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CNN This Morning
Trump Names Unconventional Administration Picks; European Leaders "Deeply Concerned" After Two Internet Cables Cut In Baltic Sea; At Least 1 Killed In "Once-In-A-Decade" Northwest Bomb Cyclone. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired November 20, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:34]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, November 20th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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REPORTER: Mr. President, are you reconsidering the nomination of Matt Gaetz?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.
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HUNT: Donald Trump standing by attorney general pick Matt Gaetz, even as two women claim they gave the House Ethics Committee photos for its investigation.
Plus --
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DR. MEHMET OZ, TV HOST: This is what Forskolin does to your belly fat. Whoa!
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HUNT: The doctor is in. Trump taps fellow TV personality, Dr. Oz, to oversee Medicare and Medicaid.
And new weapons for the front. President Biden making another big policy shift to help Ukraine fight Russia.
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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Wednesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us. Donald Trump filling out his second administration with a familiar
cast of characters. The president-elect tapping major Republican donor and former pro wrestling executive Linda McMahon for education secretary, and television personality and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Oz ran for the Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2022, but he lost to Democratic Senator John Fetterman who had this to say about the pick.
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SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I'm going to be a very, very clear. If Dr. Oz agrees to protect and preserve Medicaid and Medicare, I'm absolutely going to vote for the dude, you know? That's the most important thing for me.
Our politics are obviously different, and we do have a history, but I don't have any bitterness. I don't hold anything against him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: These are just two in the latest -- the latest in the string of unconventional picks that Trump has made for his next administration. But maybe the biggest hurdle for Trump, of course, is his choice for attorney general, the former Congressman Matt Gaetz. He has been at the center of a House Ethics Committee investigation with the committee looking into allegations that include sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
A lawyer for two women who claim Gaetz paid them for sex, telling CNN that the House Ethics Committee has numerous photos related to the time that they spent with the Florida Republican.
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JOEL LEPPARD, LAWYER FOR GAETZ ACCUSERS: You have to understand that my clients are only two out of the over dozen witnesses that testified. I was present for two of those. And so, what I'm telling you is just a fraction of the evidence that's available of the thousands of documents the and the 25 subpoenas, 12 witnesses.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, EBOF: Do you think the allegations you're talking about here in detailing which have to do with your two clients, are a large chunk of their report, or do you think that this is the tip of the iceberg?
LEPPARD: Well, I do think that it's probably the tip of the iceberg.
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HUNT: Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Today, he and Vice President elect J.D. Vance are heading to Capitol Hill in an effort to try to lock down support for his nomination.
Also, today, the House Ethics Committee will decide on whether to vote to release the findings from that investigation. Regardless, Trump himself is not backing down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, are you reconsidering the nomination of Matt Gaetz?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining us now, Hadriana Lowenkron, national politics reporter for Bloomberg News.
Hadriana, good morning. Thank you for being here.
So let's start with why Donald Trump is focusing in on Gaetz the way he is, as opposed to some of these other nominees. He's been telling -- we've reported here, you know, friends and allies that he really wants to push this through, even as he acknowledges that he may not be able to get him through the Senate.
What is the latest that that we're hearing that you're reporting about how this is all playing?
HADRIANA LOWENKRON, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Right. Well, the Department of Justice is something Trump has had a lot of experience with, with his slew of cases, and he has said on the trail this was an issue that was really important to him, and overall, of course, choosing to put his staunch allies as opposed to people who might have had more experience in the post. And so focusing on someone like Gaetz, obviously, there is kind of the hope for him that he, in a sense, is maybe distracting with bringing out one person after the next, after the next, some of these more controversial figures.
So he's focusing on Gaetz, but maybe hoping that the senators and other people in Congress are, you know, able to say, we can get this forward because if you fight, especially Democrats, if you fight every single person, you know, that's just something that is not as likely to happen.
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So, you know, this focus really shows that he is trying to revamp the entire department. All of these people are, you know, non-conventional outsiders, hoping to radically overhaul the system.
HUNT: So let's take a little bit of a look at what some senators told my colleague Manu Raju yesterday on Capitol Hill, including Thom Tillis, who is the senator from North Carolina. He's getting -- he's going to be in the spotlight for a lot of these confirmation fights. Let's watch some of these comments.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If Trump were to recess, appoint him after the Senate rejects him, is that a bad -- SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): That's not even in the cards. I mean, again,
I know it makes for great fodder, maybe a couple of more clicks or whatever, but I don't even believe that Mr. Gaetz would want to come in under those circumstances.
