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CNN This Morning

Police Report Shows New Details in Hegseth Assault Allegations; Vance Leads Gaetz through Capitol Hill to Meet Senators; Ukraine: Russia Launched ICBM During Morning Attack; Rainfall Ramping Up on West Coast. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 21, 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 Thursday, November 21. Right now, on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:00:47]

Disturbing details. New overnight, more on the sexual assault allegation against Donald Trump's choice to be defense secretary.

And this.

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MATT GAETZ (R), FORMER FLORIDA REPRESENTATIVE: It's been going great. The senators have been giving me a lot of good advice.

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HUNT: The V.P.-elect back on the Hill today. Can he convince senators to back Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet picks?

And then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the worst I've seen it on this street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On this main drag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this main drag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A punishing Northwest storm. Roads turned into rivers, trees toppled, over a foot of snow. For some places, the worst still to come.

And later, another escalation. Ukraine says Russia launched a long- range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the U.S. Capitol on this Thursday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. New this morning, we are learning more details about the sexual

assault allegation that was made against Pete Hegseth, the man that Donald Trump wants to be the next secretary of defense.

CNN obtained the police report from 2017. It was made to Monterey Police in California. Hegseth wasn't criminally charged but did later enter into a settlement agreement with his accuser.

The accuser is identified as Jane Doe in the report, and she told police that she got into an argument with Hegseth following an after party at a Republican conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

She told officers that Hegseth took her phone from her hands. Then she said she tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body. She said that she remembered saying "no" a lot but did not remember much else, according to the report.

Republican senators don't have to wait long to question Hegseth about this. He is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill today alongside V.P. elect J.D. Vance.

Vance has been stepping into the role of sherpa -- it's an unofficial term -- for some of Trump's key cabinet choices, bringing them to talk with Republican Senate colleagues this week.

He also is bringing a message to senators thinking about rejecting Trump's nominees, posting on social media that the president-elect, quote, "deserves a cabinet loyal to the agenda that he was elected to implement."

On Wednesday, it was Matt Gaetz, Trump's choice for attorney general, who made his pitch to senators. Gaetz is facing his own sexual misconduct allegations. A House ethics report is going to stay behind closed doors for now.

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GAETZ: It's been going great. The senators have been giving me a lot of good advice. I'm looking forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive. They've been saying we're going to get a fair process.

So, it's a great day of momentum for the Trump-Vance administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Our panel is here. Joining us now: Lulu Garcia- Navarro, CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist; Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios; Maya Wiley, the president and CEO for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; and Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications.

Mike Dubke, what is your actual. You're the former Trump White House communications director?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes, I was.

HUNT: And so, in that capacity, you lasted a little bit longer than some others who had the role, if I remember right.

DUBKE: I did.

HUNT: But the communications challenges that anyone coming into that job are going to face, based on what we saw on the Hill. Talk a little bit about what's going on and your understanding in Trump world about the defenses for these -- I mean, you've got sexual assault allegations against Pete Hegseth. You've got sexual misconduct allegations against Gaetz.

It seems like they're all in on Gaetz. But the Hegseth situation may be something of a surprise. What's your read?

DUBKE: Well, I think -- I think it's a -- it is starting to bubble up a little bit. And then you've also got, with Tulsi Gabbard, you've got some other issues that are -- that are bubbling up.

My read is that the -- the Trump administration, or incoming Trump administration, is reading the polls from -- from November 5th, which is basically that the president won, because he was a disrupter, and he wants to disrupt Washington.

My -- my deeper take on all of this is this is a very typical Trump negotiation tactic, in which you put one person or one thing in your negotiating stance that is so far out that it makes everyone else run over to that side, so that they don't necessarily pay attention to everybody else that's there.

[06:05:11]

So, I think all of this attention that we have on Gaetz right now is part of -- of that. I don't -- I don't fully expect Gaetz to make it all the way to the nomination. I love the raised eyebrows that I bring at six -- 6 a.m. in the morning.

But I do think that what -- what all of this that is happening right now is doing is helping the rest of the nominees get through the process.

