at the same time, she called the transfer of power in 2020 peaceful during this confirmation hearing. Of course, it wasn't.

And so, this is one of those pieces that is highlighting where does Pam Bondi exactly stand on the interests of Donald Trump and what he believes personally versus what she will do in leading a department that oversees so many criminal cases across the country on so many different fronts, and has put a significant amount of work into maintaining their own power and the ability to bring people to justice in violent situations like the Capitol riot.

SOLOMON: Yeah, Katelyn, and taking a step back, remind us of the importance of the role, especially the independence of the role, when you are thinking about really a prosecutor at all. I mean, it's one of the most important roles in this country. They have extreme power when it comes to discretion, what cases to charge, what charges to charge, but especially in this role as the nation's top prosecutor, as the nation's top law enforcement, that independence, of course, so crucial.

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POLANTZ: That's right. There is another set of aspects here too. It's not just about the cases where Donald Trump has a personal interest. There are civil rights cases. There are national security cases. There is just violent crime that happens across the country, gun cases, drug cases, mafia cases or gang cases. Those are the things where the Attorney General has to set a policy and has to have the confidence of prosecutors, not just in Washington at Main Justice, but in the 90 some U.S. Attorney's Offices across the country. And not only does the Attorney General answer to the President of the United States and get involved in responding to Congress, she did say many times in this confirmation hearing, she will be reading personally letters and requests for information from members of the Senate Judiciary when they ask her of that.

She also has to be responsive and responsible for all of the people who appear before a different branch of government, the judges in the courts. And so, there is a lot of different tensions that oversee the Attorney General role that Bondi is having to take into consideration. One thing you hear her going back to over and over again, Rahel, is how she will do this in the way that she conducted herself as a prosecutor previously in her career, and she is someone with a significant amount of experience on that front.

SOLOMON: Yeah. That is not something that you hear critics raise concerns about.

Katelyn Polantz, great to have you today. Thank you.

Let's now bring in our panel with us today. We have Washington Correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tia Mitchell, as well as former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty, who is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. Good to see you both.

Tia, let me start with you, and let's pick up with the Pam Bondi hearing. Your thoughts so far. Is she being convincing, based on what you've seen to some of these Democratic senators about, despite her past relationship with Trump, that she can be independent if she is nominated? What do you think?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: I think there is a chance that there may be one or two Democratic senators who are willing to support Pam Bondi. But, that's not the goal here. That's not what she is trying to do here. What she is trying to do is make sure she can get Republican senators to support her, to make sure that she doesn't give Republican senators anything that would cause them to question whether they can support her. And I think so far, she has done the things she needs to do on that, saying things like that -- she does feel that the 2020 election was fair and that Biden was elected President. Those are the things certain Republican senators want to hear in order to feel comfortable continuing to support her.

SOLOMON: Jill, let me bring you in and let me ask you about Marco Rubio, and just for our audience, if you've just sort of joined us this hour, perhaps you have not seen much of his testimony, much of his hearing, but let's just go over, Jill, a little bit about what we know about Marco Rubio. He is the son of Cuban immigrants. He would be the first Latino Secretary of State. He is seen as an institutionalist, and he is seen as a hardliner when it comes to issues like China, when it comes to issues like Venezuela, Cuba. Jill, what are your thoughts of what we've heard from Rubio so far?

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, & FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I think the one thing that really sticks out to me is the issue of Ukraine. What do you do about the war against Ukraine? And I think that he could probably get support from both Republicans and from Democrats. He is pretty hard on this subject. And he just said -- he has said it before that it should be the official policy of the United States that the war should end. And of course, the question always is, how? President Trump has said he would end it very quickly, even before he got into office. But, everyone knows this is a very complicated issue. So, I think people were listening for details, perhaps.

He did criticize the Biden administration for saying, as long as it takes, which Marco Rubio would say is very undefined. What does that mean? And it's not a policy that the United States, he would argue, should have. He did say, and I think this is significant, that there should be concessions on both sides. He calls this a realistic approach, and that it would begin with a ceasefire and then there would be hard diplomacy. And he was particularly insistent on leverage, that Ukraine needs leverage, just as Russia feels that it does have leverage.

So, again, I think he is taking a strong line. He is not specific, but he is more specific, I think, than the administration, the incoming administration has been.

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And I think that if you look at the Democrats who, by and large, support Ukraine, he could pick up support there, and for some Republicans so far, but this is a really complicated and very difficult diplomatic and every other way situation in Ukraine.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And Jill, let's stick there. I mean, let's stick with Ukraine and Rubio for just a moment. I mean, there seems to be little question about whether Rubio will get confirmed. I have seen there is more concern about whether he could be effective, because there are areas where he and the President-elect differ. You think about Putin, for example. Rubio has been pretty clear. He thinks Putin is a criminal, a war criminal. He thinks he is a killer. He thinks he is a thug. I mean, can he be seen, Rubio, seen as an extension of Trump when he is abroad if they have these differences of opinion on policy? What do you think?

