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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Trump Picks Matt Gaetz For Attorney General; Trump Picks Tulsi Gabbard As DNI Director; Biden Offers Smooth Transition; Biden And Trump Meets At White House; Trump Picks Marco Rubio for Secretary Of State; Trump Picks Pete Hegseth As Defense Secretary; Musk And Ramaswamy To Head "Department Of Government Efficiency"; Biden To Meet With President Xi At Summit; Biden to VISIT Latin America; Typhoon Usagi Closes In On Philippines; Paris Beefs Up Security; New Protests In Amsterdam; Boston Dynamics Teams Up With Toyota. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired November 13, 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: -- at ebay.com/ah -- I'm sorry, H-F-O-T. That's Homes For Our Troops, H-F-O-T. The auction is open right now. It's going to
close next Thursday, November 21st.
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 right
next door in the place I like to call The Situation Room. I'll see you tomorrow.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's 6:00 at night here in New York. Julia is off. I'm Richard Quest. And for you and me and wherever we are in
the world, it's "First Move."
And a warm welcome. Here's what you need to know for today. Donald Trump has picked Matt Gaetz to be the attorney general. It's another
controversial choice for the administration. Rivals are reuniting. The President-elect returned to the White House. With President Biden offering
a smooth transition. And closing in. Typhoon Usagi is rapidly intensifying as it approaches the storm-batted Philippines. Tonight, we're always going
to talk about robots and the rise thereof. Boston Dynamics is teaming up with Toyota to speed up A.I. research. We'll talk about that and a great
deal more in the hour ahead.
We begin with Donald Trump making his triumphant report -- a return to Washington, where he visited the White House for the first time since he
left office. The meeting, of course, was with President Joe Biden.
After the meeting, Mr. Trump announced he's picking the Florida congressman, Matt Gaetz, to serve as his Attorney General. Congressman
Gaetz has been under House Ethics Committee investigation.
The president-elect also picked Tulsi Gabbard to be the DNI, the Director of National Intelligence. She was a Democratic Congresswoman. She later
left the Democratic Party and campaigned with Donald Trump. Stephen Collinson is with me to pull the strands together. Start with Matt Gaetz.
The first question, of course, is whether he is confirmable in that role, because he is controversial, and even though Donald Trump has the majority
in the Senate, does he have enough?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Good question, because Matt Gaetz, to put it mildly, is not one of the most popular men on Capitol
Hill. Even in this long run of Trump's controversial cabinet picks and picks for White House staff, Gaetz caused horror and shock in the Justice
Department and among senators and lawmakers.
So, your question about the confirmation is a very good one, perhaps that's one of the reasons why Donald Trump has been talking about getting
Republican senators to cooperate with him on a mechanism known as recess appointments by which he can get people confirmed by bypassing the Senate
when the Senate is not in session. Whether Democrats would go along with any of that is very difficult to see.
But you're right, shock, horror at this appointment. And I would suggest that is the point Trump is trying to rile everybody up in Washington with
these picks.
QUEST: Very interesting point. Why is Matt Gaetz controversial? To our dear viewer watching in other parts of the world who says, well, you know, well
-- what is why is Stephen Collinson getting hot under the collar over Matt Gaetz?
COLLINSON: So, Matt Gaetz is one of Trump's most vehement opponents -- supporters. He is an opponent of the Justice Departments in the U.S.
government, the intelligence agencies. He argues that there is a deep state that has targeted Donald Trump even before he became president in 2016, and
that justice has been weaponized against him.
You mentioned those ethics issues. He was investigated by the very Justice Department that he would head as attorney general for alleged sex crimes
issues. He wasn't charged and he denies all wrongdoing, but he would be in charge of the entire rule of law in the United States and many people
believe he's adamantly opposed to it.
QUEST: The decision of Tulsi Gabbard, as DNI, surprising. As far as I can see, I mean, you know, served well in the military and in military police,
but I don't initially see the qualifications to be director of National Intelligence. Am I missing something?
COLLINSON: No, but the greatest qualification she has is she's become an ultra-loyalist of Donald Trump and a perpetrator of his conspiracies.
Again, that he's the victim of a deep state, that all of the issues that he had during the Russia investigation claims that he has a strange
relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That's all coming from the intelligence agencies. So, she has picked that up.
[18:05:00]
And often she's mentioned on Russian propaganda television for some of her claims. So, clearly, as you put your finger on it there, there is not much
evidence that she should be, in terms of qualification and experience, America's chief spy, but that is the government that looks like we're going
to have after January the 20th.
