Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Trump Picks Army Veteran, Fox News Host For Defense Secretary; Huckabee in 2017: "There Is Not Such Thing As A West Bank"; Security Beefed Up In Paris Ahead Of France-Israel Soccer Match; Conditions To Improve Around Jennings Creek Fire Today. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired November 13, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:31]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, November 13th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A surprise pick. Donald Trump taps a Fox News host and Army veteran to serve as his secretary of defense. What led to this shocking selection?
And this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: I have to be careful saying this, because people will really get upset -- there's really no such thing as a Palestinian.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A staunch defender of Israel, he once said, there's, quote, no such thing as a Palestinian. Now, he could be Trump's ambassador to Israel. What this means for the region.
And later --
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I bring to the table, I think, a leadership style that's conducive to getting results.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HUNT: Leadership fight in just hours, the Senate will vote on one of the most powerful roles in Washington -- the race to replace Mitch McConnell (MUSIC)
HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at New York City on this Wednesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Donald Trump's latest pick to join his cabinet, sending shock waves through Washington. The president-elect announcing Tuesday night he plans to choose Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense. Hegseth is an Army veteran, Fox News host who's been an outspoken defender of the returning president and a critic of current military policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.
It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. We've all served with women and they're great. Its just our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally -- not traditionally -- over human history, men in those positions are more capable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Republican senators responding with a mix of surprise, not necessarily coming out outwardly against the choice. You be the judge.
Wow, said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis simply saying: Interesting.
West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito said: I trust the president to make a good choice.
Indiana Senator Todd Young added, quote, I just don't know much about his background and vision.
Pete Hegseth selection comes as we learn also about a new draft executive order that could lead to a purge of generals from the military ranks. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting the order would, quote -- establish a, quote, warrior board, end quote, and could quote fast, track the removal of generals and admirals. Admirals found to be lacking in requisite leadership qualities.
Democrats on Capitol Hill say the draft orders and the choice show Trump's true plans for a second term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): I'm shocked, truly. And this is exactly what we worried about. And we warned about Donald Trump, which is that he is going to appoint unqualified loyalists to shape this government into his own personal fiefdom. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining us now to discuss all of this, Sabrina Rodriguez, national political reporter for "The Washington Post".
Sabrina, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.
HUNT: So this pick, not one that had been widely discussed before Trump announced it yesterday. You could see there a selection of the senators that will need to confirm him. And you know we expect we haven't called the final race here at CNN yet in the Senate. We expect them to have a 53 seat majority in the Senate, which means that Donald Trump would only be able to lose that many to confirm a cabinet post.
Some of the things that Hegseth has said, and we played there about particularly women in the military potentially problematic for him. What are you hearing about how this pick came to be and what the reaction is going to be here?
RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I think some of the reaction, I think the wow summed it up for I think for a lot of people in Washington today, I think, you know, senators are going to be navigating the pressure of having Donald Trump in the White House again, this is just the first of many challenges they're going to face.
And I think, you know they're sort of measured response and reaction is sort of a lot of what were going to see. The reality is again, he needs the numbers for this confirmation. I think there's going to be an aggressive push to sell him as someone who can be, you know who can be defense secretary.
[05:05:02]
There's already talk of, you know, him being very decorated from his past and you know certain credentials that he has, but the reality is that this is just one of many picks. Donald Trump and just a matter of a week has moved very quickly to you know, flood us with the many people that he's going to be nominating for secretary positions and I think senators are going to be in a position of really having to navigate who exactly is it that they want to push against, and who exactly are they excited and going to be full throated supporting.
HUNT: Sabrina, this seems to underscore the degree to which a personal relationship with Donald Trump is the thing that matters the most actually, where Hegseth was told by Fox News that he was being a little bit too cozy, right? A little bit of a warning.
He told colleagues that, well, you know, I'm going to have to kind of put my make sure that my relationship is not as out there publicly. He had lobbied Donald Trump intensively around pardoning a group of military members who had engaged in conduct for which they were reprimanded, a really difficult incident. This is someone who had spent and invested a lot of time behind the
scenes in that relationship and that seems to be the central feature to many of these picks, no?
RODRIGUEZ: Yes. I think that's the biggest. Through line right now is Donald Trump is not looking at people based off of necessarily their credentials for each given position. It's very much off of who has shown their loyalty.
