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Trump 3:11am Threat: " Liz Cheney Could Be In A Lot Of Trouble"; House GOP Goes After Liz Cheney Over 1/6 Committee Work; Liz Cheney: GOP 1/6 Report "Intentionally Disregards The Truth"; Sen. Murphy: Trump Targeting Rivals "Right In Front Our Eyes"; House Panel Votes To Release Matt Gaetz Ethics Report; Gaetz: My Behavior Was "Embarrassing" But Not "Criminal"; Hard-Line Republicans Call Johnson's Spending Deal "A Monstrosity". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 18, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Today on INSIDE POLITICS, casting a shadow of fear. Donald Trump issues a not so veiled threat against a political enemy, signaling he may follow through on his promise to use his power of the presidency to pursue his opponent.

Plus, Matt Gaetz just responded to a CNN report that the House Ethics Committee plans to release its report on his alleged sexual misconduct. The former congressman claims the details that could go public in a matter of days are embarrassing, but not criminal.

And California governor or another shot at the Oval Office. We have CNN reporting on Kamala Harris's next act, including what her closest advisers think she'll decide and when.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at INSIDE POLITICS.

First up, Donald Trump isn't one to let bygones to be bygones at early this morning. Well, more accurately, the middle of the night, the president-elect put out this ominous message on Truth Social, quote, Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble.

He was referring to claims in a new House Republican report calling for Cheney to be prosecuted for her work on the January 6 select committee. The report accuses her of witness tampering.

CNN's Kristen Holmes joins me now. Kristen, the time of day is certainly noteworthy, the content is more so.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's certainly starting to feel a lot like the first time Donald Trump was in the White House when he would fire off tweets in the middle of the night. We know he doesn't like to sleep, but now he is also posting things that hold a lot more weight because he is the president-elect.

Now I do want to note one thing these comments come after Donald Trump sat down for an interview with NBC, and essentially said that all the members of the House Select Committee that investigated January 6 should go to jail. And he has had a particular fixation on Liz Cheney. He brought it up in that interview, and he brought her up multiple times on the campaign trail. She is someone who has really gotten under his skin.

Now, the reason why this holds so much more weight now is given the fact that one, he is going to be president, but two, who he has installed to what he hopes is be the head of the FBI. Because part of this is essentially the committee saying that Liz Cheney should be prosecuted by the FBI, which in Trump's world.

If all goes according to be planned -- to plans, would be run by Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist, who we believe, based on everything we have seen from Patel over the last several years, would do whatever it was that Trump wanted, including potentially prosecute Liz Cheney. So, I do want to talk a little bit about what's in that report?

So here are some of the key findings from that subcommittee report that was sent out by a -- by the House Republicans. It says, Liz Cheney colluded with, quote, star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson. Again, these are the key findings. Liz Cheney should be investigated for potential criminal witness tampering. Liz Cheney used the January 6 select committee as a tool to attack President Trump.

Now it's really interesting to me about this, Dana, is that these are things that I have heard from Trump allies behind the scenes, without any sort of research or report to back it up that they believed had happened in terms of what happened with the January 6 select committee.

Clearly, now you have clearly, now you have Trump allies putting out this report, which really confirms everything that Donald Trump wanted to have confirmed around the January 6 select committee, and particularly around Liz Cheney.

And just one quick thing to note/ This is the latest in a series of what we have seen from president-elect Donald Trump where he wants to go after his perceived enemies, Liz Cheney among them, but also the media as we saw in the last several days.

BASH: Yeah. We sure have. Kristen, thank you so much for that reporting. I'm joined here at the table by a group of very talented reporters, CNN's Isaac Dovere, Vivian Salama of The Wall Street Journal, and CNN's Lauren Fox.

I want to just play a little bit of what Barry Loudermilk, the congressman from Georgia who put out this report, said on Newsmax late yesterday.