Now, whether or not there's something with Hegseth or Gabbard or others, we have to wait and see. But I think this is all part of a larger -- larger communications effort.

HUNT: Maya, you have your eyebrows raised, as well.

MAYA WILEY, PRESIDENT/CEO, LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Well, look, we're talking about the cabinet for the United States of America and positions that are going to make significant decisions about the daily lives of people.

And so, notwithstanding whatever the strategy or tactics are here, I mean, I think the point is we're seeing a president-elect nominate people who typically would not get through a vetting process in many instances and make it to the nomination.

And because of the pattern and the number of people that we're seeing who actually have allegations against them of sexual violence, should actually make us a bit concerned with whether or not we're going to have a full vetting of all of the people who are coming through this process, no matter what part of the process.

HUNT: So, Alex Thompson, the -- Marc Caputo over at "The Bulwark" is reporting this morning that, you know, in his round of meetings, Matt Gaetz's first round of meetings, he told senators that his priorities are not going to be to do some of the more controversial things that Donald Trump or other Republicans have potentially called for or suggested they might call for.

He said, according to Caputo, "Look, I'm not going to go in there and indict Liz Cheney, have stormtroopers bust through the studio door at MSNBC, and arrest Anthony Fauci in my first week."

Now, Caputo says the last clause, "in my first week," sounded like an ominous disclaimer to some. We, of course, have been reporting this out at CNN. But what is your read on -- on that?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It shows that, despite his firebrand status and basically saying that he was threatening to defund many of the agencies at DOJ, behind closed doors with senators, he's like, you know, that's sort of part of a performance act, right?

And also, its contradicting what Trump has said on the campaign trail about going after his political enemies.

But some of this is also, you know, this ethics report has become sort of a holy grail or an object of -- of obsession. The thing is, senators are concerned about more, even privately more than just this ethics report and this one incident, Matt Gaetz has a lot of, you know, potential -- potential flags in his oppo file.

HUNT: Lulu.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I mean, so I have this theory of the case here, which is that, you know, they're branding themselves as the avengers, right?

They want to -- it's like all these pop culture references, all these things. I mean, I've kind of thought of them as the pretenders, which is that these are not people who actually -- not only would they -- if they got vetted, they wouldn't pass.

But they also just don't have the experience necessary to run these massive agencies.

And so, when you hear Gaetz saying in private, don't worry. On week one, I'm not going to go. Yes, it is an ominous disclaimer, obviously, because what is week two, three, four? And if he lasts to month six, what is that all going to look like?

And what we're seeing here is a Trump administration that is very, like, not interested at all in competence, not interested at all in how efficient anyone's going to be. And very interested in the communication strategy. And very interested in getting people out in front.

And in that sense, I do think Gaetz fits the bill, because I think, actually, I do think he's going to be -- go through. And I think it's -- he's going to go through, because it's going to force all the Republicans to bend the knee early, which is what he wants.

And secondly, you know, at this point, Matt Gaetz is one of the most famous cabinet -- potential cabinet picks that he's got, even more than Mehmet Oz.

HUNT: All right. We've got a lot to get to this morning. So, coming up here on CNN this morning, Nikki Haley taking a stand.

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NIKKI HALEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.

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HUNT: Her blunt assessment of the president-elect's pick for director of national intelligence.

Plus, a potential first in Russia's war with Ukraine. It was an intercontinental ballistic missile just used in an attack. We'll dig in.

And Democrats still reeling from their major loss this election season. The new chair of the New Democrats Coalition, Congressman Brad Schneider, joins us live.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to rebuild our party, and we need to reconnect with hard-working people across our country to give them hope that tomorrow can be better for their kids than today.

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[06:14:39]

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HALEY: This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer. DNI has to analyze real threats. Are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agencies?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Donald Trump's former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations slamming his pick for director of national intelligence. Nikki Haley, who, of course, took on Trump in the primary but then

ultimately endorsed him, criticized Tulsi Gabbard for meeting with Syria's Bashar al-Assad and argued that Gabbard repeated Russian talking points.

