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Inside Politics

John Thune to Be the New GOP Senate Majority Leader; Trump Picks Fox Host Pete Hegseth to Run Pentagon; Musk, Ramaswamy to Lead New Effort to Cut Government Spending; Melania Trump Declines Jill Biden White House Invitation. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 13, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:33:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: We're standing by to hear from the new Republican Senate Majority Leader, John Thune. He just won the race to replace Mitch McConnell. We're going to bring you his remarks as soon as they happen live. But first, we have new developments on Donald Trump's cabinet. It is official, Kristi Noem, the South Dakota Governor who boasted about a lot of things, including Donald Trump. Of course, there was some controversy about her shooting her dog. She will be nominated to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the first non-Jewish nominee since 2011, for Ambassador to Israel. He has said some things about Palestinians that are pretty derogatory. He is going to be nominated there. And then John Radcliffe, who served in Trump's first administration as Director of National Intelligence, is expected to lead the CIA.

Then we get to the Department of Defense, former Fox News Anchor, Pete Hegseth is being tapped to run the Pentagon. Hegseth is a decorated army veteran with an Ivy League education. He's also a conservative firebrand who has pushed conspiracy theories surrounding the January 6th attacks, the COVID pandemic and more. Listen to a taste of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEW ANCHOR: I don't think I've washed my hands for 10 years.

(LAUGH)

HEGSETH: Really, I don't -- I don't really wash my hands ever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone help me.

HEGSETH: The left is going to attack him for this saying he's releasing war criminals, he's loosening the rules of engagement.

It appears that crazy Nancy Pelosi --

(LAUGH)

HEGSETH: -- doesn't want the spotlight to leave. She can't quit impeachment.

It's only been two-and-a-half weeks. And it is premature to declare that Joe Biden is the president-elect.

These are not conspiracy theorists motivated just by lies, that's a bunch of nonsense.

They talk in religious terms about January 6th because what they believe was attacked was their cathedral. Who are they praying to? The Gods of climate change?

What's happening in Ukraine is important, but it pales in comparison to the crime I see in my streets, to the wokeness I see in my culture.

[12:35:00]

I need to have two dead roosters. God, I didn't know how to kill them because I'm not an experienced farmer. So I tried with a shovel and I couldn't get their head --

(LAUGH)

HEGSETH: -- so I had to use a nine mil.

I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter joins me now. Brian, our viewers might not be active watchers of Fox News on the weekends, in the mornings when he is on. Given that, can you fill in the blanks on who this guy is?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Those clips really sum it up perfectly. Hegseth is a staunch conservative, an army veteran, and one of Fox's real homegrown stars. Back on 911 (ph), he was a student at Princeton, so his worldview was shaped by the Bush era wars. After college, he maneuvered out of a job at Bear Stearns to get into active combat in Iraq. He earned two Bronze Stars. When he came home, he ran a veteran's advocacy non-profit, briefly tried to run for Senate against Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota.

But his path to the Pentagon really ran through the "Fox & Friends" morning show. Trump loved watching Hegseth on the show. He invited Hegseth to dinner at the White House back in 2017. So I can explain this pick in two words, Dana, woke military. Hegseth has rallied and ranted against the Pentagon's adoption of so-called social justice policies. He's argued that woke policies are hurting military recruitment. He came out with a bestselling book titled "The War on Warriors" earlier this year that was promoted endlessly across Fox. And he said he agreed with Trump when Trump said, we need to get the woke generals out of the military.

BASH: Yeah.

STELTER: So clearly, Trump was watching and enjoying and appreciating what Hegseth was saying.

BASH: Yeah. Brian, I was told the exact same thing by a Trump ally this morning that this is about one thing and one thing only, and that is woke in the military. And how you define that and how that turns into actual practice, that's a whole different conversation. But I wonder if viewers, to make sure --

STELTER: Exactly.

