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CNN This Morning

CEOs and Billionaires Visiting Trump; Rep. Victoria Spartz (R- IN) is Interviewed about GOP Leadership; Students Overpaid for Elite Colleges. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 18, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Investigators say Natalie Rupnow, who went by Samantha, arrived at the Abundant Life Christian School Monday morning, killed a teacher and fellow student and wounded six others before taking her own life.

CHIEF SHON BARNES, MADISON, WISCONSIN, POLICE: The past 24 hours have been a flurry of emotion, sadness, anger, disappointment, grief.

CHEN (voice over): Grief, as they try to understand why a festive day with students dressed in their holiday pajamas ended with them evacuating a shooting scene. Police Chief Shon Barnes says the motive was a combination of factors, and they are looking into everything from possible bullying, to her online activity, adding, everyone at the school was targeted equally in the shooting. As for writings related to the shooting that have been circulating online -

BARNES: At this time we cannot verify the document. We ask that you not share the document or spread any information that may be false.

CHEN (voice over): But police are looking for original documents that may have been taken from the shooter's home, and speaking to her parents, who they say are cooperative, to determine whether they owned or possessed the gun their daughter allegedly used.

MAYOR SATYA RHODES-CONWAY (D), MADISON, WISCONSIN: I think law enforcement will take the steps necessary, but we don't know nearly enough yet.

CHEN (voice over): Not enough to know whether the parents will face criminal charges. While the police chief says they will look into whether the parents were negligent, he says that does not appear to be the case right now.

Two of the shooting victims remain in critical condition with life- threatening injuries. And police are asking members of the community to respect the privacy of the student and teacher who were killed.

REBEKAH SMITH, CHILDREN ATTEND ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: That particular teacher, she would have done anything for those kids. She would have been right there. Loved the school. Loved her kids. Loved teaching. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful lights.

SMITH: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That they were beautiful souls.

CHEN (voice over): It was at least the 83rd school shooting in the U.S. this year, more than any other year since CNN started tracking school shootings in 2008.

MELISSA AGARD, DANE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: There's going to be public debate about the motives and other aspects of this mass shooting, but let us remember this fact, gun violence is the number one killer of children in this country. That's a legacy we cannot accept.

CHEN (voice over): Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, former students suing elite colleges, claiming the schools violated the rules by favoring students of privilege.

Plus, lawmakers getting a classified briefing on all those mysterious drone sightings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They haven't found anything that would indicate that there's foreign influence, foreign actors or even little green men who are working on the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:07]

HUNT: Welcome back.

With just over one month until Donald Trump's second inauguration, the president is riding high as some of America's wealthiest and most powerful flock to Mar-a-Lago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: In the first term everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know, my personality changed or something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Or something. Among those making the pilgrimage, the world's second richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, a man that Trump has long feuded with. Bezos owns "The Washington Post," making him a prime target for Trump's criticism of the media. During the 2016 Republican primary, Trump said this at a campaign rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: I have respect for Jeff Bezos, but he bought "The Washington Post" to have political influence. And I got to tell you, we have a different country than we used to have. We have a different - he owns Amazon. He wants political influence so that Amazon will benefit from it. That's not right. And believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems. They're going to have such problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: When Trump took the White House, Amazon did have problems, including losing a $10 billion Pentagon contract to Microsoft. A speechwriter for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would later write that, quote, "the president called Mattis" and directed him to, quote, "screw Amazon," end quote, out of the opportunity to bid on the contract. Despite that, perhaps because of that, Bezos approaching Trump very differently this time around. Amazon has announced it will donate $1 million to Trump's inauguration and live streamed the event.

And here's what Bezos told "The New York Times" DealBook Summit earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BEZOS, AMAZON FOUNDER: I'm actually very optimistic this time around that we're going to see - I'm very hopeful about this - his - he seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. And my point of view, if I can help him do that, I'm going to help him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Kristen Soltis Anderson, it seems fairly obvious what's going on here. What do you think is going on here?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, in one sense it seems obvious, right? People want the president to like them. They don't want to draw his ire. They want to be aligned and be friendly because that leads to good things.

But I also think in some ways, the Silicon Valley pivot toward Republicans is in some ways a little bit overdue. I mean when you think about the mindset of a lot of these tech founders, it's move fast and break things, innovate, push through the guardrails. It's very antithetical to kind of the way big, bloated government, slow bureaucratic kind of works. And so, I feel like this tension was long going to come. And now that Trump has said, I'm bringing in Elon Musk, we're going to try to do things the Silicon Valley way.

I do also think there's a little bit more of a, hey, maybe there's more of a mindset meld here.

