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CNN This Morning
Trump Chooses Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense; Jack Smith to Finish Work, Resign Before January; Trump's Pick for Ambassador to Israel Does Not Believe in 2-State Solution; Conditions to Improve Around Jennings Creek Fire Today. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired November 13, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, November 13th. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:58:55]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: It's one thing to have DEI inside your corporation or inside your university. It's a whole other thing to have it inside the 101st Airborne.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Surprise selection. Donald Trump picks a FOX News host and Army veteran as his defense secretary.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ALABAMA GOVERNOR: It's time for a complete reset of our internal and international relationships.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A familiar face. Mike Huckabee tapped to be Donald Trump's right-hand man in Israel.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): I know what to do. I will get it done. I will make sure Trump's agenda is done, and I think that's why I'm going to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump's man on the Hill? Senate Republicans meet today behind closed doors to vote on who will replace Mitch McConnell as their leader.
And then -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIVEK RAMASWAMY, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fire 75 percent of the federal bureaucrats.
ELON MUSK, BILLIONAIRE: We're going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: It's a DOGE eat DOGE world. Federal workers' jobs at the mercy of Elon Musk. The president-elect naming him and Vivek Ramaswamy to run the Department of Government Efficiency, or the DOGE.
All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at New York City. It's a beautiful sunrise there on this Wednesday morning. Finally chilly here on the East Coast. We're going to finally get some winter weather.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
President-elect Donald Trump will set foot back in the Oval Office again today for the first time since he departed Washington in disgrace in 2021.
We can't show you pictures of the traditional luncheon between the outgoing president and the incoming one from 2020, because it didn't happen.
This is the day that President Obama invited Trump to the White House back in 2016. Trump denied Biden this courtesy in 2020 as Trump denied that he had lost.
In 2016, Trump was relatively unprepared to govern. This time, Trump's visit to the Oval Office comes as the president-elect is already planning to remake government in his own image, and that includes the U.S. military.
Donald Trump announcing last night he selected FOX News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. Sources telling CNN that decision was based in part on Trump's respect for Hegseth's service in the Army and on optics, with one source saying, quote, "Trump also thinks he has the look."
The two have a long-standing relationship, with Hegseth having been interviewed Trump a number of times on FOX, including this summer, when they had this now telling exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: Laura from Nebraska said, "I'm the mother of two Army officers. What are you going to do to rebuild our military?" And I would add to that, rip out the woke stuff that's happening, like all the service members see is embedded in our Pentagon right now. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know the
military better than anybody. I'd put him in charge. I really would. I often think of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'd do a great job.
TRUMP: I talked to him about it a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Hegseth announcement -- Hegseth's announcement coming as the "Wall Street Journal" reports that the Trump transition team is considering a draft of an executive order that would create a panel of retired military personnel, empowered to review and recommend the removal of three- and four-star generals.
That order is still a draft, but it's also aligned with previous comments from Hegseth, echoing Trump's claims that the military is being undermined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: It's one thing to have DEI inside your corporation or inside your university. It's a whole other thing to have it inside the 101st Airborne.
You can move to a different state if you want to go to a different school or if you want a different tax rate. We only have one military. And if the military goes woke, then it is less equipped to fight the wars it needs to fight.
I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective. It hasn't made us more lethal; has made fighting more complicated.
We've all served with women, and they're great. It's 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: All right. Our panel is here: Stephen Collinson, CNN senior politics reporter; Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios; Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, former senior advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign; and Brad Todd, CNN contributor and Republican strategist.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.
Brad, and also Karen, my question is whether or not this -- this man is going to be able to be confirmed, because if you look at the GOP senators reacting, Lisa Murkowski, quote, "Wow."
Senator Thom Tillis, quote, "Interesting."
Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, "I trust the president to make a good choice."
Sen. Todd Young: quote, "I just don't know much about the background and his vision."
Obviously, he's made these comments about women in the military. And two women: Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins probably not unwilling to vote against him, if it were to come to that.
Brad, what do you think? Is this man confirmable?
BRAD TODD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think he is. I think 53 Republican senators. That's just what a big victory gets you. A big victory gets you a little bit of cushion in confirmation.
And I think we're not talking, also, about the lobbyists who are going to back Pete Hegseth. And it's not the ones you'd think.
You know, our armed forces has about 2. 1 million people in uniform; about 775,000 of those people in the Guard and Reserves.
Pete Hegseth is going to make history as a National Guardsman, his secretary of defense. Those people are politically active back home. Their adjunct (ph) generals in their states are active.
I think you're going to see a big, big move by the National Guard to get Pete Hegseth confirmed.
HUNT: Karen.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: One Republican lobbyist was quoted saying something I can't repeat on air, using the "F" bomb to describe the pick.
HUNT: I think we have that. Yes.
FINNEY: Better you say it than me.
HUNT: "'Who the "F" is this guy?': Defense world reacts to Trump --
TODD: That's going to help him.
HUNT: "-- surprise Pentagon pick."