BASH: -- after the show, or while you're watching, to check out your new piece on cnn.com, because you wrote in part "Nothing in his biography suggests experience leading large organization as one of his fellow Fox hosts said Tuesday night in a flabbergasted tone, "You're telling me Pete is going to oversee millions of employees?" But Hegseth has something else.

(LAUGH)

BASH: Of course, that is Trump values television star power. Is that what this is? Is he casting? I mean, in addition to the woke issue, which again we're going to have to explore and break down that term woke. But beyond that --

STELTER: Yeah.

BASH: Is this Trump as the casting director here?

STELTER: Yeah. The Fox to Trump pipeline is back up and running. Yes. During Trump's first term in office, there were about 20 of these hires, 20 people who traveled from Fox over to the Trump Administration. We'll see how many there are this time. Right? Tom Holman is the Border Czar. He left Fox on Monday. Hegseth left Fox on Tuesday. This is all happening very quickly. I mean, literally, Hegseth gave his notice to Fox within the last 48 hours, and it's a head spinning change for him.

He is going to be overseeing a department that has about 3 million employees. He has seven kids and recently relocated to Tennessee. He is first and foremost a television star, but we know that's what Trump cares about. He watches very carefully. We'll see how much opposition though Hegseth faces in the coming weeks since his selection has caught so many people off guard, even some Senators saying they barely know who he is.

I remember Dana, when I was working on a book in 2020 called "Hoax". I talked to a lot of sources inside Fox and they told me that they felt like Hegseth produced his show, hosted "Fox & Friends" specifically to appeal to Trump. Hegseth would look at his phone during the commercial breaks to see if Trump had tweeted anything he had said yet. So this relationship, it is many years in the making and very close between Trump and Hegseth.

BASH: Talk about an audience of one, wow, that's some pretty -- STELTER: Exactly.

BASH: -- enlightening reporting. Thank you so much, Brian. Appreciate it.

My panel is back along with CNN Chief National Security Correspondent, Alex Marquardt. Before we bring you in with your reporting, Alex, I just want our viewers to just get a glimpse of some of the recent DOD secretaries under Republicans. Mark Esper, Secretary of the Army, VP at defense contractor, Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary, Top policy aide to Senators and in the House on the Armed Services Committee.

Ash Carter, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense, Assistant Secretary of Defense, and then an Academic as well. I was told this morning, it's that kind of resume, both of them, that he's trying to get away from not just the woke stuff but the military industrial complex.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: But at the same time, I think a lot of us would've been forgiven to think that he might've chosen someone a bit more traditional because you look at the other national security picks and they looked like experienced hawks, people who came from different parts of the government, who had served in government -- Mike Waltz who's going to be the National Security Adviser, Marco Rubio rumored to be the Secretary of State pick, and of course John Radcliffe at CIA.

[12:40:00]

I was actually on the phone with a source talking about John Radcliffe and the relative relief within the intelligence community that he's going to be taking over the CIA when the Hegseth news came in. And there was of course, this collective shock, not just outside the Pentagon, among all of us who'd been tracking these names. And I don't think anybody had him on the list, but inside the Pentagon as well. And once you get past that shock, there is quite a bit of disappointment from people who work on military issues.

I spoke with a uniformed senior military official today, who said that it is not a serious pick. Someone else who worked at the Pentagon recently pointed to his complete lack of experience of executive leadership, defense policy work. It is a massive bureaucracy, with so many working parts and of course, that relationship with Congress. You know, you look at the other national security picks and they have true policy focus, whether it's China or ending the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. This is clearly a social, cultural, warrior pick. He is very much in line with the Trump mantra of getting rid of the woke generals.

BASH: Well, and it's not just sort of woke, and again, I'm not sure what that actually --

MARQUARDT: Right.

BASH: Well, we know what it means generally.

MARQUARDT: For them, yeah.

BASH: But even beyond that, he said some things about women in the military, women in combat in particular, that I want to play for our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective. We've all served with women and they're great. It just -- our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally, not traditionally, over human history, men in those positions are more capable.