DOUGHERTY: Well, as -- if he is confirmed as the Secretary of State, he could adopt, and probably would, a more diplomatic approach and a way of talking about things. I mean, as a Senator, he is saying Putin is a thug. Would he say that as the Secretary of State? Probably not, I would think. So, he could take -- I would say, his viewpoint is definitely very anti-Putin. But, in this situation, if they want a deal, and there is no question Trump wants a deal on Ukraine, he will have to adjust, obviously, Rubio I'm talking about, will have to adjust some of the language and try to bring sides together.

So, he might -- he is actually perceived as quite a smart guy. I have met him. I've listened to him, and been on panels with him, and he, I think, has the tools that he could do this.

SOLOMON: Tia, let me ask you a question. You made a good point in your comments a few moments ago when we were discussing Pam Bondi for AG that she is not out necessarily to convince Democrats to vote for her, because, quite frankly, they don't need Democratic support here, but it's really about Republican support. So, who are you watching? What Republican senators are you watching as potentially holdouts? What do you think?

MITCHELL: Yeah. I mean, I think that there are certain senators' names who have come up more often as the ones who will be more willing to kind of defy President Trump and vote against one of his nominees, not necessarily just around the conversation with Pam Bondi, but even particularly more controversial nominees like Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard. So, we're talking about the new Senator from Utah. We're talking about Senator Ernst. We're talking about, to a lesser extent, Senator Collins, Senator Murkowski.

That being said, it's starting to appear that all of them are indicating they may be ready to fall in line. Senator Ernst, for example, had good things to say after Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing yesterday, and again, Pam Bondi isn't considered among the more controversial nominees on the list. Yes, there are some controversies. There are some concern, mostly from Democrats, but she is not the most vulnerable when it comes to questions about whether she will get confirmed, but people like Pete Hegseth, who are more vulnerable, are considered to have had a good day after his hearing.

SOLOMON: Yeah, which really, to your point, makes you wonder how contentious the rest of the week really could be if Pete Hegseth appears to have the support that he may need.

Tia Mitchell, we will leave it here. Jill Dougherty, I appreciate you as well. Thank you both for the time today.

We actually now want to go to that U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is holding its hearing from Marco Rubio to be confirmed as Secretary of State. Let's listen together.

MARCO RUBIO, DONALD TRUMP'S PICK FOR U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: -- cost of invading Taiwan higher than the benefit. We want to discourage that by the Chinese believing that, yes, could they ultimately win an invasion of Taiwan, but the price would be too high to pay. It's basically deterrence, and I think that's critical, not just to defending Taiwan, to preventing a cataclysmic military intervention in the Indo-Pacific, and that's what it would be.

And I would make one more point, and again, I don't mean to want to be alarmist about it. But, if you listen to Xi Jinping, and it's important when you listen to him, and I say, listen, read, don't read the English translation that they put out, because the English translation is never right. You have to read the real translation on how -- what they actually said in their native tongue. What they're basically saying is that this is a foundational and definitional issue for Xi Jinping personally, and as a result, I think we need to wrap our head around the fact that unless something dramatic changes, like an equilibrium where they conclude that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high, we're going to have to deal with this before the end of this decade.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): And so, I strongly support for the porcupine strategy.

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Thank you. And I know people in Taiwan --

RUBIO: I just don't like saying porcupine. But, yes.

MERKLEY: When I went to Taiwan in November and met with the President and other leaders, they are extremely nervous right now, and part of the reason they're nervous is they're concerned about how things play out in Ukraine as possibly create an incentive for China. And I take your point about the current stalemate and the fact that there is a range of objectives that are out of reach for other side. But, I do feel like our partnership with NATO and our continued supply of war material that enable the Ukrainians to keep fighting until that resolution is done is extremely important, because if Ukraine collapses, it will say a lot to China about whether we will stay the course in assisting Taiwan, not to mention it will be a catastrophe for democracy and a catastrophe for the Ukrainians. I don't know if you share that view.

RUBIO: Well, I think, first of all, our goal, as President Trump has stated, is he wants the dying to stop. He wants the killing to stop. So, it's very difficult to reach an accord or an agreement that begins with a ceasefire and ends with a peace agreement, unless both sides have some leverage.

Now, there is some leverage that exists beyond military capabilities as well. We have a significant number of sanctions on the Russian Federation, and they continue to grow and expand, and other nations do as well, and that will have to be part of this conversation in terms of bringing about a peaceful resolution. And then there is the question of the long-term security and stability of Ukraine beyond the -- even if the conflict were to end, there needs to be the capability of Ukraine to defend itself. And it's a point that I made back as far as 2014 when the United States, under the Obama administration, chose not to provide weapon capabilities, and I think we lost a turn.

MERKLEY: Thank you. I want to keep -- I'm going to keep rolling here for a few other questions.

SOLOMON: All right. As we continue to watch the confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill, I want to also take you to some other news we are watching. A Qatari official there in Qatar telling CNN that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal is eminent. Sources in Israel earlier said that they expect an agreement later today or tomorrow, citing major progress at indirect talks with Hamas in Doha. A draft agreement calls for a phased halt to the fighting in Gaza and an initial release of 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Sources say that implementation of the deal could begin Sunday. And while the last details are hammered out, lives remain at stake.