QUEST: The whole -- initially, when I saw all the first appointments and nominations, I thought, well, people may object to them politically, but
these are men and women who are qualified for their jobs. They are -- I mean, Marco Rubio, for example, one can perhaps disagree with his views on
X, Y, Z, but no one would doubt, as from -- because of his work on the Intelligence Committee, he is qualified to be U.S. secretary of state.
Here, we're starting to see people -- and we're going to talk about this in just a moment, with defense, the -- people who are not qualified by an
objective standard, not by the Donald Trump litmus standard.
COLLINSON: That's right. Marco Rubio, the nominee for secretary of state, is a serious foreign policy thinker. He's been grappling with the issue of
the rise of China for over a decade. That's not something you can level at some of these other picks.
Donald Trump is not trying to staff a government. This is what we need to understand. He's trying to defenestrate a government that he thinks has
long been biased against him. He talked on the campaign trail about retribution. The most charitable way you could look at these pics is that
he's fulfilling the desire of his supporters to completely sweep the government institutions and elites of the people that run them. A less
charitable interpretation is that Trump is trying to revolutionize or to stage a revolution against the U.S. government itself that renders it
obsolete.
QUEST: Those are very strong words, Stephen, and you and I will talk about them much more in the weeks and months ahead. I'm grateful to you, sir.
Thank you, as always.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
QUEST: You've been studying this for a very long time. Thank you. Another surprising pick. We were just alluding to it. The Fox News host for
secretary of defense. Now, the man is Peter Hegseth. He is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, distinguished military veteran, two
bronze stars, and then, of course, a master's in public policy from Harvard, former degree at Princeton, and joined Fox News as a co-host of
Fox & Friends.
Donald Trump has made his decision for several defense and national security posts. There you see them. For DNI, it's Tulsi Gabbard, former
Democrat and veteran of the Guard for head of CIA, John Ratcliffe, but he is former DNI.
Colonel Cedric Leighton is with me. Let's start with Hegseth. My starting point for the question is Donald Trump is entitled to put forward who he
wishes. Doesn't mean they'll get confirmed. But is Pete Hegseth qualified, not competent, qualified to do this job?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Well, that's a great question, Richard. So, when it comes to
qualified, if you're living and breathing and a human being, potentially, you're qualified to be secretary of defense.
Now, here's the problem. Pete Hegseth, I know, has some virtuous qualities in the sense that he did do some work for veterans' organizations. And he,
as you mentioned, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem comes that he has never led a large organization, whether it be in the private
sector or in the government, and he -- besides his military experience, which, by the way, was with the Army National Guard, he has not had
experience that, you know, is related to the government, either in a military or civilian capacity at the very highest levels.
QUEST: And then, you have his views. He says women shouldn't be in combat roles. He says that diversity is the enemy of the armed forces. And he
wants to return to a fighting standard of 1995. I'm not sure why that -- but there we go. 1995. So, he's nailed his colors to the mast, and it will
be difficult when -- including, by the way, having previously said that the current chairman of the joint chiefs should be fired.
LEIGHTON: Yes, and that's also interesting because the current chairman of the joint chiefs is an African American, the second African American to
hold that position, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, who is a very accomplished fighter pilot.
[18:10:00]
So, when you look at this idea that women shouldn't be in combat, for example, well, women have been in combat even as far back as World War II
and before that in unofficial roles, in roles that they may not have been allowed to be in, but sometimes things happen like that. So, they have to
be qualified to the same fighting standard as men have to be qualified for the units that they serve in.
Now, they were not allowed in -- for an elite units like the Rangers, for example, but that has changed. So, if the person is qualified then they
should be allowed to do it regardless of gender. Now, when it comes to the diversity argument, Richard, the key is this, diversity is, in fact, the
military's strength. That is one of the key and important elements of the American military because we draw people from every walk of life, from
every region of the country, from every racial background and that becomes really a very important piece of the American melting pot, and that's the
military version of the melting pot, and it's highly effective both within the military and externally.
QUEST: But here -- he would say -- but, Cedric, you know the argument. He would say, yes, I agree with you, General, I agree with you, but diversity
by meritocracy, diversity not for diversity's sake, that's the argument he will be arguing.
LEIGHTON: Right. So, there's always been an issue of whether or not there are quotas in the military. For example, you know, must a certain
percentage of women be promoted or African Americans be promoted? And the fact of the matter is when the military does do promotions, they promote
people, race blind, or as much as they can, gender blind, although you can obviously tell by a person's name, you know, usually, whether they're male
or female, for example.