RAJU: Given these serious allegations involving sexual misconduct with Matt Gaetz including sex with someone who's underage. Is he qualified to be attorney general?
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Nobody should be disqualified because of a media report.
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I've already talked to him. I mean, he just said listen, he wants a shot to be able to lay out his vision for the department and also to respond to these various allegations. And, you know, I said, hey, the confirmation hearing is the place, and chance to do that.
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HUNT: So, Hawley there saying he's already talked to him. And of course, more senators are set to talk to Gaetz today. I -- getting as far as a hearing would at least you know, it would put Gaetz in the public eye in a way that some of the senators are uncomfortable with this, I think are unlikely to enjoy. But it may be a place where Gaetz has a chance to push back in a way that of course, Donald Trump would see.
Do you think were going to get as far as actually having a hearing on this? I think what were hearing from a lot of senators, and it is seeming to be bipartisan, is that they deserve the chance to do you know, what is typically done. Obviously, there have been instances of recess appointments in the past. This is something that Trump has said he had wanted to do.
But there seems to be, you know a bit of a more consensus that they should have the chance to pepper him with questions and see, you know is he qualified? What are his you know, positions on -- you know, the Department of Justice, obviously, you don't have to tell you, it's extremely important. We've seen how the Department of Justice has operated the past four years.
This is something that Trump really wants to switch up. And so, you know he would have the opportunity to convey how he would do that. And of course, as you mentioned, you know, this is somebody with the sexual you know, abuse. You know, there's an investigation going on where figuring out at this moment whether we will get that report released you know, whether senators might subpoena for it. So there's a lot, you know, at play here but a confirmation hearing is at the point where they'd be able to figure out what he would do.
HUNT: Well, and you mean you mean sexual misconduct of course.
Hadriana Lowenkron for us this morning, thank you, I appreciate it.
All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING: why E.U. officials suspect sabotage after Internet cables deep in the Baltic Sea were suddenly disrupted.
Plus, a policy shift from the White House to help Ukraine slow down Russian advances in the east.
And Donald Trump makes a trip to Texas for the SpaceX launch. What that says about the role Elon Musk is going to play in his second term.
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JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: Speaking of Trump, today, he accompanied Elon Musk to a SpaceX launch in Texas. Yeah, Elon invited Trump to see his rocket. It's a big deal. That's billionaire third base. It is.
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HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
A sudden disruption to deep sea Internet cables in Europe is raising concerns about a possible hybrid war across the continent. On Sunday, two cables running beneath the Baltic Sea were suddenly severed disrupting connections between Lithuania, Sweden, Finland and Germany.
Right now, U.S. officials tell CNN they don't believe that the incident is a deliberate act of sabotage by Russia or any other nation. A passing ships anchor may be to blame but there have been growing fears in Europe that Russia would target these cables as Vladimir Putin blames the West for increasing support for Ukraine and Germany's defense minister isn't convinced that Sunday's incident was an accident.
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BORIS PISTORIUS, GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER: This is a very clear sign that something is going on here. Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed and I also don't like to believe in versions that these were anchors that happened to be above these cables. And cause damage.
So we have to know that without knowing specifically who it came from that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to assume that without knowing by whom yet that this is sabotage.
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HUNT: All right. For more on this story, let's bring in CNN's Max Foster live for us in London.
Max, good morning.
What a mystery. I mean, this incident, it reported here at CNN. We highlight -- we highlighted U.S. intelligence that is warning that Russia has a growing interest in going after this kind of critical global infrastructure. What does this incident -- what does what happened here say? I realize we don't know the cause right now, but it does seem to really underscore the vulnerabilities.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It does. I mean, if it was just an anchor that scraped over this major cable and managed to slice it and turn off the Internet -- much of the Internet between these nations, I mean, what it does is it shows how vulnerable those cables are.
And if you did want to sabotage them, it would be probably a much easier job than most people think. I think what the German was suggesting there was, you know, maybe it was an anchor, maybe it was a -- you know, it was that was the way of cutting this cable as a form of sabotage. We just don't know.
This is a very sensitive area. The Baltic Sea is strategically important.
[05:15:01]
The Swedes will tell you there have been Russian submarines caught in it illegally. Also, planes flying over in Swedish airspace.
