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Sources Say, Trump Intel Pick Gabbard Briefly On TSA Watch List; Senate Judiciary Republicans Praise Bondi Pick As Attorney General; Washington Post Reports, Trump Plans To Fire Jack Smith's Entire Team And Use Justice Department To Probe 2020 Election; Texas School Board Okays Curriculum Incorporating Bible Lessons; Kim Lashes Out At "Hostile" U.S. Ahead Of Trump's Return To Power. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 22, 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]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news, new CNN reporting on President-elect Trump's choice to be the nation's top intelligence official. Tulsi Gabbard briefly placed on the TSA watch list, driving home concerns about her foreign travel and ties to dangerous U.S. adversaries.

And also this hour, Trump's second choice for attorney general is winning praise from key Senate Republicans who will consider her confirmation. We're taking a closer look at Pam Bondi and what the former Florida attorney general would bring to the Justice Department.

Plus, the Texas School Board just voted to allow public elementary schools to incorporate Bible lessons into their curriculum, if they choose. Now, tonight, critics are sounding the alarm about promoting religion, a specific religion, in the classroom.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with breaking news on President-elect Trump's controversial choice to be director of National Intelligence, being briefly placed on a government watch list.

Let's go right to CNN National Security Reporter Zachary Cohen. Zachary, tell us more about this reporting on Tulsi Gabbard.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Pam. Tulsi Gabbard was added to a government watch list earlier this year after her overseas travel pattern and some of her foreign connections triggered a government algorithm that is used to identify passengers that need to be flagged for additional screening before they get on flight. Now, this is a program that is called the TSA Quiet Skies program. And, again, it's a security protocol and one that is preventative in nature.

And Tulsi Gabbard did get flagged again because of this foreign travel pattern and additional concerns about her foreign connections. Now, this is something that Tulsi Gabbard has alluded to publicly, including in recent months, but she has claimed falsely that she was added to a secret government terror watch list, which is not what our sources have described as this being. Take a listen to what she said back in September about this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. TULSI GABBARD (D-HI): My own government has placed me on a secret terror watch list, targeting me as a potential domestic terror threat. Why? Political retaliation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, shortly after these public comments from Gabbard, she was actually removed from the Quiet Skies list, we're told, nut, look, also TSA pushing back and our sources pushing back on this idea that you can be added to this list because of political issues or political retribution. In fact, TSA is saying in a statement, quote, TSA Quiet Skies Program uses a risk based, random, unpredictable approach to transportation security to include identifying passengers and applying enhanced security measures.

Now, look, this all comes obviously as Gabbard faces a potentially tough confirmation process where lawmakers have already raised concerns about some of her questionable foreign dealings. Remember in 2017, she actually traveled and met with Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator. Security experts have also raised concerns about what they characterize is her parroting Russian propaganda in public. So, all this really contributing to these ongoing questions about Gabbard's foreign ties.

BROWN: All right. Zachary Cohen, thank you so much for that.

Let's get more now on the Trump transition and new reaction to president-elect's replacements choice of the U.S. attorney general after Matt Gaetz stepped aside. Let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes and West Palm Beach, Florida, working her sources inside Trump world.

Kristen, Pam Bondi already is shoring up support among Senate Republicans very early in this process.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, Pamela, the big question is whether or not they actually like Pam Bondi or whether they're just not so relieved that Matt Gaetz is no longer up for this office. I mean, just a reminder here that Matt Gaetz was so toxic to so many people. There were Republicans who were very concerned that Donald Trump was going to expend all of his political capital on trying to get Gaetz confirmed.

When they see Pam Bondi, they see that she still believes in some of the same things Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz do in terms of completely blowing up the Department of Justice, in terms of moving the Department of Justice to be fully under the executive branch, but she is less polarizing and they are happier with this choice. So, of course, the big question becomes what exactly happens with Matt Gaetz. Now here's what he said about his future earlier today on Charlie Kirk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I do not intend to join the 119th Congress.

[18:05:01]

There are a number of fantastic Floridians who've stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service. And I'm actually excited to see a Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.

