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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Biden Calling for Unity; Trump Prepares to Carry Out Campaign Promises; Trump Picks Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff; Biden Addressing the Nation; President Xi Congratulates Trump; Future of Trump's Legal Cases; Three People Facing Preliminary Charges Over Liam Payne's Death; Federal Reserve Cutting Rates; Fed Chair Will Not Step Down Early; Global Reactions on Trump's Election Win; What Trump's Win Means for Ukraine; N. Korean Troops Sustained Losses; Zelenskyy Urging to Put More Pressure on Russia; Musk Stand to Win Big After Trump's Election Win; California Dealing with Devastating Wildfires; Data Shows 2024 Will be Highest on Record. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired November 07, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: -- Threads, X, former known as Twitter. And on the TikTok, @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X, @TheLeadCNN. If you
ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show whence you get your podcasts. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation
Room. I'll see you tomorrow.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. It's 7:00 a.m. in Beijing, 3:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, and 6:00 p.m. here in Atlanta. I'm Lynda Kinkade in for Julia
Chatterley. And wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
A very warm welcome to "First Move." Here is today's need to know. The first cabinet pick. President-Elect Donald Trump selects the first woman to
ever become chief of staff. China's President Xi Jinping tells Trump that their countries would benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation.
Three people are facing preliminary charges over the death of the former One Direction band member, Liam Payne. And new data shows 2024 will be the
hottest on record. All that and much more coming up.
But first, Donald Trump is now president-elect with inauguration day a little more than two months away. Earlier, President Joe Biden called for
unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I've said many times, you can't love your country only when you win. You can't love your neighbor, only when you
agree. Something I hope we can do no matter who you voted for, is see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans. Bring down the
temperature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, Trump reiterated his campaign pledge to carry out mass deportation, saying there is, quote, "no price tag for his plan." And there
will be consequences on the global stage. Trump says he has already spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but has not yet spoken to
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And Trump has just announced his White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, his campaign manager. Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach. Good to have
you with us. So, this is the first pretty much position that Trump has announced since becoming president-elect. Take us through this decision.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it's also one of the most important positions. The chief of staff is someone who is
essentially your right hand there, your most loyal person in the White House, everything will run through Susie Wiles. And that's not that
surprising because everything ran through her for the campaign.
She has proved herself to be a loyal soldier to Donald Trump. We did report earlier today that she told Trump that she was interested in taking the
job, but that she had a couple of conditions. And essentially, one of those conditions was, as we were described to us, as the clown car couldn't come
to the White House at will. Meaning, she would have control as to who had access to Donald Trump and when. That is not that surprising because of the
fact that Susie Wiles played that role on the campaign.
She often filtered through people who wanted to get to Donald Trump. She was the one who people would call before they talked to the former
president. She also, at one point, controlled the manifest on the plane to make sure she knew exactly who was on and off the plane at all times,
again, with access to the former president.
Now, the other thing about Susie Wiles that's so fascinating is the fact that she has been his loyal soldier since he left the White House in
disgrace in 2021. Something to keep in mind. After he left, he was essentially isolated for a long time at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans spending a
lot of time distancing themselves from him after January 6th.
I was there when he watched the midterm elections next to Susie two years ago. I was there when he announced his candidacy with Susie Wiles before
the campaign had beefed up in November, almost two years ago. That is the kind of person that he wants around him. That is how he wants to fill his
administration, with people who showed loyalty to him.
Now, one person I was talking to about the relationship with Susie and Donald Trump is that she's -- they told me that she's so pivotal because
she knows she can't control the former president. But one thing she can control is everything that happens around him. And she's given so many
people that are close to Donald Trump a sense of comfort, including the former president, a sense of calm.
I was already talking to somebody else who was saying how this time it feels so different from 2017 when he was entering the White House because
of the fact that Susie is there. She is the one who is by his side. She is the one who is kind of calming everyone down and making sure everything
runs through her.
So, the big question had been, leading up until now, if -- or she would actually accept the job. And then, obviously, she has decided she would.
The other historical context here, of course, being the fact that she will be the first female chief of staff in American history. That in itself is a
pretty remarkable thing, especially to happen under former president or President-Elect Donald Trump.
[18:05:00]
KINKADE: Yes, certainly big news. Thank you for bringing that breaking news to us. Susie Wiles, the campaign manager for Donald Trump, but now
he's chief of staff. Good to have you with us. Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach, thank you.
Well, joining me now is CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. Good to have you with us, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: Hey, Lynda.