So there's a huge amount of tension around there, combined with that U.S. intelligence suggesting that cables could be cut. Then, obviously, all fingers point towards Russia, but no evidence of it. And the Russians are denying it.
HUNT: So, Max, what exactly is the impact of what happened here? And how does what happens when something like this occurs, sabotage or not, that is potentially going to accomplish a goal for, say, a nation state, right?
Like if Russia were to do something like this, what do they get out of it?
FOSTER: Well, disrupting communications. I mean, they've got a history. Not necessarily the authorities, but certainly groups in Russia have got a history of interrupting with -- intercepting communications, interrupting communications as all you know, Secret Services do, in fact.
I think the concern is that if they wanted to cut off Internet channels to certain countries, there's a way they could certainly disrupt it, which would affect everything wouldn't it? From the economy to politics to, you know, everyday life, but also just the idea that these -- these cables are often literally just laid along the seabed and you could get to them and intercept them, and, you know, put something on there which would give key information to whatever authorities they're trying to reach.
So it's a massive vulnerability, but the cost of laying these cables is huge. The cost of protecting them would be even bigger. You know, digging them into the seabed would be a massive mission.
So you know, it's seen as a massive vulnerability that's been exposed in the last couple of days.
HUNT: Yeah, for sure.
All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.
FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Still coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING: Testimony resumes in just a few hours as the man accused of murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley stands trial.
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HUNT: All right, 21 minutes past the hour.
Here's your morning roundup:
In just a few hours, testimony continues in the murder trial of the man accused of killing Laken Riley. The defense now making its case, but Jose Ibarra has declined to testify. Tuesday, a DNA expert said Ibarra's DNA was found under Riley's fingernails.
Comcast says they plan to spin off their cable channels, including MSNBC and CNBC, into a separate publicly traded company. They're expected to pitch the plan as a growth opportunity. That's according to executives familiar with the deal. A formal announcement is expected later today.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to become a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants ahead of the incoming Trump administration this means L.A. will not use their resources for immigration enforcement or work with federal immigration agents. The mayor is expected to approve the measure.
All right. Time now for weather. A once in a decade bomb cyclone sweeping through the Northwest leaving at least one person dead and more than 650,000 people without power across Washington state.
Lets get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Good morning, Kasie.
This storm has brought all its fury along with it. We're getting these reports, social media postings of downed trees, toppled power lines.
Here's just one instance of that across the state of Washington. You can see the destruction that's left behind by hurricane force gusts that have toppled trees within this area.
Unfortunately, some of these trees are splintering. This home, in fact, trapping two of its residents inside, took over an hour to extricate one of those residents. And here's a close up inside of one of the homes. Look at the tree landing and basically slicing that roof right in half.
Now, this is the storm system. You don't have to be a meteorologist to understand what's going on here. This powerful, rapidly strengthening, low pressure system that spin in the cloud cover. We called it a bomb cyclone because it dropped more than 24 millibars. That's a unit of pressure in less than 24 hours. In fact, it doubled that criteria yesterday.
So, a very powerful storm system energized with winds gusting equivalent to hurricane force gusts and that is, of course, toppled the trees and power lines, leaving nearly 700,000 customers without power this morning.
And guess what? We're not done. Another round of wet weather, wind mountain snows and high winds expected over the coming days from northern California through the coastline of Oregon and into the state of Washington that has been impacted so badly, our radar lighting up like a Christmas tree here.
Just very busy, very active, very difficult travel conditions across the area with the combination of the wind, the snow and the rain its going to be a difficult next few days for the West Coast -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right, for sure. Thanks, Derek, for keeping an eye on that. We'll see you next hour. Appreciate it.
VAN DAM: Okay.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, dueling cases in New York City involving violence and mental health. Why the city's mayor is blaming the system for failing New Yorkers.
Plus, Russia's new policy on nuclear weapons as Ukraine gets the green light to strike deeper into Russian territory.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Putin doesn't want any peace. They presented nuclear weapons strategy. Why? They did not present a peace strategy.
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HUNT: All right, 5:29 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Miami, Florida, on this Wednesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Donald Trump traveling to Texas to watch Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket's latest test flight. A sign of Trump and Musk's growing bond as Trump prepares to reenter the White House. Trump was also joined by his pick for education secretary, Republican donor and former pro wrestling executive Linda McMahon.
McMahon was one of three major roles that Trump tapped yesterday.
