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Graham Pushes for Israel-Saudi Normalization; Colleges Struggle to Contain Protests; Trump Holds Edge over Biden; Noem Defends Killing Puppy; White House Correspondents Dinner. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 29, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Without the treaty, MBS cannot recognize Israel. And part of the deal will be coming up with a solution to the Palestinian problem.

This would be an historic agreement building on the Abraham Accords. And I'd like to see it happen. I'd like to help President Biden get this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham offering a helping hand to the Biden administration as they work to try to secure a high-stakes normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel. That agreement could be transformative in a region embroiled in that controversial war and conflict between - and a broader conflict between Israel and Iran.

Graham also said that the deal would have the support of the GOP and maybe even its presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: What does Donald Trump think about this?

Are you worried he'll kill it or try to kill it?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Well, you know, I've talked to President Trump not very long ago. He wants the killing to end. He would like to see peace reign.

If we can get a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, it ends the Arab-Israeli conflict. It isolates the Iranians. It creates some hope for the Palestinians. It provides security in a real way to Israel. Yes, I don't think anybody on the Republican side is going to undercut the deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: All right, joining me now is CNN chief political correspondent and the co-host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Dana Bash.

Good to have you.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HUNT: Good morning. Wonderful to have you.

BASH: You too. We've got -

HUNT: We - you and I are a little running a little low on gas over the weekend.

BASH: We got so much sleep this weekend. We're fine.

HUNT: But you actually had to be up yesterday at nine in the morning. This was - it was a great interview.

I guess my question here around Graham is, is this really possible right now because this normalization pact was basically on its way to going into effect when October 7th happened. And obviously, it was totally derailed.

Tom Friedman had a column in "The New York Times" over the weekend where he said, "Israel has a choice to make, Rafah or Riyad."

BASH: Yes.

HUNT: He says, "U.S. diplomacy to end the Gaza war and forge a new relationship with Saudi Arabia has been converging into a single giant choice for Netanyahu. What do you want more? Do you want Rafah or Riyad?"

What did you make of how Graham kind of put this to you in the politics of that, but also this bigger picture geopolitical question?

BASH: Well, a couple of things. First of all, there's little question in the minds of anybody who really knows the region and has insight into what happened on October 7th is that a big reason for October 7th was to derail the Saudi at - what was on - it was on the cusp -

HUNT: Right.

BASH: Of actually happening, the Saudi-Israel normalization because we know that Hamas is funded by Iran. Iran doesn't want that. And so on and so forth. Talking about geopolitics.

But I thought that what - let me just also take a step back, that Lindsey Graham has been working on this for a very long time. He's been to Saudi Arabia more than once in recent months and he has been very much in touch with the Biden administration, trying to help them get this done. And so part of the reason I asked him was because the secretary of state is there and they are -

HUNT: Right. BASH: They are - its maybe even - I wouldn't say now or never, but it's pretty important for them to do it.

[06:35:02]

Because Lindsey Graham is so close with Donald Trump, my question that you played at the end there about Trump was also I was thinking about, I don't know, the immigration deal and anything else that he could perceive as a win for Joe Biden, whether he would say, uh-uh, the other way that Graham framed it was, well, this is a win for Donald Trump. Why? Because he said this is just building on what he did with the Abraham Accords.

So, watching the sort of political -

HUNT: The ego stroking.

BASH: Rhetorical jujitsu (ph). Exactly. Or that's a -

HUNT: To try to get this.

BASH: More direct way to say it, Kasie.

HUNT: Yes.

Kate, what do you think - where do you think the Biden administration comes in on this in terms of - I mean clearly Tony Blinken, as Dana notes, is there in Riyad.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

HUNT: It seems like this would be a positive step for them. And they've been trying to convince Netanyahu not to go into Rafah.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, and these - this larger normalization accord is something that's been a priority for the administration. It's something the national security team has been focused on. And, as Dana said, they were really on the cusp before October 7th.

So, you know, this is a huge priority for them and I think, you know, I won't - I certainly don't speak for them, I won't speak for them, but I would imagine they will accept anybody's help on this. And if Lindsey Graham wants to be helpful and wants to help try to bring the Republican conference on this, then I'm sure they would welcome that.

So, I - you know, ultimately, I think, if they were able to get this done, you know, it would - it would certainly be an incredible talking point in the election in terms of, you know, what President Biden said about being able to reassert kind of American interests on the world stage and being able to lead in that way. It would be a powerful proof point for him. This is something that I think he would really be able to throw his arms around and take credit for in the fall.