[06:40:02]

We can take advantage of this to make government work more the way we want it to work.

HUNT: Is it a mindset meld or, Michael, is it a bro fight between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos over space? And I would also note, you know, in 2019, Trump called Bezos, Jeff bozo. Bezos wrote back, quote, "finally trashed by @realdonaldtrump. Will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket. #senddonaldtospace."

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE DISPATCH": Yes, it's all water under the bridge, you know.

HUNT: We're a long way from this?

WARREN: Exactly. It's - that's in the past.

Look, I mean, I actually did a lot of reporting on that - on that defense contract and what happened to get Donald Trump to throw Amazon under the bus, to try to get Microsoft that contract. And there was a lot of machinations actually by a third company, Oracle, which didn't have a chance at actually getting the contract, but they did know, if they could show that Amazon was somehow nefariously trying to get this contract to Donald Trump, that they could get - that they could get Trump to trash Amazon. And that's exactly what happened.

I think there's a lot of lessons that Amazon, the other tech companies, learned from that experience and others like it. Amazon's biggest, you know, operation in D.C., of course, is government contract. Like, they need to be in this game.

HUNT: Yes.

WARREN: That's what's going on.

HUNT: Well, and what - what you're reporting and story underscores, Jeff, is the personal nature of dealing with Donald Trump, right?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HUNT: It's like the last person to talk to him often is the person that can win the day. And, I mean, it is remarkable that, you know, a CEO's time is extraordinarily valuable. They clearly believe that this is a worthy investment of personal time and energy.

ZELENY: Oh, it's absolutely worth it. I mean there are billions of reasons why.

But I remember back to the first Trump administration, talking with CEOs and people who work for them, they were sort of living in fear that the president would sort of single them out or call out their company from the Oval Office. So, they are trying to get on his good side now. And it's pretty easy to do it. Write a check, go to Mar-a- Lago, kiss the ring. So, I think that we'll see what contracts come out of this. But it seems, you know, like, why not follow the Elon Musk model? It worked very well for him.

HUNT: It seems to be working out well for Elon. He's now apparently worth $500 billion or some absurd amount of money. ZELENY: Yes.

HUNT: All right, after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, quote, "I do not need to be involved in circuses," end quote. Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz gave that explanation when declaring committee assignments - declining committee assignments in next year's Congress. She's going to join us next to discuss her decision.

Plus, stuck in space. It's already been six months. Their stay, extended again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUNI WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT: I think the up part is, we're here with our friends. We've got a ride home. And, you know, we're looking forward to the next couple months and doing a lot of stuff for the International Space Station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We're all excited, I know you're all excited, that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have joined us today. This is a new day in Washington and a new day in America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a great meeting with Elon.

You're in a room with geniuses that are clearly way smarter than you are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very cordial, very personable, very reachable, very nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Very nice. Elon Musk clearly impressing some lawmakers during his Capitol Hill visit earlier this month. One congresswoman now saying she wants his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to be her main focus. Representative Victoria Spartz announcing Monday she will not sit on congressional committees or caucus with the GOP in the new Congress until she sees her party's leadership actually governing in the House, signaling the challenges ahead for Speaker Mike Johnson as he navigates a razor thin House majority.

Joining us now to discuss is Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana.

Congresswoman, thanks for being here.

REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-IN): Thank you for having me. HUNT: So, you have said that you are going to refuse committee

assignments. You're not going to caucus with the Republican Party. In the new Congress, the majority is going to be so slim, at least for the first few months, that any single member of the House could derail legislation as it's going through. There are several priorities that the president-elect, Donald Trump, has said that he has for the new Congress. Are you willing to withhold a vote on those priorities?

SPARTZ: No, it's actually the opposite. I want to make sure that President Trump's priorities are actually going to happen through Congress. And, unfortunately, this institution hasn't been governing. And, unfortunately, we are not changing procedures and processes and doing a lot of talking points and messaging bill.

And it's not just, you know, leadership of this House right now. It's been happening, right, for decades. But, ultimately, my party will have to take responsibility. So, I want to make sure that I put pressure on my leadership to govern and deliver on the great ideas that Elon has, that Vivek has, that President Trump has and a lot of great people in the administration. That's what matter. Otherwise, it's going to be slow walking all executive orders. You happen - you saw what's happened in the last four years. And all executive orders, you know, were eliminated and bad things happen. And this is not a way to govern. We have to do this through Congress and to make sure that President Trump leaves his legacy and impact on this great country, which is really in trouble right now.

HUNT: Are you going to support Speaker Mike Johnson's bid for speaker when that comes up for a vote at the beginning of the new Congress?