KINKADE: So, you know, we're still digesting what happened in this election. The Democrats certainly doing some soul searching. You know,
Harris certainly seemed to struggle with both the profile and her portfolio before taking over from Biden. Biden jumped out late, he was unpopular
going into this election. How big of a factor was that?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think, you know, in many ways this election was set before she got in, you know, and her ability to change that underlying
dynamic was limited. I think what you see, if you look deeply into the exit polls and the vote cast, the two main data sources we have, is that pretty
consistently it tells us that voters favored in unpredictable future over an unacceptable present.
You know, voters were not unaware of the risks that Donald Trump presented. A majority of voters said they viewed him as extreme. A majority of voters
said that he risked taking the nation in an authoritarian direction. A majority opposed mass deportation. A majority said they wanted the
government to do more to expand access to health care. And of course, the majority supported legal abortion. But a substantial slice of voters in
each of those camps voted for him anyway, because they were discontented with the economy, discontented with Biden's performance, and they wanted a
change in direction.
One quarter of women who said they supported legal abortion voted for Trump, one quarter of Latinos who said they oppose mass deportation voted
for Trump. And I think that gives you a sense, those kinds of dynamics give you a sense of how powerfully the discontent over inflation shape this
election.
And, of course, as, you know, governments all over the world, incumbent governments all over the world have been rattled, and in many cases,
dislodged over the same discontent. Inflation is just an incumbent killer.
KINKADE: Yes, exactly. And of course, a majority of men supported Trump in -- not just overall, but in every battleground state.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
KINKADE: By contrast, a majority of women supported Harris overall, plus in every battleground state. Trump did double his share of young black men,
cutting into a key demographic for the Democrats. His support amongst Latino men also grew. Is there a question about whether America is ready
for a woman to lead the free world?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, look, you know, first -- yes, I think that is still an issue and it is an issue not only among men, but among women. I mean,
her advantage among women was significantly smaller than Biden's. It was even smaller than Clinton's in 2016. And as I said, I think a big part of
that was the economy. The share of women in the exit polls who described the economy in negative terms was even higher than it was among men.
I mean, they were -- a lot of women were feeling economically squeezed, particularly blue collar, white women, white women without a college
degree. But, you know, I've talked to people who have done extensive focus group and polling who will say that there is a slice of those women,
particularly those non-college, white women who still feel that they are -- that a man is more likely to keep them safe as president than a woman. They
will say things like, well, I am fine with a woman as president, but I don't think leaders around the world would respect her, or I think he would
be tougher.
So, that is real. But I do think the biggest factor that we see running across all of these groups. And really, something else that underscores
this is the consistency of his gains across all kinds of counties. 90 percent of the counties in the U.S. moved more toward the Republicans than
in -- moved more toward him than in 2020. And that says to me that this was not an election driven by tactics or, you know, kind of who they chose as
vice president, but really about a common experience across the entire society largely rooted in frustration over the higher prices that erupted
in Biden's first two years.
KINKADE: Yes, it's just incredible. He's taken the White House, taken the Senate. He may take the House. Ron Brownstein, good to have you with us.
Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
KINKADE: Well, world leaders are congratulating President-Elect Trump on his win, and among them is the Chinese president. Xi Jinping telling Trump
that their two countries would, quote, "benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation."
[18:10:00]
Now, during his first term, Trump slapped tariffs on many Chinese goods and is threatening more. More recently as a candidate, he threatened to up to
60 to 100 percent on products coming in from China. Well, our Marc Stewart joins us now live from Beijing. Marc, good to have you with us. So, you are
on the ground there. Just give us a sense of the reaction to the election of Donald Trump.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lynda. Good morning. Look, the Beijing administration, for lack of better words, is playing it very safe.
If we look at some of the messages, the wording in this congratulatory message from Xi Jinping to now President-Elect Trump, there's a lot of safe
diplomatic words in there, phrases like win-win cooperation and mutual respect.
These two men have a very complicated relationship. At one point, early on in the first Trump presidency, we saw them sitting together at Mar-a-Lago
having chocolate cake. But then, other issues came up, such as China's response to COVID. And then, as you mentioned, this very thorny and
difficult issue about trade and tariffs. That is something that weighs very heavily on Chinese citizens.
In fact, we were looking yesterday on Weibo, which is essentially China's version of X. There was a lot of concern about tariffs and the potential
for a trade war. Lynda, when we look at China's foreign policy, a big part of it is, if you do something to harm me, I'm going to do something to harm
you back. So, that, in many ways, is setting up the stage for some very contentious relations between Beijing and Washington, Lynda.
KINKADE: Yes, and we should remind viewers that Trump has promised these blanket tariffs, 10 to 20 percent on all imports coming into the U.S. But
60 to 100 percent on products from China. You know, we heard today from one of his campaign officials saying that's just a way to bring China to the
negotiating table to get a better deal. What more are you hearing from China about what it sees is beneficial from a Trump administration?
