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Republicans Sweep White House And Both Chambers Of Congress; Trump Picks RFK Jr. As Health And Human Services Secretary; Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) On Democrats' Reckoning With GOP Retaking The House. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 15, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:29 a.m. here on the East Coast. It is 2:29 a.m. out in Las Vegas. That Sphere -- I could watch it all morning. It's, like, totally mesmerizing and apparently very expensive to run, but it's gorgeous.

All right, happy Friday. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

This was Donald Trump's third time as the Republican nominee but, of course, this election was different because not for the first time -- for the first time, actually, he not only won the Electoral College, but he also won the popular vote. Sources say this has given him a different mindset compared to when he first entered office in 2017.

Trump's campaign adviser Jason Miller telling CNN last week that winning the popular vote "changes everything."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: They would say he didn't win the popular vote, and we won the popular vote by records now, which nobody can say that anymore about us. Won the White House, recaptured the Senate, and now, as of today, recaptured the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: But some swing voters participating in a focus group conducted in partnership with Axios expressed some hesitation about Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think we need one party to have control over everything because at that point you just have a bunch of yes men and women. And we need those checks and balances so stuff that shouldn't get passed doesn't get passed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exact same. There's no balance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now, Axios senior contributor Margaret Tavel, who has been working on these types of focus groups for the last couple of years. Margaret, good morning. Thank you for being here.

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Good morning, Kasie.

HUNT: What did you -- what did you learn from these voters about what we're in for here and how they feel about it?

TALEV: Yeah, I love these focus groups and they're so insightful, and these were no different. This panel was actually selected before the election, so we were interested to find out how they actually voted. But the pattern for those swing voter panels have been people who had voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and then went to Joe Biden in 2020. What would they do?

Well, we found out that these 14 panelists from across the battleground states -- about a third had gone back to Trump. About a third stuck with the Democratic ticket -- in this case, Kamala Harris. And then the rest of them did third-party candidates. So they're really a divided group.

But what we heard uniformly from them is that the economy is their driving concern and that's what they want the president to focus on. They don't want him on a retribution tour. They don't want him blowing up every sector of the federal government and all the institutions that they -- that they know and that they use, but most of them believe that he probably will try. And these were really, really interesting nuances, you know?

HUNT: For sure. And I mean -- and the piece of balanced government -- I mean, I do feel like I hear that a lot when I'm out on the campaign trail. People will have strong feelings about who they want the president to be or to not be in many instances, but they will frequently say oh, I believe in divided government, right?

TALEV: Yes. We even saw some people split their votes that way because they're like well, the Democrats are probably going to lose the Senate. You could vote for Trump and vote a Democrat, or you could vote for Harris on the ticket and vote for a Republican lower down --

HUNT: Right.

TALEV: -- for exactly that reason.

HUNT: Yeah, really interesting.

So you also spoke to these voters about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. --

TALEV: Yeah.

HUNT: -- who we learned yesterday is going to be Trump's pick for HHS secretary. Let's watch what they had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's asking a lot of really intensely good questions, and it's about time somebody asked some good questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just question if he's really going to focus on the health of the American people versus his own political ambitions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just personally think a lot of his policies are rooted in gut feelings and anecdotes and not science.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TALEV: Yeah.

HUNT: So a pretty wide range on RFK there.

What else did you hear?

TALEV: Well, so we asked these voters about a couple of different figures and RFK was one of them and Elon Musk was the other, and we can talk about him in a second.

But there was actually less knowledge, believe it or not, about kind of the whole idea of RFK entering the incoming administration, as there was around Elon Musk. Everybody -- almost everyone on this panel was keenly aware of the very close relationship and advisory role that Musk seems to be playing in the president-elect's team.

Among the -- among RFK, there was some understanding but not as thorough an understanding. And among the five or so who really had thought about it, one thought it was a good idea, and the others thought it was a bad idea.

And it was exactly what you heard there that the one who likes the idea of RFK says he actually has a lot of interesting ideas. He would be engaged in health care in ways that other secretaries haven't, and he couldn't do a worse job than other people have.

And the other three were like no, he definitely could. They were concerned about the fact that his own family has kept a distance from him. That they're concerned about antivaccination threads or conspiracy theories, or some of those other elements.

[05:35:05]

So I think you see a mixed view with him.

On Elon, I'll tell you there is almost universal -- nobody thinks it's a good idea for Trump to be that close to Elon Musk. Some think it's actively a bad idea and the other half or so are like we don't really know what our opinion is, but we don't think it's a good idea.

HUNT: Did they say why? TALEV: Um, that he's -- they didn't elect him.

HUNT: Hmm.