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REP. BARRY LOUDERMILK (R-GA): We started finding this back-channel communication between Cassidy Hutchinson and Liz Cheney. Liz Cheney also admits that she shouldn't be having these communications because it's an ethical violation, but she continues to do it anyhow. And so, that's why I think the FBI needs to look into this. (END VIDEO CLIP)

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BASH: So, just to kind of remind people -- Kristen just read this, but our memories might be a bit foggy, even though we were very deeply rooted in this during the January 6 hearing, the sort of star witness was Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked for Donald Trump in the White House. And what the allegation in this report is, is that when Cassidy Hutchinson decided to testify against Trump. Previously she had legal -- her legal team was paid for by Donald Trump and by his allies.

And the allegation in this report is that Liz Cheney, in bringing her over, also helped her get new legal counsel, which maybe persuaded her, or that's my word, but that's the gist of it to testify against Donald Trump.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I think what's so interesting is the swift response that you saw from Cheney as well as Bennie Thompson, who chaired this committee. And what you have them basically saying is that this is a distraction from the work that the January 6 committee did.

I mean, we all remember Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony. We all remember a lot of blockbuster testimony over the course of several months that they were televising these hearings. And I think that what the argument you're hearing from Cheney and others on the Democratic side are that this is just an effort to satisfy Donald Trump, to make sure that he feels like his allies on Capitol Hill are lined up and prepared to go after his enemies.

And I do want to point out that Kash Patel, who has been picked by Donald Trump to lead the FBI, is on Capitol Hill today meeting with Republicans. You can expect that this is going to be something that Republicans are going to be pushing him on. I know from his meeting with Senator John Cornyn, because Cornyn told us after the meeting.

When I pressed Cornyn on, are you confident that Kash Patel is going to be able to tell Donald Trump no. Cornyn essentially said, that's a good question, because I think there's still a huge question mark for a lot of members. And this report today, and as well as Donald Trump's previous comments, I think are the reason why Republicans are concerned about this.

BASH: And you mentioned Liz Cheney's response. I want to read it because it's important to underline, because there's a lot of allegations here what she says. She said, quote, January 6 showed Donald Trump for who he really is, a cruel and vindictive man. Now Chairman Loudermilk's quote, interim report intentionally disregards the truth and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did.

VIVIAN SALAMA, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNA.: Liz Cheney has been questioning the integrity of a lot of her Republican colleagues since January 6 that they were not able to come out immediately and call out the actions, not only of then President Trump, but also those around him, to say that they were somehow inciting these events that they were -- that they were meddling with the election results.

And this is something that she stuck with. Obviously, you know, she ended up endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, and really went full blown, like, you know, against Donald Trump did not hide that. But this is something that she and the very few Republicans who were joined the select committee, you know, have been saying all along.

And of course, it was detrimental to their careers, ultimately to come out and speak out against him regarding January 6. But she has stuck to it since then and has really called out a lot of her Republican colleagues as well.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I think that when you see that the Donald Trump is tweeting about this or posting on Truth Social at 3:11 am. When you're posting on social media at three o'clock in the morning, it means that either it's something that you're like, some crazy idea that got into your head, or something that's really obsessing you, right?

BASH: Yeah.

DOVERE: This is very much on his mind. And Liz Cheney has been very much on his mind for a long time. And we are at a point now where we have to think, was Donald Trump lying about every time that he said during the campaign that he would go after her and other people who were involved in this or was he telling the truth?

And based on people like Kash Patel being installed the FBI, and by the way, over the existing FBI director who Donald Trump himself had appointed. There is a lot of reason to believe that he was telling the truth about what he wanted to do here.

BASH: Even before Donald Trump responded, Chris Murphy, the Democratic Senator from Connecticut, tweeted the following. It's happening in front of our eyes. Is there a chance this is all show and bluster, maybe, but the developments of just the last few days. ABC's bogus settlement, the referral of Cheney for prosecution, Trump's suit against the register, all point to this being very, very real.

FOX: When I saw that series of tweets this morning --

BASH: It's not a tweet by Senator Murphy.

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FOX: It struck me because I had done a story just about 10 days ago where a lot of Democrats were basically arguing that they needed to be very careful about when they cried wolf, when it came to Donald Trump. That they felt like, the last several years, they have been arguing that danger was on the precipice of the door every single time, and that it had sort of lost its meaning for the American people.

And so, you know, one of the people that I talked to for that story was Chris Murphy. And I do think it's really interesting that they think this is a very serious moment. And clearly, he thinks this is a very serious.