I mean, whether it's Elon Musk, Kristi Noem, you know, across the board, the people that were seeing him select are people who are going to be loyal to him and that is something I mean, for a long time, we've known that that is something that Donald Trump looks for in the people that he surrounds himself with. But I think as we see him head into another presidential term, that is the key feature.
He wants to make sure that it is not someone that is going to try and measure him or tone him down, but someone who is going to execute the things that he promised on the campaign trail.
HUNT: Sabrina, one of the other things we learned yesterday is that the Trump team is going to put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of what they're calling the department of government efficiency, which abbreviates to DOGE in case you were particularly online.
Elon Musk wrote this, quote: All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency. Anytime the public thinks were cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know. We will also have a leader board for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars this will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.
What should we expect here?
RODRIGUEZ: I mean, this is the big open question. I think, you know, it's among the many that we have to grapple with between now and January. But I think one of the things that that has been talked a lot about in these days, since Donald Trump won the presidency, is how present Elon Musk has been. I mean, him being at Mar-a-Lago him spending a lot of time with Trump him sort of giving --
HUNT: The granddaughter posting, Uncle Elon.
RODRIGUEZ: Him being in the family photos like its, you know, he's clearly being integrated into this Trump inner circle. I think how long does that last is obviously an open question once Trump is in office?
But with this position, I mean there was a lot of talk around it. It's not a Senate confirmed position. It's not, you know, the details are still pretty murky about exactly how this will work um, but I think we have to look to this one to really see how unconventional next Trump term may be.
HUNT: All right. Sabrina Rodriguez starting us off this morning -- Sabrina, thanks very much. All right. Coming up next on CNN THIS MORNING: MAGA's big fight. Who's
going to replace longtime Senate leader Mitch McConnell in just a few hours? A secret ballot will decide as the candidates prepare their final pitches to their colleagues.
Plus, antisemitic violence in the streets of Amsterdam. Now, police are beefing up security in other European cities.
And Mike Huckabee tapped as Donald Trump's new ambassador to Israel. What this pick reveals about Trump's plan for the region.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: You're seeing a scrambling all over the Middle East of countries suddenly trying to behave differently because they know a new sheriff has come to town.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:13:42]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.
Mike Huckabee is Donald Trump's pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel. The former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate has been a staunch defender of Israel throughout his career. CNN's KFILE uncovering this comment from Huckabee in 2008.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: Basically, there really is no such thing as -- I have to be careful saying this, because people will really get upset -- there's really no such thing as a Palestinian. There's not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Huckabee has also said if a Palestinian state is ever created, it should be located in Egypt, Syria or Jordan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It's Judea and Samaria. There's no such thing as a settlement, their communities, their neighborhoods, their cities. There's no such thing as an occupation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London.
Max, good morning to you.
There are, of course, have been some particularly conservatives in Israel, likely pleased by the Huckabee choice.
But as you could hear from his language there, he comes down on a certain side of very controversial ways of talking about the region, about Palestinians. What is the reaction broadly across the region?
[05:15:01]
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, his views very clear. And, you know, there is no such thing as an occupation. It doesn't just go against what Palestinians think. It goes against what many of Israel's allies think as well, that these are illegal occupations of the West Bank.
So you're -- you're, you know, Palestinians are facing a situation where they are, you know, this American ambassador will take the view that they might not necessarily be allowed to stay in their homes effectively and that land will go away. And they could be relocated.
So these are extreme views, actually, a minority view for, you know, if you take the world view of what's happening there. But a very clear statement by President Trump about the sort of person that he thinks should be in that role. So presumably reflects you know, what will be his administrations views. And they are the most powerful foreign, power really in that region.
HUNT: Max, it also seems to be a relatively clear indication of where the Trump administration is going to come down on the question of pushing for a two state solution, which is obviously something that if you go back to George W. Bush's presidency, that was something that the Republican Party actually had been -- been pushing for, had been hoping for. Seems to align with the political realities on the ground in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you know, we were talking to Joel Rubin, who was a former State Department official who was on the program yesterday basically saying a two state solution is not part of the conversation in Israel right now. It's basically off the table.
Does this pick seem to align with the reality, as Rubin described it?
FOSTER: You know, a two-state solution is the one solution that most countries seem to agree is the only long term solution here. And so much policy in the Middle East has focused on that as an ultimate goal. So it changes everything if that is no longer an option.
