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Hunter Biden Pardon Receives Bipartisan Criticism; Trump's Cabinet Picks May Not Get Full FBI Background Checks. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[05:59:28]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that it was the right move.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish the president had kept his word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Political infighting. How President Biden's decision to pardon his son is further splitting a party still reeling from election defeat.

And --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had a good explanation, but I'm not going to try to explain to -- to y'all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: More allegations. Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon facing more tough questions about his record.

And --

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel is the one. And you should let him go and let him finish the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "Hell to pay." Trump issuing a new threat over how his administration would handle the Israel-Hamas war.

And --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This ain't nothing. You get -- you get used to this kind of weather, living here.

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HUNT: Piling on. Some places have gotten more than five feet of lake- effect snow, and it is not over just yet.

All right. It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast of the United States. It is almost noon in Angola, where you're looking live at where President Biden is expected to arrive, at the presidential palace. We're going to see him any moment now on this Wednesday morning.

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

With just weeks until inauguration day, a tension in Washington and around the world, shifting rapidly away from Joe Biden and toward President-elect Donald Trump.

The president, as you saw there, right now on one of his last trips abroad as president. The trip is designed to showcase American investment and aid to Africa.

But it's been overshadowed by Biden's announcement of a sweeping pardon for his son, Hunter. That decision, managing the rare feat of uniting Democrats and Republicans in condemnation of the president's reversal of his repeated claims that he would not issue the pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): He didn't need to tell the American public, I will not do this. And he did. And when you made a promise, you've got to keep it.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): His decision further undermines the public's confidence in our judicial system.

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): It just gives the American people a sense that there's one system for the rich and powerful, and another system for everybody else.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I was surprised. I was disappointed. I think it was -- it was out of bounds.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): We operate under the rule of law, and we hate to see precedents being set.

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Don't lie to us. Don't tell us you're not going to do it, and then do it. That's not what a president should be like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President-elect Trump, in contrast, commands the unflinching loyalty of a Republican Party that is preparing to enact radical changes in America's policies, both here at home and abroad. As Peter Baker of "The New York Times" writes, quote, "Mr. Biden is

sliding toward the end of his presidency in lackluster fashion. He has largely ceded the stage to Mr. Trump, who is already conducting his own foreign policy. Withdrawing from the fray, Mr. Biden maintains a light public schedule and has not held a news conference or given an interview since the election. He was such a marginalized figure during a recent international summit in Brazil that when he was late for a group photograph, other world leaders did not bother to wait and went ahead without him."

This emerging reality being made clear yesterday when we learned that it is the president-elect, and not the president, who's been invited to the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, set to be held in Paris on Saturday.

Sources tell CNN the invitation came from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, who was also the first world leader to congratulate Trump on his victory last month.

The trip will be Trump's first since the election and will Mark his grand reentrance on the global stage. Shall we remember what that was like?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Thank you, press.

TRUMP: Thank you, everybody.

The entire civilized world must unite to confront the North Korean menace.

We do have a very special relationship. In fact, I'll get that little piece of dandruff off. Little piece. We have to make him perfect. He is perfect.

President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

Stepping across that line was a great honor. A lot of progress has been made. A lot of friendships have been made, and this has been, in particular, a great friendship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK. Our panel is here: Jonah Goldberg, CNN political commentator, editor in chief of "The Dispatch"; Mark Preston, CNN senior political analyst; Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director; and Matt Gorman, former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Good morning.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

HUNT: Jonah, man, that walk down memory lane of Trump on the world stage. I mean, that's what we are heading back to as -- as Biden steps off.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Time is a flat circle. I think they're working on cloning Donald Trump right now, so he can be president through 2065. Because it just feels like this is just -- this is not going to end anytime soon.

HUNT: Kate Bedingfield, how do you see what the president did here with this pardon, in terms of the big picture for his presidency here? I mean, obviously, he did this on a Sunday night, and then he flies off to Africa, right, as Donald Trump, as we just outlined, is about to step back onto the world stage.

And his party here at home has not exactly been kind to him.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes. Look, I think the idea that -- that Biden has somehow opened the door for Trump to do things that he was not otherwise going to do is completely ludicrous. I mean, it is Trump who has completely thrown norms out the window here for the now -- now almost last decade.

[06:05:12]

In many ways, I think Biden was responding to, you know, what Donald Trump himself and his appointees, like Kash Patel, have said about how they intend to use the Justice Department.

And I think -- look, I think it's understandable that a father would make that decision. But I do think --

HUNT: Yes, but for 10, 11 years? Like --

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I do -- but I do think -- look, I wish that he had been -- I wish that he had conveyed differently that he was thinking that he was considering doing this. I do think it is -- you know, I think there are different ways to convey ambiguity when you have not made a decision.