But, you know, I think, again, the domestic politics are going to be very thorny and I will -

HUNT: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: You know, I hope that Senator Graham was being forthright about where he'll be on this. I think if the rubber meets the road. I'm a little less certain, but let's find out.

HUNT: Lindsey - Lindsey is going to do Lindsey. So, if it's good for him.

BEDINGFIELD: Let's find out. Right. Right. So, let's see. Let's see.

HUNT: So, the other - you mentioned the politics of this at home being tough. And, Dana, you had Bernie Sanders on as well. And here's what he had to say when Dana pushed him on protests and everything else that's been going on, on this issue. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Do I doubt for a moment that anti-Semitism exists and is growing in the United States, that is part that exist among some people in the protest movement? Of course. But here is the reality. Right now what Netanyahu's right-wing extremist and racist government is doing is unprecedented in the modern history of warfare.

Right now we are looking at the possibility of mass starvation and famine in Gaza. When you make those charges, that is not anti-Semitic. That is a reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Dana, were you surprised to use the word racist there when he was talking about the Israeli government?

BASH: No, I'm not, because I've sort of seen the evolution of what Bernie Sanders and others have said. And I just want to say that what is fascinating about Bernie Sanders, and part of the reason why it was really pressing him on the anti-Semitism, is because unlike other leading progressives, he doesn't say genocide. He doesn't - he's very, very careful with how he tries to frame and inject that very difficult nuance into this.

HUNT: Right.

BASH: Having said that, I do - and this is very difficult. I think the most - one of the most difficult things is what Senator Sanders said is, you can be against the Israeli government without being anti- Semitic. That is 100 percent true.

HUNT: Of course. Yes.

BASH: He - I mean there are people marching in the streets of Israel who are Jewish who are obviously very supportive of Israel's right to exist.

HUNT: Right, very supportive of Israel's right - right to exist, yes.

BASH: The issue is, and I said this to him, when you have college kids or just even people now beyond the campuses who are walking around - one student I know from Michigan texted me saying he took off his Star of David necklace because he was too scared for his security. Nobody's asking him, what do you think about the way that Israel is prosecuting the war? They just see his Star of David and they go after him.

HUNT: So, can we talk for a second about - Elliot, you were looking up kind of the definition, the way that these universities define harassment because there is, obviously, you know, an absolute, you know, right, First Amendment right to protest in this country, but for someone who's wearing a Star of David necklace and having to kind of walk through these protests, where is the line where it becomes not OK?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well -

HUNT: Where is it you are being - like, do we - is it people like stopping your forward progress?

WILLIAMS: Sure.

HUNT: Are they yelling in your face? I mean, what is it?

WILLIAMS: And this is exactly where, frankly, my alma mater's president was Magill, University of Pennsylvania, stepped in it in front of Congress by stating the legal definition, which is where the behavior becomes so sufficiently severe and pervasive as to alter the conditions of the environment, right?

[06:40:15]

Now, that's - that's tricky legal language, but it can't just be necessarily that you feel scared. Someone has to be doing something that actually impedes your ability to learn, your ability to go to school, your ability to enjoy your existence and so on.

Now, where's the line between simply making somewhat uncomfortable and actually getting substantively in their way? And, in fact, Columbia's policy, and my other alma mater -

HUNT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Their - their policy says, every time, on every category, this is not intended to include language that just makes people uncomfortable, right? And just -

HUNT: Well, so - yes, no, for sure.

WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: Dana, your alma mater and mine as well, GW, has suddenly been dealing with this. They put out a statement in the last 24 hours, there's an encampment on University Yard, which is kind of right in the center, and now some kids have moved into H Street, the middle of the street, in D.C. They say here, "free expression and activism are not unlimited. The encampment on the yard clearly - violates our clearly defined rules of conduct and behavior." They do say there have been no incidents of violence, but they did say, "the determination was made, students who remain in the encampment will be placed on temporary suspension and administratively barred from campus."

And I will say, among my - we should say, GW is a university with a very large population of Jewish students, many of whom I was - became friends with when I - you know, many of my friends when I was at college come from that. And so this picture, I want to show this picture that's circulated on Twitter from a conservative leaning reporter, but it shows one of the signs that's been on this university, and you can see it has the Israeli flag and the words final solution, which is, of course, a reference to murdering all Jews.

Now, you can also see to the right, it's a little bit difficult to read, but there seems to be what looks like a student who's got a - who - a Jewish student who says Jews against genocide. He's not waiving that, right? So, I recognize that, right? Students on GW saying, you know, Jews against genocide. But that final - like I cannot believe that that - that poster that says final solution was on the campus of the place where I went to school.

BASH: Yes.