STEWART: Well, look, this issue of trades and tariffs, it's not going to be a simple fix. And these are economies that are very co-dependent on each
other. American businesses, in fact many small businesses, depend on China for manufacturing. So, there will, perhaps, be some give and take.
But beyond these economic issues, China may look at this Trump presidency in a favorable way in the sense that in the past we've heard Trump express
his concern, his skepticism toward alliances such as NATO at a time when China has bigger sights on hand, namely Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Perhaps this attitude from Washington of being anti-alliance or skeptical of alliances may empower China. So, that is yet another variable that we
will have to see as to how China digests this incoming administration, Lynda.
KINKADE: All right. Marc Stewart, it sounds like you've got a bit of a cold there. I hope you get some warm tea. Thanks so much. Appreciate your
time.
Well, Donald Trump is still a criminal defendant in several cases. And now that he is the U.S. president-elect, the future of those cases are in
doubt. Special Counsel Jack Smith is talking with the Justice Department about how to end the federal prosecutions. And Trump's legal team is
expected to ask a New York judge to cancel his sentencing in the hush money case.
Well. joining us now is the senior legal analyst, Elie Honig. He is also a former assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York. Good
to see you again. So, I want to start, Elie, with those first two federal cases against Trump. Obviously, the one alleging mishandling of classified
documents and of course the efforts to interfere in the 2020 election. Special Counsel Jack Smith now winding those down, right?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST AND FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Yes, Lynda, despite all the expectations
that came when these indictments arrived last, summer of 2023, in the end, nothing's going to happen to Donald Trump. He's never going to have to go
to trial on these. He certainly doesn't face any risk of conviction or going to prison. And the reason is the Justice Department simply ran out of
time.
Now, look, you could fault the Justice Department, which took two and a half years to indict these cases. And I do, as you can probably tell from
my tone of voice, but here we are. And Donald Trump is about to become the president again. And under longstanding Justice Department policy, DOJ
believes, going back to the 1970s, that it is unconstitutional for them to prosecute, to try, and to imprison the sitting president, because that
would essentially disable our entire executive branch. So, these cases are over.
The only real determination Jack Smith has yet to make is whether he will issue a final report. Because he's the special counsel, he does have the
power under guidelines to issue a final report. I do expect he will do that. I do not expect that we'll learn much new, because Jack Smith has
already given us hundreds and hundreds of pages of allegations in his indictment and his other documents. But other than that, he's just got to
turn the lights off and have people pack up their desks.
[18:15:00]
KINKADE: Wow. And in terms of Trump sentencing, meant to take place November 26th, certainly a lot of efforts underway to make sure that
doesn't happen. How do you see this playing out?
HONIG: Yes, there are a lot of off ramps here. So, first of all, Donald Trump has asked the judge to throw out the verdict based on the Supreme
Court's very broad immunity ruling, which actually happened after this trial. We'll get a ruling on that from the judge on Tuesday. If the judge
accepts that motion by Donald Trump, then the case is thrown out. But if the judge rejects it, then the next question is, are we going to have a
sentencing on November 26?
I don't know what the judge is going to do that. We've never had a president-elect up for potential sentencing. I can see the judge saying on
the one hand, we're going to finish out this process. He's been tried. I'll sentence him. And -- or I could see the judge saying, what's the point?
He's now the president-elect. There is no way either way that he will serve any prison time. He's not going to be locked up now that he's president-
elect during the transition period, especially on a state level charge. And he's certainly not going to be locked up while he's the president. So, if
we do see a sentencing go forward, it's going to be largely ceremonial and formalistic.
KINKADE: And of course, Elie, there is the election interference case here in the State of Georgia. It's a state case. As a president, does he have
any power over how that plays out?
HONIG: Well, he can't issue a pardon from a state case, but that case has collapsed on its own way, even putting aside the fact that he's re-elected.
There were all sorts of problems with the D.A.'s. ethics, with the D.A.'s conflicts of interest. The D.A. made comments outside of court that were
outrageous. She attacked the defense lawyers. She claimed they were racist because they filed legal motions, which you are allowed to do.
I was under the belief that that case would be dismissed already by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The Georgia Court of Appeals has taken up that
case. All indications are they will either throw the D.A. off the case and/or dismiss it. But even if that case somehow survives, it's nowhere
near trial and there's no way under our constitutional system where the federal government, no pun intended, trumps the state government, there's
no way that the sitting president will be put on state, county level trial in Fulton County, Georgia. So, that case is all over but the shouting.