Israel carried out new airstrikes across Gaza today. The Independent Commission for Human Rights says that 12 members of one family in Deir Al Balah are among those killed, including children.

Let's get more now from Jeremy Diamond live in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, as we await this press conference, give us a sense of what's the latest and what you're hearing.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, our sources familiar with the matter are telling us that the Israeli government expects that a ceasefire and hostage release deal could be announced within the next 24 hours. We know that these parties are now in the final stages of negotiations right now, and they are working over some of the final implementation details here. And so, at this stage, the expectation from the Israeli government is that this deal is going to happen and that it could be announced within the next 24 hours.

Of course, we are always cautioned that until we actually see these two parties sign on the dotted line that this announcement, that this deal, is announced by most likely the mediators, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, that we do not yet have a deal, and that is indeed the stage in which we are in now.

But, all of the parties here appear to be indicating that we are indeed on the cusp of that deal happening. And in fact, preparations are already being made for the implementation of that agreement. I'm told that once a deal is announced, the next step that you will see is the Israeli security cabinet holding an up or down vote on that agreement. It will then go to the full Israeli cabinet, and then after that, following a process during which individuals will be able to petition the Israeli Supreme Court to try and block the release of Palestinian prisoners, which is a key part of this deal. Following that, you will see the implementation of this agreement, meaning that what we could see is as early as Sunday, you could be seeing those first hostages being released.

Israeli planes stopping their bombing campaigns on the Gaza Strip, and effectively the beginning of what is expected to be a six-week-long ceasefire, during which you will see the release of Israeli hostages, 33 altogether during that period, as well as the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in exchange for that.

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What we will also see is an enormous influx of humanitarian aid going into the Gaza Strip, where, of course, we know that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been living in really dire humanitarian conditions, especially right now as winter has begun to set in, and we have seen numerous individuals, in particular, young children and babies, dying from the cold weather conditions that they have been experiencing.

But, again, this is a moment of hope and optimism where it appears that these two sides are very, very close to announcing this agreement. Again, we will have to actually wait and see when that agreement comes out, in order to finally all be able to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief.

SOLOMON: Absolutely. And Jeremy, as we look at this graphic, I know that you cannot see it from your live shot location, but as we try to understand the contours of phase one, talk to us a little bit more about what this means in terms of the IDF presence in Gaza, but especially, and Jeremy, you and I have spoken so much about this over the last few months, in terms of at least since May, when the prior ceasefire deal seems to have fallen apart, the IDF presence in the Philadelphi Corridor. I mean, how important that is, and what we now know about what that will look like, at least in phase one?

DIAMOND: Well, that was a major sticking point, Rahel, that ultimately contributed to the collapse of negotiations back in September, when -- which was the last time that it seemed like we were close to a ceasefire agreement. And according to our sources, Hamas has conceded that point, and Israel will retain troops along that Philadelphi Corridor, which is that strip of land between the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel says it needs to retain security control there, because that is where Hamas has brought in weapons, smuggled weapons in from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

We also understand that Israel will maintain a buffer zone inside of Gaza along the Gaza-Israel border. In addition to that, they will allow for the free flow of Palestinians to go back to northern Gaza, which was previously also subject of contention, and it appears that there will be limited interference from the Israeli military towards allowing that access to actually happen.

And then, of course, you have the tricky choreography of these hostage releases and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. As we understand it, this will be a phased release of hostages. You will likely see a few hostages be released on the first day, a few more several days later, and then it will likely go week by week. You will see small numbers of hostages released once a week over the course of this six-week ceasefire.

And the last critical point to make here, Rahel, about the choreography and the dynamics of all of this is that on day 16 of the implementation of this agreement, Israel and Hamas will go back to the negotiating table to try and negotiate the second and third phases of this agreement, which, if you do take this agreement all the way to its conclusion of the second and the third phase, that includes an end to the war in Gaza. It includes the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and ultimately, also the rebuilding of Gaza, which has been decimated over the course of months and months of airstrikes. That will be no easy task.

I have been inside of Gaza with the Israeli military a handful of times, and the destruction that I've been able to witness from just this limited view of spending a few hours each time in Gaza with the Israeli military is just absolutely breathtaking. It is of a scale unlike most modern war zones that we have borne witness to, and it will take years and billions of dollars of investment in order for the Gaza Strip to be rebuilt and for people to regain some sense of normalcy, if indeed we can get to that point. Rahel. SOLOMON: Yeah. Fair point. Jeremy Diamond, we appreciate your reporting now and throughout the war. Jeremy Diamond live for us there. Thank you.

We want to now bring you Antony Blinken's remarks on a possible ceasefire deal for Gaza. He spoke to our Christiane Amanpour just a short time ago in his final TV interview as U.S. Secretary of State. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're on the brink, and it could, it should happen in the coming hours, but until it actually does, we're not there. But, if and when it does, two things. It will be on the basis of the plan that President Biden put forward back in May and that we rallied the entire world behind. And ever since then, we've been working to negotiate the details, the implementation. It's been delayed and derailed by different events, but we're, I think, finally, at the point where this gets over the line.

