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FBI Says It's Investigating Bomb Threats, Swatting Incidents Targeting Trump Appointees And Nominees; Rep. Victoria Spartz, (R-IN), Is Interviewed About End To Russia-Ukraine War; Trump Taps Retired Gen. Keith Kellog As Special Envoy For Ukraine & Russia; Sources: Trump's National Security Adviser Pick Is Weighing Proposals To End Russia-Ukraine War; Biden Admin Urges To Dramatically Lower Fighting Age; Musk Publicizes The Names Of Government Employees He Wants To Cut; AAA: Nearly 80 Million People Traveling For Thanksgiving Holiday; Australia Nears Historic Social Media Ban For Children Under 16. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 27, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Thanksgiving in America. We'll be highlighting the parade there in the Windy City as well as a number of other spots across the country throughout the morning, including this one. Here's a live look at New York City. You see Minnie Mouse there added to the parade this year. I believe that's Ronald McDonald right behind her.

The balloons currently being inflated there on the upper west side of Manhattan. That is a beautiful tradition every year, which kicks off, of course, ahead of the parade tomorrow morning. You'll see, we will also have live coverage in Houston, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia. Join us at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.

The news continues in the "Situation Room."

[17:00:43]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Happening now, some residents are returning to their homes in Lebanon as the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be holding nearly 24 hours after taking effect. CNN is live in the region tracking this truce and whether it will help secure an elusive ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Also this hour, the Trump transition team says that some of the president-elect's cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted with bomb threats and swatting incidents. We'll have an update on the FBI investigation.

And Australia is a critical step closer to banning young teenagers from social media. Could the landmark measure become a model for other countries, including the U.S.?

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Alex Marquardt. And you're in the Situation Room.

Our top story this hour, the Israel Hezbollah ceasefire in effect for nearly a full day after more than a year of deadly fighting. Let's get straight to the region where CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us live from Jerusalem.

So, Nic, what is the latest with this ceasefire?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLAMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And the latest that we're seeing from the south of Lebanon is the Lebanese army arriving into a village there to the applause of the residents. Now, we saw earlier in the day the Lebanese army in a big long convoy leaving the environs of Beirut and now apparently making it to the south. So this is the beginning elements of what the Lebanese authorities were speaking about when they said there will be 10,000 Lebanese army forces going in to ensure that stability along the border as Hezbollah pulls back.

This is very early days. The IDF still there inside of Lebanon. And I think there's a big contrast here. While we've seen Lebanese civilians racing to get back as far as they can to their homes in the south of Lebanon, Israel, it's a different picture. In the north, people are really reticent about going back to their homes already.

In fact, they feel that the deal has let them down, that this is a surrender position by the government that it's gone back to the sort of 2006 ceasefire agreement whereby that Lebanese army and the U.N. are supposed to keep Hezbollah out, but actually over time they can't. So that's the concern. And I think as well, there's a big difference in both countries today. Let's face it, you know, 3,000 -- more than 3,000 people killed by IDF strikes inside of Lebanon, about 84 people killed inside of Israel from Hezbollah strikes. That's all gone.

There's none of that today. So it's quieter. And I think even here in Israel, people are breathing easier for that, despite their concerns about the actual deal itself.

MARQUARDT: And Nic, this truce in Lebanon means that there will be renewed focus attention turning back to Gaza, questions about a potential cease fire there. Bring us up to speed on Israel's military operations inside Gaza.

ROBERTSON: They're carrying on. I think one of the interesting takeaways from what the prime minister said, yesterday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was that obviously this dealings Hezbollah from Hamas, but it's going to isolate Hamas more and this gives the IDF the opportunity to step up the pressure. These were his words yesterday, talking about how the IDF are continuing their military operations in the north of Gaza, particularly that they're focusing on. In the early hours of this morning, a school in Gaza City was hit by an IDF missile. Ten people were killed according to Gaza officials.