I think even after the election, having his team say he wasn't going to do this. You know, I do think there is a cost that comes with that. And I wish that he had done that differently.

I don't think the pearl clutching from -- from Republicans about, again, you know, we've somehow -- Biden has somehow, like, blown the doors off -- you know, using the justice system in an independent way. I don't think that carries a lot of water.

I do understand why Democrats are frustrated that Biden was not more forthcoming about how he was thinking about this.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Look, I think Democrats were the ones that lectured the Republicans throughout the entire campaign that we were the ones that were saving democracy. We were the ones that were upholding the rule of law, in a way, conveying this superiority.

And it's been laid bare that they weren't. And I mean, I remember being on the show in June, and Alex Thomas and

I were talking about the fact that, like, hey, he could pardon, you know -- like, I would not be surprised if this happened.

And honestly, I would have respected it more if he just said, you know what? Bleep you people. I'm not letting my son rot in prison during my -- you know, who knows. Like, another last decade of life, possibly. I'm not letting that happen. I don't care. I have the power to do it.

Instead, I think to even your point, like, he concocted this self- righteous cloak, where it was just a bunch of baloney. And really, what it was about was I had the -- I had the ability to get this done. You wish you had it for your family, possibly, but I do. So, I'm going to do it.

And I think that is where it's just clearly -- clearly lays bare the -- kind of there's two sides to the judicial system. And I think tactically, this makes it a lot easier for, say, someone like a Kash Patel to get through where it lay -- it really does somewhat convey what he's been saying and has a lot more conveyance now.

BEDINGFIELD: I do -- I do think it would have been more effective to focus the statement more heavily on what Trump and his team have said about how they intend to use the Justice Department, rather than giving some -- giving some credence, giving some language to Republicans that the Justice Department, that this process that has been undertaken with regard to Hunter was, in and of itself, flawed.

And I think that that piece of the -- the way the president and his team framed this -- you know, I do think that was unfortunate.

I think the pardon itself, I will say, I think is totally defensible.

HUNT: Well --

BEDINGFIELD: And I think, given the way that Trump has talked about what he intends to do, I think it's defensible. I do wish that he had had framed it differently.

HUNT: Let's take a moment to just watch what Kash Patel has said over the course of the past couple of years about Hunter Biden, because we've learned that his appointment may have played some role in the president's decision to do this. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATEL: I've always said, and I still believe Hunter Biden is going to be indicted for criminal activity.

Hunter Biden is guilty of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

They know what Hunter Biden's laptop contained. These laptops are the basis of tremendous amounts of criminal activity.

Hunter Biden will be charged, no matter what. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, Mark Preston, how does that play into this? Does it help? You know, matters in terms of the criticism that's been leveled at Biden, or does it not?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think a couple of things. One is, Joe Biden party abandoned him, right? So, basically everyone has abandoned Joe Biden, you know, here in Washington.

And you've got to wonder if he's looking around and saying, you know what? What's good for Donald Trump now is going to be good for me.

And in the end, the people who really rallied around and -- and stuck with Joe Biden was his family. Remember, we were the ones saying it was his family, the ones that were really making the political decisions about what he was going to do.

I do think this. You know, there are -- two things can be correct. First of all, the norms are gone, right? We absolutely know that.

But at the same time, air cover has been given to Republicans, because Joe Biden has decided to do this pardon.

HUNT: All right. No. Go ahead, Jonah. Yes.

GOLDBERG: So just very quickly, I think Kate's wrong that this is totally defensible. I think it's almost entirely indefensible.

But if you wanted to square the circle in a more defensible way, what Biden could have done is say, he's honored his commitment not to pardon Hunter for the things he was convicted for by a jury and say, but for anything else that Kash Patel wants to go on a fishing expedition, I'm giving a blanket pardon for that, because I don't trust Trump.

That would be the messaging that would honor his promise, wouldn't make him a huge liar, and at the same time, protect his kid from gratuitous persecution by the Trump administration.

[06:10:08]

HUNT: So, you basically are arguing -- I mean, because some people have looked at that ten-year thing and said, well, that's more egregious than the pardon for these things that we've already said. You would actually flip that.

GOLDBERG: I would flip that. I think that's defensible, given what the things that Kash Patel has said, given the things that Trump has said, given the -- the open-ended fishing expedition thing.

And I would ground it not by throwing my own Justice Department under the bus and saying the system is rigged that I'm in charge of.

HUNT: Yes. GOLDBERG: I would say, look, I'm a dad. To Matt's point, screw all you people, right? I -- you know, I'm -- I'm sacrificing a big chunk of my kid's life to the system, because I promised I would. But beyond that, I'm not letting him become a target for these -- these jackals.