KINKADE: All this work, all these cases all about to be buried.
HONIG: There's a book to be written here. I might just do it.
KINKADE: You should, Elie. We'll let you get to it. Elie Honig.
HONIG: Thanks, Lynda.
KINKADE: Thanks. Well, I want to go to a story developing in Buenos Aires now. Three people have been receiving preliminary charges. They've just
received preliminary charges in connection to the death of Liam Payne. Prosecutors also revealing that the One Direction star had alcohol and
drugs in his system.
Well, for more on this, I'm joined by Julia Vargas from Los Angeles. Julia, good to have you with us. So, what are you learning?
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're learning, Lynda, that these three people that are facing these preliminary charges, they were
around Liam Payne in the final hours of his life. One of them is described as someone who authorities believe spent a significant amount of time with
Payne during his time in Buenos Aires. He's actually -- this person is actually being charged with abandonment of a person before death in the
supply and facilitation of narcotics. That's punishable to up to 15 years in prison. And the two other people, one of them is an employee of the
hotel where he was staying in Buenos Aires and a third person, a suspected drug dealer, authorities say.
Of course, this all paints a picture of what was happening in those days and hours before he fell from the third story of his hotel when -- balcony.
Now, the toxicology report was also -- or some findings of that report were released today, Lynda, and it gives us a little bit of a glimpse of what
was happening as well. Authorities, for a long time, weren't really saying if he was -- if he fell to his death by accident or if that was an act that
he was conscious, but they did say today that from the level of alcohol, antidepressants and cocaine in his system and as well from the positioning
of this body, the manner that he felt that he was probably unconscious at the time that he fell from that balcony in Buenos Aires that he felt to his
death.
Now, we are seeing pictures there of the outpour of support that they got from fans of the former One Direction member in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We
know his father was also there to collect his body, which is expected to arrive in the U.K. any day soon. And we're still waiting to hear more
details of where fans can come and express their sentiments, if there's a funeral in the coming days. Lynda.
KINKADE: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much for that update.
Well, still to come, the Powell playbook for Trump 2.0. The U.S. Federal Reserve cutting rates as expected this Thursday. The path ahead could get
complicated.
Plus, more global reaction to Donald Trump's election win. What this week's victory means for Ukraine and Israel. That next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:00]
KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Another day of post-election gains on Wall Street, topping today's Money Move. The S&P 500 and the
NASDAQ rising to fresh record highs. The Dow finished unchanged, but remember, it soared 1,500 points Wednesday after Trump's presidential win.
During Thursday's session, the U.S. Federal Reserve did the expected and cut interest rates another quarter of a percentage point. It's the second
rate cut in a row after September's half a percentage point cut.
Well, it was a mixed day of trade in Asia. Japanese stocks a bit softer, but solid gains in China. Investors await the conclusion of this week's
National People's Congress meeting, where new fiscal stimulus could be announced.
Well, focusing now on the Fed, and Chair Jerome Powell was asked point blank at his press conference on Thursday about his future at the Central
Bank. He says he's not going anywhere. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of the president-elect's advisers have suggested that you should resign. If he asked you to leave, would you go?
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you follow up on -- do you think that legally you're not required to leave?
POWELL: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Short and brief. The question is pertinent given Donald Trump's frustrations with Powell in the past. That said, a senior Trump adviser
tells CNN that Trump is likely to allow Powell to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in 2026.
Steve Mnuchin, Trump's Treasury Secretary during his first term, suggests the president-elect is probably happy with the Central Bank's current
policy path. He spoke earlier with Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN MNUCHIN, FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I know President Trump wants interest rates to come down. He's been very clear on that. And I
think the good news is Chair Powell is lowering rates. They did it today. I guess they're on a path to quickly lower rates to 3 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, Diane Swonk joins me now for more on Powell's future at the Fed and the Central Bank's rate cutting path. She is the chief economist at
KPMG U.S. Good to have you with us.
DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, KPMG U.S.: Good to be here.
KINKADE: So, let's start with today's news. Another quarter of a percentage cut to rates. It was expected. It didn't change due to the
election outcome. What did you make of Chairman Powell's comments?
[18:25:00]
SWONK: I think he was very clear in his comments that he's not going anywhere until he retires in May of 2026. that's very important. He wants
to finish out his term and he'd like to leave his legacy being nailing a soft landing. Now, whether or not he'll be able to do that will depend
heavily on the policies that we see over the next year and a half and that is, you know, a bit uncertain given the change in administration that we're
going to see.
KINKADE: There is a perception in America that the economy is dire, and we saw it in this election with people saying that the economic issue is one
of their major reasons in the way they voted. How would you describe the overall health of the economy, and why does the perception -- why is the
perception at odds with the reality given the data we're seeing?