Once that happens, here is what happens. First, the firing stops. Hamas, Israel stop firing. Israel pulls back its forces. Hostages begin to be released. Prisoners come out of Israeli jails and go back and we surge humanitarian assistance to people who so desperately need it.

[11:25:00]

All of that happens during a six-week period, but also during that six weeks, we have to negotiate the understandings to get to a permanent ceasefire so that Israel pulls all of its forces out of Gaza. Hamas doesn't come back in. And there is the necessary governance, security, reconstruction arrangements so that Gaza can move forward.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST, AMANPOUR: Is that sorted?

BLINKEN: That's not sorted. We've worked on it intensely for the last six or seven months, intensely but quietly, with our partners, with others. I think there is some basic understandings that we've reached, but the ceasefire itself, hopefully, would concentrate minds and get people to agree on what's necessary to get that day after a post- conflict plan in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And you can watch the full interview with Blinken on Amanpour right here on CNN. That's about an hour and a half from now, 01:00 p.m. in New York, 06:00 p.m. in London.

And again, a lot of news to follow both on Capitol Hill and potentially out of Qatar with this press conference. We're going to take a short break. But, do stay with us. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. I want to take you back to the US. Senate Foreign Relations Committee holding its hearing for Marco Rubio to be confirmed as Secretary of State. Let's listen.

SEN. DAVE MCCORMICK (R-PA): Good. Thank you. Fentanyl is killing 4,000 Pennsylvanians each year, over 200 Americans a day. President Trump campaigned on this throughout the country in Pennsylvania, as did I, and we have to stop that flow of fentanyl. And of course, violent criminal groups in Mexico, including the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels, terrors our communities here at home with this deadly fentanyl and the Mexican people with endless violence.

As Secretary, will you initiate the process to designate these groups, these cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations, and if so, can you describe for the American people the national security tools that that unlocks, that designation unlocks to degrade the cartels?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, the designation of a designated terrorist, foreign terrorist organization brings with it a host of things. It makes it illegal to cooperate or work with them in any way, or to be supportive of their endeavors. It cuts off access to all sorts of banking opportunities and the like around the world where it's important to move money around.

Now, that said, it's probably an imperfect tool when it comes to these groups that you're discussing, because these are sophisticated criminal enterprises. They are terrorizing the United States, but they are sophisticated criminal enterprises, and they operate in the trafficking of people, drugs and migrants. It's a horrifying effect.

Sadly, they also have basically operational control over huge swaths of the border regions between Mexico and the United States. That's just an unfortunate fact, and it's one we're going to have to confront with our partners in Mexico, is that these sophisticated transnational terroristic organizations have operational and functional control over huge swaths of areas that border --

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MCCORMICK: Yeah.

RUBIO: -- the United States of America. And so, whether that is the tool that we use, which may be the appropriate one, or some new one that we come up with, it is important for us not just to go after these groups, but to identify them and call them for what they are, and that is terroristic in their nature, because they are terrorizing America with mass migration and with the flow of drugs.

MCCORMICK: What about military force?

RUBIO: Well, that's an option the President has at his disposal. Obviously, it's not one that is in the purview of the Department of State.

MCCORMICK: Yeah.

RUBIO: I think President Trump is someone that never publicly discusses his options and leaves himself the flexibility to act. I think there is a lot we can and we'll continue to do in close partnership with our allies in Mexico. I think there is more they can do as well to confront this challenge. And my preference would be, from the Department of State's perspective, my preference would be that we can work with the Mexicans on this issue cooperatively, because it is impacting their nation as much as ours.

These sophisticated groups, these criminal organizations, don't simply threaten America, they threaten the Mexican political process. In the last election, you had multiple presidential candidates and other candidates to other offices assassinated. You've had journalists targeted and assassinated for speaking out against these groups. So, these groups don't simply terrorize the United States. They're terrorizing and in some ways undermining the Mexican government and Mexican sovereignty and the health and well-being of the Mexican people. And so, my hope in a perfect world is that we could work in close collaboration with Mexican authorities to take this -- these groups out.

MCCORMICK: Very good. Thank you. Final question, the Chinese Communist Party, as you said in your testimony, has waged a deliberate campaign of economic warfare against the United States and our allies. We need to restore, as President Trump has said, reciprocity in that economic relationship and impose cost on Beijing for hurting American workers. How can the United States counter that campaign? How do you think about the economic tools that the administration can apply to cut off the flow of American capital and technology that supports China's geopolitical ambitions?

RUBIO: well, and again, much of what it comes to trade and so forth in this administration will be handled through the Department of Commerce, but we'll certainly have an economic undersecretary and her whole entire bureaus that'll be dedicated to what we can contribute to that endeavor. So, I'll just share my views broadly on it.

Number one, I think it would make common sense to everybody that if, by and large, a relationship in which their companies can do whatever they want here, but we can't do it, it's a pretty unfair relationship, and it's something we've allowed in the past for allied countries who are small, poor and developing. That cannot continue, in my view, and I think that's the President's view.

The second is, there is much that we need to be -- that needs to be done with regards here domestically. I think we, once again as a nation, this is not a Department of State issue, but once again as a nation, need to prioritize the importance of our industrial capacity and our access to supply chains domestically, especially in key and critical industries, maybe not every industry, but some key industries, we should either have a domestic capacity or an allied capacity that's reliable and can't be used against us in a moment of conflict as leverage.

