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Matt Gaetz Accusers Come Forward with Allegations of Sexual Favors for Money; Republican Introduces Anti-Transgender Bathroom Resolution; West Coast Braces for 'Bomb Cyclone'. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 19, 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 Tuesday, November 19. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[05:59:48]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL LEPPARD, LAWYER FOR GAETZ ACCUSERS: Representative Gaetz paid my client -- both of my clients for sexual favors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Going public. We're now hearing from the lawyer for two women making allegations against Donald Trump's A.G. pick, Matt Gaetz.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): This is a biological man. He does not belong in women's spaces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The Capitol Hill bathroom bill. A Republican congresswoman wants to ban the first transgender woman elected to Congress from using certain bathrooms.

And later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She continues to ask him what happened with the girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "What happened to the girl." A contentious call introduced as evidence between the man accused of killing Laken Riley, and his estranged wife.

And an urgent weather warning. Significant snowfall, life-threatening conditions as a bomb cyclone approaches the West Coast. Six a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at a beautiful sunrise in

New York City on this Tuesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

This morning, we are learning more about former Congressman Matt Gaetz, now President Trump's pick to be attorney general, and the two women who say he paid them for sex over a nearly two-year period while he was serving in Congress.

The lawyer for the two women going public with the details of their allegations, including that one of them saw Gaetz having sex with her 17-year-old friend.

The two women testified before the House Ethics Committee, but now there are questions about whether the report that resulted will ever see the light of day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEPPARD: She testified to the House that Representative Gaetz did not know her friend's age at the time they had sexual intercourse.

And when he found out about her age, the -- Representative Gaetz stopped having sexual intercourse with her, and he only started the sexual intercourse interactions later on, once she turned 18.

The testimony before the House was, yes, that Representative Gaetz paid my client, both of my clients, for sexual favors throughout the summer of 2017, all the way to the beginning of 2019.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing, and House Speaker Mike Johnson is urging the Ethics Committee to keep the Gaetz report private, because he resigned from the House last week.

But some of the senators who may have to go on the record voting for or against Gaetz, yes, they'd like to know what's in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Whether we get the ethics report or not, the facts are going to come out, one way or the other. And I would think it would be in everybody's best interest, including the president's, not to be surprised by some information that might come out during the confirmation hearing and the background checks.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You want to see it?

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Oh, I do, but more importantly, I want the Judiciary Committee to be able to see it prior to the hearings.

And then after that, depending on what happens, then of course, it could be released to -- to the -- to the other members that are going to, at some point, have a vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The lawyer for the two women who say that Gaetz paid them for sex has been doing media interviews as President-elect Trump has been personally calling senators to push them to confirm Gaetz as attorney general, we've learned at CNN.

Although Trump has also been asking his allies about the likelihood that Gaetz can be confirmed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Privately, he has said, in discussions with people, that he thinks that Gaetz's chances of getting confirmed are -- you know, the odds are less than 50 percent, or less than even.

But he is still going to push ahead with it, and he is digging in. And I expect that that is going to be the posture for as long as he can hold it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Our panel is here. Joining us now, Kristen Soltis Anderson CNN political commentator, Republican strategist; Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst; Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former communications director in the Biden White House; and Lanhee Chen, former policy director for Mitt Romney and Hoover Institution fellow. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

Elliot, we are hearing from this lawyer for these women, who had to go through all of this once, when they testified to the House Ethics Committee. Now, increasingly, looking like perhaps, if that information is and it is wanted by the Senate Judiciary Committee and others, if they're not going to give them the report, they're going to have to go straight to these women.

What -- what did you -- how do you understand what this lawyer is doing?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure.

HUNT: And what's next here?

WILLIAMS: Well, the most important thing to know is that it's not -- the important question here is not whether Matt Gaetz is a good or bad guy or qualified for the job, or whether you like him personally.

The question is, what information ought the Senate Judiciary Committee to have in making its constitutionally-dictated -- doing its constitutionally-dictated job of vetting candidates and nominees?

And this is the kind of information, almost out of the textbook that they are, No. 1, allowed to look at. No. 2, should be allowed to look at. And that No. 3, the House is free to release to them. Now, I think what the lawyers are doing is being a little bit cute

with material that might have been put under seal in another circumstance. They put it into the record. They've said the words and let the public know that it's out there.

[06:05:05]

So, it really falls to the senators to figure out ways to get it.