And if it's Mike Huckabee part of this process then he would have to contradict himself if he's now going to start working towards a two- state solution. So it's a very clear focus of intent here. So then you do start questioning what is the long term solution what is Donald Trump's solution to peace in the Middle East, which is something that he's promising to bring in if it's not a two state solution, then is it, you know, allowing Israel to take over that land, relocating Palestinians? There are so many questions that come out of that.
So I think, you know this is one ambassador. We know what his views are. We need to hear more clearly about how he intends to push them through but most importantly, whether Trump is going to empower him and whether Trump very much believes in those views, too.
HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, antisemitic violence in Amsterdam, that city still grappling with unrest that began last week. And it's putting other European cities on alert.
Plus, during a curveball, we're joined by Republican and Kamala Harris supporter Geoff Duncan, the key issue, he thinks, helped Trump succeed in Pennsylvania.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:22:45]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
Police in Amsterdam bracing for more antisemitic violence.
The unrest started last week with attacks on Israeli soccer fans and it escalated Monday night with dozens of people armed with sticks and firecrackers setting a tram on fire while shouting antisemitic slurs.
CNN's Melissa Bell has been tracking the latest developments live from Paris, where security has been beefed up ahead of Thursday's Israel France soccer match.
Melissa, what's the latest?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was already a match, Kasie, that was considered likely to see tension around it. And, of course, that has been made even worse. Those fears that expectation by the events in Amsterdam last week where we'd seen that tension mount from the Wednesday when the Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters had arrived in the Dutch capital, chanting anti-Arab slogans and tearing down Palestinian flags.
The extra police that had been put on the streets of Amsterdam by Thursday were not enough to prevent what we saw over the course of that night. Hit and run attacks on individual Israeli supporters, which left dozens injured and has led now to 71 arrests, with ten of those still in custody. All of them now part of this investigation to try and figure out how those attacks could have taken place.
That tension had once set off, has led to fears that these kinds of fixtures, these kinds of sporting events, might now become lightning rods for this kind of tension. Remember that here in Europe, you have not only very large Muslim populations and very large Jewish communities, you also have across the continent, some very strong pro- Palestinian support.
And that's what we saw erupt on the sidelines of that match last week with Dutch authorities saying, look what we saw Thursday night in Amsterdam was not about political protest. This was crime, pure and simple and antisemitic in its nature. The French, as you suggest, are not taking any risks ahead of the Thursday match. What were going to see is 4,000 policemen and women around the Stade de France, where this Israel-France match is to take place. More than a thousand stewards as well, on hand to try and keep the peace. And 20,000 tickets sold rather than the 80,000 capacity that that stadium takes.
[05:25:04]
So, no chances being taken around that match, as these become more and more the subject of tension as we saw last week in Amsterdam violence -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Melissa Bell for us on this tense situation -- Melissa, thanks very much for that report.
All right. Time now for weather. The area around the Jennings Creek Fire along the border between New York and New Jersey, they are getting some much needed relief today.
Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning. What are we looking for today?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie.
We're not out of the -- of threat yet. We still have an elevated fire risk here. Where you see this shading of orange, Jennings Creek Fire, right -- located right about here. Still, the gusty northwesterly winds after a cold front passed through overnight and into the late morning hours yesterday very dry air, ongoing drought.
I want you to see this relative humidity. This is just a sample of how much moisture is in the atmosphere. See how that shade goes from green to brown kind of evaporating taking out all the available moisture in the atmosphere. This is typical with the passage of a cold front this time of year, but also with the changes of the temperature through the course of the morning to the afternoon.
Regardless, still very dry. And the winds again coming from the northwest will be gusty at times 20 to 30 miles per hour. You layer that on top of the ongoing drought, so that means we still have the potential for some ignition.
That's why the National Weather Service has maintained this red flag warning across parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and even into Long Island.
So the fire risk there clear over the western parts of the U.S. But I want to point your attention to what's happening in the southwestern Caribbean. We are monitoring for the potential of yet another late season hurricane that could develop later this week and into next week.
HUNT: All right. Derek Van Dam for us with that cheerful end note -- Derek, thank you I appreciate it. We'll see you next hour. All right. Still coming up here on CNN THIS MORNIG: Donald Trump's
pick to lead the Defense Department sending shockwaves through Washington.
Plus, Trump surrogates efforting a pressure campaign ahead of Senate Republicans leadership vote today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He should stay out.
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Yeah, yeah well, I mean, it's up to him, but if he was asking me which he hadn't, I'd say, listen, let us handle this. I mean, you know, you -- you got a lot of people to hire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:00]