And so I'm going to be fighting for President Trump. I'm going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, one thing to be clear here is that that ethics report is still looming over him and would be particular if he went back to Congress. But one thing we do know that he is doing now is that he just signed up for cameo. So, if you want to give anyone a gift, Pamela, you might want to order them a Matt Gaetz, Merry Christmas. That's one way that he's going to make money until he figures out his next move.

In addition to that, we are still waiting for some of the biggest cabinet picks to come out. They could come as early as tonight. We know from Kaitlan Collins that sources have told her that Kelly Loeffler is going to be tapped or offered the job of agricultural secretary. We'll see what else comes today. Pamela?

BROWN: Yes, no offense to Matt Gaetz, I don't think I'm going to be spending $500 to give his cameo video as a gift. It's a Christmas gift, a little steep there.

All right, Kristen Holmes, thanks so much.

And let's get more on this with our national security and political experts. All right, so let's start with the news that we just learned from Zach Cohen, Carrie Cordero. How serious do you see this revelation that Trump's pick to be the director of the National Intelligence was placed on a TSA watch list earlier this year? What do you think?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, I think based on the reporting so far, it really does look like this was an algorithm based on her travel, based on potentially contacts that she has in particular regions. And so I think it's one data point that would certainly be subject of her confirmation hearing. In other words, I think senators would want to know where are the places that she was, why was she traveling there, what types of activities was she engaged in with respect to maybe foreign leaders that she was talking to, and what was she doing.

But the actual placement on the list, as long as she was removed promptly once it was realized who she actually was, this doesn't strike me as anything that was intentional or politically motivated in other ways. It looks to me just like it was a system that is highly technical using anonymous data and pulling all of that data together and then it flagged her. And once it was discovered, she was removed.

BROWN: All right. So, S.E. Cupp, you know, Tulsi Gabbard was already facing an uphill fight for confirmation, as she has been accused of parodying Russian propaganda. How do you think this new revelation impacts her chances?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Not just Russian propaganda. It should be pointed out, Bashar al-Assad's Syrian propaganda as well, as someone who covered Syria for a very long time. The things that she's done inside Syria and the things that she said about Bashar al-Assad in Syria are deeply, deeply troubling and should be worrisome, and I know many senators are worried about that.

But this latest revelation is interesting. I just talked to a source in Intel who told me these kinds of watch lists have a very low threshold and you know, kind of a lot of different things can be flagged that don't necessarily indicate that someone is, you know, dangerous, and she was removed. But the same Intel source also said that Tulsi Gabbard is an amateur, clownish, he called her goofy and clownish and amateur, and does not expect that she will have smooth sailing in a confirmation hearing.

BROWN: All right. I want to go to Kristen Holmes back in Florida, because we're just getting some breaking news in about who Trump has picked as his treasury secretary. We've been waiting for this, Kristen.

HOLMES: Yes. It's been more than a week since they told me for the first time that they were going to name treasury secretary and now we have that name. It is Scott Bessent, the hedge fund manager. Just a reminder of how we got here, he was one of Donald Trump's top picks. And two weeks ago, we were essentially told that he was going to be the pick. And then Howard Lutnick, a close confidant of Donald Trump's, as well as the co-chair of the transition, inserted himself into this fight, making it personal, became a knife fight, we were told, with Howard wielding the knife. And then a few days ago, Howard was taken out of the mix and made secretary of commerce.

During that time period, though, when there was a back and forth, Trump expanded the list to add several other people. Now, we are told, he has offered this job and chosen Scott Bessent to be the secretary of treasury.

This is going to be a huge job. There's going to be a lot of responsibility. There always is. But in particular, Donald Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail that all hedged on how he would handle the economy, how he would handle tariffs, how he would handle moving forward in all of these various ways, and especially when it comes to inflation, mortgage rates. Scott Bessent is now going to be at the helm of all of this.

Just One other thing here, there had been a lot of encouragement for Scott for several weeks now. It seems as though someone finally got through to him, to Donald Trump, in terms of these people who are pushing his name out there.

