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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) To Chair Subcommittee Delivery On Government Efficiency (DOGE); Source: "Significant Progress" Made Toward Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Deal; Removing Fluoride From Water Supply Goes Mainstream. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 25, 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, 5:28 a.m. here on the East Coast. It's 2:28 a.m. out in Seattle. A beautiful shot of that city on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We're getting a clearer picture of what exactly Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are planning to cut once Donald Trump reenters the White House. The president-elect tapping to the two men to lead what he is calling the "Department of Government Efficiency." Yes, it abbreviates to DOGE for short. This is an effort to slash government funding.
We're also learning there's going to be a congressional oversight committee that will work with DOGE. It is set to be led by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I'd like to talk to governors of sanctuary states and the mayors of sanctuary cities and have them come before our committee why they deserve federal dollars if they're going to harbor illegal criminal aliens in their states and their cities. We're going to look at every single aspect and we don't care about people's feelings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Some cities have already started preparing for Trump's return to Washington. The Los Angeles City Council voting last week to adopt a sanctuary city ordinance.
Joining us now Axios senior contributor Margaret Talev. Margaret, good morning.
MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
HUNT: Nice to see you.
I wasn't sure that I would ever see DOGE in the -- on the top page on The Washington Post, right? It's like -- TALEV: Yeah. You don't expect to see it on baseball caps. It'll become the new four-letter word of our time.
HUNT: Let's talk about what it really means in practice. I mean, you heard Marjorie Taylor Greene there saying we're not going to care about feelings. Certainly, there is a lot of nervousness among --
TALEV: Yeah.
HUNT: -- rank-and-file federal government employees who live here in the area around Washington, D.C. about what this looks like.
What do we know so far?
TALEV: Right. Well, the early sort of efforts to pin down what is going to be the focus have yielded quotes -- I'm paraphrasing -- such as "It's everything." So I think there's a lot of conversation about everything being on the table.
But one of the areas that we've heard a lot about is just the idea of compelling federal workers back to work because of the idea that would prompt a lot more efficiency.
And then it's some other things like you're seeing Marjorie Taylor Greene talk about cutting off funding for basically major cities with Democratic populations and Democratic mayors who've adopted a more sympathetic approach toward undocumented migrants -- that sort of thing. So we'll see about that.
Then it's like should entire parts of government be eliminated or merged. So that idea of kind of reorganizing government. Could there be a purge of federal civil service employees? Could some of this be contiguous? In other words, you try to force people back to work five days a week. They've gotten accustomed to working three days a week and they're like forget it, I'll just quit.
So maybe some of that's out there or maybe between the labor unions and the real number of people who are actually on their way back to work anyway, it won't actually have that much impact, but there may be a lot of conversation and talking points around.
But then I think it's also going to be things like are there USAID and diplomatic programs that are being targeted -- you know, countries outside of the United States that we've sought to use soft diplomacy for, and they're deemed a non-worthy project. Or is there going to be funding for public radio that's going to be eyed? These sort of things.
So I think there is a real catch-all. And then the question is, like, well why has President-elect Trump tapped these people -- these particular people to be the face of this effort? You've got two billionaires who don't have to work in an office five days a week and actually are interested in making government -- money from the government --
HUNT: Um-hum. TALEV: -- going to crack down on contracting to other people.
And then you've got Marjorie Taylor Greene who is sort of, like, best known for being divisive in Congress and driving headlines, who does -- who does not care if what she's doing is controversial. She wants it to be controversial.
These are purposeful picks because Trump is looking for people who don't care if they take a lot of heat from the public or the institutions or the conventions and who, in fact, thrive on that and want to get headlines for being controversial and not being afraid to take on the power structure. And so that's precisely why he's tapped these people.
HUNT: Yeah. It's almost like the entire point.
One of the people that is likely to be involved in this is someone named Russ Vought --
TALEV: Right.
HUNT: -- who -- he's not necessarily going to be well-known to everyone at home, but he was -- I remember sitting across tables from him at meetings at the -- in the first Trump --
TALEV: Absolutely.
HUNT: -- White House, right? He used to run the Office of Management and Budget --
TALEV: Budget.
HUNT: -- under the first Trump administration.
And he's since went on to work on Project 2025, which is, of course, what Democrats had focused on so much during the presidential campaign.
Here is what he said in -- and this video was secretly recorded by a British nonprofit of him talking about this stuff. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL VOUGHT, CO-AUTHOR, PROJECT 25: Eighty percent of my time is working on the plans of what's necessary to take control of these bureaucracies. I want to be the person that crushes the deep state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
VOUGHT: I think there's a lot of different ways to do that. And it is defunding it. It's impoundment. It's the ability to not spend money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
VOUGHT: It's getting rid of their independence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So this guy is likely to be brought in on all of this. And he clearly is someone who really knows the ins and outs of these things, and there are a lot of ways to potentially disrupt the way that government functions right now.