But in another school not far away, the IDF had a big military operation and there, they say they rounded up dozens of Hamas militants in a building there. So the schools have become the collection places for people to hide out. There also, the IDF says, collection places for Hamas. But these are the places that are getting a focus from the IDF as they try to push people more and more out of the northern areas of Gaza. So this is what we see, military pressure on Hamas in Gaza continues apace.

[17:05:03]

MARQUARDT: Yes. And the humanitarian situation is still horrendous there, of course. Nic Robertson in Jerusalem, thank you so much for your reporting.

Now to the Biden administration's take on this cease fire in Lebanon as the President is promising to restart those Gaza truce talks. CNN's Arlette Saenz is traveling with President Biden in Nantucket for the Thanksgiving break. So, Arlette, what is the White House saying today about the ceasefire?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, President Biden has made clear that he wants to make one of his final pushes in office working towards trying to secure this hostage release deal relating to Gaza. But right now there are major questions about whether that could actually become a reality or if it is simply wishful thinking on the part of the president and his team. Now, earlier today, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that they really see a fresh opportunity for these Gaza cease fire and hostage negotiations following that cease fire deal that was reached between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. He said that in many ways they were hoping that this would be a moment that could push Hamas back to the negotiating table. Here is how Sullivan characterized it a bit earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Hamas isolated. Hamas is now under pressure and all eyes, not just from the U.S. And Israel, but the rest of the world are going to turn to Hamas. And so, there is now newfound opportunity and possibility to drive forward a cease fire and hostage deal in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Sullivan also said he would not make any predictions for when or how exactly a hostage deal could come together. But President Biden has indicated that the U.S. plans to have a renewed push from allies such as Egypt, Qatar, Turkey as well as Israel. Of course, President Biden has spent the last 14 months trying to find an end to this war in Gaza in trying to secure the release of those hostages, returning them back to their loved ones. But so far that has really proved elusive. But in his remarks yesterday, Biden really tried to stress that he does believe that peace in the Middle East is possible, not just in Gaza, but also potentially normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

All of these things really have proven elusive for President Biden, but it's something he wants to work towards in his final months in office. That could be a potentially moment for him to burnish his legacy even further.

MARQUARDT: Yes. So not quite optimism, but certainly hope for a potential Gaza deal. Arlette Saenz with the president, thank you so much.

Turning now to the Trump transition, the FBI is now saying that it is currently investigating reported threats against some of President- elect Trump's picks for the top jobs in his upcoming administration. CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is here with details along with Donell Harvin, the former chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence right here in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

So Jeff, to you first. Walk us through what we know currently about these threats.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Alex, the FBI and local law enforcement officials across the country are reporting that there were a series of bomb threats and so called swatting instances at the homes of several officials who have been selected to either serve in President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet or in his administration. Here is a look at least some of them who have said that they were targets of this attack. Congressman Elise Stefanik, she is the U.N. Ambassador pick. Former New York congressman, Lee Zeldin, he is the pick to be the EPA administrator. Brooke Rollins, she's a longtime Trump adviser. She is selected to be the AG Secretary.

Scott Turner is selected to be the HUD secretary. Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Labor secretary. And finally, John Ratcliffe, the choice to be the CIA director. All of these officials have reported that they had some type of bomb threats or swatting incidents that were happening on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. Now, the Trump administration -- the Trump transition, rather, is saying that this is an un-American type threat.

And this is being denounced by the White House as well as the Senate Democratic leaders. But it is still being investigated tonight, Alex.

MARQUARDT: So Donnell, swatting, correct me if I'm wrong, is when calls are made to the police and they descend on that location with SWAT team and that can be a terrifying incident for the people who are living there. How seriously does law enforcement and the FBI take these swatting threats?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: They take them very seriously. Imagine if you're sitting in your home watching CNN and all of a sudden law enforcement, fire trucks burst in stating that there's someone being held hostage or that there's a bomb there. They don't know who you are. They don't know if you're a suspect. And these things can deteriorate very quickly.