SALAMA: And Trump hasn't offered any ambiguity. I mean, just telling NBC's Kristen Welker recently, in the last week, that anyone who voted against him or joined the select committee should go to jail, and that's as president-elect. So obviously, you know, a lot of people taking his comments very seriously.

BASH: But before we go to break, I just want to get to one bit of your reporting, which I thought was fascinating, in the journal, how Tucker Carlson killed Mike Pompeo hopes of joining the Trump administration. Former Fox News host and Donald Trump Jr. led a campaign to prevent Pompeo from getting an administration job.

SALAMA: Yeah. And it's part of a broader theme, Dana. So, you know, Mike Pompeo was seen as a frontrunner for the secretary of defense job, literally up until almost the day before the election. But Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, and his son Don Jr., really pushed him.

They said that he's a neocon, and they believe that the neocons, you know, these old school conservatives were essentially trying to manipulate him, not serve faithfully. They pointed out examples like John Kelly and Jim Mattis from the last administration, John Bolton, all of them who have come out and said, he wasn't fit to run for president again.

And so, they linked Mike Pompeo to that. And it's really just, ultimately, the tensions. It highlights the tensions between the MAGA branch of the Republican Party, and a lot of these more traditional Republicans being pushed out the door.

BASH: Yeah. Continue to be great reporting. We have more great reporting coming up throughout the hour, including up next, exclusive CNN reporting. The House Ethics Committee will release the Matt Gaetz ethics report before the year is out. The big question is, how damning will it be?

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BASH: The House Ethics Committee will release its report on former congressman Matt Gaetz before the end of this Congress. It is a stunning reversal, and it comes after the committee said just last month it would not release the findings of its investigation into Gaetz, who was at the time, Donald Trump's pick for attorney general.

Manu Raju and Alayna Treene broke this story earlier today, and they are here now. Manu, I'm going to start with you. Give us any information that you have about -- first of all, when to expect this report, and also, why the reversal? MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We do expect this to be a report to release any day now. In fact, that the agreement essentially was to release this report after the final votes of this congressional session and that could occur today. The vote -- the last vote of the year could be the today, maybe tomorrow. Maybe the day after the last day of the congressional session is actually 3rd January, 11:59 am, before the 118th Congress concludes.

Really any time between now the final votes and then, this all came secretly behind closed doors earlier this month. Remember that vote that occurred last month? That was when Matt Gaetz was then Donald Trump's pick to be attorney general. The committee voted, along party lines, to not move ahead with this report, a dead lock, five, five.

And then the committee planned to reconvene later in December to talk about this. One of the reasons why some members of the time voted to block its release is the report was not 100 percent done yet. There are some final changes that were being made, and the reconsider this report that was finalized in their private meeting.

Now, based on a reporting it suggests that some Republicans may have had a change of heart, ultimately signing with Democrats are pushing hard to release it. Now Dana, we don't have precise insight into why those members had a precise -- had a change of heart, because this is a secret panel. These are sources are giving us information inside the room that this vote actually occurred, but the thinking is unclear.

One thing is clear, though, and Dana, Matt Gaetz is someone who has an icy relationship with many Republicans and Democrats alike. He led the ouster of Kevin McCarthy last year. Maybe that was weighing on the minds of some of these members as well.

BASH: Yeah. Icy is an understatement. Alayna, Gaetz just responded. What did he say?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: He did. He posted this to X, responding to our reporting on this. I want to read for you some of what he wrote. He said, quote, the very witnesses that was in quotation marks DOJ deemed not credible or assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross examination or challenge from me or my attorneys.

I've had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I've never been charged. I've never been sued. It went on to say. It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life.

Now, one other thing he said in that statement that I found very interesting as well, Dana, is that he said that he had never had sexual contact with someone under 18. We know from our reporting, and this is even previous reporting that CNN has done that this allegation in particular, is included in the House Ethics Committee report.

So, interesting in itself that he was addressing that head on. But all to say, I think, look, one of the key things that we learned through our reporting, and one thing that's been clear over the last several weeks now, is that, you know, Matt Gaetz abruptly resigned when Donald Trump had announced that he was his pick to be attorney general.