SPARTZ: I haven't decided yet. I'll be honest with you. Mike is a very nice human being. He's a brilliant person. Does it have a chance to reform this institution that is broken? I am not sure. And I haven't seen that. I haven't seen reform - structural reforms that he would do to change this institution. Because, honestly, all of these committees and messaging, you know it very well, it's just for showmanship.

[06:50:05]

It's just, you know, for - to actually, you know, raise some money or get on the X (ph) view (ph) post. It's not really meaningful. You've seen what's happened in recent CR and the committee chair of Ways and Means was not part of it. You know, even committee chairs don't matter. It's done at four corner deals. And then everybody's getting jam (ph) or bought, you know. And this is not the way to govern. That's not what the American people elected us to do. And we had to get attention to this issue.

HUNT: Have you talked to any other members of the Republican conference, people who are still in the - going to the Republican conference meetings, who might be willing to join you in the event that you decided Mike Johnson wasn't the man for the job?

SPARTZ: Well, listen, I mean there are a lot of different frustrations. And people have to decide - and we'll decide as a conference. Honestly, I still work with Republicans very close. You know, I still work, you know, and visited people that will be appointed administration and had a lot of meetings. So, I am going to ensure that my Republicans are going to be great again. You know, my - my colleagues said we'll take mediocre. I really would hope it would be more than mediocre. You know, so I'm working with people. But I just don't need to go there, you know, like they give you one minute for grievances. It's not where decisions are made, you know, in the committees. It's sad. It's a sad reality. It should be made there, but it's not made there, you know.

But, we'll see. I mean people have to make decisions. And we'll decide as a team. And I'll support the team. I just want to make sure that we do something to change the processes and status quo. Institution is totally broken and not serving the people.

HUNT: Do you plan on supporting the continuing resolution that will fund the government through the holidays and into next year at this point?

SPARTZ: No, this - I mean this is a great example. You know, they have this - they try to jam us last second because everyone, of course, wants to leave for Christmas holidays. You know, the write bills without anyone even knowing what is it. It puts thousands of pages - over thousands of pages, you know. And please, you know, make sure you vote before you know what is in it. You know, that, a typical process. You know, the only person - the most powerful person in - in Congress is the staffer who wrote the bill in four corners who made the decision, you know?

And Republicans, even not just conservatives, even not conservatives, no one were actually, you know, was advised - even what's happening in that bill. They didn't even talk to Republicans. The speaker went and make a deal with Democrats, loaded with pork, and bunch of more spending, which is, you know, I would be willing to actually to continue, just do a clean CR. But like they just loaded with so much garbage. I mean this is irresponsible and reckless. And, you know, for people that I represent who continue this fiscal calamity.

HUNT: All right, Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, very grateful to have you on the program. I hope you'll come back soon.

SPARTZ: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

HUNT: Of course.

All right, 52 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Honda and Nissan discussing a possible merger. The two automaking titans didn't release any details of the possible deal, but they did confirm to CNN that Mitsubishi is also part of these talks. Mitsubishi has not commented on that.

President Biden speaking out for the first time about the mysterious drone sightings along the East Coast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nothing nefarious, apparently, but they're checking it all out. They think it's just one - there's a lot of drones authorized up there.

We're following it closely. So far, no sense of a danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Members of the House Intelligence Committee received a classified briefing about the drones yesterday. The government has now reviewed thousands of sightings.

The return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pushed back again. They have already spent six months on board the International Space Station. What was supposed to be an eight-day trip delayed by problems with Boeing's Starliner. The astronauts were planning to come home in February. Now, NASA says that won't happen until at least late March so that there's, quote, time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission.

President-elect Trump posting on Truth Social at 3:23 a.m. this morning, quote, "many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state. I think it's a great idea." He first raised this idea a few weeks ago during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two have been at odds over tariffs. Since that meeting, he has been referring to the prime minister as "governor."

Mike Warren, what is - what's his problem with Canada?

WARREN: Hey, he sees an opportunity, like he wanted to annex Greenland, you know, maybe, you know, just take over the entire -

HUNT: No, that was apparently vaguely real, but, I mean, like -

WARREN: Yes, I mean, I - look, he also sees Justin Trudeau as sort of in a weak position in - right now within his own government and is probably just enjoying twisting the knife.

HUNT: OK.

All right, let's turn now to this story. Some of the nation's top universities overcharged students by $685 million in a price fixing scheme. That is the claim from former students in a 2022 antitrust lawsuit against Georgetown University, Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and 13 other elite schools.

[06:55:11]

According to "The Washington Post," the schools, quote, "appeared to favor wealthy applicants despite their stated policy of accepting students without regard for their financial circumstances, colluding to limit the financial aid packages of working and middle class students."