[05:35:00]
TALEV: Yes, and the Executive Branch already has that power.
HUNT: Um-hum.
TALEV: And that's -- like, I know that the expression "deep state" has become popularized. The U.S. government is not what the deep state actually means. So I know it's a segment for another time.
But in the U.S. government there is the Executive Branch and agencies and departments report up through that Executive Branch system. And then Congress has the ability to decide what to fund. And then if there are lawsuits, the Judiciary figures it out. So that is all, like, worked out in government. There's the democracy that owns a piece of all of this.
But sure, a president can send directives down to impact the agencies and then Congress can decide whether to fund them. And so who you elect for president absolutely makes a difference in terms of are government agencies going to be funded, who are they going to be funded by, and who are they responsive to?
HUNT: Yeah.
All right, Margaret Talev for us this morning. Always grateful for your expertise. Thank you for being here.
TALEV: Thank you.
HUNT: Have a nice Thanksgiving if I don't see you before then.
TALEV: Thank you. You, too.
HUNT: All right, let's turn now to this story. Israel and Hezbollah are very close to a ceasefire deal, according to a regional source. An Israeli official tells CNN that talks have made "significant progress," but adds there's still some disagreement.
The Lebanese Health Ministry figures show more than 3,000 people have died in Israeli attacks since mid-September.
Last week, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing him of war crimes.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticizing President Biden for his support of Netanyahu over the past year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): We've seen this pattern where President Biden makes demands of Prime Minister Netanyahu only to be ignored or slapped down entirely, and then President Biden sends more bombs and more money. That is not an effective use of leverage. So I do hope in these closing months the president will finally make more effective use of American leverage to, at the very least, uphold American law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining us now former deputy assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, Joel Ruben. Joel, good morning. It's always wonderful to see you.
What can you tell us about the talks --
JOEL RUBIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER OBAMA DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS (via Webex by Cisco): Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: -- that are ongoing right now between Israel and Hezbollah and what it means in the bigger picture?
RUBIN: Yeah, Kasie, it's great to be with you.
And these talks that are being shepherded by Amos Hochstein from the White House are very close to concluding and not there yet though, however. But the Biden team is certainly working very hard to try to get this front shut down in terms of military action. They're looking to push Hezbollah back up north from the areas south of the Litani River where for now almost two decades Hezbollah has been occupying and launching strikes into Israel from in violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701. And so that's the ultimate goal here.
And the deal is not done but it does look as if in terms of all the diplomacy and all the issues -- Iran, Gaza, and Hamas, and the Houthis -- that this is the one that holds out the most promise before President Biden leaves office at getting closed.
HUNT: So, Joel, how does this interact with what's going on in Gaza with Hamas? I mean, is it -- is getting this deal with --
RUBIN: Yeah.
HUNT: -- Hezbollah like a prerequisite to fixing what's going on in Gaza, or how do you understand it?
RUBIN: Yeah. You know, Kasie, they're not directly linked. There are going to be arguments -- and you hear them often -- that all one needs to have done is a ceasefire in Gaza and then the Lebanese front calms down because remember, Hezbollah launched attacks after October 7 after Hamas' attacks as a result of that incursion in the south. That's really not true.
This Lebanon conflict is discreet from the conflict in Gaza. But the connector point, of course, is Iran. And the big question is how much effort is Iran going to put into supporting Hezbollah and continuing its fight -- this losing fight? Especially with the Trump administration coming in it's likely going to tighten the screws on Iran and give a lot more freedom of action, quite frankly, for Israel to strike into proxy groups that Iran is supporting. And so it's not directly connected.
And the last thing. It's important to mention that Lebanon is an American ally. And so for the Lebanese government to be able to control its whole territory -- that's a crucial goal and that's not dependent upon a ceasefire in Gaza.
HUNT: Yeah, it's a very important point to conclude on.
Joel Rubin for us this morning. Joel, thanks very much for your time. See you soon, I hope.
RUBIN: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING the world's richest man sets his sights on slashing the federal government. How Elon Musk's influence could reshape federal agencies and his own bottom line.
Plus, the Philadelphia Eagles' running back Saquon Barkley rewriting his -- the record books. Highlights from his historic night coming up in the Bleacher Report.
[05:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL)
HUNT: All right, welcome back. Time now for sports.
My Eagles flying high winning their seventh game in a row thanks to one of the greatest games in NFL history from our star running back Saquon Barkley.
Carolyn Manno has this morning's Bleacher Report. Carolyn, good morning.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Is that a larger smile than usual, Kasie? I feel like you are extra bubbly this morning.