Gabbard, a former Democrat, left the party in 2022, and she's since become a staunch supporter of Trump, serving on his transition team.

If confirmed by the Senate, Gabbard would become the head of the nation's intelligence agencies. Her confirmation, though, might be an uphill battle.

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SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): If we bring in somebody like this, who smells to other intelligence agencies like someone who will compromise their sources and methods, and be far too cozy with Russia and other adversaries, then they're going to hold back information that could be really critical to our success.

This is a choice that actually puts Americans at risk, because we won't have access to intelligence that could be critical to our safety. I think Republicans will likely begin to come around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, this is one of those picks, Alex, that has, you know -- and Mike, you alluded to this, right? It's fallen kind of off, out of the headlines in many ways, because of the salacious things going on with other cabinet picks.

But Tulsi Gabbard is someone who -- and in fact, let me just play this. I talked to her back in 2019 about Bashar al-Assad. And I asked her if she thinks that he was an enemy of the United States. Here's what she said. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Do you think Assad is our enemy?

TULSI GABBARD, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Assad is not the enemy of the United States, because the united -- Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Now, of course, why that comment and framing is noteworthy, especially in this context, is because of the ties between Assad and the Russians and the realities of where we are now.

Is there a world where there is a national security contingent in the Senate that starts to take this nomination more seriously?

THOMPSON: Yes, because she is one of the greatest -- biggest critics of the current, not just national security state, but sort of American foreign policy establishment that you've had in many, many decades, for perhaps, you know, ever.

Like the only thing I can even think close to is in the '70s post- Church Committee stuff. And that's why you're going to see people like Mitch McConnell take a very, very close look at her record.

But, you know, for Trump's base, MAGA, you know, the fact that she's getting criticized by Nikki Haley is a feature, not a bug. This is why people like Tucker Carlson and stuff have really gravitated towards Tulsi Gabbard, because they see her as sort of a -- a wrecking ball to what they see as a -- you know, a national security state off the rails.

HUNT: Yes. Well, our reporting this morning, Mike, is that Tulsi Gabbard is at odds with the community she may soon be tasked with leading, because of her distrust of broad government surveillance authorities, and her support for those willing to expose some of the intelligence community's most sensitive secrets. I mean, the stakes here are incredibly high.

DUBKE: They are incredibly high. And to Alex's point, I think there's -- you know, some of the things that we forget when we're talking about these individuals being nominated is that there's a difference between a messenger and a manager.

And I don't think that she's been nominated to be a manager of DNI. She's been nominated to be a messenger.

HUNT: That doesn't mean that she won't have the power, right?

DUBKE: Absolutely not. But we also forget that there are also a dozen other political nominees that will come into each of these agencies to run it.

But again, going back to the point, for not a -- a feature, not a bug. She absolutely personifies a lot of what the Trump campaign was saying vis-a-vis the defense -- the defense industry, but also the national intelligence.

So, I think a lot of these nominations, whether it be Gaetz at DOJ or Tulsi Gabbard, it's a way that the Trump administration is saying this time it's going to be different.

Whether she makes it through, because there's a lot of hurdles for her to get through in the Senate, is another -- is another question.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The one thing I will say is I absolutely agree, because Donald Trump himself is the one who's been having phone calls with -- with Vladimir Putin.

I mean, so putting her there is not such a stretch. We're all talking about her as if she is in isolation. The fact that she -- that he is nominating her says a lot about Donald Trump's priorities and what he wants in that role. And that should be the concern.

WILEY: And it's not new. Donald Trump was president before, and when he was, he actually sided, in one instance, with Vladimir Putin over our own intelligence services, not to mention the fact that he himself has endangered national security.

He is the president-elect. He gets to pick. But the pattern here is loyalists to Donald Trump and his agenda. And we should be very concerned about that when we're talking about national security.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, a dangerous storm system moving inland. Some places have yet to see the worst of it.

Plus, what happens to the information the ethics panel collected about Matt Gaetz after they decided not to release the report?

[06:20:03]

Former Congressman Charlie Dent, who chaired that committee, is here to discuss.