"The Wall Street Journal" citing court records, reports that one Notre Dame enrollment officer wrote this, quote, "sure hope the wealthy next year raise a few more smart kids." Wow.

Some universities have already offered settlement payments that need to be approved by the court.

That - I'm a little taken aback by the contents of that email.

ANDERSON: Wow. It's - it is so unbelievable that someone - it's the sort of thing that I think a lot of Americans might assume is happening, but to just see it written is so astonishing. And if you are an institution, like an institution of higher education, I mean, one of the things that is so striking is, we're in this very populist moment where people are very skeptical of institutions, they're skeptical of elites, and this stuff is why.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

ANDERSON: It's things like this where people who are average working Americans look at those who are supposed to be the smartest and best and brightest who are ruling over all of us and they say, look, they're coming for us. They don't care about us at all. And so it's outside of the realm of politics. It does not divide things right or left. Republicans have always been skeptical of these big colleges and universities. But now I think even progressives, too, are going to take a look and go, are you kidding me?

FINNEY: Oh, progressives, definitely. I mean having gone to a state school in California where now they are favoring students from out of state because they can charge them more than those of us who are in state, who are supposed to have guaranteed opportunity to go to college, of course.

And you're exactly right, everybody looks at this and thinks, yes, this is what the wealthy billionaires, this is how the system is rigged. This is how we never get a chance. And people know that these school - people going to these schools are also favored for jobs when they get out of college.

HUNT: Well, and the numbers, I mean, you know, just the sheer numbers, Mike, that are attached to these tuition bills now are, I mean, like there - there are so many people out there who look at those numbers and say, this just is not possible for me, like, at all. Like, I - why would I even try?

WARREN: I know, I think about it all the time with my young kids. Like, what is it going to be like in ten, 15 years when my kids are going to college? How much am I going to have to (INAUDIBLE)?

HUNT: I thought it was expensive when I went.

WARREN: So did I. So did I.

HUNT: And, as it turns out, it's now like double that.

WARREN: It's - and these, you know, particularly these elite colleges are sort of like playgrounds for - for young adults, you know, people who are going from childhood to young adults. You know, they throw all these very nice dorms and all kinds of interesting packages. I - what actual education is going on, I'm a little unclear.

But look, I mean this is, to echo what everybody's been saying, you know, this populist moment, we're seeing it all. And the lack of faith in institutions I think you're seeing across the board, whether it's government, whether it's elite colleges, whether it's the media, whether it's sort of the health care industry, it's all kind of culminating. And all I can say is, as a journalist, I love that these people put this stuff in writing in an email, but I can't -

HUNT: Never put anything in an email.

WARREN: I can't - never put anything in an email. I can't imagine why they thought this was a good idea.

ZELENY: Yes, for sure. All of that. But -

HUNT: Well, and -

ZELENY: To Kristen's point -

HUNT: Yes. Yes, go ahead.

ZELENY: The populist moment here, I mean, this is really, you know, just one more example. So, we'll see what, you know, happens in the Trump administration.

HUNT: These colleges are already targets for Republicans, right? Like these elite universities over - I mean and anti-Semitism has been really at the top of the list for -

ZELENY: And a variety of things. I mean the Middle East, et cetera.

But I think the - it is outrageous. And I think higher ed is - is likely to face more of a reckoning. They have, to some degree, but it's going to be a much bigger one, I think, in the coming year.

HUNT: Yes, for sure.

All right, I'll leave you with this.

Tom Cruise getting some top honors for "Top Gun."

As a thanks for taking all of us on the highway to the danger zone - this is one of my favorite movies of all time - the U.S. Navy awarded Tom Cruise the distinguished Public Service Award on Tuesday. It is the highest civilian honor that the Navy can bestow.

During the ceremony, the secretary of the Navy praised Cruise's performance in both "Top Gun" and its sequel for boosting recruitment, saying that his role helped to, quote, "inspire generations to serve in our Navy and Marine Corps." The two movies made more than $1.5 billion, with a b, dollars at the box office globally. When asked about the honor from the Navy, Cruise said, quote, "I'm happy I've been able to be a source of inspiration to many of the sailors who serve today or have served in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: I feel the need - the need for speed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Mike's over here high-fiving. I can do this entire movie, OK.

WARREN: (INAUDIBLE)

[07:00:01]

HUNT: Every single line, right.

WARREN: Your mouth - your mouth is writing checks your butt can't cash, right? That's -

HUNT: All right, you're right, Iceman, I am dangerous, right? Anyone? Anyone else? No. We only got two participants in this game?

ZELENY: Oh, we're out of time. Oh, no.

HUNT: All right, fine.

Thank you, guys, very much for playing ball today. And thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.