And simply seeing John Cornyn, who's, No. 1, one of the most senior Senate Republicans; and No. 2, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling for this material, I think it's going to end up in the committee's hands in some way, just for them to look at it, even if it's behind closed doors.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It feels impossible to me that it' s not going to leak if they don't officially hand it over. I mean, too many people have seen it. The House is not an institution that is -- historically, you know, holds information tight.

So, I think too many people want to see it. I would certainly hope it would be handed over in sort of normal order. But if it isn't, I cannot imagine a world in which this information does not get leaked, and these senators ultimately don't have the opportunity to see it.

HUNT: The Ethics Committee is usually more locked down than the rest of -- normally, I would agree with you on there. The House of Representatives is a very weak place, but less so there.

And Lanhee Chen, I mean, this is what my -- my colleague Stephen Collinson, who sort of specializes in writing these kind of big- picture, sweeping pieces for us here at CNN every day, he noted this about what's going on with Gaetz.

He says, "Trump is making this about far more than Gaetz. He's creating a test of power that reflects his own self-confidence, the balance of power in the new Congress, his belief that the GOP Senate should be at his service and not a moderating force. The president- elect's unorthodox pick of the Florida Republican -- the muscle he's already put into his candidacy -- may mean that Trump may soon approach the point where it will cost him more political capital to fold on Gaetz than to keep trying to get him installed -- whatever it takes."

What do you make of that analysis, and what do you think the president-elect is doing here?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER POLICY DIRECTOR FOR MITT ROMNEY, HOOVER INSTITUTION FELLOW: Well, I think senators are going to have to make a decision here, because this is not a private vote, OK? This is going to be a public vote.

And so, ultimately, what they're going to have to look at is can they actually take this public vote, given the information they have?

And I think that's why you see so many of them saying, look, I -- you know, we would like to see the report. Because I think they would like full information before they take those votes.

Ultimately, I do think there is a tremendous amount of loyalty toward President-elect Trump, both in the Senate and the House. But at the end of the day, these senators have their own political careers. They've got to figure out what they want to do.

And so, that's why I think you see so many of them, notwithstanding what's already happened, saying, look, you know, we'd like to see all the information before we cast this vote. Because the worst thing would be to cast this vote, and then have information come out that then implicates them in a vote that would be problematic for them.

WILLIAMS: Three of the first folks to come out of the gate were Joni Ernst, Susan Collins, and John Cornyn, all up for reelection in 2026. Recognizing that this is going to be something that's hanging over them.

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: Yes, and 2026 is going to be a tough year for Republicans anyways, because of the pendulum that swings back and forth in our politics.

We're coming out of a very good Republican year. It's likely to be good for Democrats.

And that's why I think you're seeing so many Republicans struggle with -- with this pick, much more so, I think, than some of the others.

I do think some of these nominees that Donald Trump has put up, who may be a little more avant-garde for Republicans, may --

HUNT: Avant-garde.

ANDERSON: -- may ultimately get through. Because I think if the -- if the key objection is that somebody has a policy difference, I don't think these Republican senators are likely to say, I don't like this person's stance on Ukraine or what have you. I think that is likely to get passed.

That's why this Gaetz one is fundamentally different, because it's not about does Gaetz have a different philosophy of the law than I do? It is, is he in compliance with the law? And that's why I think this one -- if any of them get hung up, it might be this one.

BEDINGFIELD: I want -- I want to believe both of your kind of theories here, of what Republican leadership in the Senate is going to do.

But I just -- I think everything that we have seen in the era of Donald Trump over this last decade. If Donald Trump makes this the public litmus test of are you for me or are you against me, I think at the end of the day, even these -- a lot of these folks who are absolutely going to be up in really tough races in '26 are going to toe the line.

WILLIAMS: Then the ultimate test, even beyond, are you going to vote for this person or not? The ultimate test for the Senate is would they allow themselves to go into recess for a period of days to allow the president to install his nominees?

Now, that would be a remarkable step and a remarkable bending the knee to future President Trump.

But in order for that to happen, it would require almost an agreement among senators to -- for that to happen. I think that would be a huge step.

CHEN: I think -- I think for one nominee, that's a challenge. I think, if it becomes a situation where there are several nominees implicated, then, you know, then we'd have to see. But I would be surprised to see it for one nominee.

HUNT: Lanhee, you know and have worked with Senator Mitt Romney, who's now an outgoing senator. A big part of why he's outgoing is because of the political dynamics that we see across the board.

Do you think that there is any willingness, to Kate's point, left among these senators to push back against Donald Trump in situations where they would otherwise feel that they were in a morally unacceptable position?