But what they then do is they'll promote based on merit, and then they will check to make sure that they have promoted people fairly and equitably, and
they will also determine whether or not they've promoted people of all the different backgrounds as much as they possibly can. But that's why I -- you
know, you have underrepresentation of some groups within the highest ranks of the military and overrepresentation of others. But it's basically based
on merit, and that's something that they are -- you know, that he's really failing to acknowledge in this case.
QUEST: We've got many more weeks and months when you and I can talk about this. I'm grateful to you, sir. Thank you.
Two of the most watched figures during the transition have been Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Both men have now been appointed to head a newly
created Department of Government Efficiency. It is not a department. There is no congressional approval for a department. But the goal is to cut
government waste and bureaucracy and slash regulations. The two men have repeatedly spoken about the changes they believe are needed in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIVEK RAMASWAMY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Shut down the FBI, shut down the ATF, shut down the CDC, shut down the U.S.
Department of Education. Fire 75 percent of the federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We're going to get the
government off your back, and out of your pocketbook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Musk has also been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago this past week, traveled with the president-elect to Washington on Wednesday. He was quick
to point out on X that the initial of the department spouts out DOGE, the name of the cryptocurrency he often promotes.
Paul La Monica is with me, senior markets analysis writer at Barron's. Paul, it would be tempting for me to sort of ha-ha hee-hee, you know, DOGE,
the cryptocurrency, but the reality is, it's too serious for that.
PAUL R. LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Yes, the name might be a little bit silly and, you know, an homage Musk's favorite
cryptocurrency, but this is no laughing matter, Richard, you are correct.
What, you know, these two gentlemen might be proposing are very steep cuts to, you know, federal agencies, which would involve a large number of job
losses. I think what remains to be seen is just how deep do they really want to cut some of the bureaucracy in Washington, not all of it, which is
wasteful, of course, by any stretch of the imagination.
[18:15:00]
But then there are the questions of, what does Trump do with that? Does he kind of rubber stamp it and say, you guys did a heck of a job? And then,
even if he does do that, assuming he has no objections to whatever their plan is. You have to get through Congress in order to have meaningful cuts
to spending. And as you pointed out, this is not a real department. It's not a cabinet position. It's a department in name only.
QUEST: Right. But this concept of let's cut government waste, which in most elections, when I see a party saying we're going to cut -- you know, or
manifesto promises to cut waste, you always think it'll never happen because the nature of government is not waste, but the nature of government
is transparency and it's minority rights and it's programs that nobody else wants to do. If they start cutting, eventually, they're going to start
hitting those most in need.
LA MONICA: Yes, you have to be worried about the safety net, the social safety net. And I think that's where there are going to be problems with
regards to how much you could cut, because I think it is politically untenable to make major changes to Social Security, to Medicare, to other
social spending programs that many people, not just the -- you know, the least fortunate, but also, you know, the elderly and many in the class rely
upon. Yes.
QUEST: Can I just throw one point in, Stephen Collins made is that you and I are talking the wrong subject here. You and I are trying to put rational,
previous experience into a scenario where the president-elect actually wants to break the system. Not out of mendacity, but because he thinks it's
rigged against him, and because he believes that it can be done better. He actually wants the system to fall apart.
LA MONICA: I mean, I'm not so sure he wants it to completely fall apart. I mean, let's be fair here. If he has any sense about his legacy, he does not
want to be known as the president who dismantled all of these great government agencies that many people rely upon. Also, there is the fact
that, you know, not to play the long game here, but 2026, there are going to be midterm elections, and many of the people that Trump had backing him
in the Republican Party could be subject to tougher battles if, all of a sudden, things aren't as rosy two years from now as they appear to be right
now.
And then, there's also 2028. You'd have to think that barring some strange turn of events, J. D. Vance is going to be the likely or at least presumed
Republican nominee for president after Trump finishes his second term. The vice president doesn't want to do anything that will jeopardize his chances
at the White House.
QUEST: That's just cost you a dollar. That has cost you a dollar, La Monica.
LA MONICA: Why?
QUEST: I decided to fine everybody who starts getting us ready for 2028 a dollar. Because I'm not sure I could take it. All right. Sir, I'll --
LA MONICA: If I mentioned 2032, do you take my house?
QUEST: Well, you're giving me good ideas there. Paul, it is good -- La Monica, it is always good to see you. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
LA MONICA: Good day.