And so they have to take these things seriously. What they don't know is because the technology is available, they don't know if these calls are actually emanating from the United States. It could be from foreign adversaries. They use something called spoofing where they actually mimic or hide phone numbers that are not coming from the United States are actually coming -- it looks like they're coming from the United States. So, a lot of investigation needs to happen, but these are very serious incidents. [17:10:04]

MARQUARDT: So Jeff, as you were just highlighting, a number of very high profile names in this city. What are some of them saying about these swatting attacks?

ZELENY: Look, Alex, we're not getting many details from these officials specifically with the exception of Lee Zeldin. He put out a message on social media earlier today giving a few more specifics about the nature of his threat. He said this, "A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro- Palestinian themed message. My family and I were not home at the time and are safe." So that certainly is a little bit more detail there, at least on his message.

Unclear is whether this is coordinated, how serious these threats actually were, or if there are any other specific messages like that directed at any of the other officials. Lee Zeldin is the only one to announce this on social media.

MARQUARDT: And Donell, we have seen this happen before. Trump's adversaries have also been targeted with these swatting incidents alongside these Trump loyalists that we're hearing about now. How are the folks at the Department of Homeland Security dealing with this kind of attack amid a more general uptick in political violence?

HARVIN: Well, there's two different areas that you have to look at here, the actual threats. And that's really a law enforcement investigation that's FBI, supported by not only Homeland Security, but if it's from foreign adversaries, the intelligence community. And then you have to look at online threats. What happens when you see these type of stories is that it really lowers the threshold for crazy people. And that's the only term I can use to say, hey, that's OK.

And so while these may be threats, other individuals may act upon that. And so looking in social media, seeing who's celebrating these things, who's saying, you know, forget about the threat, let's actually go and do it. That's what's really concerning.

I will direct you back to the summer of last year where actually President Trump himself, docs, which is another Internet term, put out the actual address of former President Obama and within a day was an act. Potential assailant roaming the former president's neighborhood looking for him with a gun. And so all these things -- into online threats, those are the authorities looking at.

MARQUARDT: Well, no matter who the targets are, it certainly is scary for those victims. Jeff Zeleny, Donell Harvin, thank you very much for that reporting and analysis.

Coming up, why Elon Musk is planning a visit to Capitol Hill next week as he works to carry out the Trump agenda. And next, what we're learning about the president-elect's plans to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. You're in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:16:52]

MARQUARDT: New tonight, CNN has learned that President-elect Trump's choice for national security adviser, Congressman Mike Waltz, has been weighing several proposals for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. Now that includes a plan that was just put forward by Trump's announced pick to be special envoy to both Russia and Ukraine. This was announced today. His name is General Keith Kellogg. He served previously in the Trump administration as Mike Pence's national security adviser.

Sources say that the specifics, excuse me, are still being worked on, but Trump officials will likely push for a cease fire early on in the next Trump administration to freeze the conflict while both sides negotiate.

Joining me now, the first and only Ukrainian born member of Congress, Representative Victoria Spartz, Republican of Indiana.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us. I want to ask you about General Keith Kellogg. He has a plan that would condition U.S. Military aid on Kyiv participating in peace talks with Moscow. Do you think that this is the moment now to push Ukraine to negotiate?

REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-IN), REPUBLICAN POLICT COMMITTEE: Well, as you know very well, unfortunately, you know, two years ago was a moment when you can push Russia to the table, but not just by weapons, but also by energy policies and real sanctions. You know, unfortunately we appease in Russia and China. And I think a few things, you know, you might not like some things that President Trump done before, but he was one of the toughest on sanctions on Russia and he was the one who unleashed energy in the United States, which causes headaches to Russia. He was the one who actually authorized to kill Wagner in Syria. That was -- didn't happen before to actually authorize killing Russians.

So he is very unpredictable. His policies are going to be very unpredictable. But the best thing about that, he has an ability and desire to deal with Russia economically and to deal with China economically that actually, you know, finances this war. And if, you know, the people he selected, including his nominees for --

MARQUARDT: Right.