There aren't enough lesbians in San Francisco, (inaudible) to man the 82nd Airborne. You're going to need to go to guys in Kentucky and Colorado and Ohio who love the country and they're patriotic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just real quick, reality check, our colleague, Brianna Keilar was telling us this morning, reminding us that the definition of combat is a little bit gray, is a lot gray when it comes to women or anybody.

MARQUARDT: It is. And there are plenty of other militaries, some of the most formidable in the world, the Brits, the Israelis who allow women in combat, and of course, the U.S. does too. He talked in that interview with Shawn Ryan, a well-known podcaster, about how he would be fine with having women in the cockpit of a fighter jet, but he doesn't want them essentially on the ground fighting alongside men. He said that it complicates things.

He's got some very controversial views about how -- the makeup of the military and how it should be trained. He talked about getting DEI and critical race theory out of the military academies. And there are other things he said about not being opposed to water boarding. He has defended troops who have been incredibly accused of war crimes.

BASH: Yeah.

MARQUARDT: He pushed former President Trump to pardon two of them, and to re-promote Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who posed with a body of a dead ISIS fighter. So he is, again, certainly being brought in, I think, not for necessarily his views on China and the other conflicts around the world, but because of Trump's desire to want to reshape the military. But saying that women shouldn't be allowed in combat, that's certainly among the most controversial takes.

BASH: OK. So the $64,000 question, I'll put this to you, Leigh Ann. Can he get confirmed?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, ANCHOR, WASHINGTON POST LIVE: We'll see -- I -- there's some shock on Capitol Hill among some Senators about this choice, mostly because they don't know a lot about who he is. But I will say, I'm hearing some early talk from Republican and Republican aides that, hey, maybe we'll give him a chance. They've heard some good things about him. I am really skeptical that any, at these early stages, that Republicans are going to go against Trump and his nominees.

I think that this is a moment for them to show their loyalty to him. And most Senators oftentimes do give deference to the President.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And it's not a secret ballot, unlike --

ANN CALDWELL: It's not a secret ballot.

ZELENY: So that is one of the reasons I think he does get confirmed.

BASH: So let's see what happens. I mean, he has to go through a confirmation hearing.

ZELENY: Sure.

BASH: And sometimes --

ZELENY: Background checks --

BASH: Yeah.

ZELENY: There's always one that sort of slips through and you're like, that's interesting.

BASH: Yeah.

ANN CALDWELL: But there's also like all of his nominees, it's not based on experience. It's about their ideology. That's why these people are being chosen -- Lee Zeldin at EPA. And so, it's not like there's a common theme of people who have experience doing these big jobs.

BASH: And I was told by somebody who's familiar with these discussions that there's somebody in the running to be the Deputy Secretary of Defense, who's a very experienced, serious person. If that happens, maybe that will assuage concerns of some Senators.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: It's an important point.

[12:45:00]

And look, presidents throughout history have picked people for these cabinet slots that aren't necessarily the naturally qualified one, or the one everybody would assume, or perhaps they're a brother to reference one administration in particular, Trump campaigned on this. All the stuff that is controversial or that people are playing clips on. I was at all the rallies where all of these things were the things he talked about. He campaigned on it. He won.

It's his pick. Can four Senators be kind of wedged away from it? I don't know, but they -- this is his selection. His party likely will defer to him. However, to your point, Dana, and to your point, there will be a confirmation process and we have seen those go sideways really, really fast on far more qualified or resume filled people in the past. So watch it.

BASH: All right, everybody, thank you so much. Thanks for your great reporting. Don't go anywhere because I was told that in the meeting with House Republicans this morning that President-elect Trump joked that he can't get rid of Elon Musk. That he loves Mar-a-Lago too much. Well, Elon Musk is the person Trump just put in charge of running government inefficiency, trying to make the government more efficient. We're going to look at Elon Musk's growing role in Trump world, after a break.

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[12:50:30]

BASH: The richest man in the world will now be in charge of firing federal workers. Donald Trump is tapping his new best friend, Elon Musk and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE for short. My excellent panel is with me now.