QUEST: It's "First Move." The residents of the Philippines. I mean, how on Earth? Storm weary and bracing for another typhoon.
And President Biden set to meet the Chinese leader Xi Jingling, it's at the APEC Summit. They're all in Peru. It's the third and likely last time that
these leaders will meet officially. We'll preview it in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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QUEST: President Biden's traveling to South America. There's back-to-back summits. First of all, Peru for APEC, then Brazil for the G20, and
somewhere along the way he'll become the first sitting American president to visit the Amazon. His visit comes at a rocky time for U.S. as the world
leaders of bracing for the second Trump term.
China's trying to topple the U.S. as the top trading partner to Latin America. Stefano Pozzebon reports from Bogota.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, REPORTER (voice-over): Business speaks a new language in South America. Gone are the days of Washington's backyard. China is now the
top trading partner for the region. Few places represent this shift like this brand-new mega port in Peru, with a Chinese state-owned shipping giant
COSCO as its controlling shareholder.
It's inaugurated on Thursday in a joint ceremony at the Presidential Palace with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The port is part of a multibillion-dollar
Chinese investment in Peru, and CNN got a sneak peek ahead of the opening.
These massive cranes will run 24/7 once the port is operational in 2025, and allow COSCO's megaships to travel to China directly rather than
stopping in Mexico and California, reducing shipping times to Shanghai by 15 days.
It's going to be a game changer, says Carlos Tejada (ph), a spokesperson for the Chinese conglomerate. Of course, there is a geopolitical impact
because we used to have to send our goods to North America, and that's no longer the case.
Competition between China and the U.S. is in full show this week, as Peru hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Both heads of state are
in town, but one is clearly ahead in the game.
PARSIFAL D'SOLA, FOUNDER, ANDRES BELLO FOUNDATION: We're going to have, throughout the APEC Summit, a triumphant Xi Jinping opening the port and
the participation by President Biden with. To be honest, I don't know, much of an agenda, especially given the results of the election. It's a huge win
for them, and this is not only happening in Peru.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Twenty-two countries in Latin America are now part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Xi is a signature policy on global
infrastructure investments, according to the Andres Bello Foundation. An entire continent who could find itself in the crosshairs of the looming
trade war between Washington and Beijing.
Donald Trump is not in Lima this week, but his plans for Chinese-owned companies in the region are well known.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: They think they're going to make their cars there and they're going to sell them across our line and we're going
to take them and we're not going to charge them tax. We're going to charge them, I'm telling you right now, I'm putting a 200 percent tariff on which
means they're unsellable.
POZZEBON (voice-over): What a second Trump presidency will mean for South America remains to be seen. Trump wasted no time in demanding Mexico to do
more to stop migration at the border in a phone call last week. What is clear is that any retaliatory action from Washington could tilt this region
even further towards Beijing.
Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Stay there in the region, the Philippines facing a barrage of typhoons, the country's been hit by two in recent days, with two more on
the way. Seven years since four named storms existed in the West Pacific at the same time. Chad's with me. And, well, I mean, the stats and the numbers
tell them the same. And your charts, your graph, shows the horror.
[18:25:00]
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really does. I mean, last night we were talking here, Richard, at 110 kilometers per hour. Now, we're a super
typhoon at 240 just in 24 hours.
Now, take a look here for Toraji. We're going to see some rain showers in Hong Kong But this is the least of the problems here, that tiny little eye,
you can barely see it, right there, that has 240 kilometer per hour winds in it right now and it is headed for the northern tip of the Philippines.
From 110 to 240 in 24 hours. Almost unheard of for that type of rapid intensification.
And then, it moves on up toward Taiwan, not as a typhoon, but certainly a rainmaker for the eastern coast of Taiwan. So, two-to-three-meter storm
surge coming on shore here. And in the areas up here in red, I know it's a small area, but 140,000 people live here in that Signal 4 region.
And then we have Man-yi, the next storm system still to the east, heading to the Philippines, again. And 204, 233, 235 kilometers per hour. That's
only five or so, 10 kilometers an hour from being another super typhoon. And that one's a lot closer to Manila, not just kind of glancing blow up
toward the top. So, yes, a lot of rain, a lot of wind and a lot of damage.
150,000 people will see wind damage, but you have to get away from that shore. If you have three meters storm surge, nine feet to almost 10 feet
going to be over the heads of many there. So, they're going to have to retreat into the mountainous areas there.
There's our rainfall estimates as well. Could see some spots, 500 millimeters of rain without a doubt. There goes the wind across the
northern part there of Luzon, and there's the next big storm. They're very, very close to Manila as it works its way across.