SWONK: Well, I think it's understandable. First of all, the economy looks good on paper. The devil's always in the details. And the reality is that,
you know, price increases when you go through a bout of inflation it has lingering effects. And I think Chairman Powell actually addressed it very
well today when he said, you know, we understand it. We're not going to tell Americans what to think, even though we know we're moving in the right
direction of where we should be going. The reality is that it takes a while for people to regain the purchasing power they lost, and that is what we're
seeing is even though wages are outpacing inflation, people have large families are spending much more at the grocery store to feed them than they
once did.
The cost of shelter costs have gone up quite dramatically. And even as, you know, we see the pace of those increases slowing, the bottom line is the
level of prices are still nothing like they were in 2019 and people use it as a reference. There is no muscle memory of inflation, and inflation tends
to have very scarring effects. It takes a while for the effects to unwind and a period of time of you regaining ground lost to inflation earlier in
the expansion.
KINKADE: I want to ask you about two policies announced by Trump already, a mass deportation plan of undocumented workers, which we know make up an
estimated of 5 percent of the U.S. workforce, as well as this blanket tariff policy for imports ranging from 10 to 20 percent on all imports and
60 to 100 percent on products from China. What impact could those policies have on the U.S. economy?
SWONK: Well, they're not only have an impact on the U.S. economy, they'll also have an impact on the course of rate cuts, like could reverse rate
cuts because the two together, tariffs along with likely retaliatory tariffs and escalating tariffs, not just a onetime lift in tariffs, they're
attacks that U.S. consumers pay and it will show up as inflation, along with curbs to immigration, immigration has been key in allowing the labor
market to cool and get us to this more normalized place we are in terms of the pace of inflation.
So, the two together both stem growth and stoke inflation, that's a bad combination. We don't see the bulk of the effects of that until we get into
2026, but you could see the Fed minimally stop or pause its cuts in rates. In the worst-case scenario, they'll have to do a U-turn and raise rates
again. If the Fed chairman is replaced by someone who is a, quote/unquote, loyalist to the president and committed to cutting rates despite that, that
is a very bad combination. History has been not good on that.
The people we know that are the top in line for that position are people that are going to be respecting history. That said, you know, we do know
when administrations interfere with the Central Bank, you tend to get very bad economic outcomes. The last time we saw that was during the Nixon
administration and the stagflation that erupted after the OPEC oil embargo in 1973.
KINKADE: Some great analysis there. Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG U.S., good to have you on the show. Thanks.
SWONK: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, straight ahead this hour, uncertainty in Ukraine after Donald Trump's election. What Ukrainians stand to lose if the president-
elect withdraws support.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Well, from Asia to Europe, we're seeing strong reactions to Donald Trump's victory, with newspapers
capturing the range of emotions that people are feeling. Some headlines have signaled surprise over Trump's political comeback. Others have
expressed concern over the impact the president-elect could have on other countries.
In Ukraine, there's unease and uncertainty given Trump's refusal to commit to Ukraine's defense, and it comes as Ukrainians are now fighting Russian
and North Korean troops around Russia's Kursk region. On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said North Korean soldiers are
already suffering losses on the battlefield. He also urged western allies to put more pressure on Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We are defending ourselves, not against Russian wars, but against Russian attacks. Therefore, we need
sufficient weapons, not supporting talks. Hugs with Putin will not help. Some of leaders have been hugging him for 20 years and things are only
getting worse. He thinks only about wars and will not change. Only pressure can put limits on him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, let's discuss this now with Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and former U.S. special representative for Ukraine
negotiations. Good to have you with us, Ambassador.
KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, CENTER FOR EUROPEAN POLICY ANALYSIS AND FORMER U.S.
AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Thank you. Great to be with you, Lynda.
KINKADE: So, ahead of the election Donald Trump said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine in one day. As some suggested, that would mean carving up
pieces of Ukraine and giving it to Russia. He's never really explained how he would do it. What are you hearing about how this war might end under a
Trump administration?
VOLKER: Oh, well, first off, I don't know that there's ever any basis to saying he's just going to carve up pieces of Ukraine and give it to Russia
and expect that ends the war that -- he's never said that. And there's no reason to think that would end the war. The only reason there's a war is
because Vladimir Putin has chosen to start a war and continues it.
So, if you want to end it, the first thing you have to do is convince Putin that continuing the war is too costly for him. So, what Trump has said is
that he will call Putin and tell him to stop the war. And he has said that if Putin doesn't stop the war, then we'll give Ukraine whatever support it
needs because it's going to get worse for Putin. And I think he's hoping that he can create the dynamics that causes Putin to decide, OK, it's done
for now.