HUNT: Yes. All right. Very interesting.

All right. Up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, Pete Hegseth on the Hill as new allegations of misconduct come to light. Anthony Scaramucci will be here to discuss Trump's controversial pick to lead the Pentagon and much more.

Plus, hell to pay. Donald Trump threatening Hamas if the hostages are not released before he's returned to office.

And digging out. Homes, cars buried in over five feet of snow. Another foot could come down today.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The snow being so deep and getting stuck, you're getting stuck everywhere you go. Everybody getting stuck. So, like, that's the worst part.

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[06:15:51]

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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS'S "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": According to the whistleblower, "Hegseth and other members of his management team sexually pursued the organizations female staffers, whom they divided into two groups: the 'party girls' and the 'not party girls'."

Eventually, both groups became known as the "can we please work from home girls."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: New reporting about alleged sexual impropriety and alcohol abuse by Trump's choice for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, adding to the swirl of controversy around Trump's proposed cabinet.

Trump's controversial pick setting up what could be significant fights on Capitol Hill to get these key nominations approved.

Now some top Republican senators say they are open to bypassing FBI background checks for Trump's picks.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat who currently leads the Senate committee that will review Pete Hegseth's nomination, telling CNN that that proposition speaks volumes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): No practical reason to avoid a background check, except maybe they have something to hide.

Just saying. Common sense tells you when someone doesn't want that kind of vetting or check, which is done routinely, there's something to hide. And there are a lot of indications that Pete Hegseth has quite a bit to hide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now, former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

Sir, always wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for being here.

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.

HUNT: Let's start with this FBI background checkpoint, because there does seem to be some indication that Trump's team has been surprised by some of the things that have popped up. Certainly, around Pete Hegseth.

There was a lot of reporting around that first sexual assault allegation that surfaced about him.

Obviously, there's also a lot of distrust in the FBI among Trump's inner circle. Is it in their interest to let these background checks go forward, so that they avoid some of this?

SCARAMUCCI: It is, but obviously, the -- you know, the president wants to stretch the rules on this for some reason. I guess at some point, someone will ask him that: why is he doing that?

But with -- in Pete's case, it just doesn't feel like the whole story is out. I know I read Jane Mayer's article, and so if I was in the Senate -- let's say I was a Republican senator and obviously want to help the president. Let's -- let's go on the side of that. They want the president to have his picks. They'd have to be concerned, and they would be concerned for the president.

So, I think one of the things they should be doing is calling the president and saying, Hey, this is the tip of the iceberg. If this is what a journalist is finding, the FBI has to dig deeper, because there's probably more to this story. And we're here, actually, to protect you, President Trump.

Because if this unfolds inside the Pentagon, this will be a disaster for the country, and it will reflect very badly on the administration. And so, I think that's -- I think that's where the Republican senators have to go on this case.

HUNT: Interesting. So, you obviously -- I'm sure people remember -- had a whirlwind tenure inside the Trump administration. You understand, you know, what it takes to get a job with Donald Trump and also what happens if he turns on you.

What do you think the president, knowing what you know about President-elect Trump, how is he going to view the -- these kinds of allegations against Pete Hegseth, especially in terms of -- I mean, he expects a lot of loyalty, you know, from -- from you to him. I'm not necessarily sure, and I'm curious. Your take on whether that loyalty runs in the other direction.

And also, I mean, Trump himself, he -- he's a known teetotaler. He dealt with alcoholism in his family. These kinds of reports. I'm curious what you think he might make of the behavior that's being reported.

SCARAMUCCI: Well, you know, in addition to those things -- getting hired and fired, liked and disliked by Donald Trump -- I did work on the transition team in 2016.

So, eight years ago, I was part of that executive committee. You know, we reviewed all these applications.

At that point, the president was listening and abiding to all of the rules and protocols. He was going through the process with the FBI. We all got vetted and had background checks related to the FBI.

[06:20:06]

And so, I guess, again, the question is, why don't you want to do that this time? It's there to protect you. It's also there to protect the country.

But -- but what you're -- what you're getting at with Pete -- I think this is a big, important point for people. Pete got casted into this role.

He looks great. He speaks great. He says a lot of things about the Pentagon that the president agrees with. And so, the president casted him in this role.

But like a cast on a television set, they probably didn't do a deep background check. He probably didn't want to do that.

But you're asking a specific point about loyalty. The president's loyal to you until he isn't. It's just really that simple.

So, Matt Gaetz, you're going to be my attorney general. Oh, you know what? You can't be the attorney general, because there's 10 or 15 senators that say no. No problem. Pam Bondi is my attorney general.