BROWN: Yes, there has been so much knifing behind the scenes over this role, which is why, as you laid out, there's been this delay for a couple weeks. But now we're finding out that hedge fund manager, Scott Bessent, is Trump's pick for treasury secretary.

Thank you so much for breaking that news for us, Kristen.

I want to go back to my panel. Scott Jennings, let's kick it off to you. It's interesting because talking to sources about Scott Bessent, when he was in the running, you know, they all pointed out, look, he oversaw George Torres' hedge fund, right? I mean, he -- or fund, I should say. You know, he did that and then he, you know, no longer. But as one source pointed out, Trump loves a convert. And he didn't see that as a problem. What do you think about this pick?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I totally agree. I think in the first Trump term, the Treasury Department was one of the most successful cabinets under Donald Trump. It was led by Steve Mnuchin. They did great. This time around, he has found someone equally qualified, maybe more qualified in Bessent. And, you know, it probably is going to send some relief on Wall Street to see someone like Bessent to get this job. And I think he's got the right skill set and experience to do the job.

So, when you look at everybody Trump is putting in, you know, people have opinions about, you know, this, that, or the other person, I don't know how you could be critical of Bessent for treasury. If you follow the financial markets closely and you follow the world that the Treasury Department runs, this is a home run pick.

I think Trump candidly, you know, for all the controversy about a couple of them is assembling a really good government. I think Republicans are going to be happy with it and financial people are going to be happy with it, too.

BROWN: What do you think about this pick, Gevin? I mean, this is someone who used to oversee George Soros' investment funds. He was a protege of sorts, and now he is Trump's pick to be treasury secretary.

GEVIN REYNOLDS, COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: Well, you know, what I care about or what sorts of policies is Bessent going to be advocating for at the Department of Treasury. You know, Donald Trump ran on a pretty loose economic policy. He talked a lot about tariffs bringing back and strengthening tariffs on imports from China. I think it's pretty clear, the data is very clear that tariffs will have a very detrimental impact on our economy here. Why? Because it's going to raise prices for consumers. Companies are certainly going to pass on those cost increases to the end consumers.

And, you know, Donald Trump at the same time is running as someone who's a champion of the working class, whereas his economic policies seem to be very far from that. So, I'm curious to see what sorts of policies is Scott Bessent, someone as Scott just pointed out, our Scott just pointed out has made, you know, Wall Street very happy. Is he going to make Main Street happy? That's going to be a question that we're going to find out very quickly the answer to if he gets confirmed.

BROWN: Yes, absolutely. To bring you in, S.E., look, he's going to have a lot on his plate. It remains to be seen if Trump will follow through on what he said on the campaign trail about tariffs. But this is a really important job as it pertains to the economy. And as we know, it was such a big factor in the election and getting Donald Trump elected.

CUPP: Huge. Voters told us over the course of the election that Joe Biden's inflationary economic policies were why they were voting for Donald Trump primarily. And, you know, they didn't tell us that they were voting for Trump to end wokism in the military or take fluoride out of the water or avenge his enemies at DOJ. They are really, really interested in what Donald Trump is going to do to turn this economy around.

And as Gevin just said, he was light on policy. He sort of deflected a lot during the campaign about what his plans were. He said he had concepts. He didn't really explain other than talking about tariffs. What he was going to do to turn the economy around, the housing market, for example, how his immigration policy was going to affect the economy, all of this stuff is incredibly important to his own voters.

So, I like this pick, but I'm hopeful that this pick that Scott will come out along with the president-elect and tell people what their economic policy is going to look like. His voters deserve that.

BROWN: All right. Thank you all. Stick around because we have a lot more to discuss. We appreciate it.

And coming up, a deep dive into the background of Trump's new choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, her record as a law enforcement official and as a Trump ally.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BROWN: We have some breaking news just coming in. According to The Washington Post, President-elect Donald Trump plans to fire the entire team working with Special Counsel Jack Smith once Trump takes office.

