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Trump to Meet with Republican Senators; Questions Over Rioter Pardons; Stuart Eizenstat is Interviewed about Jimmy Carter; Trump Jr. Visits Greenland; Dana White Joins Meta's Board. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 07, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:48]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back.

With Donald Trump's election victory now certified, his political allies are trying to figure out how they're going to make his agenda law with incredibly tight majorities in Congress. On Wednesday, the president-elect will meet with the Republican Senate Conference in Washington. Trump recently agreed with House Republicans about pushing what he's called, quote, "one big, beautiful bill," end quote, packed with his legislative priorities. But some of his Senate allies are worried that approach could slow down their other goals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is it a risk to put it all in one big bill?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think it's a risk to our country to delay border security. So, if you're a tax cutting person, which I understand, and you're holding the border bill hostage, I think that's a dangerous thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Now, the president-elect seems to be opening the door to doing more than one bill if it means getting everything he wants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: I would prefer one, but I will do whatever needs to be done to get it passed. And, you know, we have a lot of respect for Senator Thune, as you know. He may have a little bit of a different view of it. I heard other senators yesterday, including Lindsey, talking about it. They prefer it the other way. So, I'm open - I'm open to either way as long as we get something passed as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The panel is back. Brad Todd, when the rubber meets the road here, the politics of this

are incredibly complicated, and there are differences between the House and the Senate in getting this done. And my understanding is that there's not insignificant pressure around the immigration piece from Trump's own circle about trying to do something on that first.

What do you think is next here?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think a lot of things on immigration can be done in executive order. Part of that, because a lot of the bad policy Joe Biden put in place, was done by executive order, can be reversed. And so, I think that the White House should declare victory with a lot of executive orders on immigration first and then move into reconciliation and get serious about the tax cuts while they have momentum. You know, and if Republicans don't keep the current tax rates and every American who pays taxes is going to pay more. That's a very easy message to sell. It's a very easy message to deliver. And I think that - that we need to get on that business right away.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the problem with that, there are divisions, not just between the House and Senate. There are also divisions within Trump's team. Trump's incoming border czar has said that he wants to have the border bill in that funding piece passed as soon as possible because, yes, you can do all those executive orders, but if you want to have the biggest deportation effort in American history, you need money. It will cost billions and billions of dollars. And they don't have that right now.

HUNT: So, let's look at one of these - this is a Democrat in the House who they may play some role in this, especially considering what many of them view as a mandate that Republicans have.

Just watch what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-CA): They have a responsibility to govern because they have the technical majority. Of course, whenever anything has gotten done over the past two years, it's been because Democrats have stepped up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, Kate, fact check. True, they needed Democrats to do things. How much pressure are Democrats going to be under to help get some of this stuff over the finish line, considering what we saw electorally?

[06:35:00]

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there will be some pressure on - particularly on the issues that were dominant in the election, on immigration. I think a lot of these moderate Democrats are going to take a hard look at whatever ultimately gets proposed on immigration and make decisions about whether it's good politics for them to support it. I don't think there is writ large a mandate for these Democrats, so

they're going to feel pressure to help Trump simply to seem like they're being helpful and seem like they're trying to be efficient. I mean, look, if there's any political lesson to take from dysfunction on The Hill over the last few years, it's that the Republicans actually didn't really pay a political price for the dysfunction and the gridlock that they were responsible for.

So, I think that there will be pressure on the Democrats on individual issues to show that they're delivering at home. I don't think that Democrats should feel like there's an enormous amount of pressure to be efficient for efficiency's sake. Unfortunately.

TODD: I think -

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: the pressure does seem to be on Republicans and the president-elect here. I mean, when you have - particularly when you have something like immigration, energy, he had such ambitious, sprawling proposals that do involve, by the way, money as well. There's not enough detention capacity for mass deportations right now in the country.

And my reporting suggests also that the president's team is aware of this, aware of the slim majority in Congress. And right now you have a group of officials at Mar-a-Lago that for weeks have been working on executive orders, on executive action. Still details they're working it out, but that could fill in the void of congressional action on some of these issues.

And if it is a two-bill system, it will be interesting to see, do you emphasize immigration and energy first or, you know, do you go with tax cuts as well? What gets left behind?