SPARTZ: -- you know, for secretary of State, Rubio or Mike Waltz, are very tough on China. Because Soviet Union was defeated not by just weapons, but actually by economic policies and energy policies.

MARQUARDT: So, now we are almost three years into this war. So do you think now it is time for President Zelenskyy to come to the negotiating table? And on the other side, how can the Trump administration compel the Russians to negotiate? Because right now they're not frankly showing much willingness.

SPARTZ: Well, sadly now President Zelenskyy failed his Ukrainian people. You know, he didn't get ready the country for the war. He's not very supportive of his own military. He didn't deal with corruptions and he does a lot of grandiose presentations, but he didn't do a draft, didn't get military ready, and he done nothing to really support his own people that bravely dying for freedoms. And that is on him, unfortunately.

He led this war to be where we are right now. I mean, President Biden, I was very critical of him. He didn't push on him enough. But ultimately, you know, he's judged by the American people and he was judged and his administration was not re-elected. You know, President Zelensky judged by Ukrainian people.

[17:20:06]

He betrayed and failed the Ukrainian people not to win that war for them and not to fight to win that war. Very difficult when you deal with leaders that not trying to win the war. So it's a very difficult situation that President Trump is going to inherit and very likely he will try to push it in some way temporarily ceasefire, because ceasefire is very temporal. But Russia is going on the fence right now because they don't know what Trump can do. He's unpredictable.

Putin actually preferred Biden. He's very predictable and allowed Putin to be --

MARQUARDT: Right.

SPARTZ: -- where he is and he will try to get as much as he can. But ultimately that conflict will continue in the future because Ukraine is not in the position to be winning, not like in Israel right now.

MARQUARDT: One of the controversies in Ukraine has been the age of military recruitment. And I was told today that the Biden administration is urging Ukraine to lower its recruitment age from where it currently is, which is 25 years old to as young as 18 years old. The Biden administration is arguing that fresh manpower is critical. Would you support that, reducing that recruitment age and what do you think it would mean for Ukrainian society as a whole?

SPARTZ: Well, listen, you need to put a country in military mode and you needed to do it two years ago when one of his general told him that we need to have more recruits and teach them and to replenish some of the people that have been in the war for a very long time. Some of these young people been fighting since 14, some 22, no rotations. It's very difficult, very brutal war. So you need to put the whole country to fight the war. We send our 18-year-olds to die for our freedoms.

I mean, this is a serious war and you need to have proper recruitment. And he fired his general because the general wanted to fight the war and he replaced with people who are going to be puppets and he's not taking it seriously. So they need to put -- if you want to win the war, you know, with Russia, that has a lot of people and don't care how many of them are going to die, you need to get the whole country from -- you know, when Soviet Union fought World War II, from a little child to the old person, everyone was contributing to the war. You cannot just have some young brave people dying for everyone else and think that somehow, you know, they're going to hold the ground against very brutal force with a lot of money and no -- you know, no reservations how many lives they're going to kill.

MARQUARDT: Right. The Biden administration saying right now it's not a question of weapons, but it is that question, as you say, of people willing to fight and the need for so many more.

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, thank you so much and happy Thanksgiving.

SPARTZ: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

MARQUARDT: Up next, why a post by Trump's budget hatchet man Elon Musk is creating new fear among federal workers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:27:09]

MARQUARDT: The heads of President-elect Trump's proposed government efficiency department are heading to Capitol Hill next week. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are expected to meet with House and Senate Republicans to discuss their plans to cut jobs and save money. Now this comes as Musk is publicly revealing the names of some federal workers that he wants to let go. CNN's Hadas Gold is here with new reporting.

So Hadas, how are these employees responding to Musk?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, the employees who were called out by Musk in these reposts have not responded or have declined to comment. But other federal employees I've been speaking to, they are expressing fear. Now they know that there's going to be a lot of jobs on the lines and some of them are actually supportive of this idea of trying to make the government more efficient. But now they are afraid that they will be personally targeted after they saw what Musk did. So last week, Elon Musk reposted from anonymous account that was posting screenshots of a publicly available federal database of some government workers.