TALEV: They elected -- some of them elected Trump, and some of them didn't vote for Trump. That he's not elected. He shouldn't be that empowered or have that much access. And also that because he's the world's richest man and a multi, multi, multibillionaire they really questioned what he's trying to get out of it. Would he be making moves that would reduce regulation of industries where he stands to gain?

Most of them just thought what's his motive and why would he be empowered to have this role? They were really not comfortable with it.

HUNT: That's really fascinating.

All right, Margaret Talev for us this morning. Margaret, so grateful to have you. Thank you --

TALEV: Thank you.

HUNT: -- so much for being here.

All right, let's turn now to this. Donald Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, as we've been discussing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We want you to come up with things, and ideas, and what you've been talking about for a long time, and I think you're going to do some unbelievable things. Nobody's going to be able to do it like you and, boy, does he feel it in his heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Just the latest of Trump's picks for his next administration that will likely test Senate Republicans' loyalty during the confirmation process.

Kennedy has notably spread false information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Here was a little bit of the conversation I had with him when he was running for president as an Independent candidate against Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So do you think school children should not be --

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., TRUMP'S PICK FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: And no advertising --

HUNT: -- required to be vaccinated in public schools?

KENNEDY: No, I would be against mandates at all. HUNT: For any vaccines for children?

KENNEDY: For any vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: If confirmed, he will also be in charge of overseeing the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Joining us now, director and officer of Michigan's Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Doctor, thanks very much for being here. It's wonderful to have you.

I'd like to start with just helping our viewers understand what a job like this entails, and the sheer size and scope that is under the attention of the Department of Health and Human Services, including over 100 million Americans who get their health care through Medicare and Medicaid. And the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is, of course, under HHS.

Can you give us an idea of what kinds of decisions Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be having to make if he is, in fact, confirmed to this role?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, DIRECTOR AND OFFICER, MICHIGAN'S WAYNE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, HUMAN & VETERANS SERVICES, FORMER DETROIT HEALTH COMISSIONER (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, Kasie. This is going to be the man setting the agenda for everything from what science we pursue to who gets health care under critical programs like Medicaid and Medicare. What the ACA will cover.

And I just want to give you three examples to answer your question.

You think about the CDC and vaccine advisory. This is going to be the individual who helps to select who the next CDC director is and what kinds of vaccines we are recommending for children.

Look at the NIH and the kinds of science that we pursue and the grants that we give. You could imagine somebody with very serious antivaccine views now starting to shut down research on vaccines for diseases that we don't yet have vaccines for.

You think about another agency like CMS (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and decisions about what we are going to cover for seniors.

And another one, finally, FDA (Food and Drug Administration). And you think about the kinds of decisions around regulation around food stuffs and medications.

And this is someone, unfortunately, who has a history of some really questionable views. And it's not whether or not you agree with his views; it's whether or not his views are based in science. Science is the way that we ask and answer questions in our society -- a very diverse society. We ask can we observe whether or not this medication, for example, has real benefits? And unfortunately, this is somebody whose past statements have

demonstrated no fealty to science whatsoever; just cherry-picking data that unfortunately will comport with his preconceived notions.

HUNT: Yeah.

Doctor, on this question of vaccines, in particular -- and I think it's so critical to focus on it because obviously this is something where each family makes decisions, but their decisions can impact the community in a very real way, right? If you are sending your children to school with unvaccinated children there is a higher risk to them, which is part of why we do vaccines the way that we do.

He has said -- RFK Jr. has said he doesn't want to take vaccines away from people who want them; he just wants to get rid of the mandates.

I think my question is if you start messing around with those mandates does that start to affect whether, say, insurance companies would cover these vaccinations for children and impact families' abilities to protect themselves?

[05:40:05]

EL-SAYED: You're asking a really important question. And, of course, when you think about where insurance companies tend to take their direction from it tends to come from Health and Human Services which, of course, RFK has the potential to be the secretary of.

That said, to your point, I really want to stress this because you're spot on here, Kasie. A vaccine is as good as the number of people in a local community take it.

You think about measles. We just had a massive case investigation for measles and thankfully, very few people got it. But measles is the most infectious disease known to humankind. And in order to prevent a measles outbreak in a school you need to have herd immunity at the level of about 95 percent.

And unfortunately, given the kinds of mis and disinformation that RFK and his nonprofit have been spouting for a long time, we've watched as that level of coverage has dropped to about 88 percent. That means you had many, many more potentially vulnerable people who could have gotten sick. And thankfully, in our case that wasn't the case.

But if you're in a situation where now these are not mandated anymore and people are listening to what somebody like an RFK is going to say, you're in a situation now where those outbreaks get a lot bigger and a lot more potentially at-risk kids can be affected.

And I'll just say this as a father of a young child. Kids under one can't get vaccinated. They rely on the vaccination of everybody else. And so whether or not somebody like RFK wants to admit it, we're all in this together and it requires all of us doing the things right to protect all of us together.