HUNT: "Punchbowl" is also reporting this morning, Alex, that Senator John Fetterman is co-sponsoring the Laken Riley Act, of course, in response to the death of - of Laken Riley. Telling.

THOMPSON: Yes. Well, I think people are already forgetting that the Democratic nominee ran on one of the most hawkish border policy a Democrat has run on in a long time, including $100 million for the wall, including huge beefs in border security. And the Democrat's lesson, at least Democrats I talked to right now is that it wasn't enough.

So, if you have a bill come up that is pretty hawkish on immigration, you know, a lot of Democrats, including John Fetterman, are going to be under a lot of pressure to vote for it.

TODD: Three-fourths of the country trust Republicans on immigration right now compared to Democrats. And you have about a dozen to 15 Democrats who are in states Donald Trump won. They're also going to want to prove that they are willing to cooperate with him, I think, on tax rates and on immigration.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, right, because the trust will start to erode once Trump and the Republicans are in power and people feel like they aren't seeing enough of what they were promised on the campaign trail. So, that clock will be ticking for Trump and the Republicans, too.

HUNT: Yes.

All right, let's turn to this. It's been four years, since yesterday, since riots attacked - rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results. And now, with just two weeks until Donald Trump is sworn back into office, some of the individuals who've been dealing with the legal repercussions of that day could be looking at a reprieve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: You promised to pardon those who attacked the Capitol on January 6th. Are you still vowing to follow through with that promise?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: We're looking at it right now. Most likely, yes.

These people are living in hell.

WELKER: Let me just -

TRUMP: And I think it's very unfair.

WELKER: But - but - but let me -

TRUMP: So, yes, most likely I'll do it very quickly.

I'm going to be acting very quickly.

WELKER: Within your first 100 days, first day?

TRUMP: First day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: But not - not all Republicans seem on board with a blanket pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I would suggest the president, if he asked my opinion, and he hasn't, is that he review them one by one, by one by one.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rather than doing everything at once?

KENNEDY: Huh?

RAJU: Rather than doing one blanket pardon?

KENNEDY: Right. Right. Every case is - every case is different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Pretty interesting.

Brad, we were - we touched on this a little bit yesterday. But there you have, you know, John Kennedy, a conservative senator, pushing back a little bit here. And Lindsey Graham also went on to say, we didn't play him there, he said, "the people who beat up police officers, I put them in a different category than the others."

Do you think we're going to see Trump pardon people who beat up police officers?

TODD: Well, you know, Trump's talked about this several times. And when you - sometimes when he talks about it, he says, I'm going to look at it case by case. And the ones that are really bad, bad actors who - I'm not going to pardon. That's, I think, the day - the view that will carry the day. I don't think Stewart Rhodes or Enrique Tarrio or people who beat up police officers or who grabbed a police shield and broke a window, I don't think those people are going to be pardoned.

I think people who maybe were - were convicted or pled guilty to parading without a permit or demonstrating inside the Capitol in violation of the Capitol rules, I think he'll probably pardon some of those - those folks. And I don't think it will be that controversial when he does. But I think if he were to pardon Stewart Rhodes or Enrique Tarrio or any of the instigators from the Oath Keepers or -

HUNT: I mean Tarrio asked Trump for a pardon yesterday.

TODD: I think those pardons will be controversial. And they should be.

THOMPSON: I mean it's telling that you still don't know.

[06:40:01]

I mean you - you - we have no idea how far he's going to go with this. And there is sort of a feeling on many issues within the Trump orbit of this sort of invincibility, given all - all the things that he overcame over the last few years, lawsuits, assassination attempts, everything else. And there's definitely a feeling of sort of exuberance that, well, just, you know, screw it. Like, let's just do everything that we said we were going to do.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, but the last conversation we were just having is related to this one, right, because politics is all intertwined. And he's ultimately got to get votes for his agenda. And so, yes, I certainly agree that there seems to be a sense of - there's a feeling of invincibility that comes after winning an election. But the reality of vote counting on The Hill, as we just discussed, is going to be very challenging. And doing something like this, that's incredibly controversial and - well, controversial right out of the gate when you're trying to count votes on the things you promised you would do for the American people, it does not make a whole lot of sense.