I want to bring in one of the reporters who broke the story, Josh Dawsey. So, tell us more about Trump's plans here, Josh.

JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Hi. Yes, Donald Trump wants to totally overhaul DOJ. It's a place where he spent most of his time on a transition thinking about. Obviously, he brought in Matt Gaetz who had to drop out as his attorney general because he wanted someone who would go after all of the folks who went after him, the folks that he thinks target him unfairly. And one of the things we're told he wants to do is to clear out Jack Smith team, the special counsel team that investigated him, and also to scrutinize what they did during their time in that office, right?

[18:20:00]

It's not really just getting rid of the prosecutor. He's having his team inside the Department of Justice to really look at what they did to him. Someone said to me, we want to make sure, quote/unquote, nothing like this ever happens again.

So, I think there's a clear mandate for whoever is a Trump DOJ who gets confirmed who he appoints of what exactly he wants there.

BROWN: So, you have that, and then Trump is also creating this effort to drum up evidence to support his baseless claims about the election. I mean, it's like a dog with a bone. He just can't let go of 2020 even though he just won the most recent election.

DAWSEY: Yes. He's long wanted the Department of Justice to investigate the fraud claims. And he was frustrated, obviously, in 2021 when Bill Barr, his attorney general, said that there was no fraud and would not do what he wanted, would not go as far as he wanted. He now will have -- sensibly, he will have a team in place who could do those investigations for him, who could look more into fraud in 2020.

I don't think that's what the majority of his top advisers want him focused on as he takes office. But as we've seen before, Pam, as you know, better than anyone, Trump does basically what Trump wants most of the time.

BROWN: Right. And now, you know, he's made it clear he wants his attorney general to be a loyalist and to do what he want he wants. His latest pick after Matt Gaetz, Pam Bondi, I should say, she was a big supporter of the Stop the Steal movement. She was really out there talking about it, agreeing with Rudy Giuliani, even though, as we know, the claims after being tested through the courts in all kinds of ways, the recounts, they were baseless. How is she likely to support this effort if confirmed?

DAWSEY: Yes. I don't know, actually, Pam. I'm sorry not to be able to answer that. I haven't closely scrutinized what she said in 2020, Pam Bondi. I know you saw a lot of Republican senators were thrilled to see her and said that she can get confirmed. And certainly early signs look like she's going to be confirmed that we saw the Republican senators say.

You know, but you're right, that she's a loyalist. I mean, she's been with Trump for many years. She's been one of his most avid and fond folks on the campaign in 2020, 2024. You know, she's someone he definitely trusts. She just worked for Brian Ballard at Ballard Partners with a lobbying firm. That's particularly close to Donald Trump. So, he does have someone here. You know, he looks at his first presidency and that biggest mistake was appointing Jeff Sessions of really his entire presidency. He said that to people. And I think this time he's focused on getting someone who he did not think will behave like Jeff Sessions.

BROWN: Right. And we keep hearing from sources, he wants someone who's loyal and competent. He feels like he has this and Pam Bondi. And she is getting early support from Republican Senator.

Josh Dawsey, thank you so much. We're going to continue to talk about this with our legal and political experts.

Elie, first to you. How big of a deal is this that Trump wants to totally overhaul the DOJ and get rid of the team, Jack Smith's team, that investigated him?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Pam, this is a red line that presidents going back through modern history have respected and have not crossed. And here's what I mean. Presidents unquestionably have power and authority to hire and fire political appointees, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, the 93 U.S. attorneys.

Donald Trump during his first term did fire Jeff Sessions essentially and two U.S. attorneys. However, the line that sounds like it would be crossed here, if this reporting plays out is the firing of nonpolitical career prosecutors, law enforcement agents, staff who were on Jack Smith's team. Those people, I used to be one of them, that is 99 percent of the Justice Department's workforce. Those people are nonpolitical. They are career prosecutors. They are career law enforcement officers. They are there in a nonpartisan capacity.