CHEN: I think, again, what I'd come back to is, first of all, there is a political dynamic here you cannot forget about, which is that each individual senator has to take that vote publicly.

They have to deal with the political consequences of what that vote might yield in future years. So, I think that's one element of it.

And some senators, you know, we don't know that -- members of the conference are coming in who are new. They're going to have to craft their own political identities and I -- and I don't know how that's going to go for some of these new members.

[06:10:09]

But again, it is, at the end of the day, politicians are --

HUNT: Aren't they likely to be -- I mean, they're all -- they all came of age in the Trump era.

CHEN: We'll see. We'll see. I mean -- well, you know, there are -- there are some people who don't necessarily have a record in the Senate yet. So, we'll see. We'll see how that goes. I don't -- I don't know is the short answer.

HUNT: Yes. Well, we're about to find out.

CHEN: We are.

HUNT: All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, raising the stakes. What the use of long-range missiles inside Russia will mean for Ukraine's war effort.

Congressman Mike Quigley, he's the co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, will be here to discuss. Plus, prosecutors expected to rest their case today in the Laken Riley

murder trial.

And more controversy on Capitol Hill after a bill is introduced targeting a new transgender member.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACE: This is about women. This is about girls. This is about our rights in being protected in our private spaces. I don't want to see a man in a women's restroom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:34]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACE: Sarah McBride doesn't get a say. I mean, this is a biological man. He does not belong in women's spaces, women's bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms. Period. Full stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace introducing a resolution to ban transgender women from using the women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol.

The move comes just weeks after the first transgender person was elected to Congress. Democratic Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride will be sworn in in January.

She responded in a post on social media. She writes this: quote, "This is a blatant attempt from far-right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care and childcare, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible. And that's what I'm focused on."

Some of McBride's soon-to-be Democratic colleagues defended the incoming lawmaker. Congressman Joe Morelle telling Axios, quote, "I think we have a lot of problems in America. I don't think spending time worrying about the restroom is an order of priority here."

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the move "plain bullying," while Congresswoman Becca Balint said, "Cruelty is the point."

Our panel is back.

Kristen Soltis Anderson, trans issues became such a flashpoint in this election, in no small part because of that one ad that the Trump team put a lot of money behind that really broke through. The flip side of, you know, talking about this is that, usually, these measures impact a very small number of people, whether it's transgender women and transgender girls in women's sports, or a situation like this, where there is one member of Congress who is clearly being targeted by this bill.

Clearly, Nancy Mace is going to get some attention for doing this.

When you look at this back and forth, how do you see this cutting?

ANDERSON: Well, first, I think it's important to unpack why that ad was one that Republicans ran so often and, ultimately, felt was a successful ad in the campaign.

And I think it comes down to the very end of the ad, where it sets up this dynamic of Democrats are for this small group that you're not a part of. Donald Trump's for you.

And so, when the debate is what should be prioritized? Should you be prioritized? I mean, that's an argument that Republicans found worked with a lot of voters.

It is also true that over the last, say, six, seven years, we have seen public opinion shift in a pretty significant way against considering gender identity ahead of biological sex. I mean, particularly among Republicans. It's something like nine out of ten believe that biological sex should be considered first.

So, that's part of why Nancy Mace is doing this.

Note: She's run afoul of Republicans in the past for anti-Trump stances. She's had quite a journey on that front. And so, it wouldn't surprise me if this isn't part of saying, like, look at me. I'm -- I'm a true conservative. I'm taking this action.

HUNT: Let's watch the piece of the ad that you were just kind of running through that sets up this debate, or did for the presidential election. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to believe, but it's true. Even the liberal media was shocked Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners and illegal aliens.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every transgender inmate would have access.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kamala is for "they/them." President Trump is for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That last line, Lanhee, really seemed to kind of cut through.

And to Kristen's point, there were some moderate Republicans. Axios reported, who were apparently open to the resolution. One said they would need more information. Another one said, quote, "I mean, the presidential election may have been decided on this issue."

CHEN: Yes. I mean, the -- the ad was very effective. And I think that, for many different reasons, the cultural issues broadly, I think, for Republicans were effective through -- throughout the country in 2024.

The issue is going to be it's a small Republican majority in the House. There's not a lot of room to sort of -- there's not a play in the joints (ph) there.

So, I think the question is to what degree something like this potentially creates division within the conference ahead of what they will need, which is a unified front going into a lot of tough votes, a lot of very impactful votes on actual substantive questions in 2025.

So, I think that's really going to be the question. We'll see. I mean, I do think there's more of an openness, certainly more of an openness now to something like this than there would have been, let's say, even a year or two ago.