TODD: Isn't this the inevitable tension, right? All new presidents have this desire to sort of settle scores versus to increase their popularity.

HUNT: All of them? I mean Donald Trump in particular?

(CROSS TALK)

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I don't know. I don't know about that.

TODD: Campaigns are pretty bruising things, and I think there is an urge in politics to settle scores with - it comes with him more than others perhaps.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes.

TODD: But - but he does want to be popular. And he does want his agenda to be popular and to -

KANNO-YOUNGS: He's also said that he would do this early and prioritize it. And this does get more complicated when you do it on an individual basis. The easiest way to do a pardon action quickly, like on day one, is to issue a sweeping categorical pardon. So, if you're going to start to disperse it and look at each individual crime, it's going to take longer. And now you start to have pressure from the base after you committed to doing this early on.

HUNT: Yes, and, I mean, I - I think I keep flashing back as well to the - that moment at that rally in, I believe it was Ohio, where he stands there as they play, you know, please rise for the national anthem sung by the January 6th - what is - what is the -

BEDINGFIELD: Choir?

HUNT: No, it's - it's the hostages.

BEDINGFIELD: Oh, the unfairly - yes, yes, yes.

HUNT: Yes, the - all right.

THOMPSON: He just played it again at Mar-a-Lago before (ph) Mark Zuckerberg.

TODD: The tension between the windshield - the windshield and the rear view mirror for Donald Trump, though, may determine how successful the first year of his presidency is.

HUNT: Yes. As - we said this yesterday on the show, that politics is about the future, right, in theory?

All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, three new board members appointed at Meta. One of them, Dana White, the chief executive of the UFC.

Plus, the late President Jimmy Carter making his final journey to the nation's capital.

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[06:47:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He talked to me like you and I are talking. And it was very surreal because he was the president of the most powerful country in the world. But he talked on a genuine one-to-one level.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His humility is really important to me. You know, it never got to his head being the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How I hope he's remembered is that he's remembered for who he is. That, you know, the integrity, truthfulness, all those qualities we - we like to pretend like all our presidents have and almost none of them do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: The nation honoring President Jimmy Carter, who will return to Washington for the last time today. The 39th president of the United States will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, where the public will be able to visit. This is a live look at - at the former president right now. His remains will return to Georgia to be buried on Thursday alongside his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn.

But it's here in D.C. where Carter served his nation for four at times tumultuous years and where he arrived with promises of change and compassion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the beginning, Jimmy Carter's campaign was a lonely one. But through the months, more and more people recognized him as a new leader, a man who would change the way this country is run. A competent man who can make our government open and efficient, but above all, an understanding man who can make ours a government of the people once again. Jimmy Carter, a leader for a change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now is former U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Stuart Eizenstat. He also served as chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter.

Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

STUART EIZENSTAT, FORMER CHIEF WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISER, CARTER ADMINISTRATION, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION AND CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Kasie, thank you for having me.

HUNT: I'd like to start just with your reflections there about the former president. And I was actually struck by that one person in Plains, Georgia, who talked about the integrity of former President Carter. And - and, you know, you wrote about this. And let me just read a little bit of what you said. Quote, "conventional wisdom holds that Jimmy Carter was a failure as president, redeemed only by his philanthropy and efforts to promote democracy in his post-presidential years. This is palpably wrong. Why is Carter's presidency remembered so harshly? It is due in part to his unorthodox approach to the presidency. He believed he could park politics at the Oval Office door and procure another term by concentrating on doing the right thing, forgetting that a president must be a politician in chief."

Talk a little bit about the man that you knew and his focus on doing the right thing.

EIZENSTAT: Well, first, Kasie, I've literally known him for 55 years. I was his policy director when he ran for governor and then for president and his chief domestic adviser.

[06:50:04]

And he had an iron discipline and a determination to tackle issues which others had shied away from, like, for example, the Panama Canal, like granting amnesty the first day to Vietnam draft evaders. So, we put that wound behind us.

Tackling energy, which was a hugely difficult problem. We inherited an energy situation in which we were importing more than 50 percent of our oil. Now we are the biggest producer of oil and natural gas. And it's because of his three energy bills.

He is a great environmentalist. He doubled the size of our national park. And he deregulated whole industries, rail, airlines, trucks, telecommunications. We wouldn't have CNN today as we know it without that.