And now, closer to the Caribbean, a 90 percent chance of something developing in the Caribbean. It already has kind of a name, potential
Tropical Cyclone Number 19, and it will likely turn into something that will make significant rain for Nicaragua. I mean, we're going to talk about
her right -- the Honduran coast here is going to see between 500 and even a thousand millimeters of rainfall because the storm isn't going to move for
four days. All of those white spots greater than 500, greater than a half a meter of rainfall in an area that has topography. And then, all of a
sudden, all that water has to run back down.
Where does it go from here? Does it get into the Gulf of Mexico? We're not really sure. It's going to spend a lot of time down here, likely being torn
up by the mountainous areas here of Honduras and Guatemala, but we'll have to see if that does make that run toward Florida. It still could. Richard.
QUEST: You're absolutely being kept busy. Earning your money. Good to see you.
MYERS: It's OK.
QUEST: Chad Myers, thank you very much. And Chad, of course, always keeps an eye on us, particularly what's happening in the Asia Pacific region,
which is so important at this time. We'll be right back. It's "First Move."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
QUEST: Our top story. And Donald Trump's choice to be his attorney general is the Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. It's a highly controversial
decision, but it's following his promises to put in place diehard loyalists, particularly at the helm of the Justice Department that he's
railed against so much. CNN's Brian Todd explains it all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Matt Gaetz is a great man.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): In tapping Congressman Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general, President-Elect Donald Trump could be
swatting at the biggest hornet's nest of his transition.
MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: It would be like the understatement of the year to say that this is an unconventional pick. This
is a provocative pick of a provocateur who has himself faced a lot of legal trouble and is highly polarizing not just among whatever the American
people or Congress is, But inside the Republican Party himself.
TODD (voice-over): If confirmed, the 42-year-old from Florida would lead a Justice Department that he has criticized and been a target of.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I'm a march marked man in Congress. I'm a canceled man in some corners of the Internet. I might be a wanted man by the deep
state.
TODD (voice-over): Gaetz, a 2020 election denier, has accused the Justice Department of being weaponized under President Biden against people like
Trump. He's called for abolishing the department he's now been selected to lead and called for abolishing the FBI, often jousting with its director.
GAETZ: People trusted the FBI more when J. Edgar Hoover was running the place than when you are.
TODD (voice-over): Could Gaetz now weaponize the Justice Department and help Trump go after his enemies?
REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Yes, I'm pretty sure with this pick they're not just going to go around and shut down puppy mills. All right. This is a
very serious pick, and Donald Trump is obviously telegraphing that he means business. Matt Gaetz is one of his best weapons in Congress. He's taking
him out of Congress and he's giving him the attorney general's office.
TODD (voice-over): It was Gaetz who led the charge among some far-right Republicans in Congress to oust Kevin McCarthy as house speaker last year.
GAETZ: This House has been poorly led.
TODD (voice-over): But before that, the man who could become America's top law enforcement official had been accused of serious crimes. The Justice
Department investigated Gaetz over allegations that he violated federal law by paying for sex, including sex with women who were under 18 years old.
Gaetz repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. And last year, the Justice Department announced it would not bring charges against him. One analyst
says getting Gaetz confirmed could be a challenge, even in a Republican led Congress.
TALEV: This seems destined not only to be a selection that is going to test the loyalty to President-Elect Trump of Republicans in the Senate but that
is meant to provoke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Elie Honig's with me, the former federal prosecutor, and our senior legal analyst. Elie, I remember, of course, you've written this excellent
book, "The Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor's Code and Corrupted the Justice Department." Now, Barr, of course, was Trump's
attorney general. Bill Trump always said he regretted appointing. So, you know very well the power of the A.G. better than most. All right. What do
you make of Gaetz?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST AND FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: This is an outrageous pick, Richard. There's
no way around it. At this point, having written the book, "Hatchet Man," about Bill Barr, I would gladly take Bill Barr over Matt Gaetz. And here's
why. Let me contrast them. Let me compare and contrast them.
Bill Barr at least had experience within the Justice Department. Bill Barr actually had been the attorney general from 1991 to 1993. He had held other
leadership roles in the department. He understands what the department's about. And Bill Barr had a red line. Bill Barr used DOJ defensively to
protect Donald Trump, but he refused to use DOJ to go after political enemies or perceived political enemies.
[18:35:00]
Let's contrast Matt Gaetz. Matt Gaetz has never stepped foot in a courtroom as a prosecutor. He has no idea what the job entails. He knows nothing
about the Justice Department. He's utterly unqualified and inexperienced.