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That led a lot of members to speculate and really kind of you know, question whether that was because he wanted this report to be buried. It is unusual for this committee to release a health ethics report for a member that is no longer a member of Congress.

Now we know, Matt Gaetz has said that he has no plans to come back to Congress next year. However, he is still very much a player in Republican politics. I know that he talks to Donald Trump and his team repeatedly. It's very much unclear what his political future looks like. I think this report is likely to be very explosive and potentially damaging. So that's one thing, you know, all of us will keep our eyes on when we eventually get to see this publicly. Dana?

BASH: Terrific scoop to both of you. Thank you so much for breaking it down for us. And my panel is back now. Matt Gaetz's response on X was very lengthy. Alayna read part of it. I'm just going to read more because it's something to behold.

Quote, in my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated, even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I never had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be -- any claim that I have would be destroyed in court, which is why no such claim was ever made in court. This is the (inaudible). My 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. I'm glad that, like Taylor Swift, he has different eras.

SALAMA: Yeah. Indeed, it's just pretty extraordinary, given what you read that this was for even just a few days, the nominee for -- to be attorney general. And obviously, someone who raised a lot of concern among them -- among Republicans, his own Republicans.

Alayna mentioned that he might have other political ambitions, and this is why this is so relevant right now, is because, you know, it's not just that he would return to Congress, but other future ambitions for office, whether it's in his home state of Florida or elsewhere, could be -- could be shelved because of the findings of this report, if they are as damning as they suggest.

And so, this is something that definitely Republicans are looking at, but also really says something about the vetting process that has gone into just selecting a lot of these nominees. You know, we know that other nominees also have a lot of baggage going into this, maybe not as much as Matt Gaetz had and the concerns that he raised, but still a lot of concern. And so, it really reflects on all of them.

BASH: Real quick. I just want to underscore the ethics committee is evenly split.

FOX: Yes, which means that Republicans had to have a change of heart here, that Republicans had to have a say here. And I do think relationships in Congress matter, and I think this vote is a very good reminder that if you go out and purport yourself a certain way, and your colleagues have a certain view of you, I can come back to haunt you later. I also just think that there was probably a moment where lawmakers were thinking about the fact he might have other aspirations, and they had or felt compelled.

DOVERE: She's also -- what's in this report must be pretty extreme because what he is capped to is that he sent money to multiple women that he dated.

BASH: And women he didn't dated.

DOVERE: And then he was going to date, which I don't think a lot of people will say that they have done that he drank too hard and smoked and party to hard. Again, not just while he was in college, while he was a member of Congress, while he was a congressman from Florida, in a position of power in a significant way.

BASH: All right. Well, speaking of Congress. Coming up, leading the House GOP conference makes herding cats look easy. We're going to tell you why hardline Republicans say they are losing confidence in speaker Mike Johnson, whether they will or even can do anything about it.

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BASH: House Speaker Mike Johnson has a deal to keep the government open past Friday and keep it open for three more months. But it's a deal that has many in his party pretty mad. It funds the government only through mid-March, ensuring another budget battle in Donald Trump's first 100 days.

It also includes a hodge podge of other must pass legislation, including billions needed to respond to a devastating hurricane season and economic assistance package for farmers who face a dire financial outlook. It also includes the first pay raise for members of Congress since 2009, and that's a little too much for hardline Republicans to swallow.

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REP. ELI CRANE (R-AZ): It's a complete monstrosity. Yeah. No, I don't think it was handled well at all, but it's kind of par for the course for this town.

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): And we've now added 330 billion by my count, in deficit spending, unpaid for. It just -- I said earlier, profoundly unserious on spending.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): As they got a bunch of garbage they want to pass, so they'll attach emergency things to it, like, you know, for the hurricane relief or the farmers or what have you. To me, it's gutless.

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BASH: And now the man attached to the hip -- attached at the hip, I should say, to the president-elect is weighing in. Elon Musk said that the bill should not pass. My smart reporters are back. And I know you just came from Capitol Hill. I'll start with you.

Look, this is not the first time that a Republican leader who has a nothing majority on spending has to cut a deal with Democrats in order to make the basic --