And even the beer industry, which gave rise to all the craft industries.

And then at - abroad, he combined the hard power of building up our military after Vietnam and the soft power of human rights and all the weapons systems, Kasie, which President Reagan implemented. He gets credit for somehow bringing the Soviet Union to its knees. And it's fine that he did, but each one of them began with President Carter.

The China normalization, the Panama Canal Treaty, and then the - the real cherry on the cake was the 13 days at Camp David, ironing out the first peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. And that is a peace agreement, Kasie, that has lasted for 45 years, even through this Gaza war.

And those are things that are important. So, what I really hope is that while his post-presidency obviously was spectacular, that we look back and redeem his presidency and see it as a very important, impactful, one term presidency that had lasting impacts.

And, fortunately, many of the things that he put in place only blossomed after he left office, like, for example, tackling inflation through having Paul Volcker raise interest rates in an election year. It was one of the things that lost him the election, but it was important for the country. Reagan and the country benefited when interest rates dropped like a rock, but not to - not to early enough to help President Carter.

So, these are all things that I think are coming together during this solemn moment. For me, it's a very bittersweet moment. I'll be seeing his casket in the U.S. Capitol tonight. And then again tomorrow. And it brings back a rush of memories from a time he was Jimmy who, at 1 percent in the polls. We put him on "What's My Line?" Not one person knew that he was the governor of Georgia. He came an awful long way through sheer determination and a message. It was the anti-Watergate message. It was cleaning up Washington. It was bringing ethics to Washington after Watergate. And that was a message that resonated in the primaries and in the general election against President Ford.

HUNT: Mr. Ambassador, briefly, his marriage to his wife, Rosalynn, also set an example that is still worth looking at today, no?

EIZENSTAT: I went down to Plains, Kasie, for his 75th anniversary. And it was a remarkable celebration. He, of course, was married a total of 77 years. But to see them 75 years out, hand in hand, looking at each other with great love was remarkable. It's a marriage that really lasted. But importantly, also, Kasie, she herself was a unique first lady. She was the first to have a staff in the East Wing. She was the first to draft her own legislation, community mental health. She was the second next to Eleanor Roosevelt to testify in Congress. And she was sent on an early mission by the president to Latin America to tell Latin America that a new day was coming of human rights, and she was not going to meet with and have teas with the first ladies of Latin America, she met with the leaders. And she gave them a very harsh message. We're going to cut your arms off unless you improve your human rights record. And that resulted in thousands of political prisoners getting out and ending up with democracies coming.

So, yes, it was a marriage, but it was also a partnership during the administration.

HUNT: All right, Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, sir, so grateful to have your perspectives and reflections on the show today. And I know there will be many emotions as we honor President Carter. Thinking of you and everyone who knew him. Thank you.

[06:55:02]

EIZENSTAT: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, 54 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

Lawyers for Donald Trump want to keep the public from seeing special counsel Jack Smith's final report on the federal investigations into the president-elect. They are threatening to take legal action if it's released. According to a court filing from Smith overnight, Attorney General Merrick Garland will decide whether any portion of the report is to be made public.

Tracking a developing story at this hour. JetBlue discovers two bodies in a plane's landing gear at Fort Lauderdale's airport. The airline says crews found them during a post-flight inspection last night. How they got there is under investigation.

And Donald Trump is talking about Greenland again. This time he says his son, Donald Trump Jr., will travel there. Trump Senior recently revived his push for the U.S. to take control of the Danish territory, something that he had floated during his first administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENT-ELECT: Well, the concept came up and I said, certainly I'd be - strategically it's interesting, and we'd be interested. But we'll talk to them a little bit. It's not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, wait, Brad Todd, why does Canada get to be the 51st state but not Greenland?

TODD: Well, Greenland only has 50,000 people. So it would be certainly the most overrepresented state in the United States Senate if we were to add that - Greenland in. But, I don't know, Canada - Canada's more adjacent. I don't know. I don't have a good answer for you, Kasie.

BEDINGFIELD: I'm all for Canada as the 51st state. Let's give Democrats significant electoral influence, including more elected officials in Congress, probably more margin in the popular vote. Great.