HUNT: And I just - when you see this, what should they be doing? Is GW doing enough? As an example. Like, how - this is the thing that I can't - I can't get my head around. There it is. That's a little bigger.

BASH: The relatively new president of GW, just taking it as an example, has been more aggressive in calling out this kind of stuff than others have been for sure.

Look, it's difficult because, I mean, like you were saying, putting up a sign that says final solution is disgusting, is absolutely no question about hating Jews. Nothing to do with the conflict in Israel and in Gaza. But this has become so seeped into the protest movement that it's hard to separate. And that's why we have to call it out and to be extremely careful. And, frankly, question some of what is going on here beyond just understandable right to protest, right to free speech, and an anger about the way that Israel is prosecuting the war.

HUNT: All right, Dana Bash.

Dana, thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

HUNT: Always grateful to have you. Really appreciate it.

Coming up next here, new CNN polling on the state of the race right now between President Biden and Donald Trump. Donald Trump's up talking about it.

Plus, Major League Baseball, they're trying to fix this. We'll just - we'll just call it an embarrassing issue with the pants. You may have noticed. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:58]

HUNT: All right, 47 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Right now Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia. He's speaking at the World Economic Forum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: A major effort that's been made over the last couple of months to get to that ceasefire, to get the hostages out. And right now, as you said, Hamas has (INAUDIBLE) a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel. And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: This before he is slated to meet with leaders in the region to discuss where ceasefire and hostage talks stand.

Florida's six-week abortion ban takes effect this week. The state has been a vital resource for women across the south who can't access care in the states where they live. The ban could be overturned if 60 percent of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment when it's on the ballot in November.

Donald Trump meeting with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in Miami on Sunday. A source telling CNN it was the first time the two men have spoken since DeSantis ended his bid for the Republican nomination and endorsed Trump. Donald Trump could use some of that DeSantis money.

Major League Baseball addressing a major wardrobe malfunction. The pants that players wear will be modified before next season. Why? You can see through them, especially when they are sweaty. Transparency, good for politics, bad for baseball,

Matt, these pants.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN AND REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Oh.

HUNT: Are you a baseball fan?

GORMAN: I am a baseball fan. The uniforms are ugly and they're the - the -

HUNT: There's that too.

GORMAN: The - exactly

HUNT: There's that too. GORMAN: But the pants are transparent. And then the letters on the back, the names are too small, is a money grab. I miss the old like '90s unis that were made (INAUDIBLE).

WILLIAMS: Yes. The jersey, they're thin. When the guys sweat, they just - it - it's not a good rebrand they've done across the league. I'm on board with you.

GORMAN: Completely.

HUNT: Yes, I think if I were one - I - no, I - there was appropriately a revolt.

All right, let's go now - let's turn back, though, to the race for the White House.

[06:50:03]

Comedian Colin Jost talked about it over the weekend. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN JOST, COMEDIAN: The Republican candidate for president owes half a billion in fines for bank fraud and is currently spending his days farting himself awake during a porn star hush money trial. And the race is tied?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It might have been a joke, but he is right, the race is very close. A new CNN poll shows Donald Trump barely in the lead in a head- to-head match against President Biden. And if we dig into the numbers, we see that part of Trump's edge is what looks to be increasing nostalgia for his time in office. More than half of Americans say Trump's one-term presidency was a success. Just 39 percent of Americans say the same about President Biden's current term.

And, of course, we've got Trump up this morning writing, "good pull numbers from CNN of all places against the worst president in the history of the United States," parentheses, "by far," end parentheses. How much of this, Matt, is, you know what I mean, there are literally biological reasons why your body doesn't remember bad things with time.

GORMAN: Yes.

HUNT: But, obviously, people are looking at the president being in office right now. They're not happy with him but they were not happy with Trump when he was actually leaving office. What's going on?

GORMAN: I think for different reasons, right? I think - I think people felt good -- a lot better about the economy during the Trump years than they do - they do right now. They pay - they pay less and bank accounts were a little - a little more stable. And you're right, this is a trend. We're seeing a pretty consistent - small but consistent Trump lead here. And you're seeing the economy, which again - two of the top three issues according to the poll help the Republican candidate, immigration and the economy.

Certainly you have - you know, democracy was the number two issue. You obviously have the issue of abortion, how that plays in motivating people to the polls. But, I mean, things are sitting up issue wise and also polling momentum wise for Trump to continue.