HUNT: It does. Sorry, Kate. Go ahead.

BEDINGFIELD: No, I just the irony here is that Nancy Mace is kind of doing exactly what the Trump ad accused Harris and Democrats of doing, which is zeroing in on this cultural issue, as opposed to focusing on these bigger issues of -- I shouldn't say bigger. These other priorities of, you know, cost and, you know, making things more affordable and improving the economy.

[06:20:19]

And so, you know, I think sort of to Lanhee's point, I mean, I think the question is, does this kind of -- you know, does this land as, like a division in the Republican caucus?

Because it's this question of, OK, well, now you have power. What are you prioritizing? What is -- what are you going to focus on?

And if Nancy Mace is coming out with this bill, clearly aimed at one member of Congress, is that really where -- is that how Republicans want to defend what they're doing on Capitol Hill? I'm not sure it is, even though the trans issue itself, of course, did have salience in the presidential election.

HUNT: Yes, and salience in the ways that these things would affect a broad swath. You know, everyone who has a daughter in women's sports, there's -- that's one way to look at it.

But when you're looking at it in terms of this is a single person that is being targeted, I do wonder how the politics of that are different.

I also think it's worth -- worth noting that, in the Senate, it took until 1992 to get a women's restroom with two stalls for people like Barbara Mikulski, who was really focused on this. So just -- just keep in mind how -- how long it seems to take Congress to get places. The American public gets faster on these issues.

All right. Still coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, tuning into influencers, part of the daily routine for so many Americans. For some, it's the only way they get their news. We'll talk about how that impacted the 2024 election.

Plus, a close call before the Cowboys game when a piece of a roof fell in. It's one of five things you need to see this morning.

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[06:26:01] HUNT: All right, 25 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to leave him in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A Columbus police officer springing into action to save a man from his burning truck. The truck caught fire after a crash, and the man was trapped inside. He's now in fair condition.

A thief in Oregon takes off with more than he bargained for. You can see a delivery worker in the back of a truck when a suspect starts to drive off with it.

The worker eventually jumped off. The driver was arrested.

Twenty-two people stuck in the air for more than two hours after an amusement park ride malfunctioned in California. KABC reports everyone was helped off the ride safely. It's not clear why it broke down.

A ten-foot piece of metal falls from the roof of the Dallas Cowboys stadium. It happened just hours before the start of the game against the Texas [SIC] while the team was opening up the roof.

Thankfully, no one was hurt.

The notorious P.I.G.? Police in Washington state chasing down an unusual suspect, an escaped pig that was seen roaming the streets until police safely captured it and sent it back to a local ranch.

Aww, buddy.

All right. A live look now at Seattle. Rain already falling there as a bomb cyclone moves onshore. The West Coast bracing for potential flood watches, blizzard warnings.

Washington state seeing their first major snowfall of the year.

Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek van Dam. Derek, what are we seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Snowboarding on the TV screens. That's what I like to see.

It's really going to pile up across some of these areas throughout Mount Baker. Perhaps the Cascade Mountains. So, getting the ski resorts primed and ready for the winter season.

But this is a major storm that will have significant impacts. You saw it raining in Seattle. This will be a lot of rain by Seattle standards.

We've got this thing called a bomb cyclone. It's a real meteorological phenomenon. The storm is deepening and strengthening by a certain criteria to get that term.

But it's also streaming in this plume of moisture. We've heard this atmospheric river. And so, basically, what that does is it sends a stream of moisture all the way to the West Coast from far out into the Pacific Ocean.

So, there's a lot of energy associated with this system. So, on top of the wind and the rain, we will also have gusts over 50 to 60 miles per hour, even higher, in some of those high-altitude mountain ranges.

Flood watches in -- just posted recently across the Northern sections of California. You can see how the threat increases from today through the rest of the week. A rare high risk of flash flooding exists across the Northern coastline of California.

Elsewhere across the country, rain and storms throughout the Southeast. Still, our fire risk across the Northeast. Here's a quick look at your temperatures. Daytime highs in the middle 60s across the East Coast -- Kasie. Enjoy.

HUNT: All right. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you. I appreciate it.

VAN DAM: All right.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, the clock winding down on the Biden presidency. What Democrats want to try to get done before he leaves office. I'm going to talk with Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley.

Plus, from podcasts to TikTok, how online influencers are changing the way that people get their news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, most of the information I got was from Joe Rogan.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Joe Rogan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Rogan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A legend, man.

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But mostly, like, social media. If you want to be fully honest, it's social media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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