Phil, since you're probably the most knowledgeable on all the intricacies of the deep state -- no, I'm kidding.

(LAUGH)

BASH: -- of the federal government on the money. How is he going to get rid of $1 trillion?

MATTINGLY: So he's not in charge (ph), like one, we haven't seen the actual language of what this will entail. The one thing I would say is it sounds like a blue ribbon commission. There is no Congressional authority. It can't make a bunch of changes because it's not funded by Congress or authorized by Congress or given statutory authority.

So the idea of he will be able to propose federal workers that could be fired. He will be able to propose federal agencies or programs that should be cut. Technically can't do it unless he can convince lawmakers to do it itself. With the exception of you talk about the intricacies of bureaucracy, the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, which is kind of the nerve center of the federal government.

Trump in that statement said they'd be working with Ramaswamy and Musk can do a lot of things on its own. (Inaudible), the kind of regulatory clearinghouse. So there's stuff they can do. I don't dismiss it out of hand because who knows, given Musk money and the scale of his informational environment, but past efforts like this have failed catastrophically.

BASH: I -- just to play the devil's advocate, everything that you said is absolutely true with regard to what the laws are and with regard to what the norms and the history is of how things are done in Washington. But isn't the point of bringing him in of Trump, what he says he is going to do, is to blow things up and try to do things differently. Maybe it doesn't even comport with the checks and balances and the law, but like, who's going to stop him?

ZELENY: No one, I mean, the OMB Director obviously is going to be someone who is subservient and certainly not as big of a figure as Elon Musk. Look, I think it remains to be seen how long the focus of Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk remain on this. Like, they often move to different things. But a bigger question for Elon Musk is, he makes a ton of money from the government. So there's no one to sort of monitor all that.

BASH: Yeah, I mean, he's a -- a big part of his giant bank account is because he has government contracts.

ZELENY: Government contracts.

BASH: It's a huge thing that we cannot lose sight of. I just want to put on screen something that he posted. He, Elon Musk posted, if we can pull it up. "Department of Government Efficiency. The merch will be fire, fire, fire." I mean, that sounds serious.

ANN CALDWELL: Great. Exciting. Maybe the government will make some of that $1 trillion back in DOGE merch. But to your point --

(LAUGH)

ZELENY: Just in time for Christmas.

(LAUGH)

ANN CALDWELL: Just in time for Christmas. To your point, Dana, as far as following the norms and the laws and the tradition, there's also really no incentive for the President to do that either. Court cases get caught up in the courts, takes long time.

BASH: Yep.

ANN CALDWELL: Also, there is now a Supreme Court case that says the president is immune from whatever his presidential actions are. So, we will have to see.

BASH: All right. Thanks, guys. Boy, what are rock-and-roll hour? But don't go anywhere because there's more. But wait, there's more. We're going to tell you why Melania Trump turned down a White House invite, after a break.

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[12:58:45]

BASH: It is a time honored tradition. You are looking at Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump, all on a day where they came in and they were greeted as first ladies to be by the sitting first lady. Of course, we don't have Jill Biden from four years ago because she didn't get the invite from Melania Trump. While she did extend an olive branch for tea today to Melania Trump, she declined. But a White House official tells CNN Jill Biden gave the president- elect a handwritten letter of congratulations to give to Mrs. Trump. And CNN is reporting this morning that Melania might not even move to the White House full-time. My panel is here. Jeff?

ZELENY: Look, there will be many changes in the second Trump Administration that certainly will be -- we'll see how much of a central role she plays. Barron Trump obviously is in a New York, at school. She focused a lot of her time here when he was in high school at the time. But we are just learning from our colleague Arlette Saenz at the White House, the Trump-Biden meeting has ended.

So this certainly will open up a -- it's more than an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half or so. So, we'll be scrambling to see what was learned and discussed in that meeting.

BASH: Yeah. Well, that's the most important meeting of the day.