TODD: That's going to help him.
FINNEY: Look, two things. One, you said it in the intro. He looks good. We know that that's been an important criteria for President Trump picking a V.P. pick.
[06:05:03]
The question, though -- you know, there are questions about whether or not he can actually manage. Has he ever managed something? I mean, the Pentagon is huge. Has he ever managed? But I think, you know, Donald Trump was looking for someone who would just follow orders. Who will say -- when the president says I want you to use troops on
American soil against American people, he wants a man who's not going to question that. And I think he made --
TODD: That's an outrageous -- that's an outrageous allegation. Pete -- Pete has --
FINNEY: The president's already said that that's what he -- intends to do.
TODD: Karen, you know that's not -- you know that's -- let's stop with this. You lost. You lost, Karen. The election's over. Give some -- give the president a chance to run the country. Do what -- 75 million Americans voted for him.
FINNEY: I'm just quoting what he says. He said that he might consider using the military on American soil against Americans.
TODD: The campaign's over. The campaign is over.
FINNEY: I'm quoting your guy. I'm just quoting what he said.
HUNT: Karen, I don't want to cut you off. Your mic is not getting picked up correctly on the -- on the broadcast. So, we're just going to push pause, and we're going to try to fix that.
But we also have some breaking news. This just in: "The New York Times" reporting this morning that Jack Smith, who is the special counsel, who, of course, pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald Trump, is planning to finish his work and resign before Mr. Trump, "The Times" reports, takes office in January, people familiar with his plans said.
And "The Times" writes this, quote, "Mr. Smith's goal is to leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect's promise to fire him within," quote, "'two seconds'" -- end quote -- "of being sworn in."
Stephen Collinson, you paint big pictures for us here at CNN. This is really the big picture of the new -- of Trump having won this election the way that he did. The setting down of these prosecutions, the criminal accountability for what happened on January 6th. What does this mean?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a very tangible sign that Trump, as we know, because he won the election, is going to pay no price politically, potentially legally, in a criminal trial for what happened four years ago and which we would be reminded of today when the president- elect shows up to the White House to meet President Joe Biden.
I think the key thing here is, by resigning now, Jack Smith will presumably give himself the chance to write a report summing up a lot of the evidence that he would have presented in a trial, and while I don't think that is going to change anything, because Trump won the election, at least it puts it down on the historical record, and justifies some of the decisions that he made.
HUNT: Alex, how is this going to be viewed by -- you know, kind of across the board here. If there is a report, for example, sure to get backlash from the Trump team but also likely to be seen as an important historical document on the Democratic side?
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, this is a classic example of you're not going to fire me. I quit. And -- and what you're going to see is, if he does write this report, it is going to make Trump do what he's already even be -- been more motivated to do what he says he's going to do.
Which is basically declared war on the federal bureaucracy. Because he felt the federal bureaucracy undermined him last time and picked the FOX News host to be defense secretary.
He felt -- a lot of people around him felt James Mattis undermined him, tried to restrain him. I think the bigger takeaway is that, if you thought that this next administration is going to be more unrestrained than the last one.
HUNT: Yes, I mean, that's certainly something. You know, kind of broad theme we've talked about so many times at this table and one that does seem to be being borne out here.
I mean, Brad, right thing to do for Jack Smith?
TODD: I don't think he has any choice. And I also think that over 77 percent of the American public think these prosecutions are politically motivated. That includes a lot of people who voted for Kamala Harris.
And so, I think this is just Jack Smith accepting the will of the American public.
FINNEY: Agreed. Better to quit. Get out of the country, would be my advice.
HUNT: Dramatic.
All right. We're going to keep talking about this throughout the morning. Because straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, former Trump national security advisor John Bolton joins us live. We're going to ask him about the common threads that he sees as Donald Trump assembles his second White House.
Plus, as House Speaker Mike Johnson begins his fight to hold onto the gavel, we will hear from congressmen from both sides of the aisle: Republican Ryan Zinke and Democrat Pat Ryan.
And President-elect Trump picks Mike Huckabee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. Will any of his past comments complicate an already tense situation in the Middle East?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HUCKABEE: 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. And this isn't a one- bullet Barney with the bullet in his shirt pocket. This is the real deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: There's only one solution. Hamas surrenders. This is like trying to negotiate with the Nazis in World War II. You just don't. You beat them; you defeat them. You eradicate them.
Let's quit talking about a two-state solution, because all that does is reward the actions of Hamas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That's former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now President- elect Trump's pick to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. The former Republican presidential candidate has been an unflinching advocate for Israel throughout his political and television career.
CNN's K File uncovering this statement from Huckabee back in 2008.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: Basically, there really is no such thing as -- I have to be careful in saying this, because people will really get upset. There's no such thing as a Palestinian.
[06:15:08]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Huckabee also believes that, if a Palestinian state is created, it should be situated 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 (ph). There's no such thing as a settlement. There are communities. There are neighborhoods. There are cities. There's no such thing as an occupation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel is back. Stephen Collinson, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's Israel, likely to welcome this pick?