And then, on the other side of it, Matt Gaetz has promised to weaponize DOJ. If you look at his bio on his website, on his congressional page, it's
all about how he's an attack dog for Donald Trump. How he's proud to be called the Trumpiest member of Congress. So, this is a real concern to me,
Richard.
QUEST: OK. But, you know, I don't want to sort of feed you red meat, because you're already pretty riled up on the subject. But let's just take,
for example, Hegseth at defense. It's quite difficult for Hegseth to make major policy changes, in a sense.
The Defense Department is vast. It's got hundreds of billions, 2 million people. You know, but the Justice Department is individual decisions
against specific cases. It's setting agendas, things like that. So, I do offer you a bit of a further -- in the sense of it's easier for somebody to
go rogue and make -- it's easier for Gaetz to break the China crockery than it is for Hegseth to break it a defense.
HONIG: Well, let me put it this way, Richard, there's only one entity in the United States government that has the power to deprive people of their
liberty, to lock people up, and that's the Justice Department.
Now, you make a very good point. There are tens of thousands over 100,000 attorneys -- or not attorneys, employees at the Justice Department in
total, and the vast majority of casework and day-to-day decisions get made by those folks who are nonpolitical actors. But when it comes to the
biggest decisions, should we appoint special counsel? Should we target this person? Should we open an investigation on this high-profile person? Those
will go through the attorney general's desk without question. So, that's where the real danger lies.
You know, I have -- I am not a subscriber to a lot of these doomsday scenarios around Trump's upcoming second term. I think they're largely
overstated, but this to me is a real cause for concern.
QUEST: I need to pause you. The House leadership is holding its press conference. Forgive me. Let's go to Mike Johnson, the speaker. Hold on.
Will still be.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: -- expertise and their investment in making all this work very well today for everybody. So, I
want to give it to Dr. Harris, go ahead.
REP. ANDY HARRIS (R-MD): Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Look, the president came down and started the day by coming down
and asking for unity, asking for making sure that we deliver for the American public what they asked for last week. And obviously, we know that
-- now we know what the leadership's going to be like in the Senate. We know what our who our speaker designated is right now. And we've been able
to work across the conference to eliminate the controversial issues that could have divided us and move forward together to deliver on the
president's agenda.
That's it. That's what the American people expect us to do. And the first steps were taken today very concrete steps. And look, we're behind the
president and I want to thank Dusty Johnson for working to make us unified, to go together to deliver for the American people with Mr. Trump as the
president. And with that, Dusty.
REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): First, I want to say thank you to Speaker Johnson, who has cultivated an environment where members know that they can
try to work together to move the ball downfield. And I want to thank Andy Harris. This started because Dr. Harris reached out this morning. He said,
listen, we got to cut a deal. We need to come together. Unity is important.
We sat down. We began to negotiate. We spent more than an hour together. We made good progress. We understood that by -- we had an opportunity to set
the motion to vacate at a higher than number one, that motion to vacate will be set at 9:00, in return for getting rid of some amendments that
probably would have divided this conference.
Andy did a good job of explaining to main street leadership why those amendments would have divided the republican conference. So, where are we
at today? We are just as Dr. Harris said, because of this agreement we are in a better position to move forward the Republican agenda, to make sure
that Speaker Johnson, South Dakota Senate leader John Thune and our president, Donald Trump, have an opportunity to go forward and do good
things for America. This is exactly how we're supposed to come together.
M. JOHNSON: I want to thank these gentlemen again. We're going to have a press conference here in just a few moments with all the new elected
leadership. And we'll answer questions there. But wanted to hear -- you to hear that straight from these chairmen.
Thank you both so much for all your hard work and we'll be right back with you. OK.
QUEST: OK. So, interestingly, Elie Honig, you're still with me. It's not fully your bailiwick, but, you know, you study this as much as the rest of
us the leadership in the House is clearly there, leadership in the Senate, but interestingly, did you, I just heard then, Matt Gaetz promoted the idea
of a majority, of one congressman woman could go for a motion to vacate the speakership.
[18:40:00]
If you remember, he went for one. Now, they've gone for nine. So, the very rule that Matt Gaetz used to basically torture the speaker and then hold it
the sort of Damocles -- the House has now got rid of because, of course, they don't want the same chaos and confusion with their own -- now they're
in control.