The third point I would make is, we need to be actively engaged in the world. As an example, the Chinese own significant mineral rights and mining rights in Argentina, in Chile, throughout Africa. It's one of the reasons why the polar region and the Arctic region has become so critical as well in that regard, is because they are scooping up all over the world, these mineral rights, port rights, etcetera, that place us at an enormous disadvantage in the long term, and it's what I said in that short answer is, we're going to -- if this trend continues, we are going to wind up living in a world where much of what we depend on for our security, our health, our safety and our economic prosperity will largely depend on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not, and that cannot be a world that we leave for our children.

MCCORMICK: Thank you, Senator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Coons.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thank you. Senator Rubio, I look forward to this hearing and to our service together. Welcome to the other side of the dais, and welcome to your wife, Jeanette, your children, your family. Thank you for your service.

I have three questions broadly of nominees. Do they have the qualifications to appropriately serve? Do they have a policy alignment with our core national interests, and do they have the integrity and character to serve? We may have policy disagreements, but we've had multiple areas of convergence. Over the time we've served here in the Senate together, I had my folks go back and look. We've co-sponsored nearly 60 bills together. So, I hope we can continue to find constructive ways to partner. I have a number of questions to get through. So, I'll try to move briskly.

With regards to special envoys, President-elect Trump has appointed a series of special envoys focused on a wide range of areas, and some of these, I think, can genuinely compliment, not undermine or distract from State Department's core efforts. The Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, for example, Adam Boehler, I look forward to working with.

[11:35:00]

As Senator McCormick asked about, there is a number of key issues around hostage taking of Americans. There is a bipartisan bill Senator Risch and I have on this that we hope to work with you on. Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, a Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, I think, will be central to achieving an outcome in Ukraine that is a lasting and secure peace and prevents further Russian aggression. But, others like Rick Grenell for Special Missions and Massad Boulos for the Arab World concern me in terms of the potential for mission conflict or conflict of interest. How will you work to ensure that state maintains its authority and encourage the administration to conduct a full vetting of any potential conflicts of interest and to ensure there is clarity of alignment with special envoys?

RUBIO: Sure. And thank you for the question, because I think it's a valid one. With the exception of Mr. Boulos, who I don't know, may have met once, but don't know, every one of the envoys that have been named so far, someone that I've worked with in the past and expect to work well within the future, to me, the expression of a special envoy is critically important where it's most successful. It sits on a complex issue with a defined goal and an expression of presidential priorities. So, Sudan is an example of a special envoy, and Mr. Perriello and the job he has done there, and this is in addition to the fact that we have an ambassador and we have other presence -- diplomatic presence there, that can be very complimentary.

So, the way this will work, and how I anticipate it will work, is these envoys work for the President in coordination with us. These are all people, with the exception of one, well, I'm not disparaging, I just don't -- I'm not -- I don't know him, but I've worked with everyone else that you've mentioned, are people that are going to be focused on this full like a laser, and they will need to do so not simply in coordination with the Department of State because of subject matter expertise.

Let's say you reach an agreement, or you reach an outcome, you're still going to need the technical support necessary to pull the soft be (ph) and we have an array of experts in the Department of State that will help achieve that and it also -- it'll involve other elements of the U.S. government. So, as an example, if you're going to reach an agreement on migration, say in the Western Hemisphere, that also could entail the necessity to have a conversation about trade policy and tariffs that will involve commerce and others. That's the only way this will work, and that's how I anticipate it working.

COONS: I've agreed to co-chair and Senator Hagerty a commission on reform and modernization of the State Department that Senator Cardin created with him. We cannot, in my view, do more with less, given the challenges of the global moment. I think we need more investment in U.S. diplomacy and development as instruments of national power, but we also need to address efficiencies and make sure that we are streamlining and focusing the department and supporting its workforce, the Foreign Service. How will you work to make sure that the Trump administration's efficiency mandate will strengthen and not deplete core state functions?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, I think the work of this new Committee that's being set up as a result of the legislation that passed will be critical. My understanding is the impediment was that not all the appointments have been made. Maybe that's now changed, and we eagerly await that, because I do think that there are two things that are very important. The first is, I -- when we talk about efficiency, the efficiency isn't simply just saving money. The efficiency is improving performance. A key part of the State Department is customer service. We provide consular affairs, passports, visas, all kinds of work around the world for Americans who are stranded or in trouble or need to get somewhere. Improving that experience for the America -- the consumer is one of the top priorities we need to have.

How can we leverage, and I think Secretary Blinken has begun this work. We need to build on this. How can we infuse technology, AI and the like, not simply to improve the customer service aspects of the State Department, but improve the productivity? If somehow, through the leveraging technology appropriately, we can get people at the State Department to achieve three times the amount of work than they do now, because it takes less time to do these tasks or frees them up to do other tasks, that will be an enormous win, and I hope that the Commission will look at those aspects of this as well. I think --

COONS: I understand, Senator, if I might move to another question, that multilateral organizations concern and frustrate many of us. Some of their actions have been counter to American interests. But, when we've withdrawn from multilateral organizations, and in particular, some UN entities, it has also given an opening to our adversaries. Now, the previous Trump administration withdrew from UNESCO, the Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization, and I'm concerned that if we do so without thinking through the consequences, we may abandon our chance to implement our agenda around human rights, around 5G standards, around technical standards that matter for the 21st century.