And what we've not seen before and why this would be fundamentally different is because now we're looking at a president ordering the firing of those career prosecutors. Again, even Donald Trump himself during his first four years did not cross that line, but if this is how it plays out, then we're in new territory.

BROWN: And it's not just so easy, Carrie, to just come on in and fire the career prosecutors, right?

CORDERO: Well, this is where it will determine what the attorney general, who is confirmed by the Senate, does. Because it will be up to the attorney general to carry out this order if given by the president, and it will be up to an attorney general to adhere to their oath to the Constitution and manage the department in the way that it's supposed to be managed. And, yes, political appointees will leave at the end of the current administration and they will get to appoint their new political appointees.

But career prosecutors can be reassigned. Career civil servants can be reassigned to different components of the department. They can move them around the department. But unless they want to be faced with all of the lawsuits of people who are unjustly fired without any cause, really, it seems like not just sort of an abomination for the way that the Justice Department is supposed to operate, but also just a waste of time and effort. [18:25:17]

I mean, there's things that they could do if they want to look at how do you keep a prosecution from getting out of control. For example, they could look at the special counsel regulations and they could decide, you know what, we think that special counsels generally, if we look at this from a policy and legal perspective, we think special counsels have gone too far down roads of independence and we want to look at those regulations. That's something legitimate that they could do. But firing career prosecutors, career civil servants will really destroy morale within the department and is an inappropriate use of executive authority.

I want to bring you in, Jim Trusty, as a attorney for Donald Trump over this, you know, past year with his criminal cases. And, you know, what is your reaction to this? And do you see this as political retribution?

JIM TRUSTY, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: I actually don't. And let me just preface it by saying it's not just that I was an attorney for President Trump. I was with the Department of Justice for 17 years. I was a prosecutor for 27. And I was in a position where I at least had some leadership within the department and was able to observe, you know, a lot of the inner operations.

I'd say a couple of things. Yes, it is unusual to be talking about a president directing the firing of what are being called career prosecutors, in other words, nonpolitical appointments. The problem is this was a historic deviance from how DOJ conducts itself. This was a series of politicized acts. And I think what you're going to see that this threat is going to make -- and I'm not saying everyone across the board that was involved in the investigation faces this problem, but I think there's a pretty good chance that several of the prosecutors involved in this case engaged in serious misconduct. They don't want a third party exploring --

BROWN: What evidence do you have for that?

TRUSTY: A new party exploring what they did? I'm sorry?

BROWN: What evidence do you have for that claim of serious misconduct?

TRUSTY: Sure. I mean, I'll start with one of the biggest ones, which was there's a sworn affidavit from a respected attorney in Washington who represented Walt Nauta or represents Walt Nauta, a right hand man to President Trump. He described a meeting, an impromptu meeting, where he was called to the department to meet with several, not just one, but six or seven prosecutors.

The leader of that conversation from the Department of Justice, who was the lead investigator for Mar-a-Lago at that time, essentially bribed or extorted him, according to a sworn affidavit, by saying, I don't want you to mess up your pending judgeship application. You need to flip Walt Nauta against President Trump. That is a moment of outrageous misconduct, if it's true. And I'm not saying I was there. I'm saying, a respected attorney sworn affidavit. If I'm the attorney general, I come in and I say, let me see all the communications that surround that meeting. Let me see the phone logs, the text messages, the emails. Let's see if all these prosecutors talked about how that meeting went down. And if that's the type of thing that's true, if that's born out and it's never been litigated because they switched the grand jury down to Florida at the last minute, then that's the type of thing where heads should roll.

That's not demoralizing to the department. That's demoralizing the people that did wrong, and that's what we need to see.

BROWN: Yes. But he's wanting to get rid of the entire team.

We're going to continue to discuss this. Scott, Gevin, we're going to get to you to carry this on after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

BROWN: And we are back with our legal and political experts following breaking news on President-elect Trump's reported plans for the Justice Department.

Elie, you just heard Jim Trusty's reaction. I want to get your response to Jim and some of the claims he made.