BEDINGFIELD: I think the other interesting thing in this poll though, if you look under the hood, is there is more room for growth for Biden with his base than there is with Trump - than there is for Trump with his base. And so what that means is, Biden - you know, if you look at the head-to-head, and they're roughly tied, but Biden has room to grow with his base, well then there's opportunity there. Now that's not to say, yes, he's got to - he's got to get there. He's got to -

HUNT: And if you flip it around, you could also say he has bigger problems with his base than Trump does.

BEDINGFIELD: You could. You could. But if you're - you could. But if you're running a presidential campaign, you're looking for, where are my growth opportunities? Where do I invest money? What am I - you know, how do I - how do I expand? And so that - you know, if I'm - if I were the Biden campaign and I'm looking at that poll, that's - that is the instructive piece of the poll for them. That's the - that is the action item for them.

GORMAN: And the action item I think for Trump is, I want to peal some of those Biden voters of, particularly minority voters, Latinos, African American men, the people who either voted for Biden previously or didn't vote at all. I mean back during the Obama years, the Republicans were the ones who always would come out in midterm elections and had trouble in the presidential years. That dynamic has flipped. So now that the burden is on us to get those people who haven't voted in a couple of years out when Trump's on the ballot.

WILLIAMS: To that - to the point that Colin Jost raised that started this all -

HUNT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: The point - he used the term porn star hush money trial or whatever. It's - and what he left out there was falsifying business records to hide romantic affairs. We've gotten so desensitized to the silliness and some of the madness that lost on Thursday was the fact that that wasn't even the biggest legal story affecting that person that day. Donald Trump is at the center of so much madness that we've just become desensitized to it.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

HUNT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And that seemed (INAUDIBLE) the fact that (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: I mean I think the point was that the salaciousness of that particular trial is -

WILLIAMS: Yes.

HUNT: It just kind of puts a finer point on what we're dealing with.

WILLIAMS: Yes, how crazy.

HUNT: There was also this over the weekend. One of Donald Trump's possible vice presidential picks facing some backlash. This is an excerpt from an upcoming book, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. She explained how she shot and killed her 14-month-old puppy named Cricket in an excerpt from the book obtained by "The Guardian." Noem described the puppy as "untrainable," "dangerous to anyone she came in contact with" and "less than worthless as a hunting dog." She then went on to write, quote, "I hated that dog."

Now, Noem is defending her actions as responsible. She wrote on social media, quote, "the fact is South Dakota law states dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given the Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did."

The panel is back.

I have to say, this story just made me incredibly sad, Matt. I mean, like, it's - there have been some notes about life on a farm. It can be different. Those of us who live here in the, you know, urban centers and - et cetera, this is not something I've ever encountered in my own life. I've actually talked to some people who have to try to figure out, like, is this normal, is this not? Historically, you know, dogs that hurt chickens, chickens are food, you don't do that. But we don't live in a time where she didn't have the option to put out an ad in the paper and say, or, you know, call her friends and be like, where can I find another home for this dog? Like, I - I mean what - is she - what's up with Kristi Noem?

[06:55:04]

It's - it's -

GORMAN: I - look, let's take a step back. You know, before this, I thought she was a very good on paper candidate to be VP. Obviously, we just talked about abortion. Having a woman on the ticket would certainly help things. But you're right, if you are not even the other party. If you're some of her possible vice presidential kind of rivals so to speak -

HUNT: Right. Well, they're all fighting with each other at the moment.

GORMAN: Yes, exactly. Right.

HUNT: Yes.

GORMAN: So, you're putting this out as well.

Well, the one other thing I would say is, you know, Elliot, your kind of broke down the hush money and what it really means. This is something - this is a story that's pretty easy to explain in a sentence. People can understand it. It can break through, you know, your parents and your mom, who might not follow politics that closely can understand it pretty clearly. And that's the danger if you're Kristi Noem. This can break through and define her in a way with -

WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE).

GORMAN: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: If you were - if you were on day three, day four of explaining your literal puppy murder -

HUNT: This came out on Friday. Yes.

GORMAN: Yes.

WILLIAMS: Pupiside (ph).

BEDINGFIELD: You are not winning. I mean, I just - it's - it is everything about the story. Yes, absolutely, life on a farm. I'm not - I don't live in a rural area. But even in the way she tells the story, in her own book, by the way, this isn't like somebody leaking on her, trying to like land a hit. Like, this is how she describes the story in her own book. The - like I hated that dog.

HUNT: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: And then taking the - I mean I just - it is - it is troubling. And again, I just go back to like, if you are on day four of explaining your puppy murder, you're not winning.

WILLIAMS: So this - and, frankly, I'd love to ask the politics people, my cynical question is, did someone find out about the story and that she had to just preempt it by putting it out there so other people didn't raise it first, so she still has a hope at a political future?