Do you support sustained U.S. participation in multilateral organizations, and how will you work to strengthen our leadership in those institutions in ways that prevent our adversaries from advancing their competing agendas?

[11:40:00]

RUBIO: Well, I want to point back to what I said at the opening, and that is, our engagement in any international agreement or any international arrangement or any international organization has to be driven by the answer to one of three questions. Will our involvement in this organization make us safer; make us more prosperous, make us more secure? It has to be justified by an American interest. It just does. I mean, we're in an era where we need to really -- it should have always been that way, but now more than ever.

And so, each of these will have different components to it. I think there is a second component of funding, and that is, should the United States be funding organizations who, in many cases, are pursuing and/or achieving outcomes that are contrary to the national interest of the United States, each of these will require a serious examination as we work through and a justification to Congress about why we're no longer funding it, or we're no longer participating. I think you do point to one that I can tell you right now is one that will be critical for us to be engaged in, and that is the setting of standards. But, the setting of standards, for people to understand is, it's not simply from these organizations. It also becomes practical.

So, throughout Africa, we are now seeing the deployment of these safe city programs by Huawei. Now, this is just a commercial deal for Huawei. This is the ability to ingrain itself in telecommunication of these countries and establish itself as the leader in 5G, and now all of the other technologies that depend on 5G, additive manufacturing, the 3D printing and so forth, autonomous vehicles. They will all have to be drawn to the standards set by Huawei. That's not because an international organization has set it up. It's because they've established market dominance, and it's a concern we have in multiple parts of the Global South, in the developing world. We need to be engaged that way as well.

COONS: I very much look forward to working with you on deploying the full tool set that allows us to compete in the Global South, including the Development Finance Corporation, something Senator Corker and I led on this Committee in which I know you see the potential for.

As I come to the end of my time, I've worked hard with Senator Graham to get signed into law two different bills I wanted to mention, the Global Fragility Act, which presses the Department of Defense, Department of State Aid to have a common strategy in fragile states, and we've really struggled to effectively implement that, and much more recently, the U.S. Foundation for International Conservation Act, something that Chairman McCaul and Senator Graham and Congressman Meeks and I worked on. It would create a public-private foundation to address security and conservation in ungoverned and insecure spaces in the Global South, in South America, in Africa, in Southeast Asia.

Both of these bills address the root causes of instability and facilitate cost effective uses of American dollars by encouraging engagement of the private sector and philanthropy. Can I count on your support to work as the Secretary, if confirmed, in the State Department to implement these two laws more effectively in the coming years?

RUBIO: Well, and the conservation one, I believe, just passed, right, most recently.

COONS: We just signed into law.

RUBIO: We're getting there just in time to help you with it, and it's had strong bipartisan support. On the global fragility, this has been ongoing for quite a bit of time, and we'll have to go back and check on the progress. I don't know. I know there is a 10-year plan. There is the five countries that we've identified, and by the way, no country likes to be identified as fragile. So, we have to be sensitive about how we do it. But, I think that's a component. We got to go back and see where we are on that 10-year planning, because that's an important way of leveraging both economic security and development efforts in the whole of government, and I think key to this is going to be --

SOLOMON: All right. As we continue to follow that here in Capitol Hill, we do have some breaking news that we want to share for you on the ceasefire deal with word now that Hamas has approved it.

Let's go to CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance. He has followed all of these developments from London. Matthew, what have you learned? What more can you share with us?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, it's still, Rahel, not absolutely confirmed what's going on, but CNN has been told by a senior Hamas official that that organization has accepted the terms of the peace deal and the hostage prisoner swap deal that's been the result of painstaking negotiations taking place between various parties in Qatar. We have been expecting an official announcement of that at a press conference from Qatar. That hasn't materialized yet. There have also been unconfirmed reports that there may have been some kind of other obstacle that's arisen in these talks.

And so, yes, we've had this Hamas official saying that the organization has accepted the terms of the deal, but it's still not formalized. It's still not official yet. And so, we're still some -- in some state of confusion as to exactly where we are, whether this is now across the line, or whether there is still issues that need to be discussed in the hours and potentially the days ahead. Rahel.

SOLOMON: And Matthew, what would it take to get formalized from what we know now to, as you point out, getting over the finish line? What needs to happen next?

CHANCE: Well, there is obviously a lot of detail involved in the exact sort of choreography, if you like, about the release of hostages, the release of Palestinian prisoners, the presence and the form that will take of Israeli troops on the ground.

[11:45:00]

And so, there is some potentially discussion about that. That's certainly been a sticking point over the course of these painstaking negotiations.