It's worth noting Huckabee is the first in quite some time to not be Jewish in this role. But of course, evangelical Christians -- and that's really kind of Huckabee's defining political identity -- have a very specific relationship with the Jewish state. And you heard him articulate some of it here.
What does it mean?
COLLINSON: This is a clear sign that the administration's first-time policy, which was very solicitous towards Netanyahu coalition will continue and will go even further.
It will be regarded as a disaster by Palestinians who still are a long way from that two-state solution, which now seems almost likely never to happen, given the events of the last few, the last year or so.
I think it poses two real questions, notwithstanding the fact that the ambassador doesn't make the policy. The president does.
How will this be seen by some of Trump's allies in the Arab world with whom, you know, he wants to create this realignment to the Middle East between Israel, some of the Gulf states, and Iran? That could be a problem, if this is the -- you know, the Trump policy.
HUNT: Yes. I mean, Brad, how do you see that piece of this?
TODD: Well, I think if you look back at the first Trump administration, the signature foreign policy success happened in Israel.
Democrats lost their mind when Donald Trump moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, even though many of them had voted for it. They didn't really recognize the Golan Heights. They said this is terrible; it's going to cause disruptions. It didn't.
Instead, what happened is, as soon as the United States was fully behind Israel without question, we got the Abraham Accords. And a lot of Arab nations making peace with Israel first time.
I think that Donald Trump has figured out the code on this. The United States has to stand with Israel and make it completely clear it stands with Israel, and then things will begin to take place and work out in the Middle East.
I think it's a -- I think it's a good pick. Mike Huckabee spent a ton of time in Israel. He has a lot of relationships there. I think it's a good pick.
THOMPSON: Just one thing I wanted to add is Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do, which is that he wanted Netanyahu to escalate the conflict, not de-escalate the conflict.
And there's going to be a lot of potential -- potentially, civilian casualties, if -- if that happens.
And if you see that happen, you're going to see this become even more a fight on the left part of the Democratic Party.
FINNEY: I think that's true, but I also think it will be -- if the violence continues to unravel in the way that we've seen and he's not able to actually stop the violence, that's going to be a stain on his administration early on, depending upon how this plays out.
HUNT: All right. Still coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump, as we've just been discussing, making good on his campaign promises.
One of them, Elon Musk. The new role the president-elect has selected for the tech mogul.
Plus, in just hours, Senate Republicans set to choose their next leader.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:22:44]
HUNT: The area around the Jennings Creek Fire burning on the New Jersey-New York border is getting some much-needed relief today. Let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek van Dam.
Derek, good morning. What are folks -- what should they expect this morning?
DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kasie, improving conditions, but we're not out of the woods just yet. Right along that I-95 Corridor, it will be cool, windy, and very dry today. That's why we still have our red flag warnings in place for parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, even Long Island.
But notice where the Jennings Creek Fire is located, near that border of New York and New Jersey, not included.
So, conditions there improving, but we still have very dry air. You can just see how the relative humidity levels drop so quickly throughout the course of the morning hours out of that wind from the Northwest, gusting to 20 to 30 miles per hour at times. And especially this morning. Improving conditions by this evening.
There is a storm system across central parts of the U.S. That will bring some rain to the plains and the Ohio River Valley.
Here's a quick look at your temperatures. Told you it would be cool: 48 in New York City.
I want to direct your attention to what's forming across the Southwestern Caribbean, an area that the National Hurricane Center has identified as a 90 percent probability of tropical development within the next seven days.
This is a computer model. You can see it could impact the Yucatan Peninsula. And then a general curve to the Northeast that could bring impacts middle to second half of next week into the Florida Peninsula.
Something we need to monitor, pay very close attention to as we get closer through the course of the weekend. Kasie, we'll be all over it. HUNT: All right. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, I hope you
don't have to come back and cover that for the sake of everyone in its path.
VAN DAM: Me, too.
HUNT: But appreciate you. Thank you.
VAN DAM: OK.
HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, "Wow," "Interesting." Just a couple of the reactions from senators who will have to vote on Trump's choice for defense secretary.
Up next, we're going to talking to Congressman Pat Ryan, a veteran himself, for reaction on how Trump is shaping this new administration.
Plus, key leadership votes happening today on Capitol Hill. It will tell us who will be leading the next Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): The MAGA agenda is what they approved of, and that -- that was not the agenda that was focused on in this majority of Republicans. And I think that's -- I think that is a clear point that has to be recognized.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:29:43]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!" Trump -- and we just got this news, like, a minute ago -- hired Pete Hegseth. You know who this is? He's a guy on the "FOX & Friends" weekend edition, to be secretary of defense. Hulk Hogan must be devastated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump's pick for secretary of defense, conservative commentator, Army veteran Pete Hegseth, taking some in the defense world by surprise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): I confess I didn't know who he was until 20 minutes ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