HUNT: Yeah, it's really such -- it's really such an important point. And, I mean, I am also -- I am the mom of two young children and that period where your child isn't vaccinated does feel much different than once you are able to actually do that. And, of course, those concerns are going to be exacerbated if these risks continue to expand.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, very grateful for your time and expertise this morning. Thank you very much for being here.

EL-SAYED: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Democrats doing some soul searching. Congressman Greg Landsman joins me live to talk about where the party plans to go from here.

Plus, a big game for my Philadelphia Eagles on "THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL." The Bleacher Report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:46:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The most consequential election in the last 129 years. Wow, that's something. So we swept all swing states. We won the popular vote. Oh, I love that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President-elect Donald Trump taking a victory lap in his first speech since his election victory address last week.

It came after Democrats on the Hill convened for their first of several post-mortem listening sessions. The party trying to figure out how Republicans achieved the trifecta of government control. Some Democrats pointing to their failure to address border security and crime.

One congressman telling his party, "Washington language doesn't work."

The House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries acknowledging his party faces a reckoning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: As a team, we're going to move forward with a family conversation over the next several days, next several weeks, over the next several months that is candid, that is clear-eyed, that's comprehensive.

And we've got to do a better job, of course, of working hard to lower food prices, lower gas prices, lower housing prices, and that's something that we're going to lean into. And the American people correctly have said they want that issue addressed decisively.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Greg Landsman of Ohio. Congressman, thanks very much for being here.

REP. GREG LANDSMAN (D-OH): Thanks for having me.

HUNT: Yeah. So you have -- and we have talked already a little bit about kind of what this reckoning is. This is the first time that you all have been together has been this week --

LANDSMAN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- as Congress has come back to Washington.

Do you feel like the party is -- has reached any sort of consensus about what went wrong here? Because there are some on the progressive left who have, say, blamed mis and disinformation for what happened. But there are others, like you, who think well, the party should be tacking more to the center.

LANDSMAN: Yeah.

HUNT: That should be the lesson that's learned here.

Where do you stand on this, and do you think that there is unanimity or at least a shared understanding in your party of what went wrong?

LANDSMAN: I think there's an emerging understanding that people are frustrated, and they're frustrated with the economy. They're frustrated with politics.

And with the economy, it's their bank accounts, right? So maybe unemployment is better than it was but our personal bank accounts -- the balance in there is not what we want it to be and so they want folks to fix it. Fix the economy.

And with politics -- yeah, there is this sense that politicians who get out there and they talk in sound bites -- it just doesn't resonate. People just want you to tell them the truth. They want you to be authentic. They want you to explain how you're going to fix something. And they want you focused on them.

So I think people appreciate that was for Trump -- you know, it meant that people wanted change, and they voted for him even though I think he represents more of the same or the status quo, or the things that are broken about the economy or politics. But people -- you know, they said well, this is what we want in terms of change.

I don't think they want the extremism, or the chaos, or the cruelty that comes with his rhetoric and with some of his policies.

HUNT: So I want to show you a little bit of a focus group. We were just speaking with Margaret Talev of Axios. This is a group of swing voters --

LANDSMAN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- that she talked to throughout the election. Many of them had voted for Trump and then voted for Biden. And then they were going to see where they went this year.

Here is what they had to say on the future of the Democratic Party. Let's watch this.

[05:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop focusing on migrants, immigrants, and grouping us all into one category as if we have to abide by this party. There just needs to be a change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like the celebrity endorsement at its max has to go away because everybody is laughing and it's all just a star- studded circus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the Democrats want to start -- want to run things again, talk to the grassroots. Talk to the -- talk to the people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring it back to the center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LANDSMAN: I agree. I mean, you know, I got off of social media a while ago, so no Twitter, no Instagram, no TikTok. Now, we have accounts, and I put stuff up there but I'm not scrolling, which means I get all my information from people.

So, back home, whether it's on the soccer field -- you know, I'm a soccer dad -- or at the grocery store, or at our town halls this is exactly what I hear, which is do the work, please be normal, be pragmatic. Yeah, we like when the center-left and the center-right work together. That's what we want. That's where you're going to solve problems.

And the celebrity endorsement part is hilarious because it is true. Like, no one cares what some of these -- we like their movies, we like their music. Who they're voting for, not so important.

HUNT: Do the celebrity endorsements make Democrats seem out of touch?

LANDSMAN: Yeah, I suspect if you're -- if you're hanging out with these celebrities. It's not the life I'm living. So yeah, sure, that feels different.

HUNT: It's interesting to hear that voter --

LANDSMAN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- say that.

Let me ask you about your reaction to some of Donald Trump's picks --

LANDSMAN: Yeah. HUNT: -- because, of course, he did -- he does have this mandate of Washington governance. The question seems to be can some of these more controversial nominees get confirmed. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the latest for Health and Human Services.