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HUNT: All right. Developing overnight, another escalation in Russia's war on Ukraine. Russia has reportedly launched an intercontinental ballistic missile attack on Ukraine, according to Ukraine's military.

We just got new video. It appears to show the moment of impact from Russian strikes on Dnipro today.

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HUNT: CNN can't confirm what type of weapon we are seeing and hearing in this video. CNN's international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is live for us in Kyiv.

Nick, what do we know at this hour?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, it is still patchy, the information. But the central claim in all of this from Ukrainian Air Force is that an intercontinental ballistic missile was used by the Russians to hit what you saw in that video there, which appears, according to much local reporting, to have been the Yuzhmash industrial plant in the city of Dnipro, essentially part of the industrial infrastructure there.

[06:25:22]

You can hear the gravity of the explosion, and locals report hearing, in a city where they're bombarded regularly, an abnormal sound.

And in the video, too, I think it's fair to say it looks different to many of the incoming strikes we've observed on CCTV. There seem to be multiple separate projectiles landing from possibly a similar point of origin.

At this stage, we don't know what device was indeed used, and Ukrainian officials are working, it seems, at the site to establish more details about that.

A Western official, speaking at the sidelines of a summit in Southeast Asia, has said that they do not believe this was an intercontinental ballistic missile, but instead a ballistic missile.

That may be a case of semantics, and the range over which the device was indeed used, rather than its capabilities. That will hopefully be elucidated.

What we do know is that we are probably dealing here with a new type of Russian weapon. Certainly, no comment from the Russians so far.

But just to think back to yesterday, Kasie, the U.S. embassy closed very suddenly, citing very specific concerns about an air assault. I think it's fair to speculate that, if Russia were to use a new type of weapon, with potentially intercontinental capabilities, they might choose to warn other nuclear powers about that.

Perhaps that was behind the U.S. and other NATO allies closing their embassies briefly yesterday in Kyiv.

At 5 a.m., when that missile was launched, the sirens went on here briefly. Dnipro was the target. But I think what we're looking at here, potentially, regardless of what type of weapon seems to have been used, is Russia trying to alarm the Ukrainians? The Ukrainians being deeply concerned.

And possibly now the introduction of a new capability from Russia, which may, accompanied as it was in this instance by other hypersonic and fast missiles, be able to get through Ukraine's air defenses -- Kasie.

HUNT: A remarkable sequence of events. Of course, just a couple short months before Donald Trump set to take office here in the United States.

Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv for us this morning. Nick, thank you very much.

All right. Time now for weather. Some relief out in Washington state today as a major storm moves away from the Northwest coast. But heavy rainfall not done yet in California.

Let's get to our meteorologist. Our weatherman, Derek van Dam. Derek, good morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's the nature of these bomb cyclone as they tap into a moisture feed from the Pacific Ocean. You'll be able to see it on the satellite in just one moment.

But this is the result. So, this heavy rainfall that has just blasted the Northern and central portions of the state of California, you can see some of the treacherous driving conditions that people are having to contend with.

This is the direct moisture, tropical connection. You can follow that all the way back towards the state of Hawaii. There it is, all the way into Northern California. We call this the Pineapple Express.

And this just unleashes a torrent of rainfall. In fact, we've got a rare high risk of excessive rain that could lead to flash flooding along the Northern coastline of California. And you can see the radar very active there today.

Another storm system will impact the Western coastline and the Pacific Northwest with more wind, more mountain snow.

And guess what? Speaking of snow, some of you getting your first flakes of the season. Chicago, you're included. The spine of the Appalachians expecting 1 to 2 inches of snow. Even higher elevations with more amounts. So enjoy.

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

All right. Coming up after the break here on CNN THIS MORNING, the question that Democrats are asking: where do we go from here? Newly- elected leader of the largest moderate Democratic caucus in the House, Rep -- Congressman Brad Schneider here to discuss.

Plus, from Bibles to watches and now guitars, Donald Trump, always the businessman?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's the real deal. That's the real deal.

This isn't just any watch. It's one of the best watches made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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