HONIG: Yes, so first of all, if Donald Trump were just to fire Jack Smith, that would be within his purview. And if Donald Trump were to order or the new attorney general were to order some sort of investigation into the types of allegations that Jim raised, fine, that's also within the purview of a new attorney general and the Justice Department to take a look at how things were done, to see if things were done ethically and properly.

The entity that would ordinarily do that is the Justice Department's inspector general. That's an internal, nonpolitical watchdog. And then if there's consequences that follow from that, again, fine. But that's not what the reporting is here. I think, with all respect to Jim, who I used to work with at DOJ, I think he's inventing a counter- narrative. That's not what Josh Dawsey just reported. What Josh Dawsey just told us, and reported through The Washington Post, is this is going to be a blanket, across the board firing of everybody involved in this case. That's very, very different than let's dig in, let's do an examination, let's see what comes out of it, and then let's act appropriately.

The other thing that I really want to stress here, Jack Smith is leaving DOJ but it's not because Donald Trump has promised to fire him. There's no question Donald Trump would fire Jack Smith if he was still there. But the reason Jack Smith's cases are ending and the reason he himself is leaving is because of DOJ's longstanding policy going back to 1973 that says you cannot indict or prosecute or imprison the sitting president. So, regardless of what Donald Trump intended to do with Jack Smith, he would be leaving anyway. But we're talking separately, not about Jack Smith, but about the couple dozen of people who have worked under him.

BROWN: As I pointed out to you, Jim, and, Carrie, I'll get to you in a second, but, Jim, I want you to respond, the reporting is the whole team, not just those, as you pointed out, you had concerns with.

[18:35:01]

TRUSTY: Yes. Well, look, I think you take a wait and see. There are -- what Elie's getting at is that there are longstanding civil servant protections that make firing difficult, and it actually goes back to what's more typical of DOJ, when they think they have a problem, they put people in the woodshed, they put him in a section. I won't name names, but they put him in a section where they're kind of like down in the basement with their red stapler, not getting a chance to do any real work. So, yes, you might have to motion.

What I'm also suggesting, though, is there's enough fire beneath the smoke in terms of misconduct. And I could give you another couple of examples easily, where I think that the threat of a serious new look at their behavior is going to cause some folks to leave the department of their own accord. They don't want to have the exposure of just how selective, just how hyper aggressive, just how much they broke longstanding ethical rules to get at this target. I think the evidence is going to show that.

So, it may not be across the board. It may be difficult to have every single person that had any sort of fingerprint fired, and I understand the civil protection rules there. But I do think that the principle of people are going to be held accountable for singular treatment in these investigations is a good thing to investigate. And I don't want to see it weaponized from the right, but it was clearly weaponized from the left.

BROWN: All right. Thank you all so much. We appreciate your insight and your time in this breaking news from The Washington Post.

And coming up, the record Pam Bondi would bring to the Justice Department as attorney general amid new reporting about President- elect Trump's drastic plans for the DOJ.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BROWN: Right now we are taking a closer look at President-elect Trump's choice to be U.S. attorney general. CNN's Paula Reid reports on Pam Bondi's record, including a history of 2020 election denial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): just hours after his first pick for attorney general dropped out, President-elect Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be the nation's top law enforcement official.

PAM BONDI, FORMER FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am proud to call Donald a friend.

REID: Bondi, a longtime Trump ally, has extensive experience in state law enforcement. She worked as a Florida prosecutor for 18 years before becoming the state's first female attorney general and served in that role for nearly a decade.

BONDI: I am a career prosecutor. I am proud of my career. And I'm proud of the work that this office does.

REID: One of her top achievements while in office was successfully targeting Florida's so called opioid pill mills.

But in 2013, her office received complaints about individuals being scammed by Trump University seminars. And she considered joining the state of New York in suing Trump's program over the allegations. But her political committee received a $25,000 donation from the Donald Trump Foundation in September of that year and soon after dropped her investigation into the alleged fraud citing insufficient grounds.

Bondi has denied the donation affected her decision and was cleared by a Florida ethics panel.