But in these screenshots included the names and the titles and the city of some of these federal government employees. And they have titles like director of Climate Diversification, senior advisor on Environmental Justice and Climate Change. And Musk reposted some of these and commented things like so many fake jobs. Now whatever you think of what these people do and whether their jobs are worthwhile, these people are unknown government employees in pretty private sort of jobs. These are not public facing positions, not the spokespeople of the agencies or anything like that.

And what's happened in the past when Musk has personally gone after people like this, which we've seen him do before, when he thinks people have wronged him or standing in his way of some kind, is that they've received threats. They've received -- some of them have received death threats, some of them have had to leave their homes temporarily, some of them have moved permanently. Now, it's not that Elon Musk is sending these threats to them, it's his legions of followers. He has hundreds of millions of followers online, you know, fans who really adhere to everything he says. And we've already seen torrents of just negative comments and tweets about these people, naming them personally. Now the union that represents some of the federal workers, they put out a statement saying, "These tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees. It's intended to make them fearful that they will become too afraid to speak up."

Now, something that's really stunning that happened while I was reporting this out, Alex, is I reached out to several experts on cyber harassment, online abuse, trying to get their take on that. And several of them actually didn't want to speak to me on the record using their names because they themselves were fearful of becoming a target of Elon Musk's.

Now, now we did reach out to X trying to get a comment from them, from Elon Musk, we didn't hear back. But we did hear back from Vivek Ramaswamy, who, of course, is co-leading this with Elon Musk. And he said our opponent is not any particular individual. Our opponent is the bureaucracy. But that is, of course, of little comfort to those four people who were directly named in those reposts by Elon Musk.

MARQUARDT: Yes, certainly, very scary for them. Hadas Gold, thank you so much for that new reporting. Appreciate it.

[17:30:02]

Let's get more now on this with our political and media experts. Sara Fischer, I want to start with you. You've covered Elon Musk closely. Why do you think he is now so fixated on this project to shrink to streamline the government to cut those budgets? What's the motivating factor for him here?

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: That's always been in his MO even with his private sector companies. You'll recall when he took over Twitter, now called X, he slashed that workforce from 7,500 to about 1,500 in two months. And so, this is the way that he likes to operate. He likes slim margin companies. For him, meeting profit margins in the private sector is all about reducing spend.

Now with the government stuff, it's a little bit different. One, there's a different scale. You're talking about 2.3 million people who are civilian government employees. That's very different from the 7,500 person organization he took over at X. And then the other issue is that in peeling back these employees, he says he's doing it because he's going to peel back various regulations. That's not something he can just do overnight, Alex, with the snap of his fingers, there's going to be processes involved.

So I'm curious to see, even though he says he wants to make all these massive cuts, remember, DOGE is not an official government agency, so it doesn't technically have the authority to make those cuts. He's going to have to work with Congress, although, you know, obviously it's a congressional majority of Republicans. And it's not something that he's going to be able to do as quickly as he's done in his private sector.

MARQUARDT: Yes, there are a lot of protections in place and have been for a long time for civil servants. Domenico Montanaro, what do we know exactly right now about what Musk and Ramaswamy have in mind as part of this so called DOGE, Department of -- of Government Efficiency? And what kind of impact do we think it might have?

DOMENICO MONTANARO, NPR SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that they've been looking at a broad swath of federal agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one for example, that they definitely seem to have their sights on. We know again, like you said, that they're meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill to sort of talk about this.

We know the CFPB was created after the 2008 financial collapse, intended to look at, you know, protecting consumers, you know, but a lot of people on the right, particularly investors, very upset with the CFPB because they've shut down some of their investment opportunities and they feel like it's been government overreach.

And a lot of conservatives haven't liked the CFPB for a long time because they don't like that it's a quasi-independent agency. And I think that's something we're going to hear a lot about over the next couple of months.