KINKADE: We did hear from President Putin today saying that he congratulated Trump and he is ready to talk. But he hasn't spoken to Trump
yet. We know Donald Trump has spoken to more than 70 world leaders already. Ukraine's president being one of them who basically said that he told
Donald Trump that a strong Europe is what America needs.
[18:35:00]
Given that Trump has criticized the billions of dollars in aid that has gone into the war, how do you think Donald Trump will approach support --
further support for Ukraine?
VOLKER: Yes. So, first off, it's not that he criticized the idea of aid to Ukraine, he criticized the lack of a strategy. He said that we're giving
all of this money and we don't know what we're trying to achieve and how it's going to do that. And when it came time in January, February, March of
this year, 2024, for the House of Representatives to actually approve the next transfer of aids to Ukraine, Donald Trump stood up next to Speaker of
the House Mike Johnson and supported him and said, we need to get this through and pushed back on members of the House who are opposing it, such
as Marjorie Taylor Greene.
So, I don't think it's fair to say that Donald Trump is against this, but I think what he wants is a strategy and he wants to know how it's going to
end the war.
I think a second -- or a third component to that is he doesn't want it to cost U.S. taxpayers. The $61 billion that was approved last year was
appropriated funds from the U.S. government budget, money that we're borrowing in order to give it to Ukraine. I think what President Trump
would rather do is offer loans to Ukraine, a lend lease policy for Ukraine, such as we have for the U.K., in which they can borrow as much as they
need, pay us back later and buy U.S. weaponry that they need in order to defend themselves against Russia. That seems to me a more likely approach
where this would go.
KINKADE: We also heard, Ambassador, from the NATO chief who says he wants to discuss the Russian-North Korean threat with Donald Trump. We know that
North Korea has dispatched thousands of troops to help Russia in its war in Ukraine. How will NATO navigate another Trump presidency?
VOLKER: Well, I think if they're smart, people will do a few things. One, they will not make assumptions about what Trump's policy is. Just wait,
listen, try to understand where he's coming from. Don't make assumptions and react against those assumptions. Number two, do your own homework. Know
what the issue is, what you want to do about it, what capabilities you have, and are willing to commit so that you're ready. And then third, be
proactive and make proposals about how we handle it.
If you just sit back and wait and then are prepared to complain about something you don't like from the Trump administration, that's a recipe for
failure. But if you do your homework, and if you're proactive, and if you're not making assumptions, but ready to engage, I think that's a recipe
for success.
And I do think -- I'll give you an example, the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, did exactly those things in his phone call with Trump, his
statement, and then the public statements that he made, I think he's posturing NATO in just the right position.
KINKADE: And finally, Ambassador, what do you think will be Trump's greatest foreign policy challenge?
VOLKER: Well, he's got so many right now. He's got an active war of Russia against Ukraine, that was not quite so active when he was president before.
He's got Iran launching its proxies against Israel and Israel fighting back, and that wasn't happening before. And he's got a much tenser
situation with China in the South China Sea with China really taking aggressive steps against many of its neighbors, not only Taiwan, but also
Philippines and Vietnam. So, it's a ripe, full agenda right now.
I think the sequencing wise, he needs to tell Putin to end the war and give Putin a little bit of time to do that. He's going to have to take the fight
to Iran, if you will, hold Iran accountable for its support of these proxy groups and threaten responses there if they don't stop them and try to
build strength and capacity for a longer-term challenge with China.
KINKADE: Ambassador Kurt Volker, great to have you on the program and sharing your analysis and perspective. Thank you.
VOLKER: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, still ahead. Musk's mandate. The billionaire went all in for President-Elect Trump during the campaign. So, what does that mean for
Tesla, X, and his other businesses? We'll have more on that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:40:00]
KINKADE: Welcome back to "First Move." I'm Lynda Kinkade with a look at more international headlines this hour. Sources tell CNN that Chinese
hackers gained access to the phone of one of Donald Trump's attorneys. The FBI told Todd Blanche the hackers got voice recordings as well as text
messages. None of that information was related to the president-elect. Blanche is the second person who Donald Trump's orbit believed to be the
target of foreign hackers.
Rescue and recovery operations are underway in Cuba in the wake of Hurricane Raphael. The Category 3 storm slammed into the island Wednesday,
causing a total blackout. Power has since been restored in some areas.
Japan's iconic Mount Fuji finally regained its snow cap on Thursday. It's the latest snowfall on the mountain since records began 130 years ago. Snow
usually begins to appear on the country's tallest mountain early October.