BONDI: I would never, ever trade any campaign donation, that's absurd, for some type of favor to anyone.

REID: In 2016, she was a top Trump surrogate.

BONDI: It is my great honor to introduce to you the next president of the United States of America, Donald Trump.

REID: And went on to serve on Trump's first impeachment defense team.

BONDI: They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no basis to raise this concern.

REID: While also making appearances alongside Trump during his first term.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I also want to thank a really tremendous attorney general, that's Pam Bondi from Florida, for being here.

REID: And after he lost the 2020 election, Bondi became one of his defenders in 2020 pushing false election claims.

BONDI: We've won Pennsylvania. And we want every vote to be counted in a fair way.

REID: Once Trump was out of office and faced four criminal cases, Bondi defended him in the court of public opinion.

BONDI: This case should have never, ever been brought. REID: Most recently, she worked at a GOP lobbying firm where she primarily represented a sheriff's office association and also represented companies like Amazon, G.M., Uber and the Qatari government. She also led the legal arm of a Trump-aligned nonprofit think tank.

BONDI: The America first policy, we'll fight for it.

REID: While also maintaining a consistent presence on right wing media.

BONDI: The prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID (on camera): During her eventual confirmation hearing, she'll definitely get questions about those comments, also about that $25,000 donation and the comments she made about the 2020 election. But Trump transition officials feel she will definitely be easier in terms of confirmation than former Congressman Matt Gaetz, especially because she was cleared by an ethics panel related to that Trump donation. And, of course, she comes with decades of law enforcement experience. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Paula Reid, thanks so much. Well, just ahead, a highly controversial decision in Texas, why some public schools in the state could be offering Bible lessons in the classroom,

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:45]

BROWN: And turning now to the latest on a heated fight over religion in the classroom. The Texas Board of Education approving a new state written curriculum incorporating lessons from the bible starting in kindergarten.

CNN's Rosa Flores has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, a big win for the Republican-led effort to infuse Christianity into public schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight-seven, the motion passes.

FLORES: Officials in Texas approved a controversial public school curriculum called Bluebonnet Learning that critics say disproportionately focuses on Christianity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please vote no.

FLORES: The days-long debate at times becoming heated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please respect the rules. FLORES: Both sides voicing strong opinions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Public schools are not Sunday schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These biblical references do not constitute an establishment of religion.

FLORES: The Texas education agency, defending its curriculum telling CNN Bluebonnet Learning incorporates multiple faiths and religious content, is a small part of the product. Reaction outside schools in Houston mixed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our kids need the Bible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't think it has a place in school.

FLORES: And while these controversial K through five lessons are optional, some are concerned the state funded $60 per student incentive could encourage even some progressive budget strapped schools to adopt bluebonnet learning.

[18:50:02]

RYAN FIRTH, DAD OF 2ND GRADER IN HOUSTON: There are better ways to spend that money than giving it to schools that adopt this religious stance.

FLORES: This move in Texas --

RYAN WALTERS, OKLAHOMA STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: I will now say a prayer. And to be clear students, you don't have to join. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump.

FLORES: Coming just days after Oklahoma state superintendent announced the the purchase of over 500 Trump approved bibles for classes across the state.

WALTERS: We're not telling kids they have to pray, but we are telling kids they have the right to pray if they so choose.

FLORES: A group of Oklahoma parents, teachers and ministers filed a lawsuit against the states top educator after he ordered the Bible be taught in public schools. The case is ongoing in Louisiana.

The legal fight over a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms has been temporarily blocked.

Why is religion in schools such a flashpoint right now?

MARK JONES, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR: Well, I think its one issue is because for Republicans, it's an issue that mobilizes the base.

FLORES: Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, says President-elect Donald Trumps push for Christianity in schools.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will support bringing back prayer to our schools.

FLORES: And his influence could help spread the bluebonnet curriculum to other states across the country.

JONES: Especially since the bluebonnet learning curriculum is open source, it's something that other states could adopt relatively quickly and relatively easily, and its free.