MARQUARDT: Lance Trover, there is little debate, I would say, that the government could be more efficient, more streamlined. Do you think that Elon Musk is the most responsible person, the most responsible leader for this effort? He's an unelected billionaire. He's now picking on government bureaucrats. You just heard Hadas Gold. They're talking about a number of people have -- have -- who have gotten threats. Is he going about this the right way?

LANCE TROVER, FORMER BURGUM PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Well, if -- if not him, who? I -- I would argue that the country spoke pretty loudly on November 5th. And let's remember, 70 to 75 percent of this country thinks we're headed in the wrong direction. And part of that is because they don't think Washington is working for them.

And so I don't know that putting somebody who has 30 years of government experience in charge of slimming and cutting the bureaucracy in Washington makes a whole lot of sense to voters out there. So yes, I think he's totally fine. And let's remember these -- these are taxpayer funded jobs. I don't -- well, I don't know that putting their names out there is the right way to go, but they are taxpayer funded. They're out there in the -- for the public's view.

And let's just remember that the country thinks we're headed in the wrong track. So we need to slim down the government. And even Hadas's piece said some of these bureaucratic workers think it needs to be slimmed down as well.

MARQUARDT: Yes I mean, their names are there if you dig deep. It's different to post them online, but I -- but I take your point. Mandela Barnes, to you, Musk and Ramaswamy, they're talking about a huge figure here vowing 2 trillion cuts, $2 trillion, excuse me, in these cuts. Now, for perspective, they could cut the entire Defense Department budget next year and still not even be halfway to that figure. So, Mandela, do you think that a lot of this is -- is bluster?

MANDELA BARNES, SENIOR FELLOW, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: Well, it's definitely bluster. We're talking about two novices who have no idea how the federal government runs.

Now, I'll agree. People do think that things are not going in the direction. Some of those people voted for Donald Trump. Some of those people actually voted for Kamala Harris, but they didn't look at Elon Musk as a savior to come fix the situation they're in. In fact, it's people like Elon Musk who've driven up costs because of their greed is how they've accumulated so much wealth that has made life harder for so many people.

Now, on the topic of that $2 trillion, again, what does that mean for the average American? What does that mean for seniors who need healthcare? What does that mean for our veterans who rely on the benefits that they have earned? What does it mean for our schools, our universities? What does it mean for us as a nation if they were just to unilaterally cut $2 trillion?

[17:35:01]

I can guarantee you Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk haven't the slightest clue of how to efficiently make those $2 trillion in cuts while still having a stable, functioning government.

MARQUARDT: And -- and Musk is not a total stranger to -- to federal government, Sara. As you know, he is a contractor through his company, SpaceX. He actually has a -- a -- a security clearance from the U.S. government. Of course, he owns this huge social media platform, X. Sara, what conflicts of interest do you think he has for him to be involved in this government efficiency project without, frankly, any real checks and balances?

FISCHER: I think it's less so an issue of conflict of interest so much as it is whether or not we agree that he has a plan in place to do this in a way that's going to be effective. So when I think about the cuts that he made with X, like, were all very nervous that the platform would completely bust. It didn't. There were some weird things that happened for a few weeks and months there, but it was OK.

And so the question that I have is with -- what Vivek Ramaswamy and him want to do. You know, they -- as you mentioned, were going after the CFPB. They're targeting a lot of energy jobs and climate. It's less, you know, a concern for me about conflict of interest so much as how are you going to tactically do this?

And by the way, I say this about the conflict of interest things because we've seen other business people move into the government in the past. This is not something that's entirely new. And because it's not like he's an elected official where he actually has power to do anything. Anything that he suggests, he's going to need congressional approval to get these things done. So even if you would argue that this isn't his best business interest, which it is. I mean, of course he has business interests in going after certain departments of the government, right. You said he has contracts for things like Space X. He has regulatory things with his Tesla company. But I think the bigger issue here is how -- what are the things that he's going to advise that people might actually listen to and pass? That's what I'm looking for.

MARQUARDT: Domenico -- Domenico, could you answer part of that in terms of what Musk and Ramaswamy could actually change? I mean, they've talked about the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the IRS. What do you think they would actually go after and effectively change?