But, we do know the general outline of what a plan is going to look like. It's going to involve the release of about 33 Israeli hostages that are still, for the most part, believed to be alive inside the Gaza Strip, three of them sort of as soon as the first stage of that deal is launched, is put into force, the rest of them, sort of dripped out on a piecemeal basis over the course of six weeks. At the same time, there will be hundreds, perhaps more, but hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who will also be released from Israeli jails as a sort of quid pro quo. And at the same time, there will be a cessation of Israeli firing inside the Gaza Strip on those areas that have been so devastated over the course of the conflict, which was launched, of course, shortly after the October 7th attacks. That's just the first stage of this peace deal, as we understand it.

But, as we move through the ongoing negotiations, there are other areas that have to be agreed as well, in terms of allowing the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians inside Gaza who have been displaced by the fighting and are now, for the most part, in camps in south of the Gaza Strip, allow them to move back to their homes in the north, and again, eventually, to determine the final Israeli troop presence in the Gaza Strip, and to work out a situation in which the devastation can be cleared away and the Gaza Strip rebuilt. These are all kind of future strands of this negotiation.

But, at the moment, we're all focused on whether that first hurdle is overcome, where there will be a sort of signing or an agreement or a handshake about the initial release of these hostages, of which there is so much concern, of course, in Israel, and of course, the hundreds of Palestinian prisons as well who are behind the Israeli jail bars.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And Matthew, you make the great point there. I mean, at this point, it is really just about the here and now. Remind us of how we got here. I mean, obviously there have been starts and stops before. There have been moments before where we have heard cautious optimism, certainly from U.S. officials. What about the timing now? It seems to have been different, and I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Of course, we are still waiting for official confirmation of if a deal has been reached. But, what do you think about the timing now? CHANCE: Well, I think it's pretty significant, and you're right to sue, I think be cautious, because we have been in this situation and at this point multiple times in the past, almost there only for the whole thing to fall apart and for hostilities to resume and for hostages to be kept sort of incarcerated in the Gaza Strip. But, it does seem, from all the people we're speaking to, whether it's Hamas, whether it's the Qataris, whether it's U.S. officials or the Israelis, that we've not been as close as this since the last hostage release deal was broken at some point last year. And so, that's very encouraging.

In terms of the timing, I mean, look, I don't think you can rule out the fact that we are just days away from the inauguration of President Trump for his second presidential term in the United States, of course, and he has made it very clear in his kind of sort of robust, high pressure way, that if there isn't a deal between Israel and Hamas before he takes office, in his words, there will be hell to pay. And that was a non-specific threat, of course, but it was enough, it seems, to focus minds, particularly in Israel, to get a deal to this final point, because there are those in the Israeli government that very much want to keep President Trump as a strong supporter of Israel. They don't want to do anything that might upset him, as he begins his second presidential term, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yeah. No. It's a really interesting point. Matthew Chance, we so appreciate you being here in the reporting. Thank you.

I want to now bring in CNN's Bianna Golodryga, who joins us from Tel Aviv. Bianna, as Matthew just pointed out, this phase one could involve the release of 33 hostages, obviously major news for the families of those hostages. What more can you share with us and what more are you hearing?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Rahel. Yes. As Matthew said, this is the closest we have been since that last hostage deal where we saw over 100 hostages come home last November. Since then, tragically, we've seen the war ensue and we've seen a number of hostages killed, either by the hands of Hamas or due to the fighting itself.

[11:50:00]

I'm here in Hostage Square. It's rather muted and quiet now, but we do expect things to pick up quite substantially, as the announcement hopefully will be coming sometime soon of a formal agreement here.

And in terms of what we can expect in those first 42 days of phase one, as you and Matthew had been discussing, the release of 33 hostages, that being female hostages, children, men over the age of 50 and those who are hurt or very ill, and the country has been waiting for this since October 7th and the "Bring them home" signs are everywhere you look. You talk to family members of those who have been killed. I spoke with the aunt of Inbar Hyman, who is 27-years-old. I just met her in passing here. Her English was not that great. She was looking for her husband who could come speak with me. She was killed. Her body remains in Gaza. And of course, they are still fighting for closure on bringing her body back home. So, first and foremost is bringing out those hostages that are alive,

the females, the children, the men over 50 and those who are injured. Everything is ready here in Israel in terms of what that return will look like. Hospitals are on standby. Doctors are on standby. Remember those images of those hostages returning frail after just 50 some odd days in captivity last year. You can only imagine what their status is right now.

Nonetheless, this is a highly anticipated moment. People are nervous about speaking publicly, especially the families of those 33 hostages that are going to be part of phase one, and that's understandable, because, as one family member said, they don't want to do anything at this point to derail the deal again.

If a deal is announced, as is expected imminently, then we would start to see the return of these hostages over the next few days, and that's what we will be paying close attention to, and as the negotiations continue in terms of what phase two looks like after the first 16 days of phase one. But, we have to get to phase one first, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And to that point, what would that require, Bianna? I mean, our reporting now is that at least a Hamas official saying that it has approved the ceasefire deal. But, what needs to happen on the Israeli side? Netanyahu brings this back to the Security Council. Walk us through, logistically, what happens next?