FLORES: But like similar efforts in other states, this one, too, is expected to end up in the courts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (on camera): And at least one advocacy organization says that it has attorneys ready for the legal fight. Here's the statement from the Americans United for separation of church and state, quote we urge all Texas school districts not to implement this curriculum.

If families learn that their public schools are using this curriculum, our attorneys are standing by and ready to defend their religious freedom. If bluebonnet learning survives the expected legal fight, it would become available for instruction during the 2025, 2026 school year -- Pamela.

BROWN: Thank you so much, Rosa Flores. We appreciate that.

Just ahead, what Kim Jong-un is signaling about the future of his highly touted bromance with Donald Trump?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:37]

BROWN: Tonight, as President-elect Trump prepares to return to power, North Korea's Kim Jong-un is signaling their infamous bromance may be over.

Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd.

Brian, tell us more about Kim's new rant against the U.S. and what it may reveal about his relationship with Trump.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, Kim now accuses the United States of being, quote, brazen, aggressive and domineering toward his country.

Analysts say it could be a signal to Donald Trump that the North Korean dictator might not be so chummy with him this time around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): North Korea's 40-year-old strongman levels pointed jabs at the United States following the fanfare of a military flyover in Pyongyang and a grand entrance in his armored limousine, Kim Jong- un waves for the crowd to quiet down then starts in. The United States, is growing more brazen in trying to place the whole world under the sphere of its interests, Kim says, according to North Korean state media. He tells his comrades his regime has gone as far as it could in negotiating with the U.S., and came away not convinced that America wants to coexist with North Korea, but that the U.S. has a, quote, domineering stand and unchangeably, aggressive and hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

PATRICK CRONIN, ASIA-PACIFIC SECURITY CHAIR, HUDSON INSTITUTE: This is the current position of North Korea, which is to say we're going to drive a hard bargain. America's pursuing a hostile power, a policy. But in fact, from an American perspective and even from a second Trump administration perspective, they've already experienced the failure of diplomacy with North Korea.

TODD: A failure of diplomacy at two summits between then President Donald Trump and Kim in Singapore in 2018 and in Hanoi, the following year. Plus, a short meeting at the DMZ.

Despite their public pronouncements --

TRUMP: Excellent relationship. Thank you.

TODD: The two leaders could never make a deal to get Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons program.

It didn't stop Trump from gushing about their friendship.

TRUMP: And then we fell in love. Okay? No, really, he wrote me beautiful letters and they're great letters. We fell in love.

TODD: And even recently at the Republican national convention in July, Trump said this about Kim.

TRUMP: He'd like to see me back, too. I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth.

TODD: How will the Trump-Kim relationship unfold in a second Trump term?

CRONIN: I would not expect a rapid move toward a summit meeting, but I would expect there to be quiet back-channel letters exchanged in the coming months.

TODD: But tonight, as we see new images of Kim at a military exhibition featuring long range missiles that could potentially strike the mainland United States, Kim has a new and dangerous partner.

ANKIT PANDA, STANTON SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: They have strategically reoriented towards Moscow, where Kim has a new best friend, now in the form of Vladimir Putin.

TODD: An estimated 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to help Russia fight Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official says North Korean troops have just been spotted in northeastern Ukraine. How will they fare against Ukrainian forces?

CRONIN: North Koreans are tenacious fighters by all accounts, but if they're asked to go much farther forward into Ukraine, I suspect they would get bogged down very quickly. I don't think they're prepared for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: In return, Kim Jong-un is getting weapons from Russia, according to a top South Korean official, and analysts say North Korea has received over a million barrels of barrels of oil from Putin. He could also get technology and expertise from the Russians to ramp up his nuclear weapons program even further, an arsenal that one prominent expert told us probably -- probably already has between 60 and 100 nuclear weapons -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Brian Todd, thanks so much for bringing us the latest on that.

I'm Pamela Brown in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks very much for watching. You can follow me on X, TikTok and Instagram @PamelaBrownCNN.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.