MONTANARO: I think they're going to try to go after a lot of the things that Donald Trump has talked about and I think you mentioned in the Department of Education, I think is one that they're going to wind up taking a look at to see what are some of the efficiencies that they can get out of this.

But remember, there have been efforts in the past, including under former President Obama, to identify waste, fraud and abuse because that was a big talking point about how to slim down government. Because when you ask people in polling, you know, what do you think about government, do you think government needs, you know, needs do more to help people or do you think that government is bloated and -- and needs to do less? That's a real clear dividing line between a lot of people in this country.

And I will just say one thing. If, you know, we're talking about efficiency and we're talk about the platform X, I will just say in cutting so many people, you know, it -- it has led to some consumer -- some customer service issues. I will just say myself personally, I was hacked a couple of months ago. It came from Russia and I have still not been able to get control of my X account back.

And if that's the kind of efficiency we're talking about, you know, there are some -- there are some hills and some hurdles that are going to have to be overcome because it's been very difficult to get somebody to respond to something like that.

MARQUARDT: That's a very interesting data point. Well, this is certainly a very interesting space to watch with lots of changes to come. Thank you all for your thoughts this evening.

[17:38:28]

Just ahead, millions of travelers are heading out to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family. But a blast of frigid arctic air is also expected to travel across the country. How will it impact you and your guests? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: U.S. airports and highways are expected to be filled with a record number of travelers this Thanksgiving holiday with 80 million people traveling. CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking the storms that could bring

rain, snow and freezing temperatures. But first, let's head on over to Reagan National Airport. That's where we find CNN's Pete Muntean. So Pete, what is the latest?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, things have been relatively smooth here, Alex. You know, the line to get through standard screening and TSA precheck here at Reagan National Airport, Terminal 2, north checkpoint now less than five minutes to get through.

It has not been smooth everywhere, though. And a particular pain point for the FAA is Newark International Airport in New Jersey. That's where the FAA is facing a shortage of air traffic controllers and it is purposefully delayed flights going into Newark all day long. The average delay for a flight going into Newark right now an hour and 35 minutes. This is so bad and such a significant disruption that United Airlines put out a memo saying that in the month of November, air traffic controller shortages have caused disruptions for 343,000 of its passengers, 46,000 passengers this past Saturday alone. I want you to listen now to FAA administrator Mike Whitaker. He says that these slowdowns are necessary but temporary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WHITAKER, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We are working the traffic -- the staffing issue as -- as quickly as we can. We expected some disruption, which is why we're pushing so many controllers through the pipeline. We have never been able to get this kind of a pipeline for staffing Newark when it was in New York. And so we're -- we're very optimistic we're going to get through this with minimal delays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: That move that FAA Administrator Whitaker referring to is the move that the FAA did taking the airspace facility that is responsible for Newark from Newark to Philadelphia that has caused it to be able to beef up its reserves and -- of controllers trying to get through the pipeline and hired at the FAA.

The help can really not come soon enough for so many people traveling this weekend. The TSA screened about 2.7 million people at airports nationwide. Yesterday, it says it's going to screen about 2.9 million people at airports nationwide today. We've seen nearly 8 million people pass through airport security checkpoints since the start of this week, Alex. And it's only the start.

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MARQUARDT: It is only start those TSA lines behind you looking pretty good. Let's hope they stay that way. Pete Muntean at Reagan National, thanks so much.

Now to Elisa Raffa in the CNN Weather Center. So Elisa, how is this forecast going to affect those millions of travelers this weekend that Pete was just talking about? ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's going to be cold as we go into the holiday weekend and tomorrow will be pretty messy. Today has been a pretty good travel day as far as the weather is concerned. We've had these green airplanes on the map all day, so traveling by air hasn't been too bad.