I mean, just to give everybody at home an idea of how good Saquon Barkley has been in his first year with Philly, he's about 200 yards away from breaking the team's single season rushing record and they still have six games left to play.
Last night against the Rams on the first play of the third quarter, Barkley busting loose -- one cut -- and he is just flying 70 yards almost completely untouched for the touchdown. It turns out he was just getting warmed up on the night. Philly a big late in the fourth trying to ice the game, and there he goes again -- this time 72 yards for the score.
[05:45:05]
So the Eagles win 37-20.
Barkley becoming just the sixth player with two 70-yard rushing touchdowns in a game. His 255 yards on the ground are the ninth most in a game all-time. And yes, he knew exactly how much he had before that last big one there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAQUON BARKLEY, RUNNING BACK, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: I'm not going to lie, I looked up and I saw I was at 173 and I said I wish I never saw that -- and it worked.
NICK SIRIANNI, HEAD COACH, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Man, when you have the type of quickness lateral movement that Saquon has with the ability to accelerate and the -- and the speed to finish, he's got everything you look for in a back. He's been -- he's been awesome, and he was awesome tonight.
JALEN HURTS, QUARTERBACK, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: He's a hell of a player, you know. I think we're fortunate -- I know we're fortunate to have and I'm fortunate to have him. He's playing his tail off and he's having fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: The Chiefs keep finding ways to win. After a slow start, Patrick Mahomes finding his form against the Panthers throwing three touchdowns for the third time in the past four games on Sunday. But even against one of the worst teams in the league, it came down to the final seconds of this game. It was Spencer Shrader hitting a 31-yard field goal as time expired to give K.C. the 30-27 win.
So the Chiefs are 10-1 this season, eight of those wins coming by single digits.
And Baker Mayfield doing his best Tommy Cutlets impression during the Bucs' blowout win over the Giants yesterday, scoring a T.D. just before half and then immediately popping up and breaking out the viral Tommy DeVito Italian hand celebration that DeVito made famous when he took the tristate by storm for a few weeks last season.
Baker explaining himself afterwards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAKER MAYFIELD, QUARTERBACK, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: The New York fans love Tommy here and give them something they like.
REPORTER: I mean, are you Italian by any chance, or no?
MAYFIELD: I haven't done a 23andMe, but I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: A little bit awkward in the postgame presser, Kasie. He was grilled over his chicken choices, but he said eventually hey listen, I respect the guy. He's got a lot of swag. And Tommy took it in stride, too. He said it's going to happen. It's going to happen to me.
HUNT: All right, fair enough. We've got lots of food-related items coming up here.
MANNO: Yeah.
HUNT: Like, weren't we talking about Pop-Tarts last week? Chicken? Anyway --
MANNO: Hang on. Let's be hungry -- yeah.
HUNT: Carolyn, thank you. I really appreciate it.
MANNO: Thank you.
HUNT: See you soon.
All right, let's turn now to this story. So for nearly 80 years many Americans have been drinking water that has added fluoride in it. The CDC calls the benefits one of the greatest health achievements of the 20th century. But Donald Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- he has said he wants to remove fluoride from the water "on day one."
CNN's Nick Watt reports with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In several Western towns, children rarely got tooth decay. Why? Their drinking water contained fluoride.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Ever since we started putting a trace of fluoride in the water there have been those who say we really shouldn't.
STUART COOPER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK: They were criticized. They were ridiculed. They were called conspiracy theorists. They were called tin foil hatters.
WATT (voiceover): In 1964's "DR. STRANGELOVE," this was the sign Ripper had gone bananas.
STERLING HAYDEN, ACTOR, "DR. STRANGELOVE": Do you realize the fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
WATT (voiceover): But fluoride skepticism is now mainstream according to a New York Times headline and a Washington Post columnist who now thinks "It's not an entirely crazy idea."
Because this recent government report finds with moderate confidence that higher estimated fluoride exposures -- more than double the dose in our water -- are consistently associated with lower I.Q. in children. "More studies are needed." And because a federal judge recently ruled "there is an unreasonable risk of such injury, a risk sufficient to require the EPS to engage with a regulatory response." And it was RFK Jr. who was just tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) THEN-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to let him go wild on health.
WATT (voiceover): And on fluoride?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., TRUMP'S PICK TO LEAD DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: It causes loss I.Q. It causes developmental injuries.
WATT (voiceover): Worth noting, RFK Jr. has also said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: There is no vaccine that is safe and effective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voiceover): Not true.
And this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: COVID-19 is targeted to attack our Caucasians and our Black people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voiceover): Also not true.
The CDC still touts fluoridation as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
DR. JOHNNY JOHNSON JR., PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FLUORIDATION SOCIETY: At least 25 percent fewer cavities. And as a clinician, I will tell you that it is more like 50 percent.