There was a Democrat, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who said he is excited by this news. He wrote, "He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019, and will help make America healthy again by shaking up the HHS and the FDA."

Do you agree with this -- with what Polis has to say? What was your reaction to the RFK Jr. announcement?

LANDSMAN: Uh, it was -- I'm worried. I'm genuinely worried. I mean, with these appointments and all of these decisions you've got to ask yourself who is benefiting and who is going to get hurt by this. And at the moment, it seems as if Trump is picking people who are loyal to him, and so he benefits. But what about us?

And, you know, I've got kids in school. What happens when other kids don't have the vaccines?

HUNT: Right.

LANDSMAN: Like, you know, are we all -- are we about to have a big conversation about polio and the measles, and what does it mean, and what happens if my kid gets the measles or some other horrible disease? I mean, you know, there -- there's a lot on the line.

And people expect -- I mean, this is what I think is true about this election and what's next. People expected a change, and they wanted people to get to work and solve problems. I don't think that they wanted or expected super-wealthy folks who are plugged in --

HUNT: Yeah.

LANDSMAN: -- to get positions of power to do what they want at the expense of the rest of us.

HUNT: All right, Congressman Greg Landsman. You're going to stick around and join us at the top of the hour. Thank you very much for that.

All right, time now for sports. The Eagles -- I love this -- soar past the Commanders to extend their lead in the NFC East in a Thursday night thriller.

Carolyn Manno has this morning's Bleacher Report. Carolyn, I missed the game, admittedly. I go to bed early. So bring me up to speed.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I will. Good morning, Kasie.

Well, historically, these Thursday night games are not really known for being blockbusters in terms of matchups, but that was not the case in this one. And Washington really was in control for the majority of this game, but things took a turn late in the fourth quarter. Philly coming storming back in this game.

Let me show you the highlights and I'll take you through what happened here. I mean, this is a contest between two teams that were basically looking to take eight wins so far in this season.

And the Eagles took their first lead in the fourth quarter. This is Philly's signature play, the tush push, for the touchdown -- Jalen Hurts there. But then the turning point coming with Washington down two in field goal range here facing a fourth and two -- the Commanders going for it. But the rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels bobbling the snap, trying to scramble for the first down and ends up getting tackled along the sidelines.

So after that, the Eagles started pouring on the points. Saquon Barkley scoring on back-to-back drives in a 20-second span.

Philly wins six straight 26-18 over Washington.

[05:55:00]

And afterwards, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni talked about that key stop on fourth down that was the difference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK SIRIANNI, HEAD COACH, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: That was huge. That was huge. I mean, that's a turnover in our eyes. Jayden Daniels is a -- is a -- obviously a really good athlete, a really good football player. It was -- it was good to be able to string that thing out and get the -- and get the stop. It was huge because we went down and made it a two-score game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: And lastly this morning, Kasie, it's fight night in north Texas. Millions expected to watch 58-year-old former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson squaring off against the 27-year-old social media influencer-turner fighter Jake Paul later tonight on Netflix.

Iron Mike getting the first blow in already, as you can see, slapping Paula across the face with an open hand during yesterday's weigh in. These two quickly separated by security. If that doesn't get you hyped for the bout maybe this will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE PAUL, PROFESSIONAL BOXER, ACTOR: I didn't even feel it. He's angry. He's an angry little elf. Mike Tyson, I thought that was a cute slap buddy, but tomorrow you're going to get knocked the (bleep) out. I'm (bleep).

(INAUDIBLE)

He hits like a (bleep). It's personal now. It's personal now. He must die. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, can I ask -- the world is excited to see you

one last time, perhaps. Can you just tell us the emotions and the thoughts that are going through your mind right now?

MIKE TYSON, PROFESSIONAL BOXER: The talking is over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you -- why did you push him there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, that's it. That's it for Mike Tyson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Tyson retired from boxing, Kasie, with a 50-6 record back in 2005.

I think the controversy was that he felt like Paul stepped on his foot when he got into his personal space. This is going to be something that millions and millions of people are excited about later tonight. I don't know if I'll be awake for it. But Netflix has to excited about just the theater that has come ahead of this fight between these two.

HUNT: Indeed. I've got to tell you -- maybe my age is showing but I'm pulling for Mike Tyson in this, OK?

Carolyn, thank you. I really appreciate it.

All right, in our next hour here on CNN THIS MORNING can Donald Trump's picks be confirmed by the Senate? Congressman Seth Moulton is here to talk about possible headwinds.

Plus, will the ethics report on Matt Gaetz ever see the light of day?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I think there should not be any limitation on the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation, including whatever the House Ethics Committee has generated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)