HONIG: And I think they learned that lesson the hard way, Richard, here, when Kevin McCarthy was sort of raked over the coals and removed at a whim,
and now they've apparently raised that threshold from one to nine, which I suppose gives Speaker Johnson more security.
And if I can sort of weave these two stories together, the fact that the House is now officially going to be ruled by a Republican majority means
one less check, one less guardrail on Matt Gaetz if he gets confirmed as A.G. Because if you have a House of the opposite party, they can at least
hold oversight hearings, call the A.G. up to Capitol Hill, demand to know what he's doing, and if this -- it looks like now this will be a Republican
House. So, don't expect any of that.
QUEST: Right. My producer's going to kill me. One more question to you. We're talking about -- they've got the trifecta, which is the White House,
the Senate, and the House. But I put to you, throw in the Supreme Court, not deliberately on a party pre basis, but they are conservative, he's had
conservative appointments, essentially Donald Trump, in some shape, form, or influence, controls all branches of the U.S. administration, all the
checks and balances.
HONIG: You are correct. And I'll add one more onto your list there, Richard, which is the Supreme Court's immunity decision from July, which
essentially says that the president cannot be criminally prosecuted for anything he does that really relates in any kind of way to the job of
president. It was an extraordinarily broad ruling.
And so, Donald Trump will not likely have that to worry about, nor will he have a re-election campaign to worry about. So, yes, the guardrails are
down here.
QUEST: We'll talk more. We've got four years. Hold on to your hat.
HONIG: I'll be around.
QUEST: Thank you.
HONIG: Thanks Richard.
QUEST: Thank you. We will have more in just a moment. It's "First Move." A very busy day. I'm glad that you're with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The French police are beefing up their security ahead of Thursday's soccer match between Israel and France. Thousands of extra officers are
being deployed at the Stade de France and across Paris, looking to prevent a repeat of the anti-Semitic violence last week in Amsterdam with the match
of Dutch and Israeli teams.
[18:45:00]
Despite a ban on gatherings that, still protesters in Amsterdam chanted and waved Palestinian flags and officials warned more unrest is possible.
Clarissa. Is with me from Amsterdam. You know, the licking of the wounds, in a sense, and the shock within Amsterdam at what took place, but it's the
ability to prevent a repetition or to get a grip on it. What's happening?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is definitely a city, Richard, that is trying to get its arms around exactly what happened
last week. And by the way, the violence which continued into earlier this week, the protest that you just showed pictures of, we were there earlier.
It was dispersed forcibly by the police, but it was largely calm.
We've spoken to a number of people today, including a council member called Itay Garmy. He is Dutch Israeli. He told us that he, of course, is alarmed
by what he sees as a very real and concerning uptick in anti-Semitism. He talked about friends of his in the Jewish community changing their names on
Uber and other apps, making sure that they don't speak Hebrew outside, that they don't show a Star of David if they wear that as a necklace. But he
also talked about the danger of weaponizing that. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ITAY GARMY, DUTCH POLITICIAN: I feel some people are underplaying the anti- Semitism by not mentioning it even, or saying that because of the Maccabi hooligans, that the violence was justified, or that the violence was only
directed at the Maccabi hooligans. And I really think that's a really bad way to discuss this, because we need to be precise and the people that
attacked the Maccabi supporters were people who were mentioning Jew hunting and they were saying cancer Jews, and they were constantly mentioning their
Jewish identity or even checking passports. So, I feel we need to be very precise in our wording and mention it the way it is.
And on the other hand, I feel people are overplaying it in the sense that they're using very, very big words on how to describe it for their own
political -- for instance, for their own political gain. And I think that's very, very problematic because it doesn't help the discussion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD: And you heard Garmy there in response to my question about the word pogrom. He went on to say that he does not think that that is an accurate
description of what transpired last Thursday night. And that while he is concerned, he is also concerned about anti-Muslim racism and anti-Muslim
violence, which also transpired last Thursday.
The Amsterdam authorities announcing they arrested 10 Israeli nationals during the violence last Thursday night. We spoke to a separate councilman,
Sheher Kahn, who is also very much an advocate of calling out the anti- Semitism, prosecuting it. He is sympathetic to the concerns and anxieties of the Jewish community here, which are very real, but also, again,
underscored the importance of understanding the wounding, the racism, the discrimination that he feels very strongly are occurring on multiple sides
of what's going on here. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARD: Are you fearful that we're going to see more riots, more anti- Semitism, more clashes on the streets?