COOPER: If you look into it, you'll realize very quickly that the science is not on the CDC side.
WATT: Did you have contact with any people who have been sort of definitively harmed by this -- by fluoride as a child and have suffered neurological impairment?
[05:50:00]
COOPER: It's hard to tell if that person with a neurological disorder was -- it was exclusively caused by fluoride.
JOHNSON: And they'll take the science and cherry pick tidbits out of it. They take and mix in their opinions, throw it in a blender, and then pour it out over an unsuspecting public.
WATT: We don't know that it causes harm, but we don't know that it definitely doesn't.
JOHNSON: You don't know that it doesn't cause gray hair.
WATT (voiceover): After nearly 80 years of this kind of debate now might be a turning point.
Inauguration Day, says RFK, the Trump White House will advise all U.S water systems to remove fluoride from public water."
KENNEDY: I'm going to give them good information about science, and I think that fluoride will disappear.
WATT: So RFK Jr. and his side of the debate -- they're fine with fluoride in toothpaste. That's topically applied and it's not dosing everybody like it is in the water.
And, you know, it's a couple of months before he even takes his new job -- before he starts his new job and RFK Jr. is already having an influence. The past couple of weeks over a dozen municipalities have voted to stop fluoridating their water.
I listened in to the debate in Winter Haven, Florida. RFK Jr.'s name came up numerous times and they voted in favor of stopping putting fluoride in their water.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNT: A really great report from our Nick Watt there -- fascinating.
All right, the City of Lights a little brighter now thanks to the annual Christmas lights display along Paris' Champs Elysees Avenue. Four hundred trees adorned with LED lights in the shape -- oh, these are for me -- of wine glasses possibly to encourage some festive cheer. The lights are going to glitter every night until midnight throughout the new year. That's beautiful.
And then there's this. There might be no such thing as a free lunch but apparently there is a such thing as free coffee, or a free coffee if you're willing to dance for it. That was the deal at this coffee shop in eastern Massachusetts. And so far, quite a few people are taking them up on the offer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COFFEE MILANO CAFE, MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS: Customers dancing for free coffee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Cafe Milano shared the moves in this now-viral TikTok. It has gotten nearly eight million views so far. The owner says the promotion has brought in a wave of new customers.
All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, after a swirl of weekend announcements, Donald Trump rounds out his cabinet selections. But in a -- a few contentious nominees may force Republicans to ask themselves just how far their loyalty goes.
Plus, the Republican push to block the first openly transgender lawmaker from using the women's bathroom brings the fight over transgender rights front and center on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): It's just ludicrous to me that women who are victims of abuse should be forced to undress or got the bathroom next to a man.
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): We have issues here in this country and yet she's worried about one member of Congress using the bathroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:57:25]
HUNT: It's Monday, November 25. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): He wasn't charged, and he wasn't even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The path to confirmation. Republicans bracing for a bumpy road to confirm some of Donald Trump's controversial cabinet picks.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREENE: This is important work we have to do. It's going to be very tedious, and I look forward to doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: DOGE takes shape. Elon Musk gets a new teammate in Congress to help him cut government spending.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOUGHT: I want to be the person that crushes the deep state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Reversing course after distancing himself from the conservative blueprint. Trump taps a Project 2025 architect to head up his budget office.
And then --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) THEN-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to take a moment to recognize the brave turkeys who weren't so lucky. Who didn't get to ride the gravy train to freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Lucky turkeys. The decades old and honestly, very strange tradition to save a few fortunate turkeys from the fate of the Thanksgiving Day feast.
All right, 6:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill where people are taking a break beginning this week just for a little holiday time.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday as we head into the Thanksgiving week.
Donald Trump's vision for his second term cabinet -- we now understand it in full. The once and future president's personnel choices revealing a stark contrast with his first administration.
So among Trump's picks this time, an Independent with the last name Kennedy who supports abortion rights, more than one former Democratic presidential contender, a centrist Republican who is favored by the Teamsters Union. A man who fundraised for Al Gore and advised George Soros. And then, of course, there are quite a few MAGA loyalists and Fox News favorites.
It all adds up to a cabinet that is united not by dogma but by loyalty to Trump and his vision.
Over the weekend, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei writing this in Axios. "Lost in the noise of Trump's most controversial picks in the simple, undebatable fact that this might be the most ideologically diverse cabinet of modern times. The team represents the Trump worldview: Traditional conservatism is dead -- and its biggest, lifelong advocates neutered to the point of irrelevance. A Trump transition source told us that most of the picks are 'a version of Trump in their thinking and approach': 'They're fearless disrupters who can walk into these buildings, and know they have a mandate for reform and change.'"