Well, there was perhaps no business leader more committed to helping Donald Trump win the White House than Elon Musk. The world's richest person, not
only endorsing Trump wholeheartedly, but also donating about $120 million to the cause.
He campaigned across the country for the now president-elect and amplified Trump's message on his social media platform, X. And he has suggested that
he could help the new administration cut government costs, a skill that Trump praised during the campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: You, you're the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, you want to
quit? They go on strike. I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, that's OK. You're all gone. You're all gone. So,
every one of you is gone, and you are the greatest. You would be very good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: You were the greatest. Musk stands to gain a lot in a Trump presidency. His businesses could get some regulatory relief and win fresh
tax benefits. Musk's only publicly traded company, Tesla, saw its shares soar 15 percent on Wednesday. They gained almost 3 percent on Thursday.
Well, Dan Ives joins me now. He is a managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, and he's a longtime Tesla bull.
Good to have you with us.
So, Musk backed Trump with millions of dollars, and you write that the biggest winner from a Trump White House remains Tesla and Musk. He is
already the richest man on the planet. What else does he stand to gain?
DAN IVES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: I mean, this could almost be a hundred million and he gets a trillion in terms of value for Tesla. He
made a strategic bet for the ages that will benefit Tesla significantly. And this could fast track autonomous as well as the A.I. strategy for Tesla
in the US. It's a home run for Tesla investors.
KINKADE: I mean, Trump once called Musk another BS artist and Musk said that Trump should just hang up his hat and sail into the sunset. That was
just two years ago. What's changed?
[18:45:00]
IVES: Look, I think ultimately in a twilight zone, they came together and now they're besties, right? And I think to some extent Trump needed Musk,
Musk needed Trump, and now they're together. And I'd expect Musk to have a significant role in the White House unofficially. Let's call him a
whisperer.
I think -- now, I do think it's going to be important in terms of technology, A.I. initiatives in the U.S. I think that's something that's
very bullish for overall Big Tech, but for Musk himself, for Tesla, you know, this is going to be really almost a poker move for the ages for Musk
betting on Trump.
KINKADE: And so, Dan, what other companies, what other people, especially in the tech space, will likely benefit from Trump and why?
IVES: Yes, I think Big Tech's going to clearly benefit, Microsoft, Amazon, Google. The view is that the -- that Lina Khan, head of the FTC, is likely
going to be out under Trump administration. That'll be bullish for Big Tech. More deals, less regulatory.
And that's why stocks are rallying. Because the view is, even though you're going to have China tariffs, you're looking at names like NVIDIA and Big
Tech, this is kind of music to the ears of tech bulls, but now we have to see how it all plays out, especially as it comes to January.
KINKADE: All right. Dan Ives, Managing Director of Wedbush Securities, good to have you with us. Thank you.
IVES: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, California is once again dealing with devastating wildfires. It comes as the world crosses an important climate
threshold. We'll explain next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back to "First Move." I'm Lynda Kinkade. A devastating fire is raging outside of Los Angeles, forcing thousands of people to
evacuate. The Mountain Fire, as it's known, started Wednesday morning and within a matter of hours, it did spread to more than 14,000 acres. That's
about 5,000 hectares. The fire has been fueled by a record hot summer. Our Nick Watt has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions of Californians facing extreme and life-threatening fire behavior. At the Mountain Fire just
northwest of L.A., nearly 20,000 acres burned, more than 14,000 people under evacuation orders, schools closed, a major highway closed. Still no
count on just how many homes have been lost.
Another blaze burning in Malibu. Firefighters have somehow kept that contained. Power intentionally cut to nearly 70,000 customers for fear of
sparking even more blazes in bone dry vegetation.
RICHARD GALANTE, LOST HOME IN MOUNTAIN FIRE: You can't even pick that up.
WATT (voice-over): Richard Galante smelled smoke when he woke up Wednesday.
GALANTE: The wind was so fierce, it was unbelievable. I lived here all my life and always used to winds, but lately, last five years --
WATT: It's got worse?
GALANTE: -- it got worse.
[18:50:00]
WATT (voice-over): By lunchtime, his house was gone.
GALANTE: There was no getting anything. My wife got one handbag. She didn't have any shoes.
WATT (voice-over): We were around here yesterday when wind whipped, flames ripped through this neighborhood.
WATT: This is not a back country wildfire. We are in a city right now. The City of Camarillo, population around 70,000. These firefighters right now
are trying to contain this blaze.
WATT (voice-over): This is a satellite image of the fire within an hour of ignition. And this, a time lapse showing how fast the blaze spread,
scorching a football field's worth of land every three or four seconds for seven hours.
Embers on the wind can burn one house to the ground while others around sit untouched. On his street, Richard Galante just happened to be the unlucky
one.