SHEHER KHAN, AMSTERDAM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: I'm fearing that we're already seeing it right now, and it's not only anti-Semitism, it's also about anti-
Muslim racism, it's also about xenophobia. We're seeing a rise of all these types of discrimination and racism, and I'm afraid it will still happen,
and I don't even think, I'm sorry to say, that we have reached our boiling point, because the root causes of the tensions going on inside have not
been addressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD: And, Richard, important here, the root cause, as Khan sees it, and I should say as many people here in Amsterdam see it, are the horrors of what
continues to transpire in Gaza. Khan saying to me during our conversation that he's fearful that some of these young men, who are live streaming what
he describes as a genocide are going to become radicalized, and that if there isn't more attention put into, A, trying to solve that conflict, but,
B, looking into Holland's role in facilitating that conflict and supporting Israel, he believes that you will continue to see the kind of violence and
possibly even worse here on the streets of Amsterdam. Richard.
QUEST: Clarissa in Amsterdam. It's late for you. Thank you. I'm glad you stayed. Thank you.
Coming up. Pushups, don't do them yourself. Get somebody else to do them for you. Here's a good chap, he'll do them. Boston Dynamics, local advances
and a new deal with Toyota to make them even smarter. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:50:00]
QUEST: This is a humanoid robot. Welcome. It's called Atlas, and it's sorting out car parts in a factory. (INAUDIBLE) Boston Dynamics has signed
a deal with Toyota to speed up robotics research in the relentless march for automation. As well as Atlas, Boston Dynamics, famous for the robot
dog, Spot, seen with a promotion with South Korea's BTS.
Spot, by the way, is on patrol with law enforcement. They've been training them up in Nevada. And even at the Present-Elect Donald Trump's going on
patrol around Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Scott Kuindersma is the senior director at the Research of Boston Dynamics.
This new deal, you and I have talked about, this new deal that you've got, where are you going with these robots? What is the goal here?
SCOTT KUINDERSMA, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ROBOTICS RESEARCH, BOSTON DYNAMICS: I think the goal is to see how far we can go with producing generalizable
behavior so that we can open up lots of opportunities for these robots to do work in real world environments, whether they're factories or
warehouses, or someday in people's homes.
QUEST: And this -- the necessity to make them look humanoid or like dogs, and is that important to accept our -- accept or to raise our level of
acceptance? Because, essentially, you don't have to put off the stuff on it. You don't have to look like a human.
KUINDERSMA: Yes, you're absolutely right. I mean, I think for some applications it might be important to have a human form factor so that the
interactions with human beings can go smoothly. But for us, we think about humanoids as a practical form factor for robots, because they -- that is
the sort of place where a lot of humans are doing manual labor tasks, where the sort of gaps and automation exists.
And so, there's sort of an existence proof that if you're shaped like a human and you want to do work in human designed environments, that those
two things will go together nicely.
QUEST: Now, you're Hyundai-owned and this is a deal with Toyota. And, you know, I'm guessing there has to be, from your point of view, a certain
agnostic nature to doing the business. Because you do want to have the widest range of customers, clients, and projects that you possibly can.
KUINDERSMA: Yes. I mean, this new partnership is really exciting and it was received as something that's mutually beneficial for both organizations.
It's first and foremost a research partnership. So, we both recognize the importance and excitement of the current moment in robotics and A.I. And we
think that by working together, that we can start to render what is closer to general purpose artificial intelligence on humanoids more quickly.
QUEST: So, when you've got robotics, humanoid, you've got A.I., when do you start putting quantum into all of it?
[18:55:00]
KUINDERSMA: I don't think we need to use quantum technology at all. I think there's probably a path to human level or beyond embodied intelligence that
doesn't require any kind of quantum computing.
QUEST: But the A.I. aspect of it, how far can you take it? I guess that's a -- that's the thing we all want to know. And I'm not talking about killer
robots here or anything like that, because I presume, you know, you can do that at some point, at some day. What do you think that a robot can't do?
KUINDERSMA: I mean, I think the thing that's amazing about robots is really that's bound by our own creativity. I think we still are not near the end
of what we can design in terms of physical systems. And I think we're in this exciting place where it seems like scaling and continued innovation
and A.I. is going to produce really amazing results.
QUEST: Sir, you have a bunch of guitars behind, come back and talk to me when you have a robot that can take one of them and play it properly and
play a nice bit of (INAUDIBLE).
KUINDERSMA: I absolutely will do.
QUEST: All right. Sir, thank you very much. That is our program tonight. I'm grateful for your time and attention because the news never stops,
neither do we. This is CNN. Take that, Julia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:00:00]
END