So -- so Pete's going to come up against this.

Now, Kavanaugh came up against this. Justice Kavanaugh: I'm loyal to you until I'm not loyal to you. If you can get through the Senate confirmation hearing, I'll watch it. I'll be riveted to the set. You're drinking a lot of beer. Somehow you survived that. You're the -- on the court. Great. Make sure you rule in my favor every time you're on the court. I mean, that's the president. And so, it's very clear. He's been very

upfront about it.

I think his adversaries, I guess one of the things I don't understand about the president's adversaries, he's very upfront about everything that he's doing. And he's very, very clear about what he's doing. And then these people act shocked and surprised when he does exactly what he says he's going to do.

And so, he'll -- he'll be loyal to Pete until it becomes impossible to be loyal to Pete.

And that'll be incumbent upon the Republican senators. They'll have to say hey, this is not going to work for us. And so, therefore find somebody else, and the president will do that.

HUNT: Briefly, sir, you mentioned the president's adversaries being surprised.

I'm curious what you think his adversaries, how they should react and how they should treat him, how they should push back against him in a way that you think might be effective.

SCARAMUCCI: Well, again, the -- again, and you know, I was up against this in the campaign with the Harris team. You needed to push back on things, and you needed to explain to people a lot of the things that he's saying about the economic situation are unrealistic and do not work.

You'd be blown away, Kasie, at the number of people in the United States that think the countries pay the tariffs, and that the American citizens and the consumer do not pay the tariffs. It's just another form of taxation.

The fact that the Democrats couldn't explain that to people, I think, was a -- was a big problem for them.

So, go through the list of things that he says, and then say to yourself, he's getting away with that. There's a lot of people that were believing what he's saying. You've got to be masterful in responding to that.

So, if Pete Hegseth is not qualified to run the Pentagon, I think prima facia -- I like Pete. I worked with Pete. I have nothing against Pete Hegseth. But where I put him -- if you and I were on the board of directors of the Pentagon, we're trying to hire a CEO. Would I put him in charge of a three-million-person organization that has roughly $1 trillion in its budget, which is the largest organization inside the 14-million-person entity known as the U.S. government?

And so, my answer would be no. Not that he's not a great guy; not that he couldn't do other jobs. But that's not the right job.

There's a procurement process. There's a consulting process.

HUNT: Sure. SCARAMUCCI: There's a morale process.

Sure, there's a culture issue. If the president says there's a culture issue, find somebody that can help shift the culture. But remember, this is a several-hundred-year-old organization.

I just want to bring up this one point, because this happened on my watch.

HUNT: Yes.

SCARAMUCCI: The president tweeted that he was revoking the -- the policies related to gays in the military, the transgender policies. He put that out by tweet.

I walked into the Oval Office. He said, Well, what do you think of this?

And I looked at him. I said, Well, did you talk to Secretary Mattis about this? Is there a plan in place?

He said, Well no, this -- this is what I want to do.

I said, Well, Mr. President, this started in the Clinton administration 30 years ago. They've been working on this for three decades. I don't think that that tweet is going to reverse three decades of cultural activity inside the Pentagon.

He got mad at me for saying that. But you know and I know nothing really changed as a result of that tweet.

And I think Pete Hegseth is in that category. I'm not on the president's team anymore. But if I was, I would say this is like the tweet that you sent out in July of 2017. The tweet to nowhere.

HUNT: Yes. The tweet to nowhere.

All right, Anthony Scaramucci for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you.

SCARAMUCCI: There's been other -- there's been other tweets that haven't been to nowhere, like, you know, the ones where he calls me a major loser and stuff like that.

Those are -- those are not tweets. The new word.

HUNT: You're still here. You lived to tell the tale.

SCARAMUCCI: I'm still here. If I get deported, you have to beam me in from an undisclosed location. OK? You promise?

HUNT: I will be happy to have you from anywhere, anytime, sir. Thank you very much for being here.

[06:25:03]

SCARAMUCCI: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, snow totals measuring more than five feet in parts of the Great Lakes region. Meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek van Dam, has more on when those folks might get a break from shoveling.

Plus, just moments ago, President Biden arriving at the presidential palace in Angola. He's the first president to ever visit the sub- Saharan African country. We'll be right back.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a gift to Donald Trump, because he's going to come here and claim that he's just doing what Joe Biden did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Bipartisan anger over President Biden's sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, prompting some Democrats to warn about the precedent that it sets.

That, despite Trump previously suggesting he, himself, might be open to pardoning Hunter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Will you pardon Hunter Biden?

TRUMP: I wouldn't take it off the books.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:30:00]