WATT: Are you going to try to rebuild here?
GALANTE: I am going to rebuild.
WATT: You are?
GALANTE: Where the -- I'm going to go? Well, where am I going to -- the view is incredible. I knew it would happen someday. You pay for certain
things. Unbelievable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Heartbreaking. Our thanks to Nick Watt for that report. Well, new data says this year will be the hottest on record and the first to break an
important climate threshold. Most of the world pledged to keep global warming under one and a half degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement.
Scientists now say 2024 will almost certainly break it. Adding to their concern, a second Trump presidency.
Trump pulled out of the -- pulled the U.S. out of the agreement before the Biden administration reversed course. Well, the president-elect has warned
that he will do it again. Well, for more on this I'm joined by Bill Weir. So, Bill, certainly scientists sounding the alarm, the threat that Trump
could do this yet again, what impact could that have?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It'll be so interesting to see, Lynda. It was a year ago that the world finally came to an agreement
that the end of fossil fuels is here. But this year, as the Biden team sends really a lame duck delegation, who knows that their promises will
probably be gutted by Donald Trump in just a couple of months, who knows what this does to the Paris Agreement, especially as it hits that 1.5
ceiling that the whole agreement was supposed to avoid in the first place.
So, it's tough, but there's a lot of momentum. And a lot of countries, especially in Europe, China is certainly taking this, India very seriously.
There's hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, both public and private money in the United States domestically, that will be hard to claw back.
So, the direction of the energy transition, most experts agree, is not going to change. It's just the pace and the scale under Trump.
KINKADE: And it's interesting, in the wake of this election, the Biden administration is trying to Trump proof certain policies. One happened just
hours after Donald Trump was elected. The Biden administration moved to limit oil drilling in Alaska. Just explain.
WEIR: Well, this is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, way at the tip of Alaska. This beautiful preserve where the -- hundreds of thousands of
caribou migrate through there. It's sort of a jewel that was long a fight between conservationists and Republicans who wanted to drill there. The
Supreme Court in the U.S. or high courts did find that the Biden administration had to put it up for lease sale. But a couple years ago,
when they did, there was no takers. There was no interest from oil companies. It wasn't worth it for them to go there. But just in case that
changes, the Biden administration tried to shrink the footprint that the maximum lease area would be about 400,000 acres up there as well.
It's interesting that U.S. under Joe Biden is the biggest Petro state in human history, oil and gas experts at record levels. So, it's not like a
Trump candidacy, although he presented it this way, would open the spigot on fortunes that have been sacrificed so far. And these sorts of projects
take years to manifest, even if he does claw back regulations. It's really about removing methane restrictions, tailpipe emissions, power plant
restrictions that ultimately burn a lot more pollution, but make those companies have to pay less.
KINKADE: So, you mentioned the climate conference that's set to take place next week, essentially the U.S. sending a delegation that will be very much
less effective under this new administration given that Donald Trump has said that climate change is a hoax. What can be achieved next week?
WEIR: Well, this is actually one of three COPs this year. The most recent one was on biodiversity in Cali, Colombia, and they came away with no
agreement. It was really a sort of a setback. Last year's COP, in the Emirates, where they did agree on the end of the fossil fuel age, was
considered a moderate success.
[18:55:00]
This one was supposed to be about climate finance. And as you look at sea surface anomalies, those red spots are record temperatures there as well.
This one is supposed to be about rich countries kicking in a hundred million dollars up to a billion dollars a year for countries in the Global
South to harden themselves and adapt and leapfrog fossil fuels, which really hasn't happened.
Donald Trump is really vociferously opposed to any sort of aid that way. If he won't invest in his own country against climate change, he's certainly
not going to kick into other countries. He's made that clear. So, what does this do? It's certainly seeds moral leadership to other countries around
the world. And it also seeds the new generation of clean energy technologies that are really starting to explode. There's only a couple of
years of momentum in the U.S. and it's already taking off.
But countries like China, which already dominates solar because they got on that learning curve a decade ago, and U.S. states are just now catching up,
that'll come to storage, clean energy storage, huge battery systems that can catch sun and wind and hold it for days or weeks.
And Bill Gates, I interviewed him, what does he worry about if these incentives go away? He's just -- it's the signal to the rest of the world
that we're not serious about this. And somebody who is about building a power plant, they need to know decades in advance, they might go somewhere
else.
KINKADE: All right. Bill Weir for us, staying across the door from New York, good to have you with us. Thank you.
WEIR: Anytime.
KINKADE: Well, that just about wraps up our show. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thanks so much for your company. I'll see you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:00:00]
END