BEDINGFIELD: If so, this is a really - it's a weird way to frame it.

GORMAN: It's a weird way - it's a weird way to do it.

HUNT: I mean it's a play -

BEDINGFIELD: If this was her positive framing of what she thought was a negative hit coming down the track, it - she did not (INAUDIBLE) well.

WILLIAMS: The smart -

BEDINGFIELD: And that makes - that just doesn't make any sense.

HUNT: Is she trying to like - I mean so Donald Trump, you know, famously hates dogs. He will talk - he'll use the phrase, like, so- and-so should be shot like a dog. Like is that - is she trying to like appeal directly to him with this aggressive language?

GORMAN: I - I don't - I don't think so. I don't think - I mean, look, I can't get inside her head, but you're right, like, I mean, this was in a book. This went by multiple editors and this was written months ago as we - I mean I -

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

GORMAN: Like, this isn't something that was just said off the cuff. You remember when Mitt Romney, the whole Seamus the dog thing happened off the cuff at a fundraiser with his son, a very different circumstance.

HUNT: All right, Seamus the dog was the family dog who traveled on a family vacation in a crate on top of the car and it became a huge problem for Romney.

GORMAN: Yes. Yes. Yes. Huge problem. But it was off the cuff.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

GORMAN: It wasn't written in a book, you know, edited for months in advance.

HUNT: Yes. Yes.

GORMAN: You know.

WILLIAMS: Is it - is - and, again, is it trying to look tough for -

HUNT: Right.

WILLIAMS: For a president - a former president who values toughness and she's a female candidate? Look, I'm just trying here. This is reprehensible. And it's hard to explain how someone -

HUNT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: So, there's got to be an explanation for it.

BEDINGFIELD: And, I mean, look like Trump - Trump hates dogs. Fine. But more than that, Trump also hates losing, right? And so now you've - she's like made herself essentially like radioactive by telling this story in this way. And people across the - across the political spectrum are rightly horrified because it's essentially - it's like animal cruelty and she's bragging about it. So, I - I don't -

HUNT: That's where I got stuck, the brag - like the bragging.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

HUNT: Like, holding this up as like an example (INAUDIBLE).

BEDINGFIELD: Right. And it wasn't - and she doesn't present it like it was this horrible choice that I had to make. I mean she - in her like day two of trying to clean it up where she tweeted like, you know, we love our animals and we had three horses that were - lived with us for 25 years that we just had to put down. That's a different kind of story than like aggressively bragging about murdering a 14-year-old - a 14-month-old puppy. HUNT: Right. OK. So, that's enough - I've had enough of the puppy murder. I would like to go to this, which is funny things that are not about politics. Highlights from the White House Correspondents Dinner that, yes, were not political.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, Laurens (ph) had even more comedians and actors joke about me, like the funny guy in "Weekend Update," Michael Shay (ph).

Scarlett Johansson, you did such an incredible job in your State of the Union rebuttal. Clearly, you're - you're the funny one of family.

COLIN JOST, COMEDIAN: Thank you, Kelly, for that very kind introduction.

Mr. President. Dr. Biden, Vice President Harris, Doug.

Doug, as you can tell from all the comments about my wife, I'm also used to being the second gentleman.

I want to thank my wife for enduring lots of jokes and for agreeing to individually meet everyone in this room right after the ceremony. That is - that's really special, honey, thank you. Don't be shy. Come right up. She hates privacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Scarlett Johansson was a good sport, as was Doug Emhoff, can I just say.

GORMAN: Yes. Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

HUNT: It's like, all these other people got titles and it was just Doug.

GORMAN: Celebrities coming to this dinner, I feel so bad, they're like in a fishbowl with bad - all these random hill staffers getting bad selfies with them. And I'm just like, why, you know?

HUNT: Why do they all - why do they come for the dinner?

BEDINGFIELD: Why do they come?

HUNT: I know - yes.

[07:00:02]

BEDINGFIELD: Because they love politics. They're fascinated by it. They love power. It's, you know, I think - I think there's also probably an element of like looking into the fishbowl. It's like this weird world in Washington. Like, let me go witnesses it up close.

WILLIAMS: I think it's not -

GORMAN: I think they're far less impressed than you think.

BEDINGFIELD: What are these people like?

WILLIAMS: I think - I would think if you're not of this world, you probably find it quite intoxicating, yes.

BEDINGFIELD: You're fascinated -

GORMAN: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: You're fascinated by it.

HUNT: Yes.

WILLIAMS: It's true.

HUNT: Well, we're happy to have you.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

HUNT: Thank you for coming.

And thanks to our panel for joining us this morning.

I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" stars right now.