By the roads, though, we do have some rain and even some snow that has been a problem across parts of the Midwest. There have been some slick spots possible along I-70 in Kansas, across Kansas City, across Missouri, towards St. Louis and then even into Indianapolis going in towards Cincinnati as well. Some wet roads as the storm tries to develop. But it really blows up going into tomorrow. We'll find that cold air start to come in. That front pushes to the east and we'll find rain and snow up in the Northeast and then that rain stretching down to the Gulf Coast, a pretty soggy Thanksgiving for a lot of the East Coast. Some major impacts possible up in New England where some several inches of snow is possible, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Expecting some of that rain right here in Washington tomorrow. Elisa Raffa, thank you so much.

Coming up, one country moving quickly to become the first in the world to ban children under 16 from using social media.

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MARQUARDT: Australia is set to pass one of the world's most restrictive social media laws this week. It would ban children under 16 from platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.

CNN's Clare Duffy is joining us now with an update on this. So Clare, this is really fascinating and -- and could prove to be a -- a model for other places. What exactly is Australia proposing here?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, so most of these platforms currently have a minimum age of 13. This law would require them to introduce what it calls reasonable efforts to prevent users under the age of 16 from having accounts and if they don't, they could face fines of around $32 million.

This passed in the Australia's house by a wide margin, which just gives you a sense of how much support there is for this. It's still awaiting a decision from Australia's Senate. But this of course comes after years of calls from parents and advocates and in some cases teens themselves for the platforms or lawmakers to do something to address the harms that these platforms can cause for young people.

It also comes after a number of high profile deaths of young people in Australia, including I think we have on the screen for you here. There is one 12-year-old girl. This is a GoFundMe from her family. Her family says that she died by suicide after cyber bullying on social media.

MARQUARDT: And it says there she was just 12 years old. I think obviously a big question here is -- is the enforcement. How -- how do you make sure that -- that kids under 16 don't actually have this kind of access?

DUFFY: It is an open question at this point. The platforms under this law would be given a year to figure out how to do this age restriction. There are some concerns that they could seek to ask young people for their government IDs. And should we trust these companies with that sensitive data?

There are also AI tools that these platforms have experimented with that can estimate people's ages based on their face. But those are sort of imperfect at this point. So it's sort of a wait and see on the enforcement piece.

MARQUARDT: What are the -- the critics saying and -- and -- and what are the actual social media companies themselves responding to this?

DUFFY: Yes. So the platforms have brought up this enforcement question. How are we going to verify people's ages? They've also said that this was rushed through the House. I want to read for you something that the Internet Association of Australia, which includes as members some of these platforms.

This was what they said to lawmakers. They said it's been long pointed out that this will not be practically effective for various reasons, including the ability of age restricted individuals to circumvent the restriction, as well as driving young people to underground platforms that will be even less regulated.

There are other critics who also say that this could remove young people from important support networks that they find on social media. But I think it's notable that Australia is trying to do something here. We've heard so many concerns over the past few years, a lot of talk about this, but not a lot of action.

Even here in D.C., we saw Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, earlier this year, turning around to face parents during a hearing and apologizing for the harms from his platforms. And so, I think there is a lot for other countries who are also looking at this issue to learn about how this Australia bill shakes out and whether or not it really is enforceable.

MARQUARDT: Yes, it -- it's such an interesting debate. Obviously, kids these days growing up in -- in such a different way. Social media has -- has totally upended the experience of being an adolescent or a teenager. Clare Duffy, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it. And if someone you know is facing mental health struggles, Please contact the 988 crisis lifeline by calling or texting 988.

[17:54:37]

Coming up, President elect Trump's potential plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Will he let Vladimir Putin keep the spoils of his aggression?

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MARQUARDT: Happening now, breaking news, new CNN reporting on the fate of billions of dollars of U.S. aid for Ukraine as proposals to end the war with Russia are now under consideration by President-elect Trump's choice for national security adviser. Stand by for these new details.

Also this hour, Trump adds another controversial pick to his health team, tapping an outspoken opponent of COVID mandates to lead the National Institutes of Health. We'll tell you who he is and whether medical experts find him credible.

And late breaking news. Sean Diddy Combs was just denied bail for a third time.

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

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