GOLODRYGA: Well, the Prime Minister has been reluctant, as we have been reporting over the course of these negotiations for a deal. A large part of that driven by, of course, the far-right elements of his coalition. He has been given life support by some members of the opposition here. Lapid also said that he will provide that support if needed to get him over the finish line to agree to a deal, sort of a buffer there, if, in fact, we do see some of the far-right elements of his government follow through on their threats that they would leave. So far, we haven't heard that, but we have heard that they are very opposed to a deal at this point.

Then the question goes to, how many of these hostages are alive? I think that's still yet to be determined, and that plays a role in the number of Palestinian prisoners that Israel then releases as well. So, phase one has been very, very, very difficult to get to. Let's hope that we are there. But, then that turns to phase two and phase three, which many argue could be even more difficult to sustain the ceasefire, sustain the supplementation of the aid, getting that into Gaza and making sure that the rest of the hostages are released as well.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And Bianna, just to share with you, I am hearing from our control room that our reporting now from CNN is that a source is telling our Becky Anderson that a deal has, in fact, been reached. So, of course, we will wait for additional details. As we have been saying all hour long, we have been waiting for this press conference from Doha to begin, perhaps working out the final few details logistically of what that might include. But again, Bianna just sharing with you what I have just now heard from the control room that our reporting here at CNN is that a source is telling our Becky Anderson that, in fact, a hostage ceasefire deal has been reached.

Bianna, I want to ask you about something that we haven't touched upon yet. What this would mean for all of those in Gaza? I mean, we heard a little bit from Secretary of State, current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when he spoke with our Christiane Amanpour, and I'm paraphrasing here, but he said, we would surge humanitarian assistance to people who so desperately need it. Bianna, if you might talk to us a little bit about what a phase one might look like for those in Gaza.

GOLODRYGA: Well, it's just what you said and just what the Secretary of State said as well, the urgent need of aid to go back in for the residents there in Gaza to be able to have that aid facilitated.

[11:55:00]

Obviously, there had been discrepancies and concerns about the aid getting into the wrong hands. With the fighting pause, one would imagine that that would be expedited much more judiciously and expediently. Another part of this deal would be the allowing of residents to return back to the northern part of the Enclave as well. So, this is the structure of the deal. As you said, according to our reporting and Becky's source, that Hamas has agreed to a deal. We have yet to hear, I believe, from the Prime Minister's Office confirming that. But, again, this would be in three phases. The first phase would be the release of those 33 hostages and -- in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and then the flooding of aid that starts to go in.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And just for our audience watching, this is our reporting here that I'm just now reading from our email. The Israeli government and Hamas have agreed to a deal that will pause fighting in Gaza and lead to the phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. That is according to a source briefed on the talk, who spoke to our Becky Anderson.

Bianna, we're lucky to have you. You have immense ties to the region. Give me a sense of what you might expect. This is obviously, if, in fact, this comes to pass, which are reporting now, is that it will a hugely emotional event for so many people in the region. What are you expecting?

GOLODRYGA: A huge event for people here in Israel, who have told me since day one that they can have no closure, that effectively every day is October 7th for them until all of these hostages are home, those that are alive, a top priority, but those that are dead in Gaza as well to bring their bodies back for a proper funeral here and closure for these families. This has been an open wound for the country and why we have seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets over the last 15 months to prioritize the release of these hostages, knowing that it comes at a very heavy price, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners, many of which have been accused and convicted of murdering Israeli citizens.

Obviously, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been saying that his objective is the full elimination of Hamas. This would see that the fighting stop. Hamas has no doubt been decimated and its leadership has been killed, which is why you've seen a real dispute that played out in the public between the Prime Minister and his far-right coalition and those in his defense establishment over the course of the last six months, because essentially, this deal doesn't look that much different than the deal that was on the table back in May.

Now, worth reminding viewers that the onus has always been on Hamas to release the hostages, but the parameters of the deal are very similar to the parameters that were set by President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu in May, and that led into July, and then all of the sudden, Prime Minister Netanyahu instituted new demands and new mandates to be issued as part of this deal. And in the course of those few months we saw the tragic killing of six Israeli hostages, one of them an American hostage as well, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and that was a dark, dark period here in the country.

So, now news that there is a deal and a pause in the fighting and the release of 33 hostages is very, very welcome news here, no doubt for the families, but also for the country as a whole.

SOLOMON: Absolutely. Bianna Golodryga, we appreciate your reporting there on the ground in Tel Aviv. Thank you.

For our audience around the world just tuning in, what you are watching, obviously, is a shot of communist Gaza, but our new reporting that Israel and Hamas have now both agreed to this Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. What we know about phase one, based on our reporting, is that initially 33 hostages would be released. This would happen over about a six-week process, a six-week timeframe, so not 33 initially, but over that timeframe. That would also include the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. We know that IDF would begin a staged withdrawal and that there would be some IDF presence in the Philadelphi Corridor. Again, this is major, major news in the region.

I'm Rahel Solomon. Thank you for being with me this hour. I want to now pass it over to my colleague Isa Soares, who picks up our coverage in the 12:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ISA SOARES, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Live from London, I'm Isa Soares, and we are following some breaking news. This is One World. A Hamas official says the group has approved a ceasefire and hostage release deal. The senior official tells CNN, the group has delivered its response to --