TODD: What could we - what if we make it part of (INAUDIBLE).

BEDINGFIELD: That - great, Donald Trump. Terrific. Let's do it.

THOMPSON: One interesting thing about the Greenland thing is, it actually isn't the first time that we've talked about this. Harry Truman tried to buy it for $100 million in gold in 1947. Now, that was much more about, like, the Soviets and the Cold War politics. In this case, it seems to be a little bit more about Trump's, you know, obsession with energy and potentially drilling there.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And the competition over the Arctic as well.

THOMPSON: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And just to - a sort of interest in territorial expansion as well. It's not just Greenland. We've also heard comments on the Panama Canal as well.

HUNT: Yes, well, and apparently the Danes have changed their royal crest for the first time in hundreds of years to make Greenland more prominent. So, I don't - I don't think they're interested in giving it up.

TODD: This is pretty much going to win - win more influence out of this no matter what.

HUNT: Yes, exactly. All right, let's turn now to Silicon Valley, where Facebook's parent company, Meta, is getting a new board member. UFC and close Donald Trump ally - CEO, excuse me, and close Donald Trump ally Dana White. Meta tapping White for just two weeks before Trump takes office amid what seems to be a broader ideological shift to the right within the top ranks at Meta. The tech giant recently donating to Trump's inaugural fund. White, of course, emerged as a key voice for Trump on the campaign trail and used his UFC connections to leverage appearances for Trump on podcasts that were popular with thousands of young men. Trump even picked White to introduce him at the RNC this summer, and had him on stage for his victory speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA WHITE, CEO, ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP: I know I'm going to choose real American leadership and a real American badass.

This is what happens when the machine comes after you.

This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family. I want to thank some people real quick. I want to thank the Nelk (ph) boys, Aidan Ross (ph), Theo Vaughn (ph), Boston with the Boys (ph), and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, Alex Thompson, now on the board of Meta. It's - there are a number of things that show the way Meta feels it has to operate in this new Trump driven universe.

THOMPSON: Yes, they just had their sort of center left U.K. head of policy. He took a back seat. And now you have someone who was a very prominent ally of people like Brett Kavanaugh and the Bush administration as head of that policy. Mark Zuckerberg went down to Mar-a-Lago. Trump played the January 6th "Star Spangled Banner" in front of him. And, you know, it is clearly an attempt. They know that Donald Trump is a highly transactional people - person. And that's why you see all these moves.

KANNO-YOUNGS: I'm reminded of - I was at that press conference that the president-elect had a couple of weeks ago where he had a comment where he said, you know, the first time around when I won election, nobody wanted anything to do with me. Now everybody is kind of coming to me, right?

HUNT: Everybody wants to be my friend.

TODD: This is normal.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Everybody wants to be my friend.

TODD: This is normal, though.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And I - and you're - but you're seeing that now too at a - it is interesting how Meta is doing it in a variety of ways here, including (INAUDIBLE). TODD: Vernon Jordan was a close friend to Bill Clinton's who prospered wildly with corporate contracts and board memberships after Bill Clinton became president. This is normal. When a president takes over, companies who think they're in the bullseye of regulation suddenly find that president's friends. This is not anything new.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I agree, except the difference here is that Facebook has such a massive influence over how people in this country receive information. I mean that is just - that is different than political - politically influential people cozying up to corporate leadership where they're trying to make money. This is a real, tangible impact on how people in this country receive news and get information.

[07:00:03]

And that, to me, is where the real - I mean the other issue is significant too, but that, to me, is where this is really -

TODD: Republicans are ready to raise the alarm on some of that too. We welcome Democrats to - to the conversation.

BEDINGFIELD: Are they, though? Are they? Are they? Are they?

KANNO-YOUNGS: It also wasn't too long ago that a certain Dana White tried to broker an actual fight between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in ultimate fighting as well. So, that's -

HUNT: Oh, man. I have a great sound bite that is too long to play now that I forgot about.

(CROSS TALK)

HUNT: You're totally right. You're totally right.

All right, we're hitting 7:00. But I do want to leave you with just a couple seconds of my favorite video today, which is the pandas enjoying the snow in Washington, D.C. They are having the most fun of any of us.

Thanks to all of you for being with us this morning.

I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.